Big news and Fair Warning---I've been hired to be a Columnist!!!

Thanks to all the readers of my blog who have kept the hits and the comments coming. Apparently we attracted the attention of the South End News, who have hired me to bring my writings to a greater audience. They have hired me as a columnist to write about whatever I want.

I'd like to thank them in advance for giving me this opportunity, and for having the faith in me to let me write about whatever I find interesting in Boston, America and the World. I grew up poor, and believe what Poor Richard's Almanac says about a penny saved is a penny earned. One of the biggest expenditures that could be cut in Boston is the busing budget, and it is the subject of my first column. As a product of public schools, I believe strongly that one of the most important backbones of our freedom is learning critical thinking skills in excellent free public educational institutions.

One of the most critical thinking skills I think I have learned is not to trust politicians. One of the things we hear from people like Mayor Menino or Congressman Capuano is "I treat all people the same". Does anyone believe that? I've called and stopped by the Mayor's office many times over the years looking for a comment or some help on a project, and I'm yet to get one minute with him. But, if someone from the Beal companies calls over to get a tax break for development in Southie, well that's another question.

Anyway, over the years I have tested and prodded the State House, Congress and City Hall, testing things that they have said in the press. The first thing these people do when you call is ask "who is this", and you can't say "I just want to ask a question, I don't want to give my name" because the reality is that you might get a different answer depending on who you are. Since I've been so publicly critical of so many of these guys, they often don't reply or don't answer, or give me an answer they wouldn't give someone else. I've tested this in a couple of different ways, sometimes by having other people call the same politician and ask the same question, and often they get different answers.

Sometimes I identify myself as Richard, as in Kevin Richard McCrea. Sam Yoon has recently been complaining to other City Councilors that I have called his office looking for information and not identifying myself properly. You would think that Sam who has jumped on my Transparency bandwagon lately, wouldn't care who called his office, that he would give everyone the same information, no matter what their name, race, sexual orientation or nationality!

I have run many probes, and asked many questions over the years, often in conjunction with building projects that I am working on. Sometimes, I have staff members of one of my companies call up and get information. We've even kept some audio recordings of some local Boston politicians who have left audio recordings on our answering machines and cell phones which are very revealing. You would be amazed how fast these guys respond when there is potential money involved, as opposed to when you call about an illegal roofdeck or a pothole to be fixed.

So, FAIR WARNING, now that I'm a paid journalist I will always identify myself as Kevin McCrea when I am calling the State House, City Hall or even down to D.C. If I'm contemplating writing about what I am calling about, I will identify myself as being with the South End News. I won't for matters of business or personal edification. Fair enough?

More stuff about taxes, from Universal Hub, etc.

Adam over at Universal Hub (Universalhub.com) who is doing a great service for Boston residents (not to mention occasionally helping me with technical blog issues--THANKS ADAM!) recently crossposted my blog about taxes which started an interesting discussion.

In spending some time last week poring over the numbers one BIG thing became clear. The reason Tom Menino is pushing big developments so much is that he has created a sort of Ponzi scheme with our taxes and city contracts. He has signed contracts with our City employees and unions that assume about a 5 percent increase a year in revenue, despite proposition 2.5 that should limit the growth of our income taxes. So, he needs new revenue, hence pushing big developments as fast as he can, since new developments just add to the tax base. The problem is that since the city is not growing and remains stable at about 600,000 people, those of us who live here are on the hook for those contracts. If commercial values drop, as they likely will in the near future, the residents taxes have to make up the difference to pay those contracts that Menino didn't negotiate very well.

Some of of my friend Steve's answers to some of the questions at the Universal Hub site (http://www.universalhub.com/node/22189#comments) are below:

http://www.universalhub.com/node/22189#comments


All - I am Kevin's anonymous financial person - here are my answers to your postings:

Gareth - yes residential taxes will go down in 2009 - but not for the reason you cite. The tax rate will be about 3% lower - but the residential exemption will also fall to probably about $1350 (it's based on median house price which I believe is down about 10% - maybe a little more). These roughly wash each other out for most homeowners. Net, net, most homeowners will see their taxes go down purely because their home is worth less and because commercial properties had a good 2007 (assessments are based on prior year's values).

Brigid - you are correct - the rate is basically a function of dividing the total amount of taxes collected by the assessed values (with all kinds of adjustments to account for classification, exemptions etc. etc. etc.). Currently 60% of our city's revenue comes from property taxes - I believe this is the highest of any major city in the country. This is extremely dangerous for many reasons - one in my explanation to Gareth below.

Gareth - 2nd blog - you are incorrect on this statement. Residential taxes for an individual or even the whole city can easily increase by greater than 10%. Keep in mind that 2010 taxes are based on values of properties as of Jan 1, 2009 and 2011 on values as of Jan 1, 2010. Commercial properties will pay about $900 million in property tax in 2009 and residential about $500 million. This gets a little complex, but basically a small reduction in commercial valuations can shift a huge amount of taxes to the residential properties (that's why our taxes went up so much from 2004-2008 - mine increased about 50%). If one makes the reasonable assumption that commercial values decrease 10% in each of the next two years and residential values decrease 5% in each year we will see increases of 10% or greater in both years, although this will not be evenly distributed to all owners - some may see 30-40% increases, others only 10-15% increases.

Notwhitey - only if there is a prop 2 1/2 override - otherwise the city will have to cut staff

Property taxes, in plain english

A financial analyst friend of mine has crunched the numbers, as he has for years, usually predicting the next years tax increases within a percentage or two. The bottom line is that Menino is going to manipulate the percentages in this tax year so that he can say he is helping out homeowners, and then he will whack us with up to 10 percent increases in the next couple of years. He can do this for 2009 because the commercial values did not fall as soon or as fast as the residential values, that were set on Jan. 1 2008. So, expect many commercial abatements, but they will come after the rate is set. Since the City is essentially awash in money, having added 7 percent more employees in the last 5 years, he will be able to come up with funds.

The analysis:

After several years of outsized property tax growth in Boston, 2008 and 2009 finds us in the eye of the property tax storm with relatively stable residential taxes thanks primarily to rising commercial taxes that are absorbing a rapidly increasing total tax levy. Residential tax rates will fall slightly from $10.97 per thousand to 10.70 per thousand in 2009 but this will be mostly offset by a lower residential exemption for homeowners. Most property taxpayers will ultimately see lower taxes only due to a fall in the value of their homes. However, concern remains for 2010 as commercial taxes are expected to drop dramatically with the economic slowdown. The result is that residential taxes will rise, perhaps substantially, even if home values continue to deteriorate in 2009. Successful lawsuits from owners of larger commercial properties may exacerbate the shift of tax liability from commercial properties to residential properties in 2010 and beyond.

Boston Globe Editorial Page agrees with me and against Ross, Linehan, etc.

Today the Boston Globe editorial page wrote an opinion about the Boston Common and their improvement fund. See it at:

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2008/12/13/common_wisdom____and_folly/

Their opinion could have been lifted from my blog. They wonder why Boston doesn't fund their parks as adequately as other cities. We can blame this on Mayor Menino and the Council that approves his budget. They also wonder why the Park Ranger staff is down. As I reported, the Parks Personnel staff is up, so why they cut Park Rangers maybe a better question for the Council to ask.

Finally, and most importantly, they realize that the Boston Common Improvement Fund should be a non-starter and makes no sense.

I hope that the council will drop their idea for another hack filled non-profit, and focus solely on improving the Boston Common experience.

Going BIG!

I've been having fierce negotiations this week to bring my blog to a Bigger audience.
Hopefully I will have an announcement next week.

First a few thoughts while looking at City Budget numbers:

In 2006, the City Parks Department had 200 employees. The 1/1/09 projected budget has the Parks department at 212 employees. Why have we cut the number of Park Rangers as Mike Ross reports in his state of the Boston Common report? Clearly it isn't because of lack of personnel.

There is yet another source of revenue for the Parks Department: The non profit Fund for Parks and Recreation that none other than Mike Ross used to be a board member of and may still be now. How much do they have and how much are they giving to the parks.

A guy that occasionally works for me recently requested a $6,000 loan from the Department of Neighborhood Development to put in a heating system. Instead they gave him $10,000 at 0 percent interest for as long as he owns the property. Who says the City doesn't have any money?!

Did you know the City of Boston has 29 full time employees in the Graphic Arts department? What the heck do they do?

Finally, although the Boston Licensing Board is appointed by the Governor (without posting!) the members and the staff are all paid by the City of Boston. When Menino says he has no influence on what the Board does, I, for one, don't believe him one bit. Not from the guy who says he knows what is going on everywhere in the City.

Happy Holidays!!

Don't mess with the Man!

I remember the last time all the banks were failing in the late 80's and early 90's. I was on the T one day and started talking to one of those ranting lunatics we see at parks reading Chomsky novels and pontificating about the unseen forces of Rothchilds and other powerful families controlling the power and money in the world.

He told me that there were 9 banking families in America and they were going to divide up the country into a few regions and consolidate all the money and the banks. I laughed it off inside, as I listened to him intently and enjoyed my ride to North Station.

I was thinking about him yesterday as I went into Bank of America in the morning and chided my friendly tellers about the Governor of Illinois stopping all business between the State of Illinois and Bank of America.

Is it any coincidence that within 24 hours of Blagojevich taking on Bank of America, he finds himself indicted?

Don't mess with the Man!

Boston Common Draft Report has been posted on the City Website

See it here at: http://www.cityofboston.gov/citycouncil/pdfs/DraftReportoftheSCBCv2.pdf


There is much good research in this report. Thanks to the outcry from the citizens they have removed any mention of a Conservancy. They have proposed a non-profit Fund to raise money for the Common. It is unclear to me how a non-profit Fund is any different from the non-profit Friends of the Common.

Troubling is the mention of this Fund being involved in the security of the Common. Security in the City is under the auspices of the Boston Police. Any separate group having any authority to enforce the law on a public piece of ground is problematic.

The report has some interesting ideas about renovating some of the historic fountains and areas, proposes a restaurant with an 8 year lease, and some form of dog park.

I was interested to find out that our Park Ranger force has declined so much in the last few years. How has the City of Boston increased its labor force so much, the City Council increasing its central staff by 8 percent in just the last year, yet we cut the amount of Park Rangers by half. All voted on by Mike Ross. There seems to be more questions about money to be asked, but this is a much better draft than the one originally proposed and as they acknowledge is a work in progress.

Please read it and weigh in with your councilors.

I stand Corrected!

Last week I posted that the daughter of the McDermott who is a partner in the law firm that handles all the Licensing Board cases worked for Maureen Feeney's office. The woman was nice enough to call my answering machine and let me know that I was wrong and that she was not the daughter of that McDermott although her name was McDermott.

I had received that information from someone at City Hall, which obviously was incorrect. Because I wasn't able to verify, I left out the persons name and prefaced the statement with an 'I believe'.

I apologize for my incorrect reporting, especially to the young lady in question.

thanks for setting me straight!

More Research on the Boston Common, and lack of transparency from Councilor Ross's office

Mike Ross is having a working session on the status of Boston Common Monday afternoon at Boston City Hall.

In a process that would make George Orwell proud, Councilor Ross advises you to bring 15 copies of what information or testimony you want to bring to the meeting. But how can you know where you stand on the issue when he won't release his report of what they are proposing??? They had a draft report from their last meeting that included establishing a Conservancy for the Boston Common, but they wouldn't release that report to the public despite it being presented at a public meeting(!?). They have told constituents that they are going to post the new proposals online but as of 2 pm. EST on Saturday they haven't posted that information for a Monday meeting.

A couple of weeks ago after blogged about the idea of a Conservancy the Boston Globe did an article where the Councilors stated that we didn't have enough money for the Common. See it at:

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/11/18/councilors_craft_ideas_for_commons_amenities_funding/

I called Councilor Ross's office up to ask how much is spent on the Common now, how much is needed, and how much their proposals would cost. His office didn't have any of that information.

So I called the Parks Department, and as is so often the case, I spoke to an average hard working down to earth City employee who gave me a wealth of information and some basic common sense.

I asked if there is a breakout on how much we spend on the Boston Common every year. She said no, we don't break it out by park, we buy grass seed and other items for all the parks together. Her colloquialism was "when you buy a big bottle of Windex you don't count how many squirts to clean the bathroom versus how many squirts to clean the kitchen, you get enough to clean the whole house."

I asked her some more financial questions, she said she would check and call me back. Sure enough she called back a few minutes later and said that the Parks department has a 16 million dollar maintenance budget and a 14 million dollar capital improvement budget. The capital budget is planned out 5 to 10 years in advance for big projects like park renovations, and playground upgrades. I asked if the Parks department had done any reports or studies on the Boston Common in the last couple years that identified needs and she said not to her knowledge.

I then mentioned the Globe article which quoted the Councilors as saying we didn't have any money. She beat me to the punch by saying "how can they say they don't have any money if they don't know how much we spend?" I replied "my point exactly".

She then made me crack up and nearly drive off the road with laughter: "it sounds like a teenager asking for money, 'how much is it going to cost', 'I don't know until I spend it', or maybe it sounds like a used car salesman."

I couldn't have said it better myself. When a Parks Department employee equates the Boston City Council actions about a public park to a teenager asking for money you know that something is up.

There are two separate issues here: one is what improvements are going to be made to the park, the second is who is going to control the park. Councilor Ross is trying to combine the two as if they are intertwined when they have nothing to do with each other.

On issue one, improving the park, I applaud the Councilors on their effort to study the Boston Common, get public input on what should be done to the Park and come up with a consensus for making the Park better. My opinions on what physically happens to the park are quite neutral, I support much of what the Friends of the Public Garden recommends: http://www.friendsofthepublicgarden.org/

However, on issue two which is about who controls the Park I have very strong opinions. Conservancy's are a bad idea as I have written about before. They put private control over public spaces. This allows the private entity, which in this case appears to many of the rich businesses and institutions such as Emerson College and Suffolk University, that abut the Common to establish their own rules. In other cases such as the Rose Kennedy Greenway and Post Office Square the Conservancy's have banned freedom of speech, the right to assemble, loitering, etc. I spoke to a photographer from Boston Press Photographers Association who tried to take a photo of a local business leader at Post Office Square and they were escorted off the premise, told to apply for a permit and then had to cool their heels for some time waiting for a response that never came. They took the picture elsewhere. Imagine if you had to ask for permission to take a picture of your kid skating at the Frog Pond?

What is troubling is the lack of transparency about what the Conservancy would do, who would be on it, what control they would have and whether they would accept public funds. If these Institutions and Private Donors want to donate now, they are perfectly able to through the Friends of the Public Garden. Why does Councilor Ross's office refuse to answer any questions about what the structure of this Conservancy as he proposes it, will be???

So why don't they? My experience tells me because they want some quid pro quo. If they give money they want it tied to specific improvements that they want, not necessarily what the People want. Potentially even more diabolical, is that they want to control behavior on the Boston Common, the first and maybe most important Park in the country. They want the right to treat the Common as private property so that they can keep the undesirables away, to control who gets to use the common for Shakespeare on the Park, or for baseball games, and certainly not for hemp rallies.

Until the question is answered about what the Conservancy will do, what rights over the Park they will have, and whether they will take Public money (with no public oversight) this idea should be a non-starter.

Please call Councilor Ross, Councilor Linehan, and Councilor Lamattina with your questions about what this Consevancy will do at 617-635-4000 and hopefully you will tell them that you too do not want private control over this most important Public Space.

No one from City Hall testified at the Governors Ethics Task Force?

The Governor relented and posted the public comments presented at the Public meeting online. You can see them here:

http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=gov3terminal&L=4&L0=Home&L1=Key+Priorities&L2=Civic+Engagement+%26+Strong+Communities&L3=Governor%27s+Task+Force+on+Public+Integrity&sid=Agov3&b=terminalcontent&f=key_priorities_integrity_hearing&csid=Agov3.


I am almost surprised that no one from City Hall, no City Councilors, no one from the Mayors office, no one from the City Law Department came to testify about how our government can be more ethical.

No comment from Councilor Ross on what will be unveiled Monday

I called Councilor Ross's office today to find out if he is still going to propose a conservancy for the Boston Common. With less than 2 working days left after a year long study on the Common apparently it still needs to be held in secrecy. This does not bode well.

His staff responded to the request of whether he was going to still propose a Conservancy with a No Comment. They said that all would be revealed Monday at the public working session. I asked what the next step would be after the working session and they said it would be discussed at that hearing.

So, if you care about keeping public control over Boston Common, transparency in the way we manage our public spaces, the right to assemble and free speech in America's first public park, try and go to the working session on Monday or call Councilor Ross's office at 617-635-4000 and let him know that you are against a Conservancy for the Boston Common.

As mentioned earlier, Bob Terrell is getting into the At-large race

As I mentioned last month, Bob Terrell, a respected citizen out of Roxbury is going to join in the At Large City Councilor Race. There is an interview with him in this weeks Dorchester Reporter.

I'm really hoping that we have a political season next year that transcends race, and deals honestly with the issues of education, safety, and taxes. City Hall is awash in money and fraud and we need people who are going to stand up to business as usual at City Hall Plaza.

An eloquent voice against privatization of the Boston Common

Shirley Kressel writes in today's South End News:

http://www.mysouthend.com/index.php?ch=columns&sc=city_streets&id=84170


This is an excellent summary of why private control over public parks is a bad idea. It is non-transparent, it rewards the rich at the expense of the middle class and poor, it is anti-democratic, and limits free speech. Not really what our founding fathers would approve of.

Working session on the status of the Boston Common next Monday!

Kudos to Mike Ross for holding a public meeting on this subject. I hope that he will allow the public to see his proposal and make it available on the City website. For many reasons I do not believe a Conservancy should be set up for the Boston Common. I think Councilor Ross has dropped this idea, but I'm not sure.

Here is the notice. If you are interested in protecting public ownership of the Boston Common, please call Mike Ross's office at 617-635-4000. Remember, where other conservancies have been set up at Post Office Square and the Rose Kennedy Greenway they have banned Freedom of Speech and other rights of the public. It is a way to make things beautiful for the rich and privileged, and to exclude the hoi polloi.

Here is the notice:

Boston City Council
Notice of Working Session
December 1, 2008
The Boston City Council’s Special Committee on Boston Common will hold a working session on
Monday, December 8, 2008 at 3:30PM in the Curley Room, fifth floor, Boston City Hall.
The subject of the working session is:
Docket #0284 – Order for a hearing regarding the Boston Common.
This matter was sponsored by Councilor Ross and referred to the Committee on 2/27/2008.
Members of the public are cordially invited to attend. If you have not attended a Council working session
before, please arrive (5) minutes before the call of the session to become familiar with the working
session format. Please bring fifteen (15) copies of any written documentation you wish to present at the
working session. If you know of others who may be interested in this working session, kindly notify them.
Written comments may be made part of the record and available to all Councilors by sending them by
email, fax or mail to arrive before the working session, please use the address below.
For the Committee:
Michael P. Ross, Chair
Special Committee on Boston Common
Mail Address: Attn. Juan Lopez-Docket 0284 - Boston City Council, Boston, MA 02201
Fax Number: (617) 635-4203 Attn: Juan Lopez –Docket 0284
Telephone Number: (617) 635-3041
Email Contact: juan.lopez@cityofboston.gov

What happened at the Governor's ethics panel hearing today?

Here is the summary from someone who was there:

They not only refused to open their meetings to the public, but refused to provide or post the testimonies until they issue their report!


It was reported that there was a bunch of good testimony there, too bad they won't publicize it or make it available.

Another great and funny example of the dishonesty at City Hall

Don't ask me why, but I was looking for Tom Menino's website to see what his vision for the future of the City is (and next I will find the Holy Grail!) and I found the following website: http://www.mumblesmenino.us/TD%20Banknorth%20Billboard.htm

which lays out in detail and with humor how a citizen gets the runaround at City Hall asking about how it is possible there is an illegal billboard on the TD Banknorth Garden.

Globe reports "another development" 6 days after you read it on my blog!

Matt Visor had a story today about Therese Murray and the US attorney reaching out to black clergy in Dianne Wilkersons district:

"In another development, US Attorney Michael J. Sullivan has also sought to meet with clergy members, according to a source briefed on the discussions. Sullivan has been criticized by some black leaders because his investigation so far has resulted in the arrest of two influential black politicians, Wilkerson and Boston city councilor Chuck Turner.

It is extraordinary for a prosecutor to try to respond to such criticisms."

If you scroll way down on my blog you will find this information already.

Article in Boston Globe about Licensing Board leaves out one other connection

Donovan Slack wrote an interesting article in the Globe today about the connected insiders getting liquor licenses for their clients. The other connection she doesn't make, I believe, is that the daughter of the law partner McDermott of McDermott, Quilty & Miller used to work for City Council President Feeney.

The comment I like most is yet another lie from Tom Menino:

"From neighbors to business owners, he treats everyone the same," said spokeswoman Dorothy Joyce.

Who believes this guy?

Years ago (way before I was politically active) I won a BRA project which I put 20 percent affordable housing in, built on time, on budget, with the correct amount of minority and local residents working on the project. I was invited to a speech by Menino and when he was shaking hands with everyone afterwards I said I'd love to get 5 minutes of his time to talk about how we could build more affordable housing in the City. He looked at me, and said "we are already doing enough." I then made a request to his office to have a meeting and never heard back. Now clearly, some people get to meet with him, so they are getting preferential treatment to those of us citizens who would like to meet with him to talk about issues to make Boston better.

At least John Connolly and his father are being honest by saying "no comment."

Public Integrity Task Force hearing tomorrow-go and voice your displeasure!

The Governors task force which is meeting in secret to talk about ethics (Jumbo Shrimp, Military Intelligence, secret ethics?- notice a pattern) is having a public hearing tomorrow at 3:30 pm where the citizens can come and air their grievances and suggest solutions. Please go if you can!

They are asking people to submit their testimony in advance (!?), maybe to eliminate any real rabble rousers, hopefully just to streamline things. Good for Pam Wilmot of Common Cause who is on the committee for saying that all the meetings need to be held in public. Maybe she could record the meetings and release them to the press and public, post them on Youtube.

Here is the email someone sent me with the info:


Wednesday, 3:30 pm, Room A-2
http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=gov3subtopic&L=4&L0=Home&L1=Key+Priorities&L2=Civic+Engagement+%26+Strong+Communities&L3=Governor%27s+Task+Force+on+Public+Integrity&sid=Agov3


Website also says to tell them if one is planning to testify and send the testimony in advance. Hmmm....screening the testimony?


"Please indicate whether you intend to testify and submit your advance written testimony to: Integrity.TaskForce@massmail.state.ma.us"

Fascinating article in Time Magazine

There is a great article about Mrs. Rhee in this weeks Time Magazine. She is the new superintendent of the Washington DC school system that has a take no prisoners approach to building the best urban school system in the country.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1862444,00.html

What I like about her is that she is shooting for excellence, as opposed to accepting mediocrity, which is too often the case with our complacent city government.