OK, so with a mayoral race in full swing, there’s more than enough hot air to go around.

But in the interest of giving credit where credit is due, mayoral challenger Michael Flaherty offers a pretty good run-down on big development projects that have gone nowhere during the Menino years.

So here’s Flaherty’s list of Boston’s many bridges to nowhere.

While he mixes in a few debatable jabs at the mayor, the list itself is fairly accurate.

Anyway, read Flaherty’s list and judge for yourself. I’ve added my own comments in the interest of fairness.

* Kensington Place—Menino demolished the historic Gaiety Theatre to make way for a tower—except five years later, all that exists now is a hole in the ground. (Note from SVV:  OK, the mayor didn’t literally tear down the theater himself, though his development authority pushed through this boondoggle.)

*    Frank McCourt’s parcels in South Boston—now John Hynes’ parking lots—because of their grand ideas and big personalities, the Mayor refuses to do business with them and therefore one guy was forced out of the city, the other has a project that is going nowhere.(Note from SVV: Neither developer has been on the mayor’s favorites list, but I am not sure you can blame Frank McCourt leaving town to buy the Los Angeles Dodgers on the mayor.)

“* Hayward Place—after the Mayor awarded the parcel to his friend, the Chinatown property remains a parking lot. (Note from SVV: The “friend’ in question is the developer of the Ritz Carlton towers, which won favor at City Hall for driving a stake through the old Combat Zone. But yes, years after the Hayward Place parking lot was slated to be developed- and bring new tax revenue into the city - it remains a surface lot.)

* Columbus Center—after years of community meetings, fighting and lack of leadership from City Hall, the city has an abandoned construction site.

* South Station tower—years in planning, nothing to show for it.

*  Former New Balance Headquarters—personality conflicts with the Mayor, so the property lays fallow.(Note from SVV: Not sure what personality conflicts he is alluding to, but again, no project here.)

* 2 Financial—the Mayor cost the project six years from his indecision—I was the only person to show up and support the development at numerous community meetings. (Note from SVV: Not sure about Flaherty’s role as unsung hero, but project was debated to death.)

*  D Street—With little leadership from City Hall, the developer and community were left to fight over the details of the proposal and again, after years of debate, the property is still vacant.”

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 28th, 2009 at 3:26 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.