Who’s Behind the Boston Globe Ads for #CITGOsign?

April 25, 2016

As you splendid readers might recall, Boston University announced several months ago that it is selling a group of Kenmore Square buildings atop of which sits the Citgo sign.

From BU Today:

BU May Sell Kenmore Square Properties

Deal includes building with iconic Citgo sign

Screen Shot 2016-04-24 at 4.07.33 PM

As part of a four-decade-long effort to upgrade Kenmore Square, Boston University has hired a broker to manage the sale of several high-profile buildings it owns in the square, including the one that houses Barnes & Noble at BU and supports the iconic Citgo sign, which has loomed over the square since 1965.

Gary Nicksa, senior vice president for operations, says the University will work with Newmark Grubb Night Frank, known as Newmark, to sell the properties, which include 334,000 square feet of commercial space, now occupied by Barnes & Noble, Bertucci’s restaurant, Cornwall’s Pub, and several other tenants. The nine buildings that will be put on the market line the north side of Kenmore Square, from 648 Beacon Street to 541 Commonwealth Avenue and 11-19 Deerfield Street.

 

That, of course, went over like the metric system, leading to plaintive articles such as this Business section piece last month in the Boston Globe.

Five Things You Should Know About the Citgo Sign

The fate of the Citgo sign is once again the talk of the town. From its perch high above Kenmore Square, the illuminated sign has been an integral part of Boston’s skyline for decades, but now faces an uncertain future as Screen Shot 2016-04-24 at 4.15.26 PMBoston University tries to sell the building below it. What will happen when the property at 660 Beacon St. changes hands and a new landlord takes over? That remains to be seen. For now, the Citgo sign still shines brightly.

Here are five things you may not know about this familiar landmark.

1 It has a long history. The roots of the sign go back to 1940, when the Cities Service Co. opened a divisional office at 660 Beacon St. and installed a huge neon sign on the roof of the building . . .

 

And etc.

Now the Citgo sign is back in the Globe, but in advertising form on page A3 of yesterday’s edition.

 

Screen Shot 2016-04-24 at 4.04.21 PM

 

Close-up view:

 

Screen Shot 2016-04-24 at 4.04.58 PM

Screen Shot 2016-04-24 at 4.05.36 PM

 

The ads come from Boston’s Sign (not to be confused with Boston Sign, whose website does not include the Citgo sign). The ad does steer readers to #CITGOsign, which features tweets like these from WCVB’s Maria Stephanos and others.

 

Screen Shot 2016-04-25 at 12.00.15 AM

 

But . . .

The hardsearching staff has so far been unable to determine who’s behind the Globe ads. We’ll make some phone calls today and keep you posted.

1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider

Boston Globe Namesniks Done Alan Cumming Wrong

April 30, 2014

Start with full disclosure: The hardreading staff met Masterpiece Mystery man Alan Cumming at his Boston University Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center Friends Speakers Series appearance Monday night and found him to be the sweetest guy ever.

Exhibit A: His Twitter feed that featured this selfie with his mum:

 

Screen Shot 2014-04-30 at 12.50.50 AM

 

So we were a bit dismayed when we saw this Names item in yesterday’s Boston Globe.

The comings and goings of Alan Cumming

 

davis_cumming1_liv

 

Alan Cumming spent a busy day in Boston Monday. The Scottish actor, who stars on CBS’s “The Good Wife” and is currently reprising the role of the lascivious emcee in “Cabaret” on Broadway, began the afternoon at WGBH’s Calderwood Studio, taping a series of intros for the new season of “Masterpiece Mystery.” Then it was off to BU’s Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center, where Cumming talked about his life and work. The actor was adorable as ever, even if The New York Times, in its review of “Cabaret,” called him a “little softer around the jaw.”

 

(Fuller disclosure: The hardreading staff has numerous connections to the Gotlieb Center, which we’re happy to detail upon request.)

Not to get technical about it, but said Times review  of “Cabaret” was a full-throated endorsement of Cumming’s reprise of his 1998 performance as the M.C.:

Alan Cumming, who won a Tony as the nasty M.C. in 1998, is back, offering a slightly looser, older-but-wiser variation on the same performance . . . Mr. Cumming’s M.C., who commandeered a part that Joel Grey would have seemed to own exclusively, has become the new model for most interpretations of the role . . .

So that Names item might have been a little soft around the jawboning, yeah?

 

2 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider

Walsh? Welsh? Let’s Call the Whole Bet Off

January 22, 2014

From our Tomato/Tomahto desk

Boston magazine’s Steve Annear had it first in a blog post yesterday.

Mayor Walsh Bucks Broncos Jersey Bet

He was supposed to wear the jersey at the U.S. Conference of Mayors, but he canceled the trip because of the snowstorm.

 

Mayor-Walsh

 

Mayor Marty Walsh has the snow to thank for saving him the embarrassment of wearing a Broncos jersey in front of his fellow mayors from across the country.

Citing the impending storm that’s set to drop up to 10 inches of  snow in the Boston area through Wednesday afternoon, Walsh canceled his trip to Washington, D.C., where he was scheduled to attend the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

 

And scheduled to wear the Broncos jersey at some point during the three-day conference.

But he punked out.

Today’s Boston Herald picked up the story (sorry, BoMag – no credit for you!) and added this wrinkle from Boston University’s Thomas Whalen:

“It’s probably not a good idea for Boston’s newly elected mayor to be wearing a Broncos jersey … but a bet is a bet. And he’s welshing on a bet. Does he keep his word? It’s not a good way to start.”

 

Waiting to hear from the Welsh Anti-Defamation League. Except there isn’t one. But this is a good Mike Royko piece.

 

Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider

Globe: No Problem with Walsh’s Koh Dependency

January 5, 2014

According to today’s Boston Globe, Mayor-elect Marty Walsh has named a “relative political outsider” who is “relatively young” as his City Hall wingman – and that’s all good.

Walsh announces his chief of staff

Andover native, 29, has worked in politics, at Huffington Post

Boston Mayor-elect Martin J. Walsh on Saturday named Daniel Arrigg Koh, currently the general manager of Huffington Post Live, handout_koh_metas his chief of staff — the first major appointment in the administration that takes over control of the city on Monday.

“I’m excited to have Daniel joining our administration and bring a fresh, new energy to the mayor’s office,” Walsh said in a statement issued Saturday afternoon. “He has broad experience about City Hall and a deep understanding of managing a large, fast-paced organization. We have great talent joining us, and I know Daniel will help me transform the way we do things in Boston.”

 

And nary a discouraging word after that.

Not so fast, says crosstown rival Boston Herald on today’s front page.

 

Screen Shot 2014-01-05 at 11.58.12 AM

 

Inside, the feisty local tabloid elaborates.

Walsh names neophyte to key position

Some say mayor-elect taking a risk

Picking a 29-year-old political unknown as chief of staff is a bold, unexpected move and a sign that Mayor-elect Martin J. Walsh’s 010414Walshjm03administration is shaping up to take a new direction in City Hall — although the hire also is not without risks, experts said.

Daniel Arrigg Koh — an Andover native who last worked as general manager of HuffPost Live and a former adviser through Harvard’s Leadership Fellow Program for Mayor Thomas M. Menino — represents a young, intelligent hire with an impeccable resume, said John Nucci, Suffolk University vice president for government affairs.

 

Or maybe this . . .

Daniel Koh might be too young and too green to navigate the pitfalls of City Hall politics effectively, said Thomas J. Whalen, a Boston University social science professor. Walsh should have compensated for his own inexperience in City Hall by hiring someone well-versed in the political landscape, he said.

“This is a huge job. You think you would have someone who is older, more experienced and more connected,” Whalen said, adding that Koh will have to tangle with the city’s union leaders. “You’ll need a tough guy who can knock heads together. Will they respect someone 29 years old?”

 

Well, we know at least one person who doesn’t.

Leave it, as usual, to Herald graybeard Peter Gelzinis to provide some historical perspective in a piece headlined Koh may be right-hand man, but not clear he’ll be a heavyweight.

In his fifth and final go-round as mayor, Tom Menino looked across the river to Harvard and installed whiz-kid Mitch Weiss as his chief of staff. A beloved old pol craved new blood. And yet the man he trusted to handle the day-to-day life blood of politics was an up-from-the-streets-Southie native, Michael Kineavy.

It was a kind of schizophrenia that just about everyone in City Hall came to understand. “Kineavy was the get-it-done on the ground guy,” one longtime veteran said. “He was the guy that made government work in a way everyone understood.

 

The Herald covered a lot of bases on this story. Presumably, the Globe will play some catch-up tomorrow.

Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider

Herald Stomps Down Squawkey Way

November 15, 2013

The Boston Herald is on a real-estate BRAmpage lately, starting with Wednesday’s hounding of Terrier-in-waiting Tom Menino over possible conflicts of interest between the outgoing mayor’s new gig at Boston University and the Boston Redevelopment Authority, 80% of which is appointed by the mayor.

Today the feisty local tabloid is still beating the Tom-toms.

 

MA_BH

 

Inside, the Herald calls the roll of tax-dodging prime downtown properties.

 

Picture 1

 

Picture 2

 

But wait! There’s more – a new skirmish outside Fenway Park.

BRA sued over no-bid deal with Sox on Yawkey Way

A sweetheart land and air rights deal between the Boston Redevelopment Authority and the Boston Red Sox is now being attacked in court.

Everett businessman and attorney Joseph Marchese is suing the BRA over the recent $7.3 million agreement that awarded the Red Sox air rights for Green Monster seats over Lansdowne Street and an easement to shut down part of Yawkey Way for concessions so long as the team plays at Fenway Park.BI1E6414.JPG

Marchese said he had approached the BRA in May with his own offer to operate concessions on Yawkey Way under a proposed $3 million, 10-year deal, but the BRA never put the rights out for public bid.

“What we’re asking the court to determine is whether or not that contract should have been put out to bid,” Marchese said. A former restaurant owner, Marchese said he wanted to partner with local businesses to offer food on Yawkey Way in a “taste of Boston” atmosphere.

 

Then again, the sweetheart deal is a taste of Boston, isn’t it?

Postscript from our JohnHenryGlobeWatch: Nothing about the Fenway rumpus in the Red-Sox-owner-Henry-owned Boston Globe today. No big conspiracy theory. That comes tomorrow.

2 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider

Hark! The Herald! (Miss Da Mayah Edition)

November 13, 2013

From our Walt Whitman desk

What will the Boston Herald do when Tom Menino vacates the corner office at City Hall?

Probably a  lot more of this:

 

Picture 1

 

Inside, Menino sort of answers the question.

Menino: Ties to B.R.A. no problem with BU post

Mayor Thomas M. Men­ino brushed off conflict-of-interest concerns about his new Boston University gig as a “typical Herald question,” even as the school — which has 
enjoyed a building boom during his administration — is seeking approval from the Menino-appointed BRA to develop its Commonwealth Avenue campus and South End medical facilities.STNY8490.JPG

State ethics laws say 
elected officials should avoid even the appearance of a conflict. Menino, who faced similar scrutiny while considering a job at Harvard University, cut a Herald 
reporter off halfway through the BRA question.

“It’s that typical Herald question. I feel sorry for you guys. I really do,” Menino said, adding that his legal team gave him the green light to take the job. “I’ve been 
extremely cautious about that issue. I’ve been overly cautious. It’s good to have the hindsight to deal with this 
before it becomes a problem.”

 

That’s, well, problematic for the feisty local tabloid, which provides this helpful graphic of some past and future BU developments. (Full disclosure: The hardreading staff moonlights as a mass comm prof at BU.)

 

Picture 4

 

And then there’s this handy punch list of current projects:

• A 15-story, 250,000-
square-foot academic building at Commonwealth 
Avenue and Granby Street, approved as part of the school’s 10-year master plan;

• A 100,000-square-foot addition to the law school building, approved in the same 2012 master plan;

• A 150,000-square-foot life-sciences and engineering building, up for approval at the BRA’s meeting tomorrow, and

• A 27,800-square-foot addition to the Moakley Cancer Center at Boston Medical Center, also up 
for approval tomorrow.

 

So no conflict of interest there? You can almost hear Menino thinking, How does that conflict with my interests?

The Urban (Studies) Mechanic even takes a swipe at predecessor Kevin White, who upon leaving office, the Herald writes, “accepted a BU teaching job some saw as a quid pro quo for brokering a deal to help the school build a multimillion-dollar science center.”

“It’s a different situation than Kevin White. Different era, different president, different times,” Menino said. “We’re very cautious on these issues. It’s a real program that I’m doing.”

 

Ouch. When does the statue of Menino kicking the Kevin White statue in the shins go up in front of Faneuil Hall?

2 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider

Brain Freeze at Boston Herald

December 4, 2012

Monday’s Boston Globe featured major coverage of a major brain injury study from Boston University.

Via the Newseum’s Today’s Front Pages:

MA_BG

(Full disclosure: The hardreading staff moonlights as a mass communication professor at BU.)

Monday’s Boston Herald, on the other hand, featured . . . nothing.

But the feisty local tabloid did post this AP story to its website Monday morning:

BU study links head injuries to brain damage

BOSTON — An extensive study of the brains of dead athletes and others shows that most had signs of brain damage after suffering repeated head injuries.

The study published Monday by the Boston University School of Medicine reports on the autopsies of 85 brain donors.

The autopsies revealed extensive evidence of protein tangles clogging brain tissue and causing the destruction of brain cells in football players, wrestlers, hockey players, boxers, and military combat veterans.

 

The AP report even credited the Globe piece, which had to hurt over at Wingo Square.

Just like a brain freeze, eh?

1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider

In Praise of Editorial Cartoonists

September 14, 2012

The other night Boston University’s Howard Gotlieb Archival Center hosted a lecture by legendary illustrator Edward Sorel, whose editorial cartoons rank among the 20th century’s most searing commentary on American politics.

Helpful documentary by Sorel’s son Leo here.

Which got the hardreading staff to thinking:

How lucky are we that Boston has not one, but two editorial cartoonists in our local dailies.

First up, the Boston Herald’s reliable Jerry Holbert:

 

 

Next up, the Boston Globe’s inspired Dan Wasserman:

 

 

Unfortunately, editorial cartoonists are fast becoming an endangered species.

From the American Journalism Review:

Ted Rall, president of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists, says there are fewer than 100 staff cartoonists in the country, down from about 150 in 1990 and about 280 in 1980.

Outside of New York, Boston might be the only town in America with two daily editorial cartoonists.

You should savor it while it lasts.

 

3 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider

Globe Totally Pwns Herald on BU Hockey Scandal

September 9, 2012

The hardreading staff (full disclosure: we’re a BU mass communication professor) keeps waiting for the Boston Herald to shift into overdrive on the Boston University hockey team rumpus, especially in the wake of the BU administration’s public report on the school’s debased hockey culture.

After all, the Herald always puts the pedal to the metal on this sort of scandal (nude parties! naked skating! sex in the penalty box!).

But no – the feisty local tabloid has barely hit second gear in its coverage.

It’s the Boston Globe that’s been driving the story, starting with its publication of appendices to BU’s public report:

Sex, drinking detailed in report on BU hockey

When Boston University released its report Wednesday on hockey players’ “culture of sexual entitlement,” it kept most of the investigation details — including accounts of sexual debauchery and wide-ranging allegations of academic trouble — confined to confidential subcommittee reports.

In the documents, which were obtained by the Globe on Thursday, were tales of a late-night 2009 NCAA championship party at Agganis Arena where dozens of guests drank from kegs in the locker room showers and took to the ice naked to shoot pucks.

“It was insane,” one former student who attended told the BU task force. “People were having sex in the penalty box.”

Campus police did not find out about the party, nor did BU administrators — until this year, when the task force started asking questions. During interviews with the task force, hockey coach Jack Parker also professed ignorance, at first saying he had never heard about the bash, but later acknowledging he knew of “a few guys drinking in the locker room.”

Yet at least two players and an athletics staffer told the task force that within days of the party, Parker reprimanded the entire team for its behavior.

The Globe has added to that a scathing editorial, a smashmouth Brian McGrory column,  and a tough follow-up:

BU reels after allegations of hockey team misconducts

Boston University is reeling in the wake of allegations of misbehavior on the hockey team that until Friday were unknown to nearly everyone at the school, including most of its board of trustees.

The allegations surfaced in appendices to a public report on BU’s hockey culture, released by an internal task force Wednesday. The additional seamy details, describing rampant disrespect of women by some team members and a secret nude party at Agganis Arena in 2009, were not released to anyone beyond the task force members, a few administrators, and the board’s 16-member executive committee.

That left most of the 39 trustees unaware of the documents’ graphic contents — which raised serious questions about the actions of celebrated hockey coach Jack Parker — until details were reported in Friday’s Globe. Those trustees were also not consulted about how the school should reform its hockey culture; the task force’s 14 sweeping recommendations were devised with little input from the board.

Here’s guessing there’ll be plenty of input now.

2 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider

Next Entries »