Chinatown eyes W jobs
Residents seek priority at new hotel
By Thomas Grillo | Tuesday, March 31, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Business & Markets
Photo by Lisa Hornak
Chinatown residents packed a community center yesterday demanding that the new W Hotel hire locally.
“We ask that the W Hotel give us priority when it comes to job opportunities,” said Henry Yee, co-chair of the Chinese Residents Association. “This neighborhood can provide all the qualified workers you need.”
In passionate remarks, residents called upon the W to establish hiring goals for the neighborhood, provide equal consideration to qualified applicants with limited English skills, accept paper and online applications and guarantee that job seekers will not be charged a fee to apply for work.
Lydia Lowe, executive director of the Chinese Progressive Association, a grassroots community group, organized the rally after getting no response from W Hotel management.
William Bunce, the hotel’s general manager, surprised the activists by attending the session at the Metropolitan Community Room.
He said the W’s agreement with the city requires a goal of at least 50 percent of the hires be from Boston. He said that a three-day job fair will be held at the Franklin Institute on Berkeley Street in May, and a Chinatown hiring office will follow.
But he did not provide a percentage of Chinatown residents that would get hired.
“My first priority is to reach out to Chinatown,” Bunce said. “We are hoping the applicants come from this community. But I can’t specify how many people we will hire from Chinatown.”
The W Hotel, under construction on Stuart Street, needs about 300 workers.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1162338
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Cab Association Sues City of Boston over Hybrid Requirement
Cabbies' suit says hybrid rule threatens work
By Jonathan Saltzman, Globe Staff | March 31, 2009
A group of taxi drivers and medallion owners is suing the City of Boston to block the requirement that all 1,825 cabs in the city be hybrids by 2015, saying the measure could put many of them out of business.
The plaintiffs say they do not oppose hybrid cars and generally favor the greening of the fleet. But they bristle at a regulation that they must buy new hybrids instead of less expensive used ones, and want the city to delay the changeover.
"I support the used hybrids," said a plaintiff, Raphael Ophir of Jamaica Plain, who owns three hackney medallions and leases them to several cabdrivers. "But with this economy, with big companies going into Chapter 11, and with no credit available . . . delay it for two or three years."
Andrew Hebert, a manager at USA Taxi Garage in Dorchester and the publisher of a magazine for the taxi industry in Boston called Rearview Mirror, said: "The owners are essentially saying, 'Look, we're not against going green, we're against going broke.' "
Officials from the Police Department's Hackney Carriage Unit, which regulates the taxi industry, would not comment on the federal lawsuit, according to Elaine Driscoll, a police spokeswoman.
However, James W. Hunt III, the city's chief of environmental and energy services, said Boston has shown sensitivity to the taxi industry, raising fares in August to one of the highest rates in the country and agreeing to phase in the switch to hybrids over seven years.
"The city has developed a reasonable rule with reasonable timelines that provides incentives for drivers and owners to reduce costs, and protects the public health of the citizens of Boston," he said. He added that greater fuel economy will help offset the cost of new hybrids.
The dispute stems from a rule announced Aug. 29 by Mayor Thomas M. Menino and Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis that raised fares to improve air quality and upgrade the cab fleet. Under the fare increase, customers pay $5 for the first mile and $2.80 a mile after that, up from $2.40.
Traditionally, most taxis in Boston are used Ford Crown Victorias purchased from the police and refurbished for commercial use. Such cars can cost as little as about $4,000, Ophir said, although Hunt put the cost at between $7,500 and $10,000.
Cab owners are required to replace taxis every six years to maintain the condition of the fleet. Starting this year, drivers began replacing 2002 cabs with better gas-mileage hybrids, mostly Toyota Camrys. Ophir said hybrid Camrys cost about $30,000, including the expense of converting them to cabs. Hunt said the cost is about $25,000.
About 10 percent of the 1,825 cabs are now hybrids, Driscoll said.
New Camry hybrids get about 34 miles per gallon compared with new Crown Victorias, which get about 20 miles per gallon.
In its lawsuit filed Friday in US District Court in Boston, a group led by Ophir that calls itself the Boston Taxi Operators Association said the new rule is unreasonable because it forbids taxi owners from buying used hybrids. Used hybrids are often hard to find, the plaintiffs acknowledged, but can cost a third of the price of a new hybrid, the association said.
The association, which represents nearly 200 medallions, according to Ophir, also contended that car insurance for new hybrids can be two or three times as expensive as for used ones.
"Whether it's a new hybrid or a used hybrid, either way it's helping the environment," said Paul H. Merry, a Boston lawyer hired by the association.
The association also contends that conventional cars such as the Toyota Sienna and Dodge Caravan are in the top 10 percent of fuel-efficient cars, even if they don't perform as well as a hybrid.
The plaintiffs were buoyed by a recent federal court ruling in New York City in response to a similar effort there to increase the use of fuel-efficient taxicabs.
In October, US District Judge Paul A. Crotty blocked New York from implementing Mayor Michael Bloomberg's initiative to require taxicab replacements to meet fuel efficiency standards consistent with hybrid models. The initiative would have resulted in an all-hybrid fleet by 2012.
The judge sided with taxi owners, who contended that fuel economy and vehicle emissions standards are the domain of the federal government, not the city.
The Boston Taxi Operators Association makes a similar argument in its 24-page complaint, saying Boston is violating the federal Clean Air Act by requiring a hybrid taxi fleet.
George Summers, who owns USA Taxi Garage and is a plaintiff, also contended that Camrys were not built to serve as cabs and may not hold up as well as heavy-duty Crown Victorias. Cabdrivers can easily put more than 100,000 miles a year on a taxi.
Ophir, 59, a native of the nation of Georgia, said the new rule was enacted with little input from the taxi industry and that he will have difficulty staying in business if the rule is not relaxed.
A former cabdriver, Ophir purchased three medallions from the city over the past 25 years for about $621,000 and leases them. The drivers are hardworking immigrants from Somalia, Morocco, and Ethiopia, he said, and cannot afford to buy new hybrids.
Alluding to his background as a resident of the former Soviet Union, Ophir said that city officials pushing for hybrid taxis "want to be more socialist, but they want capitalists to pay for their socialist ideas."
Jonathan Saltzman can be reached at jsaltzman@globe.com
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
By Jonathan Saltzman, Globe Staff | March 31, 2009
A group of taxi drivers and medallion owners is suing the City of Boston to block the requirement that all 1,825 cabs in the city be hybrids by 2015, saying the measure could put many of them out of business.
The plaintiffs say they do not oppose hybrid cars and generally favor the greening of the fleet. But they bristle at a regulation that they must buy new hybrids instead of less expensive used ones, and want the city to delay the changeover.
"I support the used hybrids," said a plaintiff, Raphael Ophir of Jamaica Plain, who owns three hackney medallions and leases them to several cabdrivers. "But with this economy, with big companies going into Chapter 11, and with no credit available . . . delay it for two or three years."
Andrew Hebert, a manager at USA Taxi Garage in Dorchester and the publisher of a magazine for the taxi industry in Boston called Rearview Mirror, said: "The owners are essentially saying, 'Look, we're not against going green, we're against going broke.' "
Officials from the Police Department's Hackney Carriage Unit, which regulates the taxi industry, would not comment on the federal lawsuit, according to Elaine Driscoll, a police spokeswoman.
However, James W. Hunt III, the city's chief of environmental and energy services, said Boston has shown sensitivity to the taxi industry, raising fares in August to one of the highest rates in the country and agreeing to phase in the switch to hybrids over seven years.
"The city has developed a reasonable rule with reasonable timelines that provides incentives for drivers and owners to reduce costs, and protects the public health of the citizens of Boston," he said. He added that greater fuel economy will help offset the cost of new hybrids.
The dispute stems from a rule announced Aug. 29 by Mayor Thomas M. Menino and Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis that raised fares to improve air quality and upgrade the cab fleet. Under the fare increase, customers pay $5 for the first mile and $2.80 a mile after that, up from $2.40.
Traditionally, most taxis in Boston are used Ford Crown Victorias purchased from the police and refurbished for commercial use. Such cars can cost as little as about $4,000, Ophir said, although Hunt put the cost at between $7,500 and $10,000.
Cab owners are required to replace taxis every six years to maintain the condition of the fleet. Starting this year, drivers began replacing 2002 cabs with better gas-mileage hybrids, mostly Toyota Camrys. Ophir said hybrid Camrys cost about $30,000, including the expense of converting them to cabs. Hunt said the cost is about $25,000.
About 10 percent of the 1,825 cabs are now hybrids, Driscoll said.
New Camry hybrids get about 34 miles per gallon compared with new Crown Victorias, which get about 20 miles per gallon.
In its lawsuit filed Friday in US District Court in Boston, a group led by Ophir that calls itself the Boston Taxi Operators Association said the new rule is unreasonable because it forbids taxi owners from buying used hybrids. Used hybrids are often hard to find, the plaintiffs acknowledged, but can cost a third of the price of a new hybrid, the association said.
The association, which represents nearly 200 medallions, according to Ophir, also contended that car insurance for new hybrids can be two or three times as expensive as for used ones.
"Whether it's a new hybrid or a used hybrid, either way it's helping the environment," said Paul H. Merry, a Boston lawyer hired by the association.
The association also contends that conventional cars such as the Toyota Sienna and Dodge Caravan are in the top 10 percent of fuel-efficient cars, even if they don't perform as well as a hybrid.
The plaintiffs were buoyed by a recent federal court ruling in New York City in response to a similar effort there to increase the use of fuel-efficient taxicabs.
In October, US District Judge Paul A. Crotty blocked New York from implementing Mayor Michael Bloomberg's initiative to require taxicab replacements to meet fuel efficiency standards consistent with hybrid models. The initiative would have resulted in an all-hybrid fleet by 2012.
The judge sided with taxi owners, who contended that fuel economy and vehicle emissions standards are the domain of the federal government, not the city.
The Boston Taxi Operators Association makes a similar argument in its 24-page complaint, saying Boston is violating the federal Clean Air Act by requiring a hybrid taxi fleet.
George Summers, who owns USA Taxi Garage and is a plaintiff, also contended that Camrys were not built to serve as cabs and may not hold up as well as heavy-duty Crown Victorias. Cabdrivers can easily put more than 100,000 miles a year on a taxi.
Ophir, 59, a native of the nation of Georgia, said the new rule was enacted with little input from the taxi industry and that he will have difficulty staying in business if the rule is not relaxed.
A former cabdriver, Ophir purchased three medallions from the city over the past 25 years for about $621,000 and leases them. The drivers are hardworking immigrants from Somalia, Morocco, and Ethiopia, he said, and cannot afford to buy new hybrids.
Alluding to his background as a resident of the former Soviet Union, Ophir said that city officials pushing for hybrid taxis "want to be more socialist, but they want capitalists to pay for their socialist ideas."
Jonathan Saltzman can be reached at jsaltzman@globe.com
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Monday, March 30, 2009
Strega owner to open deli, 2nd Strega, and concierge service
North End sultan piles plate high
By Gayle Fee and Laura Raposa | Monday, March 30, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | The Inside Track
Photo by Ted Fitzgerald
Recession - what recession? North End restaurant sultan Nick Varano is big and getting bigger.
While most entrepreneurs are cautiously riding out the economic collapse, the sultan of Strega and Nico in the North End is piling lots of new projects on his plate.
Nick Varano’s Famous Deli will start hawking gabbagool sangwitches and jars of Strega’s marinara sauce in late May in the old Martignetti’s space at the entrance to the North End.
“It’s going to be like the Stage Deli in New York where they have sandwiches named for famous people, only we will have them named for Boston people,” said Nicky, as he tucked into his eggplant rollatini at lunch at Strega the other day.
How ’bout some hot spicy tongue for the Inside Track?
And next year, Varano and his business development guy, Boston restaurant biz veteran Jeff Iovino, have their sights set on the waterfront - namely Fan Pier - where he’ll open a second Strega and Caffe Di Marina, an Italian coffee bar inspired by Espressamente in the Venetian in Vegas.
“They use Illy coffee there which is the best, the BEST,” opined Nicky. “It’s so expensive (in the U.S.), but it’s worth the money to serve it if you’re looking to have an authentic Italian caffe experience.”
And if that isn’t enough to mangia, Varano plans to open North End Concierge since, you know, he’s already the North End Concierge.
“You have no idea how many calls I got asking for tickets for the NCAA games,” laughed the man who was front and center for Villanova’s beatdown on Duke at the Garden last week.
He also has a film production company with a feature flick in the works and a consulting company for business types who would rather get advice from an experienced entrepreneur with street smarts than a Harvard MBA .
Speaking of street smarts, can we discuss the recession?
“Look, why wait?” Varano asked. “Now, there’s deals everywhere - people have space to fill and I want to fill it.”
File Under: Big Plans.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/track/inside_track/view.bg?articleid=1162103
By Gayle Fee and Laura Raposa | Monday, March 30, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | The Inside Track
Photo by Ted Fitzgerald
Recession - what recession? North End restaurant sultan Nick Varano is big and getting bigger.
While most entrepreneurs are cautiously riding out the economic collapse, the sultan of Strega and Nico in the North End is piling lots of new projects on his plate.
Nick Varano’s Famous Deli will start hawking gabbagool sangwitches and jars of Strega’s marinara sauce in late May in the old Martignetti’s space at the entrance to the North End.
“It’s going to be like the Stage Deli in New York where they have sandwiches named for famous people, only we will have them named for Boston people,” said Nicky, as he tucked into his eggplant rollatini at lunch at Strega the other day.
How ’bout some hot spicy tongue for the Inside Track?
And next year, Varano and his business development guy, Boston restaurant biz veteran Jeff Iovino, have their sights set on the waterfront - namely Fan Pier - where he’ll open a second Strega and Caffe Di Marina, an Italian coffee bar inspired by Espressamente in the Venetian in Vegas.
“They use Illy coffee there which is the best, the BEST,” opined Nicky. “It’s so expensive (in the U.S.), but it’s worth the money to serve it if you’re looking to have an authentic Italian caffe experience.”
And if that isn’t enough to mangia, Varano plans to open North End Concierge since, you know, he’s already the North End Concierge.
“You have no idea how many calls I got asking for tickets for the NCAA games,” laughed the man who was front and center for Villanova’s beatdown on Duke at the Garden last week.
He also has a film production company with a feature flick in the works and a consulting company for business types who would rather get advice from an experienced entrepreneur with street smarts than a Harvard MBA .
Speaking of street smarts, can we discuss the recession?
“Look, why wait?” Varano asked. “Now, there’s deals everywhere - people have space to fill and I want to fill it.”
File Under: Big Plans.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/track/inside_track/view.bg?articleid=1162103
Sunday, March 29, 2009
BBQ Beach Party Moving to Suffolk Downs
BBQ party moving to Suffolk Downs
By Donna Goodison | Sunday, March 29, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Business & Markets
Barbecue fans won’t be sunning themselves on a makeshift beach on Boston’s City Hall Plaza this summer and sucking clean some ribs.
After two years of holding its BBQ Beach Party in the middle of the city, the Phantom Gourmet instead will be trucking 100 tons of sand and its lineup of barbecue masters to Suffolk Downs and the MGM Grand at Foxwoods in Connecticut in June.
The logistics and layout of both venues will make it easier to stage the event, which last year attracted some 50,000 people over five days, according to Phantom Gourmet CEO Dave Andelman.
Dallas “Beef Baron” Green, of Cowboys Barbecue & Rib Co. in Texas, brings in a barbecue truck that’s 60 feet long.
“To try get that situated on City Hall Plaza given the steps there is a pretty big challenge, and he’s just one of the 10 teams,” Andelman said. “It’s like building a small town.”
The Suffolk Downs event will be held in the parking lot of the East Boston horse racing facility. The layout will allow Phantom Gourmet to place a live band directly on a riser on the “beach.”
“This event requires about 250,000 square feet, so Suffolk is a great facility in the sense that you get a lot of flat space, they have thousands of parking spaces, and you can get there really easily on the Blue Line,” Andelman said.
The BBQ Beach Party also will be staged in a parking lot facing the highway at MGM Grand at Foxwoods.
Tickets for the events - set for June 19-21 at MGM Grand, and June 26-28 at Suffolk Downs - are expected to go on sale tomorrow.
Phantom Gourmet has hired a full-time promotions and events person to handle its increasingly busy schedule, which this year will include a new Phantom Gourmet Wine & Food Phest at the Bayside Expo Center on May 2. The tagline for the event, which will feature 30 wines and 30 foods and a giant purple dance floor, is “wine snobs need not apply.”
“When I’ve seen other wine events, they’re either small and uptight or they’re just a trade show,” Andelman said. “When you go to our events, it feels like a (Jimmy) Buffet concert or a tailgate.”
Andelman and his brothers also are taking over the longtime hot dog fundraiser that their father, sports radio talk show host Eddie Andelman, had hosted for the last 19 years. The renamed Phantom Gourmet Hot Dog Safari will be held May 31 at Suffolk Downs as a benefit for the Joey Fund and Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
“My company has moved more into the event business, and Eddie said why don’t you take this over and start growing it and make sure it sticks around for another 20 years,” Dave Andelman said.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1161905
By Donna Goodison | Sunday, March 29, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Business & Markets
Barbecue fans won’t be sunning themselves on a makeshift beach on Boston’s City Hall Plaza this summer and sucking clean some ribs.
After two years of holding its BBQ Beach Party in the middle of the city, the Phantom Gourmet instead will be trucking 100 tons of sand and its lineup of barbecue masters to Suffolk Downs and the MGM Grand at Foxwoods in Connecticut in June.
The logistics and layout of both venues will make it easier to stage the event, which last year attracted some 50,000 people over five days, according to Phantom Gourmet CEO Dave Andelman.
Dallas “Beef Baron” Green, of Cowboys Barbecue & Rib Co. in Texas, brings in a barbecue truck that’s 60 feet long.
“To try get that situated on City Hall Plaza given the steps there is a pretty big challenge, and he’s just one of the 10 teams,” Andelman said. “It’s like building a small town.”
The Suffolk Downs event will be held in the parking lot of the East Boston horse racing facility. The layout will allow Phantom Gourmet to place a live band directly on a riser on the “beach.”
“This event requires about 250,000 square feet, so Suffolk is a great facility in the sense that you get a lot of flat space, they have thousands of parking spaces, and you can get there really easily on the Blue Line,” Andelman said.
The BBQ Beach Party also will be staged in a parking lot facing the highway at MGM Grand at Foxwoods.
Tickets for the events - set for June 19-21 at MGM Grand, and June 26-28 at Suffolk Downs - are expected to go on sale tomorrow.
Phantom Gourmet has hired a full-time promotions and events person to handle its increasingly busy schedule, which this year will include a new Phantom Gourmet Wine & Food Phest at the Bayside Expo Center on May 2. The tagline for the event, which will feature 30 wines and 30 foods and a giant purple dance floor, is “wine snobs need not apply.”
“When I’ve seen other wine events, they’re either small and uptight or they’re just a trade show,” Andelman said. “When you go to our events, it feels like a (Jimmy) Buffet concert or a tailgate.”
Andelman and his brothers also are taking over the longtime hot dog fundraiser that their father, sports radio talk show host Eddie Andelman, had hosted for the last 19 years. The renamed Phantom Gourmet Hot Dog Safari will be held May 31 at Suffolk Downs as a benefit for the Joey Fund and Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
“My company has moved more into the event business, and Eddie said why don’t you take this over and start growing it and make sure it sticks around for another 20 years,” Dave Andelman said.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1161905
Business people are eating out less and loosing weight
Waist reduction
Deal-makers trade high-calorie meals for low-cost lunches as economic downturn trims business expense accounts, midriffs
By Sarah Schweitzer, Globe Staff | March 29, 2009
As a banker who puts together complex loan packages for developers and other high-fliers, Adam Liptak has felt the recession's pain in the now all-too-familiar ways. But in the months since the credit markets went into piston-lock, he has noticed an unexpected and beneficial side effect: He has dropped 35 pounds.
He's says he's been exercising more, but he's also had another radical lifestyle change. All those dinners with clients at The Capital Grille, get-to-know-yous over beef carpaccio, 20-ounce porterhouse steaks, and creamed spinach, all those bottles of Cabernet and Bordeaux - they are now "practically nonexistent," Liptak said. "There is no wining and dining anymore."
In the stratospheric world of deal-making where just six months ago high-power, high-calorie business lunches and dinners were considered essential parts of the job, many of its players now are opting for comparatively austere meetings over coffee or solo lunches of tuna-on-rye at their desks. And they are losing weight.
The pounds have been shed as corporate spigots have tightened, making the sumptuous meals a newly frowned-upon excess. The doldrums of the economy, too, have lessened impulses to socialize. And for some, there is a sense that eating large at a time when others are hurting may no longer be appropriate.
"Every company has laid off somebody. How would you feel if you got laid off and you saw executives hopping out of cars and into a restaurant?" Liptak said. "There's sensitivity to that."
The thinning ranks of the region's executives and financiers has spurred business for tailors in Wellesley and Harvard Square on Newbury Street in Boston, who report a steady stream of clients dropping off cashmere top coats, Brooks Brothers suit skirts, and Brioni trousers in need of resizing for trimmer physiques.
"People are bringing in clothes from their closets because they don't want to spend money on new clothes," said Jordan Tsavalakoglou, a tailor who has been working on Newbury Street for nearly three decades. "But they need the clothes taken in in order to fit them."
Some clothiers, like Giblees in Danvers, have noticed their larger suits and trousers sitting on racks unpurchased. In recent months, the store has changed its inventory, scaling back its sizes. Today the store's largest-size suit is a 52, the largest trouser a 46, down from 54 and 48, respectively.
"My clients are working more, getting out less," said Alan Gibeley, the store's co-owner. "It's become a more regimented cycle for them."
To be sure, the more widespread phenomenon of the moment is weight gain. Doctors report a surge in unhealthful eating among patients who have turned to inexpensive high-fat foods to save money. Others have sought comfort in food - among them, corporate executives and bankers.
Yet, take Ted Charles. When the recession first hit, the 66-year-old chairman of Investors Capital Holdings, an 850-broker financial services firm based in Lynnfield, began eating more to calm his nerves. But when the food took a toll on his body, he ramped up his gym workouts. Meanwhile, his meals with clients at places like Smith & Wollensky Steakhouse dramatically dwindled - from two to three times a week, to twice a month.
"I'm no liberal. If I wanted to go out and eat red meat and wine, I would."
But he said the mood of the business world has shifted, making for a period of inwardness and diminished sociability.
"There is a sense of malaise. People don't feel like going out. They are very unhappy about the way things are going. They are sad. They are not going out and celebrating. There is not much to celebrate."
Today, his weight is down, from 214 six months ago to 206 a month ago to 198, he said as he prepared to tuck into a lunchtime do-it-yourself Caprese salad he had purchased at a corner market.
For many expense account types, there was no having soup and salad at client meals.
"When I would go out to eat with these guys, every one of them wanted to eat a steak with a few bottles of wine at a sitting," said Christopher Smith of Stow, a 38-year-old vice president of sales for a software company. "The problem is, you didn't want it, but you had to eat it because the whole thing was to make them have a good experience."
A hunk of cheesecake invariably rounded out the evening, and come morning, Smith would eat a big breakfast to "set off" the big dinner and skip the gym.
"It was all a downward spiral," he said.
Now the meals are gone from Smith's evenings, and he spends the time at the gym, often with his trainer, pumping away the stresses of a deteriorating economy. He's lost six pounds.
Smith recently made a bet with 13 men on his sales team. Whoever loses the most weight at the next sales meeting in two months wins "bragging rights" and "something you don't want to put in the paper." The loser must doff his shirt at the meeting.
The phenomenon is not limited to men. Tailors report that a good number of clients bringing in clothes for resizing are women. Liptak's wife, Heather, has lost weight, too. She credits some of her loss to working out with their Wii, which they purchased when it became clear that her growing workload as a national accounts manager would leave less time for going to spin class at the gym.
"Being a man, of course, he lost twice as much weight as me," she said.
For some, weight loss in the midst of the recession has been a rare bright spot.
"When you're in shape, you feel better about yourself; it gives you a more positive outlook," Charles said.
He's feeling so buoyant, in fact, he said he might revisit the Armani stores where he has had trouble fitting into their sizes in the past. (A man who answered the phone at Armani Exchange said sizes there have not changed in recent months. "The majority of our clients are small to begin with.")
"Maybe I could shop there now," Charles said.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Deal-makers trade high-calorie meals for low-cost lunches as economic downturn trims business expense accounts, midriffs
By Sarah Schweitzer, Globe Staff | March 29, 2009
As a banker who puts together complex loan packages for developers and other high-fliers, Adam Liptak has felt the recession's pain in the now all-too-familiar ways. But in the months since the credit markets went into piston-lock, he has noticed an unexpected and beneficial side effect: He has dropped 35 pounds.
He's says he's been exercising more, but he's also had another radical lifestyle change. All those dinners with clients at The Capital Grille, get-to-know-yous over beef carpaccio, 20-ounce porterhouse steaks, and creamed spinach, all those bottles of Cabernet and Bordeaux - they are now "practically nonexistent," Liptak said. "There is no wining and dining anymore."
In the stratospheric world of deal-making where just six months ago high-power, high-calorie business lunches and dinners were considered essential parts of the job, many of its players now are opting for comparatively austere meetings over coffee or solo lunches of tuna-on-rye at their desks. And they are losing weight.
The pounds have been shed as corporate spigots have tightened, making the sumptuous meals a newly frowned-upon excess. The doldrums of the economy, too, have lessened impulses to socialize. And for some, there is a sense that eating large at a time when others are hurting may no longer be appropriate.
"Every company has laid off somebody. How would you feel if you got laid off and you saw executives hopping out of cars and into a restaurant?" Liptak said. "There's sensitivity to that."
The thinning ranks of the region's executives and financiers has spurred business for tailors in Wellesley and Harvard Square on Newbury Street in Boston, who report a steady stream of clients dropping off cashmere top coats, Brooks Brothers suit skirts, and Brioni trousers in need of resizing for trimmer physiques.
"People are bringing in clothes from their closets because they don't want to spend money on new clothes," said Jordan Tsavalakoglou, a tailor who has been working on Newbury Street for nearly three decades. "But they need the clothes taken in in order to fit them."
Some clothiers, like Giblees in Danvers, have noticed their larger suits and trousers sitting on racks unpurchased. In recent months, the store has changed its inventory, scaling back its sizes. Today the store's largest-size suit is a 52, the largest trouser a 46, down from 54 and 48, respectively.
"My clients are working more, getting out less," said Alan Gibeley, the store's co-owner. "It's become a more regimented cycle for them."
To be sure, the more widespread phenomenon of the moment is weight gain. Doctors report a surge in unhealthful eating among patients who have turned to inexpensive high-fat foods to save money. Others have sought comfort in food - among them, corporate executives and bankers.
Yet, take Ted Charles. When the recession first hit, the 66-year-old chairman of Investors Capital Holdings, an 850-broker financial services firm based in Lynnfield, began eating more to calm his nerves. But when the food took a toll on his body, he ramped up his gym workouts. Meanwhile, his meals with clients at places like Smith & Wollensky Steakhouse dramatically dwindled - from two to three times a week, to twice a month.
"I'm no liberal. If I wanted to go out and eat red meat and wine, I would."
But he said the mood of the business world has shifted, making for a period of inwardness and diminished sociability.
"There is a sense of malaise. People don't feel like going out. They are very unhappy about the way things are going. They are sad. They are not going out and celebrating. There is not much to celebrate."
Today, his weight is down, from 214 six months ago to 206 a month ago to 198, he said as he prepared to tuck into a lunchtime do-it-yourself Caprese salad he had purchased at a corner market.
For many expense account types, there was no having soup and salad at client meals.
"When I would go out to eat with these guys, every one of them wanted to eat a steak with a few bottles of wine at a sitting," said Christopher Smith of Stow, a 38-year-old vice president of sales for a software company. "The problem is, you didn't want it, but you had to eat it because the whole thing was to make them have a good experience."
A hunk of cheesecake invariably rounded out the evening, and come morning, Smith would eat a big breakfast to "set off" the big dinner and skip the gym.
"It was all a downward spiral," he said.
Now the meals are gone from Smith's evenings, and he spends the time at the gym, often with his trainer, pumping away the stresses of a deteriorating economy. He's lost six pounds.
Smith recently made a bet with 13 men on his sales team. Whoever loses the most weight at the next sales meeting in two months wins "bragging rights" and "something you don't want to put in the paper." The loser must doff his shirt at the meeting.
The phenomenon is not limited to men. Tailors report that a good number of clients bringing in clothes for resizing are women. Liptak's wife, Heather, has lost weight, too. She credits some of her loss to working out with their Wii, which they purchased when it became clear that her growing workload as a national accounts manager would leave less time for going to spin class at the gym.
"Being a man, of course, he lost twice as much weight as me," she said.
For some, weight loss in the midst of the recession has been a rare bright spot.
"When you're in shape, you feel better about yourself; it gives you a more positive outlook," Charles said.
He's feeling so buoyant, in fact, he said he might revisit the Armani stores where he has had trouble fitting into their sizes in the past. (A man who answered the phone at Armani Exchange said sizes there have not changed in recent months. "The majority of our clients are small to begin with.")
"Maybe I could shop there now," Charles said.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
State Tourism Conference Article
Hotel revenue forecast grim
By Donna Goodison | Saturday, March 28, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Business & Markets
Massachusetts tourism executives who gathered in Boston yesterday for the Governor’s Conference on Travel & Tourism got a bleak forecast for the rest of the year.
Though the Bay State’s tourism industry is outperforming the nation’s, declining economic conditions aren’t expected to turn around locally until at least 2010.
“We all know that consumers are making hard choices about travel and counting every penny,” said Betsy Wall, executive director of the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism.
The state’s leisure and hospitality sector lost 1.8 percent of its jobs in January compared to the previous year, close to the national average of 1.9 percent, said Federal Reserve economist Bo Zhao.
The state’s hotels, meanwhile, are expected to see a 7.5 percent drop in occupancy this year to 57 percent. Revenue per available room, a key hotel metric because it factors demand and room rates, is forecast to sink 13 percent to $75.81, according to new projections by Pinnacle Advisory Group.
The recession has prompted the consulting firm to twice revise its projections since July.
For Boston and Cambridge hotels, occupancy is now expected to fall to 69 percent in 2009 - a 9.2 percent drop - compared to Pinnacle’s prior forecast in October for a 72 percent occupancy rate.
But revenue per available room for Boston and Cambridge is expected to take a hard hit, plummeting 17.4 percent to $132.75. That compares to the $170 rate originally forecast by Pinnacle last July.
The good news for local hoteliers is only two new properties will open this year: the W Boston and Ames Hotel.
Historic attractions also will continue to attract visitors, and Massachusetts has strong international appeal, Pinnacle’s Rachel Roginsky said.
“We are going to be in some difficult times, but all those attributes will help us recover,” she said.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1161676
By Donna Goodison | Saturday, March 28, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Business & Markets
Massachusetts tourism executives who gathered in Boston yesterday for the Governor’s Conference on Travel & Tourism got a bleak forecast for the rest of the year.
Though the Bay State’s tourism industry is outperforming the nation’s, declining economic conditions aren’t expected to turn around locally until at least 2010.
“We all know that consumers are making hard choices about travel and counting every penny,” said Betsy Wall, executive director of the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism.
The state’s leisure and hospitality sector lost 1.8 percent of its jobs in January compared to the previous year, close to the national average of 1.9 percent, said Federal Reserve economist Bo Zhao.
The state’s hotels, meanwhile, are expected to see a 7.5 percent drop in occupancy this year to 57 percent. Revenue per available room, a key hotel metric because it factors demand and room rates, is forecast to sink 13 percent to $75.81, according to new projections by Pinnacle Advisory Group.
The recession has prompted the consulting firm to twice revise its projections since July.
For Boston and Cambridge hotels, occupancy is now expected to fall to 69 percent in 2009 - a 9.2 percent drop - compared to Pinnacle’s prior forecast in October for a 72 percent occupancy rate.
But revenue per available room for Boston and Cambridge is expected to take a hard hit, plummeting 17.4 percent to $132.75. That compares to the $170 rate originally forecast by Pinnacle last July.
The good news for local hoteliers is only two new properties will open this year: the W Boston and Ames Hotel.
Historic attractions also will continue to attract visitors, and Massachusetts has strong international appeal, Pinnacle’s Rachel Roginsky said.
“We are going to be in some difficult times, but all those attributes will help us recover,” she said.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1161676
Study Claims State Movie Tax Credits Don't Work
Study: Say goodbye to Hollywood
Report claims state tax credits don’t pay off
By Dave Wedge | Saturday, March 28, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Local Coverage
Massachusetts is chasing a pipe dream in its quest to become “Hollywood East,” as it wages a taxpayer-funded “lunatic competition” with 40 other states for fleeting film dollars, the authors of a new study say.
“It’s very unlikely Massachusetts will be able to create a sustainable industry on the level of Los Angeles or New York,” said Cornell University professor Susan Christopherson, who co-authored a new study raising questions about government giveaways to movie moguls.
“The subsidies they’re giving the productions don’t have a long-term economic impact for the state,” she added.
The report argues that New York and L.A. already have a monopoly on the entertainment industry and that the 40 other states giving tax incentives are merely fighting for table scraps.
“In New York and Los Angeles, this infrastructure has taken over 100 years to build,” states the report, which is under review by the Journal of Planning Education and Research. “And without this infrastructure, a state that subsidizes footloose film or TV production projects has little chance of building a sustainable local industry.”
But Nick Paleologos, head of the Massachusetts Film Office, rejected the findings and said tax credits are “an expenditure” to stimulate the local economy.
“Almost every other study I’m aware of shows the benefit to the local private economy far outweighs the cost of the tax credit itself,” Paleologos said. “The proof is in the pudding.”
The new report notes that in Rhode Island, tax breaks have returned just 28 cents on the dollar to the state, while in Connecticut, taxpayers have recouped just 8 cents per dollar.
The report also found that tax breaks to entertainment conglomerates far outpace local arts spending, including in Massachusetts, where $31 million in tax credits was doled out in 2007, but just $12 million was spent on arts.
Christopherson and co-author Ned Rightor, a Needham employment expert, also found that Massachusetts and other states wind up “turning a tax credit into a grant” because the government will buy back tax credits at a discount.
“Forty states, including Massachusetts, are making a bad investment because they’re financing projects from which very large media conglomerates profit,” Rightor said. “I would raise the question why the taxpayers of Massachusetts or any other state should pay to produce products for these private companies.”
Paleologos acknowledged stiff competition among states but said Massachusetts is poised to thrive. The Boston area’s revived movie industry took off with the 2005 filming of the Academy Award-winning “The Departed” and has continued with a slew of recent hits, including “Gone Baby Gone” and “Paul Blart: Mall Cop.”
State Rep. Brian Wallace, an ardent backer of the tax breaks, said the incentives have created thousands of jobs, brought in $535 million in new revenue and resulted in 19 Hollywood productions over the past 18 months. He pointed to new studios slated to be built in South Boston, Weymouth and Plymouth as proof the Bay State is becoming “Hollywood East.”
“These people sit up in their ivory towers and don’t know what we’re doing,” Wallace (D-South Boston) said. “I’ve seen the jobs they’ve created. I don’t care what studies say. I’m thrilled.”
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1161706
Report claims state tax credits don’t pay off
By Dave Wedge | Saturday, March 28, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Local Coverage
Massachusetts is chasing a pipe dream in its quest to become “Hollywood East,” as it wages a taxpayer-funded “lunatic competition” with 40 other states for fleeting film dollars, the authors of a new study say.
“It’s very unlikely Massachusetts will be able to create a sustainable industry on the level of Los Angeles or New York,” said Cornell University professor Susan Christopherson, who co-authored a new study raising questions about government giveaways to movie moguls.
“The subsidies they’re giving the productions don’t have a long-term economic impact for the state,” she added.
The report argues that New York and L.A. already have a monopoly on the entertainment industry and that the 40 other states giving tax incentives are merely fighting for table scraps.
“In New York and Los Angeles, this infrastructure has taken over 100 years to build,” states the report, which is under review by the Journal of Planning Education and Research. “And without this infrastructure, a state that subsidizes footloose film or TV production projects has little chance of building a sustainable local industry.”
But Nick Paleologos, head of the Massachusetts Film Office, rejected the findings and said tax credits are “an expenditure” to stimulate the local economy.
“Almost every other study I’m aware of shows the benefit to the local private economy far outweighs the cost of the tax credit itself,” Paleologos said. “The proof is in the pudding.”
The new report notes that in Rhode Island, tax breaks have returned just 28 cents on the dollar to the state, while in Connecticut, taxpayers have recouped just 8 cents per dollar.
The report also found that tax breaks to entertainment conglomerates far outpace local arts spending, including in Massachusetts, where $31 million in tax credits was doled out in 2007, but just $12 million was spent on arts.
Christopherson and co-author Ned Rightor, a Needham employment expert, also found that Massachusetts and other states wind up “turning a tax credit into a grant” because the government will buy back tax credits at a discount.
“Forty states, including Massachusetts, are making a bad investment because they’re financing projects from which very large media conglomerates profit,” Rightor said. “I would raise the question why the taxpayers of Massachusetts or any other state should pay to produce products for these private companies.”
Paleologos acknowledged stiff competition among states but said Massachusetts is poised to thrive. The Boston area’s revived movie industry took off with the 2005 filming of the Academy Award-winning “The Departed” and has continued with a slew of recent hits, including “Gone Baby Gone” and “Paul Blart: Mall Cop.”
State Rep. Brian Wallace, an ardent backer of the tax breaks, said the incentives have created thousands of jobs, brought in $535 million in new revenue and resulted in 19 Hollywood productions over the past 18 months. He pointed to new studios slated to be built in South Boston, Weymouth and Plymouth as proof the Bay State is becoming “Hollywood East.”
“These people sit up in their ivory towers and don’t know what we’re doing,” Wallace (D-South Boston) said. “I’ve seen the jobs they’ve created. I don’t care what studies say. I’m thrilled.”
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1161706
Friday, March 27, 2009
Dozens of Right Whales Appear off Cape Cod
Right whales put on heartening show
Endangered, dozens appear off Cape
By Beth Daley, Globe Staff | March 27, 2009
A magnificent marine spectacle is drawing scores of awe-struck spectators to the sandy beaches of Provincetown: giant rare whales, more than 70 of them, thrashing, frolicking, but mostly feeding in Cape Cod Bay.
Scientists have never seen so many North Atlantic right whales in the bay so early in the spring - and they say the unprecedented group is a heartening reminder of the resiliency of the federally endangered species that has been ravaged by ship strikes and fishing gear entanglements in recent decades. Almost 20 percent of the estimated 375 leviathans left in the world have been seen in the bay in recent weeks, including ones researchers say they've never seen before there.
"We see a lot of these animals through the years, but it is just remarkable - jaw-dropping - to see so many," said Charles "Stormy" Mayo, senior scientist at the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies, which has been conducting aerial and ship surveys of the whales for more than two decades. He said the animals started showing up in January, with their numbers dramatically increasing in recent weeks.
The lure appears to be billions of tiny marine organisms called zooplankton that have had a particularly productive year in the waters north and east of Cape Cod. Currents carried this whale food into the bay and within about a mile of Cape beaches. That means people can see the 40-ton, 45-foot animals best through binoculars - and by looking for their telltale flukes above the water surface.
But the sightseeing may get even better: Scientists say zooplankton that can thrive in shallow surface waters could move in later in the spring. If that happens, the whales will probably follow and could feed within 100 feet of shore in some areas around Provincetown.
For now, the animals are acting like college students at a spring break pool party. They court one another by thrashing and rolling and, if lucky, mate - hopefully to produce young in their calving grounds off Georgia and Florida. But like college students, they also spend a lot of time eating - up to 4,000 pounds each a day.
"They are like plankton vacuum cleaners," said Ian Bowles, the state secretary of energy and environmental affairs. He went out to see the whales last spring when there was also a large number in the bay. "You can see them cruising . . . with their mouths open. I'm delighted to welcome them back to the Commonwealth."
For centuries, hunters harpooned the right whales, so named because they were the "right whale" to hunt from the 11th century into the 1900s. Lumbering and feeding close to the surface, they were easy to kill. And once dead, they conveniently floated to the surface. The whales' blubber oozed with valuable oil, and the giant mammals also held a fortune in the fringed plates of their upper jaws. The dark-brown material served as an early plastic, used in everything from corsets to combs. In 1935, the League of Nations outlawed right whale hunting, but by then, there were few left in the western North Atlantic.
Unlike other species, right whale populations never significantly bounced back once hunting eased. Today, ship strikes and fishing gear entanglements continue to plague them. This winter alone, five right whales were spotted entangled off Georgia and Florida. Yet there is reason for hope, scientists say: Efforts are underway to get more fishermen to use whale-friendly fishing gear. New rules went into effect late last year to force large ships to slow down near right whales. Shipping lanes into Boston were shifted two years ago to make sure big ships encountered whales less often.
The Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, scientists say, has worked intensively to ensure there are few ship strikes and fishing entanglements in the bay. And this year, a record number of calves - around 40 - have been born off Florida and Georgia.
So in many ways, scientists and whale lovers say, the gathering in Cape Cod Bay is almost a celebration - a sign that maybe things are beginning to turn around for the right whale. It is the third year whale numbers have been high in the bay; last year, scientists estimated 70 to 100 were feeding there, although later in the season.
Mayo said the best places to view the animals are between the Race Point and Herring Cove beaches in Provincetown, and occasionally bayside beaches in Truro and Wellfleet.
Don't get in a boat to see them: Federal and state law prohibits anyone from getting within 500 yards of a North Atlantic right whale.
"It's like the swallows of Capistrano," Mayo said. Just like that "dramatic arrival is a harbinger of spring . . . the same thing happens here with whales in Cape Cod Bay."
Daley can be reached at bdaley@gl
Endangered, dozens appear off Cape
By Beth Daley, Globe Staff | March 27, 2009
A magnificent marine spectacle is drawing scores of awe-struck spectators to the sandy beaches of Provincetown: giant rare whales, more than 70 of them, thrashing, frolicking, but mostly feeding in Cape Cod Bay.
Scientists have never seen so many North Atlantic right whales in the bay so early in the spring - and they say the unprecedented group is a heartening reminder of the resiliency of the federally endangered species that has been ravaged by ship strikes and fishing gear entanglements in recent decades. Almost 20 percent of the estimated 375 leviathans left in the world have been seen in the bay in recent weeks, including ones researchers say they've never seen before there.
"We see a lot of these animals through the years, but it is just remarkable - jaw-dropping - to see so many," said Charles "Stormy" Mayo, senior scientist at the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies, which has been conducting aerial and ship surveys of the whales for more than two decades. He said the animals started showing up in January, with their numbers dramatically increasing in recent weeks.
The lure appears to be billions of tiny marine organisms called zooplankton that have had a particularly productive year in the waters north and east of Cape Cod. Currents carried this whale food into the bay and within about a mile of Cape beaches. That means people can see the 40-ton, 45-foot animals best through binoculars - and by looking for their telltale flukes above the water surface.
But the sightseeing may get even better: Scientists say zooplankton that can thrive in shallow surface waters could move in later in the spring. If that happens, the whales will probably follow and could feed within 100 feet of shore in some areas around Provincetown.
For now, the animals are acting like college students at a spring break pool party. They court one another by thrashing and rolling and, if lucky, mate - hopefully to produce young in their calving grounds off Georgia and Florida. But like college students, they also spend a lot of time eating - up to 4,000 pounds each a day.
"They are like plankton vacuum cleaners," said Ian Bowles, the state secretary of energy and environmental affairs. He went out to see the whales last spring when there was also a large number in the bay. "You can see them cruising . . . with their mouths open. I'm delighted to welcome them back to the Commonwealth."
For centuries, hunters harpooned the right whales, so named because they were the "right whale" to hunt from the 11th century into the 1900s. Lumbering and feeding close to the surface, they were easy to kill. And once dead, they conveniently floated to the surface. The whales' blubber oozed with valuable oil, and the giant mammals also held a fortune in the fringed plates of their upper jaws. The dark-brown material served as an early plastic, used in everything from corsets to combs. In 1935, the League of Nations outlawed right whale hunting, but by then, there were few left in the western North Atlantic.
Unlike other species, right whale populations never significantly bounced back once hunting eased. Today, ship strikes and fishing gear entanglements continue to plague them. This winter alone, five right whales were spotted entangled off Georgia and Florida. Yet there is reason for hope, scientists say: Efforts are underway to get more fishermen to use whale-friendly fishing gear. New rules went into effect late last year to force large ships to slow down near right whales. Shipping lanes into Boston were shifted two years ago to make sure big ships encountered whales less often.
The Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, scientists say, has worked intensively to ensure there are few ship strikes and fishing entanglements in the bay. And this year, a record number of calves - around 40 - have been born off Florida and Georgia.
So in many ways, scientists and whale lovers say, the gathering in Cape Cod Bay is almost a celebration - a sign that maybe things are beginning to turn around for the right whale. It is the third year whale numbers have been high in the bay; last year, scientists estimated 70 to 100 were feeding there, although later in the season.
Mayo said the best places to view the animals are between the Race Point and Herring Cove beaches in Provincetown, and occasionally bayside beaches in Truro and Wellfleet.
Don't get in a boat to see them: Federal and state law prohibits anyone from getting within 500 yards of a North Atlantic right whale.
"It's like the swallows of Capistrano," Mayo said. Just like that "dramatic arrival is a harbinger of spring . . . the same thing happens here with whales in Cape Cod Bay."
Daley can be reached at bdaley@gl
Franklin Cafe in South Boston review
Third Franklin Cafe charms
By Mat Schaffer | Friday, March 27, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Dining Reviews
FRANKLIN SOUTHIE: B
It was late December 1996 when Franklin Cafe opened on Shawmut Avenue in the South End, with owners Dave Dubois behind the stove and Maureen McLaughlin behind the bar.
Business was gangbusters from the get-go, thanks to reasonable prices, high-end, high-test cocktails, late hours and giant portions of American pub grub cooked with a soupcon of savoir-faire. Boston’s restaurant community fast adopted the Franklin as an after-work haunt. Neighbors ate there several times a week.
In 2000, Dubois and McLaughlin opened Franklin Cape Ann in Gloucester. And now, there’s a third - Franklin Southie, on the corner of Dorchester Avenue and West Broadway.
This Franklin is triple the size of the original and lacks its down-at-the-heels lassitude (ahem, charm). With green walls, walnut tables, picture windows and mirrored bar, Franklin Southie is stylish and chic - and deafeningly loud.
Longtime Shawmut Avenue chef Brian Reyelt oversees the kitchen. Surprisingly, the menu is short on many signature dishes. No seared chicken livers on horseradish and fennel salad, no grilled calamari, no roast turkey meatloaf with spiced fig gravy and no classic steak frites.
There is, however, a selection of freshly shucked clams, oysters and jumbo shrimp - $2 apiece.
And you can still enjoy such lesser Franklin specialties as crispy butternut and chive spring rolls ($8) - too greasy but nonetheless delicious. Dunk them into herbed creme fraiche. And iceberg lettuce salad ($7) garnished with bacon, a thick slice of tomato and ladle of blue-cheese dressing. It’s a BLT - minus the toast.
Aggressively smokey (sic) skillet-roasted mussels ($8) meant to be dipped into clarified butter are good enough to overlook the bad spelling.
Steamed pork shu mai ($9) are Chinatown terrific. Slather with hot mustard and drop into gingery soy. Huzzah for the salt and pepper, cornichons and shallot simplicity of prime steak tartare ($11) crowned with a round of brioche, melted parmesan cracker and broiled egg yolk.
Part of the Franklin’s enduring appeal has been its recession-style pricing, instituted well before the economic downturn. Affordable price tags belie high-end ingredients, Old World culinary techniques and attention to detail. At Franklin Southie, the most expensive entree is $20.
Which buys you a chunk of black-pepper rubbed, seared sashimi tuna loin, wonderfully raw in the middle. It’s delicious with chive mashed potatoes, citrusy butter sauce and a scoop of (overly) dressed greens.
Breaded and fried pork tenderloin Milanese ($18) garnished with minced garlic, parsley and lemon zest gremolata boasts crunchy coating and moist meat. Accompanying parmesan and green-pea risotto is equally delectable.
Chicken tests the mettle of any chef and Reyelt aces it with Cafe chicken ($17) - a juicy Statler, served with roasted new potatoes, roasted onion and shallot, apple and bacon gravy.
Shrimp with the heat ($18) - a bowl of shellfish and handmade macaroni in spicy, toasted garlic tomato sauce - is flavorfully sassy. But the shaved pecorino romano on top would surely annoy true Italians, who eschew grated cheese on seafood pastas.
The savvy international wine list has multiple bargains. The 2007 Argyle Pinot Noir ($33) we ordered for the tuna and pork was disappointingly lightweight - but an ’07 Argiolas Costamolino Vermentino ($26) has the stone fruit heft to complement both the chicken and shrimp.
You’ll often find Hub bartending legend PeterCipriani mixing drinks. ’Nuff said.
Service is laid-back yet efficient.
Like its South End sibling, Franklin Southie offers no dessert. Nor does it have a valet or nearby lot and, like Shawmut Ave., street parking is at a premium. Which makes this a neighborhood place. And that, after all, is what the Franklin is all about.
152 Dorchester Ave. (South Boston). 617-269-1003; franklincafe.com.
Price: $20-$40
Hours: Daily: 5:30 p.m.- 1:30 a.m. Brunch: Sat. & Sun., 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
Bar: Full
Credit: All
Recession Specials: No
Accessibility: Accessible
Parking: On street
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/entertainment/food_dining/reviews/view.bg?articleid=1161367
By Mat Schaffer | Friday, March 27, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Dining Reviews
FRANKLIN SOUTHIE: B
It was late December 1996 when Franklin Cafe opened on Shawmut Avenue in the South End, with owners Dave Dubois behind the stove and Maureen McLaughlin behind the bar.
Business was gangbusters from the get-go, thanks to reasonable prices, high-end, high-test cocktails, late hours and giant portions of American pub grub cooked with a soupcon of savoir-faire. Boston’s restaurant community fast adopted the Franklin as an after-work haunt. Neighbors ate there several times a week.
In 2000, Dubois and McLaughlin opened Franklin Cape Ann in Gloucester. And now, there’s a third - Franklin Southie, on the corner of Dorchester Avenue and West Broadway.
This Franklin is triple the size of the original and lacks its down-at-the-heels lassitude (ahem, charm). With green walls, walnut tables, picture windows and mirrored bar, Franklin Southie is stylish and chic - and deafeningly loud.
Longtime Shawmut Avenue chef Brian Reyelt oversees the kitchen. Surprisingly, the menu is short on many signature dishes. No seared chicken livers on horseradish and fennel salad, no grilled calamari, no roast turkey meatloaf with spiced fig gravy and no classic steak frites.
There is, however, a selection of freshly shucked clams, oysters and jumbo shrimp - $2 apiece.
And you can still enjoy such lesser Franklin specialties as crispy butternut and chive spring rolls ($8) - too greasy but nonetheless delicious. Dunk them into herbed creme fraiche. And iceberg lettuce salad ($7) garnished with bacon, a thick slice of tomato and ladle of blue-cheese dressing. It’s a BLT - minus the toast.
Aggressively smokey (sic) skillet-roasted mussels ($8) meant to be dipped into clarified butter are good enough to overlook the bad spelling.
Steamed pork shu mai ($9) are Chinatown terrific. Slather with hot mustard and drop into gingery soy. Huzzah for the salt and pepper, cornichons and shallot simplicity of prime steak tartare ($11) crowned with a round of brioche, melted parmesan cracker and broiled egg yolk.
Part of the Franklin’s enduring appeal has been its recession-style pricing, instituted well before the economic downturn. Affordable price tags belie high-end ingredients, Old World culinary techniques and attention to detail. At Franklin Southie, the most expensive entree is $20.
Which buys you a chunk of black-pepper rubbed, seared sashimi tuna loin, wonderfully raw in the middle. It’s delicious with chive mashed potatoes, citrusy butter sauce and a scoop of (overly) dressed greens.
Breaded and fried pork tenderloin Milanese ($18) garnished with minced garlic, parsley and lemon zest gremolata boasts crunchy coating and moist meat. Accompanying parmesan and green-pea risotto is equally delectable.
Chicken tests the mettle of any chef and Reyelt aces it with Cafe chicken ($17) - a juicy Statler, served with roasted new potatoes, roasted onion and shallot, apple and bacon gravy.
Shrimp with the heat ($18) - a bowl of shellfish and handmade macaroni in spicy, toasted garlic tomato sauce - is flavorfully sassy. But the shaved pecorino romano on top would surely annoy true Italians, who eschew grated cheese on seafood pastas.
The savvy international wine list has multiple bargains. The 2007 Argyle Pinot Noir ($33) we ordered for the tuna and pork was disappointingly lightweight - but an ’07 Argiolas Costamolino Vermentino ($26) has the stone fruit heft to complement both the chicken and shrimp.
You’ll often find Hub bartending legend PeterCipriani mixing drinks. ’Nuff said.
Service is laid-back yet efficient.
Like its South End sibling, Franklin Southie offers no dessert. Nor does it have a valet or nearby lot and, like Shawmut Ave., street parking is at a premium. Which makes this a neighborhood place. And that, after all, is what the Franklin is all about.
152 Dorchester Ave. (South Boston). 617-269-1003; franklincafe.com.
Price: $20-$40
Hours: Daily: 5:30 p.m.- 1:30 a.m. Brunch: Sat. & Sun., 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
Bar: Full
Credit: All
Recession Specials: No
Accessibility: Accessible
Parking: On street
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/entertainment/food_dining/reviews/view.bg?articleid=1161367
DePasquale to Open Splash in former News space, Lyons Group to open The Lansdowne in former Jake Ivories Space
The News: Kneeland St. gets Splash
By Donna Goodison | Friday, March 27, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Business & Markets
Photo by Angela Rowlings
Frank De Pasquale is hoping to make waves on Boston’s Kneeland Street with a new “ultra-lounge” slated to open in May.
The restaurateur is revamping News, which closed in February after seven years, into Splash.
“It’s going to be very loungy, very modern, very Miami, L.A. and Las Vegas,” with a relaxed vibe, low-slung leather seating, house music, TVs, and VIP, billiards and function rooms, De Pasquale said.
The inspiration for Splash, which will cater to an over-25 upscale crowd, came from a visit to AquaKnox in Las Vegas. “Not too many restaurants are using a water theme,” De Pasquale said.
Water will trickle down a glass wall at the entrance, and the new rooftop deck will feature a decorative fountain with cabanas, beds, lounge chairs and shrubbery.
Splash’s regular menu will include a dozen gourmet burgers, and appetizers and tapas ranging from salads to zucchini blossoms, grilled octopus, bacalao - salted codfish - and barbecue pork, chicken and lamb skewers.
Wednesdays will be geared toward the ladies with designer fashion shows, and “Rehab Sundays” will spotlight brunch.
Splash will serve food until the wee hours, about 5 or 6 a.m., on Fridays, Saturdays and Sunday holidays. After alcohol sales stop by 2 a.m., a $20 admission will cover a breakfast buffet, and the full menu will still be available.
De Pasquale Ventures takes in $10 million a year. Its other businesses are Bricco, Trattoria Il Panino, Express and Mare restaurants; Gelateria; North End Scene Magazine and North End Business Journal; and the soon-to-open Gigi Gelateria and De Pasquale’s Homemade Pasta Shop - all in the North End.
It also owns Umbria in the Financial District, which will soon become Umbria Prime, with a new emphasis on prime, corn-fed, aged beef and seafood. Umbria’s top three nightclub floors, closed for three years, also will reopen at the end of April on weekends.
Although former Celtics [team stats] player Jo Jo White made overtures about taking over the restaurant and nightclub, those talks never panned out, De Pasquale said.
After operating Irish pubs outside the Hub - The Trinity in Atlantic City and The Dubliner at Mohegan Sun - Patrick Lyons is giving his heritage a nod in Boston.
The Lansdowne is under construction in the former Jake Ivory’s piano bar spot on Lansdowne Street next to Fenway Park [map].
The 8,000-square-foot, multimillion-dollar Irish pub will have a warm, “old-school” Irish atmosphere with beautiful millwork and an emphasis on food, according to Lyons.
Irish lunch and dinner fare will include shepherd’s pie, fish and chips, bangers and mash, and fish and lamb pies, while traditional Irish breakfast will be served Saturdays and Sundays.
“We’re catering to people who live in the area first, people who visit Lansdowne Street second, and third will be the people who come to Fenway,” Lyons said. He and partners Steve Coyle and Ed Sparks are shooting for an April or May opening.
Live entertainment, reserved for a corner of the pub, will focus on acoustic, singer-songwriter, folk and Irish music. The Lansdowne also will broadcast European rugby and soccer matches.
The pub’s name not only pays homage to the street where Lyons made his fortune in the nightclub business. Lansdowne Road was the former Dublin sports stadium owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union that took its own name from an adjacent street.
Lyons previously planned to reopen his former Avalon and Axis nightclubs as the Lansdowne Street Music Hall, but instead sold the properties to Live Nation, which opened the House of Blues Boston there last month.
Turning the Tables runs every other Friday. Send restaurant tips to dgoodison@bostonherald.com.
By Donna Goodison | Friday, March 27, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Business & Markets
Photo by Angela Rowlings
Frank De Pasquale is hoping to make waves on Boston’s Kneeland Street with a new “ultra-lounge” slated to open in May.
The restaurateur is revamping News, which closed in February after seven years, into Splash.
“It’s going to be very loungy, very modern, very Miami, L.A. and Las Vegas,” with a relaxed vibe, low-slung leather seating, house music, TVs, and VIP, billiards and function rooms, De Pasquale said.
The inspiration for Splash, which will cater to an over-25 upscale crowd, came from a visit to AquaKnox in Las Vegas. “Not too many restaurants are using a water theme,” De Pasquale said.
Water will trickle down a glass wall at the entrance, and the new rooftop deck will feature a decorative fountain with cabanas, beds, lounge chairs and shrubbery.
Splash’s regular menu will include a dozen gourmet burgers, and appetizers and tapas ranging from salads to zucchini blossoms, grilled octopus, bacalao - salted codfish - and barbecue pork, chicken and lamb skewers.
Wednesdays will be geared toward the ladies with designer fashion shows, and “Rehab Sundays” will spotlight brunch.
Splash will serve food until the wee hours, about 5 or 6 a.m., on Fridays, Saturdays and Sunday holidays. After alcohol sales stop by 2 a.m., a $20 admission will cover a breakfast buffet, and the full menu will still be available.
De Pasquale Ventures takes in $10 million a year. Its other businesses are Bricco, Trattoria Il Panino, Express and Mare restaurants; Gelateria; North End Scene Magazine and North End Business Journal; and the soon-to-open Gigi Gelateria and De Pasquale’s Homemade Pasta Shop - all in the North End.
It also owns Umbria in the Financial District, which will soon become Umbria Prime, with a new emphasis on prime, corn-fed, aged beef and seafood. Umbria’s top three nightclub floors, closed for three years, also will reopen at the end of April on weekends.
Although former Celtics [team stats] player Jo Jo White made overtures about taking over the restaurant and nightclub, those talks never panned out, De Pasquale said.
After operating Irish pubs outside the Hub - The Trinity in Atlantic City and The Dubliner at Mohegan Sun - Patrick Lyons is giving his heritage a nod in Boston.
The Lansdowne is under construction in the former Jake Ivory’s piano bar spot on Lansdowne Street next to Fenway Park [map].
The 8,000-square-foot, multimillion-dollar Irish pub will have a warm, “old-school” Irish atmosphere with beautiful millwork and an emphasis on food, according to Lyons.
Irish lunch and dinner fare will include shepherd’s pie, fish and chips, bangers and mash, and fish and lamb pies, while traditional Irish breakfast will be served Saturdays and Sundays.
“We’re catering to people who live in the area first, people who visit Lansdowne Street second, and third will be the people who come to Fenway,” Lyons said. He and partners Steve Coyle and Ed Sparks are shooting for an April or May opening.
Live entertainment, reserved for a corner of the pub, will focus on acoustic, singer-songwriter, folk and Irish music. The Lansdowne also will broadcast European rugby and soccer matches.
The pub’s name not only pays homage to the street where Lyons made his fortune in the nightclub business. Lansdowne Road was the former Dublin sports stadium owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union that took its own name from an adjacent street.
Lyons previously planned to reopen his former Avalon and Axis nightclubs as the Lansdowne Street Music Hall, but instead sold the properties to Live Nation, which opened the House of Blues Boston there last month.
Turning the Tables runs every other Friday. Send restaurant tips to dgoodison@bostonherald.com.
Spate of Business Closings in Allston
In Allston, 'Closed' is the sign of the times
By Megan Woolhouse, Globe Staff | March 26, 2009
First the Korean video store closed. Weeks later, the nearby Indian restaurant followed suit, as did a popular Middle Eastern cafe, a burrito spot, and a neighborhood hardware store.
Marty's Liquors, which closed its doors last weekend, may be the most recent and high-profile business to fold in Allston, but it is far from the first. In the last four months, more than half a dozen Allston businesses within a block of one another have been shuttered.
"In this neighborhood, we do see a lot of turnover, and we've been working for a long time to combat that," said Katie Reed, executive di rector of the nonprofit Allston Village Main Streets project. "We react to how the business community is feeling and their concerns, and right now people are very wary."
Allston is a colorful, gritty hodgepodge of homegrown businesses, inexpensive ethnic restaurants, and stores that cater to a mix of students from Boston University, Boston College, and Harvard, as well as longtime residents. But the offerings have become a little less diverse recently with the closing of Reef Cafe, Eats & Treats Creperie, Rangoli Indian Restaurant, and Burritos on Fire on Brighton Avenue. Kachi, a Korean video store, and Economy Hardware on Harvard Avenue are also gone.
A homemade sign on brown paper in the window of the hardware store read: "Lost our lease."
The shop, one of several owned by Brookline native Larry Friedman, closed March 14 after 10 years in business.
"Our business was changing and going down, and the rents were high," Friedman said. "It just didn't work for us."
Students are not shopping as they used to, he said.
"They're hearing from their parents they don't have as much money," Friedman said. "They have to decide whether to take out a loan or finish at a state school. It's a lesson in real life."
Harold Brown, one of Allston's largest private landlords, downplayed the idea that high rents and a down economy were driving business out. He said he has lost only one tenant, though a major one: Marty's Liquors.
The loss followed months of lease negotiations turned sour. Marty's owner, Marty Siegal, paid Brown $450,000 a year in rent last year under the terms of his 10-year lease, Brown said. When the lease expired this year, Brown and Siegal, former business partners, could not agree on terms of a new lease.
Brown said this week that while he initially raised Siegal's rent 50 percent in a proposed lease, he followed it with an offer of a 30 percent increase and ultimately offered a three-year lease that decreased the rent to $300,000 the first year and $325,000 the next two.
"We shook hands and we thought it was over," Brown said of the deal. "Then about a week later, his lawyer called and said they would like the new rent, but they wanted it another seven years, which we would not go along with."
Siegal called Brown's initial offer "exorbitant" in an interview Saturday, saying that his rent over the last decade had already been too high. He also said Brown's final offer discounted rent for two years, not three.
"I didn't have any interest in talking to them . . . they were so out of the ballpark," Siegal said. "I said, 'I'm going to bail you out [in this difficult economy], and you're going to jack up the rent in two years?' We're getting out of here."
The prime site, on the corner of Commonwealth and Harvard avenues, is vacant. Brown said several banks, a car dealership, a couple of convenience stores, and a regional food chain have shown interest in leasing it.
Reed said that a Japanese restaurant will move into the former Eats & Treats Creperie and that a Mexican restaurant will open in the spot the Reef Cafe occupied for six years. Burritos on Fire has posted a "for rent" sign.
The site of the Bostonian Video Store, which closed in February, she said, remains available. So does Kachi Video, a Korean video rental store that inhabited a large, two-story space along Harvard Avenue until November.
Referring to Kachi and Marty's Liquors, Reed said those vacancies cause her the most concern. "Those are big spots," she said. "It's going to take someone with a big commitment to move into them."
Megan Woolhouse can be reached at mwoolhouse@globe.com.
By Megan Woolhouse, Globe Staff | March 26, 2009
First the Korean video store closed. Weeks later, the nearby Indian restaurant followed suit, as did a popular Middle Eastern cafe, a burrito spot, and a neighborhood hardware store.
Marty's Liquors, which closed its doors last weekend, may be the most recent and high-profile business to fold in Allston, but it is far from the first. In the last four months, more than half a dozen Allston businesses within a block of one another have been shuttered.
"In this neighborhood, we do see a lot of turnover, and we've been working for a long time to combat that," said Katie Reed, executive di rector of the nonprofit Allston Village Main Streets project. "We react to how the business community is feeling and their concerns, and right now people are very wary."
Allston is a colorful, gritty hodgepodge of homegrown businesses, inexpensive ethnic restaurants, and stores that cater to a mix of students from Boston University, Boston College, and Harvard, as well as longtime residents. But the offerings have become a little less diverse recently with the closing of Reef Cafe, Eats & Treats Creperie, Rangoli Indian Restaurant, and Burritos on Fire on Brighton Avenue. Kachi, a Korean video store, and Economy Hardware on Harvard Avenue are also gone.
A homemade sign on brown paper in the window of the hardware store read: "Lost our lease."
The shop, one of several owned by Brookline native Larry Friedman, closed March 14 after 10 years in business.
"Our business was changing and going down, and the rents were high," Friedman said. "It just didn't work for us."
Students are not shopping as they used to, he said.
"They're hearing from their parents they don't have as much money," Friedman said. "They have to decide whether to take out a loan or finish at a state school. It's a lesson in real life."
Harold Brown, one of Allston's largest private landlords, downplayed the idea that high rents and a down economy were driving business out. He said he has lost only one tenant, though a major one: Marty's Liquors.
The loss followed months of lease negotiations turned sour. Marty's owner, Marty Siegal, paid Brown $450,000 a year in rent last year under the terms of his 10-year lease, Brown said. When the lease expired this year, Brown and Siegal, former business partners, could not agree on terms of a new lease.
Brown said this week that while he initially raised Siegal's rent 50 percent in a proposed lease, he followed it with an offer of a 30 percent increase and ultimately offered a three-year lease that decreased the rent to $300,000 the first year and $325,000 the next two.
"We shook hands and we thought it was over," Brown said of the deal. "Then about a week later, his lawyer called and said they would like the new rent, but they wanted it another seven years, which we would not go along with."
Siegal called Brown's initial offer "exorbitant" in an interview Saturday, saying that his rent over the last decade had already been too high. He also said Brown's final offer discounted rent for two years, not three.
"I didn't have any interest in talking to them . . . they were so out of the ballpark," Siegal said. "I said, 'I'm going to bail you out [in this difficult economy], and you're going to jack up the rent in two years?' We're getting out of here."
The prime site, on the corner of Commonwealth and Harvard avenues, is vacant. Brown said several banks, a car dealership, a couple of convenience stores, and a regional food chain have shown interest in leasing it.
Reed said that a Japanese restaurant will move into the former Eats & Treats Creperie and that a Mexican restaurant will open in the spot the Reef Cafe occupied for six years. Burritos on Fire has posted a "for rent" sign.
The site of the Bostonian Video Store, which closed in February, she said, remains available. So does Kachi Video, a Korean video rental store that inhabited a large, two-story space along Harvard Avenue until November.
Referring to Kachi and Marty's Liquors, Reed said those vacancies cause her the most concern. "Those are big spots," she said. "It's going to take someone with a big commitment to move into them."
Megan Woolhouse can be reached at mwoolhouse@globe.com.
NCAA Basketball Tournament draws crowds to Boston
NCAA event draws hordes - and blank stares
By Matt Viser, Globe Staff | March 26, 2009
They will be piling into cars, driving hundreds of miles with painted faces, letters on their chests, and vocal cords warmed up. (Think "Air ball! Air ball!") Others are making last-minute plans to fly into Logan Airport to join the hunt for hotel rooms and high-priced tickets to see 40 minutes of basketball.
March Madness is coming tonight to Boston, where some of the most closely watched and fiercely fought games of the NCAA men's tournament will be played before 19,000 crazed fans at TD Banknorth Garden.
But what is Boston's response to the Sweet Sixteen frenzy?
So far, a big yawn.
One of the biggest sporting events of the year - one that will decide who goes to the Final Four, where dreams will be made, college careers ended, and office pool bragging rights determined - appears to be having the same impact on the city as a dentist convention, offering further proof that Boston is a pro-sports city that only occasionally flirts with the college game.
"What? What tournament?" said the sales clerk at a downtown Foot Locker, dressed like a referee.
Of two dozen people interviewed in downtown Boston this week in an informal survey, few even knew that the tournament is being played in Boston. Only two could name just one team that is playing, and only one person named all four teams.
There are already banners up around the city proclaiming that the Boston Marathon is coming, but little marks the NCAA Tournament.
"You go to North Carolina or Florida, and I guarantee you see [college] jerseys in the airport," said Thomas Patterson, a 47-year-old computer programmer. "That's the difference."
Even Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who said he was thrilled to have fans bring their money to the city's hotels, shops, and restaurants, couldn't name all four teams.
"I know Duke is coming," Menino said. "And Villanova. . . . You caught me off guard."
He later named Pittsburgh, which is coming, and Louisville, which is not. (Xavier is the fourth team).
This is the first time that any Massachusetts city has hosted the regional finals since the NCAA Tournament began in 1939. Boston has never hosted a men's Final Four, while nearly every major city has - including Seattle, Charlotte, Minneapolis, Dallas, Indianapolis, and, this year, Detroit.
The NCAA picks host sites based on whether a city has enough hotels within 20 miles of the venue, a good transportation network, and a venue with at least 12,000 seats. Boston College is the host of the tournament games here.
"We don't buy this theory that's perpetuated by the media that it's strictly a pro-sports town," said Chris Cameron, an associate athletics director at Boston College.
Ultimately, whether the NCAA deems Boston successful will have little to do with whether the locals get fired up about it. The NCAA tournament, by design, is played on a neutral site, which means teams - and their fans - have to travel and gobble up tickets, which does appear to be happening.
Boston has been sold out for several months, and Craigslist yesterday was full of offers, with one person even willing to trade a pair of April 26 Red Sox-Yankees tickets for seats at the NCAA games.
"It's a great field, and we have no reason to think the energy and excitement in the building won't be at a peak," said David Worlock, the associate director for the Division I Men's Basketball Championship. "But there's no denying that Boston is a pro-sports town first. I don't know anyone who would dispute that."
The region is spoiled with more professional talent than it can handle.
And while there are dozens of colleges and universities in Greater Boston, few have any notable college basketball programs.
The last time a school from the Bay State made it to the Final Four was the University of Massachusetts in 1996.
Several hundred people went to the Garden yesterday to watch free open practices by the teams. College students skipped class to be there, grown men in business suits stopped by for their lunch break, and young children asked players to sign their mini basketballs.
But outside the Garden, on the other side of town, the reaction was much less enthusiastic.
"I don't think people watch those games much," said Oscar Amarante, a 26-year-old flight attendant. "People don't follow it. Unless you go pro, people won't follow you."
Most out-of-state fans and college students will begin their journeys to Boston today.
Duke fans will flood the Garden dressed in royal blue, prepared to shake their hands in unison, as if putting a curse on opponents. Pittsburgh will bring a version of its "Oakland Zoo" cheering section, whose fans are known to dress up in animal costumes. Xavier fans unable to score tickets are planning to gather around a TV at a local bar, and buses from Villanova are carrying members of the Augustinian Army, whose members paint their bodies navy blue.
"Everyone's trying to put the money together to do it," said Greg Karambelas, a 21-year-old junior at Villanova who is originally from Haverhill and is planning to pile into a friend's Honda Civic after his engineering class this afternoon, hoping to make it to Boston for the 7:27 p.m. tip-off. "It's pretty crazy."
And the die-hard fans say the rest of Boston is missing out.
"No matter how good a college team is, it's always going to be a pro town," said Dave Lally, a 61-year-old man from Boston who was watching practices yesterday in a Boston College sweatshirt. "Which is too bad. This is big-time basketball."
Matt Viser can be reached at maviser@globe.com.
By Matt Viser, Globe Staff | March 26, 2009
They will be piling into cars, driving hundreds of miles with painted faces, letters on their chests, and vocal cords warmed up. (Think "Air ball! Air ball!") Others are making last-minute plans to fly into Logan Airport to join the hunt for hotel rooms and high-priced tickets to see 40 minutes of basketball.
March Madness is coming tonight to Boston, where some of the most closely watched and fiercely fought games of the NCAA men's tournament will be played before 19,000 crazed fans at TD Banknorth Garden.
But what is Boston's response to the Sweet Sixteen frenzy?
So far, a big yawn.
One of the biggest sporting events of the year - one that will decide who goes to the Final Four, where dreams will be made, college careers ended, and office pool bragging rights determined - appears to be having the same impact on the city as a dentist convention, offering further proof that Boston is a pro-sports city that only occasionally flirts with the college game.
"What? What tournament?" said the sales clerk at a downtown Foot Locker, dressed like a referee.
Of two dozen people interviewed in downtown Boston this week in an informal survey, few even knew that the tournament is being played in Boston. Only two could name just one team that is playing, and only one person named all four teams.
There are already banners up around the city proclaiming that the Boston Marathon is coming, but little marks the NCAA Tournament.
"You go to North Carolina or Florida, and I guarantee you see [college] jerseys in the airport," said Thomas Patterson, a 47-year-old computer programmer. "That's the difference."
Even Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who said he was thrilled to have fans bring their money to the city's hotels, shops, and restaurants, couldn't name all four teams.
"I know Duke is coming," Menino said. "And Villanova. . . . You caught me off guard."
He later named Pittsburgh, which is coming, and Louisville, which is not. (Xavier is the fourth team).
This is the first time that any Massachusetts city has hosted the regional finals since the NCAA Tournament began in 1939. Boston has never hosted a men's Final Four, while nearly every major city has - including Seattle, Charlotte, Minneapolis, Dallas, Indianapolis, and, this year, Detroit.
The NCAA picks host sites based on whether a city has enough hotels within 20 miles of the venue, a good transportation network, and a venue with at least 12,000 seats. Boston College is the host of the tournament games here.
"We don't buy this theory that's perpetuated by the media that it's strictly a pro-sports town," said Chris Cameron, an associate athletics director at Boston College.
Ultimately, whether the NCAA deems Boston successful will have little to do with whether the locals get fired up about it. The NCAA tournament, by design, is played on a neutral site, which means teams - and their fans - have to travel and gobble up tickets, which does appear to be happening.
Boston has been sold out for several months, and Craigslist yesterday was full of offers, with one person even willing to trade a pair of April 26 Red Sox-Yankees tickets for seats at the NCAA games.
"It's a great field, and we have no reason to think the energy and excitement in the building won't be at a peak," said David Worlock, the associate director for the Division I Men's Basketball Championship. "But there's no denying that Boston is a pro-sports town first. I don't know anyone who would dispute that."
The region is spoiled with more professional talent than it can handle.
And while there are dozens of colleges and universities in Greater Boston, few have any notable college basketball programs.
The last time a school from the Bay State made it to the Final Four was the University of Massachusetts in 1996.
Several hundred people went to the Garden yesterday to watch free open practices by the teams. College students skipped class to be there, grown men in business suits stopped by for their lunch break, and young children asked players to sign their mini basketballs.
But outside the Garden, on the other side of town, the reaction was much less enthusiastic.
"I don't think people watch those games much," said Oscar Amarante, a 26-year-old flight attendant. "People don't follow it. Unless you go pro, people won't follow you."
Most out-of-state fans and college students will begin their journeys to Boston today.
Duke fans will flood the Garden dressed in royal blue, prepared to shake their hands in unison, as if putting a curse on opponents. Pittsburgh will bring a version of its "Oakland Zoo" cheering section, whose fans are known to dress up in animal costumes. Xavier fans unable to score tickets are planning to gather around a TV at a local bar, and buses from Villanova are carrying members of the Augustinian Army, whose members paint their bodies navy blue.
"Everyone's trying to put the money together to do it," said Greg Karambelas, a 21-year-old junior at Villanova who is originally from Haverhill and is planning to pile into a friend's Honda Civic after his engineering class this afternoon, hoping to make it to Boston for the 7:27 p.m. tip-off. "It's pretty crazy."
And the die-hard fans say the rest of Boston is missing out.
"No matter how good a college team is, it's always going to be a pro town," said Dave Lally, a 61-year-old man from Boston who was watching practices yesterday in a Boston College sweatshirt. "Which is too bad. This is big-time basketball."
Matt Viser can be reached at maviser@globe.com.
One Franklin Developers allowed to skirt requirements
Rushing to a standstill
City allowed developers to skirt requirements in stalled $700m Downtown Crossing project
By Donovan Slack, Globe Staff | March 26, 2009
Boston officials, eager to pump new life into the fragile Downtown Crossing neighborhood, set aside key elements of the city's zoning code and overlooked the absence of mandatory developer submissions in accelerating the $700 million commercial and residential project at the old Filene's site.
A Globe review of city files shows that officials forged ahead furiously through the early stages of the market downturn and the credit crunch in late 2007 and early 2008, even allowing the developers to demolish a key city block before filing necessary forms with the Boston Redevelopment Authority, including a required statement of financial interests.
When the credit markets collapsed and the economy imploded in the fall of 2008, the city was left with a massive hole in a high-profile district, one historic building shorn in half, and a wall of another, Filene's, stripped away. The site has sat dormant for the last four months, like a bombed-out block in a war-ravaged city, laying bare a truth about building in Boston: Developers working on private land are under no obligation to rebuild blocks that they have already torn down.
With anger growing among residents and business operators, Mayor Thomas M. Menino has asked city officials to search for ways to resume work at the blighted site.
"This is the nucleus of that neighborhood," Menino said.
Menino also asked city planners to rethink their practice of pushing through permits for development projects without closer scrutiny of financing and extracting stronger commitments from developers. There are no requirements that the city secure performance guarantees from developers, and such guarantees are typically not required in other US cities, which also have partially completed projects because of the economic downturn, specialists say.
"The mayor will not countenance holes in the ground," said John Palmieri, director of the Boston Redevelopment Authority, the city planning agency. "He has made it abundantly clear that he will not tolerate this blighting of the downtown."
But in the case of Downtown Crossing, the city does not appear to have much leverage, and Menino, who is preparing a potential reelection bid this year, is finding that he can do little now to force the developers to fulfill their grand promises.
"They're trying to figure it out," Palmieri said of the developer, a partnership of New York-based Gale International and Vornado Realty Trust. "What we've told them is, 'Let us know what you need.' We'll be as responsive as we can."
The Globe review of public records shows the city has already cut corners repeatedly. The review also found the developers contributed to Menino's campaign fund, a common practice among developers in the city.
Campaign finance reports show that Gale and Vornado executives contributed a total of $1,550 to the mayor's coffers during the review process; that included $500 in the weeks before they first applied to do the project, $250 on the same day they received a demolition permit, and another $500 one month later. They gave $300 more last November, after work had stopped on the project.
A spokeswoman for Gale International and its chief executive, John Hynes III, declined to comment for this report, as did a spokeswoman for Vornado Realty Trust, whose earnings report shows net income of $395 million in 2008.
The mayor said he had nothing to do with accelerating the Filene's project, and any campaign contributions he received were coincidental.
"I didn't have any role in pushing this forward," Menino said.
Palmieri, the BRA executive director, said that even if every step had been followed to the letter by the agency and the agency had scrutinized the project's finances more closely, the result arguably could have been the same. He said there was no way the agency could have anticipated the economic recession that halted progress on the project.
Nevertheless, Palmieri said he is following through on Menino's order that the agency review finances more rigorously. Such reviews previously have included informal conversations in which developers tell city planners how they intend to finance construction.
Palmieri said he is also putting a stop to practices that have allowed construction to begin before projects are fully vetted.
"We'd like to look at this as an opportunity to tighten up the way we conduct reviews," Palmieri said.
Records show the developer first applied to construct the project in November 2006, outlining plans for a sparkling condominium tower flanked by a hotel and a refurbished Filene's building that would house retailers on the upper floors and place the renowned Filene's Basement back into its old space. The plans were especially sensitive because Filene's is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The requirements for winning approval of such a large development are laid out in city zoning and building codes, which spell out each step developers must take and criteria the project must meet.
Among the first of those steps is submission of a statement of financial interests in the proposed project, listing who will benefit from the project and to what extent. That form, according to the zoning code, is to be signed under penalty of perjury and filed with the city clerk, among other entities, to "foster public understanding" and confidence in the city's land-use decisions.
The Filene's developer filed no such form with either the city clerk or the Boston Redevelopment Authority, the Globe review found.
Nevertheless, based on the rest of the hefty application submissions, the Boston Redevelopment Authority board of directors voted in August 2007, amid clear warnings of rapidly deteriorating credit markets, to give preliminary approval to the redevelopment plan.
The developer next was supposed to sign an agreement outlining what it would do to mitigate impacts of the project on the neighborhood.
An undated, preliminary mitigation agreement was drafted with public input in 2007 but was never finalized or signed. It would have required the developer to provide $2.8 million for improvements to streets in the area and set up a $250,000 endowment to help fund educational programs and preserve the nearby historic Old South Meeting House.
Conditional upon the signing of that agreement and other factors, the developer was supposed to obtain a certification of compliance affirming that each step in the approval process had been taken and each criterion met. It never obtained the certification.
The zoning code explicitly prohibits the city from issuing any building permit without the certification of compliance.
Nonetheless city planning officials authorized city inspectors in October 2007 to issue permits to demolish half the block, including the back side of a century-old building that housed a major glass and ceramics retailer and wholesaler, the Jones, McDuffee, and Stratton Co. The demolition also included the shearing off of one wall of the Filene's building.
Two months later, they signed off on the issuance of a permit to renovate and refurbish what was left of the Filene's building. And in April 2008, they allowed inspectors to grant a permit to dig the large hole and begin constructing slurry walls and part of the foundation of the tower.
The BRA's chief architect, David Carlson, who gave written authorization for the permits, said the Filene's project was allowed to skip steps in the process because the developer needed to meet a commitment to Filene's Basement that the iconic retailer would be able to move back in and reopen in 2009.
Carlson said such shortcuts happen "occasionally" in about 10 percent of proposed development projects.
The director of development review for the BRA, Heather Campisano, maintained that such practices do not violate the zoning code, because the permits issued were not for the "full building" of the project, but rather for small pieces.
"You can interpret it to mean any host of things," she said.
Donovan Slack can be reached at dslack@globe.com.
City allowed developers to skirt requirements in stalled $700m Downtown Crossing project
By Donovan Slack, Globe Staff | March 26, 2009
Boston officials, eager to pump new life into the fragile Downtown Crossing neighborhood, set aside key elements of the city's zoning code and overlooked the absence of mandatory developer submissions in accelerating the $700 million commercial and residential project at the old Filene's site.
A Globe review of city files shows that officials forged ahead furiously through the early stages of the market downturn and the credit crunch in late 2007 and early 2008, even allowing the developers to demolish a key city block before filing necessary forms with the Boston Redevelopment Authority, including a required statement of financial interests.
When the credit markets collapsed and the economy imploded in the fall of 2008, the city was left with a massive hole in a high-profile district, one historic building shorn in half, and a wall of another, Filene's, stripped away. The site has sat dormant for the last four months, like a bombed-out block in a war-ravaged city, laying bare a truth about building in Boston: Developers working on private land are under no obligation to rebuild blocks that they have already torn down.
With anger growing among residents and business operators, Mayor Thomas M. Menino has asked city officials to search for ways to resume work at the blighted site.
"This is the nucleus of that neighborhood," Menino said.
Menino also asked city planners to rethink their practice of pushing through permits for development projects without closer scrutiny of financing and extracting stronger commitments from developers. There are no requirements that the city secure performance guarantees from developers, and such guarantees are typically not required in other US cities, which also have partially completed projects because of the economic downturn, specialists say.
"The mayor will not countenance holes in the ground," said John Palmieri, director of the Boston Redevelopment Authority, the city planning agency. "He has made it abundantly clear that he will not tolerate this blighting of the downtown."
But in the case of Downtown Crossing, the city does not appear to have much leverage, and Menino, who is preparing a potential reelection bid this year, is finding that he can do little now to force the developers to fulfill their grand promises.
"They're trying to figure it out," Palmieri said of the developer, a partnership of New York-based Gale International and Vornado Realty Trust. "What we've told them is, 'Let us know what you need.' We'll be as responsive as we can."
The Globe review of public records shows the city has already cut corners repeatedly. The review also found the developers contributed to Menino's campaign fund, a common practice among developers in the city.
Campaign finance reports show that Gale and Vornado executives contributed a total of $1,550 to the mayor's coffers during the review process; that included $500 in the weeks before they first applied to do the project, $250 on the same day they received a demolition permit, and another $500 one month later. They gave $300 more last November, after work had stopped on the project.
A spokeswoman for Gale International and its chief executive, John Hynes III, declined to comment for this report, as did a spokeswoman for Vornado Realty Trust, whose earnings report shows net income of $395 million in 2008.
The mayor said he had nothing to do with accelerating the Filene's project, and any campaign contributions he received were coincidental.
"I didn't have any role in pushing this forward," Menino said.
Palmieri, the BRA executive director, said that even if every step had been followed to the letter by the agency and the agency had scrutinized the project's finances more closely, the result arguably could have been the same. He said there was no way the agency could have anticipated the economic recession that halted progress on the project.
Nevertheless, Palmieri said he is following through on Menino's order that the agency review finances more rigorously. Such reviews previously have included informal conversations in which developers tell city planners how they intend to finance construction.
Palmieri said he is also putting a stop to practices that have allowed construction to begin before projects are fully vetted.
"We'd like to look at this as an opportunity to tighten up the way we conduct reviews," Palmieri said.
Records show the developer first applied to construct the project in November 2006, outlining plans for a sparkling condominium tower flanked by a hotel and a refurbished Filene's building that would house retailers on the upper floors and place the renowned Filene's Basement back into its old space. The plans were especially sensitive because Filene's is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The requirements for winning approval of such a large development are laid out in city zoning and building codes, which spell out each step developers must take and criteria the project must meet.
Among the first of those steps is submission of a statement of financial interests in the proposed project, listing who will benefit from the project and to what extent. That form, according to the zoning code, is to be signed under penalty of perjury and filed with the city clerk, among other entities, to "foster public understanding" and confidence in the city's land-use decisions.
The Filene's developer filed no such form with either the city clerk or the Boston Redevelopment Authority, the Globe review found.
Nevertheless, based on the rest of the hefty application submissions, the Boston Redevelopment Authority board of directors voted in August 2007, amid clear warnings of rapidly deteriorating credit markets, to give preliminary approval to the redevelopment plan.
The developer next was supposed to sign an agreement outlining what it would do to mitigate impacts of the project on the neighborhood.
An undated, preliminary mitigation agreement was drafted with public input in 2007 but was never finalized or signed. It would have required the developer to provide $2.8 million for improvements to streets in the area and set up a $250,000 endowment to help fund educational programs and preserve the nearby historic Old South Meeting House.
Conditional upon the signing of that agreement and other factors, the developer was supposed to obtain a certification of compliance affirming that each step in the approval process had been taken and each criterion met. It never obtained the certification.
The zoning code explicitly prohibits the city from issuing any building permit without the certification of compliance.
Nonetheless city planning officials authorized city inspectors in October 2007 to issue permits to demolish half the block, including the back side of a century-old building that housed a major glass and ceramics retailer and wholesaler, the Jones, McDuffee, and Stratton Co. The demolition also included the shearing off of one wall of the Filene's building.
Two months later, they signed off on the issuance of a permit to renovate and refurbish what was left of the Filene's building. And in April 2008, they allowed inspectors to grant a permit to dig the large hole and begin constructing slurry walls and part of the foundation of the tower.
The BRA's chief architect, David Carlson, who gave written authorization for the permits, said the Filene's project was allowed to skip steps in the process because the developer needed to meet a commitment to Filene's Basement that the iconic retailer would be able to move back in and reopen in 2009.
Carlson said such shortcuts happen "occasionally" in about 10 percent of proposed development projects.
The director of development review for the BRA, Heather Campisano, maintained that such practices do not violate the zoning code, because the permits issued were not for the "full building" of the project, but rather for small pieces.
"You can interpret it to mean any host of things," she said.
Donovan Slack can be reached at dslack@globe.com.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Gillette Stadium to host Inter-Milan Soccer Match
A taste of Italy at Gillette
Inter-Milan matchup made official for July
By Frank Dell'Apa, Globe Staff | March 25, 2009
Two of the biggest annual events in Milan are the opening of La Scala opera house and the Inter-Milan soccer derbies.
La Scala has a longer history (231 opening nights since 1778) than the clubs (Inter and Milan have met 269 times since 1908), but both events are woven into the Northern Italian city's fabric.
And that is what makes the scheduled Inter-Milan exhibition July 26 rare, since it will be staged at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, only the third time the clubs are meeting outside the country.
"It's a great occasion, not only for Italians, but for anybody, to see these teams play," said AC Milan administrator Umberto Gandini. "We have a great sporting rivalry, but there is friendship there also. We played at the same stadium, which is unique, and the rivalry on the field is very strong."
Gandini was speaking from New York, where a schedule was announced for the World Football Challenge, a six-game series also involving Chelsea FC and Club America of Mexico. The event opens with Inter-America at Stanford Stadium July 19 and concludes with the Inter-Milan game and Chelsea-America at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, July 26.
Inter and Milan have met away from Italy for friendly matches Oct. 18, 1908, in Chiasso, Switzerland, and June 29, 1969, at Yankee Stadium.
"It's a new experience for us, and it feels strange because we are going to be in another country," said Marco Branca, technical director of FC Internazionale Milano. "This will be a beautiful thing for our fans and supporters, who are dispersed in the world, and it's the first time in 30 or 40 years we are having our preseason away from home."
Milan is the only city that has produced more than one European Champions Cup/League titlist since the tournament started in 1955. AC Milan won the event in 1963 and has a total of seven championships, and Inter took the 1964 and '65 editions.
AC Milan has become a standard-setting club since being taken over by Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi. But Inter president Massimo Moratti has made a concerted effort to promote his club, Inter winning three straight Serie A titles.
This season, Moratti hired José Mourinho to coach Inter and poured more than $100 million into new players, but the team was eliminated from the Champions League. Things were worse for Milan; after winning the '07 Champions League title, the Diavoli Rossi failed to qualify for the '08-09 version.
"Let's put it this way," Gandini said. "We had a very intense season last year, we concentrated on winning the World Club Cup against Boca Juniors, and we probably played the first part of the year in the Italian league not in a way we were supposed to.
"We had a lot of points to recoup and we almost did it but we failed in the last match and had to play in the UEFA Cup; that was financially a disaster for the club. Then it was our goal to win the UEFA and the league, but we have had seven surgeries and our best players have been sidelined."
Milan brought in new players such as Brazilians Pato and Ronaldinho, then added David Beckham on loan from the Los Angeles Galaxy to replace Gennaro Gattuso in midfield. Beckham is expected to return to the Galaxy after the Serie A season concludes in May.
Inter is loaded with foreign stars, Marco Materazzi and Davide Santon the only Italian regulars on the team.
"These are two clubs which have helped create the history of soccer," said Branca, a former star forward. "Being from the same city, we stimulate each other to improve."
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Inter-Milan matchup made official for July
By Frank Dell'Apa, Globe Staff | March 25, 2009
Two of the biggest annual events in Milan are the opening of La Scala opera house and the Inter-Milan soccer derbies.
La Scala has a longer history (231 opening nights since 1778) than the clubs (Inter and Milan have met 269 times since 1908), but both events are woven into the Northern Italian city's fabric.
And that is what makes the scheduled Inter-Milan exhibition July 26 rare, since it will be staged at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, only the third time the clubs are meeting outside the country.
"It's a great occasion, not only for Italians, but for anybody, to see these teams play," said AC Milan administrator Umberto Gandini. "We have a great sporting rivalry, but there is friendship there also. We played at the same stadium, which is unique, and the rivalry on the field is very strong."
Gandini was speaking from New York, where a schedule was announced for the World Football Challenge, a six-game series also involving Chelsea FC and Club America of Mexico. The event opens with Inter-America at Stanford Stadium July 19 and concludes with the Inter-Milan game and Chelsea-America at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, July 26.
Inter and Milan have met away from Italy for friendly matches Oct. 18, 1908, in Chiasso, Switzerland, and June 29, 1969, at Yankee Stadium.
"It's a new experience for us, and it feels strange because we are going to be in another country," said Marco Branca, technical director of FC Internazionale Milano. "This will be a beautiful thing for our fans and supporters, who are dispersed in the world, and it's the first time in 30 or 40 years we are having our preseason away from home."
Milan is the only city that has produced more than one European Champions Cup/League titlist since the tournament started in 1955. AC Milan won the event in 1963 and has a total of seven championships, and Inter took the 1964 and '65 editions.
AC Milan has become a standard-setting club since being taken over by Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi. But Inter president Massimo Moratti has made a concerted effort to promote his club, Inter winning three straight Serie A titles.
This season, Moratti hired José Mourinho to coach Inter and poured more than $100 million into new players, but the team was eliminated from the Champions League. Things were worse for Milan; after winning the '07 Champions League title, the Diavoli Rossi failed to qualify for the '08-09 version.
"Let's put it this way," Gandini said. "We had a very intense season last year, we concentrated on winning the World Club Cup against Boca Juniors, and we probably played the first part of the year in the Italian league not in a way we were supposed to.
"We had a lot of points to recoup and we almost did it but we failed in the last match and had to play in the UEFA Cup; that was financially a disaster for the club. Then it was our goal to win the UEFA and the league, but we have had seven surgeries and our best players have been sidelined."
Milan brought in new players such as Brazilians Pato and Ronaldinho, then added David Beckham on loan from the Los Angeles Galaxy to replace Gennaro Gattuso in midfield. Beckham is expected to return to the Galaxy after the Serie A season concludes in May.
Inter is loaded with foreign stars, Marco Materazzi and Davide Santon the only Italian regulars on the team.
"These are two clubs which have helped create the history of soccer," said Branca, a former star forward. "Being from the same city, we stimulate each other to improve."
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
NCAA games area boost to Hub's Economy
Boston tournament is slam dunk
NCAA games could spur $7M in spending
By Thomas Grillo & Greg Turner | Wednesday, March 25, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Business & Markets
The Hub could score $7 million in spending this week from the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
The TD Banknorth Garden hosts East Regional matchups tomorrow and Saturday, with Duke, Pittsburgh, Villanova or Xavier going on to the Final Four in Detroit.
“This is a huge bounce for us especially considering what’s going on in the economy,” said Patrick Moscaritolo, president of the Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau. “This is the first time we’ve had the Sweet 16 (and) Elite Eight in Boston.”
The tournament games couldn’t come at a better time. As the first quarter comes to a close, business travel to the city is off by 8 percent compared to a year ago, he said.
The Hub’s last taste of March Madness came six years ago when the Garden hosted first-round games, including the start of Syracuse’s run to the 2003 title.
Garden President John Wentzell said he tries to schedule a “signature event” every year, and “certainly few can rival what we have coming in this week.”
The Garden won the bid for the East Regional five years ago with the help of host school Boston College, which bowed out in the first round of the MidWest bracket.
Wentzell said the games are “not a financial windfall” for Garden owner Delaware North Cos.
“This type of event is important to our advertisers and to our premium clients,” he said. “The economic benefit is not really within our four walls but all around the city.”
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1160916
NCAA games could spur $7M in spending
By Thomas Grillo & Greg Turner | Wednesday, March 25, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Business & Markets
The Hub could score $7 million in spending this week from the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
The TD Banknorth Garden hosts East Regional matchups tomorrow and Saturday, with Duke, Pittsburgh, Villanova or Xavier going on to the Final Four in Detroit.
“This is a huge bounce for us especially considering what’s going on in the economy,” said Patrick Moscaritolo, president of the Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau. “This is the first time we’ve had the Sweet 16 (and) Elite Eight in Boston.”
The tournament games couldn’t come at a better time. As the first quarter comes to a close, business travel to the city is off by 8 percent compared to a year ago, he said.
The Hub’s last taste of March Madness came six years ago when the Garden hosted first-round games, including the start of Syracuse’s run to the 2003 title.
Garden President John Wentzell said he tries to schedule a “signature event” every year, and “certainly few can rival what we have coming in this week.”
The Garden won the bid for the East Regional five years ago with the help of host school Boston College, which bowed out in the first round of the MidWest bracket.
Wentzell said the games are “not a financial windfall” for Garden owner Delaware North Cos.
“This type of event is important to our advertisers and to our premium clients,” he said. “The economic benefit is not really within our four walls but all around the city.”
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1160916
Monday, March 23, 2009
NYC Hotel makes small rooms feel special
Hotel patrons in New York sacrifice space to taste the good life
By Associated Press | Monday, March 23, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Northeast
NEW YORK- A New York hotel with luxury sheets and state-of-the-art audio for less than $100 a night? All you have to sacrifice is a bit of privacy and a little - well, a lot - of space.
At The Jane, the trick is to make its 150 tiny single rooms - about 7 feet wide by 8 feet long - feel “charming and special” rather than simply cramped.
Guests stash suitcases and clothing in storage spaces above and below the narrow bed. A large mirror and a small window help stave off potential claustrophobia.
In 1908, the hotel rented cabin-like rooms to sailors for just 25 cents a night. Today, rooms come with luxury sheets, flat-screen TVs, and wireless Internet.
Bathroom? Alas, you’ll have to share.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/national/northeast/view.bg?articleid=1160392
By Associated Press | Monday, March 23, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Northeast
NEW YORK- A New York hotel with luxury sheets and state-of-the-art audio for less than $100 a night? All you have to sacrifice is a bit of privacy and a little - well, a lot - of space.
At The Jane, the trick is to make its 150 tiny single rooms - about 7 feet wide by 8 feet long - feel “charming and special” rather than simply cramped.
Guests stash suitcases and clothing in storage spaces above and below the narrow bed. A large mirror and a small window help stave off potential claustrophobia.
In 1908, the hotel rented cabin-like rooms to sailors for just 25 cents a night. Today, rooms come with luxury sheets, flat-screen TVs, and wireless Internet.
Bathroom? Alas, you’ll have to share.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/national/northeast/view.bg?articleid=1160392
Two Developers Express Interest in James Hook Site
Two builders take Boston bait
Eye Hook property
By Thomas Grillo | Monday, March 23, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Business & Markets
Photo by Mike Adaskaveg (file)
Two Boston developers have expressed interest in buying the property owned by James Hook & Co., the burned-out landmark lobster business on the city’s waterfront.
Lincoln Property Co., the Dallas company that has Two Financial Center under construction at South Station, and the Chiofaro Co., the Boston owner of International Place, confirmed they have requested information about the sale from McCall & Almy, the commercial brokerage handling the deal.
The Boston Business Journal first reported last week that Hook was for sale and that 10 developers were interested in buying the 10,000-square-foot site.
The Atlantic Avenue business was destroyed by fire last year. But the Boston Redevelopment Authority quickly moved to help the 84-year-old firm settle in a new location in the city’s Marine Industrial Park.
The Hook family is considering closing the store or possibly working out a deal with the new owners to remain, because the site could support an office building with ground-floor retail.
Theodore A. Oatis, co-founder of Chiofaro Co., said his firm has their hands full with a proposal to transform the Boston Harbor Garage into a $900 million mixed-use development including 860,000 square feet of office space, a hotel, 100 condominiums and a grocery store.
But the company wanted to at least examine the possibilities of the Hook location for another building, he said.
John Cappellano, senior vice president at Lincoln, whose office project on Summer Street is stalled due to a lawsuit (see related story this page), said they are interested in the site.
“We are considering our options,” he said.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1160395
Eye Hook property
By Thomas Grillo | Monday, March 23, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Business & Markets
Photo by Mike Adaskaveg (file)
Two Boston developers have expressed interest in buying the property owned by James Hook & Co., the burned-out landmark lobster business on the city’s waterfront.
Lincoln Property Co., the Dallas company that has Two Financial Center under construction at South Station, and the Chiofaro Co., the Boston owner of International Place, confirmed they have requested information about the sale from McCall & Almy, the commercial brokerage handling the deal.
The Boston Business Journal first reported last week that Hook was for sale and that 10 developers were interested in buying the 10,000-square-foot site.
The Atlantic Avenue business was destroyed by fire last year. But the Boston Redevelopment Authority quickly moved to help the 84-year-old firm settle in a new location in the city’s Marine Industrial Park.
The Hook family is considering closing the store or possibly working out a deal with the new owners to remain, because the site could support an office building with ground-floor retail.
Theodore A. Oatis, co-founder of Chiofaro Co., said his firm has their hands full with a proposal to transform the Boston Harbor Garage into a $900 million mixed-use development including 860,000 square feet of office space, a hotel, 100 condominiums and a grocery store.
But the company wanted to at least examine the possibilities of the Hook location for another building, he said.
John Cappellano, senior vice president at Lincoln, whose office project on Summer Street is stalled due to a lawsuit (see related story this page), said they are interested in the site.
“We are considering our options,” he said.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1160395
Milky Way Lounge moves to new location
Jamaica Plain celebrates as Milky Way changes lanes
By Ira Kantor | Monday, March 23, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Local Coverage
Photo by Angela Rowlings
Despite economic challenges, Milky Way Lounge owners were bowled over by a “rebirth parade” in Jamaica Plain yesterday when thousands of residents came out to celebrate their new Amory Street location.
Owners are moving the Centre Street institution known for its candlepin bowling and live entertainment because of a high rent increase. The new business - offering Skee-Ball instead of bowling - and Bella Luna Restaurant will open at The Brewery in early April.
“Everybody’s just really happy that we’re still in Jamaica Plain and that’s why we wanted to have a parade,” said co-owner and CEO Kathie Mainzer. “Everybody needed a chance to say goodbye because it has been a center of importance for so many people.”
Carol Downs, Milky Way’s co-owner and general manager, is optimistic the business will thrive in its new location.
“We always envisioned being the restaurant that would last for 50 years and being able to move to The Brewery will help us realize that vision,” she said.
Jamaica Plain business owner Nobel Garcia said it was a fitting farewell. When his El Oriental de Cuba restaurant burned down in 2005, Milky Way employees organized a fund-raiser to help him get back on his feet.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1160388
By Ira Kantor | Monday, March 23, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Local Coverage
Photo by Angela Rowlings
Despite economic challenges, Milky Way Lounge owners were bowled over by a “rebirth parade” in Jamaica Plain yesterday when thousands of residents came out to celebrate their new Amory Street location.
Owners are moving the Centre Street institution known for its candlepin bowling and live entertainment because of a high rent increase. The new business - offering Skee-Ball instead of bowling - and Bella Luna Restaurant will open at The Brewery in early April.
“Everybody’s just really happy that we’re still in Jamaica Plain and that’s why we wanted to have a parade,” said co-owner and CEO Kathie Mainzer. “Everybody needed a chance to say goodbye because it has been a center of importance for so many people.”
Carol Downs, Milky Way’s co-owner and general manager, is optimistic the business will thrive in its new location.
“We always envisioned being the restaurant that would last for 50 years and being able to move to The Brewery will help us realize that vision,” she said.
Jamaica Plain business owner Nobel Garcia said it was a fitting farewell. When his El Oriental de Cuba restaurant burned down in 2005, Milky Way employees organized a fund-raiser to help him get back on his feet.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1160388
Sunday, March 22, 2009
New Restaurants and Shops to open in old Martignetti spot
HOME / NEWS / LOCAL
NORTH END
Caffe Graffiti plans comeback at Martignetti's old location
March 22, 2009
The North End might have lost Martignetti, its landmark liquor store, last year, but it is gaining four new businesses in its stead, including a refreshed and expanded Caffe Graffiti, another North End mainstay.
Citizens Bank, which took over the lease from Martignetti, has rented the other three spaces for a gelateria, a deli, and a homemade pasta shop. The plaza also now includes an expanded Citizens Bank ATM facility.
Frank De Pasquale will be operating Gigi Gelateria and De Pasquale's Homemade Pasta shop. The gelateria will be a takeout version of the one on Hanover Street. The pasta shop will offer the opportunity to watch the pasta being made at the counter. De Pasquale anticipates opening his two stores within a month or two.
Caffe Graffiti, owned by father and son team Umberto and Luigi DeMarco, will be a familiar site to many North End residents and visitors. Before it closed down more than a year ago, it had been a favorite stop on Hanover Street. "It was the kind of place where you came to meet," said Luigi DeMarco.
The new café will also include a back-to-the-basics, family-style Italian restaurant with seating for 40 to 50 people. "The North End seems to be straying from family-oriented places, and I want to bring that back," said DeMarco. It might have outdoor seating too, a rare find in the neighborhood, and be in business by June.
The New York-style deli will be operated by Nick Varano, owner of Strega Ristorante and Nico Ristorante.
Initially, Finale Desserterie and Bakery and Christina Defalco Designs, a clothing boutique, were chosen to lease the space. But both withdrew from the project.
"It's a byproduct of the current economic environment," said Paul Conforti, owner of Finale, whose investors advised him to hold off on opening a new location.
Christina Defalco wrote in her blog that she decided not to open there because of "the silly politics of that neighborhood and the really crazy economy right now."
JESSE NANKIN
© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.
NORTH END
Caffe Graffiti plans comeback at Martignetti's old location
March 22, 2009
The North End might have lost Martignetti, its landmark liquor store, last year, but it is gaining four new businesses in its stead, including a refreshed and expanded Caffe Graffiti, another North End mainstay.
Citizens Bank, which took over the lease from Martignetti, has rented the other three spaces for a gelateria, a deli, and a homemade pasta shop. The plaza also now includes an expanded Citizens Bank ATM facility.
Frank De Pasquale will be operating Gigi Gelateria and De Pasquale's Homemade Pasta shop. The gelateria will be a takeout version of the one on Hanover Street. The pasta shop will offer the opportunity to watch the pasta being made at the counter. De Pasquale anticipates opening his two stores within a month or two.
Caffe Graffiti, owned by father and son team Umberto and Luigi DeMarco, will be a familiar site to many North End residents and visitors. Before it closed down more than a year ago, it had been a favorite stop on Hanover Street. "It was the kind of place where you came to meet," said Luigi DeMarco.
The new café will also include a back-to-the-basics, family-style Italian restaurant with seating for 40 to 50 people. "The North End seems to be straying from family-oriented places, and I want to bring that back," said DeMarco. It might have outdoor seating too, a rare find in the neighborhood, and be in business by June.
The New York-style deli will be operated by Nick Varano, owner of Strega Ristorante and Nico Ristorante.
Initially, Finale Desserterie and Bakery and Christina Defalco Designs, a clothing boutique, were chosen to lease the space. But both withdrew from the project.
"It's a byproduct of the current economic environment," said Paul Conforti, owner of Finale, whose investors advised him to hold off on opening a new location.
Christina Defalco wrote in her blog that she decided not to open there because of "the silly politics of that neighborhood and the really crazy economy right now."
JESSE NANKIN
© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.
New Maritime Museum to Open this Spring at Battery Wharf Hotel
NORTH END
Pulling maritime history together
Museum newest addition to area
By Michael Kenney, Globe Correspondent | March 22, 2009
At the beginning, back in the 1640s, there was a gun battery on the wharf, one of two built to protect the Colonial town from an attack by sea.
Here, on Commercial Street at the foot of Hanover Street, over the years, immigrants arrived, bales of cotton were landed and stored, candy-making thrived on the port's cargoes of molasses and sugar, and the "penny ferries" from East Boston docked.
During the last half-century, the wharf was home to Bay State Lobster Co., the Coast Guard station, and the Boston fire boat dock at Burroughs Wharf.
But through all the changes in its use, and throughout the city, it kept the name Battery Wharf, recalling its earliest homeland security use.
Now it supports the Fairmont Battery Wharf, a $300 million luxury hotel and residential development that opened late last year.
And coming this spring to the Fairmont complex, with an entrance off the wharf, will be the Boston Maritime Museum - which will bring together the various aspects of the wharf's 350-year history, said museum project manager Susan Wilson.
"It's a 'pocket museum,' " said Robert Krim, executive director of the Boston History & Innovation Collaborative, which developed the museum's content. Krim noted that still in the planning stages is a Boston history museum along the Rose Kennedy Greenway.
On a recent visit to Battery Wharf, workers were fitting out the Maritime Museum's 1,100-square-foot exhibition space.
But interpretive signs are already in place on the extension of the city's Harborwalk that runs along the edges of the two-pronged wharf.
The signs carry images from a 20-minute video, "Melodic Vision," created by Wilson's production company. The video will be shown on a continuous loop.
Among the exhibits will be a large live-oak timber preserved over the years at the Charlestown Navy Yard for use in repairing wooden-hulled warships like the USS Constitution, which was built in a shipyard near Battery Wharf.
And the museum's floor itself will be crafted from the old wharf's oak pilings, which were replaced by concrete pilings during construction of the hotel.
François Nivaud, a consultant to the hotel-residential development, has been an enthusiastic supporter of the museum project from the beginning. "François has been our 'go-to guy' and champion," said Krim.
The museum was part of the mitigation required of the hotel's developer under the state's Chapter 91 tidelands regulations.
Thus, while the granite-block seawall - not the original, but dating from 1892 - is not on any historical preservation register, Nivaud has described it as "part of a heritage and culture. . . . It's how Boston was built." Now covered over by the hotel, the old seawall can be glimpsed from the harbor.
Also required by the Chapter 91 mitigation was public access to the wharf, from public restrooms, and a water taxi landing on the Harborwalk extension.
"It is really meant to be public," Nivaud said. "The museum is something we'll promote." And, he added, "it's free."
Placing the exhibit in the context of other "pocket museums" along the waterfront, Vivien Li, executive director of The Boston Harbor Association, said it has "the potential to be the prototype for 21st century waterfront attractions."
Down to the sea in ships
In addition to the new maritime museum, Boston's waterfront holds a handful of indoor historic exhibits.
March 22, 2009
Boston Harbor Hotel at Rowes Wharf: Maps of New England and its waters, from the Norman Leventhal Collection.
Marriott Long Wharf: Spectacle Island exhibit in second-floor lobby.
Pilot House: Interactive exhibit on the harbor's ship pilots and ferries, inside Commercial Street ATM lobby.
Lewis Wharf: Exhibits of wharf artifacts, inside Pilot House lobby.
Tudor Wharf (Charlestown): Exhibits dealing with "Ice King" Frederic Tudor's ice trade, inside Marriott lobby.
Charlestown Navy Yard: Three museums devoted to the USS Constitution and the Navy yard's history.
Compiled by Michael Kenney
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Pulling maritime history together
Museum newest addition to area
By Michael Kenney, Globe Correspondent | March 22, 2009
At the beginning, back in the 1640s, there was a gun battery on the wharf, one of two built to protect the Colonial town from an attack by sea.
Here, on Commercial Street at the foot of Hanover Street, over the years, immigrants arrived, bales of cotton were landed and stored, candy-making thrived on the port's cargoes of molasses and sugar, and the "penny ferries" from East Boston docked.
During the last half-century, the wharf was home to Bay State Lobster Co., the Coast Guard station, and the Boston fire boat dock at Burroughs Wharf.
But through all the changes in its use, and throughout the city, it kept the name Battery Wharf, recalling its earliest homeland security use.
Now it supports the Fairmont Battery Wharf, a $300 million luxury hotel and residential development that opened late last year.
And coming this spring to the Fairmont complex, with an entrance off the wharf, will be the Boston Maritime Museum - which will bring together the various aspects of the wharf's 350-year history, said museum project manager Susan Wilson.
"It's a 'pocket museum,' " said Robert Krim, executive director of the Boston History & Innovation Collaborative, which developed the museum's content. Krim noted that still in the planning stages is a Boston history museum along the Rose Kennedy Greenway.
On a recent visit to Battery Wharf, workers were fitting out the Maritime Museum's 1,100-square-foot exhibition space.
But interpretive signs are already in place on the extension of the city's Harborwalk that runs along the edges of the two-pronged wharf.
The signs carry images from a 20-minute video, "Melodic Vision," created by Wilson's production company. The video will be shown on a continuous loop.
Among the exhibits will be a large live-oak timber preserved over the years at the Charlestown Navy Yard for use in repairing wooden-hulled warships like the USS Constitution, which was built in a shipyard near Battery Wharf.
And the museum's floor itself will be crafted from the old wharf's oak pilings, which were replaced by concrete pilings during construction of the hotel.
François Nivaud, a consultant to the hotel-residential development, has been an enthusiastic supporter of the museum project from the beginning. "François has been our 'go-to guy' and champion," said Krim.
The museum was part of the mitigation required of the hotel's developer under the state's Chapter 91 tidelands regulations.
Thus, while the granite-block seawall - not the original, but dating from 1892 - is not on any historical preservation register, Nivaud has described it as "part of a heritage and culture. . . . It's how Boston was built." Now covered over by the hotel, the old seawall can be glimpsed from the harbor.
Also required by the Chapter 91 mitigation was public access to the wharf, from public restrooms, and a water taxi landing on the Harborwalk extension.
"It is really meant to be public," Nivaud said. "The museum is something we'll promote." And, he added, "it's free."
Placing the exhibit in the context of other "pocket museums" along the waterfront, Vivien Li, executive director of The Boston Harbor Association, said it has "the potential to be the prototype for 21st century waterfront attractions."
Down to the sea in ships
In addition to the new maritime museum, Boston's waterfront holds a handful of indoor historic exhibits.
March 22, 2009
Boston Harbor Hotel at Rowes Wharf: Maps of New England and its waters, from the Norman Leventhal Collection.
Marriott Long Wharf: Spectacle Island exhibit in second-floor lobby.
Pilot House: Interactive exhibit on the harbor's ship pilots and ferries, inside Commercial Street ATM lobby.
Lewis Wharf: Exhibits of wharf artifacts, inside Pilot House lobby.
Tudor Wharf (Charlestown): Exhibits dealing with "Ice King" Frederic Tudor's ice trade, inside Marriott lobby.
Charlestown Navy Yard: Three museums devoted to the USS Constitution and the Navy yard's history.
Compiled by Michael Kenney
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
The Voice of the MBTA
Published 2009-03-20
Frank Oglesby Jr., a T employee of more that 20 years, is the voice behind the recorded announcements on the subways and buses in the Boston area.
The voice behind the MBTA system
JOKING ON THE BUS
When Oglesby rides the bus, he often plays a little trick on drivers when he’s about to step off.
“I’ll get up to the front of the bus, and I’ll tell the bus driver, ‘Don’t you get tired of hearing me all day long?’ And they’ll go, ‘No?’ and start laughing.” He said it’s gratifying to help them relax and loosen up a bit. “I know what they go through,” said Oglesby, whose father was a bus driver for 34 years. “They probably have the hardest job in the system.”
LOVE AND HATE
Of all the recordings, Oglesby definitely has his favorites — he said the announcements taped with newer equipment that play at Back Bay station sound “beautiful.” There are others he can’t stand, such as the hesitation in his voice before the word “Ashmont” when trains are approaching the station. “When I hear it, I cringe,” Oglesby said. “It’s just an odd take, and they used it.” He also said the word “street” has too much inflection on the Green Line recordings because they weren’t taped as full sentences.
For nearly 20 years, Frank Oglesby Jr. has been talking to MBTA riders every day, telling them what station they’re pulling into, where their train is headed and what connections they can make. And please, no smoking.
Yes, that soothing baritone voice riders hear on subway cars and buses saying, “Next stop ....” is a real person, though Oglesby smiles when discussing those riders he overhears on the T who believe otherwise.
“They’ll say, ‘It’s automated. This isn’t a real voice,’” Oglesby said. “What are you going to do, argue with them?”
Oglesby, 47, commutes into town on the Red Line every day. He used to tell people that hearing his own voice was just background noise on his daily trip — but he admits now that’s not true. “I hear it. I hear every syllable. It’s right there,” he said.
Oglesby has been doing MBTA voice-overs for the last 20 years, starting with employee training and safety videos in 1989 and then with his first subway announcements in the early ’90s. He first knew his voice had promise at 16, when people started complementing him on it. Later, he did four years of radio at UMass-Amherst, hosting a talk show and as a DJ for R&B, jazz and reggae music.
He joined the MBTA in 1984 as an editorial assistant for then General Manager James F. O’Leary and has since worked in several departments — including marketing, revenue, human resources and diversity and civil liberties. Now he’s the deputy director of customer service for operations.
The recordings are simply a fun side gig. Oglesby said he’s asked not to speak with much inflection, partly because the service requires clear, succinct messages. But he enjoys that the messages, which are required by the American Disabilities Act, help riders with disabilities find their way around the system.
“I have them in mind,” he said. “I feel good about being able to do a good job for them and for people who aren’t used to taking the system.”
Greg St. Martin
Boston Metro
Frank Oglesby Jr., a T employee of more that 20 years, is the voice behind the recorded announcements on the subways and buses in the Boston area.
The voice behind the MBTA system
JOKING ON THE BUS
When Oglesby rides the bus, he often plays a little trick on drivers when he’s about to step off.
“I’ll get up to the front of the bus, and I’ll tell the bus driver, ‘Don’t you get tired of hearing me all day long?’ And they’ll go, ‘No?’ and start laughing.” He said it’s gratifying to help them relax and loosen up a bit. “I know what they go through,” said Oglesby, whose father was a bus driver for 34 years. “They probably have the hardest job in the system.”
LOVE AND HATE
Of all the recordings, Oglesby definitely has his favorites — he said the announcements taped with newer equipment that play at Back Bay station sound “beautiful.” There are others he can’t stand, such as the hesitation in his voice before the word “Ashmont” when trains are approaching the station. “When I hear it, I cringe,” Oglesby said. “It’s just an odd take, and they used it.” He also said the word “street” has too much inflection on the Green Line recordings because they weren’t taped as full sentences.
For nearly 20 years, Frank Oglesby Jr. has been talking to MBTA riders every day, telling them what station they’re pulling into, where their train is headed and what connections they can make. And please, no smoking.
Yes, that soothing baritone voice riders hear on subway cars and buses saying, “Next stop ....” is a real person, though Oglesby smiles when discussing those riders he overhears on the T who believe otherwise.
“They’ll say, ‘It’s automated. This isn’t a real voice,’” Oglesby said. “What are you going to do, argue with them?”
Oglesby, 47, commutes into town on the Red Line every day. He used to tell people that hearing his own voice was just background noise on his daily trip — but he admits now that’s not true. “I hear it. I hear every syllable. It’s right there,” he said.
Oglesby has been doing MBTA voice-overs for the last 20 years, starting with employee training and safety videos in 1989 and then with his first subway announcements in the early ’90s. He first knew his voice had promise at 16, when people started complementing him on it. Later, he did four years of radio at UMass-Amherst, hosting a talk show and as a DJ for R&B, jazz and reggae music.
He joined the MBTA in 1984 as an editorial assistant for then General Manager James F. O’Leary and has since worked in several departments — including marketing, revenue, human resources and diversity and civil liberties. Now he’s the deputy director of customer service for operations.
The recordings are simply a fun side gig. Oglesby said he’s asked not to speak with much inflection, partly because the service requires clear, succinct messages. But he enjoys that the messages, which are required by the American Disabilities Act, help riders with disabilities find their way around the system.
“I have them in mind,” he said. “I feel good about being able to do a good job for them and for people who aren’t used to taking the system.”
Greg St. Martin
Boston Metro
Massachusetts Film Tax Credit editorial
The show must go on
By John Keenan and Brian Wallace | Saturday, March 21, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Op-Ed
“Hollywood East” isn’t just a clever sales pitch. It means getting our fair share of a $60 billion industry that every year enjoys a balance of trade surplus of $10 billion - even in bad times.
With a multibillion dollar budget deficit looming and unemployment at 7.8 percent and rising, Massachusetts is desperately seeking growth industries. Fortunately, we have one in our own back yard that has generated $545 million in direct new spending over the past three years. Biotech? Green energy? Try again - it’s film.
In late 2005, Gov. Mitt Romney signed into law the Massachusetts Film Tax Credit (FTC), a production incentive that made Massachusetts competitive enough to draw producers who had previously confined their filming to the New York-California circuit.
In 2007, Gov. Deval Patrick and the Legislature improved the dynamic by extending the tax credit’s expiration date, lifting the credit cap for larger features, and modifying it to include more independent films and digital media productions.
Today, we’re benefiting from the results with more than 25 major motion pictures, films and TV projects produced in state since 2006, and the number of people employed in the Massachusetts film industry growing by 11 percent in the same period.
With film attendance up this year, developing Massachusetts’ motion picture, TV and digital media industry is a hedge against the recession and a good investment.
According to figures released last spring by the state Department of Revenue (DOR), the cost of the film tax credit is only 14 cents for each new dollar generated in the state’s economy by the film industry. DOR also estimated that the credit could bring in more than 5,000 new jobs with annual salaries of between $40,000 and $70,000.
DOR’s figures are even more impressive because they did not include local taxes, fees and business generated for cities and towns during production, such as the $150,000 that Essex will reap in property use and parking fees from an upcoming Adam Sandler movie.
DOR’s figures also don’t include promotion and tourism dollars generated by local motion picture projects. How many of your out-of-town guests demanded to visit the L Street Tavern after “Good Will Hunting” came out? Finally, DOR’s projections did not include the half-billion dollars of new private investment likely to be generated by the construction and operation of several new proposed sound stages. In short, the benefits to the local economy far outweigh the costs.
“Hollywood East” isn’t just a clever sales pitch. It means getting our fair share of a $60 billion industry that every year enjoys a balance of trade surplus of $10 billion - even in bad economic times. It means creating private sector jobs with private sector pension and health care benefits at a cost of pennies on the dollar.
And it means desperately needed revenue for cities and towns. In addition to Boston, communities as diverse as Salem, Andover, Burlington, Gloucester, Haverhill, Hull, Lawrence, Lenox, Lowell, Medfield, Plymouth, Rockport, Taunton, Woburn and Worcester have benefited directly from spending generated by the Film Tax Credit.
The Bay State’s success has even riled California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who - despite the traditional allure of Hollywood - publicly fretted last year that Massachusetts is luring away tens of thousand of jobs.
Because of this incentive, and the new economic activity it has already generated, Massachusetts is well on its way to becoming the Northeast regional center for film, television and digital media. The question, therefore - especially now - is not whether we can afford the film tax credit. The question is, can we afford to lose the jobs and revenue the film tax credit has brought to Massachusetts.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/opinion/op_ed/view.bg?articleid=1160085
By John Keenan and Brian Wallace | Saturday, March 21, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Op-Ed
“Hollywood East” isn’t just a clever sales pitch. It means getting our fair share of a $60 billion industry that every year enjoys a balance of trade surplus of $10 billion - even in bad times.
With a multibillion dollar budget deficit looming and unemployment at 7.8 percent and rising, Massachusetts is desperately seeking growth industries. Fortunately, we have one in our own back yard that has generated $545 million in direct new spending over the past three years. Biotech? Green energy? Try again - it’s film.
In late 2005, Gov. Mitt Romney signed into law the Massachusetts Film Tax Credit (FTC), a production incentive that made Massachusetts competitive enough to draw producers who had previously confined their filming to the New York-California circuit.
In 2007, Gov. Deval Patrick and the Legislature improved the dynamic by extending the tax credit’s expiration date, lifting the credit cap for larger features, and modifying it to include more independent films and digital media productions.
Today, we’re benefiting from the results with more than 25 major motion pictures, films and TV projects produced in state since 2006, and the number of people employed in the Massachusetts film industry growing by 11 percent in the same period.
With film attendance up this year, developing Massachusetts’ motion picture, TV and digital media industry is a hedge against the recession and a good investment.
According to figures released last spring by the state Department of Revenue (DOR), the cost of the film tax credit is only 14 cents for each new dollar generated in the state’s economy by the film industry. DOR also estimated that the credit could bring in more than 5,000 new jobs with annual salaries of between $40,000 and $70,000.
DOR’s figures are even more impressive because they did not include local taxes, fees and business generated for cities and towns during production, such as the $150,000 that Essex will reap in property use and parking fees from an upcoming Adam Sandler movie.
DOR’s figures also don’t include promotion and tourism dollars generated by local motion picture projects. How many of your out-of-town guests demanded to visit the L Street Tavern after “Good Will Hunting” came out? Finally, DOR’s projections did not include the half-billion dollars of new private investment likely to be generated by the construction and operation of several new proposed sound stages. In short, the benefits to the local economy far outweigh the costs.
“Hollywood East” isn’t just a clever sales pitch. It means getting our fair share of a $60 billion industry that every year enjoys a balance of trade surplus of $10 billion - even in bad economic times. It means creating private sector jobs with private sector pension and health care benefits at a cost of pennies on the dollar.
And it means desperately needed revenue for cities and towns. In addition to Boston, communities as diverse as Salem, Andover, Burlington, Gloucester, Haverhill, Hull, Lawrence, Lenox, Lowell, Medfield, Plymouth, Rockport, Taunton, Woburn and Worcester have benefited directly from spending generated by the Film Tax Credit.
The Bay State’s success has even riled California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who - despite the traditional allure of Hollywood - publicly fretted last year that Massachusetts is luring away tens of thousand of jobs.
Because of this incentive, and the new economic activity it has already generated, Massachusetts is well on its way to becoming the Northeast regional center for film, television and digital media. The question, therefore - especially now - is not whether we can afford the film tax credit. The question is, can we afford to lose the jobs and revenue the film tax credit has brought to Massachusetts.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/opinion/op_ed/view.bg?articleid=1160085
Friday, March 20, 2009
Hotels Reassign workers to avoid layoffs
New job, same company
By redeploying workers, employers can avoid morale-sapping staff cuts
By Nicole C. Wong, Globe Staff | March 20, 2009
Nancy Hobbs expected the worst when she was called to her manager's office in November. In this economy, such meetings often end with employees out of work.
"I had a pit in my stomach," said Hobbs, 54, of Cambridge. "I never prayed so hard in my life."
But instead of being let go, the daytime housekeeping supervisor at Boston's Liberty Hotel was offered a janitorial position on the overnight shift. It was a huge relief. Hobbs's husband lost his job as a cemetery groundskeeper more than a year ago. Without a job, she said, "I wouldn't be able to pay my bills."
The Liberty Hotel, like other businesses, is looking for ways to ride out the recession while minimizing the number of layoffs it must make. One way is to move experienced workers into jobs that can't be left vacant despite the downturn. Some companies are redeploying employees to fill key positions that are available due to attrition, increased demand for particular services or products, or cuts in outside-service contracts.
For workers, the upside is obvious - continued employment, often with the same pay and benefits. For companies, it's cheaper to reassign employees already familiar with an organization's culture and procedures than to hire from outside. And there is also a broader advantage: By redeploying workers, businesses can minimize the drain on morale and productivity caused by layoffs and worries about additional job cuts.
Even though Hobbs switched from inspecting guest rooms to scrubbing wine stains from the lobby floor, the change isn't a demotion. She takes home the same paycheck and keeps her supervisor title.
"We said, 'We don't want to let you go,' " said Jim Treadway, the hotel's managing director. "Our guest experience here is directly related to the morale of the employee population."
The Liberty, which opened in September 2007, hasn't been able to save everyone's job amid the deepening recession. Since November, it has laid off 15 employees, or about 5 percent of its workforce.
As part of a cost-cutting effort, the hotel eliminated a layer of management in the housekeeping department, consolidated room service and guest service call centers, and made other changes. By ending its $13,000 monthly contract with an outsourced cleaning crew, it was able to spend money on janitorial salaries for Hobbs and three other redeployed workers who otherwise would have been unemployed.
At the Langham Hotel Boston, the opening of a new bar and restaurant created five job openings last month. The Financial District hotel filled the positions with five employees who would otherwise have been laid off from the guest relations, administration, housekeeping, room service, and sales departments.
Human resources executives say there isn't enough data to indicate whether redeployment is a growing trend. But John Challenger, chief executive of Chicago outsourcing consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., said more of his clients are now talking about shifting workers into different jobs. During his 25 years surveying the national employment scene, Challenger said, "companies didn't seem to redeploy very often." That was especially true at massive companies where each division has its own human resources operation to independently hire and lay off workers, he said.
Suzanne M. Bump, Massachusetts' secretary of Labor and Workforce Development, said she expects to see worker redeployment rise because as jobs become more specialized, the cost of recruiting and training new employees increases.
Even when an outside candidate might technically be a better match for a position, a current employee already understands a company's inner workings and has established relationships within the organization, Bump said.
She speaks from experience, having recently redeployed the largest batch of workers in the department's 70-year history.
Last fall, 38 career counselors in the welfare-to-work program would have been laid off due to budget cuts, but instead they were reassigned to the state's unemployment insurance call centers, which needed 73 additional clerks to help the surging number of unemployed workers file claims. None of the former counselors took a pay cut. While the career counselors and new hires all needed a month of training, Bump said, the employees already on the state payroll had an advantage.
"They were already familiar with the system, and these were people who had already proven themselves as being successful with working with unemployed people, which is a stressful job," she said. By contrast, five claims takers hired from outside in December have already quit.
Long-term, redeployment could save the state and companies a lot of money. Recruiting and acclimating a new employee typically takes a year and costs 20 to 40 percent of that person's salary, said Aneil K. Mishra, a visiting associate professor of management at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business.
In addition to hurting employees' morale and productivity, layoffs also affect their commitment and trust, Mishra said. Redeployment, however, signals an organization values its workers, he said.
"Crafting this message of hope is so critical for the survivors," Mishra said. "That becomes the essence by which you're going to be able to turn the organization around."
At Lexington marketing company VistaPrint, redeployment has been a longstanding practice to help employees gain a better understanding of the expanding business. But it took on new urgency last fall as the company was slowing its hiring rate because of the recession and needed more employees in roles that would directly generate revenue. So five people who used to woo job candidates are now doing something more pressing - pitching VistaPrint to potential customers.
Leah Waitkun, one of VistaPrint's former recruiters, considers it a way to branch out professionally, not just a push by the company to bring in more money.
"I don't know I would ever have a chance to move into an acquisition marketing role and be in a position where I'm really focusing on helping the business grow," said Waitkun, 27, who is earning the same salary as before. "I think they actually wanted to make it more like something that would build people's careers and get people more exposed to other opportunities in the company."
Nicole C. Wong can be reached at nwong@globe.com.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
By redeploying workers, employers can avoid morale-sapping staff cuts
By Nicole C. Wong, Globe Staff | March 20, 2009
Nancy Hobbs expected the worst when she was called to her manager's office in November. In this economy, such meetings often end with employees out of work.
"I had a pit in my stomach," said Hobbs, 54, of Cambridge. "I never prayed so hard in my life."
But instead of being let go, the daytime housekeeping supervisor at Boston's Liberty Hotel was offered a janitorial position on the overnight shift. It was a huge relief. Hobbs's husband lost his job as a cemetery groundskeeper more than a year ago. Without a job, she said, "I wouldn't be able to pay my bills."
The Liberty Hotel, like other businesses, is looking for ways to ride out the recession while minimizing the number of layoffs it must make. One way is to move experienced workers into jobs that can't be left vacant despite the downturn. Some companies are redeploying employees to fill key positions that are available due to attrition, increased demand for particular services or products, or cuts in outside-service contracts.
For workers, the upside is obvious - continued employment, often with the same pay and benefits. For companies, it's cheaper to reassign employees already familiar with an organization's culture and procedures than to hire from outside. And there is also a broader advantage: By redeploying workers, businesses can minimize the drain on morale and productivity caused by layoffs and worries about additional job cuts.
Even though Hobbs switched from inspecting guest rooms to scrubbing wine stains from the lobby floor, the change isn't a demotion. She takes home the same paycheck and keeps her supervisor title.
"We said, 'We don't want to let you go,' " said Jim Treadway, the hotel's managing director. "Our guest experience here is directly related to the morale of the employee population."
The Liberty, which opened in September 2007, hasn't been able to save everyone's job amid the deepening recession. Since November, it has laid off 15 employees, or about 5 percent of its workforce.
As part of a cost-cutting effort, the hotel eliminated a layer of management in the housekeeping department, consolidated room service and guest service call centers, and made other changes. By ending its $13,000 monthly contract with an outsourced cleaning crew, it was able to spend money on janitorial salaries for Hobbs and three other redeployed workers who otherwise would have been unemployed.
At the Langham Hotel Boston, the opening of a new bar and restaurant created five job openings last month. The Financial District hotel filled the positions with five employees who would otherwise have been laid off from the guest relations, administration, housekeeping, room service, and sales departments.
Human resources executives say there isn't enough data to indicate whether redeployment is a growing trend. But John Challenger, chief executive of Chicago outsourcing consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., said more of his clients are now talking about shifting workers into different jobs. During his 25 years surveying the national employment scene, Challenger said, "companies didn't seem to redeploy very often." That was especially true at massive companies where each division has its own human resources operation to independently hire and lay off workers, he said.
Suzanne M. Bump, Massachusetts' secretary of Labor and Workforce Development, said she expects to see worker redeployment rise because as jobs become more specialized, the cost of recruiting and training new employees increases.
Even when an outside candidate might technically be a better match for a position, a current employee already understands a company's inner workings and has established relationships within the organization, Bump said.
She speaks from experience, having recently redeployed the largest batch of workers in the department's 70-year history.
Last fall, 38 career counselors in the welfare-to-work program would have been laid off due to budget cuts, but instead they were reassigned to the state's unemployment insurance call centers, which needed 73 additional clerks to help the surging number of unemployed workers file claims. None of the former counselors took a pay cut. While the career counselors and new hires all needed a month of training, Bump said, the employees already on the state payroll had an advantage.
"They were already familiar with the system, and these were people who had already proven themselves as being successful with working with unemployed people, which is a stressful job," she said. By contrast, five claims takers hired from outside in December have already quit.
Long-term, redeployment could save the state and companies a lot of money. Recruiting and acclimating a new employee typically takes a year and costs 20 to 40 percent of that person's salary, said Aneil K. Mishra, a visiting associate professor of management at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business.
In addition to hurting employees' morale and productivity, layoffs also affect their commitment and trust, Mishra said. Redeployment, however, signals an organization values its workers, he said.
"Crafting this message of hope is so critical for the survivors," Mishra said. "That becomes the essence by which you're going to be able to turn the organization around."
At Lexington marketing company VistaPrint, redeployment has been a longstanding practice to help employees gain a better understanding of the expanding business. But it took on new urgency last fall as the company was slowing its hiring rate because of the recession and needed more employees in roles that would directly generate revenue. So five people who used to woo job candidates are now doing something more pressing - pitching VistaPrint to potential customers.
Leah Waitkun, one of VistaPrint's former recruiters, considers it a way to branch out professionally, not just a push by the company to bring in more money.
"I don't know I would ever have a chance to move into an acquisition marketing role and be in a position where I'm really focusing on helping the business grow," said Waitkun, 27, who is earning the same salary as before. "I think they actually wanted to make it more like something that would build people's careers and get people more exposed to other opportunities in the company."
Nicole C. Wong can be reached at nwong@globe.com.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
New Legal Seafoods Ads Unveiled
Legal Sea Foods unveils more snarky ads
March 20, 2009 11:40 AM
"Is that a worm in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?"
Get ready, Green Line riders. The foul-mouthed fish are back.
After months of negotiations, Legal Sea Foods said it has received approval from the MBTA for a new series in its "Fresh Fish" ad campaign.
The new insults include zingers such as: "Kiss my bass;" "If that's your girlfriend, I'd throw her back;" and "Darn, you smell like carp."
The wisecracking cartoon fish made quite a splash last June when they first appeared on the Green Line. One ad, which featured the line "This conductor has a face like a halibut," prompted outrage among the trolley conductors, whose union complained to T management.
The conductor ads were immediately removed.
At the time, Roger Berkowitz, chief executive of Legal Sea Foods, only inflamed the controversy by taking to the airwaves to issue a "solemn" apology to the train operators, saying: "We should have never, ever said, 'This conductor has a face like a halibut,' when the truth is, most conductors don't look anything at all like halibuts. Some look more like groupers or flounders. I've even seen a few who closely resemble catfish. And there's one conductor on the Green Line that looks remarkably like a hammerhead shark. So we feel badly about this mischaracterization."
Legal Sea Foods said the T blocked the second round of ads, which were supposed to appear in August, until now. The T could not immediately be reached for comment. None of the new ads takes aim at T conductors.
"What can I say?" Berkowitz said. "My fish is really fresh."
To read some previous Globe coverage about Legal's fresh fish campaign, please click here and here.
(By Jenn Abelson, Globe staff
March 20, 2009 11:40 AM
"Is that a worm in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?"
Get ready, Green Line riders. The foul-mouthed fish are back.
After months of negotiations, Legal Sea Foods said it has received approval from the MBTA for a new series in its "Fresh Fish" ad campaign.
The new insults include zingers such as: "Kiss my bass;" "If that's your girlfriend, I'd throw her back;" and "Darn, you smell like carp."
The wisecracking cartoon fish made quite a splash last June when they first appeared on the Green Line. One ad, which featured the line "This conductor has a face like a halibut," prompted outrage among the trolley conductors, whose union complained to T management.
The conductor ads were immediately removed.
At the time, Roger Berkowitz, chief executive of Legal Sea Foods, only inflamed the controversy by taking to the airwaves to issue a "solemn" apology to the train operators, saying: "We should have never, ever said, 'This conductor has a face like a halibut,' when the truth is, most conductors don't look anything at all like halibuts. Some look more like groupers or flounders. I've even seen a few who closely resemble catfish. And there's one conductor on the Green Line that looks remarkably like a hammerhead shark. So we feel badly about this mischaracterization."
Legal Sea Foods said the T blocked the second round of ads, which were supposed to appear in August, until now. The T could not immediately be reached for comment. None of the new ads takes aim at T conductors.
"What can I say?" Berkowitz said. "My fish is really fresh."
To read some previous Globe coverage about Legal's fresh fish campaign, please click here and here.
(By Jenn Abelson, Globe staff
Spring Dining Preview
Now serving: Spring
By Mat Schaffer | Friday, March 20, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Dining News
Asparagus in the produce section, shad at the fish counter and Easter lamb and Passover brisket in the meat department. Hub foodies don’t have to go farther than the grocery store to know spring is in the air.
But the season will be gastronomically evident across Boston.
For many discerning diners, spring begins March 31, with the 17th LifeSavor benefit. Eighty of the city’s top restaurants (including Rendezvous, Rialto and Rocca) donate meals for Community Servings, which delivers hot food to people homebound with critical illnesses (servings.org).
D2E Down:2:Earth 2009 Festival at the Hynes Auditorium, April 3-5, promotes local “green” food efforts. Among the participants: Chefs Collaborative, Edible Boston magazine, the Fireplace, Henrietta’s Table, Lineage and UpStairs on the Square (d2eboston.com).
The ads insist snobs need not apply to the Phantom Gourmet Wine and Food Phest, May 2 at Bayside Expo Center. The popular TV show promises a smorgasbord of tastings from local restaurants and purveyors (phantomgourmet.com).
It wouldn’t be spring without Boston Bakes for Breast Cancer. For the week leading up to Mother’s Day (May 10), 100 percent of proceeds from a designated dessert at more than 150 restaurants will benefit breast cancer research and care at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (bostonbakesforbreastcancer.org).
Copley Square Farmers Market reopens May 19 - great news for fans of Atlas Farm, Gilson Family Herb Enterprises, Keown Orchards and other regulars at the twice-weekly outdoor event. The Federation of Massachusetts Farmers Markets estimates 200 farmers markets will run from May through November. Find out where at massfarmersmarkets.org.
And new restaurants due to open this spring, include Friendly Toast, the Kendall Square branch of the popular Portsmouth, N.H., brunch spot. And il Casale - home-style Italian cooking from Dante de Magistris (dante) in a converted Belmont Center firehouse.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/entertainment/food_dining/general/view.bg?articleid=1159780
By Mat Schaffer | Friday, March 20, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Dining News
Asparagus in the produce section, shad at the fish counter and Easter lamb and Passover brisket in the meat department. Hub foodies don’t have to go farther than the grocery store to know spring is in the air.
But the season will be gastronomically evident across Boston.
For many discerning diners, spring begins March 31, with the 17th LifeSavor benefit. Eighty of the city’s top restaurants (including Rendezvous, Rialto and Rocca) donate meals for Community Servings, which delivers hot food to people homebound with critical illnesses (servings.org).
D2E Down:2:Earth 2009 Festival at the Hynes Auditorium, April 3-5, promotes local “green” food efforts. Among the participants: Chefs Collaborative, Edible Boston magazine, the Fireplace, Henrietta’s Table, Lineage and UpStairs on the Square (d2eboston.com).
The ads insist snobs need not apply to the Phantom Gourmet Wine and Food Phest, May 2 at Bayside Expo Center. The popular TV show promises a smorgasbord of tastings from local restaurants and purveyors (phantomgourmet.com).
It wouldn’t be spring without Boston Bakes for Breast Cancer. For the week leading up to Mother’s Day (May 10), 100 percent of proceeds from a designated dessert at more than 150 restaurants will benefit breast cancer research and care at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (bostonbakesforbreastcancer.org).
Copley Square Farmers Market reopens May 19 - great news for fans of Atlas Farm, Gilson Family Herb Enterprises, Keown Orchards and other regulars at the twice-weekly outdoor event. The Federation of Massachusetts Farmers Markets estimates 200 farmers markets will run from May through November. Find out where at massfarmersmarkets.org.
And new restaurants due to open this spring, include Friendly Toast, the Kendall Square branch of the popular Portsmouth, N.H., brunch spot. And il Casale - home-style Italian cooking from Dante de Magistris (dante) in a converted Belmont Center firehouse.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/entertainment/food_dining/general/view.bg?articleid=1159780
House of Siam on Tremont and New Rod Dee reviews
Two Thai restaurants to try
By Mat Schaffer | Friday, March 20, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Dining Reviews
Bostonians adore Thai cuisine. So much so that, despite the economic downturn, two of the Hub’s most successful Thai restaurants have expanded operations.
House of Siam on Tremont is the second South End location for owner Joe Thailand, who divides his time between the two establishments.
The menus at both are similar - a mix of authentic Thai fare and not-as-spicy dishes designed for non-Thai patrons.
House of Siam on Tremont makes terrific tod mun ($7.50) - spongy, fried minced fish cakes flavored with red curry. Order a side of sticky rice ($2) to accompany deep-fried shards of beef of paradise ($7.95). You roll the rice into a ball to use as an edible scoop with the chewy beef.
Also use sticky rice to eat BBQ pork ($12.50), tender slices of sugary, glazed loin. The Thai love of texture is illustrated by the yam squid salad($13.95) of rubbery poached squid, crunchy iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, red onion, lemongrass, ground chilies and fresh mint.
Tom kha gai ($4.50) - chicken and coconut soup - is more coconut-milky than you may expect but nonetheless delicious. If you like green curry, you’ll like hot-sweet chicken green curry ($12.50), studded with bamboo shoots, Japanese eggplant and Thai basil.
Fried basil leaves garnish a platter of crisp-skinned, basil duck ($16.95), stir-fried with red and green bell peppers. Wash down dinner with a lagery Singha beer ($4.50).
With its chocolate-brown faux bamboo wall covering, votive candle-lighted tables and fresh flowers, House of Siam on Tremont is as relaxing as a Thai spa. For dessert, don’t forget pearl tapioca pudding ($3.50). It’s a gooey, sweet coconut delight.
Local foodies were heartsick when a massive fire took out a block of restaurants on Peterborough Street in the Fenway early this year, including Thai takeout fave Rod Dee II.
Fortunately, the original Coolidge Corner Rod Dee is still in business and, further up the street in Washington Square, Brookline, the recently opened New Rod Dee.
It’s the only Rod Dee with substantial seating - 10 tables plus two sofas and four easy chairs. Order your meal at the counter; it’s delivered to your table but you’re expected to bus your own dirty plates.
Though New Rod Dee promotes its “original spicy crispy chicken recipe” ($8.10), battered and fried tenders and sauteed bell peppers on jasmine rice, there are other, more memorable dishes.
Such as tangy ground chicken larb ($10.45), mixed with red onion, scallion, ground toasted rice, mint and lots of lime juice that you wrap in lettuce leaves. And tart som tum green papaya salad ($6.90) tossed with dried shrimp, chopped peanuts andslivered dried chilies.
From the (non-English) Thai menu, try fluffy pork omelet ($8.50), stuffed with pork and strewn with fresh cilantro. It’s great, drizzled with fire-engine-red Sriracha sauce.
The pad Thai ($7.55) is excellent. It’s available for farang (non-Thai) or Thai palates - meaning non-spicy or very spicy. Or ask for the condiment tray of pickled chilies, chilies in fish sauce, dried powdered chilies and sugar, and season noodles on your own.
Save room for slices of fresh mango served with warm and sweet, coconut sticky rice ($6.65).
Painted in the Day-Glo orangey hues of Thai iced tea ($2.50), New Rod Dee has no liquor license. Be forewarned, it’s cash only; there’s an ATM machine located inside.
HOUSE OF SIAM ON TREMONT
592 Tremont St. (South End); 617-267-7426.
NEW ROD DEE
1671 Beacon St., Brookline (Washington Square). 617-738-1455; roddeethai.com.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/entertainment/food_dining/reviews/view.bg?articleid=1159760
By Mat Schaffer | Friday, March 20, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Dining Reviews
Bostonians adore Thai cuisine. So much so that, despite the economic downturn, two of the Hub’s most successful Thai restaurants have expanded operations.
House of Siam on Tremont is the second South End location for owner Joe Thailand, who divides his time between the two establishments.
The menus at both are similar - a mix of authentic Thai fare and not-as-spicy dishes designed for non-Thai patrons.
House of Siam on Tremont makes terrific tod mun ($7.50) - spongy, fried minced fish cakes flavored with red curry. Order a side of sticky rice ($2) to accompany deep-fried shards of beef of paradise ($7.95). You roll the rice into a ball to use as an edible scoop with the chewy beef.
Also use sticky rice to eat BBQ pork ($12.50), tender slices of sugary, glazed loin. The Thai love of texture is illustrated by the yam squid salad($13.95) of rubbery poached squid, crunchy iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, red onion, lemongrass, ground chilies and fresh mint.
Tom kha gai ($4.50) - chicken and coconut soup - is more coconut-milky than you may expect but nonetheless delicious. If you like green curry, you’ll like hot-sweet chicken green curry ($12.50), studded with bamboo shoots, Japanese eggplant and Thai basil.
Fried basil leaves garnish a platter of crisp-skinned, basil duck ($16.95), stir-fried with red and green bell peppers. Wash down dinner with a lagery Singha beer ($4.50).
With its chocolate-brown faux bamboo wall covering, votive candle-lighted tables and fresh flowers, House of Siam on Tremont is as relaxing as a Thai spa. For dessert, don’t forget pearl tapioca pudding ($3.50). It’s a gooey, sweet coconut delight.
Local foodies were heartsick when a massive fire took out a block of restaurants on Peterborough Street in the Fenway early this year, including Thai takeout fave Rod Dee II.
Fortunately, the original Coolidge Corner Rod Dee is still in business and, further up the street in Washington Square, Brookline, the recently opened New Rod Dee.
It’s the only Rod Dee with substantial seating - 10 tables plus two sofas and four easy chairs. Order your meal at the counter; it’s delivered to your table but you’re expected to bus your own dirty plates.
Though New Rod Dee promotes its “original spicy crispy chicken recipe” ($8.10), battered and fried tenders and sauteed bell peppers on jasmine rice, there are other, more memorable dishes.
Such as tangy ground chicken larb ($10.45), mixed with red onion, scallion, ground toasted rice, mint and lots of lime juice that you wrap in lettuce leaves. And tart som tum green papaya salad ($6.90) tossed with dried shrimp, chopped peanuts andslivered dried chilies.
From the (non-English) Thai menu, try fluffy pork omelet ($8.50), stuffed with pork and strewn with fresh cilantro. It’s great, drizzled with fire-engine-red Sriracha sauce.
The pad Thai ($7.55) is excellent. It’s available for farang (non-Thai) or Thai palates - meaning non-spicy or very spicy. Or ask for the condiment tray of pickled chilies, chilies in fish sauce, dried powdered chilies and sugar, and season noodles on your own.
Save room for slices of fresh mango served with warm and sweet, coconut sticky rice ($6.65).
Painted in the Day-Glo orangey hues of Thai iced tea ($2.50), New Rod Dee has no liquor license. Be forewarned, it’s cash only; there’s an ATM machine located inside.
HOUSE OF SIAM ON TREMONT
592 Tremont St. (South End); 617-267-7426.
NEW ROD DEE
1671 Beacon St., Brookline (Washington Square). 617-738-1455; roddeethai.com.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/entertainment/food_dining/reviews/view.bg?articleid=1159760
James Hook may sell waterfront site
Lobster company's prime site on waterfront put up for sale
By Megan Woolhouse, Globe Staff | March 20, 2009
One of the city's prime waterfront tracts, home for decades to one of the nation's oldest lobster businesses, is up for sale.
Jimmy Hook, one of four brothers who own James Hook & Co., said the family plans to sell its downtown property after a fire nearly destroyed the business last May.
"I'd like to utilize the property better and get what it's worth," Hook said inside the shop yesterday, leaning on a lobster tank. "It's a beautiful spot.
It is undecided whether the Hook brothers' lobster business, a fixture on Atlantic Avenue since 1925, will remain on the site. Hook said he and his brothers are considering all their options.
"We'd like to keep the business here, but you never know," Hook said.
The Hook lobster company is a vestige of another era downtown, harkening back to the days when Boston's waterfront had more fishing boats than luxury condos. The family business thrived even as towering office buildings and luxury hotels sprouted around it. Even though the Hook company does a massive international business and keeps more than 300,000 pounds of lobster a year on hand for sale, the Hooks said they wanted to maintain a homespun feel, selling lobster rolls to lunch crowds and inviting customers to eat them at picnic tables outside.
Those days may be drawing to a close. Ten developers have submitted proposals for construction projects at the site, according to the family's real estate broker, Sandy Tierney of McCall & Almy.
Hook family members and Tierney declined to disclose the names of interested developers or the asking price for the property.
The assessed value of the land, according to city records, is $1.77 million.
Tierney said the Hook brothers will probably select one proposal within a month.
"The Hooks are committed to retaining a presence there," Tierney said. "They may have to temporarily move away during construction, but their goal is to remain on this site and to have it continue to be identified as the site of the James Hook lobster company. They've been here a long time, and they'd like to stay."
Al and Jimmy Hook said the family had no desire to sell the land until last year, when a massive early-morning fire ravaged the business, destroying more than 60,000 pounds of live lobster and the buildings that housed them.
When the fire was brought under control, what remained of the business's distinctive tin-topped building was charred and singed and had to be razed. About a month later, city fire officials, with assistance from the federal bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, said the cause of the blaze was probably electrical, although an exact determination could not be made.
The brothers said at the time they wanted to rebuild. But after the fire, Tierney said, they were besieged with offers for their land.
The Boston Redevelopment Authority helped the company set up in offices in the nearby Marine Industrial Park. Eventually the brothers reopened their retail business in two trailers they had moved onto the Atlantic Avenue site.
The setup has not changed. The trailers sit in the shadow of the towering 1 International Place skyscraper.
Hook's next-door neighbor to the west is Independence Wharf, a 14-story luxury office building. And the gleaming glass Intercontinental Hotel, 21-stories, including seven floors of luxury condos, sits nearby.
Kairos Shen the BRA's chief of planning, said zoning laws drafted when the expressway stood there prohibit construction more than 55 feet high at the Hook location, although those rules can be appealed by property owners. In an interview yesterday, Shen called the Hook site "a very, very special location." A review board working with the BRA has hired several private consultants to undertake a study of Greenway zoning that will include creating new rules for development at the Hook site.
Citing the parcel's proximity to the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, Shen said that the BRA does not want to see towering buildings block the sun from the park and that the city will not allow the park to be compromised by "private development interests."
"It's a critical asset the city needs to cherish," Shen said.
It was a thought echoed by customers yesterday.
Maureen Daly, who works at a nearby Verizon office, went to Hook's to pick up two lobsters to bring to friends in Florida this morning. She said she would be crushed if the Hooks moved.
"I want them to stay," she said. "It's the best lobster in all of Boston. It's the freshest and the sweetest tasting."
Co-worker Ellen Paress said she wanted to see the Hooks rebuild a restaurant at the site, something similar to the casual shack they lost.
"When you get too big," she said, "you lose some of that family feel."
Megan Woolhouse can be reached at mwoolhouse@globe.com.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
By Megan Woolhouse, Globe Staff | March 20, 2009
One of the city's prime waterfront tracts, home for decades to one of the nation's oldest lobster businesses, is up for sale.
Jimmy Hook, one of four brothers who own James Hook & Co., said the family plans to sell its downtown property after a fire nearly destroyed the business last May.
"I'd like to utilize the property better and get what it's worth," Hook said inside the shop yesterday, leaning on a lobster tank. "It's a beautiful spot.
It is undecided whether the Hook brothers' lobster business, a fixture on Atlantic Avenue since 1925, will remain on the site. Hook said he and his brothers are considering all their options.
"We'd like to keep the business here, but you never know," Hook said.
The Hook lobster company is a vestige of another era downtown, harkening back to the days when Boston's waterfront had more fishing boats than luxury condos. The family business thrived even as towering office buildings and luxury hotels sprouted around it. Even though the Hook company does a massive international business and keeps more than 300,000 pounds of lobster a year on hand for sale, the Hooks said they wanted to maintain a homespun feel, selling lobster rolls to lunch crowds and inviting customers to eat them at picnic tables outside.
Those days may be drawing to a close. Ten developers have submitted proposals for construction projects at the site, according to the family's real estate broker, Sandy Tierney of McCall & Almy.
Hook family members and Tierney declined to disclose the names of interested developers or the asking price for the property.
The assessed value of the land, according to city records, is $1.77 million.
Tierney said the Hook brothers will probably select one proposal within a month.
"The Hooks are committed to retaining a presence there," Tierney said. "They may have to temporarily move away during construction, but their goal is to remain on this site and to have it continue to be identified as the site of the James Hook lobster company. They've been here a long time, and they'd like to stay."
Al and Jimmy Hook said the family had no desire to sell the land until last year, when a massive early-morning fire ravaged the business, destroying more than 60,000 pounds of live lobster and the buildings that housed them.
When the fire was brought under control, what remained of the business's distinctive tin-topped building was charred and singed and had to be razed. About a month later, city fire officials, with assistance from the federal bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, said the cause of the blaze was probably electrical, although an exact determination could not be made.
The brothers said at the time they wanted to rebuild. But after the fire, Tierney said, they were besieged with offers for their land.
The Boston Redevelopment Authority helped the company set up in offices in the nearby Marine Industrial Park. Eventually the brothers reopened their retail business in two trailers they had moved onto the Atlantic Avenue site.
The setup has not changed. The trailers sit in the shadow of the towering 1 International Place skyscraper.
Hook's next-door neighbor to the west is Independence Wharf, a 14-story luxury office building. And the gleaming glass Intercontinental Hotel, 21-stories, including seven floors of luxury condos, sits nearby.
Kairos Shen the BRA's chief of planning, said zoning laws drafted when the expressway stood there prohibit construction more than 55 feet high at the Hook location, although those rules can be appealed by property owners. In an interview yesterday, Shen called the Hook site "a very, very special location." A review board working with the BRA has hired several private consultants to undertake a study of Greenway zoning that will include creating new rules for development at the Hook site.
Citing the parcel's proximity to the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, Shen said that the BRA does not want to see towering buildings block the sun from the park and that the city will not allow the park to be compromised by "private development interests."
"It's a critical asset the city needs to cherish," Shen said.
It was a thought echoed by customers yesterday.
Maureen Daly, who works at a nearby Verizon office, went to Hook's to pick up two lobsters to bring to friends in Florida this morning. She said she would be crushed if the Hooks moved.
"I want them to stay," she said. "It's the best lobster in all of Boston. It's the freshest and the sweetest tasting."
Co-worker Ellen Paress said she wanted to see the Hooks rebuild a restaurant at the site, something similar to the casual shack they lost.
"When you get too big," she said, "you lose some of that family feel."
Megan Woolhouse can be reached at mwoolhouse@globe.com.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
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