Thursday, October 31, 2013

226K haul

With one week before the Nov. 5 elections, the 33 candidates for Somerville’s Board of Alderman and School Committee have raised more than $260,000 between them in 2013.
That’s just enough to total more than the amount raised by Mayor Joe Curtatone – he’s pulled in $226,821 so far this year.
It’s Curtatone’s biggest haul yet, easily outstripping his previous high of about $146,000 in 2011, the last time he ran for mayor. And while it can’t compete with donation totals from this year’s mayoral race in Boston, it far exceeds donations in a race like Newton’s mayoral election, where incumbent Setti Warren has pulled in about $40,000 this year.
But this year Curtatone was also weighing a run for governor and he spent like it, dropping $202,891during the year. That includes $35,000 on political consultant Steve Jarding, a Harvard University lecturer who previously managed campaigns for Sens. Tom Daschle and Jim Webb, as well as a surprise winning gubernatorial bid for Mark Warner in Virginia.
Curtatone also spent $22,500 on consulting from Sage Systems and $44,000 on campaign workers and consultants William Harry Shipps, James O’Brien III and Michael Meehan, who previously worked under Curtatone in the mayor’s office as communications director. According to credit card receipts, the local restaurant Curtatone spent the most time at was Out Of The Blue. He spent $3,316 there over nine visits and for catering.
Once again, Curtatone saw a good chunk of money come in from city workers, board members and their relatives -- he received $16,000 from 92 people in that group. That amount is comparable to what he received in 2012, but that figure came from 119 city employees.
The second largest group of donors was another set of employees. Twenty-seven Herb Chambers workers donated $11,450 to his campaign. Behind that were 12 employees and family members from engineering firm CDR Maguire, who donated $4,000, and nine employees and family members from Gilbane construction, who donated $1,625.
Both Maguire and Gilbane have long histories of doing work in the city. According to city financial records, the city paid Gilbane more than $20 million over the last year and paid Maguire, which was involved in building the East Somerville Community School, $456,000.
Other developers also donated, including Berkeley Investments, who is constructing residential units at the old Highland Auto Parts at 625 McGrath Highway, and Cathartes, which is developing part of the controversial project at the old Boys and Girls Club. Berkeley employees donated $750 while Cathartes employees donated $1,000.
But the biggest cluster of donations came from developers, architects, attorneys and planners looking to develop the Powder House School – which was eventually awarded to Tufts University – and a hotel in Davis Square, which so far has been stalled. 31 people associated with those projects donated to Curtatone, including people who were associated with both. People associated with Davis Square hotel plans donated $6,050 while Powder House School applicants donated $4,650.

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THE SOMERVILLE FILES: PART 4: THE MAN IN THE MAYOR SUIT

Posted on July 31, 2013 by CHRIS FARAONE AND TOM NASH AND ADAM VACCAROEmail

A look at the machine’s once—and future?—king, Joe Curtatone
A a master of straddling the legacy and future of Somerville, Joe Curtatone has won support from Winter Hill to the White House. Statewide, the five-term mayor has cultivated a favorable reputation, having been named president of the Massachusetts Mayors’ Association. Though he’s apparently run a free market City Hall in which big development is almost indiscriminately propped, Curtatone scored points with liberals at the outset of his mayorship by wrestling with Mitt Romney, and, more recently, as a vocal member of Mayors Against Illegal Guns.
Packing those and other notable credentials, earlier this month, Curtatone announced on Facebook that he is giving a gubernatorial run “serious consideration.” Prior to that, the revelation was the worst kept secret in state politics, with the Boston Globe and pundits galore already speculating as such. He added that he’s not yet arrived at a final decision—and is definitely still running for mayor in November—but his confidence suggests a looming climb up Beacon Hill.
Curtatone has always relied on the bosses of Old Somerville to get out his vote; at the same time, he’s basked in the limelight of hip New Somerville, its influx of young professionals and booming development. But while Curtatone is popular, his heavy-handed style has been criticized as sometimes ignoring residents in favor of political allies. As such, some previously silent skeptics appear to now be turning on him.
In an email to the Dig, a City Hall spokesperson wrote that Curtatone “appreciates informed, vigorous discussion of every matter that both branches of City government jointly address.” Still, the mayor has been mostly spoiled by a Board of Aldermen that shines his shoes. But now, things have begun to change, and an increasing number of members are willing to oppose the brass.

For this last installment of the Somerville Files, the Dig looks deeper into Curtatone’s rise and tenure, and at the current state of city politics as he eyes the top office in the Commonwealth.

Photo credit: Derek KouyoumjianIllustrations by Carlos Montilla

KING KOTY & PRINCE JOE
Having come of age on Prospect Hill Avenue, just outside of Union Square, Curtatone was endowed at birth with what may be the most important quality in any Somerville official—he’s a native. Born in 1966, he attended Somerville High School, where the future mayor played trumpet in the jazz band and gave his all on the football team. After graduating in 1984, Curtatone went on to earn a B.A. from Boston College, and later on a barrister’s degree from the New England School of Law in 1994.
Though Curtatone briefly worked exclusively as an attorney, he entered politics in 1995, shortly after finishing law school. He had declared homestead on a residence he bought in Wakefield months earlier, but as a voter, Curtatone was registered with the Somerville Election Department as a Republican living on Adams Street. When a seat opened on the Board of Aldermen, he changed his party affiliation to Democrat, and threw his hat in the ring.

Neither Curtatone’s Wakefield property or homestead discrepancy came to light during the election; in turn he won, and proceeded up the Somerville ladder.

As a new alderman, Curtatone was often a strong voice against then-Mayor Michael Capuano, as well as others in powerful positions. Well-liked but perhaps somewhat naive, in 1999, Curtatone ran for mayor only to place third in the primary behind school committee members John Buonomo and Dorothy Kelly Gay, the latter of whom prevailed.

Four years later, Curtatone smartened up, and rallied support from local honchos. Most importantly, he won the allegiance of Stan Koty, a former alderman and assistant clerk for Kelly Gay. Koty had assumed control of the Somerville political machine from his former boss, State Rep. Vincent Piro, who’d been indicted decades earlier. Despite his proximity to the Piro scandal—an HBO-worthy ordeal featuring State House wiretaps and bribery—Koty managed to save face, and remains a kingmaker in city politics today.
For a GOP expat like Curtatone, Koty was a qualified booster. In 1992, the former Piro chief of staff had, against all odds, helped elect Republican Charlie Shannon—a former Belmont police officer—to represent Somerville on Beacon Hill. So in 2003, Koty turned on then-Mayor Gay, and diverted every cog in his machine toward the Curtatone camp.

Aligned with the organism that had operated Somerville for two generations, Curtatone prevailed to become the second-youngest mayor in Somerville history.

As future races rolled around, the alliance with Koty continued to help Curtatone. The mayor picked up key endorsements from city stalwarts, some of whom were seemingly rewarded for their friendship. Under the mayor, Koty was put in charge of the Department of Public Works, while his son, Russell, was given a job with the Inspectional Services Division. Ed Nuzzo, who also gave to Curtatone’s 2003 campaign, was eventually named superintendent of ISD; after Nuzzo failed repeated state certification tests, Curtatone appointed him to a higher-paying city job.
Prior to his second run at mayor, Curtatone had a negative balance in his campaign account. Once in office, though, business interests would make sure that he would never again want for funds. Together, contractors contributed tens of thousands of dollars to Curtatone. The mayor has repeatedly denied that money sways City Hall; at the same time, he’s done little to avert the appearance of playing favorites.

Consider Richard DiGirolamo.

As noted in previous installments of this series, the real estate attorney counts the chairman of the zoning board among his former clients, and has gained approval for projects through that board that stand in violation of municipal ordinances. On June 24—less than two weeks after the first installment was published—the Dig has now learned that DiGirolamo hosted a fundraiser for Curtatone at Del Frisco’s on the South Boston waterfront. Such upscale open bar shindigs, which suggest donations of between $150 and $500, are tradition; DiGirolamo has previously thrown at least two galas for Curtatone at the Royal Sonesta, as well as a reception last year at Hotel Marlowe in Cambridge. Asked about a potential conflict of interest, a Curtatone campaign spokesman wrote in an email that “people of every demographic, occupation and persuasion get involved in politics and there’s nothing unusual about that.”

Statewide, mayoral candidates reported finishing 2011 with a total of $799,461 on hand. Other than Tom Menino in Boston, Curtatone had the largest balance of the bunch, the bulk of which over the years has come from entities with big financial stakes in Somerville. Attorneys from Palmer & Dodge, for example, gave a total of $4,000 to Curtatone in 2005; that same year, the firm was paid more than $500,000 to re-write zoning for Assembly Square—changes that were later ruled illegal by a Massachusetts land court.
That trend of developer giving has continued. The management of PT Kelley, which has won Somerville contracts worth more than $5 million in the past two years alone, donated $2,000 in 2012. Owners and associates of Design Consultants, a local traffic-engineering firm that’s banked about $1.5 million in Somerville since 2011, gave $1,400. Last year, 119 Somerville employees donated to Curtatone, though nearly half of them neglected to disclose that they work in city government.

Considering his aspirations, it’s no surprise that Curtatone—currently in his fifth term—is one of the most competitive fund raisers in the Commonwealth.

In reporting that money, though, he’s been cited by the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance for irregularities on his intake and expenditure reports. In 2011, the Globe reported that Curtatone failed to list the names of 41 vendors that his campaign had paid. The mayor’s spokesperson blamed an electronic glitch. A look at the omissions, however, reveals some potentially embarrassing details—a $350 refund to a local contractor who gave over the legal limit; a $390 “meeting expense” for Patriots tickets.
Even since those problems with his 2011 filings, Curtatone has fumbled OCPF requirements. The mayor’s 2012 report, which was due in January, was only completed two weeks ago—and only after being amended three times, by order of the state, for omitting travel expenses, credit card reports, and cash reimbursements. Asked about these issues, a Curtatone campaign spokesperson wrote in an email that “amendments are fairly pro forma stuff,” and that “Mayor Curtatone is in good standing in terms of his political finance reporting.” Nevertheless, the corrected reimbursements indicate that Curtatone may even have his sights set outside of New England. In 2012, he used campaign funds to visit Washington, D.C. for a Bruins game, and to travel abroad to Tiznit—a ceremonial Somerville sister city on the coast of Morocco—where he stayed at the Hilton in Casablanca.

It was his third time visiting there in four years.

SPLITTING DECISION
In late May, three aldermen spoke out about campaign financing in Somerville. Bill White put forth a proposal to limit campaign contributions—from developers who are vying to do business with the city—to $300. White, who has occasionally been skeptical of the mayor’s agenda, argued that state laws are inadequate alone in curbing the role that money plays in local politics. He explained to the media how—even with a $500 limit per donor—big developers often coax their employees and relatives into each giving the maximum, and as a result yield a “substantial influence” on elections.
White’s pitch won support from fellow aldermen Rebekah Gewirtz and Tony Lafuente, the latter of whom ran against Curtatone in 2003, and has recently taken an especially combative stance against the mayor. Days later, though, Curtatone proposed his own new guidelines that would limit contributions from developers and city workers to $250. A City Hall press release announcing the idea placed Curtatone’s name alongside all of the aldermen—except for White and the two others who supported the initial proposal for a $300 cap.
The posturing around campaign finance, while indicative of growing local skepticism about the role of development in politics, also served to highlight a burgeoning split on the board. For most of Curtatone’s reign, he’s faced little scrutiny from his legislative branch. But in recent months, as concerns about development have grown, a loose coalition of curmudgeonly aldermen have aired concerns. Among them are White and Gewirtz—long the mayor’s biggest haters—and Lafuente.

Even some older, more establishment-friendly figures—namely, aldermen Dennis Sullivan and Tom Taylor—have sided with the Lafuente group on recent issues.

Meanwhile, a substantial personnel turnover has taken root. Along with Taylor, fellow aldermen Bob Trane and Bruce Desmond—who have typically backed the administration—have announced that they will leave the board this fall, while two of Curtatone’s other associates already split before fulfilling their terms.
Bill Roche, formerly the Ward 1 alderman, and Sean O’Donovan, of Ward 5, have been longtime allies of the mayor. After retiring from his career at NStar last year—and abandoning his aldermanic post—Roche was promptly picked to serve as Somerville’s director of personnel, and given a pay raise. The departure of O’Donovan in April (he told the media he plans to spend more time on his law practice, and with family) came as a bigger surprise. He’d recently anticipated running again, and was frequently mentioned as a possible successor to Curtatone.

Somerville’s charter calls for deserting aldermen to nominate their replacements—so long as less than one year remains in their term—and O’Donovan and Roche installed reliable allies. The two new aldermen—Maureen Bastardi in Ward 1 and Courtney O’Keefe in Ward 5—are now running for office with the advantage of incumbency (without having ever been elected). The fledgling anti-administration coalition stands to grow if these hand-selected surrogates lose; both Bastardi and O’Keefe’s opponents have advocated for less aggressive, more prudent development than Curtatone has pushed for.
Bastardi and O’Keefe shrug at the notion that they’re in the mayor’s pocket. In interviews with Dig, Bastardi called into question two current administration-backed building projects in her ward, while O’Keefe criticized Somerville’s much-maligned parking regulations.

Still, both were put into power by staunch Curtatone allies; in Bastardi’s case, the mayor has even been helping her campaign.

So has Roche; in an apparent violation of state law, this spring, the former alderman included his name on a fundraiser invitation for Bastardi alongside Curtatone’s—even though the Commonwealth explicitly forbids such activity by non-elected municipal officials.

LET’S MOVE!
Curtatone celebrated Election Night 2012 with a few dozen of his faithful followers—college Democrats, former ISD superintendent Nuzzo, and others—at The Independent in Union Square. Charismatic as usual, at one point the mayor climbed atop a table to announce the passage of ballot referendum that enables Somerville to purchase land, with federal funding, for open space preservation and affordable housing.
“I had no doubt in these results,” shouted Curtatone, devotees cheering him on. “You know the people of Somerville and where our values stand.” Before stepping down, Curtatone gave a shout-out out to his new U.S. Senator, Elizabeth Warren. Again, the room erupted.

Photo credit: Tom Nash

Meanwhile, Curtatone enjoys all-star national status. He’s visited the White House on multiple occasions, played talking head on MSNBC, and been a star participant in the First Lady’s “Let’s Move!” initiative. Armed with a Mid-Career Master’s degree from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, he’s a formidable candidate for governor—even with a mounting opposition. People like Seth Goodman, who sued the city over sketchy development decisions outlined in the first part of this series, says he “wouldn’t want a governor running the state the way [Curtatone] runs this city.”

The greater public, though, appears to have a different perception.

Last month, at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel, Curtatone arrived early to celebrate the U.S. Senate victory of Ed Markey. Leading his entourage up to the most visible balcony seats, hovering just to the left of the stage, the mayor smiled, waved to friends, and embraced innumerable Democrats of note. In case Curtatone’s intentions weren’t clear enough, three weeks later, he took to social media:
“It’s flattering and humbling that people have encouraged me to consider a run for Governor,” he wrote. “I always stress that as Mayor I accomplish nothing by myself. What we’re doing in Somerville has caused widespread admiration and the credit for that belongs to all of us.”

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For 10 months, Chris Faraone, Tom Nash, and Adam Vaccaro dug into the unseemly political underbelly of the City of Somerville, where the power and privilege of an elite few has dominated and perverted municipal progress for decades. The Somerville Files is the culmination of their work, which pulls back the hip urban Somerville facade to reveal a shadow government amidst both turmoil and transition.

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THE SOMERVILLE FILES: PART 3: RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE

Posted on July 10, 2013 by CHRIS FARAONE AND TOM NASH AND ADAM VACCAROEmail

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There are a few reasons that a Somervillian might have to brave the Zoning Board of Appeals. Most likely, they’re a homeowner hoping to add something like a loft over their garage, or maybe they’re a contractor framing from scratch. Whatever you wish to change, if you’re before the ZBA Machine it means you want to do something that requires you to bend or break existing zoning ordinances.
As the body that decides who receives such favors, the ZBA is by some measures the most powerful appointed board in Somerville. Meeting every other Thursday in the aldermanic chambers—an echoey old beige room on the second floor of City Hall—the ZBA’s five members and two alternates serve as a de facto steering wheel for the city.
Under the leadership of Mayor Joe Curtatone, development in Somerville has advanced on two tracks. First, as part of a comprehensive 20-year plan called SomerVision, which addresses transportation and cultural improvements but also includes large-scale expansion of the city’s residential and commercial tax bases. That’s the long game, quarterbacked by Curtatone’s Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development. Complementing those efforts, another, less streamlined approach is also underway, in which small hotels, condominiums, and other vertical dreams are aggressively courted by city officials.
As Somerville expands upward, a pattern has emerged in which preferred developers appear to win indiscriminate approval. One builder, for example, has been permitted to keep working in the city despite leaving behind a trail of litigated money pits. At the same time, contractors are fattening the war chests of important politicians. Of the 45 biggest projects that the ZBA approved between 2010 and 2011— their case load minus small-scale residential applications — all but nine were for applicants who donated, either directly or by proxy, to Curtatone.
As DigBoston has revealed over the past month, certain companies can seemingly build anything in Somerville if the proper levers are aligned, and the appropriate cogs are greased.

This week, we lift the hood and take a hard look at the machine that makes it possible.

Photo credit: Derek KouyoumjianIllustrations by Carlos Montilla

FIXER-UPPERS

To redraw zoning maps in Somerville, it helps to work with people who are wired into the municipal woodwork. One such all-star is local real estate attorney Richard DiGirolamo. With DiGirolamo’s guidance, several applicants appear to have manipulated the ZBA, which typically rewards approval to even his most controversial and unscrupulous clients.

With its rubber stamps, the ZBA has advanced projects that violate state law and city ordinances. In the event that neighbors push back against these violations—and against developers with awful track records—they’re left to face a relentless city legal department. Some homeowners have prevailed in court; even in those situations, the city still seems to favor builders over residents. A city spokesperson says that Somerville has an “excellent track record,” with only 15 decisions appealed in the past decade. Those who have contested rulings, however, tell a different story.
Officials appear to use the zoning board as a favor bank for friends and colleagues. ZBA Chairman Herb Foster even votes on cases that are brought before the board by DiGirolamo, who served as his real estate attorney for years. Asked about a potential conflict of interest, Foster has claimed that there is none—

even though DiGirolamo, who faces the ZBA several dozen times a year, helped the chairman win board approval for a condo conversion in 2003.

In one instance, Foster raised ethical issues for accepting $1,600 in donations for the charity he runs from former Alderman Sean O’Donovan, and then voting in favor of a highly contested condo conversion of O’Donovan’s that DiGirolamo brought to the ZBA. The chairman also beckoned watchdogs by—after recusing himself—successfully appealing his own board for a special permit that effectively increased the value of a property he owned on Cross Street.

Then there’s the curious case of Sal Querusio, a sometimes city contractor and former ZBA member who gave $250 to Foster’s daughter for her 2005 run for an alderman seat. In 2008, Querusio applied to build a private senior housing complex on Park Street. But when he proposed squeezing 89 units onto a lot permitting less than half that many—seeking new zoning that reduced the minimum square footage of for-profit senior units—abutters whipped into a frenzy. After activists revealed that he neglected to disclose that he had served with the majority of sitting ZBA members—a violation of state law—Querusio withdrew his plan.
Curtatone, who appoints the board, has only furthered the perception that the ZBA is an old boys club for cronies. Earlier this year, the mayor caught flack for nominating Donald Norton—a local real estate agent and owner of the Somerville News—to the ZBA. A city spokesperson says Norton was “nominated due to his extensive background in real estate and his broad knowledge of the community.” But Norton’s newspaper, where one of the Dig reporters on this story previously worked, has made nearly $100,000 from city contracts since 2011. The relationship gets more personal: the News publisher, who regularly praises the Curtatone administration in his paper, sold the mayor his home in the Ten Hills neighborhood.

Less than two weeks after being nominated, following critical press from the Somerville Journal, Norton withdrew himself from the selection process.

DO IT FOR DILBOY

Private First Class George Dilboy may be the toughest guy to ever call Somerville home. According to military records, on July 18, 1918, Dilboy’s U.S. Army regiment advanced on the Germans just outside of Paris, where he charged into a bullet shower while attempting to defend comrades. Dilboy died from fatal injuries, but not before trudging toward the enemy with half of his leg severed, and gunning down a pair of rival riflemen.
The Dilboy legacy is strong in Somerville, with a bust of the Medal of Honor recipient prominently placed at City Hall, a stadium bearing his name, and a Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Davis Square named for the hero. So it’s fitting that the warrior’s tradition has been channeled in the battle over his namesake veteran’s facility, which developers are angling to move half a block down Summer Street and into a residential zone.

The rift began in 2002, when businessmen Roberto Arista and Marc Daigle purchased a small parcel at 353 Summer St. Since the area is zoned for seven apartments, the partners raised concerns with their proposing to build twice that many units there. First, an orthodontist who lives next door sued their company, then known as Emerald Development Group, saying the plans called for digging underneath his building. The neighbor lost, but Emerald—which changed its name to Dakota Partners—soon ran into another hurdle when the city stopped them from removing a tree. Arista and Daigle then sued Somerville for blocking their development, and in 2009 were granted an economic “hardship” extension by the ZBA. Abutters then grew even more suspicious after the mysterious disappearance of tape from a past ZBA meeting in which Assistant City Solicitor Shapiro told members that applicants couldn’t keep returning for extensions. In response, neighbors sued the city, arguing that the board’s reasoning was bogus. The court agreed.

By 2011, the pair had once again changed the name of their company, this time to Strategic Capital Partners, and devised a new strategy for Summer Street. To help push the initiative—an updated plan that called for 31 condos—they again enlisted DiGirolamo to shepherd their design through the zoning board.
For their scheme to work, Arista and Daigle also shored up backing from the Dilboy VFW, which owns the parking lot at 351 Summer St. between their hall and the property that developers were trying to finagle. With a facility that couldn’t meet state fire codes, veterans were happy to help the developers, who enticed them with the promise of a flashy new hall in their expanded structure.

The new arrangement was bulletproof. At the ZBA, DiGirolamo had an approving City Hall on his side; Somerville’s planning director at the time, Monica Lamboy, went so far as to tout the project as a desperately needed “mixed use” development that could help veterans. In turn, the city pitted abutters against veterans. Arista and Daigle finally had leverage, and a parcel more than double the size of what they started with. Their neighbors, however, were more dismayed than ever, as the new 8,300 square foot VFW building—designed to hold up to 355 people at up to 180 non-member party rentals a year—would be moving in next door.

There were other issues. The zoning process calls for the results of environmental tests to be disclosed to the board. Arista and Daigle had commissioned such tests on their lot—the site of a former gas station—with some results indicating possible contamination. Those reports, however, were kept concealed until residents spoke out at a ZBA hearing. Despite an apparent violation, the board voted to allow Daigle and Arista to withdraw their plans without prejudice, and to re-submit their application soon after. Tension only heightened after residents discovered that officials undercharged the builders for application fees.
With DiGirolamo still representing them, Strategic continued ZBA proceedings with the gusto of Dilboy himself. Nothing would impede them this time—not even their old Summer Street nemeses, who had also discovered that the licensed site professional who was hired to conduct environmental tests had been recently suspended by the state board that certifies waste cleanup workers.

After hammering at eco issues, abutters called attention to the basement where veterans hung out, which by code permitted zero occupancy. Furthermore, members lacked necessary entertainment and common victualer licenses. Under pressure, Somerville fire inspectors temporarily closed the post in late 2011. It didn’t matter though. In the end, the ZBA approved the plans in December of that year—on the anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Chairman Foster, whose father joined the Dilboy post after surviving that Day of Infamy, took a sentimental tone in approving.
“I’m proud to vote for the veterans,” the chairman said. “This is the only way they’re going to get a new post.”
A lawsuit over the ruling is still pending. In April, a Middlesex Superior Court judge denied Strategic Capital its motion to dismiss claims against neighbors. To abutters like Nancy Iappini, the decision’s pointed wording brought relief, but only reaffirmed what they’ve told city hall for years: the Dilboy proposal “would move a substantial source of noise . . . much closer to their home;” more importantly, the “ZBA’s decision does not explain why the new VFW function hall and bar . . . constitutes a ‘[p]rivate, non-profit club’ that may be sited in [a residential] district . . . rather than a ‘dance hall’ or ‘entertainment facility’ that is not permitted.”

CODE RED GREEN LIGHT

During the ordeal on Summer Street, Arista and Daigle continued doing other business in Somerville, and completed four buildings with an unusual number of code defects. A property of theirs on Broadway in West Somerville had a lien placed on it after a county judge found that condominiums they built and sold there had crossed gas lines, buckling floors, improperly functioning furnaces, and an improperly installed roof. According to court documents, two of Arista’s and Daigle’s buildings on Osgood Street also needed repairs costing tens of thousands of dollars—conditions included a leaky roof, and windows that had not been installed properly.
A similar fate nearly befell a complex in South Kingstown, Rhode Island. There, Jeffrey O’Hara is the official who enforces building codes. He has a thick folder of documents that cite a range of code issues at an active adult development that Dakota built in his town.
In 2009, control of the South Kingstown property was given to a bank after O’Hara—citing problems ranging from moldy materials to cut trusses—refused to approve the complex.

Arista blamed the economy for the bankruptcy. O’Hara tells a different story.

“I deal with building code and building code only,” the Rhode Island inspector said in 2011. “Personally, I wouldn’t hire them to shingle a dog house.”
Arista and Daigle have had more luck in Somerville. In defense of their flawed condominiums, Arista has maintained in interviews that owners failed to properly report problems. The developers have also said that buyer issues were less serious than alleged, noting that inspectors had not flagged their properties.

Perhaps not unrelated, Arista and Daigle’s projects were greenlit by a department whose superintendents lacked proper certification. George Landers, who served in the position from 2004 to 2010, never passed state tests to become a certified building commissioner. Ed Nuzzo, who replaced Landers, fared even worse, earning as low as 16 percent on the first of five required state exams. Furthermore; both oversaw senior inspector Paul Nonni, who signed off on Arista and Daigle’s buildings.

Officials deny that there has ever been an ISD problem. According to a city spokesperson, Somerville “has satisfied the requirements of the state Department of Public Safety regarding conditional appointments to the position of ISD Superintendent pending certification.” They cite a 2010 internal analysis of its inspectional services; but while that report threw low-level employees under the bus, noting that some workers dressed sloppily, there was no mention of Landers. As for Nuzzo; after failing three times, last year he was transferred to a higher paying city job.

In prior email correspondence with the Dig, a city spokesperson denied that the mayor’s administration manipulates the rules for anyone. Still, the zoning wars rage on—over a new high rise on Broadway, about plans to build a hotel in Davis Square, which Curtatone has publicly defended in bold terms. Considering the course that other projects have taken, residents don’t stand much of a chance against the city, not to mention its lawyers, the ZBA, and inspectors.
On Summer Street, abutter Nancy Iappini is relatively positive considering her situation. In her pending lawsuit, a judge has so far questioned the board’s approval of the VFW hall. After a long war with the city, developers, and Dilboy members, Iappini hopes that the courts will validate the claims she’s shouted on deaf and unhelpful municipal ears for years.

“The board didn’t enforce its own rules,” she says. “What is the public supposed to do?”

In the next installment, the Dig explores the future of Somerville politics, and the shifting landscape underneath the Curtatone administration.

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THE SOMERVILLE FILES: PART 1: THE FIXED GEARS

Posted on June 12, 2013 by CHRIS FARAONE AND TOM NASH AND ADAM VACCAROEmail

This is the first installment in a multi-part DigBoston series about the intersection of politics, development, and power in the City of Somerville.

Since the turn of the millennium, the media at large has declared Somerville to be something of a Hipster Pleasantville. Once a ribald mini-metropolis marred by corruption, the general perception has become that the city of nearly 80,000 is a healthy and progressive home for middle class families, vivacious young professionals, and hard-working immigrants alike. The Boston Globe has called Somerville “the best-run city in Massachusetts.” Recently, NPR reported that despite its “checkered past,” Somerville has found a new, hip identity.

But for the gobs of attention drawn to Somerville for marquee events like the annual Fluff Festival—or for its plethora of trendy features like cool coffee shops and bars—something appears to be rotten at the core.

Many of these troubles trace back to a tight circle of high-level officials and their cronies, the lot of whom appear to constitute a well-greased small city political machine.
In 2013, significant city contracts are still awarded to builders and service providers that donate generously to the campaigns of Mayor Joe Curtatone and his allies. In one case, contracts given to one design engineering firm—totaling in excess of $1 million—have been approved outside of a formal bidding process. For ordinary Somerville property owners, City Hall is a frustrating labyrinth to navigate. But for those who are wired into the establishment, virtually any breach of regulations is plausible.
Briefcases full of cash aren’t in plain view. But obvious conflicts of interest, as defined by Massachusetts General Law, are the grease that makes the wheels turn.
The corrosion in Somerville operations has been partially exposed in bits and pieces. Still, the big picture has been out of focus since the early 1970s, when the Boston Globe won a Pulitzer Prize for a series about no-bid contracts and other slimy subterfuge. Back then, the city was a wounded post-industrial relic, riddled by pay-to-play pilfering.

Now, for the first time in four decades, the Dig looks behind Somerville’s fluffy, festive facade to see how much, if anything, has changed.

The story begins this week with an ongoing showdown over a proposed street redesign, and will unfold over the next several weeks, as we spelunk into the operational ecosystem of the city’s most powerful pols and players.

Photo credit: Derek KouyoumjianIllustrations by Carlos Montilla

TRACK FIGHT
It’s a chilly Tuesday night in March, and there are more than 100 Somervillians steaming in the Argenziano School cafeteria. They’re here to spar over a proposed cycle track that would span across Beacon Street, beginning just outside Porter Square and stretching half-a-mile toward the Inman area. This is the seventh heated forum on the subject; at this juncture, voices on both sides of the issue—those who want the cycle track, and those who strongly oppose it—are extremely ornery. They stopped playing nicely months ago, when planners proposed a drastic reduction in on-street parking.

According to the plan on deck, the cycle track would be a dedicated throughway situated between the sidewalk and a parking alley, with a small concrete barrier that would ostensibly keep cars out between side streets while allowing for emergency vehicles. As the diagrams around the lunchroom also show, the lane would eliminate at least 75 spaces. For some, recent storms that resulted in snow impeding spots only foreshadowed the troubles that this project could cause—the street was jammed with double-parked delivery trucks all winter. It was just the latest nightmare for local shop owners and residents, some of whom began making noise about road conditions more than a decade ago. The city and state have stalled in response, mostly because of budget constraints, leaving a messy patchwork of asphalt Band-Aids and incongruous lane markers. Now, on top of that, they could lose a significant number of spaces.
By a show of hands at the Argenziano, about half of those present think there is enough parking on Beacon Street. The others scoff in disagreement. Vincent Drago, a Somerville lifer in an Irish green sweatshirt, gets a hearty laugh from the opposing faction with a snub aimed at city workers in the room. “Not everyone from Beacon Street can be here,” says Drago. “Maybe they’re elderly—or maybe they’re afraid to lose their parking spots.”

With vitriol crisscrossing the cafeteria like Jell-O in a food fight, it’s clear that this dispute is over more than just a bike lane, or parking. At the heart of the Beacon Street debacle is the issue of a city that seemingly does whatever it wants, where it wishes—often in ignorance of regulations, and in spite of public outcry—when a project fits Curtatone’s vision of adding thousands of residential units around the city, along with all the chic urban accoutrements necessary to attract upwardly mobile buyers.
In this case, the cycle track has run afoul of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. A December 2012 DOT review of the Beacon Street plan eviscerated Somerville’s proposal. Among other shortcomings, the state cited a gauntlet of safety violations, and noted that planners neglected to address basic items like where bus stops would be situated.
Despite the poor DOT evaluation, as of mid-May, Somerville had yet to submit changes to the state. While concerns have been ignored by city planners, opponents of the plan are only shouting louder, their ranks now including Somerville State Sen. Pat Jehlen, who says that the proposal is awful enough to give all cycle tracks a bad name.

It’s no wonder they’re frustrated; many residents, have been waiting for this powder keg to explode.

But what few seem to understand is the issue doesn’t have much to do with a cycle track at all.

Sketchier shenanigans simmer underneath the surface.

THE HEADACHE HOTEL
Somerville officials have cherished Porter Square as an asset for years. Abutting a notably bustling section of Cambridge, the entire surrounding area is ripe for avant-garde development, as Somerville updates its standing among its wealthier neighbor. On the skirt circling Porter, one property that has especially enticed planners is a vacant former gas station at 371 Beacon St., located at the busy intersection of Somerville Avenue. It’s just steps from the proposed northern gateway to the cycle track. More importantly, it’s where tension over Beacon Street adjustments erupted four years ago.

The application for a 35-room boutique hotel with a 60-seat restaurant first appeared in 2009. Since developers sought to make a major change—they aimed to put a four-story structure on a narrow lot with a reduced parking exemption—they needed special permission from Somerville’s Zoning Board of Appeals to obtain a special permit for hotel use, which is prohibited in the current zoning. A zoning board is entrusted by Mass General Law to allow special permits that do not adversely impact the surrounding community using applicable zoning codes. Part of that is, of course, asking applicants who they are, what they want to build, and if there are outstanding issues in regard to the property.

Or at least that’s how the process is supposed to go.

For the owners of 371 Beacon St., it appears that the ZBA threw the rules in a wood chipper. Board members ignored glaring discrepancies in applications. Some documents listed the applicant as Dream City Associates, an LLC belonging to Katherine L. Ferrari, who was introduced to the board as the fiancé of Louis Makrigiannis, the son of the property owner. Others, in violation of a Somerville zoning ordinance, listed a nonexistent entity called “Beacon Street Hotel.”

Middlesex County lists George Makrigiannis as the owner of 371 Beacon St. His son Louis (who also spells his name “Lewis” on some documents), however, appears to run operations for their millions of dollars worth of real estate holdings. Though he’s now nearly 100 years old, George Makrigiannis has recently had several judgments issued against him for withholding tenants’ security deposits—even though former tenants of those properties tell the Dig that Louis Makrigiannis and his girlfriend, Katherine Ferrari of the aforementioned Dream City Associates, managed their deposits. In the face of opposition and the lack of a legitimate applicant, ZBA members still unanimously approved the project in January 2010.
Seth Goodman sought to stop the hotel. A nearby homeowner, he believed that planners overlooked the havoc that such a large building could reap on the already gnarly intersection, and sued the city. Unmoved, Somerville used public funds to defend itself despite what appeared to be a clear zoning violation, only to be told by a commonwealth land court judge two years later that the hotel application be amended, and resubmitted on behalf of an existing business. The Makrigiannis family obliged. Presented for a second time on April 18, 2012, the project won unanimous ZBA approval again. This time, the board rubber-stamped Makrigiannis Fuel, LLC as the applicant of record—even though George, listed as a primary manager of the company, had by then filed for personal bankruptcy in Massachusetts.
Furthermore, the ZBA did not take into account that Ferrari had been arrested for assaulting the elder Makrigiannis, a nonagenarian who increasingly appeared to be a front for the development. The assault charges, which were dropped, didn’t raise eyebrows, nor did the fact that an employee of Makrigiannis lawyer Richard DiGirolamo, Anne Vigorito, represented both development interests in 371 Beacon St., as well as those of George’s alleged attacker, Ferrari.
“If the rules are that the application needs to be complete, the obvious question is, ‘Why isn’t it?’” Goodman said back in 2010. “If I went to City Hall and I filled out an application that wasn’t complete, they’d throw it in the trash.

Why aren’t these developers required to fill out an application correctly too?”

DANGEROUS INTERSECTION
The city has yet to fully address the questions posed by Goodman, or other hotel opponents. A likely answer, though, is that George and Louis Makrigiannis benefitted from a multilateral flurry of friendly influence and favors. Of great help to the family in this process was their attorney, Richard DiGirolamo, whose knack for successfully shepherding extraordinary projects through the ZBA is legendary among locals. DiGirolamo is so good at his job that even Herb Foster, chairman of the ZBA, uses him as his own real estate lawyer. Foster has previously said that he believes he is able to remain impartial when his attorney has appeared before the board he heads.

The other force pushing the hotel along was Design Consultants, a local traffic engineering firm that serves private contracts, and also scores hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of annual business with Somerville. Like George and Louis Makrigiannis—who each donated the maximum $500 to Curtatone in 2009 and 2010—Design Consultants President David Giangrande contributes amply to the mayor, who appoints ZBA members. Curtatone has categorically denied engaging in quid pro quo dealings all throughout his career. Still, prospective and ongoing business partners donate generously.

Between 2011 and 2012, the Giangrandes gave the mayor more than $2000.

In conversations with the Dig, civil engineering experts who work in the Greater Boston area said Design Consultants wields a solid reputation; none recalled hearing anything negative about the firm. Nevertheless; the company is facing intense public scrutiny for landing deals without a formal bidding process. Since Design Consultants provides shovel-free services like surveying and traffic studies, Somerville is able to cite an exemption in state law that enables them to fatten Giangrande indiscriminately. Between 2011 and 2013, the company serviced nearly $1.5 million in city contracts.
Design Consultants is instrumentally embattled in the Beacon Street cycle track spat—and in more ways than some opponents of the plan may realize. In designing the hotel for Makrigiannis, back in 2009, the firm proposed for more than 80 parking spaces along Beacon Street to be used for hotel and restaurant guests. But in engineering the cycle track, Design Consultants slated to eliminate 75 spots along the same thoroughfare—creating what amounts to a major conflict of interest. Asked whether he realized this contradiction, Giangrande told the Dig that “the results of another firm’s traffic study for the hotel were factored into the cycle track study.”

The Curtatone administration has shown little bend. Shortly before the public meeting in March at the Argenziano School, the DOT asked for a resubmission of the plans. The city unveiled its updated design at the meeting, but the cycle track remained virtually unchanged, and stayed that way through at least May 9, when yet another set of plans was submitted. As for the hotel; Anne Tate, an outside urban design consultant who oversaw the forum, said, “It depends on what the developers do.”
In an email to the Dig, Hayes Morrison, Somerville’s director of transportation and infrastructure, said she has not heard any concerns about DCI. “This process is on schedule and moving forward as planned,” she wrote. “It will be a transformative project; helping Somerville fulfill our goal of being the most walkable, bikeable, transit-accessible community in the United States.”
John McVann, Massachusetts director of project delivery at the Federal Highway Administration, says public outcry has attracted interest from his office after hearing of “potential issues surrounding parking and the cycle track.”
“We typically rely on MassDOT through that [design process],” adding, “We’re providing oversight that we provide on all projects, but we’re keeping our finger on the pulse.”

For his part, Giangrande gives an equally rosy assessment: “In response to community concerns about pedestrian safety, we are coordinating with the MBTA to move bus stops away from the cycle track,” he wrote. “This appears to have been [a] robust community process that resulted in changes that incorporated community and MassDOT requests.
Meanwhile, residents, business owners, and even cyclists who just want Beacon Street paved are caught in the dangerous intersection of a questionable and potentially dangerous concept, the will of Somerville officials, and the greater public interest, whatever that may be.
“It has been shocking, disappointing, and discouraging,” says Domenic Ruccio, the outspoken owner of the Beacon Street Laundromat, located right inside the war zone. “It’s been awful. The thing I hear most of the time is, ‘Forget about it. It’s a done deal. The mayor wants this.’