Amazon May Not Be Serious at All about Boston -- and that's a Good Thing

If a guest columnist for a major national newspaper is to be believed – and I hope he is – Boston is out of the running to be Amazon’s second headquarters city (HQ2).

This would mean that the old, seldom-used Suffolk Downs horse racing track, the prime intended Boston location for Amazon’s HQ2, can be redeveloped in a better, less intense way for East Boston and Revere, and for the state as a whole.

The proposal by the state, city and a private developer to build Amazon’s H2Q at Suffolk Downs includes housing, hotels and open space, but it is primarily about eight million square feet of new office space and a technology-driven business operation requiring the services of approximately 50,000 employees.

Creating jobs is, as it should be, a governmental priority in all times and seasons. 

As enticing as H2Q at Suffolk Downs seems, however, there’s something scary about having so many jobs materialize in one swoop at a 161-acre site amidst densely populated neighborhoods and busy industrial/commercial enterprises -- a site in the figurative shadows of a booming Logan International Airport and a built-up/heavily used Revere Beach. 

How are all those workers going to get to work on time every day when the roads in the area are already often at capacity or over capacity?  What will happen to the already high (and constantly climbing) price of a home in Revere, East Boston and nearby Winthrop when so many of those employees start looking for homes there?

If you share such worries, you may be encouraged by an op-ed piece that appeared this past Monday, January 29, in the Wall Street Journal, “Mayors, Say No to Amazon,” by Richard Florida, a professor at the University of Toronto, a distinguished fellow at New York University, and editor at large for the Atlantic Magazine’s City-Lab.

Florida contends that Amazon’s HQ2 quest, conducted as a nationwide competition among cities, has never been completely on the level and that Amazon basically has its sights set on two metropolitan areas on the East Coast, neither of which is Boston.

“At heart the HQ2 competition is a ruse.  Amazon without a doubt already has a very good idea of where it wants to put its new headquarters,” Florida wrote.  “The map of the 20 cities on the short list has clusters that give away the game.  New York City and Newark are next to each other.  So are the District of Columbia, Northern Virginia and Montgomery County, Md.  Clearly, Amazon wants to be in either the New York metro region or Greater Washington.  (Jeff Bezos [Amazon founder], not coincidentally, has homes in both.)  Those five options are in four separate states, plus the capital – and states are the entities likely to contribute the most money to incentive packages.”

You may find Florida’s column, behind a pay wall, at: https://www.wsj.com/articles/mayors-say-no-to-amazon-1517175734

Appearing before the legislature’s Joint Housing Committee yesterday, Governor Charlie Baker said that the gap between housing demand and supply in Massachusetts “poses the most serious long-term hurdle to continued economic growth.”   

Testifying for a bill that would allow municipalities, by simple majority votes of their governing bodies, to change zoning laws to facilitate construction of new housing, Baker said, “It has been decades since this state produced enough housing to keep up with demand.  The result has been predictable.  A limited supply creates overheated demand and rising prices.  Young people, seniors, young, working and middle class families can’t afford to rent or buy a home here in the Commonwealth.” 

Baker’s right:  We need much, much new housing –homes, apartment buildings and condos – throughout eastern Massachusetts.

It’s a no-brainer to make a redeveloped Suffolk Downs a part of the Commonwealth’s housing solution as quickly as possible. 

Do it organically, with first-class design and construction. Have it complement aesthetically, rather than overwhelm, its adjoining neighborhoods and business uses.  Exploit to the fullest the race track’s contiguity to two very walkable stops on the MBTA’s Blue Line, which provides, on most days, the easiest and quickest rapid transit link to downtown Boston.

With a sigh of relief, abandon the dream of our singular Hub as one hub of Amazon.

 

 

 

With Ayanna Wanting to Retire Mike, Marty Will Inevitably Be on the Spot

Within a few hours of Boston City Councilor Ayanna Pressley announcing she would challenge  incumbent Michael Capuano of Somerville in the Democratic primary for U.S. Representative in the 7th Massachusetts District this fall, the Teamsters put out a press release endorsing Capuano.  That’s when I realized that a gigantic hot potato had landed in the lap of Boston Mayor Marty Walsh.

The 7th District includes a large part of the City of Boston.  (Capuano divides the federal representation of the city with Stephen Lynch of the adjoining 8th District.)  Pressley, age 43, has lived for years in Dorchester and has served as an at-large member of the City Council since 2010. Pressley was the first African-American woman ever elected to the Boston City Council.  The last three times she ran for re-election, she came in first, first and second, respectively, in the at-large races.

Capuano, age 66, is a lifelong resident of Somerville, where he served as mayor from 1990 to 1999, and has been in the Congress ever since.  He won the seat when Joseph P. Kennedy, II, son of the late Robert F. Kennedy and nephew of the late President John F. Kennedy, chose not to seek re-election.

During Capuano’s time in the Congress, his district has been significantly redrawn.  It now has a majority of residents who are minorities. 

In a written statement accompanying her announcement, Pressley said, “Today I humbly announce my candidacy for the Democratic nomination in the 7^th Congressional District.  I have made this decision after much prayer, deliberation, and thoughtful conversation with my family, friends, and those I hope to have the honor to represent in Congress.”

The statement continued:  “Our country is facing a critical moment.  While the cruel and dangerous tenor of the national political debate is new, the issues we are struggling to address – income inequality, systematic racism, and lack of economic opportunity – have dogged our nation for years.  We have not yet delivered on our nation’s foundational promise of equality.  Not everyone is granted the opportunity each of us deserves to fulfill our God-given potential.  Making progress on longstanding challenges requires a different lens and a new approach.  I will be a bold voice in Congress, as an advocate for the entire district and as a champion for opportunity.  This moment in time demands nothing less.”

Today, I could not find anything online regarding how Capuano reacted publicly, if at all, to Pressley’s decision to take him on in the September 4 primary, the day after Labor Day.  (This could reflect nothing more than my sorry skills in Internet research.)

I did find a good commentary in the online version of CommonWealth Magazine by Jack Sullivan, titled “What does Ayanna Pressley know that we don’t?” https://commonwealthmagazine.org/the-download/ayanna-pressley-know-dont/ 

Sullivan believes Pressley will have a hard time taking the Democratic nomination, in part, because Capuano is very popular in the district and starts with big campaign funding advantage.

“Pressley is challenging someone who is as progressive on issues as she is and who has been considered an ally of minorities throughout his tenure,” Sullivan wrote.  “It’s tough to see how replacing a veteran lawmaker with seniority helps her cause.  In the House, seniority matters.”

Teamsters Local 25 President Sean M. O’Brien, offering his union’s endorsement yesterday, said:

“Mike Capuano is a true champion for working men and women in Massachusetts and across this great nation.  With corporations taking calculated actions to weaken unions and strip workers of their rights and benefits, we need an experienced leader who will hold employers accountable and never make concessions that weaken the position of unions and all workers.”

While Teamsters Local 25 “has great respect for Councilor Pressley and has enjoyed a good working relationship with her on issues within the City of Boston,” O’Brien said, “we strongly support the re-election campaign of Congressman Capuano.  In today’s environment, Mike Capuano’s leadership is needed in Washington now more than ever.”

Before he became mayor, Marty Walsh was a state representative, a president of Local 223 of the Laborers Union, and head of the Boston Building Trades Council. He won the mayoralty, in large part, because of the extensive support he received from unions and union members, and his success in persuading many influential African-American and Latino leaders in the city to unite behind his candidacy after the primary. 

Pressley’s decision to challenge Capuano puts Walsh in a major bind.

To state the obvious, there are a lot of votes in Boston.  The incumbent mayor is, almost automatically, a major player in other people’s elections where Boston voters vote.  If the incumbent is popular, as the late Tom Menino always was and as Walsh is now, the mayor’s endorsement and the support of his organization are highly coveted.     

Perhaps Walsh will try to remain above the battle.  He could say that he’s a dear friend of both Capuano and Pressley and cannot possibly be expected to choose between them.  Or, with his eye on a third term in 2021, he could make the hard and necessary political decision to endorse Ayanna Pressley.

 

 

New Senate Transportation Chair's Career Is on a Fast Track

On April 12, 2016, two-and-a-half months shy of his 34^th birthday, Joseph Boncore of Winthrop beat six other candidates in the Democratic primary special election for the vacant seat in the First Suffolk and Middlesex Senate District, which encompasses Revere, Winthrop and East Boston, the North End and Beacon Hill sections of Boston, and one ward and four precincts in Cambridge.

The seat was open due to the Jan. 21, 2016, resignation of Anthony Petrucelli, the Senate Majority Whip from East Boston, who had left the upper branch to join the lobbying firm of Kearney, Donovan and McGee. 

Boncore’s primary victory meant he would automatically be elevated to the Senate in the final special election, on May 10, 2016, because there was not a single Republican in the race.

The night Boncore won, the needle on the Richter scale of Massachusetts politics jumped.

A first-time legislative candidate, Boncore defeated two more seasoned Democrats: Revere Mayor Dan Rizzo and Jay Livingstone, then a two-term state rep from Cambridge, who came in second and third, respectively, in the race.  The other candidates, in order of finish, were: Lydia Marie Edwards, Diana Hwang, Steven Morabito and Paul Rogers.

Boncore had relatively little political experience – the only elective office he had ever held was on the Winthrop Housing Authority -- and his hometown has a population (17,497) significantly below that of East Boston (41,683) and Revere (53,157).  Political pros instantly adjudged him a talent, a comer in the ranks of Beacon Hill.

The day he took the oath of office, May 18, Boncore was still in campaign mode.  The regular biennial elections for the legislature were coming up in the fall of 2016 and he would, of course, be standing for re-election.  There was no time to work on his scrapbook or savor the thrill of being a senator, one of only 40, and of having earned a place in the historic halls of the Massachusetts State House. 

Instead, Boncore had to devote himself to building a good staff, learning how to be an effective senator, winning over those who may have voted against him, and keeping his profile high in the district.  The president of the Senate, Stan Rosenberg, was impressed enough to appoint Boncore to six committees and to make him the Senate co-chair of one, the Joint Committee on Housing

Those who hold elective office are often most vulnerable to defeat the first time they try to get re-elected.  This is especially the case when an official is serving the remainder of somone else’s term, as Boncore was with Petrucelli’s, and when the regular election cycle begins within six months of the special election cycle, as happened in 2016 in the First Suffolk and Middlesex Senate district.

But if Boncore, perhaps reflecting on the crowded field he fought his way through in the primary, was ever seriously concerned about keeping his Senate seat, he need not have been.  His was the only name that appeared on the district ballot in the fall.  No one wanted a piece of him.  On Nov. 8, 2016, he sailed to a full term.

Last Thursday, Acting Senate President Harriette Chandler appointed Boncore the Senate co-chair of the Joint Committee on Transportation, one of the most coveted leadership jobs in the legislature.  He took the place of Tom McGee, (son of a former House speaker) who had recently departed from the Senate after being elected mayor of the City of Lynn.  The scope of the Transportation Committee’s responsibilities is immense, as are the policies and budgetary decisions it must shape every session.

It certainly was not lost on President Chandler that Boncore has within his district one of the state’s most important transportation facilities, an engine of the entire New England economy, Logan International Airport.

In a formal statement, Boncore accurately described what’s at stake in this committee.  “The Commonwealth’s transportation system is the driver that ensures our economic success,” he said.  “Whether by road, rail or water, our infrastructure connects us to jobs, homes, schools and goods, ensuring continued growth.”

The longtime House co-chair of the Transportation Committee, Bill Straus, had this to say about his new Senate counterpart: “Senator Boncore is a great choice by the Senate to co-chair the Transportation Committee.  He was already the Senate vice chair, and we worked closely in 2017 on his legislation to provide safety training and response improvements at Logan Airport.  He has quickly established himself as a thoughtful and effective advocate on transportation issues since being elected in 2016, and we will waste no time in getting to the pending matters before the committee with our first hearing together next Wednesday the 24^th.”

What struck me about Senator Boncore when I first met him, in February of 2017, was his composure, and his perfectly balanced confidence and energy.  He has neither too much nor too little ego.  He doesn’t try hard to make you like him nor does he have to.  You just do.

Boncore is 35 years old and holding one of the most responsible and influential positions in the legislature.  You have to figure that, for him in politics, the sky’s the limit.

 

  

 

Foe Tries to Put the Heat on Secretary Galvin but the Sparks Seem Absent

Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin had the task of selecting a date for the statewide primary elections to be held this fall.

By law, Galvin had to schedule the primary within seven days of the second Tuesday of September, which falls this year on September 11.  He thus had to choose a date within the fourteen-day span beginning on Tuesday, September 4, and ending on Tuesday, September 18.

By longstanding practice, our Secretaries of State aim to hold a statewide primary 49 days before the final election in November, which is always scheduled on the first Tuesday of the month.  The first Tuesday this year is on November 6.  If you count back 49 days from November 6, you get to September 18.

September 18 this year was deemed infeasible by Galvin because the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur will be observed that day.  Likewise, Galvin ruled out September 11 because of the observance of the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah.

That left only one possible Tuesday within the allowable two-weeks: September 4, the day after Labor Day this year.

Galvin settled on September 4 after a formal public comment period and after consulting with Robert DeLeo, Speaker of the House, and Harriette Chandler, Acting President of the Senate.  When announcing the primary date, Galvin proposed that the state institute a five-day early-voting period before September 4, and that the legislature make allocations to every city and town to cover the costs of early voting.

A former member of the Massachusetts House, Galvin was first elected Secretary of State in 1994. Many folks, myself included, consider him the single most knowledgeable person on election and securities laws – and on basically any matter pertaining to state government.  He’s a walking one-man governmental/political encyclopedia. 

Like anyone who’s been in office a long time, Galvin has his share of detractors.  But there’s no one who says he’s lost his stuff.   At age 67, his political fastball still flies low across the outside corner of the plate in the high 90s.

Boston District 8 City Councilor Josh Zakim, who will be a candidate against Galvin in the Democrat primary in September, harshly criticized his opponent’s scheduling decision.

“It is outrageous and unprecedented to schedule a statewide primary for the day after Labor Day, when people are just returning from their summer vacations and haven’t had time to focus on the upcoming election.  And scheduling an early voting period during the last week of August is equally ridiculous,” said Zakim, the son of Joyce and the late Lenny Zakim, who was the New England director of the Anti-Defamation League and the man for whom the I-93 Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge over the Charles River was named.

For good measure, Zakim asserted, “This is a brazen example of the Secretary trying to depress voter turnout.”

Candidates trying to make an issue out of something for attention and votes is like the sun coming up. Candidates have to try something.  On a scale of one to ten, I’d give Zakim’s try a two at best.

Come September, maybe we voters will be so distracted and so enervated by summer’s end that we’ll be incapable of cogitating on the primary election candidates. But I don’t think so.  And rather than considering as “ridiculous” the opportunity to vote early on any of the five working days leading up to the primary, I think many of us will see it a serious convenience.

I take a dim view of projects that would coddle voters in the hope of increasing turnout.  Voting is a privilege.  Voting is a responsibility, an obligation of citizenship.   Ask not what your Secretary of State can do for you.  Ask what you can do for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.    

 

 

This Month in Corruption: Improprieties, Deceptions, Misrepresentations

Surgical Device Boosted by Deceptive Marketing. On Dec. 13, AG Healey announced that Massachusetts will receive $2.4 million from a medical device company as part of a multi-state settlement that resolved allegations of unlawfully promoting a device used in certain surgical procedures. 

In a consent judgment entered that day in Suffolk Superior Court, Boston, Medtronic Sofamor Danek, Inc., and Metronic Sofamor Danek USA, Inc., agreed to resolve claims they had engaged in a deceptive marketing strategy for a device intended to stimulate bone growth.

“Companies cannot use deceptive practices to increase their profits, while compromising the safety and well-being of patients,” Healey said.  “With this settlement, we are bringing more than $2 million back to Massachusetts after uncovering this unlawful conduct.”

The payment was part of a $12 million multi-state settlement that also involved Oregon, California, Illinois and Washington.

Benefits of Four Prescription Drugs Misrepresented  On Dec. 20, AG Healey announced that Massachusetts will receive nearly $250,000 from Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (BIPI) as part of a nationwide settlement to resolve allegations that the company had unlawfully marketed four of its prescription drugs: Micardis, Aggrenox, Atrovent, and Combivent. The payment is part of a $13.5 million multi-state settlement that concluded an investigation by Healey and 50 other attorneys general.

According to a press release from the AG, the states specifically alleged that BIPI misrepresented that its antiplatelet drug, Aggrenox, was effective for many conditions “below the neck,” such as heart attacks and congestive heart failure, and that it was superior to Plavix without evidence to substantiate that claim.  The states also alleged that the company misrepresented that Micardis protected patients from early-morning strokes and heart attacks and treated metabolic syndrome, and misrepresented that Combivent could be used as a first-line treatment for bronchospasms associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).  BIPI further stood accused of falsely stating that Atrovent and Combivent could be used at doses exceeding the maximum dosage recommendations in the product labelling and that they were essential for treatment of COPD.

“Misrepresenting the benefits of prescription drugs puts people’s health at risk,” said Healey.  “Companies cannot compromise the well-being of patients to make a profit.”

It Happens in Politics, These Frigid Days Before New Year's...

THAT Acting Senate President Harriette Chandler of Worcester expects more senators to pursue the presidency of the upper branch beyond the current crop of candidates, which includes Sal DiDomenico of Everett, Eileen Donoghue of Lowell, Linda Dorcena Forry of Boston, and Karen Spilka of Framingham.  “This is only the beginning,” Chandler said of the presidential machinations during an interview this past Sunday on WCVB’s “On the Record.” 

THAT Harriette Chandler, who earned the first of her three university degrees in 1959, is sticking with her decision not to seek the presidency on a permanent basis.  It’s not the heavy workload of the presidency that discourages her from becoming a candidate, but rather the heavy responsibilities of running the “venerable chamber,” because “I am not 20 years old, as you all know.”

THAT Utah Senator Orrin Hatch, age 83, is showing signs of breaking an informal, behind-the-scenes agreement with former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney to have Romney replace him.   Hatch had said publicly earlier this year he could retire if someone as good as Mitt (wink, wink) could replace him.  Now, under pressure from President Donald Trump, who can’t stand the Mittster and wants to punish him eternally for trying to sabotage his 2016 campaign, Hatch is stifling talk of retirement.

THAT persons who know Mitt Romney well believe he’s “too much a gentleman” now to turn on Hatch and tell him, “Too bad.  You said you were leaving.  You told me you’d support me.  I’ll run against you if you don’t retire.”  Romney’s a tough-minded businessman, for sure, but when it comes to taking the killshot in politics, he’s always been squeamish.

THAT the Lowell Sun’s estimable Peter Lucas sees Steve Kerrigan of Lancaster, the Democrat nominee for lieutenant governor in 2014 on a ticket headed by former Attorney General Martha Coakley, as the favorite in the race for the Democrat nomination to succeed Niki Tsongas in the 3^rd Congressional District because, of all those running, Kerrigan is the only candidate who has campaigned across the district before.  There are more than a dozen Dems in the race, which is being waged across 37 cities and towns.

THAT Attorney General Maura Healey, who has filed more than 20 lawsuits this year against the Trump administration, sees it as her plain duty to ding The Donald. “My job is pretty simple,” she says.  “It’s to enforce the law and protect people’s rights.  Unfortunately, we have a president of the United States who continues to do things that are illegal and unconstitutional, and my job is to sue him to make that right, to stand up for the constitution and the rule of law.” That’s what she told Comedy Central’s Jordan Klepper.

THAT Chelsea’s Tom Birmingham, an attorney and former Massachusetts Senate president, puts his formidable forensic skills on display in a recent opinion piece in CommonWealth magazine, “Our schools ignore US history at our peril.”  Birmingham advocates re-imposing the requirement that students pass a U.S. history test before graduating from high school.   Read it, please, at: https://commonwealthmagazine.org/opinion/schools-ignore-us-history-peril/

THAT outgoing Attleboro Mayor Kevin Dumas, who lost his bid for re-election in November to State Rep. Paul Heroux, has been chosen as the next town manager of nearby Mansfield.  When interviewing for the job with the Mansfield Board of Selectmen, Dumas said he has no plans to run for public office again, which should make Heroux happy.  “That section of my life is over,” Dumas emphasized.

THAT everyone at the State House will soon be missing Tom McGee, whose resignation from the Senate is due to take effect on Tuesday, Jan. 2.  That evening, he will be inaugurated as Mayor of Lynn, having defeated incumbent Judith Flanagan Kennedy in November.  The son of a former Speaker of the Massachusetts House, and a man I had long considered a possible Senate President, McGee is ending a 23-year legislative career.  He’s been in the Senate for fifteen and a half years, and served in the House before that.

THAT a group called the Boston Atheists had a banner installed on the Boston Common, on Friday afternoon, Dec. 22, that says: “Joy to the World!  This holiday season, take care of yourself, of each other, and of the world.  Warm wishes from your friendly neighborhood atheists.” Next atheist I see will get a big Christmas hug from me.

THAT the passage of even 40 years is not sufficient to dull the institutional memory of the Massachusetts legislature, as we saw yesterday when the House adjourned in memory of Henry Gillet of Fall River, who served as a state rep from 1977 to 1978 and died on Dec. 21 at age 73.  After the legislature, he went on to be a lobbyist for agricultural interests in the state: the Cape Cod Cranberry Growers Association, the Massachusetts Association of Dairy Farmers, the Massachusetts Farm Wineries and Growers Association, etc.  May you rest in peace, Representative Gillet.

 

 

Add a Recession to Existing Fiscal Threats and Gov Race Gets Interesting

There’s no way Governor Charlie Baker can be beat next year, right?

He remains the most popular governor in the U.S., according to the latest quarterly survey by Morning Consult.

By wide margins, he outpolls each of the three candidates now in the race for the Democrat nomination for governor: Jay Gonzalez, Robert Massie and Setti Warren.

And the Massachusetts economy continues to hum.  Just this week, for example, we learned that the unemployment rate here has dropped to 3.6 percent.

“Year-to-date, the jobs and labor force estimates indicate a strong and stable economy in the Commonwealth,” said Rosalin Acosta, the state’s Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development.

Yup, Baker’s sitting pretty and it’s hard to see how things could turn ugly for him.

Unless you happen to read the latest [December 6] forecast from the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.  The title says it all: “MTF Forecast: Foundation Advises Beacon Hill – ‘Batten Down the Hatches’.” 

The forecast is eight-and-half pages and has some helpful, easy-to-understand charts.  If you want to check it out, click on the link at the bottom of this post. 

Here’s my stab at a highly condensed overview:

The economy remains robust and the state budget seems safely in balance. However, federal tax reform legislation will have a huge and uncertain impact on a blue state like Massachusetts; the state could lose $650 million in revenue in FY 19 (July 1, 2018-June 30, 2019) if voters approve a statewide ballot question next year reducing the sales tax from 6.25% to 5%; and if voters approve another ballot question, on paid family and medical leaves of absence, there would be an additional $150-million revenue loss because of reduced taxes, state program administration costs, and participation costs to the state for its employees.

The “only sound course,” MTF President Eileen McAnneny warned, “is a return to fiscal discipline that limits state spending growth, delivers needed reforms and savings in MassHealth, and deposits all excess capital gains and corporate tax settlements into the rainy day fund.”

The forecast did not overlook the largest elephant in the room: a national economic expansion that is now on borrowed time. “...there has not been a significant external shock or economic downturn since the last recession,” it noted.

Think about that. The economy began recovering from The Great Recession in 2009 and has been growing without interruption ever since: eight years without a recession.  A recession is inevitable.  We just don’t know when.

If the economy were to stall in the second quarter of calendar 2018, if the aforementioned fiscal threats were to materialize in full, and if the Baker administration were compelled in response to propose cuts in MassHealth, which ensures one out of four citizens and accounts for 41% to 42% of the entire state budget, the governor’s popularity could plummet.  Just as suddenly, the popularity of Setti Warren, a Navy intelligence specialist during the Iraq war, a proven executive as Mayor of Newton [2010-16], and an unabashed liberal, could rise.  (Polls indicate Warren is way ahead of both Massie and Gonzalez.)

This talk about an unbeatable Charlie Baker is really just talk.  I don’t think our governor is buying it, either.

https://www.masstaxpayers.org/publications/public_finance/budget/fy_2019/20171206/mtf_forecast_foundation_advises_beacon_hill_%E2%80%93_%E2%80%98b