Matt Schonert

This story is as entertaining as it is depressing. A summary:

1. A shopping center in downtown Boston comes under the control of Steven Roth, a commercial real estate developer.
2. Developer demolishes most of the building, planning to erect a $700 million structure, One Franklin, in its place.
3. Two years later, the site remains partially-demolished and undeveloped.
4. Developer brags publicly that he let a Manhattan site languish, hoping in part that the more blighted the building, the more willing government officials would be to subsidize the project.
5. Mayor Thomas Menino is under fire for fast-tracking Roth’s permits.
6. Mayor lambastes developer in a letter, accusing developer of inflicting pain on the community in order to turn a profit.
7. Mayor considers using eminent domain to take control of the site.
8. Mayor’s strong stance helps him win back public support.
9. Developer apologizes. Mayor accepts.
10. Mayor talks about his fiduciary responsibility to taxpayers.
11. The debacle becomes personal for the mayor, who owns 500 ties and frequented Filene’s Basement on the site before it was razed.
12. WSJ.com commenter points out that if eminent domain is used, the city will have to pay fair market value, and argues that the mayor ballooned the property’s price tag by “spot” rezoning the site to allow high-rises.
13. Either way, taxpayers will foot the bill: subsidize the developer, or pay the developer fair market value for the property.

Popularity: 27% [?]

Should the alleged planner of the September 11 attacks go free because interrogators tortured him and threatened to kill his family?

If the federal government fails to convict Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, his tormentors can be thanked for guaranteeing that verdict. Their inhumane actions give moral high ground to the defense.

Can any single terrorist threat do as much damage to civilization as the erosion and eventual loss of due process under the law? Rather than side-stepping this requirement for the sake of urgency, such high-profile cases are, on the contrary, an opportunity to demonstrate unimpeachable humanity even to those who least deserve it.

Popularity: 5% [?]

The Federal Reserve is formally asking Congress for authority — starting this year — to pay interest on commercial-bank reserves, in an effort to gain better control over interest rates and more leverage to battle the credit crunch.

Popularity: 1% [?]

David Boaz says:

…when [my friend] received a Starbucks gift card for Christmas, he found there was a limit to how personalized a card could be. His card required him to customize it on the company’s Web site. So he went to the site and requested that the phrase ‘Laissez Faire’ be printed on his card. A few days later he was informed that the company couldn’t issue such a card because the wording violated company policy.

…at my suggestion, my friend went back to the Web site and asked that his card be issued with the phrase ‘People Not Profits.’ Bingo! Starbucks had no problem with that phrase, and the card arrived in a few days.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Last summer, the Hillsdale Daily News reported that local police arrested a woman for alleged trespassing during a service at Allen Baptist Church, which is part of a tiny rural community along U.S. Route 12 in Michigan.

Today’s Wall Street Journal caught my attention with a familiar theme: “Banned From Church”. I quickly realized that the international newspaper was leading its feature with the same saga of Karolyn Caskey, the 71-year-old dissident arrested last June (and again in July) during church services.

The charge was trespassing, but Mrs. Caskey’s real offense, in her pastor’s view, was spiritual. Several months earlier, when she had questioned his authority, he’d charged her with spreading “a spirit of cancer and discord” and expelled her from the congregation. “I’ve been shunned,” she says.

Popularity: 1% [?]