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— News and commentary about elsewhere covered by Quincy Quarry News
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A Quincy Quarry News exclusive image
Last night Quincy Mayor Thomas P. Koch hosted a State of the City spectacle which all but literally featured him wrapping himself with flags.
The event was also surely a mandatory attendance for coat holders and other sorts of locals hacks; even so, such still did not paper the house on what was an admittedly cold winter night for an event which the mayor used to roll out his latest plans for expensive Edifice Complex projects.
How expensive?
Wicked expensive.
Norfolk County Treasurer and State of the City caster of ceremonies
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Per an admittedly rough tally compiled by the Quincy Quarry News financial and other affairs desk, the mayor’s State of the City speech indicated that upwards of half a billion more dollars would be needed to see his dream of making Quincy great happen as well as most likely mostly at taxpayers’ expense.
In turn, such is an amount that would surely not do any favors to the City of Quincy’s downgraded credit rating by Standard and Poor last summer as well as would surely see taxpayers’ hoisting heads on pikes.
Mayor’s latest proposed Edifice Complexes include building a combined Adams Family museum and performing arts center on a likely problematic site, purchasing for redevelopment former Eastern Nazarene College campus and which includes a modern as well as serviceable theater, and establish a wholly new grammar school next to a cemetery.
Rendering of the proposed McDermott Activities Center
Image via MacQuincy,org
At the same time, he did not mention his previously posed plans for developing some sort of recreational sports field house on Hancock Street next to Memorial Stadium where the MBTA currently has a bus maintenance and storage facility.
The MBTA bus yard will be closed once a new several hundred million dollar MBTA bus maintenance and storage facility on Burgin Parkway near the Quincy Adams Red Line station is completed and thus the old bus yard will become available for repurposing.
The Toxic Avenger
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After a likely expensive hazardous materials remediation, that is, given that the current bus yard has been used as a public transit maintenance yard since 1904 when it was first used as a street car yard.
In turn, Quincy Quarry is thus figuring the field house into the mix even though Mayor Koch actually moving forward with his plans is all but assuredly not happening and time soon given that the City of Quincy is essentially at its maximum borrowing capacity as well as faces more modest but still arguably more pressing projects that should rate priority status.
Also curious was how Quincy’s often imperious mayor talked up government by the people given that this year is the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States of America, something which Braintree’s most famous son and later the second President of the United States had a major role.
After all, last fall’s local city council mostly blowout elections which replaced the mayor’s vassals formerly on the city council are widely viewed as an adverse referendum of the mayor.
In short, the coming months to perhaps the remaining twenty-three months of the mayor’s current term in office should prove interesting as regards the running of the City of Quincy.
It was good to see Dr. Evil occupying such a prominent role in that propaganda session.
On the other hand, it was utterly daft to see Dr. Evil fêting Mini Me.
The whole night was like a coronation of Koch as he sat front and center taking it all in.
What was to be the state of the city was more like a campaign announcement. The recognition of former this individual and that councilor who was tossed out by the voters was like a lineup of the walking dead (e.g., when is Devine going to realize that he lost and is thus no longer a councilor?).
No mention as to how Koch plans to build the tax base, however, only how he plans to add to the city’s debt burden. We need leadership that can be creative and understand how to bring in private equity without being forced to give tax breaks and sweetheart deals.
The mayor boasts how the city is prospering. If so, why then is he selling city property below the appraised value and giving tax breaks beyond what are provided elsewhere?
No argument, aping the US Flag scene from the movie Patton was well past over the top.
OTOH, Tommy’s piping his lemmings along towards the cliff and soon enough falling into the sea was a hoot.
In the meanwhile, no way is Koch going to change his hand out incentives to favored developers ways as such sees campaign fund “donations” come his way.
As far as a State of the City address goes the mayor lived up to his reputation as not a very serious and intelligent person. I’m sure his buddies Adams, Hancock, and Quincy were rolling in their graves.
Even worse, we had to suffer Kojack to warm up the crowd and try to keep it as light as a Billy Bulger era St. Patrick’s Day breakfast or a Dean Martin roast. That and then special guest Ed “Kitty Kat” Kelly and of course it’s Quincy taxpayers who are yet again getting burned, followed by the mayor giving us yet another historic walk down memory lane about Quincy’s role in the founding of our country while wrapping himself in the red, white and blue and proclaiming, “it doesn’t matter how much I spend as long as my legacy endures (paraphrasing).”
Fear not (I hope anyway), there are newer and far brighter councilors to watch the city finances and change the “good ole boys” and their wicked ways.
Hough,
My fav low point was how no consequential CURRENT state officials were in attendance outside of members of Quincy’s statehouse delegation. After all, who want’s to pick up fleas or end up sweep up in a fed dragnet?
I am also looking forward to the new city council supermajority spanking the good ole boys even if at least Walkbacker will likely be enjoying it and while Boner spouts inanities.
The annual date for Koch’s “State of the City” speech should be officially changed so as to be delivered on Groundhog Day as he keeps shoveling the same performative nonsense year after year.
Did he threaten the taxpayers (yet again) this year with the specter of taxing up to the Prop 2 1/2 limit? That’s a chestnut he dusts off whenever attempting to justify his tax and spend format of “governing”.
Tom’s ego is equal to Danny Flynn’s. He also copies Danny with his “Development” practices. Imagine, Danny goes to jail for fleecing private people and Tommy does the same thing with the public’s money and yet he gets a tongue bath from his lackies. Where did he get his Master’s Degree in Urban Planning or Real Estate Development?
Quin,
Don’t forget that Michael Baloney and Tommy the K go way back with FlynnFlam. In fact, both Mike and Tom wrote letters to a federal judge to ask that he go easy on sentencing Danny Boy.
How can you have a ‘state of the city’ address and not address the ‘crushing’ municipal debt? But it gets worse, as TK plans to spend more of our money to build his legacy in the form of the unneeded performing arts center and presidential library, both of which, if built, will probably only be used by children on school field trips (do they still do those?), and don’t forget the parking garage that will be required. Then, “we the people” can buy the ENC property and watch as it gets resold for less that it costs to purchase the property, clear the property, build new Infrastructure.
John,
True that. Koch’s proposals are like buying a car. He talks up no money down, low monthly payments, and new car smell but doesn’t mention how many years of payments, financing interest rates, annual insurance costs or maintenance expenses,
As expected, the Lord Mayor put on quite a tap dancing demonstration.
Who knew that the mayor is light on his feet?