Results tagged “cityofboston”

A toilet. You can go down to the hardware store and grab one of those for less than $200, right? Maybe pay the plumber a little for installation and all that. But if you're the City of Boston, you need to go all out and spend two years and $300,000 to create a coin-operated toilet at Christopher Columbus Park on the waterfront that desperate people will be unable to afford and normal people will be unwilling to use. (Especially when everybody knows you can just pee at the Marriott, anyway.)

General Growth Properties, whose "growth" we've criticized before, has filed for bankruptcy. The City of Boston owns the property; GGP was just leasing and operating it. The bankruptcy will require the city to take a larger role in managing Faneuil. This town just can't get by without all those touristy kiosks and Urban Outfitters, so we hope the city manages the marketplace well.

Today, Mayor Menino will present Boston's proposed 2010 budget to the city council. The budget balancing magic derives from laying off more than 500 workers, including 212 teachers and classroom aides, 67 police officers, 44 police cadets, 39 community center employees, and 26 library workers. Even horses are being let go: some of the police officers are mounted patrol, meaning that 24 horses will have to find new adoptive homes. Those figures are somewhat prematurely alarmist, though: successful wage negotiations, particularly with unions, could mean reduction in hours or wages rather than layoffs, and resignations can cover some of the teacher cuts. Stimulus money from the federal government might also help out. All is not lost, but there is cause for concern.