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| The Parcel In Question (Boston Herald Photo By John Wilcox) |
The Massachusetts Inspector General's office is looking into
a questionable 2013 property deal between the Red Sox and the outgoing Menino Administration that—in our view—reeks of the political favoritism enjoyed by the NOG since they landed here in 2002. According to a report in
The Boston Herald, lame-duck Mayor
Tom Menino's Boston Redevelopment Authority paid the Red Sox $2.7 million for a small parcel of land near
America's Most Cramped Ballpark—
an amount six times what the team paid for it just three years earlier. Based on the value of an earlier land exchange, the Red Sox paid $66 per square foot for the Van Ness Street parcel, while Menino's BRA paid the team
$406 per square foot. Former state Inspector General
Gregory W. Sullivan, described the deal this way: "the sweetest sweetheart deal I’ve ever seen." This whole sordid mess is part of the larger agreement that basically gave away city jurisdiction over Yawkey Way—in exchange for a decade of
reduced rent. The NOG continues to squeeze every penny out of this franchise, while we continue to squeeze our butts into an outmoded 1912 stadium. Thanks, Mayor Menino!
