TreeFortRichard
07-14-2008, 06:25 PM
Things have always been great between menino and the press in boston, but suddenly they permit a writer to criticize his speaking? Hmm why would they do that? Well, because menino wants to increase the fee on those coin op. newspaper boxes, and limit the number and their locations w/ in the city...This of course pissed the hearld off..leading to the mumbles menino story...
The mumbles story...
In Mumbles’ Hub, stuff ‘mappens’
By Howie Carr | Sunday, July 13, 2008 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Columnists
Photo by File
Mumbles Menino - he’s not just your mayor, he’s your tour guide. Got the can’t-afford-to-go-on-vacation summertime blues? Is the price of gasoline, and in a few months heating oil, keeping you close to home this summer?
Mumbles feels your pain. Let’s go straight to the audio, all of which you can hear at bostonherald.com. As we join the mayor of summer, he is speaking at the Frog Pond on the Boston Common:
“These cost increases can get away-a havin’ summer fun ba only we let it.”
That’s right. Or, as FDR might have put it, “We have nuttin’ ta fear ba fear itself.”
So Mumbles, what would you suggest people do, if they’re flat broke and can’t leave the city?
“When you tryin’ to plot your summer fun, look for the oversized mappens, they’ll be at different lo- attractions across our city.”
Mappens? Usually I can figure out whatever Mumbles is babbling about. This time, I drew a blank, until someone pointed out that the city has been putting up, not mappens, but map pins, giant “oversized” map pins at alleged major tourist attractions. I actually saw the “mappen” on the Common on Friday.
Let us rejoin the mayor in his endless journeys across his city, beginning with the Celtics [team stats]’ victory celebration last month. Briefly, Mumbles was speaking coherent - OK, semi-coherent - English. The hiring of an elocution teacher was suspected. Next year is of course an election year, so the mayor has been revving up his political machine.
Recently, I even spotted a white-on-green Mumbles bumper sticker. He’s run so many times you can never be certain which campaign any sticker dates from, but this one wasn’t discolored and peeling from salt and pigeon excrement, so it may have been new. Green is the trendy color this year, ecologically, and basketball-wise. Right, Mumbles?
“Tomorrow’s a day is a celebration in our city. Come down to Bos - come downtown, enjoy yourself, give the Celtics the rousing ahh cheer they deserve arousing city, city, a rousing season in the city of Boston.”
The rumors about Mumbles’ elocution teacher quickly died down.
Cut to an awards ceremony for Boston educators, as Mumbles endorses . . . cannibalism.
“I’m really delighted to have eat your host . . .”
Listen, I’m not one of these scribes who makes up quotes. I don’t wear a bow tie; I don’t work for the Globe. I’m from around here. Please, check out the soundbites for yourself if you don’t believe these quotes. Let’s start again.
“I’m really delighted to have eat your host in our first ahh ever joint ceremony of to celebrate 2008 Boston Educators and Service Excellence Award Winners.”
Mumbles thinks a lot about the youth of the city. He’s been lucky, to say the very least. How many Bostonians who think “youse” is the plural of you are looking at a pension of $140,000 a year? So he encourages the next generation of boobs to get some book learnin’.
“But also ya know doin’ resumes the other thing they gonna teach ya on Friday are very important so if I, I was you it behooves you to be there.”
Kids, it also behooves you to - oh, never mind.
“You could be head of John Hancock. You could be the publisher of the Globe, and I’ll you when Mayor of Boston City of Boston you could be Mayor of Boston cause it all come from the same place.”
The land of Red Ink, would be my guess.
Another thing on Mumbles’ mind, such as it is. The homeless.
“Yes, the number individual homeless is - are down.”
Is, are, who cares really? Personalize the story, Mumbles. You’re in the South End, near the Pine Street Inn. You pick it up from there.
“I was out in Berkeley Street one day who was on the street beggin’, the guy I played cards with, cause he taught, turned into alcoholism.”
He turned into alcoholism? Haven’t you always wondered what alcoholism looks like? Mumbles, you better get another mappen down there to the South End, pronto.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/opinion/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1106662
and the paper box story
Menino pushes plan to hike fees for city’s news boxes
Publishers slam increase as unfair hit
By Jessica Heslam | Wednesday, July 9, 2008 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Local Coverage
Photo by Stuart Cahill
Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino is forging ahead with a proposal that would cost the city’s publishers thousands of dollars a year in new fees as Hub newspapers are fighting to stay alive.
“Everybody’s facing the same economic situations - the city, the newspaper industry - everybody’s feeling the pinch,” said Menino spokeswoman Dot Joyce.
“To be fair and to make sure it’s equitable to everybody, the taxpayer and the business owners, we feel a cost that’s in line with other cities of similar size is appropriate,” Joyce said yesterday.
Menino wants to limit each publisher to no more than 300 news boxes on city property, in an effort, he says, to clean up the streets. The Herald has 176, the Globe 294 and the Weekly Dig 274.
He also wants to charge them an annual $300 application fee and $25 for each news box. Currently, publishers pay a one-time fee of $150 and nothing for news boxes.
Herald Publisher Patrick J. Purcell said of the proposal, “While I understand the city’s need to derive additional revenue and some of the other issues that they have with newspaper vending machines, I believe this fee puts an unreasonable burden on publishers who are already struggling to fulfill their obligation to inform the public.”
Representatives from at least a half-dozen publications, including the Herald, Boston Globe and USA Today, attended yesterday’s hearing at City Hall.
A publisher with the maximum 300 news boxes would jump from paying no annual fee to $7,800 a year, said Robert Ambrogi of the Massachusetts Newspaper Publishers Association.
“If you haven’t noticed, newspapers are struggling, these are tough times,” Ambrogi said.
Menino’s proposal also would prevent publishers from placing two boxes with the same publication within 150 feet of each other and would limit to five the number of boxes at any location.
Susan Hunt Stevens, senior vice president of circulation and marketing for the Globe, wrote that the proposed 300 news box cap “puts an unnecessary restriction on our ability” to deliver the paper to residents, commuters and visitors. “Our First Amendment rights as a newspaper publisher may, in fact, be at issue,” she wrote.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/general/view.bg?articleid=1105868
The mumbles story...
In Mumbles’ Hub, stuff ‘mappens’
By Howie Carr | Sunday, July 13, 2008 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Columnists
Photo by File
Mumbles Menino - he’s not just your mayor, he’s your tour guide. Got the can’t-afford-to-go-on-vacation summertime blues? Is the price of gasoline, and in a few months heating oil, keeping you close to home this summer?
Mumbles feels your pain. Let’s go straight to the audio, all of which you can hear at bostonherald.com. As we join the mayor of summer, he is speaking at the Frog Pond on the Boston Common:
“These cost increases can get away-a havin’ summer fun ba only we let it.”
That’s right. Or, as FDR might have put it, “We have nuttin’ ta fear ba fear itself.”
So Mumbles, what would you suggest people do, if they’re flat broke and can’t leave the city?
“When you tryin’ to plot your summer fun, look for the oversized mappens, they’ll be at different lo- attractions across our city.”
Mappens? Usually I can figure out whatever Mumbles is babbling about. This time, I drew a blank, until someone pointed out that the city has been putting up, not mappens, but map pins, giant “oversized” map pins at alleged major tourist attractions. I actually saw the “mappen” on the Common on Friday.
Let us rejoin the mayor in his endless journeys across his city, beginning with the Celtics [team stats]’ victory celebration last month. Briefly, Mumbles was speaking coherent - OK, semi-coherent - English. The hiring of an elocution teacher was suspected. Next year is of course an election year, so the mayor has been revving up his political machine.
Recently, I even spotted a white-on-green Mumbles bumper sticker. He’s run so many times you can never be certain which campaign any sticker dates from, but this one wasn’t discolored and peeling from salt and pigeon excrement, so it may have been new. Green is the trendy color this year, ecologically, and basketball-wise. Right, Mumbles?
“Tomorrow’s a day is a celebration in our city. Come down to Bos - come downtown, enjoy yourself, give the Celtics the rousing ahh cheer they deserve arousing city, city, a rousing season in the city of Boston.”
The rumors about Mumbles’ elocution teacher quickly died down.
Cut to an awards ceremony for Boston educators, as Mumbles endorses . . . cannibalism.
“I’m really delighted to have eat your host . . .”
Listen, I’m not one of these scribes who makes up quotes. I don’t wear a bow tie; I don’t work for the Globe. I’m from around here. Please, check out the soundbites for yourself if you don’t believe these quotes. Let’s start again.
“I’m really delighted to have eat your host in our first ahh ever joint ceremony of to celebrate 2008 Boston Educators and Service Excellence Award Winners.”
Mumbles thinks a lot about the youth of the city. He’s been lucky, to say the very least. How many Bostonians who think “youse” is the plural of you are looking at a pension of $140,000 a year? So he encourages the next generation of boobs to get some book learnin’.
“But also ya know doin’ resumes the other thing they gonna teach ya on Friday are very important so if I, I was you it behooves you to be there.”
Kids, it also behooves you to - oh, never mind.
“You could be head of John Hancock. You could be the publisher of the Globe, and I’ll you when Mayor of Boston City of Boston you could be Mayor of Boston cause it all come from the same place.”
The land of Red Ink, would be my guess.
Another thing on Mumbles’ mind, such as it is. The homeless.
“Yes, the number individual homeless is - are down.”
Is, are, who cares really? Personalize the story, Mumbles. You’re in the South End, near the Pine Street Inn. You pick it up from there.
“I was out in Berkeley Street one day who was on the street beggin’, the guy I played cards with, cause he taught, turned into alcoholism.”
He turned into alcoholism? Haven’t you always wondered what alcoholism looks like? Mumbles, you better get another mappen down there to the South End, pronto.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/opinion/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1106662
and the paper box story
Menino pushes plan to hike fees for city’s news boxes
Publishers slam increase as unfair hit
By Jessica Heslam | Wednesday, July 9, 2008 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Local Coverage
Photo by Stuart Cahill
Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino is forging ahead with a proposal that would cost the city’s publishers thousands of dollars a year in new fees as Hub newspapers are fighting to stay alive.
“Everybody’s facing the same economic situations - the city, the newspaper industry - everybody’s feeling the pinch,” said Menino spokeswoman Dot Joyce.
“To be fair and to make sure it’s equitable to everybody, the taxpayer and the business owners, we feel a cost that’s in line with other cities of similar size is appropriate,” Joyce said yesterday.
Menino wants to limit each publisher to no more than 300 news boxes on city property, in an effort, he says, to clean up the streets. The Herald has 176, the Globe 294 and the Weekly Dig 274.
He also wants to charge them an annual $300 application fee and $25 for each news box. Currently, publishers pay a one-time fee of $150 and nothing for news boxes.
Herald Publisher Patrick J. Purcell said of the proposal, “While I understand the city’s need to derive additional revenue and some of the other issues that they have with newspaper vending machines, I believe this fee puts an unreasonable burden on publishers who are already struggling to fulfill their obligation to inform the public.”
Representatives from at least a half-dozen publications, including the Herald, Boston Globe and USA Today, attended yesterday’s hearing at City Hall.
A publisher with the maximum 300 news boxes would jump from paying no annual fee to $7,800 a year, said Robert Ambrogi of the Massachusetts Newspaper Publishers Association.
“If you haven’t noticed, newspapers are struggling, these are tough times,” Ambrogi said.
Menino’s proposal also would prevent publishers from placing two boxes with the same publication within 150 feet of each other and would limit to five the number of boxes at any location.
Susan Hunt Stevens, senior vice president of circulation and marketing for the Globe, wrote that the proposed 300 news box cap “puts an unnecessary restriction on our ability” to deliver the paper to residents, commuters and visitors. “Our First Amendment rights as a newspaper publisher may, in fact, be at issue,” she wrote.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/general/view.bg?articleid=1105868