Downtown Crossing Goes Wild for American Patriots

Posted on April 19, 2010 by admin

I took this rather repulsive photo from a moving Red Line car this morning. Pictured items of discarded clothing include a shirt and a thong and some pants of a sort. Plus some water. Don’t forget to hydrate!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The Holes that the Boom Forgot

Posted on April 19, 2010 by admin

My latest column for the Globe is in print and online today. It looks at all the wreckage that the boom left behind – sites that were supposed to breathe new life into Boston, but instead, have turned into little pockets of blight all around town. I spotlight six (Lovejoy Wharf, the old Shreve’s HQ, the Quiet Man, Emerald Court, the Dainty Dot and Kensington Place), but there are dozens of similar busted projects rotting around the region. Filene’s and Columbus Center were just the beginning.

If you’re so inclined, you can read the whole thing by clicking here.

Posted in Business, Media | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

This Week in B&T: Top Investors Hitting Bottom?

Posted on April 19, 2010 by admin

Interesting piece online now in this week’s issue of Banker & Tradesman. Normandy Real Estate Partners, the guys who stole the John Hancock Tower out from under those snakebitten New Yorkers, are now finding out what it’s like to be managing a portfolio of over-leveraged boom-time acquisitions. Spoiler: It’s not fun, or lucrative.

Also, Vornado’s tight-lipped CEO, Mike Fascitelli, charms our pants right off while begging the Herald for some decent press. And he got it! Seriously, all he had to do was ask.

Posted in Business, Media | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Introducing the Most Epic Paper Jam Ever

Posted on April 19, 2010 by admin

This is what the printer now looks like in our editorial pit. Pictured: A rat’s nest of fifty-odd pages of paper. Something tells me it’s heading toward an Office Space printer funeral.

I call dibs on the baseball bat.

Posted in Media | Tagged , | Leave a comment

If This Lady Wasn’t 55, I’d Nominate Her for Wicked Summah

Posted on April 14, 2010 by admin

Maybe they need a house mother?

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | Leave a comment

No’Point

Posted on April 12, 2010 by admin

My latest for the Globe is now online. It’s a column about what it feels like to walk around that new park in NorthPoint.

The thing is, nobody’s ever in the park because the project is a wreck, so you’re left with a new park that’s framed by some mostly-empty condo buildings and a big trash pit. What an awesome place for a walk! And, surely, an even awesome-er place to drop several hundred thousand dollars on a new home for you and yours.

The whole thing lives on the internet, right here.

[B&T image]

Posted in Business, Media | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Fort Point Lobstermen Return!

Posted on April 9, 2010 by admin

Last year this blog hyperventilated over the sighting of something floating around in Fort Point Channel that was not trash, but instead was designed to capture crustaceans intended for human consumption: Some fool was plopping lobster pots into the sometimes-brackish waters between Northern Avenue and Summer Street.

Dude apparently took the winter off. Yesterday, though, I noticed four sets of buoys floating near Congress Street. And here’s the proof. DON’T EAT THE GLOWING GREEN LOBSTER BTW.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | Leave a comment

Local Vandal Is Not a Fan of Local Health Care Provider

Posted on April 9, 2010 by admin

Spotted on the wall of a Dunkin’ Donuts yesterday, at the corner of Boylston and Washington in Chinatown.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | Leave a comment

In Shocker, People on the Internet Have Opinions

Posted on April 2, 2010 by admin

Letters came rolling in today on Monday’s Globe editorial about the Greenway. (Did I forget to say that it’s online here? Because it is.) This person points out the example of Post Office Square – a park that, along with Columbus Park, raises some uncomfortable questions for Greenway planners about density and use. And then there’s this guy, who says that reconstruction of the neighborhoods along the path of the old Inner Belt is only a few decades old, so let’s give it some time already.

Posted in Media | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Busted Condo Project Now Has a Busted Sign

Posted on March 25, 2010 by admin

Was walking around Lechmere this morning and noticed that at NorthPoint, the would-be Cambridge multi-billion-dollar mini-city plagued by lawsuits and nasty infighting and sluggish sales (just five market-rate condos have closed since the start of last July), even the signs are broken. How’s that for fair warning?

Posted in Business | Tagged , | Leave a comment