In Boston, and really, in pretty much every major city, developers and elected officials alike would do well to recognize the power of apathy.
Most people, but in particular those living in big cities, can have remarkably short memories. Yesterday’s news often becomes just that – a dimly remembered event or annoyance with little bearing on the here and now of today’s big happenings.
It takes a near cataclysm – a 9/11 or Los Angeles riot, for example – to make any kind of real, lasting impression these days.
Lately, it’s gotten to the point where entire city blocks can be leveled, with no replacement in sight, and after a while the public "outrage" will die as well.
It’s already happened more than once in Boston in recent years. In March, Banker & Tradesman ran a fun feature on all the stalled developments and bombed-out city blocks in the city that weren’t the infamous Filene’s site.
There’s the entire block in Longwood, vacant and home to only weeds since 2008.
Or the empty pier in Charlestown, supposedly the future home of 85 condos, but in reality, hosting only some rusting old iron fittings and bird droppings.
Remember Columbus Center? It caused quite a stir when it catastrophically failed not too long ago. But now? Its owners slunk out of town earlier this year, without even paying to clean up the mess they left, and really, nobody seems to care anymore.
In March, and again in this issue, we spotlighted a demolished block in Chinatown that was supposed to be home to hundreds of new condominiums developed by Kensington Investment Co.
Columnist Scott Van Voorhis raises an interesting question of why the former Filene’s site in Boston’s Downtown Crossing has raised so much public outrage, while the Chinatown site has, of late, slid further and further under the radar.
He asserts that Mayor Thomas Menino might be playing favorites, because he likes Alan Lewis of Kensington, but despises Steven Roth of Vornado, developers of the Filene’s site. He may have a point.
But we see at least the potential for other motives, here, as well. Perhaps the mayor, in looking at the outrage that does not exist over the Chinatown site, is looking at Filene’s and making sure the same thing doesn’t happen there.
In this media-driven age, folks only really pay attention to screaming headlines and blustery threats, and maybe Menino should be given more credit than he’s so far received for recognizing that. Mayor Menino is not content to let Vornado allow the power of apathy to sink in. If outrage over a stinking hole in the middle of the city’s most important shopping district won’t stay at a high level on its own, then one might consider Menino quite savvy for fanning the flames with loud braggadocio and threats of eminent domain.
Today, it’s entirely too easy for epic planning failures to remain in sight, but out of mind. Walking past the Chinatown site recently, we were struck by how few people actually noticed the ugly, fenced in lot as they walked past.
Rather than being excoriated for playing favorites or even for having unbalanced priorities, maybe Menino should be praised for making sure a serious failure does not go unpunished – as it has too many times of late.
