PAX Centurion - March / April 2013

www.bppa.org PAX CENTURION • March/April 2013 • Page 25 By James Barry, BPPA Legislative Agent HEARD ON THE HILL R umors rumbled across political circles the evening of March 27 th as word slowly leaked out that Mayor Tom Menino would not be running for reelection. The confirmation came first thing the next morning as Mayor Thomas M. Menino spoke with reporters outside his Hyde Park home saying he is prepared to end his run as mayor of the city, but joking he may change his mind before he formally announced his decision not to seek reelection at Faneuil Hall that afternoon. That did not happen and the end of a twenty-year run as Mayor is here. Many knowledgable politico’s were shocked at the decision. Nobody was willing to believe the rumors until they heard from the Mayor himself. “When you have something you really loved, you lived 24/7 the last 20 years, it’s tough to say no, but there’s a time and place for everything,’’ said Menino, who has decided against seeking a sixth term in office. Mayor Thomas Menino will not run “I’m excited about it. It’s a sad day, but it’s a day that will always come in your career.’’ Menino’s Faneuil Hall appearance was held at 4 p.m. on Thursday, March 28 th . “I might change at 4 o’clock, you never know. I may say something different and pull a KevinWhite,’’Menino joked, referring to a famous incident whereWhite told the Boston Herald he would run for re-election one day before he announced he would not run again. Menino still has many more months of his final term to fill out. A new mayor won’t take office until next January. Many things can happen between now and then. The BPPA hopes that fairness in contract negotiations is one of them, however hopes and dreams don’t pay bills. Our bargaining committee is working extremely hard and will continue that effort. Deception in BostonHarbor byMass. State Police andMassport T he Boston Police Harbor Unit is run by the primary jurisdictional authority in Boston Harbor for over 166 years, the Boston Harbormaster. Boston Police Department harbor Unit was recently jumped over for section by the MSP for placement of Radiation/Nuclear detection equipment on board by Homeland Security. Even though the primary requirements to pick a policing agency in Boston Harbor was they had a 24/7/365 presence patrolling in Boston Harbor. The MSP do not have 24/7/365 presence on Boston Harbor and never had. The working group was chaired by Joe Lawless of Massport. Joe Lawless is a former Mass. State Police trooper. As chairman for the small working group, we had hoped he would recuse himself from the committee. He didn’t. We would have then hoped certainly he would make his conflict of interests known to the folks from Homeland Security. We don’t know if he did. Joe Lawless has proven himself in the current Massport jurisdictional debacle extremely biased against the Boston Police. We find hard to believe he would have presented any objectivity in the Boston Harbor relative to the Boston Police Department. One of the requirements in choosing the police agency for placement and operation of this Homeland Security equipment was to be operational 24/7/365. Which the Boston Police Harbor Unit has ALWAYS been. The choice of the MSP Marine Unit based (currently and for quite sometime operates only 16 hours per day) on this requirement alone would tell you the cards were stacked against BPD, by the MSP. Yet another duplication of a police services already provided by the Boston Police. Paid for by taxpayers and abetting MSP unquenchable thirst to expand.