Blue Angels to fly over Boston
June 30, 2009 05:03 PM E
By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff
The seven F/A-18 Hornets of the Blue Angels precision flying team will roar Wednesday afternoon over downtown Boston, a federal aviation official said today.
The planes will make one pass from south to north over the downtown area between 1:30 and 2 p.m., said Jim Peters, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration.
"I don't have a specific area downtown where they will be, but obviously, everybody should be able to see seven F-18s flying over the downtown area," he said, estimating they would fly at about 3,000 feet.
A photo opportunity in which a presidential jet and a military plane flew low over downtown Manhattan in late April caused alarm in a city traumatized by 9/11. The White House official who took responsibility for the flight later resigned.
Peters said federal officials had notified the Boston mayor's office, the Boston Police, and the State Police and were reaching out through the media to "allay anyone's fears" about the flyover. He also said the planes would contact the air traffic controllers who manage traffic approaching Logan International Airport as they head into Boston.
Petty Officer Kurt Anderson, a Blue Angels, said far from being alarmed, people will like the demonstration.
"Of course, they're going to enjoy it. They're the Blue Angels," said Anderson.
Peters said plans had been scrapped for the Blue Angels to fly over the USS Constitution at the Charlestown Navy Yard. Peters said the Navy had wanted to get a photo of the planes with the venerable warship in the background, but the ship was under repair.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
Finale nixes North End Plans, Spazzo to Open on Salem Street, and other restaurant news
Finale nixes North End cafe plan
But its wholesale dessert biz booms
By Donna Goodison / Turning the Tables | Friday, June 26, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Business & Markets
The economic downturn has been a boon for Finale Desserterie & Bakery’s wholesale business, but it’s prompted the Boston-based chain to shelve the opening of a planned North End location.
Finale had been slated to move into the former Martignetti Liquors building at Salem and Cross streets.
“Spending three quarters of a million dollars to open a new restaurant is a risk,” president and co-founder Paul Conforti said. “We decided that we’d rather stay with our three existing locations and focus on them rather than spreading ourselves too thin.”
Finale has locations at Boston’s Park Plaza, Brookline’s Coolidge Corner and Harvard Square in Cambridge. Its decision to back out of the North End follows the December closing of its Natick Collection desserterie after 15 months.
“When we arrived there, we had visions of the mall being an urban oasis in the suburbs, a place that was active at night,” Conforti said. “But when we realized that wasn’t going to happen, it made sense to exit sooner rather than later.”
But Finale is moving ahead on an expansion into Washington, D.C., through a joint venture with investor Gary Mendel, who’s actively seeking other investors and scouting locations for a first-quarter opening next year.
“D.C. is pretty recession-proof,” Conforti said. “The government is always running, so we’re excited about getting open down there.”
Other restaurants’ recessionary cutbacks, meanwhile, have helped Finale’s wholesale business grow considerably in the last year.
Some eateries have stopped making their own desserts so they can shrink their kitchen staffs, and Finale is filling their dessert orders at the 8,500-square-foot Allston pastry kitchen that it opened last year.
Finale’s wholesale revenue, which amounted to $50,000 in sales last year, will be well more than $1 million this year, according to Conforti.
Finale, meanwhile, is transferring the malt and wine license that it had for the planned North End location to Joe Bono, owner of nearby Al Dente on Salem Street.
Bono is creating a new 40-seat restaurant, tentatively called Spazzo, next door at 111 Salem St. in the space formerly occupied by Trani Ice Cream.
With a menu of sandwiches, pasta, pizza and salads, the contemporary Spazzo will be a more affordable takeout/sitdown option to Bono’s 16-year-old family Italian restaurant.
“It will be a couple of dollars cheaper,” Bono said. “We’re trying to get more affordable foods so people who live here can eat out more often.”
An August opening is planned.
The 34-seat Piattini Gelateria and Cafe will take over 224 Newbury St. in September as a sister location to the Piattini wine cafe that specializes in small plates next door.
“It will be reminiscent of a real Italian coffee shop, except we’re going to serve light bites,” owner Josephine Oliviero Megwa said.
The cafe will serve items such as egg white sandwiches and frittatas for breakfast, sandwiches and salads for lunch and an antipasto-driven menu for dinner. The artisanal gelato will made in Pennsylvania using raw Amish cow milk and seasonal fruits.
Nightclub czar Jack Gateman is taking over the former Zee Bar on Boston’s Tremont Street, but is said to be still refining his concept.
But its wholesale dessert biz booms
By Donna Goodison / Turning the Tables | Friday, June 26, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Business & Markets
The economic downturn has been a boon for Finale Desserterie & Bakery’s wholesale business, but it’s prompted the Boston-based chain to shelve the opening of a planned North End location.
Finale had been slated to move into the former Martignetti Liquors building at Salem and Cross streets.
“Spending three quarters of a million dollars to open a new restaurant is a risk,” president and co-founder Paul Conforti said. “We decided that we’d rather stay with our three existing locations and focus on them rather than spreading ourselves too thin.”
Finale has locations at Boston’s Park Plaza, Brookline’s Coolidge Corner and Harvard Square in Cambridge. Its decision to back out of the North End follows the December closing of its Natick Collection desserterie after 15 months.
“When we arrived there, we had visions of the mall being an urban oasis in the suburbs, a place that was active at night,” Conforti said. “But when we realized that wasn’t going to happen, it made sense to exit sooner rather than later.”
But Finale is moving ahead on an expansion into Washington, D.C., through a joint venture with investor Gary Mendel, who’s actively seeking other investors and scouting locations for a first-quarter opening next year.
“D.C. is pretty recession-proof,” Conforti said. “The government is always running, so we’re excited about getting open down there.”
Other restaurants’ recessionary cutbacks, meanwhile, have helped Finale’s wholesale business grow considerably in the last year.
Some eateries have stopped making their own desserts so they can shrink their kitchen staffs, and Finale is filling their dessert orders at the 8,500-square-foot Allston pastry kitchen that it opened last year.
Finale’s wholesale revenue, which amounted to $50,000 in sales last year, will be well more than $1 million this year, according to Conforti.
Finale, meanwhile, is transferring the malt and wine license that it had for the planned North End location to Joe Bono, owner of nearby Al Dente on Salem Street.
Bono is creating a new 40-seat restaurant, tentatively called Spazzo, next door at 111 Salem St. in the space formerly occupied by Trani Ice Cream.
With a menu of sandwiches, pasta, pizza and salads, the contemporary Spazzo will be a more affordable takeout/sitdown option to Bono’s 16-year-old family Italian restaurant.
“It will be a couple of dollars cheaper,” Bono said. “We’re trying to get more affordable foods so people who live here can eat out more often.”
An August opening is planned.
The 34-seat Piattini Gelateria and Cafe will take over 224 Newbury St. in September as a sister location to the Piattini wine cafe that specializes in small plates next door.
“It will be reminiscent of a real Italian coffee shop, except we’re going to serve light bites,” owner Josephine Oliviero Megwa said.
The cafe will serve items such as egg white sandwiches and frittatas for breakfast, sandwiches and salads for lunch and an antipasto-driven menu for dinner. The artisanal gelato will made in Pennsylvania using raw Amish cow milk and seasonal fruits.
Nightclub czar Jack Gateman is taking over the former Zee Bar on Boston’s Tremont Street, but is said to be still refining his concept.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Alaska Air to move to Terminal A
AROUND THE REGION
Alaska to switch Logan terminals
By Katie Johnston Chase, Globe Staff | June 25, 2009
Alaska Airlines passengers will have a new destination at Logan International Airport starting Saturday: Terminal A.
The airline, which has been operating out of Terminal B under a sublease with US Airways, now has a sublease with Delta Air Lines in Terminal A.
Alaska Airlines makes two daily nonstop flights to Seattle from Boston and one daily nonstop flight to Portland, Ore.
Terminal A is the world’s first airline terminal to receive Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification.
The lights dim during daylight, bathrooms use less water, and windows keep heat in during cold weather and out when it’s hot.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Alaska to switch Logan terminals
By Katie Johnston Chase, Globe Staff | June 25, 2009
Alaska Airlines passengers will have a new destination at Logan International Airport starting Saturday: Terminal A.
The airline, which has been operating out of Terminal B under a sublease with US Airways, now has a sublease with Delta Air Lines in Terminal A.
Alaska Airlines makes two daily nonstop flights to Seattle from Boston and one daily nonstop flight to Portland, Ore.
Terminal A is the world’s first airline terminal to receive Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification.
The lights dim during daylight, bathrooms use less water, and windows keep heat in during cold weather and out when it’s hot.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
NYC Ruling Could affect Boston Plans to go Hybrid with taxis
NYC ruling clouds Boston bid to regulate cabs
Judge blocks plan for fuel efficiency
By Peter Schworm, Globe Staff | June 23, 2009
Dealing a potential blow to Boston’s plans, too, a federal judge has blocked a push by New York City to replace gas-guzzling taxis with fuel-efficient hybrids, ruling yesterday that city officials overstepped their legal bounds.
In a 37-page ruling, US District Court Judge Paul A. Crotty said the New York City effort would preempt federal jurisdiction over mileage and emission standards.
The decision heartened Boston cab drivers and owners who are challenging the city’s mandate that owners of 1,800 cabs go green by 2015, asserting that the cost could drive them out of business.
But supporters of the push for hybrid cabs said the cases were fundamentally different.
“This is very good news,’’ said Raphael Ophir, a Jamaica Plain cab owner and one of the plaintiffs in the federal suit seeking to block the move. “In many ways, ours is the exact same claim: whether the city has the power to regulate fuel efficiency.’’
Paul H. Merry, a Boston lawyer who represents the plaintiffs, said that while the two cases are different, both assert that the cities are overstepping their jurisdiction by attempting to regulate fuel efficiency. The Boston suit contends that the rule is unreasonable because it forbids taxi owners from buying used hybrids, as well as other vehicles with comparable mileage.
Boston officials, who did not return calls seeking comment yesterday, have said the hybrid requirement will help the environment by reducing carbon emissions and ultimately save the taxi industry and passengers money by improving fuel economy. They say the city has agreed to phase in the requirements and boost passenger rates to ease the economic burden on owners.
While Boston cab drivers hailed the ruling as bolstering their cause, supporters of the city’s requirement said it was specifically crafted to withstand legal scrutiny.
The cases are very different, said George Bachrach, head of the Environmental League of Massachusetts, who has testified at city hearings in support of the rule.
While New York’s regulations were primarily presented as public health measures, Bachrach said, Boston’s have been framed as commercial policies, more typically an area of local oversight. More companies are voluntarily purchasing hybrids for their fuel economy and socially responsible appeal, realizing they can quickly recoup their initial investment, he said.
Hybrid taxis are becoming increasingly popular as eco-friendly, although cab drivers often resist them as too costly.
But Crotty’s ruling thwarted Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s efforts to encourage taxi owners to switch to hybrids by reducing lease rates for cabs without hybrid or clean-diesel technology. In October, Crotty struck down a city requirement that taxicabs achieve at least 25 miles per gallon on similar grounds.
The incentives, Crotty ruled, “have the preempted effect of mandating that taxicab owners purchase only taxicabs with hybrid or clean-diesel engines.’’
The head of the city’s Law Department said the Bloomberg administration was disappointed by the ruling and would explore its legal options. About 16 percent of the city’s 13,000 taxicabs are hybrids, which are powered by both gasoline and electricity, or clean-diesel vehicles that emit far less pollution than previous models.
But locally, owners and drivers said Boston’s rule, which is being phased in for replacement vehicles, is Draconian. Peter Sheinfeld, a Boston taxi driver and owner, denounced it as the latest in a “huge array of regulatory impositions on the industry.’’
But critics of the conversion push, Bachrach said, are standing athwart history.
“At the end of the day, this is inevitable,’’ he said. “Those who oppose it are just shifting sands against the tide.’’
Material from the Associated Press was included in this report. Peter Schworm can be reached at schworm@globe.com.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Judge blocks plan for fuel efficiency
By Peter Schworm, Globe Staff | June 23, 2009
Dealing a potential blow to Boston’s plans, too, a federal judge has blocked a push by New York City to replace gas-guzzling taxis with fuel-efficient hybrids, ruling yesterday that city officials overstepped their legal bounds.
In a 37-page ruling, US District Court Judge Paul A. Crotty said the New York City effort would preempt federal jurisdiction over mileage and emission standards.
The decision heartened Boston cab drivers and owners who are challenging the city’s mandate that owners of 1,800 cabs go green by 2015, asserting that the cost could drive them out of business.
But supporters of the push for hybrid cabs said the cases were fundamentally different.
“This is very good news,’’ said Raphael Ophir, a Jamaica Plain cab owner and one of the plaintiffs in the federal suit seeking to block the move. “In many ways, ours is the exact same claim: whether the city has the power to regulate fuel efficiency.’’
Paul H. Merry, a Boston lawyer who represents the plaintiffs, said that while the two cases are different, both assert that the cities are overstepping their jurisdiction by attempting to regulate fuel efficiency. The Boston suit contends that the rule is unreasonable because it forbids taxi owners from buying used hybrids, as well as other vehicles with comparable mileage.
Boston officials, who did not return calls seeking comment yesterday, have said the hybrid requirement will help the environment by reducing carbon emissions and ultimately save the taxi industry and passengers money by improving fuel economy. They say the city has agreed to phase in the requirements and boost passenger rates to ease the economic burden on owners.
While Boston cab drivers hailed the ruling as bolstering their cause, supporters of the city’s requirement said it was specifically crafted to withstand legal scrutiny.
The cases are very different, said George Bachrach, head of the Environmental League of Massachusetts, who has testified at city hearings in support of the rule.
While New York’s regulations were primarily presented as public health measures, Bachrach said, Boston’s have been framed as commercial policies, more typically an area of local oversight. More companies are voluntarily purchasing hybrids for their fuel economy and socially responsible appeal, realizing they can quickly recoup their initial investment, he said.
Hybrid taxis are becoming increasingly popular as eco-friendly, although cab drivers often resist them as too costly.
But Crotty’s ruling thwarted Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s efforts to encourage taxi owners to switch to hybrids by reducing lease rates for cabs without hybrid or clean-diesel technology. In October, Crotty struck down a city requirement that taxicabs achieve at least 25 miles per gallon on similar grounds.
The incentives, Crotty ruled, “have the preempted effect of mandating that taxicab owners purchase only taxicabs with hybrid or clean-diesel engines.’’
The head of the city’s Law Department said the Bloomberg administration was disappointed by the ruling and would explore its legal options. About 16 percent of the city’s 13,000 taxicabs are hybrids, which are powered by both gasoline and electricity, or clean-diesel vehicles that emit far less pollution than previous models.
But locally, owners and drivers said Boston’s rule, which is being phased in for replacement vehicles, is Draconian. Peter Sheinfeld, a Boston taxi driver and owner, denounced it as the latest in a “huge array of regulatory impositions on the industry.’’
But critics of the conversion push, Bachrach said, are standing athwart history.
“At the end of the day, this is inevitable,’’ he said. “Those who oppose it are just shifting sands against the tide.’’
Material from the Associated Press was included in this report. Peter Schworm can be reached at schworm@globe.com.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Two Massachusetts Chefs to appear on Hell's Kitchen
Bay State chefs don’t mind if Gordon Ramsay gives ’em ‘Hell’
By Donna Goodison | Thursday, June 25, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Business & Markets
Two Massachusetts chefs have put their culinary egos on the line to appear as contestants on Fox’s “Hell’s Kitchen” reality TV show.
Boston chef Andy Husbands and Fitchburg chef David Cordio will risk the threat of being called a “donkey” on national television by fork-tongued British chef Gordon Ramsay in the sixth series of the show, which debuts July 21.
Both are under strict orders not to talk about their experiences until Fox schedules July interviews to drum up an audience. But publicity materials for the show tease about one of the contestants going head-to-head with Ramsay for the first time ever in the “most explosive, most outrageous and most intense elimination round ever seen on ‘Hell’s Kitchen.’ ”
Husbands, 39, opened Tremont 647 in Boston’s South End in 1996 and Sister Sorel next door four years later. The 45-year-old Cordio, who goes by “Louie” on the show, is co-owner of the 50/50 Diner in Fitchburg.
“Hell’s Kitchen” contestants undergo weekly culinary challenges - such as preparing a signature dish in 30 minutes, competing in blind taste tests, cooking for a room of firemen and sauteing shrimp. They also split into two teams that compete against each other at dinner services.
cw-3 Husbands and Cordio are on the Blue Team along with two other chefs with area roots: 34-year-old Nashua, N.H., sous chef Jim McGloin and 35-year-old Plymouth native Kevin Cottle, who’s an executive chef in Middleton, Conn.
One contestant is eliminated each week, and the winner of the show will earn the head chef’s position at Araxi Restaurant in Whistler, British Columbia.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1181114
By Donna Goodison | Thursday, June 25, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Business & Markets
Two Massachusetts chefs have put their culinary egos on the line to appear as contestants on Fox’s “Hell’s Kitchen” reality TV show.
Boston chef Andy Husbands and Fitchburg chef David Cordio will risk the threat of being called a “donkey” on national television by fork-tongued British chef Gordon Ramsay in the sixth series of the show, which debuts July 21.
Both are under strict orders not to talk about their experiences until Fox schedules July interviews to drum up an audience. But publicity materials for the show tease about one of the contestants going head-to-head with Ramsay for the first time ever in the “most explosive, most outrageous and most intense elimination round ever seen on ‘Hell’s Kitchen.’ ”
Husbands, 39, opened Tremont 647 in Boston’s South End in 1996 and Sister Sorel next door four years later. The 45-year-old Cordio, who goes by “Louie” on the show, is co-owner of the 50/50 Diner in Fitchburg.
“Hell’s Kitchen” contestants undergo weekly culinary challenges - such as preparing a signature dish in 30 minutes, competing in blind taste tests, cooking for a room of firemen and sauteing shrimp. They also split into two teams that compete against each other at dinner services.
cw-3 Husbands and Cordio are on the Blue Team along with two other chefs with area roots: 34-year-old Nashua, N.H., sous chef Jim McGloin and 35-year-old Plymouth native Kevin Cottle, who’s an executive chef in Middleton, Conn.
One contestant is eliminated each week, and the winner of the show will earn the head chef’s position at Araxi Restaurant in Whistler, British Columbia.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1181114
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
New Owner says Filene's Basement belongs downtown
Syms says Basement belongs downtown
New owner studying whether to keep markdown policy
By Jenn Abelson, Globe Staff | June 23, 2009
Syms Corp. chief executive Marcy Syms yesterday said she is committed to bringing back Filene’s Basement to Downtown Crossing, but needs time to study whether the famed automatic markdown policy will remain at the clothing chain’s flagship store.
Syms, in one of her first interviews since her company bought the bankrupt Filene’s Basement last week, said it must consider all options in the search for a downtown site. The legendary location at Washington Street has been closed since 2007 and developers of the site have been unable to secure financing to move forward.
Syms said she plans to meet with Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino within the next few weeks to talk about the future of Filene’s Basement and has already received an e-mail from a developer to explore another spot downtown. She declined to provide details.
“If we make a commitment to just that site and none other, we might cut off another opportunity that could get us open faster,’’ Syms said. “I’m a product of Boston University, and I was an avid Filene’s Basement shopper and understand the importance of that location.’’
Dot Joyce, spokeswoman for Menino, said yesterday she was uncertain whether a meeting with Syms had been scheduled but added: “The mayor, first and foremost, is interested in seeing that building constructed and progress toward creating a bustling downtown shopping district.’’
Clothing discounter Syms paid nearly $65 million for 23 of the 25 Filene’s Basement stores after more than a week of intense bidding for the Filene’s Basement chain. The New Jersey merchant, in a joint venture with Vornado Realty Trust, beat out Men’s Wearhouse and New York real estate firm Crown Acquisitions. Vornado Realty Trust, which owns the Downtown Crossing site where the shuttered Filene’s Basement is located, paid about $16.8 million to terminate the existing lease on Washington Street and another $8.2 million to amend a lease in New York City to increase the annual rent. Vornado will not have any role in operating the 100-year-old chain. The firm could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Syms said there will be no additional layoffs at Filene’s Basement and the stores that are not part of the sale are likely to be closed.
“We are totally committed to keeping the Filene’s Basement name and traditions. We will look at the automatic markdown and whether we can continue it,’’ Syms said. “We want to keep going the Running of the Brides events, the suit event, and we want to make sure the fan club expands.’’
Already, buyers for Filene’s Basement are in New York for a three-day spending spree to replenish stores with fresh merchandise. The bargain merchant had been largely unable to purchase new items in recent months because of a liquidity crisis and the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in May. Syms said she does not believe Filene’s Basement was ever “broken,’’ but rather a victim of unfortunate decisions to aggressively expand the chain.
Filene’s Basement, with mostly female shoppers between the ages of 25 and 45, complements the Syms brand, where older male customers make up about 50 percent of shoppers, according to Syms. Still, she is hoping to improve the men’s suit selection at Filene’s Basement and expand the children’s department. Although the demographics of the two companies do not overlap much, they carry many of the same designers in their stores.
“We can have more strength to negotiate great prices to give the consumer fantastic value,’’ Syms said. “Together we are much stronger.’’
Mark Shulman, president of Filene’s Basement, said yesterday, “We’re very, very happy and excited to be working with Syms and Marcy particularly. She’s a great merchant and we think we’re going to be a fabulous team together.’’
Jenn Abelson can be reached at abelson@globe.com.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
New owner studying whether to keep markdown policy
By Jenn Abelson, Globe Staff | June 23, 2009
Syms Corp. chief executive Marcy Syms yesterday said she is committed to bringing back Filene’s Basement to Downtown Crossing, but needs time to study whether the famed automatic markdown policy will remain at the clothing chain’s flagship store.
Syms, in one of her first interviews since her company bought the bankrupt Filene’s Basement last week, said it must consider all options in the search for a downtown site. The legendary location at Washington Street has been closed since 2007 and developers of the site have been unable to secure financing to move forward.
Syms said she plans to meet with Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino within the next few weeks to talk about the future of Filene’s Basement and has already received an e-mail from a developer to explore another spot downtown. She declined to provide details.
“If we make a commitment to just that site and none other, we might cut off another opportunity that could get us open faster,’’ Syms said. “I’m a product of Boston University, and I was an avid Filene’s Basement shopper and understand the importance of that location.’’
Dot Joyce, spokeswoman for Menino, said yesterday she was uncertain whether a meeting with Syms had been scheduled but added: “The mayor, first and foremost, is interested in seeing that building constructed and progress toward creating a bustling downtown shopping district.’’
Clothing discounter Syms paid nearly $65 million for 23 of the 25 Filene’s Basement stores after more than a week of intense bidding for the Filene’s Basement chain. The New Jersey merchant, in a joint venture with Vornado Realty Trust, beat out Men’s Wearhouse and New York real estate firm Crown Acquisitions. Vornado Realty Trust, which owns the Downtown Crossing site where the shuttered Filene’s Basement is located, paid about $16.8 million to terminate the existing lease on Washington Street and another $8.2 million to amend a lease in New York City to increase the annual rent. Vornado will not have any role in operating the 100-year-old chain. The firm could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Syms said there will be no additional layoffs at Filene’s Basement and the stores that are not part of the sale are likely to be closed.
“We are totally committed to keeping the Filene’s Basement name and traditions. We will look at the automatic markdown and whether we can continue it,’’ Syms said. “We want to keep going the Running of the Brides events, the suit event, and we want to make sure the fan club expands.’’
Already, buyers for Filene’s Basement are in New York for a three-day spending spree to replenish stores with fresh merchandise. The bargain merchant had been largely unable to purchase new items in recent months because of a liquidity crisis and the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in May. Syms said she does not believe Filene’s Basement was ever “broken,’’ but rather a victim of unfortunate decisions to aggressively expand the chain.
Filene’s Basement, with mostly female shoppers between the ages of 25 and 45, complements the Syms brand, where older male customers make up about 50 percent of shoppers, according to Syms. Still, she is hoping to improve the men’s suit selection at Filene’s Basement and expand the children’s department. Although the demographics of the two companies do not overlap much, they carry many of the same designers in their stores.
“We can have more strength to negotiate great prices to give the consumer fantastic value,’’ Syms said. “Together we are much stronger.’’
Mark Shulman, president of Filene’s Basement, said yesterday, “We’re very, very happy and excited to be working with Syms and Marcy particularly. She’s a great merchant and we think we’re going to be a fabulous team together.’’
Jenn Abelson can be reached at abelson@globe.com.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Aramark settles suit with convention center food workers
Aramark settles suit with convention food workers for $1.75M
By Jay Fitzgerald | Tuesday, June 23, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Business & Markets
Photo by File
Food-service workers at Boston’s two public convention centers have won another battle in the ongoing war over tips between restaurant employees and employers.
The attorney for the convention-center workers has filed a tentative $1.75 million settlement with Aramark Sports LLC, which runs the food services at the two facilities, and the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority.
The workers had claimed in a lawsuit last year that Aramark was charging center customers an extra “administrative fee” that amounted to tips that employees never received. Aramark denied the charges.
But the two sides have reached an agreement calling for a payment of up to $1.75 million, with Aramark reportedly having to pick up the bill.
The settlement still needs approval by a federal judge. A spokesman for Aramark and the workers’ attorney, Shannon Liss-Riordan, declined comment.
The agreement is just the latest restaurant-tips victory won by Liss-Riordan, who has been leading a legal crusade against organizations that allegedly have failed to properly pay tips to workers.
Similar cases have been brought against the Ritz Carlton Hotel, Top of the Hub, Four Seasons, local golf clubs and other facilities serving food.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1180603
By Jay Fitzgerald | Tuesday, June 23, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Business & Markets
Photo by File
Food-service workers at Boston’s two public convention centers have won another battle in the ongoing war over tips between restaurant employees and employers.
The attorney for the convention-center workers has filed a tentative $1.75 million settlement with Aramark Sports LLC, which runs the food services at the two facilities, and the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority.
The workers had claimed in a lawsuit last year that Aramark was charging center customers an extra “administrative fee” that amounted to tips that employees never received. Aramark denied the charges.
But the two sides have reached an agreement calling for a payment of up to $1.75 million, with Aramark reportedly having to pick up the bill.
The settlement still needs approval by a federal judge. A spokesman for Aramark and the workers’ attorney, Shannon Liss-Riordan, declined comment.
The agreement is just the latest restaurant-tips victory won by Liss-Riordan, who has been leading a legal crusade against organizations that allegedly have failed to properly pay tips to workers.
Similar cases have been brought against the Ritz Carlton Hotel, Top of the Hub, Four Seasons, local golf clubs and other facilities serving food.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1180603
Herrell's in Allston becomes Allston Cafe
Punk rock creamery takes stand
Managers say shop is too quirky for corporate conformity
By S.I. Rosenbaum, Globe Correspondent | June 23, 2009
The Herrell’s in Allston Village has always been a little different from other franchises in the ice cream chain.
Other stores have a blue-and-white color scheme. In Allston, the walls are lemon-yellow and hung with local art. Other locations play light pop; this one blasts punk rock.
The official Herrell’s logo: two teddy bears sharing a sundae. The Allston Herrell’s logo, now defunct: an ice cream cone shaped like a skull.
“It’s always been a maverick,’’ said Marc Cooper, who opened the Allston location in 1984.
This year, Herrell’s Development Corp. decided they wanted to bring greater uniformity to their franchises, as part of the company’s effort to expand regionally.
But rather than go corporate, the managers at the Allston shop say they have decided to leave the Herrell’s chain and keep their local quirkiness intact.
’’They wanted people to be able to walk into any Herrell’s across the nation and know it was a Herrell’s,’’ said manager and prospective owner Page Masse, 39, of Allston. “We wanted to keep it the fun, funky place that it is.’’
Development Corp. president Judy Herrell, former wife and business partner of founder Steve Herrell, said that as far as she is concerned, the break is not yet official.
“We’re saddened about the deterioration of our relationship with the Allston store,’’ she said. “But it’s a contractual matter that needs to be resolved.’’
She declined to elaborate.
Nonetheless, a new sign went up last week over the shop at the corner of Harvard and Brighton avenues, proclaiming it the Allston Cafe.
The Allston Herrell’s gritty local flavor goes back two decades, Cooper said. “There was a time it was even a lot more raucous than it is now,’’ he said.
In the 1980s, a pirate radio station broadcast out of the back room. Rock musicians, bike messengers, and local characters showed up for coffee and stayed all day.
Along the way, the managers had skirmishes with the corporate side, such as when it put the kibosh on the logo, which also featured a double entendre. “That was way too much for us,’’ Judith Herrell recalled.
And the music was an issue. ’’The lighter music you can still talk over - that gives you a lighter feeling, that reminds you of your childhood, that is better,’’ Judith Herrell said.
Some of the music in the Allston store has racy lyrics, she said. “I’m not a prude, but they make me blush.’’
It’s the kind of music Masse grew up with. She started working at the Allston Herrell’s in 2003, when her husband, Derek Brown, was playing in a punk band whose name cannot be printed in a family newspaper.
In 2007, she and Brown arranged a management contract with a purchase option with the franchise owner, Erica Kotin.
(Cooper, who moved on to run a creamery in Watertown with a contract to produce ice cream for Herrell’s, still owns the building lease and the victualler’s license.)
“We went into it with no money but drive and ambition,’’ said Masse, a short, cheerful woman embellished with tattoos. “It’s definitely rough and scary at times, but business gets better and better.’’
Last year, Judith Herrell made the decision to start expanding the franchise beyond Massachusetts.
The last time Herrell’s expanded, going from a single store to a statewide franchise, was not a success, she said. But she thinks this time will be different.
“We know what we did wrong in the 1980s,’’ she said. “We were too easygoing to let [franchisees] try things. In the franchise world, you really have to keep your brand.’’
Besides the Allston store, Herrell’s has franchises in Cambridge, North Adams, and Northampton, and recently opened a new franchise on Long Island; so far, Judy Herrell said, only the Allston location has wanted out.
She plans to start franchising throughout New England, but has greater aims.
“I’m not greedy; I’ll go nationwide,’’ she joked.
The new Herrell’s look will involve teddy bears picnicking, a funhouse mirror for children, and pictures of local sports teams, she said.
But she stressed she didn’t want new franchises to be identical or soulless.
Nonetheless, when word of the new standards came down to Masse and Cooper, it did not sit well.
“I had worked in corporate offices and corporate chains my entire life, and we didn’t want to be a place that everyone would see everywhere across the nation,’’ Masse said. “We wanted to be unique unto ourselves.’’
As for Cooper, he was in the midst of renegotiating his contract with Herrell’s, and he found their terms overly controlling: Herrell’s wanted to limit the flavors of ice cream he could sell to non-Herrell’s stores, he said.
“Whatever I do, they have to approve, from an ice cream standpoint,’’ he said. “There was no rationality to their offer.’’
Judy Herrell would say only that Herrell’s and Cooper “didn’t come to terms, so we chose not to renew’’ his contract. “We wish him luck,’’ she added.
So Masse and Cooper decided to secede from Herrell’s. Cooper renamed his creamery Coop’s and is working on developing recipes for new ice cream flavors.
The Allston Cafe will carry 10 of his flavors, down from the more than 20 Herrell’s flavors they used to carry, plus the basics. Cooper also plans to transfer the lease and licenses to Masse and Brown, who would become owners of the Allston Cafe.
Last Wednesday, counter staff explained the changes to regulars as they bought their coffee and ice cream, as the stereo blared the musical stylings of the band Screeching Weasel.
Patrons welcomed the cafe’s declaration of independence.
“I think it’s rad,’’ said Jack Haley, 22, a bike messenger. “There definitely needs to be more independently owned places rather than chains and franchises around here. This place rules.’’
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Managers say shop is too quirky for corporate conformity
By S.I. Rosenbaum, Globe Correspondent | June 23, 2009
The Herrell’s in Allston Village has always been a little different from other franchises in the ice cream chain.
Other stores have a blue-and-white color scheme. In Allston, the walls are lemon-yellow and hung with local art. Other locations play light pop; this one blasts punk rock.
The official Herrell’s logo: two teddy bears sharing a sundae. The Allston Herrell’s logo, now defunct: an ice cream cone shaped like a skull.
“It’s always been a maverick,’’ said Marc Cooper, who opened the Allston location in 1984.
This year, Herrell’s Development Corp. decided they wanted to bring greater uniformity to their franchises, as part of the company’s effort to expand regionally.
But rather than go corporate, the managers at the Allston shop say they have decided to leave the Herrell’s chain and keep their local quirkiness intact.
’’They wanted people to be able to walk into any Herrell’s across the nation and know it was a Herrell’s,’’ said manager and prospective owner Page Masse, 39, of Allston. “We wanted to keep it the fun, funky place that it is.’’
Development Corp. president Judy Herrell, former wife and business partner of founder Steve Herrell, said that as far as she is concerned, the break is not yet official.
“We’re saddened about the deterioration of our relationship with the Allston store,’’ she said. “But it’s a contractual matter that needs to be resolved.’’
She declined to elaborate.
Nonetheless, a new sign went up last week over the shop at the corner of Harvard and Brighton avenues, proclaiming it the Allston Cafe.
The Allston Herrell’s gritty local flavor goes back two decades, Cooper said. “There was a time it was even a lot more raucous than it is now,’’ he said.
In the 1980s, a pirate radio station broadcast out of the back room. Rock musicians, bike messengers, and local characters showed up for coffee and stayed all day.
Along the way, the managers had skirmishes with the corporate side, such as when it put the kibosh on the logo, which also featured a double entendre. “That was way too much for us,’’ Judith Herrell recalled.
And the music was an issue. ’’The lighter music you can still talk over - that gives you a lighter feeling, that reminds you of your childhood, that is better,’’ Judith Herrell said.
Some of the music in the Allston store has racy lyrics, she said. “I’m not a prude, but they make me blush.’’
It’s the kind of music Masse grew up with. She started working at the Allston Herrell’s in 2003, when her husband, Derek Brown, was playing in a punk band whose name cannot be printed in a family newspaper.
In 2007, she and Brown arranged a management contract with a purchase option with the franchise owner, Erica Kotin.
(Cooper, who moved on to run a creamery in Watertown with a contract to produce ice cream for Herrell’s, still owns the building lease and the victualler’s license.)
“We went into it with no money but drive and ambition,’’ said Masse, a short, cheerful woman embellished with tattoos. “It’s definitely rough and scary at times, but business gets better and better.’’
Last year, Judith Herrell made the decision to start expanding the franchise beyond Massachusetts.
The last time Herrell’s expanded, going from a single store to a statewide franchise, was not a success, she said. But she thinks this time will be different.
“We know what we did wrong in the 1980s,’’ she said. “We were too easygoing to let [franchisees] try things. In the franchise world, you really have to keep your brand.’’
Besides the Allston store, Herrell’s has franchises in Cambridge, North Adams, and Northampton, and recently opened a new franchise on Long Island; so far, Judy Herrell said, only the Allston location has wanted out.
She plans to start franchising throughout New England, but has greater aims.
“I’m not greedy; I’ll go nationwide,’’ she joked.
The new Herrell’s look will involve teddy bears picnicking, a funhouse mirror for children, and pictures of local sports teams, she said.
But she stressed she didn’t want new franchises to be identical or soulless.
Nonetheless, when word of the new standards came down to Masse and Cooper, it did not sit well.
“I had worked in corporate offices and corporate chains my entire life, and we didn’t want to be a place that everyone would see everywhere across the nation,’’ Masse said. “We wanted to be unique unto ourselves.’’
As for Cooper, he was in the midst of renegotiating his contract with Herrell’s, and he found their terms overly controlling: Herrell’s wanted to limit the flavors of ice cream he could sell to non-Herrell’s stores, he said.
“Whatever I do, they have to approve, from an ice cream standpoint,’’ he said. “There was no rationality to their offer.’’
Judy Herrell would say only that Herrell’s and Cooper “didn’t come to terms, so we chose not to renew’’ his contract. “We wish him luck,’’ she added.
So Masse and Cooper decided to secede from Herrell’s. Cooper renamed his creamery Coop’s and is working on developing recipes for new ice cream flavors.
The Allston Cafe will carry 10 of his flavors, down from the more than 20 Herrell’s flavors they used to carry, plus the basics. Cooper also plans to transfer the lease and licenses to Masse and Brown, who would become owners of the Allston Cafe.
Last Wednesday, counter staff explained the changes to regulars as they bought their coffee and ice cream, as the stereo blared the musical stylings of the band Screeching Weasel.
Patrons welcomed the cafe’s declaration of independence.
“I think it’s rad,’’ said Jack Haley, 22, a bike messenger. “There definitely needs to be more independently owned places rather than chains and franchises around here. This place rules.’’
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Wet weather is affecting Boston businesses
June is washing out all over
Seemingly ceaseless rain makes business even worse
By Jenn Abelson and Katie Johnston Chase, Globe Staff | June 23, 2009
Stephanie Wallace, visiting from New Jersey with friends, was looking forward to a day of shopping and eating on Boston’s famed Newbury Street. But yesterday, it rained. And rained. By 1 p.m., the group was soaked and ready to call it a day.
“I just want to go back to the hotel room and sleep,’’ said Wallace, 19. “If it doesn’t [let up], goodbye, Newbury.’’
It’s summertime, and the living is soggy. Yesterday was the 14th day of precipitation this month, and the near-constant drizzle has taken a toll on everybody. From Faneuil Hall to Downtown Crossing to Newbury Street, restaurant and store owners, already pummeled by the economic slowdown, gazed at sheets of relentless rain and said the lousy weather is just the latest sucker punch.
At the boutique Poor Little Rich Girl on Newbury Street, a green rain jacket on a sturdy stand stood out front, calling shoppers to the storefront. “It’s the only thing that gets people in here these days,’’ said employee Carrigan Denny-Brown, looking around at the empty clothing store. “It’s ridiculous.’’
Just down the street, rain-slicked outdoor tables sat empty while women with drenched hair sipped coffee inside. Pedestrians with wet pant legs struggled with umbrellas. Even dogs wore raincoats.
Linda DeMarco, who runs four pushcarts around Boston that sell pretzels and lemonade, blames the rain for knocking 20 percent off her business in recent weeks. “I have six employees sitting around and doing nothing right now,’’ DeMarco said yesterday. “This weather is the last thing we needed.’’
On paper, the weather hasn’t been as miserable as it feels. Rainfall so far this month, a little more than 2 inches, is close to average for June, according to the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Taunton. What is wreaking havoc on sales and dispositions is that there has been at least some precipitation - even if only a drizzle - falling on what feels like an unending string of days. That, combined with an average temperature that’s been 4.3 degrees below normal for the month, has made summer - which officially arrived on Sunday - feel more like early spring.
Would-be consumers who were already holding off on spending for seasonal items because of the economy are delaying even longer because summer just won’t start, said Paul Walsh, managing principal of the weather-analysis company G2 Weather Intelligence.
For some businesses, the stakes are especially high. Peter Blake, Jamaica Plain Car Wash general manager, cut hours for employees last year, and would rather not slash any further, but the foul weather is making it tough. “It’s just horrible,’’ Blake said. “We lose a lot of business when it rains on the weekend. And you never get it back.’’
Some businesses are getting creative, deciding they’ll brave the weather if the customers won’t. At the cafe Blunch, in the South End, owner Nikki Christo decided to hire a delivery person to reach her regulars at the nearby Boston Medical Center, where rain-shy workers have been hunkering down for lunch at their own cafeteria. She figured if people weren’t coming to her for lunch, she’d take her pressed sandwiches and homemade soups to them.
Others are falling back on tried-and-true traffic generators. At Geoclassics, a Faneuil Hall gift shop, owner Claudio Kraus is slashing prices to bring people in. “We’re putting a lot more items on sale than we ever had,’’ he said.
In short, the mood is sour across the city, said Rosemarie Sansone, president of the Downtown Crossing Partnership, which represents merchants and residents in the shopping district. “People are a bit depressed,’’ she said. “They are just sick and tired of seeing all this rain.’’
Of course, for some, the rain is gold. Movie theaters, for example, fill more seats. “The rule of thumb for 99 percent of theater chains is: Rain is good,’’’ said Howie Sandler, general manager at Kendall Square Cinema.
Sun-starved customers have also been flocking to the Perfect Tan salon on Commonwealth Avenue, said owner Francie Hauck, and not just for the tanning. “It’s for the warmth,’’ she said.
At Boston Party Rental in Dorchester, orders for tents at weddings and graduations have been up 23 percent - a silver lining in an otherwise ho-hum party season, with many cutting back on big events. “I hope it rains every weekend for the next couple of months,’’ said general manager Mike Gundersen.
There may be no businesses that depend more on summertime spending than the tourist venues of Cape Cod. At the inaugural Cape Cod Quahog Day on Sunday, held under a tent in the rain, a quahog, in a curious, first-of-its-kind ritual, sat on a red velvet pillow and purportedly predicted 11 1/2 weeks of sunny beach weather this summer, said Wendy Northcross, Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce chief executive.
“I guess we’ll do anything to get a good weather forecast,’’ she said.
Globe correspondent Sean Sposito contributed to this report. Jenn Abelson can be reached at abelson@globe.com; Katie Johnston Chase can be reached at johnstonchase@globe.com.
Seemingly ceaseless rain makes business even worse
By Jenn Abelson and Katie Johnston Chase, Globe Staff | June 23, 2009
Stephanie Wallace, visiting from New Jersey with friends, was looking forward to a day of shopping and eating on Boston’s famed Newbury Street. But yesterday, it rained. And rained. By 1 p.m., the group was soaked and ready to call it a day.
“I just want to go back to the hotel room and sleep,’’ said Wallace, 19. “If it doesn’t [let up], goodbye, Newbury.’’
It’s summertime, and the living is soggy. Yesterday was the 14th day of precipitation this month, and the near-constant drizzle has taken a toll on everybody. From Faneuil Hall to Downtown Crossing to Newbury Street, restaurant and store owners, already pummeled by the economic slowdown, gazed at sheets of relentless rain and said the lousy weather is just the latest sucker punch.
At the boutique Poor Little Rich Girl on Newbury Street, a green rain jacket on a sturdy stand stood out front, calling shoppers to the storefront. “It’s the only thing that gets people in here these days,’’ said employee Carrigan Denny-Brown, looking around at the empty clothing store. “It’s ridiculous.’’
Just down the street, rain-slicked outdoor tables sat empty while women with drenched hair sipped coffee inside. Pedestrians with wet pant legs struggled with umbrellas. Even dogs wore raincoats.
Linda DeMarco, who runs four pushcarts around Boston that sell pretzels and lemonade, blames the rain for knocking 20 percent off her business in recent weeks. “I have six employees sitting around and doing nothing right now,’’ DeMarco said yesterday. “This weather is the last thing we needed.’’
On paper, the weather hasn’t been as miserable as it feels. Rainfall so far this month, a little more than 2 inches, is close to average for June, according to the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Taunton. What is wreaking havoc on sales and dispositions is that there has been at least some precipitation - even if only a drizzle - falling on what feels like an unending string of days. That, combined with an average temperature that’s been 4.3 degrees below normal for the month, has made summer - which officially arrived on Sunday - feel more like early spring.
Would-be consumers who were already holding off on spending for seasonal items because of the economy are delaying even longer because summer just won’t start, said Paul Walsh, managing principal of the weather-analysis company G2 Weather Intelligence.
For some businesses, the stakes are especially high. Peter Blake, Jamaica Plain Car Wash general manager, cut hours for employees last year, and would rather not slash any further, but the foul weather is making it tough. “It’s just horrible,’’ Blake said. “We lose a lot of business when it rains on the weekend. And you never get it back.’’
Some businesses are getting creative, deciding they’ll brave the weather if the customers won’t. At the cafe Blunch, in the South End, owner Nikki Christo decided to hire a delivery person to reach her regulars at the nearby Boston Medical Center, where rain-shy workers have been hunkering down for lunch at their own cafeteria. She figured if people weren’t coming to her for lunch, she’d take her pressed sandwiches and homemade soups to them.
Others are falling back on tried-and-true traffic generators. At Geoclassics, a Faneuil Hall gift shop, owner Claudio Kraus is slashing prices to bring people in. “We’re putting a lot more items on sale than we ever had,’’ he said.
In short, the mood is sour across the city, said Rosemarie Sansone, president of the Downtown Crossing Partnership, which represents merchants and residents in the shopping district. “People are a bit depressed,’’ she said. “They are just sick and tired of seeing all this rain.’’
Of course, for some, the rain is gold. Movie theaters, for example, fill more seats. “The rule of thumb for 99 percent of theater chains is: Rain is good,’’’ said Howie Sandler, general manager at Kendall Square Cinema.
Sun-starved customers have also been flocking to the Perfect Tan salon on Commonwealth Avenue, said owner Francie Hauck, and not just for the tanning. “It’s for the warmth,’’ she said.
At Boston Party Rental in Dorchester, orders for tents at weddings and graduations have been up 23 percent - a silver lining in an otherwise ho-hum party season, with many cutting back on big events. “I hope it rains every weekend for the next couple of months,’’ said general manager Mike Gundersen.
There may be no businesses that depend more on summertime spending than the tourist venues of Cape Cod. At the inaugural Cape Cod Quahog Day on Sunday, held under a tent in the rain, a quahog, in a curious, first-of-its-kind ritual, sat on a red velvet pillow and purportedly predicted 11 1/2 weeks of sunny beach weather this summer, said Wendy Northcross, Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce chief executive.
“I guess we’ll do anything to get a good weather forecast,’’ she said.
Globe correspondent Sean Sposito contributed to this report. Jenn Abelson can be reached at abelson@globe.com; Katie Johnston Chase can be reached at johnstonchase@globe.com.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Craigslist killer to be arraigned today
Details emerge about trail of evidence in Craigslist slay
Markoff faces arraignment this morning
By Laurel J. Sweet | Monday, June 22, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Local Coverage
The aspiring doctor alleged to have moonlighted as the Craigslist killer lacked a surgeon’s precision when he left a long trail of fingerprints and physical evidence that prosecutors say put him not only in his victims’ hotel rooms, but also buying the murder weapon.
Accused by Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley of “vicious, terrible crimes,” former Boston University medical student Philip Markoff, 23, was secretly indicted by a grand jury Thursday. Markoff was engaged to be married when he was arrested in April for terrorizing erotic servicewomen plying their wares on Craigslist.
Over two months, grand jurors heard and saw “a wealth of information,” Conley said, “all of it pointing directly at (Markoff).”
Markoff will be arraigned this morning in Suffolk Superior Court on multiple charges, including the first-degree murder of Julissa Brisman, 25. Conley said Markoff arranged to meet Brisman, a Big Apple actress, in her room at the Marriott Copley Place on April 14, then crushed her skull with the butt of a 9mm semiautomatic pistol before pressing it to her chest and firing three times.
What has eluded local, state and federal investigators is a motive.
“It’s a question we often wrestle with and often can’t answer,” Conley said. “This may be one of those cases.”
Markoff’s defense attorney John Salsberg declined to comment.
Among the stunning new details Conley revealed yesterday is the weapon that killed Brisman was bought “over the counter” in late February in Mason, N.H., Conley said. A source told the Herald it was purchased at the State Line Gun Shop.
The shop’s owner could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Markoff, Conley alleged, bought the handgun using the driver’s license of a New York man named Andrew Miller.
Authorities have interviewed Miller and, “We do not believe he is implicated or involved in any way. We don’t believe they even know each other,” Conley said.
Police recovered the purchasing documents for the gun and, “Markoff’s fingerprints are on those documents,” Conley alleged.
The semiautomatic was allegedly found in Markoff’s Quincy apartment secreted in a hollowed-out “Gray’s Anatomy” textbook.
Conley said police also recovered four pairs of women’s panties stuffed into socks hidden in Markoff’s mattress box spring and plastic ties similar to those used to bind his alleged victims. They also found laptops - one with the “remnants” of an e-mail arranging to hookup with Brisman - and “several” disposal cell phones.
Markoff’s prints were also lifted off duct tape Conley said he used to gag Trisha Leffler, 29, of Las Vegas during an armed robbery April 10 at the Westin hotel in Copley Square. They were also found at “multiple locations” at the Holiday Inn Express in Warwick, R.I., where he allegedly attacked a third woman on April 16.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1180351
Markoff faces arraignment this morning
By Laurel J. Sweet | Monday, June 22, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Local Coverage
The aspiring doctor alleged to have moonlighted as the Craigslist killer lacked a surgeon’s precision when he left a long trail of fingerprints and physical evidence that prosecutors say put him not only in his victims’ hotel rooms, but also buying the murder weapon.
Accused by Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley of “vicious, terrible crimes,” former Boston University medical student Philip Markoff, 23, was secretly indicted by a grand jury Thursday. Markoff was engaged to be married when he was arrested in April for terrorizing erotic servicewomen plying their wares on Craigslist.
Over two months, grand jurors heard and saw “a wealth of information,” Conley said, “all of it pointing directly at (Markoff).”
Markoff will be arraigned this morning in Suffolk Superior Court on multiple charges, including the first-degree murder of Julissa Brisman, 25. Conley said Markoff arranged to meet Brisman, a Big Apple actress, in her room at the Marriott Copley Place on April 14, then crushed her skull with the butt of a 9mm semiautomatic pistol before pressing it to her chest and firing three times.
What has eluded local, state and federal investigators is a motive.
“It’s a question we often wrestle with and often can’t answer,” Conley said. “This may be one of those cases.”
Markoff’s defense attorney John Salsberg declined to comment.
Among the stunning new details Conley revealed yesterday is the weapon that killed Brisman was bought “over the counter” in late February in Mason, N.H., Conley said. A source told the Herald it was purchased at the State Line Gun Shop.
The shop’s owner could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Markoff, Conley alleged, bought the handgun using the driver’s license of a New York man named Andrew Miller.
Authorities have interviewed Miller and, “We do not believe he is implicated or involved in any way. We don’t believe they even know each other,” Conley said.
Police recovered the purchasing documents for the gun and, “Markoff’s fingerprints are on those documents,” Conley alleged.
The semiautomatic was allegedly found in Markoff’s Quincy apartment secreted in a hollowed-out “Gray’s Anatomy” textbook.
Conley said police also recovered four pairs of women’s panties stuffed into socks hidden in Markoff’s mattress box spring and plastic ties similar to those used to bind his alleged victims. They also found laptops - one with the “remnants” of an e-mail arranging to hookup with Brisman - and “several” disposal cell phones.
Markoff’s prints were also lifted off duct tape Conley said he used to gag Trisha Leffler, 29, of Las Vegas during an armed robbery April 10 at the Westin hotel in Copley Square. They were also found at “multiple locations” at the Holiday Inn Express in Warwick, R.I., where he allegedly attacked a third woman on April 16.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1180351
Red Sox and Qdoba team up
Red Sox team up with Qdoba for Mexican treats
By Thomas Grillo | Monday, June 22, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Business & Markets
Qdoba Mexican Grill, the fast food chain, is the latest merchant to sign a marketing and concessionary agreement with the Boston Red Sox [team stats].
Team officials refused to release financial terms of the three-year deal that will feature in-stadium marketing, external promotional rights and in-park concessions.
Under the terms of the deal, Qdoba will be advertised on the main scoreboard and centerfield scoreboard text messages will promote the chain’s area locations and in Fenway Park [map].
The concessions deal will provide Qdoba Mexican Grill with vending rights within the ballpark and enable the restaurant to serve members of Red Sox Nation. A chips and queso cart will be located under the bleacher seats. In addition, Qdoba’s tortilla soup will be offered during the colder months of the season.
“We’re thrilled to enter into a relationship with one of the most prestigious franchises in all of professional sports,” said Jeff Ackerman of Qdoba in a statement. “Our partnership with the Boston Red Sox is a home run for Qdoba, but more importantly for our fans, as this program allows us to better serve our loyal customers and Red Sox Nation by providing them the opportunity to experience our fresh, quality products inside the ballpark.”
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1180362
By Thomas Grillo | Monday, June 22, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Business & Markets
Qdoba Mexican Grill, the fast food chain, is the latest merchant to sign a marketing and concessionary agreement with the Boston Red Sox [team stats].
Team officials refused to release financial terms of the three-year deal that will feature in-stadium marketing, external promotional rights and in-park concessions.
Under the terms of the deal, Qdoba will be advertised on the main scoreboard and centerfield scoreboard text messages will promote the chain’s area locations and in Fenway Park [map].
The concessions deal will provide Qdoba Mexican Grill with vending rights within the ballpark and enable the restaurant to serve members of Red Sox Nation. A chips and queso cart will be located under the bleacher seats. In addition, Qdoba’s tortilla soup will be offered during the colder months of the season.
“We’re thrilled to enter into a relationship with one of the most prestigious franchises in all of professional sports,” said Jeff Ackerman of Qdoba in a statement. “Our partnership with the Boston Red Sox is a home run for Qdoba, but more importantly for our fans, as this program allows us to better serve our loyal customers and Red Sox Nation by providing them the opportunity to experience our fresh, quality products inside the ballpark.”
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1180362
Massachusetts Historical Society gets grant to preserve Adams papers
NEW ENGLAND IN BRIEF
Grant awarded to preserve Adams papers
June 22, 2009
BOSTON
The Massachusetts Historical Society in Boston has received $450,000 in federal funds for its project to preserve the papers of John Adams. The money comes from a $250,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and a $200,000 matching offer. It will be used to help prepare three volumes of John Adams’s papers, two volumes of the “Adams Family Correspondence,’’ and conversion of some of those papers to digital format. The historical society has one of the most significant collections of Adams family papers in the world. (AP)
Grant awarded to preserve Adams papers
June 22, 2009
BOSTON
The Massachusetts Historical Society in Boston has received $450,000 in federal funds for its project to preserve the papers of John Adams. The money comes from a $250,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and a $200,000 matching offer. It will be used to help prepare three volumes of John Adams’s papers, two volumes of the “Adams Family Correspondence,’’ and conversion of some of those papers to digital format. The historical society has one of the most significant collections of Adams family papers in the world. (AP)
North End is Boston's newest fashion address
North End businesses go fashion forward
By Sean Sposito, Globe Correspondent | June 22, 2009
Boston fashion has an unlikely new address: the North End.
While some retail districts are increasingly dotted with empty storefronts, the North End is seeing a burgeoning number of boutiques that sell everything from designer dresses to high-end handbags. It’s a big change for a neighborhood better known for authentic Italian cafes than high-end dress shops.
The North End is benefiting from a retail sweet spot - a combination of low rent, improved access since completion of the Big Dig, and increased foot traffic from sports fans leaving games at TD Banknorth Garden.
Since August, three new boutiques - Moda, an athletic apparel store on Salem Street; Bobbles & Lace, a Prince Street store selling designer clothing, purses, and jewelry; and Filthy Rich of Boston, a high-end jewelry and accessories store on Hanover Street - have set up shop. They join seven other fashion boutiques that have arrived in the neighborhood since 2004, and cater to young, hip professionals.
“I looked on Newbury Street, I looked in Beacon Hill, I looked in Downtown Crossing, I looked all over,’’ said Amy Montminy, the owner of Filthy Rich of Boston. She said she moved to the North End because she was looking for a small location that had a lot of foot traffic. “I was looking for a tourist-y, neighborhood-y storefront.’’
That the North End is becoming a fashion hub is a shift for Boston’s oldest neighborhood. The historic North End, which covers less than 2 square miles and stretches between Cross Street and the Boston Harbor waterfront, has strong Italian flair and fare that has earned it the nickname Boston’s Little Italy.
“When I moved there, you could forget about finding any new clothes’’ in the North End, said Emily Durrant , who tried on a dress at Twilight, a dress shop on Fleet Street that opened in 2007. The grant administrator at Harvard University’s School of Public Health moved to the North End five years ago. “Now, you can find an outfit for a night out.’’
The North End’s growth is, in part, because the recession is making it hard for some local businesses to afford higher rents in other parts of city, such as the Back Bay and Beacon Hill. Newbury Street, an eight-block stretch that used to be Boston’s hottest address for trendy boutiques with rents running as high as $200 per square foot, has had several retail closings recently. By comparison, rents per square foot in the North End range from $40 to $90, with the highest prices found on the neighborhood’s main artery, Hanover Street.
“Small boutique people that found the rents expensive elsewhere, they found a welcoming community in the North End,’’ said Annette Born, a commercial retail broker.
Indeed, Lindsay Rose Rando, a co-owner of Bobbles & Lace, which opened in February, said she and her business partners were being quoted between $5,000 and $8,000 for an 800-square-foot space on Newbury Street. In the North End, on Prince Street, she said they are paying less than $2,000 for a similarly sized space.
“It kind of found us, and I’m really glad because I hear Newbury Street is not what it used to be, and people are shopping in smaller, less expensive places,’’ she said.
Some local officials say stores are moving to the North End because, along with lower rents, there have been significant increases in foot traffic to the neighborhood. One reason, they say, is that the string of winning seasons by the Celtics and Bruins has drawn more basketball and hockey fans to the neighborhood before and after games at nearby TD Banknorth Garden.
Another big reason for an increase in traffic, they say, is that it’s simply easier to get to now. The North End is more accessible with the removal of the Central Artery, which separated the North End from the rest of the city. Today, the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, a one-mile stretch of parkland that officially opened in October and sits atop the Big Dig tunnels, makes the neighborhood easier to navigate.
“The Big Dig - that was our recession,’’ said Frank De Pasquale, head and founder of the four-year-old North End Chamber of Commerce, which has nearly 200 members listed on its website, www.northendchamberofcommerce.com. Now, “everybody is looking for locations,’’ said De Pasquale, who owns eight North End businesses.
So many retail businesses have moved to the North End, in fact, that a group of owners in the area last September created an offshoot of the neighborhood’s chamber of commerce. The group of about 15 retailers, including Red M studio on Prince Street, High Gear Jewelry on Hanover Street, and Boston Common Coffee Co. on Salem Street, organizes shopping events, such as the “Spring Stroll’’ in May, at which merchants offered discounts to shoppers.
“Because there are so many restaurants down here, we kind of found that there was a need for, specifically, a retail group,’’ said Beth Hoyos, co-owner of the Velvet Fly, a vintage shop that opened on Hanover Street in 2007.
To be sure, despite the openings of trendy boutiques, some North End businesses are suffering from the economic downturn, as consumers cut back on discretionary spending. But North End retailers say they are better positioned to weather the tough times in the historic neighborhood.
Alessandra Miele said business at Moda, the athletic apparel shop she opened in August, was slow in the winter. Still, she said the North End is a good place for retail businesses to set up shop: Moda is Miele’s second business with her partner, Alicia Orr: They opened North End Yoga in October 2007.
The North End is “not only a destination to dine out but also a destination where you can shop,’’ Miele said.
Sean Sposito can be reached at ssposito@globe.com.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
By Sean Sposito, Globe Correspondent | June 22, 2009
Boston fashion has an unlikely new address: the North End.
While some retail districts are increasingly dotted with empty storefronts, the North End is seeing a burgeoning number of boutiques that sell everything from designer dresses to high-end handbags. It’s a big change for a neighborhood better known for authentic Italian cafes than high-end dress shops.
The North End is benefiting from a retail sweet spot - a combination of low rent, improved access since completion of the Big Dig, and increased foot traffic from sports fans leaving games at TD Banknorth Garden.
Since August, three new boutiques - Moda, an athletic apparel store on Salem Street; Bobbles & Lace, a Prince Street store selling designer clothing, purses, and jewelry; and Filthy Rich of Boston, a high-end jewelry and accessories store on Hanover Street - have set up shop. They join seven other fashion boutiques that have arrived in the neighborhood since 2004, and cater to young, hip professionals.
“I looked on Newbury Street, I looked in Beacon Hill, I looked in Downtown Crossing, I looked all over,’’ said Amy Montminy, the owner of Filthy Rich of Boston. She said she moved to the North End because she was looking for a small location that had a lot of foot traffic. “I was looking for a tourist-y, neighborhood-y storefront.’’
That the North End is becoming a fashion hub is a shift for Boston’s oldest neighborhood. The historic North End, which covers less than 2 square miles and stretches between Cross Street and the Boston Harbor waterfront, has strong Italian flair and fare that has earned it the nickname Boston’s Little Italy.
“When I moved there, you could forget about finding any new clothes’’ in the North End, said Emily Durrant , who tried on a dress at Twilight, a dress shop on Fleet Street that opened in 2007. The grant administrator at Harvard University’s School of Public Health moved to the North End five years ago. “Now, you can find an outfit for a night out.’’
The North End’s growth is, in part, because the recession is making it hard for some local businesses to afford higher rents in other parts of city, such as the Back Bay and Beacon Hill. Newbury Street, an eight-block stretch that used to be Boston’s hottest address for trendy boutiques with rents running as high as $200 per square foot, has had several retail closings recently. By comparison, rents per square foot in the North End range from $40 to $90, with the highest prices found on the neighborhood’s main artery, Hanover Street.
“Small boutique people that found the rents expensive elsewhere, they found a welcoming community in the North End,’’ said Annette Born, a commercial retail broker.
Indeed, Lindsay Rose Rando, a co-owner of Bobbles & Lace, which opened in February, said she and her business partners were being quoted between $5,000 and $8,000 for an 800-square-foot space on Newbury Street. In the North End, on Prince Street, she said they are paying less than $2,000 for a similarly sized space.
“It kind of found us, and I’m really glad because I hear Newbury Street is not what it used to be, and people are shopping in smaller, less expensive places,’’ she said.
Some local officials say stores are moving to the North End because, along with lower rents, there have been significant increases in foot traffic to the neighborhood. One reason, they say, is that the string of winning seasons by the Celtics and Bruins has drawn more basketball and hockey fans to the neighborhood before and after games at nearby TD Banknorth Garden.
Another big reason for an increase in traffic, they say, is that it’s simply easier to get to now. The North End is more accessible with the removal of the Central Artery, which separated the North End from the rest of the city. Today, the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, a one-mile stretch of parkland that officially opened in October and sits atop the Big Dig tunnels, makes the neighborhood easier to navigate.
“The Big Dig - that was our recession,’’ said Frank De Pasquale, head and founder of the four-year-old North End Chamber of Commerce, which has nearly 200 members listed on its website, www.northendchamberofcommerce.com. Now, “everybody is looking for locations,’’ said De Pasquale, who owns eight North End businesses.
So many retail businesses have moved to the North End, in fact, that a group of owners in the area last September created an offshoot of the neighborhood’s chamber of commerce. The group of about 15 retailers, including Red M studio on Prince Street, High Gear Jewelry on Hanover Street, and Boston Common Coffee Co. on Salem Street, organizes shopping events, such as the “Spring Stroll’’ in May, at which merchants offered discounts to shoppers.
“Because there are so many restaurants down here, we kind of found that there was a need for, specifically, a retail group,’’ said Beth Hoyos, co-owner of the Velvet Fly, a vintage shop that opened on Hanover Street in 2007.
To be sure, despite the openings of trendy boutiques, some North End businesses are suffering from the economic downturn, as consumers cut back on discretionary spending. But North End retailers say they are better positioned to weather the tough times in the historic neighborhood.
Alessandra Miele said business at Moda, the athletic apparel shop she opened in August, was slow in the winter. Still, she said the North End is a good place for retail businesses to set up shop: Moda is Miele’s second business with her partner, Alicia Orr: They opened North End Yoga in October 2007.
The North End is “not only a destination to dine out but also a destination where you can shop,’’ Miele said.
Sean Sposito can be reached at ssposito@globe.com.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Sunday, June 21, 2009
The Living Room Owner asks W Hotel to change bar name
A room too many
By Inside Track | Friday, June 19, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | The Inside Track
Photo by Matthew West
Boston bar baron John Hauck knows that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery but the owner of The Living Room on Atlantic Avenue was none to happy to read about the new W hotel’s new lobby bar called - you guessed it - The Living Room!
“I was knocked off my chair,” Hauck told the Track . “Then I looked at their Web site and saw they were going to do signature cocktails and board games. I already do signature cocktails and board games!”
Hauck said he has penned a letter to Starwood Hotels asking them to change the name of the lobby bar in the Boston W, which is due to open in the Theater District in the fall, after reading about the plans in yesterday’s Boring Broadsheet.
“I’m hoping we can settle it like gentlemen, since I was here first,” said Hauck, who has had the waterfront-area Living Room since 2002, when he changed the name from Atlantic 101 .
W GM Bill Bunce was unavailable yesterday, however a spokesgal referred us to the W Web sites where we learned that every hotel in the chain calls its lobby bar The Living Room.
Do stay tuned . . . .
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/track/inside_track/view.bg?articleid=1179833
By Inside Track | Friday, June 19, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | The Inside Track
Photo by Matthew West
Boston bar baron John Hauck knows that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery but the owner of The Living Room on Atlantic Avenue was none to happy to read about the new W hotel’s new lobby bar called - you guessed it - The Living Room!
“I was knocked off my chair,” Hauck told the Track . “Then I looked at their Web site and saw they were going to do signature cocktails and board games. I already do signature cocktails and board games!”
Hauck said he has penned a letter to Starwood Hotels asking them to change the name of the lobby bar in the Boston W, which is due to open in the Theater District in the fall, after reading about the plans in yesterday’s Boring Broadsheet.
“I’m hoping we can settle it like gentlemen, since I was here first,” said Hauck, who has had the waterfront-area Living Room since 2002, when he changed the name from Atlantic 101 .
W GM Bill Bunce was unavailable yesterday, however a spokesgal referred us to the W Web sites where we learned that every hotel in the chain calls its lobby bar The Living Room.
Do stay tuned . . . .
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/track/inside_track/view.bg?articleid=1179833
W Boston Bar to be called the Living Room
W Hotel bar to bring the outside in
By Christopher Muther, Globe Staff | June 18, 2009
When the lobby bar at the W Hotel and Residences opens this fall, the space - called the Living Room - will take its cues not from the architecture of other hotel lobby bars, but from the nearby Public Gardens and Boston Common.
“We brought a number of ideas that connected the hotel to Boston,’’ says Paul Bentel of Bentel & Bentel Architects and Planners, the firm that’s designing the interiors of the new hotel. “One of those, the idea of a garden, morphed into virtual garden. We essentially tried to take the spirit of the garden as a fresh, lively, livable environment and translate that in a contemporary way.’’
“It’s another jewel in the Emerald Necklace,’’ adds brother and architect Peter Bentel.
The W’s lobby bar, scheduled to open in late September, won’t feature much in the way of actual plant life, but the Bentels are replicating abstract aspects of a garden in the bar. The most distinct feature will be four ultra-modern pergolas in the room. The pergolas are raised seating areas with sheer draperies on two sides, accommodating up to eight people in each. During the day, they will be lit from above, creating a skylight effect. In the evening, the glow will emanate from the floor level, giving the illusion of a contemporary campfire.
Paul Bentel says the pergolas will be constructed of elm wood, a nod to the fact that nearly every town in the state has an Elm Street. Because every garden needs tranquility, there will be private booths where cellphone users can make calls.
The innovative New York architecture firm is best known for designing the Modern Restaurant at New York’s Museum of Modern Art and chef Tom Colicchio’s Craft, Craftbar, and Craftsteak restaurants. And while the Bentels may not live in Boston, designers Paul and Carol Bentel claim a long history with the city. The couple met in Boston, Paul studied at both the Harvard Graduate School of Design and MIT, and the couple lived in the city at various points in their lives. When it came to designing the W Hotel and Residences lobby, they spent time on the Theatre District site - which most recently served as a parking lot - to understand the building’s surroundings. Because the high-rise hotel, at the corner of Tremont and Stuart streets, is a glass structure, much of the lobby bar will be seen from the street.
Part of the Living Room’s interaction with the street comes from the granite floor, intended to emulate the sidewalk, and a wall that rises over the reception area that’s made of six inches of solid granite. Plantlike stainless steel tendrils will hang in front of the wall. The tendrils will be highly polished, and will reflect light back onto the street, continuing the interplay between the lobby and life outside. A subtle stream of water will run along the floor and divide the space between the bar and hotel reception.
In addition to the idea of replicating the gardens, the Living Room will take inspiration from its theatrical neighbors. Each of the pergolas is raised off the floor, providing a small stage where nightlife action can unfold.
Because the lobby bar will be both a daytime location for business travelers to sit with their laptops and a late-night party destination, the tone of the space will change throughout the day, says W Boston general manager Bill Bunce. But as with most of the hotel’s bars, he suspects the space will be most crowded at night.
“I think it’s really going to create it’s own scene,’’ says Bunce.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
By Christopher Muther, Globe Staff | June 18, 2009
When the lobby bar at the W Hotel and Residences opens this fall, the space - called the Living Room - will take its cues not from the architecture of other hotel lobby bars, but from the nearby Public Gardens and Boston Common.
“We brought a number of ideas that connected the hotel to Boston,’’ says Paul Bentel of Bentel & Bentel Architects and Planners, the firm that’s designing the interiors of the new hotel. “One of those, the idea of a garden, morphed into virtual garden. We essentially tried to take the spirit of the garden as a fresh, lively, livable environment and translate that in a contemporary way.’’
“It’s another jewel in the Emerald Necklace,’’ adds brother and architect Peter Bentel.
The W’s lobby bar, scheduled to open in late September, won’t feature much in the way of actual plant life, but the Bentels are replicating abstract aspects of a garden in the bar. The most distinct feature will be four ultra-modern pergolas in the room. The pergolas are raised seating areas with sheer draperies on two sides, accommodating up to eight people in each. During the day, they will be lit from above, creating a skylight effect. In the evening, the glow will emanate from the floor level, giving the illusion of a contemporary campfire.
Paul Bentel says the pergolas will be constructed of elm wood, a nod to the fact that nearly every town in the state has an Elm Street. Because every garden needs tranquility, there will be private booths where cellphone users can make calls.
The innovative New York architecture firm is best known for designing the Modern Restaurant at New York’s Museum of Modern Art and chef Tom Colicchio’s Craft, Craftbar, and Craftsteak restaurants. And while the Bentels may not live in Boston, designers Paul and Carol Bentel claim a long history with the city. The couple met in Boston, Paul studied at both the Harvard Graduate School of Design and MIT, and the couple lived in the city at various points in their lives. When it came to designing the W Hotel and Residences lobby, they spent time on the Theatre District site - which most recently served as a parking lot - to understand the building’s surroundings. Because the high-rise hotel, at the corner of Tremont and Stuart streets, is a glass structure, much of the lobby bar will be seen from the street.
Part of the Living Room’s interaction with the street comes from the granite floor, intended to emulate the sidewalk, and a wall that rises over the reception area that’s made of six inches of solid granite. Plantlike stainless steel tendrils will hang in front of the wall. The tendrils will be highly polished, and will reflect light back onto the street, continuing the interplay between the lobby and life outside. A subtle stream of water will run along the floor and divide the space between the bar and hotel reception.
In addition to the idea of replicating the gardens, the Living Room will take inspiration from its theatrical neighbors. Each of the pergolas is raised off the floor, providing a small stage where nightlife action can unfold.
Because the lobby bar will be both a daytime location for business travelers to sit with their laptops and a late-night party destination, the tone of the space will change throughout the day, says W Boston general manager Bill Bunce. But as with most of the hotel’s bars, he suspects the space will be most crowded at night.
“I think it’s really going to create it’s own scene,’’ says Bunce.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Ten Tables review
Pull up a chair at Ten Tables Cambridge
By Mat Schaffer | Saturday, June 20, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Dining Reviews
TEN TABLES CAMBRIDGE: B-
When tiny Ten Tables opened in Jamaica Plain in December 2002, Bostonians quickly fell in love with its Lilliputianism: five appetizers, five entrees and five desserts in a shoebox-sized storefront with, yes, only 10 tables.
Now, owner Krista Kranyak has opened a second branch in Cambridge, taking over the old Craigie Street Bistrot location.
There are twice as many tables, but the minimalist concept remains the same. Co-owner David Punch (The Nightingale, UpStairs on the Square and Rendezvous) is executive chef. His no-nonsense culinary approach - fresh, seasonal, simple - suits this residential neighborhood haunt with its bistro sensibilities.
Over several recent visits, we enjoyed salted Atlantic cod beignets ($9) - puffy, deep-fried fritters that we dunked into garlicky almond romesco sauce - and an unctuous, if underseasoned crock of pate-like organic salmon rillettes ($11) that we slathered on brioche toast and napped with Old Bay Seasoning-flavored creme fraiche, grainy mustard and tart, pickled fiddleheads.
Celebrate springtime with green garlic and semolina brodo ($9) with a poached farm egg and wilted spinach greens - the egg yolk fortifies the thick broth. Homemade Berkshire pork chorizo ($10), piquant with pimenton, Spanish paprika, is delicious with soupy stewed cannellini beans. It’s an old-world treat.
There are European touches scattered across the menu, including acumin-scented, adobo-rubbed bavette (flap) steak frites ($25) - a tender slab of beef garnished with camembert butter and served with crisp fries, pickled ramps, aioli and a cabernet-veal reduction. It’s everything you ever wanted in steak frites.
Berkshire pork chop ($23) is so succulently flavorful I suspect it’s been brined. Chewy, pan-fried spaetzle are tossed with sugary roasted Chantenay carrots and turnip greens.
The kitchen receives high marks for its skillet-roasted Gianonne chicken ($19) with crisped skin and moist flesh. It’s on a bed of faro and red Bhutanese rice pilaf with buttery favas and slivered asparagus, and surrounded by a ladle of morel cream.
Seared day boat sea scallops ($23) pair perfectly with sweetish Meyer lemon puree. But the accompanying hash of fingerling potatoes, haricots verts, cipollini onions and bits of Serrano ham is overwhelmed by mint.
Too bad that you can’t see what it is you’re eating. The nutmeg-colored dining room, with its burgundy leatherette banquettes, is so dimly lighted that your meal looks monochromatic. And the banquettes are so uncomfortable, you may want to request chair seating. However, the feng shui here is oddly strong for such an idiosyncratic spot.
The cafeteria-caliber cutlery needs an upgrade.
The 75-bottle wine list skews upward of $30. A blackberry-accented 2007 Desino Malbec ($34) is delicious with both the steak frites and pork chop. Try a lychee and pear ’07 A to Z Riesling ($33) with the chicken and scallops.
Former Myers + Chang executive chef Alison Hearn is in da house wearing a pastry chef’s jacket. Her trio of cinnamon-sugar-dusted Basque donuts ($8) stuffed with almond cream and dolloped with cherry jam is a guilty pleasure. Dense chocolate terrine ($8) sprinkled with sea salt and crowned with Thai basil ice cream is bittersweet and uber-fudgy.
Where to park? Ten Tables has four spaces, or try for a metered spot. No wonder most of the clientele seem to live close by.
Hours: Mon.-Thurs., 5:30-10 p.m.; Fri.-Sat., 5:30-10:30 p.m.; Sun., 5-9 p.m.
Bar: Beer and wine
Credit: All
Recession specials: No
Accessibility: Stairs
Parking: Small lot, on street
5 Craigie Circle, Cambridge. 617-576-5444; tentables.net.
Price: $20-$40
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/entertainment/food_dining/reviews/view.bg?articleid=1179763
By Mat Schaffer | Saturday, June 20, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Dining Reviews
TEN TABLES CAMBRIDGE: B-
When tiny Ten Tables opened in Jamaica Plain in December 2002, Bostonians quickly fell in love with its Lilliputianism: five appetizers, five entrees and five desserts in a shoebox-sized storefront with, yes, only 10 tables.
Now, owner Krista Kranyak has opened a second branch in Cambridge, taking over the old Craigie Street Bistrot location.
There are twice as many tables, but the minimalist concept remains the same. Co-owner David Punch (The Nightingale, UpStairs on the Square and Rendezvous) is executive chef. His no-nonsense culinary approach - fresh, seasonal, simple - suits this residential neighborhood haunt with its bistro sensibilities.
Over several recent visits, we enjoyed salted Atlantic cod beignets ($9) - puffy, deep-fried fritters that we dunked into garlicky almond romesco sauce - and an unctuous, if underseasoned crock of pate-like organic salmon rillettes ($11) that we slathered on brioche toast and napped with Old Bay Seasoning-flavored creme fraiche, grainy mustard and tart, pickled fiddleheads.
Celebrate springtime with green garlic and semolina brodo ($9) with a poached farm egg and wilted spinach greens - the egg yolk fortifies the thick broth. Homemade Berkshire pork chorizo ($10), piquant with pimenton, Spanish paprika, is delicious with soupy stewed cannellini beans. It’s an old-world treat.
There are European touches scattered across the menu, including acumin-scented, adobo-rubbed bavette (flap) steak frites ($25) - a tender slab of beef garnished with camembert butter and served with crisp fries, pickled ramps, aioli and a cabernet-veal reduction. It’s everything you ever wanted in steak frites.
Berkshire pork chop ($23) is so succulently flavorful I suspect it’s been brined. Chewy, pan-fried spaetzle are tossed with sugary roasted Chantenay carrots and turnip greens.
The kitchen receives high marks for its skillet-roasted Gianonne chicken ($19) with crisped skin and moist flesh. It’s on a bed of faro and red Bhutanese rice pilaf with buttery favas and slivered asparagus, and surrounded by a ladle of morel cream.
Seared day boat sea scallops ($23) pair perfectly with sweetish Meyer lemon puree. But the accompanying hash of fingerling potatoes, haricots verts, cipollini onions and bits of Serrano ham is overwhelmed by mint.
Too bad that you can’t see what it is you’re eating. The nutmeg-colored dining room, with its burgundy leatherette banquettes, is so dimly lighted that your meal looks monochromatic. And the banquettes are so uncomfortable, you may want to request chair seating. However, the feng shui here is oddly strong for such an idiosyncratic spot.
The cafeteria-caliber cutlery needs an upgrade.
The 75-bottle wine list skews upward of $30. A blackberry-accented 2007 Desino Malbec ($34) is delicious with both the steak frites and pork chop. Try a lychee and pear ’07 A to Z Riesling ($33) with the chicken and scallops.
Former Myers + Chang executive chef Alison Hearn is in da house wearing a pastry chef’s jacket. Her trio of cinnamon-sugar-dusted Basque donuts ($8) stuffed with almond cream and dolloped with cherry jam is a guilty pleasure. Dense chocolate terrine ($8) sprinkled with sea salt and crowned with Thai basil ice cream is bittersweet and uber-fudgy.
Where to park? Ten Tables has four spaces, or try for a metered spot. No wonder most of the clientele seem to live close by.
Hours: Mon.-Thurs., 5:30-10 p.m.; Fri.-Sat., 5:30-10:30 p.m.; Sun., 5-9 p.m.
Bar: Beer and wine
Credit: All
Recession specials: No
Accessibility: Stairs
Parking: Small lot, on street
5 Craigie Circle, Cambridge. 617-576-5444; tentables.net.
Price: $20-$40
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/entertainment/food_dining/reviews/view.bg?articleid=1179763
Behind the Tall Ships Standoff resolution
THE OBSERVER
This Tall tale is one for the books
Standoff between Menino and Sail Boston ends with a Pyrrhic settlement
By Sam Allis, Globe Columnist | June 21, 2009
There have been a surfeit of worries bouncing like marbles around the tiny head of the Observer lately: the fate of the Globe, the split between Billy Joel and his third wife, the conundrum of Iran. What’s a boy to do?
As a result, I skipped most of the psychodrama between veteran event planner Dusty Rhodes of Sail Boston and Boston Mayor Tom Menino over money to cover costs of the 2009 iteration of the Tall Ships early next month. This pair belongs in a cage fighting ring together. Anyway, on July 7, 49 tall ships from 18 countries - a few of them rather short ships actually - will start arriving in Boston Harbor. (“Tall Ships,’’ it turns out, was trademarked by Rhodes’s partner in this, the American Sail Training Association.)
It’s a gorgeous Boston story of grudges and expectations fueled by a vigorous game of chicken. Menino has insisted for ages that Sail Boston, Rhodes’s nonprofit that is managing the event, deliver $1.1 million to cover related costs to the city, such as security.
It never did and he never budged. It got personal. Rhodes bugs Menino. A lot of people bug him. He has the skin of onion paper and the memory of Rain Man.
Sail Boston’s last best offer was to deliver $750,000 up front with the rest to come later from the proceeds of tourist passports to have been sold for 10 bucks a pop. Maybe that would have worked, but I’ve always followed the advice of my father on this, particularly in this day and age: Don’t count on a penny until it’s in your pocket. Show me the money. In any case, Menino said nyet, I want it all now.
I don’t blame him. Sail Boston has never repaid its $1.2 million debt to the city for expenses it ate from the last Tall Ships rodeo in 2000, which explains Menino’s ire toward Rhodes. She maintains that the fault belongs to Jane Swift, the acting governor who succeeded Paul Cellucci, who had agreed to pick up the extra expenses. I’ve heard that too.
“The governor had changed,’’ says Rhodes, “And Swift said, ‘That’s not my obligation.’ ’’
The assignment of blame misses the point. Menino is simply practicing what you learn in kindergarten - burn me once, shame on you, burn me twice, shame on me. He doesn’t care who didn’t pay. All he knows is that the city is still out $1.2 million. It is extremely doubtful at this point that he would buy a used car from Sail Boston.
But the event will happen on schedule because staff members of Menino and Governor Deval Patrick arranged a meeting between the two pols at the Gay Pride Parade last Saturday, where Patrick pledged a million state dollars to the city to save the day. Both had a lot at stake here.
You knew something like this would happen. At the end of the day, Menino was not going to take the hit for shutting down the Tall Ships and damage his reputation and that of his city around the world. Nor did Patrick have any intention of sullying the name of the state. So in 2009, Rhodes gets what she wants. Menino can say he never wavered, and the state is left holding the bag. Call it another Boston standoff.
But you do wonder why Sail Boston didn’t have the money issue wrapped up early in the game. It had to know this was going to be a big deal given its last performance. The city has been in tough financial shape for years, and along with cities across the country, went down the disposal after the market meltdown that began last fall.
So the mere idea of the city using its dough for some tall ships as Menino is losing teachers tries our souls. Also, why did Sail Boston have such a hard time raising money if the Tall Ships are so popular?
This year’s iteration will not be a varsity production. There will be neither the Parade of Sails, the marquee event where the ships sail majestically through the harbor, nor fireworks.
And some of the “tall’’ sails are relative peewees. Included this year, for example are a 35-foot ketch and a 36-foot fiberglass sloop, both out of Maine, along with a 45-foot gaff-headed cutter from this state and a 52-foot yawl from Connecticut. Beautiful boats all, but hardly appropriate company for the 376-foot, four-masted Russian barque. So I think of this year’s crop as The Sort of Tall Ships.
Then there’s the delicious disagreement over compensation for Rhodes. She vehemently denies Menino’s understanding that she profited from Tall Ships event in 2000. “God no. I’ve lost money,’’ she says. “Twenty years ago, this was a labor of love. The mayor was not advised correctly.’’ (There’s a whole other story here.)
At some point, I ask myself why Boston is hosting this thing at all. It has already done so three times, including the original Big Daddy in 1976 for our bicentennial. I know this year’s event will draw thousands of people, and it’s good for hotel and restaurant owners, but I haven’t heard one person mention the Tall Ships except to express their delight at the Rhodes-Menino bout. The 2009 version has become a sideshow. The event feels tired and its marketing precious. Do we really need this?
It’s not as if we’re talking about the massive parades honoring the Patriots and the Red Sox whenever they conquer the world. Corporate sponsors cover almost all of those attendant costs. Tall Ships can’t compare with the emotion and meaning of those demonstrations to Boston, so remind me again why the city should cover the Tall Ships in the first place?
Sam Allis’s e-mail address is allis@globe.com.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
This Tall tale is one for the books
Standoff between Menino and Sail Boston ends with a Pyrrhic settlement
By Sam Allis, Globe Columnist | June 21, 2009
There have been a surfeit of worries bouncing like marbles around the tiny head of the Observer lately: the fate of the Globe, the split between Billy Joel and his third wife, the conundrum of Iran. What’s a boy to do?
As a result, I skipped most of the psychodrama between veteran event planner Dusty Rhodes of Sail Boston and Boston Mayor Tom Menino over money to cover costs of the 2009 iteration of the Tall Ships early next month. This pair belongs in a cage fighting ring together. Anyway, on July 7, 49 tall ships from 18 countries - a few of them rather short ships actually - will start arriving in Boston Harbor. (“Tall Ships,’’ it turns out, was trademarked by Rhodes’s partner in this, the American Sail Training Association.)
It’s a gorgeous Boston story of grudges and expectations fueled by a vigorous game of chicken. Menino has insisted for ages that Sail Boston, Rhodes’s nonprofit that is managing the event, deliver $1.1 million to cover related costs to the city, such as security.
It never did and he never budged. It got personal. Rhodes bugs Menino. A lot of people bug him. He has the skin of onion paper and the memory of Rain Man.
Sail Boston’s last best offer was to deliver $750,000 up front with the rest to come later from the proceeds of tourist passports to have been sold for 10 bucks a pop. Maybe that would have worked, but I’ve always followed the advice of my father on this, particularly in this day and age: Don’t count on a penny until it’s in your pocket. Show me the money. In any case, Menino said nyet, I want it all now.
I don’t blame him. Sail Boston has never repaid its $1.2 million debt to the city for expenses it ate from the last Tall Ships rodeo in 2000, which explains Menino’s ire toward Rhodes. She maintains that the fault belongs to Jane Swift, the acting governor who succeeded Paul Cellucci, who had agreed to pick up the extra expenses. I’ve heard that too.
“The governor had changed,’’ says Rhodes, “And Swift said, ‘That’s not my obligation.’ ’’
The assignment of blame misses the point. Menino is simply practicing what you learn in kindergarten - burn me once, shame on you, burn me twice, shame on me. He doesn’t care who didn’t pay. All he knows is that the city is still out $1.2 million. It is extremely doubtful at this point that he would buy a used car from Sail Boston.
But the event will happen on schedule because staff members of Menino and Governor Deval Patrick arranged a meeting between the two pols at the Gay Pride Parade last Saturday, where Patrick pledged a million state dollars to the city to save the day. Both had a lot at stake here.
You knew something like this would happen. At the end of the day, Menino was not going to take the hit for shutting down the Tall Ships and damage his reputation and that of his city around the world. Nor did Patrick have any intention of sullying the name of the state. So in 2009, Rhodes gets what she wants. Menino can say he never wavered, and the state is left holding the bag. Call it another Boston standoff.
But you do wonder why Sail Boston didn’t have the money issue wrapped up early in the game. It had to know this was going to be a big deal given its last performance. The city has been in tough financial shape for years, and along with cities across the country, went down the disposal after the market meltdown that began last fall.
So the mere idea of the city using its dough for some tall ships as Menino is losing teachers tries our souls. Also, why did Sail Boston have such a hard time raising money if the Tall Ships are so popular?
This year’s iteration will not be a varsity production. There will be neither the Parade of Sails, the marquee event where the ships sail majestically through the harbor, nor fireworks.
And some of the “tall’’ sails are relative peewees. Included this year, for example are a 35-foot ketch and a 36-foot fiberglass sloop, both out of Maine, along with a 45-foot gaff-headed cutter from this state and a 52-foot yawl from Connecticut. Beautiful boats all, but hardly appropriate company for the 376-foot, four-masted Russian barque. So I think of this year’s crop as The Sort of Tall Ships.
Then there’s the delicious disagreement over compensation for Rhodes. She vehemently denies Menino’s understanding that she profited from Tall Ships event in 2000. “God no. I’ve lost money,’’ she says. “Twenty years ago, this was a labor of love. The mayor was not advised correctly.’’ (There’s a whole other story here.)
At some point, I ask myself why Boston is hosting this thing at all. It has already done so three times, including the original Big Daddy in 1976 for our bicentennial. I know this year’s event will draw thousands of people, and it’s good for hotel and restaurant owners, but I haven’t heard one person mention the Tall Ships except to express their delight at the Rhodes-Menino bout. The 2009 version has become a sideshow. The event feels tired and its marketing precious. Do we really need this?
It’s not as if we’re talking about the massive parades honoring the Patriots and the Red Sox whenever they conquer the world. Corporate sponsors cover almost all of those attendant costs. Tall Ships can’t compare with the emotion and meaning of those demonstrations to Boston, so remind me again why the city should cover the Tall Ships in the first place?
Sam Allis’s e-mail address is allis@globe.com.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Behind the fall of the North Shore Music Theater
Theater fell to a medley of misfortune
Debt, fire, dissension dogged North Shore
By Geoff Edgers, Globe Staff | June 21, 2009
When Barry Ivan took charge of North Shore Music Theatre, he thought he knew what to expect. For 12 years, he had been a steady guest director at the 54-year-old Beverly institution, marshaling dozens of dancers and scores of singers in eye-popping musicals like “West Side Story’’ and “Les Miserables.’’ Just before taking the top spot in 2008, he had directed the biggest-grossing show in the 1,750-seat venue’s history, “High School Musical.’’
All that turned out to be the easy part.
Less than a year after Ivan became artistic director and executive producer, the theater postponed its 2009 season, leaving thousands of loyal subscribers in the lurch. Last week, North Shore announced it was $10 million in debt and would close for good.
The loss leaves a vacuum for suburbanites who don’t want to fight the traffic, or pay three-digit ticket prices, to see glossy productions at Boston venues. North Shore delivered fresh young performers, topnotch sets and costumes, and every now and then, a former star getting back into the song-and-dance biz.
At its peak, the theater drew more than 27,500 subscribers and some 300,000 people a year, making it the largest regional theater in New England.
The closing has led to finger-pointing and recriminations, with those loyal to former theater head Jon Kimbell accusing Ivan of poor management and blasting his decision to abandon the organization’s proven holiday-season winner, “A Christmas Carol.’’ But a closer look at the theater’s financial health in its tumultuous final years, which included a devastating 2005 fire and a staff revolt under Ivan, reveals that myriad factors played into the collapse.
“I don’t think you can blame this on one show,’’ said Catherine Peterson, executive director of ArtsBoston, which works with area theaters to bring patrons discount tickets. “The surprise, in some ways, is not that the North Shore Music Theatre is no longer with us. It’s a surprise they managed to keep going for so long considering the consequences of the fire.’’
It was after 11 p.m. on a summer night in 2005 that the electrical fire started. Lights and sound gear melted; the stage and orchestra pit turned into a soggy, charred mess. The run of “Cinderella’’ was cancelled. The year looked lost.
But Kimbell, whose 25 years in charge saw dramatic rises in attendance and subscriptions, decided he couldn’t just cancel the season.
“Had I closed the place down it would have been impossible to renovate the theater and keep the staff employed,’’ he said in an interview last week from his home in New Hampshire. “I had to keep producing.’’
He accepted an offer to put a pair of North Shore productions into the Shubert Theatre in Boston. He also decided to make improvements to the theater’s in-the-round regular home. Insurance covered some of the work, but the upgrades ran an additional $1.5 million, Kimbell estimated.
The theater then lost $1.5 million more as a result of shows that had to be canceled, according to board chairman David Fellows, a venture capitalist.
Some theaters could survive that. But North Shore never had an endowment to protect it during down times. When it struggled, it borrowed money. Looking back, Michael P. Price, the longtime executive director of Goodspeed Musicals, a Connecticut theater with a mission similar to North Shore’s, said the Boston shows were too costly and should never have been held.
“If we had a fire, I wouldn’t move to the Shubert New Haven, which is only 30 miles away,’’ he said. “I’d move into the local high school, as off-putting as that sounds. I’d stay close to home.’’
Still, Kimbell’s era would be marked by great growth. Since arriving in 1983, he said, he had boosted the organization’s budget from $1.3 million to more than $14.5 million, its subscriber base from 7,000 to 27,500. Not only did he schedule the popular annual “Christmas Carol,’’ he wrote the adaptation.
“Jon knew what the public wanted,’’ said Burgess Clark, the theater’s former director of education.
Not that Kimbell stayed around much after Ivan took over. In December 2007, Kimbell directed “Christmas Carol’’ and then headed home. Though he had been installed as artistic director laureate, Kimbell attended only three events at the theater in 2008.
“I was very proud of what we accomplished there, but you know what? You move on,’’ said Kimbell.
Ivan, whom Kimbell termed a friend after working with him for 12 years, knew the theater had financial problems when he took the job, he said. But it wasn’t until he had started that he recognized their extent.
The information, however, was readily available in the theater’s public filings. North Shore, which had deficits in 2005 ($492,184), 2006 ($107,856), and 2007 ($621,240), had an accumulated liability of about $4.6 million in mortgages and other notes.
Kimbell said the debt was not his fault. His $252,473-a-year job called for him to oversee virtually everything on stage, but not the business side of the organization.
“I haven’t been responsible for the finances of North Shore Music Theatre since something like 1990,’’ he said.
Fellows, the board chairman, doesn’t necessarily blame Kimbell or his successor Ivan.
“No, but more to the point, I don’t hold Barry responsible for that,’’ he said.
Despite its existing debt, theater leaders decided that borrowing more was their only solution. The slumping real estate market foiled that idea. A bank appraiser pegged the 22-acre theater property at $4.9 million. Already owing $5 million, the theater couldn’t borrow from a bank.
Fellows’s wife, April, did loan the theater $400,000, using as collateral a house the theater had for actors staying in town.
Meanwhile, Ivan had a staff revolt on his hands. By the summer, six of the 10 managers working at the theater upon his arrival had left.
“When you come in and you’re trying to fix something and trying to ask about accountability, people often don’t like that,’’ Ivan said.
But Matt Kidd, an associate producer at the theater from 2004 to 2008, also questioned Ivan’s commitment to the North Shore. He found it galling that the theater put up Ivan in a hotel for several months in 2007 when he was working part-time in Beverly. Ivan, who maintained a home in Connecticut, later picked up the hotel tab when came on full time in February 2008.
“He didn’t really want a thing to do with the community,’’ said Kidd, who eventually quit.
Clark, the education director, also criticized Ivan, contending that he had never run a theater before. But Fellows said Clark’s department was in disarray, with four of its seven workers having complained to the human resources department about their jobs.
“I left because I could see it was coming to an end quickly,’’ said Clark, now the executive artistic director at the Boston Children’s Theatre. “It would be a professional embarrassment if I stayed.’’
What turned out to be North Shore’s final season did have some good news. The theater’s production of “Show Boat’’ ended up winning an award from local theater critics as best musical.
But it is unclear how well the other shows did; Fellows and Ivan said they could not provide documentation. But as fall rolled around, Ivan got excited. The show to save the theater was coming: “Disney High School Musical 2.’’
If the first “High School Musical’’ was an unprecedented 2007 smash for North Shore, the sequel raised what turned out to be false expectations.
In the end, the theater sold 17,000 tickets, compared with 52,000 for the first edition, earning about $700,000, far short of the $2 million expected. In other words, it earned what “Christmas Carol’’ would have - not the windfall the theater needed.
When trustees sat down on Dec. 19, the day after opening night, they realized they had a budget buster on their hands, according to Fellows.
The theater went into survival mode. There were 57 layoffs, and the theater stopped taking subscriptions for the 2009 season, though $2.5 million in renewals had come in, much of it money that patrons are not likely to get back.
North Shore kept on just three staffers, plus Ivan, his salary reduced from about $240,000 to $96,000.
In the middle of a devastating economic downturn that shook many nonprofits, the theater tried to raise $4 million to put on another season. Then it lowered its goal to $2 million.
Late last week, a few days after the board announced it had given up, Fellows headed to the theater with a checkbook. He met with the three remaining staffers and wrote out checks for the electric and phone bills.
Looking back, did he regret anything about the way the theater operated over the last year?
“No,’’ Fellows said. “With the economy being what it was, this was unwinnable. I can’t think of anything - knowing what I know now, going back over it - that we would have done differently.’’
Geoff Edgers can be reached at gedgers@globe.com.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Debt, fire, dissension dogged North Shore
By Geoff Edgers, Globe Staff | June 21, 2009
When Barry Ivan took charge of North Shore Music Theatre, he thought he knew what to expect. For 12 years, he had been a steady guest director at the 54-year-old Beverly institution, marshaling dozens of dancers and scores of singers in eye-popping musicals like “West Side Story’’ and “Les Miserables.’’ Just before taking the top spot in 2008, he had directed the biggest-grossing show in the 1,750-seat venue’s history, “High School Musical.’’
All that turned out to be the easy part.
Less than a year after Ivan became artistic director and executive producer, the theater postponed its 2009 season, leaving thousands of loyal subscribers in the lurch. Last week, North Shore announced it was $10 million in debt and would close for good.
The loss leaves a vacuum for suburbanites who don’t want to fight the traffic, or pay three-digit ticket prices, to see glossy productions at Boston venues. North Shore delivered fresh young performers, topnotch sets and costumes, and every now and then, a former star getting back into the song-and-dance biz.
At its peak, the theater drew more than 27,500 subscribers and some 300,000 people a year, making it the largest regional theater in New England.
The closing has led to finger-pointing and recriminations, with those loyal to former theater head Jon Kimbell accusing Ivan of poor management and blasting his decision to abandon the organization’s proven holiday-season winner, “A Christmas Carol.’’ But a closer look at the theater’s financial health in its tumultuous final years, which included a devastating 2005 fire and a staff revolt under Ivan, reveals that myriad factors played into the collapse.
“I don’t think you can blame this on one show,’’ said Catherine Peterson, executive director of ArtsBoston, which works with area theaters to bring patrons discount tickets. “The surprise, in some ways, is not that the North Shore Music Theatre is no longer with us. It’s a surprise they managed to keep going for so long considering the consequences of the fire.’’
It was after 11 p.m. on a summer night in 2005 that the electrical fire started. Lights and sound gear melted; the stage and orchestra pit turned into a soggy, charred mess. The run of “Cinderella’’ was cancelled. The year looked lost.
But Kimbell, whose 25 years in charge saw dramatic rises in attendance and subscriptions, decided he couldn’t just cancel the season.
“Had I closed the place down it would have been impossible to renovate the theater and keep the staff employed,’’ he said in an interview last week from his home in New Hampshire. “I had to keep producing.’’
He accepted an offer to put a pair of North Shore productions into the Shubert Theatre in Boston. He also decided to make improvements to the theater’s in-the-round regular home. Insurance covered some of the work, but the upgrades ran an additional $1.5 million, Kimbell estimated.
The theater then lost $1.5 million more as a result of shows that had to be canceled, according to board chairman David Fellows, a venture capitalist.
Some theaters could survive that. But North Shore never had an endowment to protect it during down times. When it struggled, it borrowed money. Looking back, Michael P. Price, the longtime executive director of Goodspeed Musicals, a Connecticut theater with a mission similar to North Shore’s, said the Boston shows were too costly and should never have been held.
“If we had a fire, I wouldn’t move to the Shubert New Haven, which is only 30 miles away,’’ he said. “I’d move into the local high school, as off-putting as that sounds. I’d stay close to home.’’
Still, Kimbell’s era would be marked by great growth. Since arriving in 1983, he said, he had boosted the organization’s budget from $1.3 million to more than $14.5 million, its subscriber base from 7,000 to 27,500. Not only did he schedule the popular annual “Christmas Carol,’’ he wrote the adaptation.
“Jon knew what the public wanted,’’ said Burgess Clark, the theater’s former director of education.
Not that Kimbell stayed around much after Ivan took over. In December 2007, Kimbell directed “Christmas Carol’’ and then headed home. Though he had been installed as artistic director laureate, Kimbell attended only three events at the theater in 2008.
“I was very proud of what we accomplished there, but you know what? You move on,’’ said Kimbell.
Ivan, whom Kimbell termed a friend after working with him for 12 years, knew the theater had financial problems when he took the job, he said. But it wasn’t until he had started that he recognized their extent.
The information, however, was readily available in the theater’s public filings. North Shore, which had deficits in 2005 ($492,184), 2006 ($107,856), and 2007 ($621,240), had an accumulated liability of about $4.6 million in mortgages and other notes.
Kimbell said the debt was not his fault. His $252,473-a-year job called for him to oversee virtually everything on stage, but not the business side of the organization.
“I haven’t been responsible for the finances of North Shore Music Theatre since something like 1990,’’ he said.
Fellows, the board chairman, doesn’t necessarily blame Kimbell or his successor Ivan.
“No, but more to the point, I don’t hold Barry responsible for that,’’ he said.
Despite its existing debt, theater leaders decided that borrowing more was their only solution. The slumping real estate market foiled that idea. A bank appraiser pegged the 22-acre theater property at $4.9 million. Already owing $5 million, the theater couldn’t borrow from a bank.
Fellows’s wife, April, did loan the theater $400,000, using as collateral a house the theater had for actors staying in town.
Meanwhile, Ivan had a staff revolt on his hands. By the summer, six of the 10 managers working at the theater upon his arrival had left.
“When you come in and you’re trying to fix something and trying to ask about accountability, people often don’t like that,’’ Ivan said.
But Matt Kidd, an associate producer at the theater from 2004 to 2008, also questioned Ivan’s commitment to the North Shore. He found it galling that the theater put up Ivan in a hotel for several months in 2007 when he was working part-time in Beverly. Ivan, who maintained a home in Connecticut, later picked up the hotel tab when came on full time in February 2008.
“He didn’t really want a thing to do with the community,’’ said Kidd, who eventually quit.
Clark, the education director, also criticized Ivan, contending that he had never run a theater before. But Fellows said Clark’s department was in disarray, with four of its seven workers having complained to the human resources department about their jobs.
“I left because I could see it was coming to an end quickly,’’ said Clark, now the executive artistic director at the Boston Children’s Theatre. “It would be a professional embarrassment if I stayed.’’
What turned out to be North Shore’s final season did have some good news. The theater’s production of “Show Boat’’ ended up winning an award from local theater critics as best musical.
But it is unclear how well the other shows did; Fellows and Ivan said they could not provide documentation. But as fall rolled around, Ivan got excited. The show to save the theater was coming: “Disney High School Musical 2.’’
If the first “High School Musical’’ was an unprecedented 2007 smash for North Shore, the sequel raised what turned out to be false expectations.
In the end, the theater sold 17,000 tickets, compared with 52,000 for the first edition, earning about $700,000, far short of the $2 million expected. In other words, it earned what “Christmas Carol’’ would have - not the windfall the theater needed.
When trustees sat down on Dec. 19, the day after opening night, they realized they had a budget buster on their hands, according to Fellows.
The theater went into survival mode. There were 57 layoffs, and the theater stopped taking subscriptions for the 2009 season, though $2.5 million in renewals had come in, much of it money that patrons are not likely to get back.
North Shore kept on just three staffers, plus Ivan, his salary reduced from about $240,000 to $96,000.
In the middle of a devastating economic downturn that shook many nonprofits, the theater tried to raise $4 million to put on another season. Then it lowered its goal to $2 million.
Late last week, a few days after the board announced it had given up, Fellows headed to the theater with a checkbook. He met with the three remaining staffers and wrote out checks for the electric and phone bills.
Looking back, did he regret anything about the way the theater operated over the last year?
“No,’’ Fellows said. “With the economy being what it was, this was unwinnable. I can’t think of anything - knowing what I know now, going back over it - that we would have done differently.’’
Geoff Edgers can be reached at gedgers@globe.com.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Tall Ships standoff editorial
SCOT LEHIGH
A shortsighted standoff over Tall Ships
By Scot Lehigh | June 19, 2009
WELL, blow me down. City Hall’s cannons are finally quiet. A flag of truce flies from the civic mast.
A mere three weeks before the Tall Ships are set to arrive, the standoff between Tom Menino and Sail Boston has been resolved. The mayor, who had blustered about trying to ban the majestic ships from the harbor, has put down his cutlass.
First, kudos to the person who was essential to getting this done: Governor Deval Patrick. His staff worked to come up with the ransom money - ah, make that, security and cleanup dollars - Menino had demanded to let the popular event proceed. Patrick, meanwhile, personally helped nudge the sulky mayor up the gangplank and onboard.
This will not be the event it could have been, however. There will be no picturesque parade of sail into the harbor. Nor will there be a fireworks exhibition - unless, that is, Menino treats us to another round of political pyrotechnics.
After almost 16 years of this mayor, we’ve grown accustomed to this kind of hissing match. But in this mayoral election year, let’s step back and use this brouhaha as a telescope for evaluating leadership styles.
Around town, it’s a virtual given that Menino dislikes Dusty Rhodes, lead organizer of the Tall Ships event, though no one quite knows why, and that that supposed antipathy lurked like a reef here.
Mayoral spokeswoman Dot Joyce denies that. The problem, she says, is that Boston and its taxpayers got stuck with some $1.2 million for security and cleanup costs from the Tall Ships visit in 2000, while Rhodes’s firm, Conventures, has made money from Sail Boston, the nonprofit that organizes the event. To support that claim, City Hall produced a 2007 Sail Boston tax return showing a $99,772 payment to Conventures.
Actually, says Rhodes, Conventures has lost an accountant-certified $1.5 million over the last decade on Sail Boston.
As for the $99,772? “You have to report it because it was an invoice, but that bill was never paid,’’ she asserts.
Finally, she notes that it was the state, not Sail Boston, that reneged on a commitment to pick up the $1.2 million for costs from the 2000 Tall Ships event.
But here we’re getting drawn into the swamp of the squabble, when the larger point is this: What we saw here from City Hall wasn’t big, visionary, problem-solving leadership. Instead, it was a temper tantrum from a small-minded mayor who threatened to torpedo the Tall Ships visit unless he got what he wanted.
So what would the men-who-would-be-mayor have done differently?
“I certainly wouldn’t have had a public grudge match that put the focus on me rather than the issue at hand,’’ says City Councilor Sam Yoon. “I’d have called the stakeholders together here. If you can gather the stakeholders to the table and put aside your desire to get credit and the problem is solvable, it will get solved.’’
City Councilor Michael Flaherty says he would have met with Sail Boston and state officials early on in a quest for solutions. “I would have been identifying ways to be helpful,’’ he says. “I would not have been putting up roadblocks.’’
Noting that the Boston Redevelopment Authority has spent $1 million for a social-networking website, Flaherty maintains Menino could have found city money to help with an event that brings hundreds of thousands of people to spend money in Boston. “This should be about the best interests of our city,’’ he says.
South End businessman Kevin McCrea, another mayoral candidate, says: “You call up the governor, you call up the businesses . . . and you get it done.’’ He adds: “A million dollars is not a lot of money for what is a signature event for the city. There are a lot of ways to raise that money.’’
Now, it’s easier to be a rhetorical mayor than a real one. Still, the prescriptions for pro-active leadership we hear from Yoon, Flaherty, and McCrea are far more appealing than the petty brinksmanship - sulksmanship, even - we saw from the incumbent.
Scot Lehigh can be reached at lehigh@globe.com.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
A shortsighted standoff over Tall Ships
By Scot Lehigh | June 19, 2009
WELL, blow me down. City Hall’s cannons are finally quiet. A flag of truce flies from the civic mast.
A mere three weeks before the Tall Ships are set to arrive, the standoff between Tom Menino and Sail Boston has been resolved. The mayor, who had blustered about trying to ban the majestic ships from the harbor, has put down his cutlass.
First, kudos to the person who was essential to getting this done: Governor Deval Patrick. His staff worked to come up with the ransom money - ah, make that, security and cleanup dollars - Menino had demanded to let the popular event proceed. Patrick, meanwhile, personally helped nudge the sulky mayor up the gangplank and onboard.
This will not be the event it could have been, however. There will be no picturesque parade of sail into the harbor. Nor will there be a fireworks exhibition - unless, that is, Menino treats us to another round of political pyrotechnics.
After almost 16 years of this mayor, we’ve grown accustomed to this kind of hissing match. But in this mayoral election year, let’s step back and use this brouhaha as a telescope for evaluating leadership styles.
Around town, it’s a virtual given that Menino dislikes Dusty Rhodes, lead organizer of the Tall Ships event, though no one quite knows why, and that that supposed antipathy lurked like a reef here.
Mayoral spokeswoman Dot Joyce denies that. The problem, she says, is that Boston and its taxpayers got stuck with some $1.2 million for security and cleanup costs from the Tall Ships visit in 2000, while Rhodes’s firm, Conventures, has made money from Sail Boston, the nonprofit that organizes the event. To support that claim, City Hall produced a 2007 Sail Boston tax return showing a $99,772 payment to Conventures.
Actually, says Rhodes, Conventures has lost an accountant-certified $1.5 million over the last decade on Sail Boston.
As for the $99,772? “You have to report it because it was an invoice, but that bill was never paid,’’ she asserts.
Finally, she notes that it was the state, not Sail Boston, that reneged on a commitment to pick up the $1.2 million for costs from the 2000 Tall Ships event.
But here we’re getting drawn into the swamp of the squabble, when the larger point is this: What we saw here from City Hall wasn’t big, visionary, problem-solving leadership. Instead, it was a temper tantrum from a small-minded mayor who threatened to torpedo the Tall Ships visit unless he got what he wanted.
So what would the men-who-would-be-mayor have done differently?
“I certainly wouldn’t have had a public grudge match that put the focus on me rather than the issue at hand,’’ says City Councilor Sam Yoon. “I’d have called the stakeholders together here. If you can gather the stakeholders to the table and put aside your desire to get credit and the problem is solvable, it will get solved.’’
City Councilor Michael Flaherty says he would have met with Sail Boston and state officials early on in a quest for solutions. “I would have been identifying ways to be helpful,’’ he says. “I would not have been putting up roadblocks.’’
Noting that the Boston Redevelopment Authority has spent $1 million for a social-networking website, Flaherty maintains Menino could have found city money to help with an event that brings hundreds of thousands of people to spend money in Boston. “This should be about the best interests of our city,’’ he says.
South End businessman Kevin McCrea, another mayoral candidate, says: “You call up the governor, you call up the businesses . . . and you get it done.’’ He adds: “A million dollars is not a lot of money for what is a signature event for the city. There are a lot of ways to raise that money.’’
Now, it’s easier to be a rhetorical mayor than a real one. Still, the prescriptions for pro-active leadership we hear from Yoon, Flaherty, and McCrea are far more appealing than the petty brinksmanship - sulksmanship, even - we saw from the incumbent.
Scot Lehigh can be reached at lehigh@globe.com.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Tall Ships event may not fill hotel rooms but will raise city's image
Tall ships gala gets $1m, but may not fill hotel rooms
Downsized event apt to cut tax take
By Stephanie Ebbert, Globe Staff | June 19, 2009
As the convention center board approved $1 million for a tall ships spectacle yesterday, other tourism officials raised doubts about whether a downsized Sail Boston could pay for itself in hotel taxes. Visitors are in no rush to book hotel rooms for the event, whose plans had been up in the air for months.
“No, I don’t think it will generate a million-plus dollars in hotel tax revenue from those five days,’’ said Patrick B. Moscaritolo, chief executive of the Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau, who is also chairman of Sail Boston 2009. However, he hopes Sail Boston will attract day-trippers who spend money in Boston and boost collections of sales and meals taxes and thus raise Boston’s profile as a maritime destination.
“I think over a period of time, the return on that investment, within the year, you would get your money back,’’ he said.
The fate of the nautical pageant had been in question since March, when Mayor Thomas M. Menino said organizers would have to pay all public costs of the event, scheduled for July 8 to 13. Menino said he learned his lesson in 2000, the last time the ships came to Boston, when the city’s estimated $1.6 million in costs were never reimbursed by the state.
Until last week, it was uncertain whether spectators would get to see the tall ships, including those from Russia and Argentina, and tourism officials were fretting about how the city would look internationally if the public were barred from seeing a trans-Atlantic regatta docked in Boston Harbor.
Government tourism officials in Bermuda, which hosted the tall ships last week, had considered running a Boston ad campaign that would have asked locals to “ditch the drama’’ and view the tall ships from the pink sands of Bermuda. (They decided against it, because they did not want to be seen as taking advantage of an unpleasant situation in Boston, home to many of the island’s visitors.)
“This was going to be an embarrassment, and my mindset right now is all around image and brand,’’ said the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority’s executive director, James Rooney. “Within the world that I operate in right now, we’d be the butt of jokes.’’
Sail Boston organizers have tried to work around the mayor for weeks, seeking state funding. But with government revenues nose-diving, politicians were loath to dedicate scarce public dollars to sailing vessels.
Rooney then raised the prospect of tapping a fund used to market and maintain the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center in South Boston.
Most of the money in the fund comes from taxes on hotel rooms in Cambridge and Boston. The event will ultimately pay for itself by protecting Boston’s brand, even if it doesn’t return the investment immediately in tax revenue, Rooney said.
Governor Deval Patrick, who spoke with the mayor about the deal at Saturday’s gay pride parade, told reporters Wednesday that it was a “justifiable expense, I think, for the Convention Center to make, based on the uptick for local businesses and services, and people like it.’’
The event will still be free for spectators. Dot Joyce, Menino’s spokeswoman, said the mayor did not want visitors to have to pay to board ships, as organizers had proposed as a way of raising money to reimburse the city.
But organizers still had to cancel a parade of ships and two fireworks spectacles, the events that would be expected to draw the largest crowds. Some have voiced diminished enthusiasm for a downsized event.
“Why even have it? Why have tall ships come in at all? They should just cancel the whole thing,’’ said Councilor Sal LaMattina.
Sail Boston organizers are trying to estimate the economic impact of the downsized event. The Omni Parker House’s director of sales and marketing, David Ritchie, said his bookings are up for the week, but others are disappointed.
“The uncertainty of the whole affair has caused people to delay making their plans,’’ said Doug Soares, marketing director for Marriott hotels in Boston.
Bob Lawler, general manager of Entertainment Cruises, said he had to refund hundreds of $150 tickets he had sold to all-day harbor cruises for the Parade of Sail. Now, he’s selling $56 to $86 tickets for shorter lunch and dinner cruises.
“In this tough economy, it is better late than never,’’ he said. “I just wish we could have had the Parade of Sail and wish we could have the full-scale event, like we had in 2000 and 1992. But we’ll make lemonade out of it.’’
Moscaritolo said he was lowering his expectations even before organizers canceled the Parade of Sail, due to the recession, which has squeezed consumers and dampened tourists’ ambitions.
“People need to understand that this is not your father’s Sail Boston,’’ he said. “This is going to be a much more local event. Rather than people coming from Salem, Ore., they’re going to come from Salem, Mass.’’
Michael Levenson and Matt Viser of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Stephanie Ebbert can be reached at ebbert@globe.com.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Downsized event apt to cut tax take
By Stephanie Ebbert, Globe Staff | June 19, 2009
As the convention center board approved $1 million for a tall ships spectacle yesterday, other tourism officials raised doubts about whether a downsized Sail Boston could pay for itself in hotel taxes. Visitors are in no rush to book hotel rooms for the event, whose plans had been up in the air for months.
“No, I don’t think it will generate a million-plus dollars in hotel tax revenue from those five days,’’ said Patrick B. Moscaritolo, chief executive of the Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau, who is also chairman of Sail Boston 2009. However, he hopes Sail Boston will attract day-trippers who spend money in Boston and boost collections of sales and meals taxes and thus raise Boston’s profile as a maritime destination.
“I think over a period of time, the return on that investment, within the year, you would get your money back,’’ he said.
The fate of the nautical pageant had been in question since March, when Mayor Thomas M. Menino said organizers would have to pay all public costs of the event, scheduled for July 8 to 13. Menino said he learned his lesson in 2000, the last time the ships came to Boston, when the city’s estimated $1.6 million in costs were never reimbursed by the state.
Until last week, it was uncertain whether spectators would get to see the tall ships, including those from Russia and Argentina, and tourism officials were fretting about how the city would look internationally if the public were barred from seeing a trans-Atlantic regatta docked in Boston Harbor.
Government tourism officials in Bermuda, which hosted the tall ships last week, had considered running a Boston ad campaign that would have asked locals to “ditch the drama’’ and view the tall ships from the pink sands of Bermuda. (They decided against it, because they did not want to be seen as taking advantage of an unpleasant situation in Boston, home to many of the island’s visitors.)
“This was going to be an embarrassment, and my mindset right now is all around image and brand,’’ said the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority’s executive director, James Rooney. “Within the world that I operate in right now, we’d be the butt of jokes.’’
Sail Boston organizers have tried to work around the mayor for weeks, seeking state funding. But with government revenues nose-diving, politicians were loath to dedicate scarce public dollars to sailing vessels.
Rooney then raised the prospect of tapping a fund used to market and maintain the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center in South Boston.
Most of the money in the fund comes from taxes on hotel rooms in Cambridge and Boston. The event will ultimately pay for itself by protecting Boston’s brand, even if it doesn’t return the investment immediately in tax revenue, Rooney said.
Governor Deval Patrick, who spoke with the mayor about the deal at Saturday’s gay pride parade, told reporters Wednesday that it was a “justifiable expense, I think, for the Convention Center to make, based on the uptick for local businesses and services, and people like it.’’
The event will still be free for spectators. Dot Joyce, Menino’s spokeswoman, said the mayor did not want visitors to have to pay to board ships, as organizers had proposed as a way of raising money to reimburse the city.
But organizers still had to cancel a parade of ships and two fireworks spectacles, the events that would be expected to draw the largest crowds. Some have voiced diminished enthusiasm for a downsized event.
“Why even have it? Why have tall ships come in at all? They should just cancel the whole thing,’’ said Councilor Sal LaMattina.
Sail Boston organizers are trying to estimate the economic impact of the downsized event. The Omni Parker House’s director of sales and marketing, David Ritchie, said his bookings are up for the week, but others are disappointed.
“The uncertainty of the whole affair has caused people to delay making their plans,’’ said Doug Soares, marketing director for Marriott hotels in Boston.
Bob Lawler, general manager of Entertainment Cruises, said he had to refund hundreds of $150 tickets he had sold to all-day harbor cruises for the Parade of Sail. Now, he’s selling $56 to $86 tickets for shorter lunch and dinner cruises.
“In this tough economy, it is better late than never,’’ he said. “I just wish we could have had the Parade of Sail and wish we could have the full-scale event, like we had in 2000 and 1992. But we’ll make lemonade out of it.’’
Moscaritolo said he was lowering his expectations even before organizers canceled the Parade of Sail, due to the recession, which has squeezed consumers and dampened tourists’ ambitions.
“People need to understand that this is not your father’s Sail Boston,’’ he said. “This is going to be a much more local event. Rather than people coming from Salem, Ore., they’re going to come from Salem, Mass.’’
Michael Levenson and Matt Viser of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Stephanie Ebbert can be reached at ebbert@globe.com.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Red Sox 500 Game Sellout streak editorial
MICHAEL DUKAKIS
Another historic day at Fenway
By Michael Dukakis | June 17, 2009
TONIGHT at Fenway Park, the Boston Red Sox will set a remarkable record - 500 consecutive sold-out games.
Only three other professional teams in sports history have achieved more, and they were all NBA teams who play shorter seasons in smaller venues.
So it is time to give credit where credit is due, particularly when it wasn’t so long ago that a lot of people in this town were upset that the Red Sox were being sold to “out-of-towners.’’
The truth is that had it not been for the ownership group of John Henry, Tom Werner, and Larry Lucchino, and the remarkable team they put together both on the field and in the front office, it is highly unlikely that Boston would be celebrating this achievement tonight.
In fact, today you would be hard pressed to find anyone willing to say that selling the Sox to the Henry, Werner, and Lucchino group was a bad idea.
Those sold-out games are no accident. Recruiting a top-notch manager, putting together a first-class ball club, and building a superb farm system have had a lot to do with it. Two world championships in three years can do wonders for a fan base that suffered for a long, long time. I know. I attended my first Red Sox game in 1938 at the age of 4 1/2, and Lefty Grove was pitching!
But the new Red Sox owners did two other things that I believe have had a lot to do with those capacity crowds at Fenway.
First, they had the good sense to reexamine fundamentally the previous owners’ decision to tear down Fenway and replace it with a phony version of the real thing. There weren’t a lot of us at the time who opposed that decision except for a courageous band of fans who called themselves the Save Fenway group. Massachusetts, which to its credit had never put a dime of the taxpayers’ money into a professional sports team, committed both itself and the City of Boston to hundreds of millions of dollars in public subsidies for the proposed new ballpark.
Fortunately, the new ownership group understood what many native Bostonians did not - that we had a jewel of a ballpark that, with some tender loving care, could both expand the number of seats and preserve its special history and atmosphere in a way that almost no other major ballpark has been able to do. The results have been spectacular. The cost is a fraction of what the new ballpark would have entailed, and the experience of watching a ballgame at Fenway is as good as anyone could possibly enjoy.
Secondly, they have turned the Red Sox into one of our best and most important civic institutions. Since 2002, the Red Sox Foundation has contributed more than $30 million to important charitable causes in and around Boston. The Jimmy Fund has always been a Red Sox favorite, but the Red Sox Scholars program, the Dimock Community Health Center in Roxbury, and athletic programs for children in Greater Boston have all benefited from an expanded notion of what the Red Sox mean to this community.
Nobody can tell us at this point in the season whether the Sox will be hoisting another world championship banner at Fenway in October. But we know that we are already on track to another exciting season, and that thanks to a bunch of out-of-towners, the Red Sox have set the standard for civic and community engagement for the nation’s professional sports teams.
Michael Dukakis is the former three-term governor of Massachusetts and now a professor at Northeastern University.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Another historic day at Fenway
By Michael Dukakis | June 17, 2009
TONIGHT at Fenway Park, the Boston Red Sox will set a remarkable record - 500 consecutive sold-out games.
Only three other professional teams in sports history have achieved more, and they were all NBA teams who play shorter seasons in smaller venues.
So it is time to give credit where credit is due, particularly when it wasn’t so long ago that a lot of people in this town were upset that the Red Sox were being sold to “out-of-towners.’’
The truth is that had it not been for the ownership group of John Henry, Tom Werner, and Larry Lucchino, and the remarkable team they put together both on the field and in the front office, it is highly unlikely that Boston would be celebrating this achievement tonight.
In fact, today you would be hard pressed to find anyone willing to say that selling the Sox to the Henry, Werner, and Lucchino group was a bad idea.
Those sold-out games are no accident. Recruiting a top-notch manager, putting together a first-class ball club, and building a superb farm system have had a lot to do with it. Two world championships in three years can do wonders for a fan base that suffered for a long, long time. I know. I attended my first Red Sox game in 1938 at the age of 4 1/2, and Lefty Grove was pitching!
But the new Red Sox owners did two other things that I believe have had a lot to do with those capacity crowds at Fenway.
First, they had the good sense to reexamine fundamentally the previous owners’ decision to tear down Fenway and replace it with a phony version of the real thing. There weren’t a lot of us at the time who opposed that decision except for a courageous band of fans who called themselves the Save Fenway group. Massachusetts, which to its credit had never put a dime of the taxpayers’ money into a professional sports team, committed both itself and the City of Boston to hundreds of millions of dollars in public subsidies for the proposed new ballpark.
Fortunately, the new ownership group understood what many native Bostonians did not - that we had a jewel of a ballpark that, with some tender loving care, could both expand the number of seats and preserve its special history and atmosphere in a way that almost no other major ballpark has been able to do. The results have been spectacular. The cost is a fraction of what the new ballpark would have entailed, and the experience of watching a ballgame at Fenway is as good as anyone could possibly enjoy.
Secondly, they have turned the Red Sox into one of our best and most important civic institutions. Since 2002, the Red Sox Foundation has contributed more than $30 million to important charitable causes in and around Boston. The Jimmy Fund has always been a Red Sox favorite, but the Red Sox Scholars program, the Dimock Community Health Center in Roxbury, and athletic programs for children in Greater Boston have all benefited from an expanded notion of what the Red Sox mean to this community.
Nobody can tell us at this point in the season whether the Sox will be hoisting another world championship banner at Fenway in October. But we know that we are already on track to another exciting season, and that thanks to a bunch of out-of-towners, the Red Sox have set the standard for civic and community engagement for the nation’s professional sports teams.
Michael Dukakis is the former three-term governor of Massachusetts and now a professor at Northeastern University.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
25 Sites in Greater Boston to Share Preservation Money
Grant will keep Hull carousel spinning
25 historic sites in Greater Boston to share $1 million
By Jazmine Ulloa, Globe Correspondent | June 17, 2009
For more than 30 summers, Sandra Swartz would spend summers in Hull, where she would ride the wooden carousel at Nantasket Beach.
“It was always glistening,’’ said Swartz, 53, who grew up in East Milton and remembers birthday parties and weddings by the merry-go-round. Though in recent years its colors have faded, it still makes people smile, she said.
Now, caretakers of the 81-year-old icon have something to smile about, too. They will receive $100,000 to replace the 12 doors and more than 600 windowpanes on the handcrafted carousel, one of only 150 left in the country, and upgrade its safety features.
In a recent five-week online contest run by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and American Express Co., the Paragon Carousel was the winner of the popular vote, which guaranteed its funding. It was competing with other historic and cultural sites in Greater Boston for a portion of $1 million in preservation grants. In all, 25 will get funding.
The carousel is “just a place that brings people together, and I think, frankly, that’s why we won,’’ said Judeth Van Hamm, a board member of Friends of the Paragon Carousel.
The grant is a relief to the organization, which has struggled financially in recent years.
In the 1980s, three investors saved the attraction at an auction and moved it half a block from its original location, where it served the community for generations. But when the carousel was put on the market again 10 years later, the organization formed to buy it for about $1 million also acquired its $300,000 in mortgage debt, Van Hamm said.
Paying off that debt has kept them from renovating the site, she said.
“We were over-the-top excited,’’ Carl R. Katzeff, president of the carousel’s organization, said of receiving the grant. “The carousel is an icon of the heritage of Hull. It was always a destination for people of the city to enjoy the beach, but it is also a display of fine artisan work.’’
Eleven other sites were also chosen to receive grants of various amounts by a committee composed of representatives from Partners in Preservation and civic and preservation leaders from across the area. The grants were announced yesterday at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel & Towers and include:
Crane Estate in Ipswich, Edgell Memorial Library in Framingham, Eliot Congregational Church of Roxbury, José Mateo Ballet Theatre in Cambridge, Lowell’s Boat Shop, Museum of African American History in Boston, Old North Church, Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, Salem Old Town Hall, United First Parish Church in Quincy, and Vilna Shul, Boston Center for Jewish Heritage.
The remaining 13 sites will receive $5,000 each.
The $100,000 in grant money will allow the Museum of African American History to restore the foundation of its building, which will be costly because of its location on Beacon Hill, said Beverly Morgan-Welch, executive director. The museum is home to Abiel Smith School, the first public school for black children.
“It is symbolic of public education; it’s symbolic of the need to educate all children,’’ Morgan-Welch said.
Vilna Shul received $90,800 to uncover one full wall of murals in its women’s gallery. The building, constructed in 1919, had its walls painted beige during the 1940s, said Steven Greenberg, executive director.
Underneath the paint are three layers of murals. “This is a very rare example of 20th century wall art,’’ Greenberg said. “There are very, very few examples in the country.’’
Since Partners in Preservation pledged to give $5.5 million in the next five years to historic places nationwide, it has awarded grants in San Francisco, Chicago, and New Orleans. But the Boston area has had the highest voter turnout in the online competition and the greatest excitement about raising the visibility of their community’s hidden gems, program members said.
Although not all of the sites won, they all “help tell the story about what makes this city’s history unique and special,’’ said Richard Moe, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Jazmine Ulloa can be reached at lulloa@globe.com.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
25 historic sites in Greater Boston to share $1 million
By Jazmine Ulloa, Globe Correspondent | June 17, 2009
For more than 30 summers, Sandra Swartz would spend summers in Hull, where she would ride the wooden carousel at Nantasket Beach.
“It was always glistening,’’ said Swartz, 53, who grew up in East Milton and remembers birthday parties and weddings by the merry-go-round. Though in recent years its colors have faded, it still makes people smile, she said.
Now, caretakers of the 81-year-old icon have something to smile about, too. They will receive $100,000 to replace the 12 doors and more than 600 windowpanes on the handcrafted carousel, one of only 150 left in the country, and upgrade its safety features.
In a recent five-week online contest run by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and American Express Co., the Paragon Carousel was the winner of the popular vote, which guaranteed its funding. It was competing with other historic and cultural sites in Greater Boston for a portion of $1 million in preservation grants. In all, 25 will get funding.
The carousel is “just a place that brings people together, and I think, frankly, that’s why we won,’’ said Judeth Van Hamm, a board member of Friends of the Paragon Carousel.
The grant is a relief to the organization, which has struggled financially in recent years.
In the 1980s, three investors saved the attraction at an auction and moved it half a block from its original location, where it served the community for generations. But when the carousel was put on the market again 10 years later, the organization formed to buy it for about $1 million also acquired its $300,000 in mortgage debt, Van Hamm said.
Paying off that debt has kept them from renovating the site, she said.
“We were over-the-top excited,’’ Carl R. Katzeff, president of the carousel’s organization, said of receiving the grant. “The carousel is an icon of the heritage of Hull. It was always a destination for people of the city to enjoy the beach, but it is also a display of fine artisan work.’’
Eleven other sites were also chosen to receive grants of various amounts by a committee composed of representatives from Partners in Preservation and civic and preservation leaders from across the area. The grants were announced yesterday at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel & Towers and include:
Crane Estate in Ipswich, Edgell Memorial Library in Framingham, Eliot Congregational Church of Roxbury, José Mateo Ballet Theatre in Cambridge, Lowell’s Boat Shop, Museum of African American History in Boston, Old North Church, Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, Salem Old Town Hall, United First Parish Church in Quincy, and Vilna Shul, Boston Center for Jewish Heritage.
The remaining 13 sites will receive $5,000 each.
The $100,000 in grant money will allow the Museum of African American History to restore the foundation of its building, which will be costly because of its location on Beacon Hill, said Beverly Morgan-Welch, executive director. The museum is home to Abiel Smith School, the first public school for black children.
“It is symbolic of public education; it’s symbolic of the need to educate all children,’’ Morgan-Welch said.
Vilna Shul received $90,800 to uncover one full wall of murals in its women’s gallery. The building, constructed in 1919, had its walls painted beige during the 1940s, said Steven Greenberg, executive director.
Underneath the paint are three layers of murals. “This is a very rare example of 20th century wall art,’’ Greenberg said. “There are very, very few examples in the country.’’
Since Partners in Preservation pledged to give $5.5 million in the next five years to historic places nationwide, it has awarded grants in San Francisco, Chicago, and New Orleans. But the Boston area has had the highest voter turnout in the online competition and the greatest excitement about raising the visibility of their community’s hidden gems, program members said.
Although not all of the sites won, they all “help tell the story about what makes this city’s history unique and special,’’ said Richard Moe, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Jazmine Ulloa can be reached at lulloa@globe.com.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
North Shore Music Theater to close
Final curtain falls on North Shore
By Geoff Edgers, Globe Staff | June 17, 2009
North Shore Music Theatre, which during its heyday was the largest nonprofit theater in the region, announced yesterday that it failed to raise enough money to reopen this summer and will close for good.
People who bought tickets for the now-canceled season will probably not get their money back.
The closing leaves a huge hole in the arts scene on the North Shore, where as many as 350,000 people a year attended the theater’s slate of lavishly produced musicals staged in the round.
“There’s no doubt that the theater and myself have disappointed and angered a lot of subscribers,’’ David Fellows, trustee chairman, said yesterday. “I apologize for that and I’m heartbroken about that. At every step of the way, we tried to do what we thought our job was.’’
Fellows said the theater cannot survive with $10 million of debt. North Shore owes banks roughly half that total and the other $5 million is owed to vendors and subscribers. Fellows said the lone scenario in which subscribers would get refunds is if the theater’s Beverly property is purchased for more than $10 million. The 22-acre site is currently appraised for about $5 million, he said.
Theater officials say they still hold out hope that a buyer might lease the venue back to the organization.
North Shore has tried to stay alive for months after being forced to shut down earlier this year. In January, it laid off 57 workers and, with a skeleton staff, began working to raise $4 million to stage a season. In April, organizers cut that goal and said they could start productions for $2 million.
They never got close. Donors had pledged just $500,000, even after fund-raisers in New York and at the theater, where performers included such North Shore mainstays as David Coffee, the longtime “Scrooge’’ of winter favorite “A Christmas Carol.’’
According to Fellows, just last week an unnamed potential donor said he would give the theater another $500,000 if it could raise the remaining $1 million, but on Sunday night, theater leaders decided they wouldn’t be able to find the money.
North Shore opened in 1955 as an open-air summer-stock theater, bringing Broadway glamour to a former gravel pit off Route 128. The first seasons featured “Kiss Me, Kate,’’ “Annie Get Your Gun,’’ and “South Pacific.’’ Permanent walls, along with heating and air conditioning, were installed in the 1960s and the seating increased from 1,000 to 1,750.
In the ’80s and ’90s, artistic director Jon Kimbell added educational programs and the smash annual production of “A Christmas Carol.’’
But a 2005 fire destroyed the company’s stage, orchestra pit, lighting, and seats. A renovation left the theater $5 million in debt. Then, in 2008, poor ticket sales to “Disney High School Musical 2’’ threw it into crisis. With less ticket revenue than it had expected, the theater’s leaders decided it could not afford to launch the next season.
In December, when North Shore suspended ticket sales, the number of subscribers had fallen to 4,400. At its peak, the theater had 10,000 subscribers.
Danvers resident Janet Guerette, 77, was one of them. For 17 years, she’s subscribed along with two girlfriends. She said yesterday that she doesn’t expect to get back the $279 she had sent to the theater for the canceled season.
“How upset can I be?’’ said Guerette. “I’m upset I lost my $300. But everybody else lost theirs, too.’’
Carolyn Pilanen, the choral director at Beverly High School, went to the theater for years with her mother.
“It’s been a landmark here for a long time, a place you could see a really good show without having to go to Boston,’’ said Pilanen.
Caldwell Titcomb, the president of the Elliot Norton Awards, given by area critics to local theater productions, said he was shocked by the closing. He noted that North Shore recently scored the best musical award for “Show Boat.’’
“Whenever I went to openings, which was most of them, there was a big house,’’ Titcomb said. “I can’t understand why the community hasn’t supported it more strongly.’’
There was at least a little good news for North Shore supporters yesterday.
The smaller Stoneham Theatre said it would offer subscribers one free ticket to a Friday night performance of its own upcoming season’s productions.
“After 50 years, it’s as shocking to me as anyone,’’ said Weylin Symes, Stoneham Theatre’s producing artistic director. “We wanted to do the little bit we could do to try to help these patrons, who we know love theater and wanted to be a part of another season of theater.’’
And Catherine Peterson, executive director of ArtsBoston, which works with theaters to offer discounted tickets, is organizing a group of 10 or more theaters to offer free tickets to North Shore subscribers.
“The details haven’t been worked out fully but the message is that there’s a home for you at another theater close by,’’ she said.
Geoff Edgers can be reached at gedgers@globe.com
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
By Geoff Edgers, Globe Staff | June 17, 2009
North Shore Music Theatre, which during its heyday was the largest nonprofit theater in the region, announced yesterday that it failed to raise enough money to reopen this summer and will close for good.
People who bought tickets for the now-canceled season will probably not get their money back.
The closing leaves a huge hole in the arts scene on the North Shore, where as many as 350,000 people a year attended the theater’s slate of lavishly produced musicals staged in the round.
“There’s no doubt that the theater and myself have disappointed and angered a lot of subscribers,’’ David Fellows, trustee chairman, said yesterday. “I apologize for that and I’m heartbroken about that. At every step of the way, we tried to do what we thought our job was.’’
Fellows said the theater cannot survive with $10 million of debt. North Shore owes banks roughly half that total and the other $5 million is owed to vendors and subscribers. Fellows said the lone scenario in which subscribers would get refunds is if the theater’s Beverly property is purchased for more than $10 million. The 22-acre site is currently appraised for about $5 million, he said.
Theater officials say they still hold out hope that a buyer might lease the venue back to the organization.
North Shore has tried to stay alive for months after being forced to shut down earlier this year. In January, it laid off 57 workers and, with a skeleton staff, began working to raise $4 million to stage a season. In April, organizers cut that goal and said they could start productions for $2 million.
They never got close. Donors had pledged just $500,000, even after fund-raisers in New York and at the theater, where performers included such North Shore mainstays as David Coffee, the longtime “Scrooge’’ of winter favorite “A Christmas Carol.’’
According to Fellows, just last week an unnamed potential donor said he would give the theater another $500,000 if it could raise the remaining $1 million, but on Sunday night, theater leaders decided they wouldn’t be able to find the money.
North Shore opened in 1955 as an open-air summer-stock theater, bringing Broadway glamour to a former gravel pit off Route 128. The first seasons featured “Kiss Me, Kate,’’ “Annie Get Your Gun,’’ and “South Pacific.’’ Permanent walls, along with heating and air conditioning, were installed in the 1960s and the seating increased from 1,000 to 1,750.
In the ’80s and ’90s, artistic director Jon Kimbell added educational programs and the smash annual production of “A Christmas Carol.’’
But a 2005 fire destroyed the company’s stage, orchestra pit, lighting, and seats. A renovation left the theater $5 million in debt. Then, in 2008, poor ticket sales to “Disney High School Musical 2’’ threw it into crisis. With less ticket revenue than it had expected, the theater’s leaders decided it could not afford to launch the next season.
In December, when North Shore suspended ticket sales, the number of subscribers had fallen to 4,400. At its peak, the theater had 10,000 subscribers.
Danvers resident Janet Guerette, 77, was one of them. For 17 years, she’s subscribed along with two girlfriends. She said yesterday that she doesn’t expect to get back the $279 she had sent to the theater for the canceled season.
“How upset can I be?’’ said Guerette. “I’m upset I lost my $300. But everybody else lost theirs, too.’’
Carolyn Pilanen, the choral director at Beverly High School, went to the theater for years with her mother.
“It’s been a landmark here for a long time, a place you could see a really good show without having to go to Boston,’’ said Pilanen.
Caldwell Titcomb, the president of the Elliot Norton Awards, given by area critics to local theater productions, said he was shocked by the closing. He noted that North Shore recently scored the best musical award for “Show Boat.’’
“Whenever I went to openings, which was most of them, there was a big house,’’ Titcomb said. “I can’t understand why the community hasn’t supported it more strongly.’’
There was at least a little good news for North Shore supporters yesterday.
The smaller Stoneham Theatre said it would offer subscribers one free ticket to a Friday night performance of its own upcoming season’s productions.
“After 50 years, it’s as shocking to me as anyone,’’ said Weylin Symes, Stoneham Theatre’s producing artistic director. “We wanted to do the little bit we could do to try to help these patrons, who we know love theater and wanted to be a part of another season of theater.’’
And Catherine Peterson, executive director of ArtsBoston, which works with theaters to offer discounted tickets, is organizing a group of 10 or more theaters to offer free tickets to North Shore subscribers.
“The details haven’t been worked out fully but the message is that there’s a home for you at another theater close by,’’ she said.
Geoff Edgers can be reached at gedgers@globe.com
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Deal Worked out on Tall Shipts event
$1m deal will open Tall Ships to public
Patrick, Menino OK using convention funds for safety
By Donovan Slack, Globe Staff | June 17, 2009
Mayor Thomas M. Menino and Governor Deval Patrick, ending weeks of anxiety for local businesses and disappointment among the public, have brokered a deal that will bring the Tall Ships to Boston this summer with $1 million in state funding to cover security costs, according to officials.
But it will be a muted exhibition compared to years past, with no fireworks and no line of ships under full sail coming through the harbor in a grand parade, typically the most watched event of the festival. The schooners, barques, and other sailing ships will instead arrive and depart at staggered intervals, the officials said.
A total of 49 ships are to arrive beginning July 8 and will remain until the July 13. The public will be welcomed aboard several ships free of charge, officials said.
Scott Ferson, a spokesman for Sail Boston, hailed the agreement and said the festival will still be one to remember, now that the public will be able to climb aboard the historic vessels.
“It’s a very rich experience and an important part of the event,’’ he said. “Sail Boston will do everything to make sure that experience is as rich as possible.’’
Under the deal, the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority agreed to put up the $1 million, alleviating Menino’s concerns that the city would be stuck with the bill for public safety costs for the event, according to two officials briefed on the negotiations and another involved in them.
“It took a lot of work on both the state and the city’s parts for the public to have access to these ships,’’ said one official briefed on the talks.
The officials spoke about the agreement on condition of anonymity because they said board members of the Convention Center Authority had not yet been briefed on the plan. The authority is expected to take the money from a fund supported by hotel excise taxes and rental car surcharges. The governor has discretion over the fund and has approved the money for the event, the officials said.
“These ships are coming, and if they are coming, we wanted to work something out,’’ said the other official briefed on the plan.
Patrick and Menino personally hammered out some details of the agreement, including when they saw each other over the weekend at Boston’s gay pride parade.
The resolution has ended a contentious months-long dispute between Sail Boston organizers and the mayor. Menino had at various times threatened to bar spectators from reaching the docks and vowed to ask the Coast Guard to ban the Tall Ships from sailing into the harbor at all, unless organizers submitted a funding plan for public safety and paid the city upfront for security and preparation costs.
The dispute had its roots in a $1.6 million bill that the city says it was left with when the ships came to Boston in 2000. City officials said they were forced to absorb public safety costs that year because the state failed to provide any reimbursement. The parade of sails alone that year drew an estimated crowd of 8 million. The mayor, according to two city officials, was also upset in 2000 because he felt the event’s lead organizer, Dusty Rhodes of the event planning firm Conventures, had made a profit without helping the city.
Sail Boston organizers acknowledged earlier this year that security costs were a burden on the city that they would seek to avoid this time. But until this week, organizers did not have a way to pay the city in advance.
Neither Menino nor the governor was available for comment last night.
When the mayor first dug in his heels in April, many Sail Boston boosters were deeply disappointed that the city had decided not to support what they called a major opportunity to boost the local economy, by filling hotel rooms and restaurants that have languished in the recession.
The mayor’s opposition also dismayed fans of the festival and hotel and restaurant owners banking on the windfall.
The event, part of an international regatta that begins in Vigo, Spain, and ends in Belfast, is expected to include historic sailing ships from 20 countries, many of them century-old naval training vessels sailing from as far away as Russia, Bermuda, and Argentina.
The public will be allowed to board the ships on the evenings of July 9 and 10 and during the day on July 11 and 12.
Of the $1 million from provided by the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, the city will receive $750,000.
The remainder will go to State Police and the state Department of Conservation and Recreation. The Massachusetts Port Authority will cover all the costs of hosting the ships at state docks, the officials said.
Donovan Slack can be reached at dslack@globe.com.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Patrick, Menino OK using convention funds for safety
By Donovan Slack, Globe Staff | June 17, 2009
Mayor Thomas M. Menino and Governor Deval Patrick, ending weeks of anxiety for local businesses and disappointment among the public, have brokered a deal that will bring the Tall Ships to Boston this summer with $1 million in state funding to cover security costs, according to officials.
But it will be a muted exhibition compared to years past, with no fireworks and no line of ships under full sail coming through the harbor in a grand parade, typically the most watched event of the festival. The schooners, barques, and other sailing ships will instead arrive and depart at staggered intervals, the officials said.
A total of 49 ships are to arrive beginning July 8 and will remain until the July 13. The public will be welcomed aboard several ships free of charge, officials said.
Scott Ferson, a spokesman for Sail Boston, hailed the agreement and said the festival will still be one to remember, now that the public will be able to climb aboard the historic vessels.
“It’s a very rich experience and an important part of the event,’’ he said. “Sail Boston will do everything to make sure that experience is as rich as possible.’’
Under the deal, the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority agreed to put up the $1 million, alleviating Menino’s concerns that the city would be stuck with the bill for public safety costs for the event, according to two officials briefed on the negotiations and another involved in them.
“It took a lot of work on both the state and the city’s parts for the public to have access to these ships,’’ said one official briefed on the talks.
The officials spoke about the agreement on condition of anonymity because they said board members of the Convention Center Authority had not yet been briefed on the plan. The authority is expected to take the money from a fund supported by hotel excise taxes and rental car surcharges. The governor has discretion over the fund and has approved the money for the event, the officials said.
“These ships are coming, and if they are coming, we wanted to work something out,’’ said the other official briefed on the plan.
Patrick and Menino personally hammered out some details of the agreement, including when they saw each other over the weekend at Boston’s gay pride parade.
The resolution has ended a contentious months-long dispute between Sail Boston organizers and the mayor. Menino had at various times threatened to bar spectators from reaching the docks and vowed to ask the Coast Guard to ban the Tall Ships from sailing into the harbor at all, unless organizers submitted a funding plan for public safety and paid the city upfront for security and preparation costs.
The dispute had its roots in a $1.6 million bill that the city says it was left with when the ships came to Boston in 2000. City officials said they were forced to absorb public safety costs that year because the state failed to provide any reimbursement. The parade of sails alone that year drew an estimated crowd of 8 million. The mayor, according to two city officials, was also upset in 2000 because he felt the event’s lead organizer, Dusty Rhodes of the event planning firm Conventures, had made a profit without helping the city.
Sail Boston organizers acknowledged earlier this year that security costs were a burden on the city that they would seek to avoid this time. But until this week, organizers did not have a way to pay the city in advance.
Neither Menino nor the governor was available for comment last night.
When the mayor first dug in his heels in April, many Sail Boston boosters were deeply disappointed that the city had decided not to support what they called a major opportunity to boost the local economy, by filling hotel rooms and restaurants that have languished in the recession.
The mayor’s opposition also dismayed fans of the festival and hotel and restaurant owners banking on the windfall.
The event, part of an international regatta that begins in Vigo, Spain, and ends in Belfast, is expected to include historic sailing ships from 20 countries, many of them century-old naval training vessels sailing from as far away as Russia, Bermuda, and Argentina.
The public will be allowed to board the ships on the evenings of July 9 and 10 and during the day on July 11 and 12.
Of the $1 million from provided by the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, the city will receive $750,000.
The remainder will go to State Police and the state Department of Conservation and Recreation. The Massachusetts Port Authority will cover all the costs of hosting the ships at state docks, the officials said.
Donovan Slack can be reached at dslack@globe.com.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Filene's Basement new owner intends to reopen in Downtown Crossing
Basement to reopen downtown
Flagship location and other sites will be considered
By Jenn Abelson and Casey Ross, Globe Staff | June 17, 2009
Discounter Syms Corp., which won a bid on Monday to buy bankrupt Filene’s Basement, intends to return the bargain brand to its flagship store in Downtown Crossing or another location in the neighborhood, according to a local official with knowledge of the plans.
Syms offered $62.4 million for the beleaguered business in a venture with New York real estate firm Vornado Realty Trust and Gale International, the two firms that own the downtown Boston property where the Basement has operated for more than 100 years. That location has been closed since 2007 because of a stalled $700 million redevelopment project that has been unable to secure financing.
“Syms has every intention of having a store in Downtown Crossing. That’s something they feel is important,’’ said the official, who is not authorized to speak publicly about the deal. “If they can work out a deal with Vornado for a new lease, that’s great. But it’s very uncertain whether Vornado can even deliver that site within a normal period of time. They want to get something open in Downtown Crossing as soon as possible.’’
An executive involved with the redevelopment project said Gale and Vornado teamed up with Syms as a way to reclaim the Downtown Crossing lease, which includes about 90,000 square feet of space at about $2.28 per square foot. The current lease runs through 2024 and requires Gale and Vornado to pay Filene’s Basement $500,000 a month until the flagship can reopen again in the redeveloped site. Those payments were halted without explanation earlier this year.
With the development on hold, it would likely take at least two years to reopen the Filene’s Basement store, meaning Gale and Vornado would have to pay an additional $12 million during that period, an obligation they erased by participating in the acquisition.
“Now, we can start fresh, get the space back, and control who the tenant is,’’ said the executive involved. “It basically allows us to stop the bleeding.’’
The executive, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said the developers are open to signing a new deal to bring Filene’s Basement back to the location, but that depends on whether Syms is willing to pay a higher rent. “Whoever comes in is going to have to pay a market rate’’ of up to $30 per square foot, the executive said.
Vornado/Gale and Syms declined to comment.
Details of the acquisition are not yet available, but a bankruptcy court judge is expected to approve the nearly $63 million offer today. The sale also includes 23 stores, the Burlington headquarters, the Auburn warehouse, and leases in the Back Bay, Braintree, Newton, Peabody, Saugus, and Watertown.
Local leaders and business owners said yesterday that they hope Filene’s Basement will return to Downtown Crossing.
“It is a cherished anchor for Downtown Crossing. So we’re hopeful the Vornado/Syms acquisition will bring about the return of this very important institution,’’ said Rosemarie Sansone, president of the Downtown Crossing Association, a group of local businesses and residents. “The Filene’s Basement brand and our brand are very, very connected.’’
Sansone said there is at least one large property available if the legendary merchant looks for another location in Downtown Crossing, including the former Barnes & Noble space on Washington Street. Filene’s Basement officials had rejected the site as a temporary shop while the flagship was shuttered because of logistical problems and the cost of renovations.
“My hope would be that Filene’s Basement will return to its rightful place in Downtown Crossing, at the base of the new Filene’s project,’’ said Ron Druker, principal of the Druker Co. and owner of several buildings in Downtown Crossing. “It’s very important for Downtown Crossing, and in my opinion, a very important anchor for the new development.’’
Druker said it wouldn’t make sense to buy into the acquisition and not reopen the Basement. “I certainly would want them as an anchor in any development I were doing,’’ he said.
Filene’s Basement filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May following mounting financial struggles with underperforming stores, the credit crisis, and the loss of the Downtown Crossing store, which represented about 20 percent of sales.
Retail Ventures Inc., which owned Filene’s Basement before the May bankruptcy and whose holdings consisted mainly of Filene’s Basement, yesterday reported a $51.9 million loss from operations for the quarter ending May 2, compared to $45.9 million in income for the same period the previous year.
Jenn Abelson can be reached at abelson@globe.com.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Flagship location and other sites will be considered
By Jenn Abelson and Casey Ross, Globe Staff | June 17, 2009
Discounter Syms Corp., which won a bid on Monday to buy bankrupt Filene’s Basement, intends to return the bargain brand to its flagship store in Downtown Crossing or another location in the neighborhood, according to a local official with knowledge of the plans.
Syms offered $62.4 million for the beleaguered business in a venture with New York real estate firm Vornado Realty Trust and Gale International, the two firms that own the downtown Boston property where the Basement has operated for more than 100 years. That location has been closed since 2007 because of a stalled $700 million redevelopment project that has been unable to secure financing.
“Syms has every intention of having a store in Downtown Crossing. That’s something they feel is important,’’ said the official, who is not authorized to speak publicly about the deal. “If they can work out a deal with Vornado for a new lease, that’s great. But it’s very uncertain whether Vornado can even deliver that site within a normal period of time. They want to get something open in Downtown Crossing as soon as possible.’’
An executive involved with the redevelopment project said Gale and Vornado teamed up with Syms as a way to reclaim the Downtown Crossing lease, which includes about 90,000 square feet of space at about $2.28 per square foot. The current lease runs through 2024 and requires Gale and Vornado to pay Filene’s Basement $500,000 a month until the flagship can reopen again in the redeveloped site. Those payments were halted without explanation earlier this year.
With the development on hold, it would likely take at least two years to reopen the Filene’s Basement store, meaning Gale and Vornado would have to pay an additional $12 million during that period, an obligation they erased by participating in the acquisition.
“Now, we can start fresh, get the space back, and control who the tenant is,’’ said the executive involved. “It basically allows us to stop the bleeding.’’
The executive, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said the developers are open to signing a new deal to bring Filene’s Basement back to the location, but that depends on whether Syms is willing to pay a higher rent. “Whoever comes in is going to have to pay a market rate’’ of up to $30 per square foot, the executive said.
Vornado/Gale and Syms declined to comment.
Details of the acquisition are not yet available, but a bankruptcy court judge is expected to approve the nearly $63 million offer today. The sale also includes 23 stores, the Burlington headquarters, the Auburn warehouse, and leases in the Back Bay, Braintree, Newton, Peabody, Saugus, and Watertown.
Local leaders and business owners said yesterday that they hope Filene’s Basement will return to Downtown Crossing.
“It is a cherished anchor for Downtown Crossing. So we’re hopeful the Vornado/Syms acquisition will bring about the return of this very important institution,’’ said Rosemarie Sansone, president of the Downtown Crossing Association, a group of local businesses and residents. “The Filene’s Basement brand and our brand are very, very connected.’’
Sansone said there is at least one large property available if the legendary merchant looks for another location in Downtown Crossing, including the former Barnes & Noble space on Washington Street. Filene’s Basement officials had rejected the site as a temporary shop while the flagship was shuttered because of logistical problems and the cost of renovations.
“My hope would be that Filene’s Basement will return to its rightful place in Downtown Crossing, at the base of the new Filene’s project,’’ said Ron Druker, principal of the Druker Co. and owner of several buildings in Downtown Crossing. “It’s very important for Downtown Crossing, and in my opinion, a very important anchor for the new development.’’
Druker said it wouldn’t make sense to buy into the acquisition and not reopen the Basement. “I certainly would want them as an anchor in any development I were doing,’’ he said.
Filene’s Basement filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May following mounting financial struggles with underperforming stores, the credit crisis, and the loss of the Downtown Crossing store, which represented about 20 percent of sales.
Retail Ventures Inc., which owned Filene’s Basement before the May bankruptcy and whose holdings consisted mainly of Filene’s Basement, yesterday reported a $51.9 million loss from operations for the quarter ending May 2, compared to $45.9 million in income for the same period the previous year.
Jenn Abelson can be reached at abelson@globe.com.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Monday, June 15, 2009
Silver Plume Awards
NAMES
'Idol' hopefuls play Foxborough
By Mark Shanahan & Meredith Goldstein | June 15, 2009
At your service
Joseph Fallon, who works at the Fairmont Copley Plaza, was named Concierge of the Year by Where Magazine at last night's 22d annual Silver Plume Award ceremony, which was held at Via Matta. Fallon's been a finalist for the award for a few years. He beat out Ronnie Lamming of the Boston Harbor Hotel and Adam Castiglioni of the Sheraton Boston for this year's honor.
Taylor Adams of Boston.com contributed. Read the Names blog at www.boston.com/namesblog. Names can be reached at names@globe.com or at 617-929-8253.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
'Idol' hopefuls play Foxborough
By Mark Shanahan & Meredith Goldstein | June 15, 2009
At your service
Joseph Fallon, who works at the Fairmont Copley Plaza, was named Concierge of the Year by Where Magazine at last night's 22d annual Silver Plume Award ceremony, which was held at Via Matta. Fallon's been a finalist for the award for a few years. He beat out Ronnie Lamming of the Boston Harbor Hotel and Adam Castiglioni of the Sheraton Boston for this year's honor.
Taylor Adams of Boston.com contributed. Read the Names blog at www.boston.com/namesblog. Names can be reached at names@globe.com or at 617-929-8253.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
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