BostonHerald.com
Wednesday, October 3, 2001

Massport rescue up next
by Cosmo Macero Jr.

So who's going to take the hit and be first to call for a Massport bailout?

It's coming to that. And faster than anyone might think.

The troubled agency is losing $300,000 a day in the wake of the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks.

Every 747 that's not landing at Logan International Airport is $1,400 down
the toilet.

Some 3,000 parking spaces - at $18 a day - have been wiped from the Logan
map because of security concerns. And the sunken demand for parking alone -
daily parkers are down from 10,000 to 4,000 - accounts for nearly $110,000
in lost revenues every 24 hours.

``You can't continue to lose that kind of money,'' says one observer with
long-held ties to the port authority.

This is all bad news for Logan's 1,200 employees - and we're not just
talking about Gus Serra, Kristen Lepore, Russ Aims and the rest of Paul
Cellucci's castoffs.

The word is that Massport budget guru Leslie Kirwin may be huddling soon
with the agency's top minds (try not to laugh) to restructure the payroll
and do what the airlines began doing almost immediately after the Twin
Towers came down in Manhattan.

Cut jobs.

``You've got a lot of people over there who have never gone to work,'' the
observer said. ``Cellucci has an enormous number of hacks in there. He took
it to a new level.''

But even the harshest cuts to a hack-filled budget won't keep pace with a
30-percent reduction in local air traffic.

``Whatever the airlines are going through, Massport is going through also,''
says radio talk host Peter Blute, a former Massport executive director. ``I
don't think there is any doubt Massport will suffer a severe financial
strain from this.''

Logan's annual revenue of about $360 million is under attack on several
fronts, with concessions, space rentals, parking and landing fees all
suffering from America's collective fear of flying.

``It's not a question of if, it's a question of when'' Massport starts to
founder, says one insider.

A money machine in happier times, Logan is suddenly a cash hog that could
devastate the regional economy and pile insult upon injury at the
disgraceful Big Dig.

And therein lies the sleeper crisis for acting Gov. Jane Swift. How do you
bail out one failing entity that's helping to bail out another?

Massport is committed to providing $365 million to the state's rescue
package for the Big Dig - now unmasked as a project out of control with no
end in sight to the cost overruns.

Before Logan served as a launch pad for America's darkest day, it helped
feed an annual Massport operating surplus of nearly $140 million. Those
funds financed Logan expansion projects which have been rightfully
downgraded in priority, and provided a tidy cash reserve for the insatiable
Central Artery.

How quickly things change.

``It's not central to their mission,'' Blute says of the Big Dig funding,
which it should be noted was vigorously opposed by the aviation industry.
``You can see the airlines taking this to court.''

They shouldn't have to.

This brewing financial storm cries out for leadership from Beacon Hill.

And if it takes legislative changes to Massport's charter and a
re-examination of the Big Dig rescue plan, so be it.

``The Legislature is quick to ask for money from Massport,'' Blute says.
``But it's going to be hard to get them to give (the authority) any money.''

Massport couldn't be saved from itself. That's where former State Street
chief Marshall Carter, John Hancock honcho Wayne Budd and now ex-State
Police Col. John DiFava come in.

But the well-being of this region's economy depends on Massport being saved
from the forces now in motion.

Let's see Leslie Kirwin and Massport development chief Lowell Richards show
some hacks the door.

And then let's see who's not afraid to do what's necessary.

Let's see who's not afraid to take the hit.

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