Un-Patriotic

Part 2

by Peter Kadzis

Time for some context. Eastern Massachusetts has three major development projects in various stages of planning -- a convention center, a new ballpark for the Red Sox, and a new stadium for the Patriots. The convention center and the ballpark are undeniably Boston-centric.

Will any of these ever be built? Probably. But there is no telling when.

Why? Because so many local political and economic players exhibit a mindset that is equal parts provincial, sophisticated, and self-centered. Or, to put it another way, too many are too smart for everyone's good.

In the abstract, there is no reason why a convention center and a stadium can't be built in the vacant expanse abutting downtown that is technically part of South Boston.

If this were Atlanta it could happen. Ditto Charlotte. LA might pull it off. Chicago would give it a shot.

But this is Boston -- the home of the bean, the cod, and the neighborhood faction.

As anyone who follows local politics knows, South Boston is a proud, compact, not-very-affluent collection of precincts that wields political clout out of all proportion with its size, primarily because its residents have the smarts to vote in large numbers.

Southie has its share of distinguished sons, daughters, and residents: US Representative Joseph Moakley, populist Herald columnist Peter Gelzinis, and State Senator Stephen Lynch, to name three.

It may be unkind, but it's nevertheless accurate to point out that two of the neighborhood's favorite cultural pursuits are speculating on the whereabouts of a federal fugitive known as "Whitey" and playing lottery scratch cards. Hostility to blacks in general, and to gays and lesbians who aren't natives, has also done little to enhance the neighborhood's image with the general public. (Just for the record, as a resident Bostonian born and bred, I value neighborhood solidarity. Southie, however, takes it to extremes.)

Since the retirement of Whitey's brother William Bulger -- a wily politician of Cianci caliber -- from the presidency of the State Senate, Southie's titular leaders have been city-council president Jimmy Kelly and State Senator Lynch.

That Kelly, a hardworking but narrow-minded pol of the old school, opposes the stadium is no surprise.

But the same stand is disappointing coming from Lynch. He has the wit to put together a deal that might guarantee a portion of the construction jobs to his blue-collar constituents -- as well as sizable Southie representation on the workforce of any convention center/stadium complex. He might even come up with a plan to block neighborhood streets to outside traffic during the eight to 10 weekends that football would be played.

This, of course, is idle speculation.

A Phoenix poll of a representative sample of political players yielded the almost unanimous conclusion that only a convention center could be built on the Southie site. Nobody has the stomach to take on the neighborhood on the stadium issue. And not too many trust the NFL or Bob Kraft.

The NFL is eminently untrustworthy. Its notion of negotiation is sometimes tantamount to blackmail. As for Kraft, as one observer put it, "Many are irritated by his out-front behavior." Kraft is a guy accustomed to getting what he wants. But after enjoying months of publicity as the man who saved the Patriots from moving to St. Louis, he's turned into a public-relations nightmare.

Part 3

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