The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • 21

CityRegion Bl-6, 8-9, 12 Lottery B2 New England News Briefs B2 B9 B12 CIO Deaths Weather Comics The Boston Globe Thursday, May 19,2005 Adrian Walker $770 trans Itpl ans announce Think kids, riot politics Somerville branch would add $100m The list of commitments totals $770 million and calls for building stations on the Fairmount Line, which runs through Hyde Park, Mattapan, and Dorchester; doubling service on the Worcester-Boston commuter rail line; and adding 1,000 parking spaces at as-yet unspecified commuter rail and transit stations throughout the Boston region. The roster of projects does not include two on the original 1990 list: restoring the Arborway trolley service in Jamaica Plain and building a connec tion between the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's Red and Blue subway lines. Their absence has upset some environmentalists, who say they will continue to pursue a federal lawsuit seeking to force the state to follow through on the original list of transit commitments. "What we're really concerned about is that we're getting one transit commitment, as opposed to the package of transit commitments the Commonwealth has long promised the people of Boston," said Philip Warburg, president of the Conservation Law Foundation. The new list now goes to regional planners and to state environmental regulators for their review.

The projects would be funded by a mix of state and federal money. The largest of the projects by far would be what officials are calling the enhanced Green Line extension, which would include branches with trolley service to both West Medford and Union Square, similar to the various Green Line branches in Boston, TRANSIT, Page B4 By Mac Daniel GLOBE STAFF State officials announced yesterday that Somerville's Union Square would get a separate branch of the Green Line extension, adding $100 million to the cost of transit projects promised to offset the environmental impact of the Big Dig. With all the concern about rising crime in the city and mounting fears of a dangerous summer, there's one thing that almost everyone agrees would help: more adults working with youth. One of the people If most people did this, Boston would be a better city' Ax' i GLOBE St AM- PHOTODAVID L. RYAN "I don't come here for fun," says Edward Barrett, 68, of South Boston, on his attendance at the weekly meeting at City Hall.

City Council's quiet observer shows up on time, nearly every time who says she believes this most fervently is Maura A. Hennigan, the city councilor who is running for mayor. So it comes as a surprise that $400,000 intended for just that purpose is sitting in a bank collecting dust, thanks almost entirely to the efforts of Hennigan and her frequent partner in hypocrisy, Councilor Charles C. Yancey. The conflict dates to early 2003.

The Boston Housing Authority laid off its street workers after the federal program that funded them was cut to ribbons by the Bush administration. A deal was then worked out between the BHA and the Boston Center for Youth and Families in the mayor's office, whereby the BHA would give the city $400,000 to hire youth workers to replace some of those who had been laid off. Unfortunately, this deal was subject to approval by the City Council. Hennigan and Yancey didn't like the fact that the workers had been laid off in the first place, and they were upset that BHA money wouldn't be going directly into housing developments. They have used parliamentary procedures to keep the necessary vote, which is usually pro forma, from taking place.

"We wrote a $400,000 check that can't be used because the City Council won't vote on it," BHA administrator Sandra Henriquez lamented yesterday. "It's difficult and frustrating to me, because we thought we were doing the right thing. With ever-decreasing resources for prevention and intervention, to have this money sitting there seems irresponsible." Hennigan basically rewrote history in attempting to explain her position. "They just wanted to back away from a responsibility and not be involved in youth programs," she said yesterday of the BHA. "We felt that was part of their responsibility." Hennigan had the audacity to suggest that a 2003 homicide in a South Boston housing development might be partly attributable to the BHA's funding cuts.

Well, you can't be in favor of more funding at the same time that you're blocking funding, but that kind of contradiction has been lost on Hennigan before. Whatever her concerns may have been, leaving that kind of money in the bank doesn't help anyone. Larry Mayes, who now administers the Boston Center for Youth and Families program, said the money would be welcome and timely. "Given the current concern surrounding youth in the city, it would be great to receive anything we can for the youth of Boston," he said. Fortunately, there is hope that common sense might prevail.

Michael F. Flaherty, the council president, said yesterday that he believes the money should be turned over. "The fact is, summer is right around the corner, and this would be an excellent time to hire more workers," he said. "We're hearing in every corner of the city that there's a need for more youth workers. In fairness to the administration, they've made several attempts to get this done, because they understand the importance of it." He said he would support a bid to pull the funding order out of committee.

Councilor Paul Scapicchio also believes the council maybe able to muster the votes to circumvent Hennigan and Yancey, though his previous efforts to move the issue have been unsuccessful. "We talk about street workers, the need for them, how important they are," he said. "This seems like a no-brainer. I'm scratching my head." In the scheme of city government, $400,000 really isn't a ton of money. But it's infuriating to hear politicians such as Hennigan and Yancey talk every day about how much they care about the youth of the city when what they care about is winning their own petty battles.

Maura Hennigan went to war with the Menino administration, and so far she's won. But it's not the mayor who's lost. It's the kids in public housing, the ones she pretends to be standing up for. By Madison Park GLOBE CORRESPONDENT dward Barrett is a rare Bostonian. He roots for the Yankees, adores Republicans, and prefers Ronald Reagan to JFK.

And every week, he voluntarily I attends Boston City Council meet and unfolded a crossword puzzle. "They never start on time," Barrett said with disgust, pointing to the clock, which indicated 1 1 :53. On the floor of the chambers, city councilors stood in groups, chatting over cups of Dunkin' Donuts coffee. As the clock swept past noon, Barrett sighed and rolled his eyes. "They don't care if they don't start on time" he said and then offered a slightly scaled-down variation of Lord Acton's warning, "When you make the rules, you bend them." The councilors have taken notice of their OBSERVER, Page B8 The 68-year-old has scrutinized the council's every move, because he wants to "get a handle on things," and, as he put it, somebody has to keep an eye on government.

"I don't come here for fun," Barrett said. "All politics is local, and there's so much waste of money in city government. If most people did this, Boston would be a better city, once they see what's going on." Barrett writes opinion articles about terrorism and corruption and sends them to various newspapers, hoping to someday get one printed. On a recent day, he found his usual seat, sat ings. Every Wednesday morning for six years, Barrett has shuffled into City Hall's Iannella Chamber in time for the 1 1:30 meeting, waved to the stenographer, and assumed his preferred spot in the top row of stadium seats.

1 1 111 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 III 1 1 II III 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 III I 1 1 lllll 111 It Ml II 1 1 1 1 1 Mllll 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Ml I Ml 1 1 Ji II II 1 1 Ittllllll 1 1 III III I Ml State rushes to fix two errors on MCAS tests Sex offender wanted in Fla. found in N.H. Police investigate possible link to hundreds of crimes j2-- 1..., UJp i 1 By Michael Levenson GLOBE CORRESPONDENT Authorities said yesterday that they are investigating whether a fugitive captured in Manchester, N.H, committed hundreds of sexual crimes in Florida, Texas, Georgia, and Tennessee. Ronald Pasqualino, 57, who is originally from Norton, has a criminal history that dates to Cambridge in the mid-1990s, where he was arrested on charges of attempting to employ a minor for prostitution. Police say Pasqualino, who also went by the alias Jack Warner, would lure runaway boys into posing in pornographic films by introducing himself as a movie executive from Warner Bros, showing them a fake business card, and promising them drugs, sex with By Maria Sacchetti GLOBE STAFF A Lawrence elementary school in the middle of MCAS testing discovered that a page of questions was missing from some fourth-grade English testing booklets yesterday, sending the state scrambling to fix the second mistake found on the tests this week.

The state told schools to give students a new test booklet to replace those with missing pages, amounting to 150 booklets statewide. On Tuesday, Measured Progress, the New Hampshire testing company that publishes the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System exams, had told the state there were errors in 1,500 testing booklets sent out for this week's lOth-grade English tests. Students were supposed to read a short passage and answer questions, but several of the questions had nothing to do with the text The errors, which affected a small percentage of the more than 70,000 students in each grade, occurred in printing and will not af-MCAS ERRORS, Page B4 Ronald Pasqualino hailed from Norton. GLOBE SIAfF PHOTOBARRY CHIN FATAL FIRE Officials viewed the ruins of ahouse gutted by fire yesterday in Methuen. A 56-year-old man died in the blaze, despite valiant efforts by three police officers and a neighbor to save him.

B5 women, and a role in a feature film. Authorities said yesterday they were investigating whether Pasqualino might have committed as many as 200 similar crimes across the country over the past several years. "Anywhere in the United States where Ronald Pasqualino went, there's a potential for crime," said Massachusetts State Police Sergeant Mark Lynch, who helped capture Pasqualino at the SpringHill FUGITIVE, Page BS Reilly targeted Stem-cell bill hit US Rep. Michael Capuano, a poten- A lawmaker who has been para-tial contender for governor, ester- lyzed for decades urged his col-day issued a broadside at Attorney leagues to reject embryonic stem-General Thomas F. Reilly.

B3 cell research legislation. B3 Adrian Walker is a Globe columnist. He can be readied at walkerglobe.com. It.