[IanWatson]

I am so torn on this one. On one hand, I think it's a beautiful building and I'm glad it's there. I am also happy to see federal money poured into our region.

On the other hand, I find the fact that the building has zero public use super frustrating (and with this money being spent, I doubt that'll change anytime soon). And I also find it super frustrating that someone can wave a magic wand and boom we're spending $130 million to repair one building, but we wring our hands over spending $50 million on commuter rail. Not that I don't think we should do both, but why is it so easy to spend $130 million on one building, while we have to spend decades studying and wringing our hands about how a commuter rail system (which would be transformative for our city) won't be self-sustaining?

It also drives me bananas that the feds will spend $130 million on this building, but won't spend a cent more to make buildings like the new junior mess on Barrington not look like the ugliest POS in the city.