"The owners of the massive Columbus Center project.... request as much as $40 million in public funding"
Yup, while schools are closing and bridges falling apart, yup!
Of course, it is all right to toss money at rich Hollywood folk or corporate and lottery favorites, as well as Wall Street.
"Columbus Center asks for boost of $40m; Says public funds could spur project" by Casey Ross, Globe Staff | July 3, 2008
The owners of the massive Columbus Center project over the Massachusetts Turnpike have gone back to city and state officials to request as much as $40 million in public funding to try to resurrect one of Boston's most ambitious developments.
A spokesman for WinnDevelopment and its partners confirmed the Columbus team has held a series of meetings to push for additional taxpayer assistance, despite lingering controversy over public funds that have already been awarded. Officials briefed on the talks said the ownership has discussed the idea of creating a special development zone that would give developers tax relief to pay for a deck over the turnpike and other upgrades.
Columbus Center is intended to be a $800 million hotel, residential, and retail complex that would straddle the turnpike. Construction of the long-planned project was halted abruptly in March after develop ers were unable to secure construction financing and about $35 million in state assistance.
Alan Eisner, a spokesman for the developers, confirmed that officials met last week with state Senator Dianne Wilkerson, a Roxbury Democrat, to discuss ways to generate fresh public assistance.
Wilkerson did not return phone calls seeking comment. She has been a key supporter of Columbus Center on Beacon Hill, where a number of foes, including House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi and Representative Martha Walz, a Back Bay Democrat, have fiercely opposed public funding for the project under the belief that the state should not be footing the bill for a private development.
But Dimasi thinks it is O.K. if the state runs golf courses or cuts overpriced contracts to favored clients.
WinnDevelopment is Columbus Center's managing partner in an ownership group that includes the California Public Employees Retirement System and MacFarlane Urban Realty Co. LLC, which invests in large urban projects nationwide.
Walz said the project's survival should not be the public's responsibility. "This is another instance of the developer seeking relief from its financing problems with taxpayer money," she said. "It's not appropriate for taxpayers to be financing this project, and we've made that point to the developer time and again."
Overall, the public assistance being sought by the Columbus team is a small portion of the project's overall cost, but developers have made clear that the money is a crucial in tough economic times. Eisner said the project would produce public benefits.
--MORE--"
Yeah, yeah, promises, promises!
The problem is, all states are the same.
PHILADELPHIA - Three Philadelphia tour guides are challenging a city ordinance that will require them to pass a history test and be licensed. Mayor Michael Nutter signed the law in April, and it goes into effect in the fall. Supporters say it will ensure that guides don't distribute misinformation in a city that is home to some of the country's most historic sites, including the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. But in a lawsuit filed yesterday, three guides say the law violates their free speech rights. They say their tours are accurate and they should not have to ask the government's permission to earn a living (AP)."
Any tax or fee will do to TAKE A BUCK, 'eh, states?
Where is the "FREE"DOM, anyway?
Oh, and it is OTHER NATIONS, too, folks!
"No specific terrorist act need be planned, much less executed, to give rise to the offense," the report says, adding that even family members, friends, neighbors, and casual acquaintances can be detained."
My first thought was GITMO (and the secret prisons)!!!
Sorry!
PARIS - France's much-praised system of using sweeping arrests and aggressive interrogations and prosecutions to combat terrorism violates the rule of law and prevents suspects from receiving a fair trial, according to a human rights report released yesterday.
France prides itself on having the most efficient counterterrorism strategy in Europe. French counterterrorism officials insist that the flexibility of French law and the French judicial system has been crucial in their ability to respond to the threat of international terrorism and has helped prevent attacks on French soil.
But an 84-page report issued by Human Rights Watch, which is based in New York, titled "Preempting Justice," argues that that French practices result in too many arrests and convictions based on scanty evidence, putting the country "on the wrong side of the law."
Specifically, the reports states that the broad and much-used charge of "criminal association in relation to a terrorist undertaking" is so sweeping that it is in essence "guilt by association" that allows authorities to arrest and interrogate large numbers of people even when they have nothing to do with suspected terrorist activity.
The charge is used in a number of other countries in continental Europe. Spain, for example, uses the charge much more aggressively than France, particularly against the Basque separatist group ETA.
"No specific terrorist act need be planned, much less executed, to give rise to the offense," the report says, adding that even family members, friends, neighbors, and casual acquaintances can be detained.
The Justice Ministry defended the country's counterterrorism strategy but said there would be no official comment on the report."And that is "DEMOCRATIC, SOCIALIST" France we are talking about, oui?
How do you say Sig Heil in French?
