1897 – Oscar Wilde is released from Reading Gaol.  More anniversaries.

Council President Ross threatens to reject fire arbitration award
By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff – May 19, 2010

City Council President Michael P. Ross today threatened to reject the firefighters’ arbitration award unless the union makes “meaningful concessions” to reduce the cost.

“If they don’t, I believe we have no choice — on behalf of the residents of this city — but to reject the award,” Ross said in a fiery speech that described palpable “public outrage” over the settlement.

“Seventy-four million dollars,” Ross said. “A 19 percent increase. Paying firefighters to come to work sober.”

Ross’s position marked the most significant opposition to date to the arbitration award, giving the strongest indication yet that the 13-member council could vote against funding the contract.

Three other councilors followed Ross and gave the impression that they may also vote against it. Several other councilors have previously made it clear that they plan to support the award, but none of them spoke at today’s meeting.

Edward A. Kelly, president of Local 718 of the International Association of Fire Fighters, sat in the front row of the council chamber and told reporters that the union had no plans to offer concessions.

Attitudes at altitudes
By Brian McGrory – Globe Columnist / May 19, 2010

Among the many calls I didn’t expect to get last week was the one from Paul Levy, the chief executive of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, who, having successfully saved his once teetering hospital, is currently trying to save his job.

Levy was involved in what has been very politely described as an “inappropriate relationship’’ with a female underling, a woman who, as it happens, he hired and later fired. And they say chivalry is dead.

Levy called to say that he liked a column I wrote earlier this month in which I suggested that questions about his relationship needed to be answered, questions like: Did Levy squander Beth Israel funds in hiring, promoting, and firing her? Fortunately, the state attorney general has stepped in to pursue the financial issues that the hospital’s board of directors failed to publicly address.

So I found myself in Levy’s office on Brookline Avenue on Monday afternoon, face to face with a man who is widely considered to be among the most charming members of Boston’s leadership elite. I came away with two distinct thoughts: This guy is good, and he just doesn’t get it.

The good part: Levy is thoughtful, he is expansive, he is conciliatory. He has been a force of nature in returning Beth Israel to the powerhouse that it is today.

A reflection of the times – Boston church plans user-friendly revamp of famed pool, plaza
By Matt Byrne – Globe Correspondent / May 19, 2010

The Christian Science Church is launching a major redevelopment of its Back Bay headquarters, with plans to remake one of Boston’s most famous landmarks: the 686-foot-long reflecting pool that anchors the church’s sprawling concrete plaza at Massachusetts and Huntington avenues.

The church plans to build a more modern, shallower version of an infinity pool. But most significant will be the addition of a 20-foot wide path across the pool, built so that, from a distance, people crossing it will look as if they are walking on water.

“When we started this process, people said: ‘It’s so beautiful. Why would you want to change anything?’ ’’ said Barbara Burley, the church’s senior manager for real estate planning and operations. “Times are different than they were 40 years ago. It really matters to have more trees and more places to sit.’’

Another change the church will encourage: ice skating in winter on one section of the divided pool.

The new pool is part of a massive redevelopment the Christian Science leadership has been working on for more than a year. Its current plan is to build three buildings, with one taller than 500 feet. Proceeds from the lease or sale of the buildings would be used to finance the estimated $40 million redesign of the plaza and pool.

There is no firm timetable yet for beginning construction, but the church expects to release more details this summer after it concludes working with a citizens group in a process organized by City Hall.

You might also be interested in this Boston.com photo gallery.

Man vs. measures of masculinity
By Cate McQuaid – Globe Correspondent / May 19, 2010

A cockfight, a strutting wrestler, a pyramid of Budweiser cans, a brawl. These are not the usual things you see in the refined space of an art gallery, but they all make an appearance in “Man Up.’’ The group show at Judi Rotenberg Gallery puts the microscope on expressions of masculinity fueled by high-octane testosterone.

The exhibit was organized by gallery co-director Kristen Dodge, who plans to open a New York space in the fall, after Rotenberg closes next month. Her exit is a loss for Boston.

The dark, occasionally giddy “Man Up’’ has edge and elegance. At the center hangs Jesse Burke’s montage of color photos that spotlight intensely masculine themes with self-consciously artful beauty. The portrait of the smudgy football player in Burke’s “Post Game’’ looks positively beatific. Shot-gunning beer, which involves shaking the can and poking a hole in it to shoot the foaming brew into your mouth, is a recurring motif, with inevitably sexual overtones. There’s also the image of a deer carcass, and “Open Country,’’ a starkly lit image of a bare-chested man in a hunting mask known as an executioner’s hood. The images tell stories of vulnerability and aggression, toeing the thin line between them.

All the works here grapple with that theme. Rune Olsen’s remarkable motion-filled sculptures, made of masking tape and paper on steel armatures to resemble drawings, come vividly to life, capturing moments of fierce assault, when the assailants see only red. Most of Steve Locke’s lush, economical paintings address a masculine companionability that is both exposed and competitive.

Source: Dorchester man’s jump from bridge was bid to save pal
By O’Ryan Johnson and Laura Crimaldi/Boston Herald – May 19, 2010

A Hyde Park man intent on suicide last night lept from the Massachusetts Avenue bridge and his Dorchester friend jumped in the frigid, swirling, blackness in a failed attempt to save him, a law enforcement source said.

The would-be rescuer was saved by quick-thinking State Trooper John Dwyer, who heard screams when troopers arrived at the scene at about 11:03 p.m., state police said. Dwyer threw his police cruiser’s spare tire into the river to help one of the men, who he could hear but not see, state police said.

That man tried several times to grab onto the tire, which was caught in a current, state police said. Once he got hold of the tire, Dwyer threw a rope to him and brought him to shore.

State police said the survivor is a 27-year-old Dorchester resident, who was taken to Brigham and Women’s Hospital for evaluation after spending about 20 minutes in the water.

Both men jumped into the river at about 11 p.m. The body of a 28-year-old Hyde Park man was recovered by Cambridge firefighters and the state police Marine Unit at about 12:20 a.m., state police said. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner was notified.

Teen job wasteland – Great Depression conditions spark fear of summer trouble
By Jay Fitzgerald/Boston Herald – May 19, 2010

The Bay State’s summer youth jobs picture is worse than even during the Great Depression, with only 28 percent of teens able to find a job, according to a Northeastern University study released to the Herald.

“We’ve had the greatest collapse in the teen labor market in history,” said Andrew Sum, author of the study and director of Northeastern’s Center for Labor Market Studies.

Sum, who has long studied teen-labor market trends, said employment for teens across the country – where only 26 percent on average have a job – and in Massachusetts have sunk to levels at or below the painful years of the 1930s.

The prospect of thousands of Massachusetts young people without a summer job – and with plenty of time on their hands – has officials and activists worried.

Sally Collura, an at-large Waltham city councilor, said: “There’s nothing more disappointing than a young person coming in and looking for a job and the store owner saying they are not hiring.”