Council puts off vote on letting BRA sell old garage until it can actually read proposed agreement

By Shelagh Dolan on Wed, 06/17/2015 - 3:04pm

The City Council agreed with a request from Councilor Sal LaMattina (North End, Charlestown, East Boston) to hold off voting on a proposal to formally hand the old Winthrop Square garage to the BRA until councilors get a chance to actually read the "memorandum of understanding" that would govern the proceeds of any sale or lease of the property to a skyscraper developer.

The quasi-independent BRA has pledged to hand over all the proceeds, less administrative fees, to the city, rather than keeping it, as it usually does with property it controls.

At a hearing Monday, BRA Director Brian Golden promised details on how the BRA would handle selling or leasing the property by today. He hesitated to say how much the city could earn from the old garage, shut in 2013, but said it would be in "the tens of millions of dollars."

Neighborhoods:

Topics:

Free tagging:

Ad:

Like the job UHub is doing? Consider a contribution. Thanks!

Comments

Notes. Public Meeting. Boston City Council

By theszak on Wed, 06/17/2015 - 3:24pm.

Should Election Commissioners be independent of Office Staff?... Better to appoint independent Commissioners, not Election Office Staff.

Notes. Public Meeting. Boston City Council
https://www.facebook.com/michelleforboston

I emailed McCarthy with my

By chaosjake on Wed, 06/17/2015 - 4:16pm.

I emailed McCarthy with my skepticism about this deal and quoted Abby Normal's four suggestions verbatim. Much as I don't like a lot of his positions, to his credit the response was:

I agree- sounds like Yawkey way all over again!

I emailed Zakim, Wu, Flaherty, Pressley and Murphy

By Stevil on Wed, 06/17/2015 - 4:53pm.

Figured I'd cover all the bases. Both Zakim and Flaherty got back saying they had concerns. Contacting your reps can have an impact. Take 2 minutes if you feel strongly about something (and sounds like a lot of people felt strongly about that issue),

I also emailed

By Demeter on Wed, 06/17/2015 - 5:53pm.

Mark Ciommo - mu district counselor -- and the four at-larges. Didn't hear back from a soul. I guess they're all so busy ..... including the $75,000 staffer.

Thank you for posting this

By anon on Wed, 06/17/2015 - 6:26pm.

I emailed all the city councilors - and i posted it to NextDoor the dorchester version but it went to about 400 or so people. Thank you for the updates - has this made it to the globe yet?

Listings of Boston City Council Staff role/responsibilities/etc.

By theszak on Thu, 06/18/2015 - 2:28am.

A list is now available of the Staff of each Boston City Councilor's Office and Central Council Staff indicating each Staffers' role/responsibilities/title/position/related details/etc . Request at
http://www.cityofboston.gov/contact/?id=138

Notable Boston City Council Staff include the folks improving
Council Communications, for example
1) Kenneth W. Yarbrough, Editor, Councillor Yancey Newsletter
2) 3) R. Lake, L. Schettino, Council weekly/daily email subscriptions

There's about 100 Boston City Council Staff !... page 356 at
http://www.cityofboston.gov/images_documents/13%20Non-Mayoral%20Departme...