What the Laborers' Union should be doing everywhere
132 Cong Rec S 265 Thursday, January 23, 1986;(Legislative day of Tuesday,
January 21, 1986)
Congressional Record -- Senate
Thursday, January 23, 1986;
(Legislative day of Tuesday, January 21, 1986)
99th Cong. 2nd Sess.
132 Cong Rec S 265
REFERENCE: Vol. 132 No. 3
TITLE: SOUTHIE SUCCESS STORY
SPEAKER: Mr. KENNEDY
TEXT: Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President,
a recent article in the Boston Globe praises my longtime friend and constituent
Tom McIntyre as a man who gets the job done.
Tom, who lives and works in South Boston, is the international vice president of
Local No. 3 of the Bricklayers Union. He is known for his
"can do" attitude and his direct approach to any issue or problem. But
more importantly, he is known for his unflagging support and loyalty to his
friends from all walks of life. All you have to do is join him for a sandwich
and a beer at Amrhein's on West Broadway and you know that here is a man you
want on your side.
For those folks who have grown up on Andrew Square, off Dorchester Street, who
have married and raised children there, Tom McIntyre is in their corner. As the
Boston Globe story of November 24, 1985, shows, Tom McIntyre has worked to
provide affordable housing for many young families during a time when inflation
has put housing out of reach. During a time of high unemployment for union
members in the construction trades, Tom McIntyre has created jobs. This is a man
who gets things done. I am proud to call him my friend.
I ask unanimous consent that David B. Wilson's article from the Boston Globe of
November 24, 1985, be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in the Record,
as follows:
[From the Boston Globe, Nov. 24, 1985]
BARGAIN HOUSES -- NO SPECULATORS NEED APPLY
(David B. Wilson)
South Boston. -- New, archtct-dsgn, brick frnt, 2br town houses, Pkng, off Xway
6 mins to Park Street, walk to beach, $68,900, Bricklayers & Laborers
Non-Profit Housing Co. Inc.
No such ad will appear in the Globe because, by spring, when the BLNPHC is ready
to sell these 18, sunny, special places, the word will be around and they will
all be taken.
And if you don't live in the neighborhood -- that's the key word -- of Andrew
Square, forget it. Tom McIntyre didn't lay up all that brick for yuppie
speculators. He did it for what he calls "the two-dollar bettors."
You do not mess with Tom McIntyre. He is international vice president of Local
No. 3 of the Bricklayers Union. You do not get to be that and
stay that by avoiding or losing fights. He is Mission Hill Irish, silver-haired,
black-browed, tough, decisive, the kind of man other men will follow. He also is
an idealist with a creative imagination, language to which he would no doubt
object.
Like the wheel, great ideas are simple. McIntyre's was, is, this: Boston is
desperately short of housing. Housing costs too much because land costs too
much. People can't afford to live where they grew up, formed families. The city
owns a lot of land, abandoned schools, burn-outs, tax-title takings, vacant lots
strewn with rubble and broken glass, going to waste.
The way to produce housing that neighborhood people can afford is to build it on
city land conveyed for $1 to a nonprofit developer. A bank that enjoyed the union's
pension business ought to be interested in financing. Union
craftsmen, paid scale, working for a union-backed outfit, could
do the work. And the buyers would get a double discount -- the land cost and the
developer's profit.
This is pretty radical stuff, you know. No federal funds. No limited
partnerships. No sales commissions. No syndicated tax shelters. No complex
gimmickry, publicity campaign, extended planning procedures, environmentalist
tedlum, hearings, seminars, workshops, committees, reviews. Just do it. But you
need an architect.
Bill Rawn is an architect. Matter of fact, he is The Architect in Tracy Kidder's
best seller, "House." Through Ed Lashman, a mutual friend, McIntyre
found Rawn. One night last January they had dinner at Amrhein's on West Broadway
and discovered that they liked each other's style and ideas.
It helped -- a lot -- that McIntyre had been with Ray Flynn early in the 1983
election. It helped that Arthur Cola and Pat Walsh of the Laborers Union
were willing to get aboard. It helped that Billy Bulger had gone to the Andrew
School. It helped that Dave Mirabassi was willing to take charge as general
contractor and that attorney Valerie Swett was fascinated by the legal issues.
Bill Rawn delivered plans a month after the Amrhein's dinner. A month later,
McIntyre had cost estimates from Mirabassi. In May, the city issued requests for
proposals for the old Andrew School site. In June, to the surprise of almost no
one, the BLNPHC was chosen. It took title in August and broke ground Sept. 9. In
May, people will be living in the houses.
Boston is not supposed to work that way. In Boston, people love to fight, brood
upon ancient wrongs, to chew over issues, to debate important principles, to
punish and reward old foes and friends, to convene and consult and pick nits.
Instead, Tom McIntyre, the Mission Hill kid, and Bill Rawn, the post-modernist 1
Yalie, Harvard Law graduate and oncoming national celebrity, and their friends,
went out and built 18 houses.
You can see them today, framed in and rough-plumbed, their bay windows shining
out on Dorchester street, with the fine, clean smell of new lumber blending with
the sour scent of mortar. It is the fragrance of progress and growth. Thousands
of empty lots in this city could use a little of it.
Valerie Swett has written deed restrictions designed to prevent speculation, and
she thinks they will work. The houses, of course, are worth on the open market
two to three times their expected price.
Tom McIntyre may have discovered a no-lose game. The union gets
work and jobs for apprentices and badly needed public relations. The
neighborhood gets some protection against gentrification. A development model
has been established. Ray Flynn looks great. The city gets taxes and
neighborhood stability. Bill Rawn gets an exciting commission. Valerie Swett
breaks new ground in her profession. And people get places to live. Each new
unit, just about, creates a corresponding vacancy.
If it all does not work out exactly as planned, well, somebody tried. Right
away. Now. Tom McIntyre's way.