The Herald reports South Boston state Sen. Jack Hart is proposing moving the Aquarium to Southie, City Hall to the Aquarium site and, um, something to City Hall Plaza (ooh, I know, I know: Luxury apartments!).

Of course, the same exact argument made against moving City Hall to South Boston (lack of real mass transit, unless you consider the Silver Line real mass transit) would apply to the Aquarium.

Tom Menino sure pulled a good one on him, slipping $2 million into the city budget to study moving City Hall to South Boston, which Flaherty managed to vote for even though he opposes the move, because, well, it was on page 342 of the budget:

In an interview after the hearing, he said that he did not realize he had already voted to approve the funding for the studies.

As a reporter, I once covered a similar issue in Natick - when one selectman realized he'd been similarly, if not quite so back-of-the-bookishly, bamboozled, he said "If I'd realized what I was voting for, I would have voted against myself."

No offense to Natick, but shouldn't we expect more from Boston councilors, who, after all, get paid full-time wages? Surely a man who would be mayor of Boston would realize he has to be on guard when it comes to the man who is mayor of Boston - even if he does have a point about spending $2 million on a study like that in times like these.

I'm no fan of the idea of moving City Hall to South Boston, but, geez, organizing to save City Hall because of its architecture? Calling it "one of the most architecturally significant structures in the world?"

Ow, my head.

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Architecture Boston this month is all about City Hall: From Menino's plans to move it to thoughts from young architects on how to improve the current hulking behemoth (all the articles are in PDF).

Via Zakcq.

Adam Reilly noticed an interesting omission in yesterday's Globe story about Tom Menino's idea for building a wind turbine on City Hall Plaza: The story doesn't mention anything about his earlier plans to move City Hall to South Boston.

Does this mean Menino's abandoned that proposal or Globe reporters have long-term memory problems and never thought to ask hizzona how building a windmill for a building that soon might not exist makes sense. Also missing from the story: Any comment from the federal government, which owns the JFK building and which thus put the kibosh on the mayor's last major proposal for the plaza: Building a hotel on it.

Tom Menino need look no further than this brilliant design, which combines a uniquely Boston look with the same attitude the current City Hall expresses toward citizens.

Jay Fitzgerald: There is indeed something striking about City Hall's iconic exterior that's worth preserving. He proposes gutting the interior and re-doing it and doing something about the damn plaza (Jay: Didn't Menino once propose doing something about the plaza - after which he promptly got shot down by the federal government, which has a veto thanks to the JFK Building? Yes, he did)

John Daley would hate to see the building torn down:

... The fact is that City Hall and its plaza are an icon, a symbol of the city. ...

Calla says the current City Hall's location far outweighs its ugliness:

... A nice view is not worth the agony of all the people who won't be able to get there. ...

Charles Swift would go even further by building an annex on the Congress Street side:

... This annex would not only handle most of the face to face transactions people have with the City of Boston (one of the main complaints of visitors is that the current City Hall is depressing) but also provide space for a new museum of Boston history and National Park Service visitor center at the ground levels. Reconfiguring the walking paths through City Hall Plaza would also make the route to the North End clearer for those coming from Boston Common/Beacon Hill, perhaps by taking cues from the original street layout which ran through Scollay Square before redevelopment. ...

Carpundit wonders: Why now?

... I cannot understand why a mayor of the people like Mumbles Menino would want to move his operation away from the people.

Unless maybe there's some money involved. You don't think he could be setting himself up for a retirement job with the developers, do you? You don't think the corrupt Boston Redevelopment Authority will have a hand in this somewhere? Nah. Not in Boston.

The Outraged Liberal, though, thinks the whole thing is a whacked-out idea from a mayor with an edifice complex:

... I think bringing the Enchanted Village back might be a better legacy. ...

Adam can't wait for the Fortress to be torn down:

... It truly is depressing in a Brave New World way. It is literally across the street from some of the finest colonial architecture in the country, and is a monstrosity and an eyesore that is regularly panned by architects and regular folks alike. ...

What, exactly, did Menino say? Joe Keohane posts a transcript.