BOSTON—Nick DeLuca introduces us to the proudest failures in the city, the same folks who brought you the Wicked Cool Tree this season in City Hall: "Founded in Boston in 2010, the New Urban Mechanics was such a popular idea that the City of Philadelphia created its own two years later. [T]heir job is essentially to fail over and over again, until they come up with a viable solution to a public need – potholes, say, or parking – that not only works, but is easily adoptable by the masses." [BostInno]
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CAMBRIDGE—Mayor David Maher certainly likes campaign cash from developers: "Contributors to Maher between Oct. 16 and Nov. 15 are a who's who of development in Cambridge, including Alexandria Real Estate Equities (now building the Alexandria Center on Binney Street in Kendall Square), Forest City Enterprises (putting up a Takeda/Millennium Pharmaceuticals building near Central Square), HYM Investment Group (turning 45 acres into NorthPoint), Trinity Financial (a bidder on the East Cambridge courthouse redevelopment), and Twining Properties and Normandy Real Estate, who want zoning changes to build as high as 195 feet in Central Square." [Day]