Menino's $40 million HUD loan -- to big developers
Dec 12, 2008 13:17
Mayor Tom
Menino’s strategy, praised by the
Boston Globe, to lend insolvent
developers $40 million raises a few
questions.
How did he get this kind of money from HUD in the current crunch? (Or was it lying around the BRA from past mis-managed grants?)
If he has $40 million from HUD (an agency created to help the poor), why put it into big wealthy corporations, for whom it is a drop in the bucket, instead of small local businesses and affordable housing, where it could make a real difference? These big projects don’t really help Bostonians in need; most construction and white-collar jobs go to out-of-town residents, and their tax obligations boomerang onto residents when their vacancy rates rise. And the housing in these projects is luxury condos, pied a terres and second (or seventh) homes.
Should the Mayor and the BRA be picking industry winners and losers, “investing” in the development market they are supposed to be regulating?
Should we put our community block grants at risk to bail out developers the private markets won't touch?
And why is Menino again propping up Kensington Investments, whom he allowed to unlawfully demolish the Gaiety Theatre in 2004 – before the credit crisis. He ignored warnings that the company would be unable to build -- and ignored an offer from a qualified developer to restore the Theatre and add housing above. Now he wants to give them public financing. Why? My Public Record request for mayoral documents related to the Kensington/Gaiety project turned up exactly nothing (except -- an e-mail I had written). No records at all in the Mayor's office. Can you believe that?
How did he get this kind of money from HUD in the current crunch? (Or was it lying around the BRA from past mis-managed grants?)
If he has $40 million from HUD (an agency created to help the poor), why put it into big wealthy corporations, for whom it is a drop in the bucket, instead of small local businesses and affordable housing, where it could make a real difference? These big projects don’t really help Bostonians in need; most construction and white-collar jobs go to out-of-town residents, and their tax obligations boomerang onto residents when their vacancy rates rise. And the housing in these projects is luxury condos, pied a terres and second (or seventh) homes.
Should the Mayor and the BRA be picking industry winners and losers, “investing” in the development market they are supposed to be regulating?
Should we put our community block grants at risk to bail out developers the private markets won't touch?
And why is Menino again propping up Kensington Investments, whom he allowed to unlawfully demolish the Gaiety Theatre in 2004 – before the credit crisis. He ignored warnings that the company would be unable to build -- and ignored an offer from a qualified developer to restore the Theatre and add housing above. Now he wants to give them public financing. Why? My Public Record request for mayoral documents related to the Kensington/Gaiety project turned up exactly nothing (except -- an e-mail I had written). No records at all in the Mayor's office. Can you believe that?
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