Patrick signs Quincy home rule petition to boost downtown development

By Jessica Bartlett, Town Correspondent

With no less than 15 different pens, Governor Deval Patrick on Wednesday signed legislation that advances the redevelopment of Quincy Center and could provide a model for other communities.

The occasion was attended by a multitude of local and state officials who joined the fanfare over the signing of the home rule petition.

The petition allows Quincy to bend the tax rules to help fund the project.

According to city officials, the Legislation lays out the specifics in terms of how labor rules will work for the project, how a parking plan between Street-Works and the City will be managed, and specifies flexibility in the financing outlined in the master agreement.

The agreement also allows the city to tax the developer at a higher rate than typical taxpayers.

The measure was passed without objections in the past month by the state House and Senate, where the redevelopment project has elicited a enthusiastic response.

“There’s a lot of interest in the Legislature and in the leadership of those cities, and reviving them as economic centers for their regions,'' Patrick said. "This kind of downtown reinvestment is central to that. I think this model may work in other cities and towns, and we’re going to have that conversation.”

Many also saw the project as a steppingstone for future economic growth in the region, beyond just Quincy center.

“We have taken the time to lay the foundation for our future,” said April Anderson, the assistant secretary for economic development and the point person at the State House on the project.

“This is how we build a future,” Patrick said. “That’s why I’m so excited about it.”

House Majority Leader Ron Mariano was credited with moving the bill swiftly through the legislature, something that will only help keep the project up to its 2013 construction start date.

Mariano said the true impetus behind the project was Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch.

“Under his watch, something was going to get done,” Mariano said. “And it’s about time.”

Officials acknowledged that there is still much work to be done in the $1.6 billion project.

It’s a process that under way, city officials said, and in the meantime, officials are still looking ahead.

“It’s a good day and it will be an even better day when the work is done and the jobs are created,” Patrick said.