Boston's Building Boom

"To passersby, the steel skeleton rising between Chinatown and the Leather District is another of an endless series of construction sites in Boston. But for Mayor Thomas M. Menino's reelection treasury, it represents at least $31,950 in contributions since 1998 from a team that will transform a hole in the ground into One Lincoln Street, a 36-story office tower... Indeed, the nonstop flow of development money to Menino's coffers is not restricted to one stage of the process. Some players give before they file, others after they're approved, and in some cases, they donate during project reviews. Example: After plans were filed in 1999 for Liberty Place, a 410-apartment complex on lower Washington Street, Menino's campaign deposited five checks of $500 from project principals - three executives of Virginia-based Charles E. Smith Residential Realty, a real estate investment trust, and local landlord-parking lot owner W. Kevin Fitzgerald and his wife. The project is still under BRA review."

Thanks to Tom Collilns