Un-Patriotic

The New England Patriots are on a roll, but their stadium plans are stuck. The lesson: Massachusetts politicians seem intent on proving that they are not-ready-for-prime-time players.

by Peter Kadzis

This has not been a good week for the local political establishment. Governor Bill Weld and Boston Mayor Tom Menino look like not-ready-for-prime-time players.

They've been done in, at least temporarily, by an unlikely cabal: Patriots owner Bob Kraft, a hard-headed businessman; the National Football League management, a gang of opportunistic bully boys; and Providence mayor Vincent "Buddy" Cianci, the undisputed political leader of a much smaller city who plays a rough game of politics -- sometimes roguish, but almost always brilliant.

Unfair, say defenders of Weld and Menino, who point out that these three horsemen of embarrassment enjoy only the short-term advantage afforded them by an unexpectedly triumphant football team.

Still, it must have killed Weld and Menino to pick up the Globe and the Herald earlier this week and see the headlines: the NFL had chosen Providence, not Boston, as the official host of Sunday's AFC championship game between the Patriots and the Jacksonville Jaguars. But the real killer was that front-page photo of Cianci, grinning like a Borgia prince who had just ravaged a nunnery.

What's the fuss? Aside from the political penis envy (not to be discounted in all this boys-will-be-boys jousting), it's the free national publicity -- attention that would probably cost a couple of hundred thousand dollars to buy -- that now accrues to Providence.

The episode also highlights a larger problem: for more than 20 years, Boston has had real trouble coming to grips with its urban planning and development issues. Quincy Market, for example, almost went undeveloped because no one would spring for the money needed to build a parking garage. Only a crisis sparked resolution. That's the way business is done in this town.

Providence, by contrast, got its act together years ago and undertook a massive renovation of its downtown. The city isn't out of the woods yet, but it's inching toward a comeback. Development, it turns out, is not just a political game: it's how cities make their names.

Truth be told, this week's Patriots news isn't such a surprise -- visiting teams playing at Foxboro have lodged in Providence for years. But the NFL's very public announcement of Providence as official host seems calculated to wound Menino, who has offered Kraft the site of the city's abandoned incinerator on which to build the new stadium Kraft so fiercely wants, and truly needs.

Few want to say so, but the site is a dog. Marisa Lago, Menino's now departed development chief, offered it to the Patriots as one of her lame-duck acts. And the fact is that Lago herself was a dud. It was a noble experiment to bring her from Baltimore, but she never worked out. The mayor kept her on too long, and responsibility for the current development malaise can be laid in part at her feet -- and, by extension, at the mayor's.

Kraft's own choice for a site is a prime undeveloped location on the fringe of South Boston, close to downtown. The Globe and the Herald have all but endorsed his plan. Bill Weld, for his part, has continued to jaw in general about his support for the stadium, but has done little to makes things jell. (It's worth remembering that the Weld Administration exhibited a distinct lack of leadership several years ago when the deal to build a new Boston Garden -- translation, FleetCenter -- almost fell apart.)

Some in Weld's camp slyly point out that he has positioned himself to appear pro-stadium without taking any political risks. Weld's brand of hands-off support might be annoying both Kraft and Menino, but then Kraft has already pissed off thousands with his team's inept handling of playoff-ticket sales -- and as for Menino, he's probably going to support Joe Kennedy for governor.

Part 2

Peter Kadzis can be reached at mailto:pkadzis[a]phx.com.