Hanscom News: Massport

ShhAir
P.O. Box 441
Concord, MA 01742
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Hanscom News: Massport

5/3/05 Herald, Herald: Massport is doling out more than $600,000 in bonuses to top managers while at the same time it has been dragging its feet regarding East Boston park improvements and youth programs.
9/29/04 Bedford Minuteman: The Hanscom Field Advisory Commission wishes Massport would communicate more and seek its advice sooner regarding project plans.
6/3/04 Globe, Rep Kaufman, Bedford Minuteman: Led by Representative Jay Kaufman, the Massachusetts House voted to nearly double Massport's board with six new members from communities abutting Logan International Airport and Hanscom Field. [Ed: these provisions were subsequently deleted from the final version of this bill.]
5/19/04 Lincoln Journal: A Senate proposal calls for increased coordination between state transportation agencies, including Massport.
7/19/03 Globe: Governor Romney taps Reebok VP for Massport Board.
5/20/03 Globe, Lincoln Journal: Representative Robert A. DeLeo, a Winthrop Democrat, is leading a group of state lawmakers calling for forming a citizens advisory board to oversee Massport and give communities around Massport's properties a voice at the table.
2/26/03 Herald: Massport CEO Craig P. Coy, heralded as a tough reformer when he took the post last year, negotiated a special retirement deal for himself that skirts the agency's own pension rules.
11/23/02 Globe: The head of the Massachusetts Port Authority, responding to an independent commission's critical review of the agency, issued antipatronage guidelines yesterday but exempted agency board members who complained the rules would interfere with legitimate business.
11/21/02 Bedford Minuteman: Save Our Heritage's Neil Rasmussen calls for a public debate with Massport's Jose Juves about Hanscom issues, but Juves declines.
10/31/02 Bedford Minuteman: Save Our Heritage warns that Massport's statements are intended to pacify residents but not reveal its true plans. Massport replies that it simply keeps the public informed of the facts.
10/18/02 Globe: Massport's board said it would not adopt a key reform measure to end patronage by requiring public disclosure of conversations about jobs and other favors with people outside the agency.
8/2/02 Globe: State lawmakers threw out nearly all reforms proposed by the Carter Commission for reforming the "haven of political cronyism" at Massport.
7/26/02 Globe: Massport's executive director Craig Coy said he made a mistake when he failed to publicly disclose his prior business relationship with the man he selected to be his deputy executive director.
6/20/02 Globe, Lincoln Journal: Governor Swift appointed a Harvard Business School dean and Lincoln resident, John Quelch, to chair Massport.
6/6/02 Bedford Minuteman: Massport's new CEO Craig Coy shares some thoughts on Hanscom. Save Our Heritage and an area resident objected to his statements that "the communities have an important role but not a primary one" and Mr. Coy sees no "reason to stop [the] impetus for growth" in this region. Massport responds by noting claims that they will be sensitive to communities concerns.
5/3/02 Globe: Massport's new CEO says the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and past criticisms of patronage practices at Massport will make it easier to bring change.
4/13/02 Globe: Editorial saying that "it is disconcerting that [new Massport CEO] Craig Coy has no experience running anything that resembles a complex public transportation and economic development agency that oversees three airports and a seaport."
4/11/02 AP: Massport has named Craig Coy, former chief executive of H.R. Logic, Inc. and a former White House adviser on counterterrorism, as its new chief executive.
2/24/02 Globe: Airport director Barbara Patzner leaves it to others to deal with the controversy surrounding commercial aviation at Hanscom.
1/17/02 AP, Globe: Massport director George Cashman was indicted on embezzlement charges. Pressured by Governor Swift, he subsequently resigned.
12/31/01 Globe: The Massport board of directors met only 10 times in the last year, approving with little discussion and no dissent a set of agenda items prepared by agency staff.
12/7/01 Globe, Herald: Massport's Board wants a bipartisan panel to pick Board members. Three congressmen are asking Governor Swift to give up her power to appoint two new Board members to ensure the newcomers are beholden to the communities they represent, and not to Beacon Hill.
12/4/01 Globe, Herald: Some doubt whether any of the Carter Commission recommendations other than the safety and security related ones will ever be implemented. For instance, Governor Swift will not replace Massport's current Board members.
12/3/01 Special Advisory Task Force on Massport: The "Carter Commission" recommendations primarily target fixing Massport's leadership and patronage culture, although the commission noted that "the relationship between Massport and the local communities directly affected by its activities cannot be allowed to deteriorate any further."
11/14/01 Globe: Marshall Carter says that Massport needs to fix its leadership and patronage culture, but he is not inclined to suggest breaking up Massport or scaling back its mission.
10/25/01 WBZ, Globe: Massport Executive Director Virginia Buckingham announced her resignation "to give Acting Governor Jane Swift flexibility to overhaul operations at Massport and Logan to respond to heightened security needs." Subsequently, the Carter Commission will call for a new director with far more experience.
10/21/01 Globe: "State Senator Steven A. Tolman said last week he planned to file legislation that would split Massport into two entities, the Massachusetts Airport Authority and the Waterfront Authority."
10/11/01 Globe: Three high-profile patronage appointees are among the 180 Massport employees who face the ax today as the agency's board takes up a plan to cut $51 million from its operating budget. However, several board members led by Teamsters boss George Cashman objected strenuously enough to delay layoffs for at the patronage-laden International Marketing Department by one month.
10/9/01 Globe: Massport can't afford another misstep with its credibility at an all-time low. Nonetheless the quasi-public agency seems bent on helping a New Jersey-based developer pay its way around environmental regulations.
10/8/01 Herald: Massport's chairman, not waiting for task force recommendations, is launching a global search for counter-terrorism experts to lead a new security brigade at Logan.
10/4/01 Globe: Marshall Carter will head the special task force set up by Acting Governor Jane Swift to scrutinize management and operations at Massport.
10/3/01 Herald, Globe: Massport is estimated to be losing $300,000 per day in the wake of the Sept 11 attacks, and plans to lay off at least 15 percent of its 1,200-person workforce and severely cut ongoing projects.
10/1/01 Globe: Logan Airport continues to have amazing security lapses, which Massport says it cannot fix and wants the federal government to take over. Massport's security director will likely be replaced.
9/28/01 Globe: Governor Swift's special panel to reform Massport has an "out-of-control patronage culture" to correct.
9/25/01 Globe: Patronage and far flung roles hinder Massport's mission.
9/19/01 Herald, Globe: Acting Governor Swift is unhappy with Massport's handling of the terrorist crisis, and she is creating a special panel to look at "sweeping change to the patronage-laden agency". Former Governor Weld, on the other hand, lauds ex-aides now at Massport.
9/18/01 Globe: More calls for changes in Massport's leadership.
9/14/01 Herald: Acting Gov. Jane M. Swift, her senior transportation advisers and key legislative leaders said yesterday that Logan management - as well as operations - will be greatly altered after the double hijacking that brought down both World Trade Center towers Tuesday.
9/14/01 Globe: Should key positions at Massport should be filled based on political ties, as historically has been the case, or should they be filled based on industry experience, as is the case in some other port authorities?
8/20/01 Herald: Editorial ridiculing the ballot initiative to make Massport board members elected by the people, calling it a "stunning ploy" and saying that elected officials wouldn't be able to "do right by all those who demand air travel and to spread the burden". Readers disagreed, saying that Massport board membership is driven by political favors and that Massport has pursued ill-conceived band aid solutions rather than comprehensive transportation plans.
8/14/01 AP: Concord resident Sumin Tchen is pushing a ballot question to make Massport more accountable by abolishing the appointed board and replacing it with an elected one.
7/5/01 Concord Journal: Resident points out that Massport has not produced a single planning document on regional transportation.
7/1/01 Globe: Hanscom area towns question Massport's timing on three major issues; approving Boston & Maine flights, discussing tree cutting around Hanscom, and discussing the scope of environmental review, all in the summer while many residents are on vacation.
5/17/01 Concord Journal: In this op-ed piece written by ShhAir's Board, we call on Massport to stop the reckless expansion of Hanscom before it is too late.
5/10/01 Lincoln Journal: Local residents call on Massport, and in particular Lexington resident and Massport Chairman Mark Robinson, to stop the expansion of Hanscom and the destruction of nearby Minute Man National Historic Park.
6/13/01 Herald: Federal investigators probing embattled Massport board member George W. Cashman have subpoenaed Massport records for a sweetheart deal that allows the local Teamsters union to operate a profitable truck driver training school rent-free on Massport's prime waterfront property in East Boston, sources said.
5/22/01 Herald: Federal investigators probing alleged racketeering by local Teamster boss George W. Cashman have subpoenaed his expense records from Massport, where he sits on the board of directors, and are eyeing connections the agency has with two of his associates.
4/27/01 Globe: Scott LeHigh blasts Massport's Virginia Buckingham for leaving the hearing on Logan's proposed runway before much of the community input was given.
4/13/01 Globe: Brian McGrory contends that Massport is enriching a convicted felon at the expense of working families in their handling of a parking lot purchase near Logan Airport.
11/21/00 Globe: Brian McGrory compliments Massport chief Virginia Buckingham on her effectiveness.
12/15/00 Herald: An audit of Massport uncovered wild spending and donations.
6/29/00 Lexington Minuteman: Richard Walsh of Massport lost his temper over what to call a proposed new building at Hanscom and walked out of a HATS meeting.
6/2/00 Herald: Massport is under fire for using taxpayer dollars to recruit support for the new Logan runway.

�ShhAir 2000
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