Welcome to Boston, eh?

As an avid Boston Herald reader, I am both delighted and amused with the daily Inside Track updates on celebrity sightings around the Hub. Our local pols have been rolling out the red carpet with tax breaks galore in order to convince Hollywood producers to shoot their films in greater Boston. The New York Times penned an article this Saturday about the new Pink Panther movie being shot here. Boston is briefly mentioned in the third paragraph, calling us out as the new "Toronto" of the film industry.

Besides shutting down streets, re-routing traffic, and making the 22nd largest city in the United States feel way more important than it probably is, shooting films in Boston does absolutely NOTHING for our economy in the long run. When was the last time you met a tourist who's main reason for visiting the Hub of the Universe was based on the fact that Mystic River was filmed here? Alternatively, when was the last time you travelled to Toronto to check out the streets where Man of the Year was filmed?

Blockbuster films may be glamorous but bringing in industries that hire workers on a temporary basis should not be an economic goal. While I am all for films being filmed in the Hub, their tax breaks and lobbying efforts should take a back seat to drawing in (non-gaming) industries that can hire full-time workers throughout the entire Commonwealth. It's only a matter of time until another city offering even better tax breaks comes along to become the "new Boston". Our leaders owe it to us all to take the success they've had luring the Beautiful People of Hollywood and turn it into creating better business opportunities for the rest of us.