He Knew? Marty Has A Lot Of Explaining To Do: The HUB

The HUB is a rundown of the stories people in Boston are talking about. Patch publishes the HUB every weekday.

Good morning, Boston! Today is Thursday, May 20. We're talking Matty's outburst, record home prices and Trillium time.

But first...

Depending on which former Boston police commissioner you believe, Marty Walsh has a lot of explaining to do.

The Boston Globe's Danny McDonald and Andrew Ryan unpeeled another layer of the Dennis White story last night, saying Walsh knew about White's messy internal affairs history when he appointed him commissioner.

The source? An affidavit from White's predecessor.

"There is no way anyone is brought onto the command staff without such a briefing to the mayor and approval by the mayor," ex-Commissioner William Gross said in the affidavit. "The city, including Mayor Walsh, was aware no later than January 2014 of White’s [internal affairs] record."

In a statement released from the Department of Labor, Walsh denied knowing about the allegations against White until after appointing him commissioner.

"Neither the allegations nor the internal affairs files were shared with me in 2014, or during any other consideration of Dennis White," Walsh said. "Had I known, I would not have chosen him for police commissioner or any other role."

Williams Evans, who was commissioner in 2014 when White was up for a promotion, fiercely defended Walsh to the Globe.

"Under no circumstances did I know about his past nor did the mayor know," Evans said.

So either Gross is right and Walsh knew the man he appointed commissioner had past domestic violence allegations against him, or Evans and Walsh are right and neither of them knew.

Either way ... that's a sorry reflection on leadership.

Check it out

Here's my hot take on the "Matty In The Morning" stunner from yesterday: Say what you want, live with those consequences and leave on your own terms, if you like. But do not make a self-righteous exit bellowing about how you're the "biggest of all time" only to get back on air the next morning — which is exactly what it appears Matty is doing. The Boston Globe's Charlie McKenna has a transcript of Matt Siegel's outburst

It went from depressing, to almost funny, to just depressing again — unless you're selling! The median home price of a single-family home in Massachusetts last month shot up to $529,000, according to a report from the Massachusetts Association of Realtors. This is the first time that number has been over half a million bucks. Pray for the first-time homebuyers. Jennifer McKim at GBH has more.

It's Trillium time. The uber-popular beer garden on the Greenway is back in business beginning today at noon. The weather at that time: 69 degrees and partly cloudy. Trillium will still be observing COVID rules until May 29, so that means social distancing, masks and a 90-minute limit.

What I'm reading today: The megarich out-of-touch brigade continues to not know when to shut up. Check out Olga Khazan's story in The Atlantic titled, "What Bosses Really Think of Remote Workers." Don't let your eyes roll out of your head when WeWork CEO Sandeep Mathrani says, "People are happier when they come to work."

Weather

The National Weather Service says: During the day — Mostly sunny, with a high near 74. Light east wind increasing to 6 to 11 mph in the morning. At night — Mostly cloudy, with a low around 55. Southeast wind 7 to 9 mph.

Have a swell Thursday.

You can email me at mike.carraggi@patch.com and follow me @PatchCarraggi.