Free Republic

Menino apologizes after Detroit mayor takes offense (Newser) – Detroit's a little touchy these days, as Boston Mayor Tom Menino has found out. Menino apologized yesterday for his "poor choice of words" while offering a little constructive criticism about the bankrupt city, reports CBS News. The flap began when Menino told the New York Times magazine that he would "love to go" to Detroit. But then he added this: "I’d blow up the place and start all over. No, seriously, when it takes a police officer 90 minutes to answer a call, there’s something wrong with the system. Forty...

DETROIT (WWJ) – The mayor of Boston is drawing criticism for recent comments he made about Detroit. In an interview with the New York Times, Mayor Thomas Menino was asked if he could live in any other city in America other than Boston, where would he choose. He at first said he’d never thought of living in any other city, but then added: “Detroit is a place I’d love to go.” When the reporter asked Menino what he’d do in Detroit, the mayor responded: ”I’d blow up the place and start all over.”

Most locals concede that getting anything of substance accomplished in Boston is a Herculean task. Residents have all but embraced the principle of civic inaction with a perverse kind of local pride. In the end, who you know is probably more important than what you are trying to do. And there is no doubt that little is accomplished without the approval and support of the mayor, Thomas M. Menino. So it is with the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center (ISBCC) near the intersection of Tremont Street and Martin Luther King Boulevard. Better known as the Roxbury mosque, the ISBCC...

Mumbles chickened out. This whole Chick-fil-A fiasco turned into, as he would say, an Alcatraz around his neck. Amazing, this guy who goes to Mass every Sunday — does he know he’s supportin’, to use his terminology, a group that is probably more opposed to gay marriage than Dan Cathy? And if Boston College gets invited to the Chick-fil-A bowl, will you allow the Eagles’ plane to take off from Logan airport? Usually, Mumbles takes his cues in PC idiocy from Mayor Bloomberg. This time, he was driving the lead clown car. And you know the old saying: Monkey see,...

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino wants to restrict a single private business, Chick-Fil-A, from opening any franchises in Boston. His reported remarks were, “Chick-fil-A doesn’t belong in Boston. You can’t have a business in the city of Boston that discriminates against a population. We’re an open city, we’re a city that’s at the forefront of inclusion.” Chick-Fil-A has come under fire from progressive groups for donating millions of dollars to pro-family organizations over the past few years. This, according to Mayor Menino, counts as discrimination. Meanwhile, the National Organization for Marriage is promoting "Eat at Chick-Fil-A Day" for Wednesday of this...

Vows to block eatery over anti-gay attitude... Mayor Thomas M. Menino is vowing to block Chick-fil-A from bringing its Southern-fried fast-food empire to Boston — possibly to a popular tourist spot just steps from the Freedom Trail — after the family-owned firm’s president suggested gay marriage is “inviting God’s judgment on our nation.” “Chick-fil-A doesn’t belong in Boston. You can’t have a business in the city of Boston that discriminates against a population. We’re an open city, we’re a city that’s at the forefront of inclusion,” Menino told the Herald yesterday. “That’s the Freedom Trail. That’s where it all started...

Mayor Thomas M. Menino may be reluctant to roll out the welcome mat for Wal-Mart, but some Boston residents say they want the jobs and low-priced goods. The battle over bringing a Wal-Mart to the city is heating up. On one side are Menino and activists who have criticized the retail giant’s wages and benefits, while on the other side are city residents who insist the mayor should bring Wal-Mart — and its jobs and rock-bottom prices — to Boston. Darnell Williams, president of the Urban League of Massachusetts, ratcheted up the debate last week when he told the Boston...

Mayor Tom Menino issued an executive order to ban the sale of sugary drinks on Boston city property on Thursday. “I want to make this a healthier choice, the easier choice in people’s daily lives, whether it’s the schools, the work sites or other places in the community,” Menino said. The mayor’s office, along with the Boston Public Health Commission, said Menino is issuing this order because of the link between sugary drinks and rising obesity rates and health care costs.

BOSTON — Boston Mayor Thomas Menino has told a largely black congregation that if Democrat Martha Coakley loses the U.S. Senate race in Massachusetts, it will be a victory for people who want President Barack Obama to fail.

Swine flu is so April, but here’s Mumbles Menino, stepping to the microphone to brief the city on the closing of Boston Latin. “I ask for your continued core-op-peration and patience as we take the appropriate steps to take - keep residents healthy. And this decision, let me just say wasn’t done, wasn’t done . . . a lot of thought, a lot of consideration in it.” Kind of like his campaign for another four-year term as mayor of Boston. This is an incumbent who, despite rampant street crime and even more rampant corruption at City Hall, can still raise...

Howie thread starting with his Sunday Herald column. By the way starting tomorrow, the Felon, Tom Finneran loses a half hour of his show--or technically an hour. He is moving to 5:30-9 am (from 6-10 am) so Ingraham will now have all 3 hours of her "healthy radio addiction" 9-noon. And from what I hear, the 5:30-6 am segment will be a "radio rewind" of the previous day's show so now FelonMan, with his new permanent co-host Todd Feinburg, will only have to do 3 hours every day. Nice work if you can get it Mistah Speakah! In the dreaded...

Howie live thread starting with his Sunday Herald column

Howie thread starting off with his Sunday Herald column

Mayor of Boston to raise rainbow flag over Boston City Hall today to celebrate "Gay Pride Week." The Founding Fathers who fought the British for freedom in Boston would probably shoot themselves if they saw this. It's not enough that Mayor Tom Menino allows Boston City Hall to be used for a perversion-filled "transgender prom" for kids and gay activists, that he marches in the "gay pride" parade, or that participates in their fundraisers. He has to raise the rainbow flag over Boston City Hall and keep it there for an entire week to rub it in, and embarrass us...

Jerry Falwell and an army of conservative lawyers drew a line in the snow yesterday, warning Boston and other cities: Don’t mess with Christmas. And even before the first volley was fired, City Hall caved. Just after a top lawyer for the conservative Liberty Counsel blasted the Hub’s annual “holiday tree” ceremony, a Menino administration official scrambled to do damage control. “This is a Christmas tree,” Boston Parks Commissioner Toni Pollak insisted about the Nova Scotia spruce the city will light Dec. 1 on historic Boston Common. “It’s definitely a Christmas tree.” However, the city’s official Web site refers to...

On yesterday's Howie Carr show, callers remembered some of the malaprop-isms over the years by tongue-tied Boston Mayor Thomas M. (for Mumbles) Menino. It was said that the mayor was going around trying to buy up unflattering domain names. He didn't get MumblesMeninoSucks.com , though. Some Menino-isms: "We don't want people conjugatin' on the Common" Q: "Which states got hit hardest by this blizzard?" A: "Uh, Philadelphia..." "It was an Alcatraz around my neck" "If you need an emergency, call 911" "The Yankee Foundation" (referring to the Red Sox- related Yawkey Foundation) "It's safe to take your family out to...

The Republican National Convention may provide a $184 million boost to New York, in contrast to a $34 million hit the Hub's economy is expected to sustain by hosting the Democrats' nominating convention, a conservative think tank estimated yesterday. While down from the $260 million New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg estimated the RNC event would generate, the Beacon Hill Institute estimate puts the expected cost of the Democratic National Convention in stark relief. Based at Suffolk University, the institute found the key difference in the two events is the security clampdown planned for the DNC in July, which involves the...