03.29.2022

A smoking mess at the Globe | The state’s next watchdog | Time’s up for wage thieves? | Hard time for real estate fraudsters | About Contrarian Boston |

Government Center garage tragedy may have powerful aftershocks

It will likely take weeks before the dust clears from the partial collapse over the weekend of the sprawling, downtown Boston garage.

But the horrific accident, which killed a 51-year-old heavy equipment operator, may have much wider ramifications than the typical major construction accident, if there is such a thing.

Former City Hall development chief Tom O’Brien and a team of investors has overseen the piecemeal demolition of the Brutalist-era garage over the past five years to make way for a pair of new towers and now a planned life-sciences complex as well.

But with subway lines running underneath, the garage just happens to stand above a highly sensitive location. And Saturday’s collapse sent nine stories of concrete raining down onto the garage floor above the tunnels, raising the potential, however unlikely, of damage, and shutting down key parts of the Green and Orange lines.

At the very least, O’Brien’s HYM Investment Group and National Real Estate Advisors, could be faced with significant delays in the latest piece of their $1.5 billion Bulfinch Crossing project – a 410,000 square foot lab complex - amid a halt in demolition work as state and city officials probe the causes of the collapse.

With federal safety regulators, BPD detectives and the MBTA all on the case, there’s not likely to be a quick resolution, nor should there necessarily be one.

For at the end of the day, all these issues and concerns pale in comparison with the human tragedy at the center of this story – here’s a heartbreaking piece in the Herald about the grieving family of Peter Monsini, the worker who was killed.

Smoking gun: Globe on hot seat over allegedly deceptive Philip Morris ads

What in the world were they thinking over at the Globe? Check this story out by Colman M. Herman at CommonWealth Magazine.

The first graph says it all: “THE BOSTON GLOBE is facing a growing chorus of criticism from public health advocates and media critics for working with Philip Morris to create and publish stories featuring interviews with prominent scientists, many of whom say they were never told the true purpose of the interviews – for inclusion in Philip Morris ads.”

Nor is this a one-off deal. The Globe ran on its website 43 of these Philip Morris specials over the last two years, interviewing nearly “100 individuals, including university professors, industry scientists, and CEOs,” Herman reports.

Apparently, there are a lot of unhappy campers out there, unaware they were being used by the region’s dominant media institution to burnish the brand of the tobacco giant.

Here’s what an MIT prof interviewed by CommonWealth had to say. “I had no idea these stories were sponsored by Philip Morris and am appalled,” MIT Sloan School of Management professor Sinan Aral told the magazine. “The ‘reporter’ made no mention of that when requesting the interview. . . . I was not happy.”

State auditor race: Year’s most interesting election battle heats up

Ok, it’s a problem when the first time you hear about a candidate is through a boring endorsement story, while potential rivals are out there, grabbing headlines.

Such is the case for Republican candidate for state auditor Anthony Amore, who just got some badly needed ink thanks to Gov. Charlie Baker.

Baker endorsed Amore, security chief at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, in a campaign email sent Monday to supporters, the Globe reports.

Amore could use the help, with the two Democratic candidates for auditor having stolen the spotlight so far with wide-ranging plans to investigate everyone and their brother should they get elected.

Chris Dempsey, a former top state transportation official and leader of the No Boston Olympics campaign in 2015, made a splash with his proposal to audit the State Police. And, when he’s not busy with checking up on the troopers, Dempsey has told Contrarian Boston he’ll be keeping an eye pealed for NIMBY communities looking to circumvent the state’s new Housing Choice law.

State Sen. Diana DiZoglio told us she plans to take a hard look at the ugly practice on Beacon Hill of forcing staffers to sign non-disclosure agreements in order to receive a payout after abuse complaints, among other things.

We’ll be reaching out to Amore to see what investigations he may have up his sleeve. Stay tuned.

Fleecing workers: Beacon Hill finally serious about wage theft?

We’ll see. But a unanimous vote by a key State House committee on a bill that would crack down on employers who play it fast and loose when payday comes is a positive sign.

The attorney general’s office could take companies who cheat workers to court under the proposal, which the Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development approved 17-0, State House News reports.  

Incredibly, the state’s chief law enforcement officer here in deep blue Massachusetts can’t do that now.

However, the bill now goes to the House, where it has failed in the past to gain traction, despite lobbying by unions and progressive stalwarts like Attorney General Maura Healey, now running for governor.

Given unscrupulous employers in Massachusetts siphon off anywhere from $700 million to $1 billion each year in wages, it’s hard to know what the obstacle here is.

Development scam lands real estate fraudsters in jail

Jacklyn Sutcivni helped a developer steal HUD money meant for affordable housing in Worcester and now she’s headed to prison.

Sutcivni, a former housing and economic development employee in Worcester, was sentenced in federal court on Monday to 40 months in jail for her role in helping milk $2.3 million in government money for a phony multifamily redevelopment project, according to a press release from U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins’ office.

Sutcivni signed off on seven fraudulent HUD grant funding requests submitted by onetime Natick developer and attorney James E. Levin from 2010 to 2011.

The money was for work Levin “falsely claimed to have completed on a building he managed and associated costs,” the release notes.

Sutcivni will have company behind bars, with Levin last year sentenced to 37 months in prison, along with three years of supervised release. He has also been ordered to pay $1.9 million as well.

There’s no word, though, on what happened to that apartment building in Worcester that was at the center of the scam, or, for that matter, what happened to the tenants.

Quick Hits:

Not quite the dumbest thing we’ve read, but it’s up there: “Lucas: Where are Maura Healey’s lawsuits against Joe Biden?”   (Boston Herald)

Killing the messenger, Putin style: “Roman Abramovich and Ukrainian Peace Negotiators Suffer Suspected Poisoning”  (Wall Street Journal)

On second thought, maybe it wasn’t so smart: “The misguided chivalry of Will Smith”  Washington Post

What is Contrarian Boston?

I have fielded emails over the past couple weeks asking what Contrarian Boston is about.

Here’s a link to our mission statement – you can find it in the “about” section.

For a more prosaic, nuts-and-bolts description, read on.

An online newsletter, Contrarian Boston publishes every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. In Contrarian Boston you’ll find analysis of the day’s news, and original reporting as well.

Our focus is:

·      Politics and all levels of governance, good and bad, with an emphasis on state and local, with some national mixed in;

·      Economic growth and business, especially real estate, housing and new development projects;

·      The media and why it does what it does;

·      Education, from school board spats to the doings of multibillion-dollar university endowments;

·      And whatever else catches our fancy.