Suffolk DA Kevin Hayden: A reputation unfairly trashed? | Lapdog state regulator gets improbable new mission: Whip T into shape | A still troubled office market | Can Wu revive shuttered shops, restaurants | Globe hunts for new editor | Quick Hits | About Contrarian Boston |
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Reviving dead spaces: Boston eyes big plan to bring new life to vacant restaurants, shops
Downtown Boston remains pockmarked with empty restaurants and shops, a reminder of the wrenching changes wrought by the pandemic.
Some have been vacant for nearly two and a half years, like Hale and Hearty SoupsĀ in the Financial District, which still has the menu for March, 17, 2020 taped its now long-since shuttered front door. (Corn beef and cabbage and vegetarian split pea were the soup specials that day, if you were wondering.)
Now we are about to see whether the Wu administration can make some headway on bringing new life to such long-dead storefronts.
City Hall is preparing to launch a multimillion-dollar campaign to fill dozens of empty restaurant and retail spaces in downtown Boston and in neighborhoods across the city as well.
The aim of the $9 million grant program, to be unveiled next month, is to help budding entrepreneurs move into some of these empty restaurants, shops and storefronts, with a particular emphasis on providing opportunities to minority and women-owned businesses, Segun Idowu, Bostonās economic development chief, told Contrarian Boston.
The money will be distributed in $100,000 blocks spread over three years ā enough to provide a boost for as many as 90 different businesses.
City officials also want to work with building owners and commercial landlords to lower rents for budding shops and restaurants.
Getting landlords to play ball, though, may prove to be a challenge, at least in some cases. Some building owners would invariably rather hold out for an aspirational rent. And in some cases, they may be willing to stick it out for years to get it, bad publicity be damned.
It has been a problem in Downtown Crossing in years past, and itās hardly a phenomenon limited to Boston.
File under: Work in progress.
Bum rap? Progressive stalwart blasts Globe in fiery defense of embattled Suffolk DA
The party line in progressive circles is that the first and decisive leg of the Suffolk County DA race was a choice between two bad options: erstwhile challenger Ricardo Arroyo and incumbent DA Kevin Hayden.
But itās arguably a stilted view that is unfairly trashes Hayden.
Arroyo, a city councilor, had been the darling of the activist set, having pushed a sweeping criminal justice reform agenda and won the backing of Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, among others.
But Arroyo, who lost his bid to unseat the interim Suffolk DA in this weekās primary, was caught in an outrageously blatant falsehood over old police reports showing he was investigated twice as a teen on sexual assault allegations.
Unbelievably, Arroyo claimed to have no knowledge of the allegations or having even been contacted by the police, a story that lasted maybe a day at most before blowing up. It fatally undercut his efforts to point out he was never charged.
But progressives have leaned on another Globe story to justify their distaste for Hayden, the interim Suffolk DA, who seems more comfortable in the role of a traditional prosecutor, as opposed to a criminal justice system revolutionary.
A Hayden deputy in the Suffolk DAās office signaled he wasnāt interested in pursuing a case against a transit cop who waved a gun in the face of a Black Hispanic motorist and then involved a fellow officer to cover it up, according to the Globe story in question.
The story hinges on claims by a lawyer for one of the officers involved in the mess that he was told this by Haydenās deputy. No conflict of interest there.
Yet Hayden signaled he would appoint a prosecutor to review the case in early July, weeks before the Globe began calling around.
Hayden, in turn, has insisted he never dropped the case. So, what if this is just a case of bureaucratic miscommunication and wires getting crossed on part of a new interim DA, who, after all, just took over the office earlier this year?
Thatās what Andrea Cabral, a former Suffolk County sheriff and state secretary of public safety and a power player in progressive politics, strongly suggested in an appearance Thursday on WGBHās Boston Public Radio.
Cabral, a long-time colleague of Haydenās who served as his trainer years ago, said the interim Suffolk DA took on his new job earlier this year with an āunblemishedā record of honesty and straight dealing.
She contends the case against the transit cops was never dismissed.
āI have a huge problem with the Globe story,ā said Cabral. āIt conflicts with everything I know about him. āThey (the Globe) make this leap that this case got dropped.ā
(Former Suffolk County sheriff calls allegations that Suffolk DA Kevin Hayden tanked a case āinsane.ā)
As the new boss on the scene, it can be difficult to get to the bottom of things happening in your office, especially with a case that began under Haydenās predecessor, Cabral said.
āThe narrative got set that he was trying to tank a case,ā Cabral said. āIt is absolutely insane to believe that Kevin Hayden would ever try to tank a case.ā
Rocky times ahead for Greater Boston office market?
It might not seem that way, with news that McKinsey just inked a lease for a big block of space at Winthrop Center, the new skyscraper taking shape in Bostonās Financial District.
(The Boston Business Journal has the scoop on this one ā here the Globeās follow as well.)
But dig a little, and youāll find a substantial amount of uncertainty hanging over the future of the office market, both in the Boston area and beyond.
Office rents remain flat, with āelevated vacanciesā in office buildings across New England, according to the Federal Reserveās latest survey of economic conditions across the region.
And in order to attract tenants, office building owners are turning to generous renovation allowances, according to the report, better known as the Beige Book.
Meanwhile, when it comes to new office projects still in the pipeline, the headwinds are growing.
Rising interest rates are deterring developers from borrowing to build new projects or acquire existing buildings.
While office leasing is expected to pick up later this year, the Fedās contacts also ācautioned that such activity would result in significant tenant downsizing.ā
Effectively, that means new leases, but for less space as companies adjust to hybrid schedules.
āThe outlook was generally pessimistic,ā the Fed report notes.
Ouch!
Foolās errand: Legislature hopes to turn sleepy state regulator into an MBTA watchdog
Forget about the fact that oversight hearings at the State House on the T have been a relatively rare occurrence until a recent flurry of activity.
State lawmakers have found their fall guy for their own appalling lack of oversight when it comes to our off-the-rails mass transit system, and itās the sleepy Department of Public Utilities.
Yes, the DPU technically oversees the T, but in practice, it has focused on regulating the gas and electric industries. Just look at the bios of the three commissioners, which all stress their experience overseeing the utility sector. No mention of transportation, let alone the T.
The DPU earned a reputation in years past as being a bit cozy with the power and gas companies it oversees, with a revolving door between the industry and the commission.
The Baker administration, under fire for its own handling of the catastrophe formerly known as the MBTA, says it is in the process of beefing up the DPU.
We canāt imagine a worse agency to be given the task of whipping the failing T into shape.
Looking for a job? Globe needs new editor
As youāve probably already heard, Brian McGrory is moving on after a decade at the helm of the Globe.
McGrory worked as a reporter, columnist and metro editor at various points before taking the helm of the Globe a decade ago.
To say that these are challenging times for newspapers and the crucial form of journalism they practice is a huge understatement. McGrory led the Globe into the new digital era, while also overseeing a newsroom that won three Pulitzers.
McGrory plans to leave by the end of the year, taking on a new job as chair of Boston Universityās journalism department. He will also write a column for the Globe.
Linda Henry, the Globeās chief executive and wife of the paperās billionaire owner John Henry, told The New York Times that a search is already underway for the next editor.
Stay tuned.
Quick Hits:
My kids will be thrilled: āFor Massachusetts schoolchildren, āA snow day is a snow dayāā Boston Herald
Cool beans: āPresident Biden to visit JFK Library at Columbia Point to deliver āCancer Moonshotā speech on 60th anniversary of Kennedyās Moonshot speechā Boston Herald
Queenās death: The BBC, not surprisingly, has had the best coverage, able to pull out of its archives all sorts of great old clips of Elizabeth in her early days and some of Churchillās famous words of praise. Hereās funny story about the Queen' Elizabethās encounter, while hiking her Scottish estate, with an American tourist who didnāt recognize her: āThe queen was wickedly funny, as James Bond and Paddington Bear found outā Washington Post
About Contrarian Boston
I have fielded emails over the past couple of months asking what Contrarian Boston is about.
Hereās a link to our mission statementĀ ā you can find it in the āaboutā 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 youāll find analysis of the dayās news, and original reporting as well.
Our focus is:
Ā·Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Politics and all levels of governance, good and bad, with an emphasis on state and local, with some national mixed in;
Ā·Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Economic growth and business, especially real estate, housing and new development projects;
Ā·Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā The media and why it does what it does;
Ā·Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Education, from school board spats to the doings of multibillion-dollar university endowments;
Ā·Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā And whatever else catches our fancy.