Petty officers
If you want to see how petty things can get in Boston, look no further than the ugly scrap over this year's tall ships visit.
Going by the last tall ships visit in 2000, Sail Boston 2009 promised an unforgettable spectacle. Millions of parents would have stood beside wide-eyed children on the city's shores, watching dozens of majestic ships from all over the world slide into the harbor in full sail.
The festival would have given struggling families cheapish summer thrills, and drawn hundreds of thousands of visitors to the city from far away. It would have dropped millions into the state's sad coffers.
But there will be no Parade of Sail this year, and probably no public access to the vessels. This is because Mayor Thomas M. Menino is mad at Dusty Rhodes. And Dusty Rhodes runs the tall ships visit. And so, even though the mayor could say the word and make the whole thing happen, he seems determined to do exactly jack.
Nobody will say for sure how Rhodes got on Menino's bad side. Sail Boston 2000 didn't help. The state had promised to reimburse the city for $1.6 million in security costs for that event, but that never happened, and the city was left holding the bag. Rhodes still got paid.
Early on, the city told Rhodes there was no way Boston would pay any of the security costs for this year's event. Rhodes was hoping the state would cover the bill. Then the bottom fell out of the economy. The city told Rhodes she would have to come up with a plan to raise the cash herself.
And so began a game of chicken of the sea.
When a city deadline for the plan passed and Menino said Boston wouldn't back the event, Rhodes said the tall ships festival would go ahead anyway. The mayor was incensed. Sail Boston eventually scaled back the event, cutting the July 8 Parade of Sail, its centerpiece. They proposed charging fees to view the vessels, reckoning they could raise $2.5 million that way.
Not good enough, the city said. They want Rhodes to pay $1 million for security costs now, to make sure the city isn't stuck with the bill again. Sail Boston says it can't front the money unless the city gets behind the event so ticket sales can start. Around we go.
Oh, and even if Sail Boston produces the money, don't bother coming down to the waterfront to see those gorgeous vessels come in, kids - unless you've got some infrared binoculars.
To avoid drawing crowds, Menino wants the ships to come into the harbor at night, one by one, using their engines.
Nobody seems to want to get in the middle of the scrap. Not the governor, who is battling fiscal Armageddon, and not the House, which defeated an amendment to help fund the event.
Senator Jack Hart of South Boston is considering a budget amendment to make the city whole, but it'll be a mighty hard sell in these brutal times.
The whole thing is a debacle. Rhodes hasn't done herself any favors: She could have heeded the city's warnings earlier, when times were good, and raised the money to cover the city's costs. Her brinksmanship since hasn't helped.
Menino could have chosen to help the event rather than blockade it. Even in this rotten economy, he could have raised money with a few calls. He could have prevailed upon the state to invest a million to get $3 million back in sales taxes from the scaled-down event. He could have worked with Rhodes to sell tickets so the event could pay for itself. He did none of it.
The mayor should be bigger than that.
Yvonne Abraham is a Globe columnist. Her e-mail address is abraham@globe.com 