‘We are Boston’ honors
Add another tribute to the long list of them heaped on Margaret Marshall over the course of her career.
Monday night, the former chief justice of the state’s highest court received the 2014 “We Are Boston Leadership Award,” which honors people and organizations that embrace diversity and immigrant heritage. Marshall, of course, is a native of South Africa and wrote the 2003 Supreme Judicial Court opinion that legalized same-sex marriage in Massachusetts. She was also the first female general counsel of Harvard University.
“She’s made so many contributions to various communities here, but she’s always had her immigrant perspective and her gratitude for the rule of law,” said John Nadas, chairman of Choate, Hall & Stewart, where Marshall was previously a partner and is now senior counsel.
Marshall was a natural for the honor, said Agnes Chang of the Mayor’s Office of New Bostonians, which picks the recipients, because “her whole mission has been focused on humanity for all.” Mayor Martin J. Walsh presented the award.
Advertisement
--Sacha Pfeiffer
Pass the mole, please
It’s long been one of the bum raps of Boston’s food scene: You can’t get authentic Mexican food here.
Even the estimable chief executive of our southern neighbor’s premier airline, Aeromexico, Andrés Conesa , knows that. “It’s so hard to find here,” said Conesa, who lived in Boston for a few years while earning his PhD at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Conesa was in town last week to announce his airline’s new nonstop flight between Mexico City and Boston. Others in the Mexico entourage quickly chimed in with grievances about the state of their cuisine in the land of the bean and cod.
Then Cecilia Ramos, a Mexican diplomat who promotes international trade and investment, chimed in with “Angela’s Café!” The family-run restaurant in East Boston traces its food heritage to Mexico’s gastro-rich Puebla region and its deep-flavored mole sauces.
Ramos’s suggestion raised the appetite of the Aeromexico crowd, who later said they might have to, ahem, schedule a “launch event” at Angela’s when the new flights begin next year.
--Taryn Luna
Boston’s annual holiday tech co-party — busted by the cops last year — is a no-party this season. Co-planner Ryan Light, who is marketing director at CoachUp, said the cancelation was necessary because costs were getting out of control, and it was too late to make alternative plans. Disappointed tech types have logged their dismay on social media using the hashtag #sadsanta.
Advertisement
It’s not exactly a crowd you’d expect to attract police attention — the event’s official logo is an image of Santa Claus riding a pterodactyl. Attendees are largely programmers and app-makers whose startups are small, or share co-working spaces, and find it hard to throw parties of their own.
Last December, more than 500 people packed Space 57 at the Revere Hotel for an open-bar soiree. The unlimited booze landed revelers on the Boston Police Department’s naughty list — open bars are illegal under state law, except at private functions.
Police broke up the party after midnight.
This year, though, Boston’s finest won’t be on the tech folks’ gift list. Despite the bust last year, the party planners donated $500 in leftover funds to the Boston Police Foundation. This year with no party, there will be no donation.
--Callum Borchers
Deliver us from real estate politics? Not quite
Real estate development has always been a blood sport in Boston. But you would think construction of a modest chapel for the Archdiocese of Boston might escape the fray.
Think again.
A project to rebuild Our Lady of Good Voyage in the Seaport District (which broke ground Nov. 21) is already facing delays because of a legal fight between the chapel’s developer, John B. Hynes III, and a neighboring property owner. The owner, Crosspoint Associates, has claimed it holds an easement on the property that Hynes is interfering with. That lawsuit was dismissed before the chapel’s formal ground-breaking, but Crosspoint quickly appealed.
Advertisement
The backstory? Hynes said Crosspoint tried unsuccessfully to buy the adjacent property several times and now wants to back him into a corner. He said the court fight could delay construction of the chapel and a Yotel hotel along Seaport Boulevard.
“We have to get this cleared up before we can start construction,” he said.
Nick Carter, an attorney for Crosspoint, said his client is simply trying to resolve a dispute in court.
--Casey Ross
Do you have an item of note?
E-mail us at boldtypes@globe.com.