Tux Sullivan R.I.P.

 

Our entire Valley was saddened last week by the death of Walter "Tux" Sullivan. At least no one could say he died young, passing on at the age of 99. He was a recognized expert on baseball, both local and nationally, and wrote several books on the sport.

Yet while everyone was praising the baseball legend this week, there was no media account which I saw that mentioned the one political episode in Tux's long life. Therefore as so often happens in local politics, the duty falls upon me to recall what so many would prefer to forget.

In the 1990's Springfield's corrupt Albano Administration had no shortage of schemes to bilk the taxpayers on behalf of a privileged cartel of insiders. However, one of the most notorious was an attempt to erect a baseball stadium in downtown Springfield. Although the whole thing was financially unfeasible, it was supported by political elites because it would have provided lots of patronage jobs, shady contracts and slush fund opportunities to those with political pull. Among those who saw through the ruse was Tux Sullivan, whose staunch opposition to the baseball stadium was a major embarrassment to the Albano gang.

It was in that context that I had my only encounter with Tux Sullivan. In 1999, in a desperate attempt to stop the baseball boondoggle, activists Bob and Karen Powell held a fundraiser in order to hire a lawyer, former and future mayor Charles V. Ryan, to challenge the Albano gang and the sketchy financing schemes behind the stadium. I attended the affair with former City Councilor Mitch Ogulewicz, and by chance we were seated at the same table with Tux and some of his friends.

I recall him as being very likable, and full of entertaining stories that made him the center of attention. Indeed a Springfield Newspapers photographer wanted to get a big close-up of Tux for their morning edition. I had noticed that the newspaper photographer had been taking photos of the gathering all night. The newspaper's presence at the event surprised us, as the paper had been stridently editorializing in favor of the stadium, and generally tried to play down or ignore any anti-stadium activity. So as Tux struck a beaming pose for the camera, with everyone turning to look at the sport celebrity getting his portrait taken by the press, just as the flash exploded I noticed something that startled me more than the bright flash did:

The camera didn't seem to be pointed at Tux - but instead was turned a little to the side. The camera was actually pointed at me and Mitch.

The next morning a small article appeared in the back of the paper about the fundraiser that implied that nothing of importance had transpired. The article mostly focused on the possibility that the minor involvement in the fundraiser by then City Councilor Bill Foley was somehow improper. There were no photographs accompanying the story. Later it was reported by an anonymous caller to the Dan Yorke Show that a plain brown envelope had been delivered to City Hall that morning with photographs inside revealing who had attended the fundraiser. 

That Springfield City Hall would be interested in who attended was not a surprise, since that would've been standard political machine practice in order to identify those who were to be subject to future retaliation. The rumors were neither confirmed nor disproved that the photographs in question were the ones taken by the newspaper that night but never used for journalistic purposes.

In the end the stadium scam came to nothing, as Attorney Ryan successfully convinced Judge Constance Sweeney that the whole enterprise was a crooked farce. In fact Judge Sweeney accused the Albano Administration in open court of having committed felonies in order to receive funding for the stadium under false pretenses. None the less, then District Attorney Bill Bennett refused to convene a grand jury in order to investigate the judge's charges.

I've always given Tux Sullivan a lot of credit for the risks he took in so publicly opposing the corrupt stadium scam. Had he supported it, the Albano Administration would have made him the biggest name in Springfield. Instead he was relegated to the level of a "non-person" by our media, as were so many others who opposed the local machine. Tux Sullivan was remembered this week for his encyclopedic knowledge of baseball, but it was his courageous character and unbending integrity that is his real legacy.

 

There was a big labor rally at UMass this week.

I was not surprised to see Kevin Noonan and his dog on their way to it.

Northampton Mayor M. Clare Higgins at the Haymarket the other morning.

 



Some intiguing graffiti scrawled on the UMass Fine Arts Center.

Space child.

Frederick M. Whitney R.I.P.

Mr. Valley Republican

 

I'm saddened to hear that former Springfield State Representative Frederick Whitney has died. Among his many distinctions was that he was the last white person to represent the neighborhood then known as Winchester Square (since re-named Mason Square). Whitney voluntarily stepped aside to allow Ray Jordan to become the city's first black representative, perhaps recognizing that the changing demographics of the Square made his defeat inevitable anyway. Still, it was considered a classy exit that avoided what might have been a divisive campaign. Whitney later ran against former Congressman Ed Boland and was defeated. Whitney never ran for public office again, but sometimes threatened to, even well into his seventies.

I first met Fred Whitney as a result of receiving an angry letter from him. Indeed, being a Republican in Springfield meant Whitney's career was punctuated with angry letters. He had seen me on television one night in the early 1990's when I was filling in on Channel 40 for Dan Yorke. I was presenting this shtick I used to do at the end of each year called "Heroes and Villains of the Year." Making my "Villains" list was the Springfield Republican Party, which I ridiculed for being so ineffective in winning elections, despite having the advantage of competing against such an obviously corrupt and incompetent Democrat Party machine. I believe I even used the word "pathetic" to describe the local Republicans, a strong word perhaps, but I was only saying publicly what everyone said in private.

Shortly afterward Channel 40 forwarded to me a letter they had received and it was from former Representative Whitney, who was at that time the president of the Springfield Republican City Committee. He lambasted me for being so critical, complaining that I had never been to any Republican Party functions nor had I any first hand experience of their activities. So how could I know enough about the local GOP to call them pathetic?

Well, I knew for certain that they were losing elections even when running against obvious crooks, but I called Whitney anyway and he invited me to join him and some of the local Republican leaders for lunch at the Mass Mutual Insurance building on State Street. In those days the Pioneer Valley Republican Party was pretty much run out of Mass Mutual, where the late insurance executive Bill Barbeau used to hold regular luncheons at which local right-wing figures would gather to plot in vain for the overthrow of the local Democrat Party machine.

I soon found myself a regular at these gatherings, which I enjoyed almost as much for the chance it gave me to explore the architectural majesty of the Mass Mutual building itself, which is as impressive on the inside as you might expect from its exterior. I also enjoyed meeting many old time pols from Whitney's state rep days, some of whom could tell intriguing, sometimes shocking, and often very funny stories of local political lore.

Personally, I've never been much for political parties of any stripe, and my inclusion in the Republican party's innermost sanctum was a sometimes uneasy one, myself being a bit more liberal on a number of issues than your typical GOPer. Still, the hapless Republicans were in no position to be choosy about their friends, and besides I had media connections that they desperately needed, with the Valley GOP being all but censored by the local mainstream media.

But the real connection between myself and Whitney was that we were both "good government" reformers. Whitney was originally from Wisconsin, and he considered himself a Republican in the tradition of the 19th century Wisconsin reformer Robert LaFollette. That reformer tradition inspired Whitney to focus on issues of process more than policy, and he was primarily concerned with honesty and transparency in government. 

He and I both shared the view that one of the main political problems in the Valley in general and Springfield in particular was that there was no balance of power, no loyal opposition to keep the Democrats honest and responsive to the public. With Democrats occupying all of the major offices by lop-sided margins, it was hard to get anyone in political office to hold anyone else accountable because everybody was on the same team. The result was that even the honest Democrats, few as there were, could not effectively challenge the corrupt machine Democrats. Or as I wrote at the time using cold war terms, "One party rule has not worked in Russia, or in China or in Cuba, and it ain't working in the Pioneer Valley either."

Whitney's great political crusade was ward representation in Springfield. He felt that the at-large system had made downtown special interests too powerful at the expense of the neighborhoods. It was exactly the powerful versus the little guy sort of issue that he relished. Whitney fought for many years for ward representation, railing against the downtown power players even with no one else showing any interest in the issue. Finally some local liberals took up the cause primarily from the perspective of increasing minority representation. 

In a cruel irony, those local liberals showed little desire in joining forces with a Republican, and Whitney, who had been a lonely voice for ward representation for decades, found himself shoved to the sidelines by these new ward representation activists. Yet he was still thrilled when ward representation finally passed, and felt no resentment that no one acknowledged his years of activism, simply reciting this quote from Ronald Reagan. "It is amazing what you can accomplish in politics," Fred told me,"as long you don't care who gets the credit."

I fell out of touch with Fred Whitney in recent years, as had most people. As Whitney entered his late eighties his hearing went bad, and he couldn't see well enough to drive at night, so it became hard for him to attend political functions. Of course there were many who would have been honored to drive him to any function he wanted to attend, but then he couldn't have left whenever he wanted, which was important to him if the proceedings turned, as political events are known to do, into what he used to call "hogwash" but which a less genteel man than Whitney would have called "bullshit."

Yet even in his final decline, if anyone in our Valley could be called "Mr. Republican" it was Fred Whitney, bit not everyone realized what a sometimes difficult role that was to play. There were many politically barren years when it was hard even to find Republican candidates, let alone get them elected, and many Democrats laughed openly at their infrequent Don Quixote campaigns. It is not overstating it to say that there were years when the only thing keeping two-party democracy alive in Western Mass were the efforts of people like him. 

Fred Whitney never lived to see the Republican party revived, but someday, when the people of Massachusetts have had enough, our state's Democrats may finally get the good electoral thrashing they so richly deserve. And on that happy day, I hope that the Massachusetts Republicans will remember to tip their hat to the tireless efforts of those like Fred Whitney, who carried the torch for them through the darkest years.

To read the obituary of Fred Whitney in the Springfield Republican click here.

The other day in the Haymarket I ran into local radio star Jaz Tupelo.

 

Jaz is teaming up with her old sidekick Bill Dwight for a new morning show on Valley Free Radio. I hear the show will feature music as well as politics! Starting January 24th, you can find it at 103.3FM - Monday through Thursday, 8am to 9am.

Newbury Records has left their longtime Amherst location and re-opened in downtown Hamp in a much bigger space on Pleasant Street.

 

If this sign were for real, many in Northampton would be fighting for the space.

 

Taped on the Pulaski Park bus stop. 

 

Blind Justice

Well, the new Hampden County District Attorney Mark G. Mastroianni was sworn in this morning, and we all wish him good luck in the performance of his difficult duties. At least we can say that he will probably do a better job than the man he defeated for the office, Steve Buoniconti, a notorious hack with close connections to some of the sleaziest characters in the Valley. However, we can't welcome the new D.A. without a few parting words of commentary about the one headed out the door.

That would be William Bennett (above) who has occupied the office since 1990, despite a campaign promise that he would serve no more than two terms. Bennett deserves credit for professionalizing the office, which was run like a personal fiefdom by his scandal plagued predecessor Matty Ryan. Frankly, it wasn't hard for Bennett to look good following that act.

But while Bennett did a competent job prosecuting the murderers, bank robbers and other crimes committed primarily by the region's underclass, Bennett's great flaw was his inability to take any action against the high-level political crooks who operated with impunity during his tenure, until the FBI finally came in to clean things up.

Bennett's defenders say that it wasn't his jurisdiction to pursue public corruption cases, that such prosecutions are the responsibility of the Feds. While that may be technically correct, that is a lame cop-out. The D.A. is supposed to be the primary crime fighter in the Valley, sworn to pursue wrong-doing wherever it may be found. Bennett might at least have sent the FBI a few memos such as "Excuse me, but the Albano Gang seems completely out of control" or "Those Asselins look like they're up to some pretty outrageous stuff" or just plain "Hey Feds, shit stinks around here!" Instead there came from Bennett's office nothing but a deafening silence.

Now he's off to make some serious money with Springfield's machine embedded power-player law firm Doherty, Wallace, Pillsbury & Murphy, which also happens to be the very same law firm that Matty Ryan golden parachuted into after his fall. Springfield - a town of the damnedest coincidences!

But at least let history record, that while Bennett can be credited with reforming some of the worst abuses of the Matty Ryan era, in one major respect the more things changed the more they stayed the same - that when it came to the sins of those in high places, under Bennett justice truly was blind.

 

Meanwhile in other news, UMass was declared the 43rd druggiest school in American by The Daily Beast. What?!! Back in the 70's, known unofficially by campus historians as The Stoned Age, we would never have settled for anything less than a Top Ten ranking!

The holidays are finally over, and here are a few final pics. This is Northampton's official holiday tree in Pulaski Park. 

Here is the wreath over the mantle of the lobby of the Hotel Northampton. 

At the Cumberland Farms on King Street in Northampton is this sign for a caffeine sale featuring someone holding a cup in front of their face with a smile drawn on it.

Of course the Northampton kids could not resist the implied dare of so ripe a target.

 



In Northampton the other night. 

Northampton New Year by Cher Lovestrong

Naming Names

The Boston Globe has published a long list of government employees whom they suggest got their probation department jobs through political influence, often involving Ludlow's State Rep. Thomas Petrolati. Another name that appears again and again on the list is retiring State Senator Stephen J. Buoniconti of West Springfield. He is retiring against his will because voters refused to elect him Hampden County District Attorney earlier this month. Oh how the mighty are falling! Just weeks ago Buoniconti was a power-player with an unlimited political future - but now he has lost it all and frankly it couldn't happen to a more deserving guy!

Anyway, who were the people on the Globe's roll call of shame that are from Western Mass? Well you can look through all 250 names searching for the one's with local ties, but I've already done all the hard work for you and hereby present them right here for your perusal. The drum roll please: 

 

Stephen Ashe
Acting Chief Probation Officer, Hampden Superior Court
Son of Hampden County Sheriff Michael Ashe

It's all in the family when it comes to passing out the jobs!

 

Alfred E. Barbalunga
Chief Probation Officer, Southern Berkshire District Court
Son of retired Pittfield District Court Judge Alfred A. Barbalunga

It was the Judge's judgment that his son was the most qualified!

 

Brian Clune
Probation Officer , Palmer District Court
Former aide to Sen. Stephen J. Buoniconti, D-West Springfield

Voters may have shown Buoniconti the door, but not before his aide snagged a permanent payday.

 

Antoinetta DeAngelis
Probation officer, Holyoke District Court
Daughter of former Probation Supervisor Nicholas J. DeAngelis

Isn't it amazing how often the most qualified applicant turns out to be someone in your own family!

 

James J. Ferrera III
Springfield City Councilor

How nice to be able to supplement your measly Council salary with a full-time state job. Two government checks are certainly better than one!

Frank M. Glenowicz
Acting Chief Probation Officer, Franklin Superior Court
Bartender at Joe's Pizza in Northampton, a bar frequented by former Probation Deputy Commissioner William H. Burke III

It must have been a hell of a pizza he served to get a state job for a tip!

 

Christopher Hoffman
Acting Chief Probation Officer, Hampshire Superior Court
Bartender at Joe's Pizza in Northampton, a bar frequented by former Probation Deputy Commissioner William H. Burke III.

Hey bartender make mine a double - a state paycheck with a fat pension on the side!

 

Jennifer Crespo. Martins
Associate Probation Officer, Chicopee District Court
Niece of Probation Officer John Crespo. Married to Probation Officer Jason Martins

After searching far and wide for a qualified candidate, only a family member could be found. 

 

Jason Martins
Probation Officer, Springfield District Court
Husband of Associate Probation Officer Jennifer Crespo Martins

Keeping the paychecks and the bennies all in the family!

 

Kevin M. McDonald
Probation officer, Eastern Hampshire District Court
Son of former Greenfield District Court Chief Probation Officer Paul McDonald

Hey Daddy, I need a job!

 

Maura E. McDonald
Probation officer, Springfield District Court
Daughter of former Greenfield District Court Chief Probation Officer Paul McDonald

Yes Daddy, and don't forget daughter dearest!

Sean P. McDonald
Probation officer, Hampshire Superior Court
Son of former Greenfield District Court Chief Probation Officer Paul McDonald

Yeah Pop, and don't forget loyal son number two!

 

Andre Pereira
Assistant Chief Probation Officer, Eastern Hampshire District Court
Former legislative aide and childhood friend of Rep. Thomas M. Petrolati, D-Ludlow.

Growing up with Petro can prove quite profitable.

 

Kathleen Petrolati
Regional Manager, Electronic Monitoring Program
Wife of Rep. Thomas M. Petrolati, D-Ludlow

After an exhaustive but futile search for a qualified candidate, Petro discovered the perfect applicant lying right next to him in bed!

 

Francine Ryan
Supervisor, Probation Services, Office of the Commissioner
Daughter of the late Hampden County District Attorney Matthew J. Ryan, Jr.

Yet another way that Matty got the last laugh on the taxpayers.

 

Robert P. Ryan
Chief Probation Officer, Eastern Hampshire District Court
Husband of Rep. Thomas M. Petrolati's aide, Colleen Ryan

No family member need suffer unemployment when you're in with Petro.

 

Elizabeth Pereira. Tudryn
Probation Officer, Springfield District Court
Niece of Andre Pereira, Assistant Chief Probation Officer in Eastern Hampshire District Court and former aide to Rep. Thomas M. Petrolati.

  One thing is for sure, once you're in good with Petro the paydays never stop! 

Of course it is good to be reminded that not everything politicians do is evil, for example here is State Senator Stan Rosenberg collecting for charity on Main Street in Northampton. 

In the window of Broadside Books. 

Yesterday morning at the Haymarket. 

Covering Petro

 

Petro and friends:
Mike Albano, Tommy Finneran, Cheryl Rivera and Sal DiMasi.

The release this week of the official report based on the investigation into probation department corruption charges originally unearthed by the Boston Globe still leaves in question what will become of one of the report's most vilified figures - Ludlow State Rep. Tommy Petrolati. Alas, it is too late for voters to simply show "Petro" the door, as the election was three weeks ago and in any case Petrolati didn't have an opponent. The fact that the report was held back until after the election, when it could do no harm at the polls to Petro's political allies, has also struck some observers as all too convenient.

Not that some local pols didn't try to make the controversy an issue anyway. As seen in the video below, unsuccessful West Springfield state rep. candidate Greg Neffinger tried to raise the issue of his opponent's close ties to Petrolati, but to little avail. 

 

Now perhaps in the wake of the release of the report, State Rep. elect Finn will hold a press conference explaining what it is he meant when he described those in the Globe articles as "good people." Or maybe the local media will pressure him into making a full explanation, but don't hold your breath. When it comes to local corruption, too often our Pioneer Valley news outlets have been a day late and an article short.

Indeed, the Globe's investigatory journalism on Petro is hardly the first time that Western Mass residents have had to read eastern Mass papers in order to discover what is happening in their own backyard. Nor can our local media claim that they had no inkling that Petro might be crooked. For example, here is a video dating back to 2008 showing a Boston Herald reporter chasing Petro through the statehouse attempting to get Petrolati to talk about his connection to a Longmeadow mobster: 

 

Too bad our local reporters don't chase down politicians like that. But in fairness to the Valley media, they are better than they used to be. Gone are the days when it was commonplace for the media to openly act as cheerleaders for the local crooks, while ignoring critics (such as yours truly) who were trying to point out that something was wrong.

People like Frankie Keough, Papa Ray Asselin, Gerry Phillips and all the others whose reputations were eventually ruined by criminal probes, all had glowing coverage in the local media right up to the moment when they were led away in handcuffs. Happily, many of the key figures at the Springfield Newspapers who were in bed with the crooks have since moved on and been replaced by a crop of talented young reporters who appear less inclined to ascribe to the paper's former "go along to get along" culture.

Part of the change is that the paper itself is being eclipsed by its much more vibrant website Masslive.com. With fewer people reading newspapers, their editorials in general sound as irrelevant as the wailing of a dinosaur sinking into a tarpit. The local broadcast media, long just an echo-chamber of the Springfield papers, is also being revitalized by the transformation of what we have traditionally called "television" into just another section of the internet.

To their credit, in the wake of the report, The Springfield Republican the other day did a nice story with original reporting that looked into the hiring through Petrolati of Sheriff Michael Ashe's son. This is exactly the sort of local journalism we need to see more of. But if they really want to impress us, let's see an editorial calling for Petro to immediately resign from the legislature. Then we'll know that times have really changed. 

 

On my way to Springfield from Hamp yesterday I had to switch buses in Holyoke. That resulted in my first visit to the newly opened bus terminal across from Veterans Park. Frankly, I think it looks a little too modern for the historic setting. I mean, couldn't they have included a few red bricks in the design to make it fit in better with its surroundings?

On the plus side, the terminal itself is the old abandoned fire department headquarters, which in recent years was in grave danger of being torn down. Too bad the rest of the transportation center doesn't complement it better.

Here is the view of Veteran's Park out the window of the bus terminal.

I got off the bus in Springfield's ol' Pine Point in front of the site of the former Russell's Restaurant, now just a brown spot and a puddle. 

Dylan on Boston Road.

Doyle the Twig Painter.

Madonna and child in Saint Michael's.

Summer's fade and roses die....

The last leaves are falling on the woodland way into downtown Northampton.

A stoned Northampton pumpkin. 

Henning Ohlenbusch of Northampton is experimenting with sounds. 

Trashcan Boxhead by Henning 

Simon Powell (1998 - 2010)

It saddens me to report that Simon Powell, a Springfield mayoral candidate who received hundreds of write-in votes in his 1999 challenge to the re-election of former Mayor Michael Albano, has died. Born in 1998, he was 84 in dog years.

How did a canine candidate come to run for Mayor of Springfield? It's hard to recapture the context of the times in which the Simon for Mayor campaign took place. Today, it is widely recognized that Springfield's tragic decline from one of the Northeast's most respected medium-sized cities to a fiscal and political basket case was in large part due to a corrupt Democrat Party machine that over the decades bled the city dry. However, in 1999 that was not so widely understood, and political gangsters like Albano, his thug lieutenant Anthony Ardolino, the Asselin family, Frankie Keough and a host of lesser sleazoids were all at the height of their power.

In those days, it could be difficult and even dangerous to oppose them. Ask the Valley Advocate about how they found themselves banned from City Hall. Ask Dan Yorke about how he lost his radio station because of pressure put on his advertisers. Ask former City Councilor Mitch Ogulewicz about the time his employer received orders to pressure him how to vote. Ask Simon's human companions Bob and Karen how it felt to be publicly ridiculed as "trailer trash." Ask me how it felt to be called "a crazy radical."

Oh wait, that last smear was probably justified. Eventually we would all be fully vindicated by a wave of FBI raids, but in 1999 there was no one willing to risk the consequences of running against Albano; and with good reason, since the Springfield political machine had a well-earned reputation for being mean, vindictive and completely ruthless in dealing with their enemies. It was for that reason that the idea of running Simon came up, because it would be hard for the powers-that-be to retaliate against an animal. I mean what were they gonna do? Revoke his dog license?

The Powell's planned a big rally, which was held at their 16 Acres home the weekend before the election, to kick off Simon's write-in campaign. The general public and all the local political dissidents were invited, and the event is now legendary as the most surreal political farce of modern Valley politics. However, the rally wasn't widely covered at the time, although I wrote about the event afterward in the Baystate Objectivist as follows:

I personally attended the Simon for Mayor rally as the informal master of ceremonies, for which I arrived elegantly attired in a suit and tie I usually reserve for Halloween, as we all stood in line to proudly shake the paw of the mayoral contender.

I also spoke in Simon's behalf as he barked out his campaign promises of a return to good government, an end to corruption, the liberation of the county dog pound, repealing the leash law and imposing a tax on cats. Afterwards we all enjoyed a dog's lunch, until the rally had to disperse amidst never substantiated rumors that the candidate had run off with a bitch in heat named Monica.

Amazingly, Mayor Albano did respond to our rally, declaring the next morning on Bax and O'Brien that if dogs could vote they would support him over Simon in gratitude to Albano for the planned new Thomas J. O'Connor Animal Shelter.

Despite Simon's dogged campaigning, many voters felt that a canine mayor was redundant, Springfield having already gone to the dogs years ago. Although every dog has it's day, Election Day was not to be Simon's as the dog eat dog tactics of the Albano camp successfully smeared Simon as a real son of a bitch. Yet even in defeat, Simon the Mayoral Pooch was still able to garner over 600 write-in votes.

In the darkest hours of Springfield's decline, when the forces of corruption were at their peak, local historians will long remember that it was Simon Powell who carried the banner of good government when no human standard-bearer could be found.

REST EASY, BRAVE GOOD BOY. 

Neal critics takin' it to the streets.

The ruins of Cray Soda Company in Holyoke.

I like this quote in the window of a Northampton mystical shop. I think it corrects a common misconception.

 



You often hear people saying that they "need to find themselves." Nonsense, there is no self to find, only self-creating choices to make. As Ayn Rand once put it, "We are beings with self-made souls." So go out and begin to create yourself by starting to live your personal vision of what you've always wanted to be.

A few pumpkins on the steps in Northampton.

Pumpkin diversity on display on the steps in Northampton. 

Economic development Northampton style. 

Amherst Reflections by Mary E. Carey. 

Spfld Building Boondoggles

 

I went to Springfield yesterday. At the stopover in Holyoke I took this picture of Veteran's Park out the bus window.

Arriving in downtown Springfield, I walked past the old courthouse on Main Street, which the late Springfield Republican columnist Richard Garvey once called "the ugliest building in downtown Springfield."

I never thought it was all that ugly, but I do think it was tragic the historic bloc of buildings that were torn down in order to build it. Moreover, the building was badly constructed and had to be replaced recently with a new courthouse, even though the old one was just built in 1982! Perhaps the only virtue of the now closed courthouse was that it was a federal project and therefore the only way the local Democrat Machine could be forced to immortalize Ronald Reagan in stone.

The ugliness of the building may be beyond redemption, but I see that the plaza in front of the former courthouse is undergoing a desperately needed remodeling. 

That plaza was always very impractical, with weird brick formations that were uncomfortable to sit on even before the security guards started forbidding people from sitting there. Following the 9/11 attack, the Albano Administration ordered big cement barriers to be placed all around the front of it, which looked absolutely hideous. It was allegedly justified by the fear that government buildings were targets for terrorist attacks, but an attack on Springfield always seemed very improbable. But who knows? Perhaps it would go down like this:

Deep in a cave in the uncharted mountains of Pakistan, Osama bin Ladin and his followers are holding a meeting. "O Evil One!" a gnarly Arab cries, placing a pile of maps and plans before his master. "We have prepared these plots for your consideration regarding attacks on Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, plus a new attack on New York City!"

Osama bin Ladin angrily sweeps the papers off the desk and on to the floor. "You camel dung!" he exclaims. "I should have you all boiled in oil! Where are the plans to attack the courthouse in Springfield, Massachusetts?

Shortly after he was elected to succeed Albano, Mayor Charles V. Ryan quietly ordered that the unsightly barriers be removed.

Almost next door is yet another infamous boondoggle, although perhaps a more aesthetically pleasing one - Monarch Place.

Like all of the government's attempts to revitalize downtown Springfield, Monarch Place was a total flop, crashing into bankruptcy within only a few years of its completion and ultimately sold to its creditors for one dollar. Bus magnate Peter Picknelly bought the skyscraper for pennies on the dollar, which saved the building from having to be shut down, although the low price he paid did not prevent the taxpayers from taking a multi-million dollar bath in the public/private partnership deal. 

Plus, because the cheap price he paid freed him of the construction debts and entitled him to special tax breaks, Picknelly was able to offer cheaper rental prices than his unsubsidized downtown office space competitors. This caused many offices who rented in buildings surrounding Monarch Place to leave their former residences and move there. So while Monarch Place prospered, the rental properties surrounding it were emptied of tenants, until the downtown real estate market all but collapsed and the whole area was further ghettoized.

Compounding the tragedy, a beautiful and historic building had been torn down to erect the ill-fated Monarch Place - the Forbes and Wallace building.

To calm outcries from local historians, Monarch Place was built with a fountain memorial to the old building in the front courtyard, using a few ornaments from the original structure. 

If you want to get a feel of what the old Forbes and Wallace building was like, a virtual twin of it still exists in Northampton in the Thornes Market building. While Monarch Place was going bust, Hamp's Thornes building was turned into a thriving mall of boutique specialty shops that is still a success to this day. The Forbes and Wallace building could have been the anchor for an equally successful downtown revitalization in Springfield, had the idiot politicians and greedy investors not pursued the Monarch Place project.

 

If the crimes against Springfield by its political class were ever to be known in full, the citizens of Springfield would riot in the streets. 

An exploration of the musical outer limits in Easthampton.