Adam Reilly made an erroneous assumption when he bemoaned the loss of State House news coverage with the downsizing of the Boston Globe. Fortunately, Boston is still a two-newspaper town.
Truth is, the Boston Herald stirs the State House pot more frequently than the Globe on a daily basis. On the publication day of Mr. Reilly’s article, the Herald led with a story on the politicians who fought for the Bunker Hill holiday, but ignored its civic ceremonies.
Look for the Herald’s circulation to increase in proportion to the Globe’s downsizing.
Bill Meyer
Charlestown
ADAM REILLY RESPONDS As Bill Meyer suggests, the Herald is still an important source of State House news. But the paper currently has just one full-time staffer — Hillary Chabot — inside the building. As the Herald and other outlets have pulled journalists from Beacon Hill, the Globe has been a welcome exception, which is why the paper’s uncertain prospects are especially worrisome.
Why no rights isn’t always wrong
With respect to your “Benign Neglect?” editorial, which tackles President Barack Obama’s failure as yet to advance the cause of civil rights for gays and lesbians: sure, we’re still in the back of the bus waiting for what Republicans used to call “special” rights to trickle on down. And we’ve made tremendous progress from the horror stories of what happened in the 1950s and ’60s. But why are we fighting for the right to be drafted in the next big war?
Jim Mileski
North Quincy
Planning the future of the BRA
Sam Yoon’s proposal to dismantle the Boston Redevelopment Authority and replace it with a City Department of Community Development and Planning is a very good idea. There are too many stalled and politicized development projects in this city. I’m interested in a candidate for mayor who recognizes the need for long-term vision and planning to make this city the greatest. Yoon’s background as a community organizer and developer is also appealing — we need to include community input in development projects. Getting rid of the BRA is a great first step.
Jessica Taubner
Jamaica Plain
Sounds like Sam Yoon is definitely going to win my vote for mayor. He’s the only person doing anything at City Hall! It’s about time to make Mayor Tom Menino’s cronies accountable to the public. I’m sick of the people of this city going unheard. It’s about time Menino had a real challenge. Good luck, Sam. It’s rare good ideas are heard at City Hall!
Jessica Leonard
Boston
Related:
Can Flaherty woo Yoon?, Mayor-Select Marie?, Clearing the air, More 
- Can Flaherty woo Yoon?
Michael Flaherty, having earned a spot Tuesday on the November ballot, starts his six-week push to the Boston mayoral final with a big problem. He needs Sam Yoon's voters, and to get them he needs Sam Yoon.
- Mayor-Select Marie?
Tom Menino, just a few months into an unprecedented fifth term as Boston’s mayor, has raised eyebrows by hiring State Representative Marie St. Fleur of Dorchester to the newly created, $120,000-a-year position of chief of advocacy and strategic investment.
- Clearing the air
Adam Reilly’s analysis of right-wing talk radio’s support of Scott Brown was nearly perfect.
- Unsexy Appeal
The annual “Unsexiest Men” survey (April 2) panders to and cultivates negative, cheap-shot male bashing.
- Library woes
In an attempt to save four Boston Public Library branches that are slated to close due to budget shortfalls, some state legislators from Boston have threatened to block all state funding the library receives if it shutters any of its 26 branches.
- Lynch’s left flank
US Representative Stephen Lynch has held Massachusetts’s ninth congressional district since 2001 — a fact that has irritated the state’s liberals ever since.
- It takes an identity thief
In late April 2006, shortly before the hearing to evict his tenant Karen Keester, Lee Gersch received a phone call from Keester’s twin sister, Michelle. She had just gotten divorced, Michelle claimed, and needed to move to Boston from Arkansas for a new job. She suggested that she and her cat could move right into Keester’s Beacon Hill flat.
- ‘There are no rules’
On April 19, the Globe first reported that arbitrators had awarded the Boston firefighters union a 19-percent raise. By the next morning, both the Globe and the Herald were citing Menino administration figures of a $74 million cost.
- Bay State's top lobbyists
Nearly everyone in Massachusetts felt the pinch of the recession in 2009 — even Beacon Hill lobbyists had to tighten their belts.
- Yoon or Flaherty
Boston voters will go to the polls in less than seven weeks to choose two candidates, out of the four now running, to face off against each other in November's mayoral election.
- For city council
When Boston City Councilors Michael Flaherty and Sam Yoon declared their candidacies for mayor many months ago, the duo opened up what is normally a very narrow field for at-large Council candidates.
- Less
Topics:
Letters
, Barack Obama, Beacon Hill, Media, More
, Barack Obama, Beacon Hill, Media, Special Interest Groups, Tom Menino, Economic Development, Economic Issues, Sam Yoon, Sam Yoon, Boston Redevelopment Authority, Less
