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State prison plans: mental therapy or torture?
‘Progressive’ City Council abuses vulnerable persons—and free speech
East Cambridge Property
Ten Lessons from the Criminalization of Dissent
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City Hall fiddles while Chronicle fartles
In Cambridge, the mayor is not much more than another city councillor. The City Manager has all the power. However, the mayor does get a bigger salary, a nice big office, a car, a staff and a special budget.
Inadequate, says Mayor Reeves, I need another $20,000 for travel expenses. The Council votes it without batting an eyelash, and the Chronicle has been making a fuss over it ever since. Big, bold headlines every week.
MAYOR MUM ON TRAVEL EXPENSES!
As the Chronicle pores over the Mayor’s restaurant tabs, the paper doesn't notice the price of the City’s library project climbing inexorably toward the hundred million dollar mark, with the cops in hot pursuit.
I mean, with the price of their new headquarters in hot pursuit.
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‘Twas the night of April 11, 2005, and City Manager Healy had a surprise for the City Council. He had found the perfect site for that new police headquarters we had been desperately needing for so long. Showering the Manager with praise and spittle, the councillors promptly and unanimously voted to take 130 Bent Street in East Cambridge by eminent domain.
Meanwhile, back at Fort Healy
This was no “hostile takeover.” In this case the politically-connected owners were only too happy to unload property that had gone sour in the wake of the dot-com bust. The $29 million they got from the City was a 100 percent return on a few years’ investment. Eminent domain was used because it meant only one quick city council vote and no public process.
Several of the councillors spoke of the need to sell the masses on the deal. They were well aware that residents wanted to keep the police headquarters in Central Square. The East Cambridge people had not even been consulted, but none of the councillors seemed to care.
And no second thoughts. Two weeks later, the councillors unanimously approved a motion by Councillor Anthony Galluccio to name the new headquarters after City Manager Bob Healy.
What a great story. A pity the Cambridge Chronicle has never said anything about it.
Ditto the self-anointed friends of the homeowner. As the taxpayers’ money is squandered on extravagances, the Small Property Owners Association (SPOA) are nowhere to be seen.
The night of the eminent domain vote, Councillor Galluccio reassured his fellows that these new expenses would not affect taxpayers, because the City’s property values were booming.
Wake up, folks. When property values go up you pay more property taxes. That’s what it means to rely on the property tax and housing bubble for extravagant new buildings and mayors’ expense accounts.
Oddly, for a City that spends so much on planning and consultants, there has never been a report justifying the cost of a new police headquarters. It is just taken for granted because the police say they need it.
The Department has lusted after a new building for thirty years. Their most substantial complaint is about how hard it is to find a parking space in Central Square.
Some have even mentioned seeing rats in the headquarters building. Wipe that grin off your face or I’ll place you under arrest!