Business as usual in Beantown

PLEASE, people, don't let this story from yesterday's Boston Globe destroy your faith in the high ethical standards of the City of Boston's public servants.

Zoning official works as developer's lawyer - Says board role doesn’t help client

He was also reported to say that monkeys fly out of his butt, and that the earth is flat, but that's another story.

The chairman of Boston’s Zoning Board of Appeal has been working as a lawyer for a housing developer whose business has flourished with the help of repeated board approval to override Boston’s zoning laws.

For nearly five years, Joseph D. Feaster Jr. has represented developer Joseph LaRosa, who has built scores of homes in some of the city’s poorest neighborhoods, often over the objections of neighbors who say the houses are cheaply constructed and out of character with the surrounding area.

Nope, no conflict of interest here.

Meanwhile, Feaster may be violating a requirement that board members live in the city. Though he lists a Roxbury address on city voting and payroll records, he owns a 3,100-square-foot home in suburban Stoughton, where his cars are registered and he is listed on the town's resident list. A Roxbury neighbor who asked not to be named said Feaster moved out of the city when he bought the Stoughton house in 1998.

"I live in Roxbury and I live in Stoughton," said Feaster, adding: "Joe Kennedy has two houses." Former US Representative Joseph P. Kennedy II, a Brighton resident, has a summer home in Hyannis Port.

"Yeah, I live in the 'hood. The big house in Stoughton is my summer home. Yeah, that's it." Don't tell me anyone's buying this crap.

"He's probably the best chairman the zoning board has ever had. He does a fantastic job," (zoning board member Angelo) Buonoparne said. "No one understands zoning law or building codes better than he."

If this is the best the city has to offer, we're screwed and half the housing in town should probably be condemned, razed, and rebuilt.

But hey, I'm sure the mayor's office, at least, conducted a thorough job search before concluding that Mr. Feaster was the most qualified applicant for the position, right?

Feaster, 54, is a longtime political ally of Mayor Menino.

No!!! I NEVER would have guessed. File this one under "Big Shocker".

UPDATE (from today's Globe): Zoning official must step aside, mayor says

Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino demanded yesterday that the city's Zoning Board of Appeal chairman, Joseph D. Feaster Jr., surrender to authorities resign withdraw from any involvement with the board panel until the State Ethics Commission can rule on whether he violated the state's conflict of interest law by working for a developer who has frequent business before the board.

Our hero, Mayor Menino, ruling with the foam rubber fist, as usual.

Menino declined to say whether he will seek Feaster's resignation from the board if the ethics commission finds he violated the law.

Shouldn't that one be a no-brainer, Tom? How about shit-canning him for this flagrant violation of the public's trust? Doesn't that count for anything anymore?

If officials determine Feaster's primary residence is not in Boston, Menino said, Feaster will also be asked to repay thousands of dollars he has saved on his Boston property taxes. For many years, Feaster has claimed a residential exemption on the Roxbury address -- $1,110.27 this year, nearly half his total tax bill. The city offers the exemptions on properties that are owner-occupied, as a way of encouraging homeownership in the city.

So, it seems we can also add tax fraud to Feaster's list of hobbies...nice.

"We'll do the research. I've only just been made aware of this," said Menino, who named Feaster to the board in 1994.

Ah yes, nothing like firing up the old "Sergeant Schultz Defense" once you're busted and outed in the papers. This would, under normal circumstances, be sufficient cause to question Menino's ability to govern the City and serve the interests of its residents, but since it's become the accepted practice of government in this town and state, no one bats an eye.