In a discussion on The Codcast, Nicole Obi, president and CEO of the Black Economic Council of Massachusetts, and Imari Paris Jeffries, executive director of Embrace Boston, processed the inauguration and readied for a potentially tumultuous next four years.
Economy
Posted inImmigration
‘Eso no va a ser bonito’
Los defensores de los inmigrantes piensan que exista la posibilidad de que New Bedford será un blanco clavo en una gran lista de lugares clavos en una nueva campaña de deportación baja la nueva administración.
Posted inImmigration
‘It’s not going to be pretty’
Immigrant advocates have good reason to think New Bedford may figure prominently on a list of places that will be targeted under an aggressive deportation campaign by the new Trump administration.
Posted inHealth Care
‘We need more people to work’
In rural locations such as areas of Cape Cod and western Massachusetts, community health centers face significant workforce challenges amid a statewide primary care physician shortage.
Posted inOpinion
White Stadium plan even more questionable now
Mayor Wu, a major cheerleader for the project, has dug in her heels (perhaps in quicksand), saying the city is committed to paying for half the project, “no matter what it costs.”
Posted inOpinion
Governor should strip anticompetitive ticketing provision from economic development bill
Gov. Healey should send an amended version of the bill back to the Legislature to protect fans from the Ticketmaster monopoly and so that consumers can continue to freely shop around for tickets versus having a single source.
Posted inPolitics
Everett soccer stadium language survives in $4B jobs bill
Top Democrats filed a compromise economic development bill months after their deadline-day talks collapsed, packing the measure with state support for the life sciences and climate technology industries and more.
Posted inOpinion
Wu’s tax shift is no compromise
Boston’s double-digit office vacancy rates—driven in part by remote work—are among the highest in the nation and unlikely to decrease in the near future, curbing demand for office space and straining city revenues as companies opt for less space when leases expire. Rising construction materials costs and interest rates further cloud the outlook.
Posted inState Government
Business community needs attitude adjustment, Michlewitz says
“The negativity I hear on a daily basis is enough to make you think we’re bordering on the Great Depression, or that we’re almost wishing it into existence.”
Posted inSource Document
Boston business groups accept idea of property tax shift as talks continue
We have collectively encouraged the city to utilize other tools available to them and embraced by previous city administrations: reduced spending growth, short term use of a portion of the city’s ample reserve funds, and direct assistance to vulnerable residents.
Posted inEconomy
Mass. competitiveness affected by ‘tsunami of little things’
“It’s not one factor that’s going to be the silver bullet that makes Massachusetts competitive vis a vis other states. It’s really going to be multifaceted,” said Jane Steinmetz of EY Boston.
Posted inEconomy
Guru of Boston’s youth jobs program stepping down after three decades
Behind the mayors, and largely behind the scenes, there’s been one constant: Neil Sullivan, the executive director of the nonprofit Boston Private Industry Council.
Posted inEconomy
Campbell sues TikTok, alleges children harmed by use
This lawsuit – filed along with attorneys general in 12 other states and the District of Columbia – comes almost exactly a year after Campbell and attorney generals in 42 states filed lawsuits against Meta for allegedly using Facebook and Instagram to hook and harm young people.
Posted inState Government
Mass. preps for American revolution’s 250th anniversary
“And part of the launch today is to make sure we get ahead of this, because we are the birthplace,” said Gov. Maura Healey.
Posted inOpinion
Defense of White Stadium plan doesn’t add up
I am grateful to Chris Dempsey for his leadership in stopping the Boston 2024 Olympics, which would have irreparably harmed Franklin Park through an ill-advised plan to transform White Stadium into an equestrian center. So I was dismayed to see him author an opinion article for CommonWealth Beacon in support of the equally ill-advised plan by the City of Boston and a group of private sports investors to redevelop White Stadium in Franklin Park into a much larger professional sports and entertainment complex.
Posted inOpinion
Boston’s White Stadium plan makes sense
I am skeptical of government spending on sports stadiums and arenas. But having studied the details of the proposal for a public-private partnership to revitalize White Stadium in Boston’s Franklin Park, I came to a conclusion you might not expect: This plan makes sense for Boston.
Posted inEconomy
Boston Common restaurant closing, city seeks new tenant
After spending $1 million in 2013 to transform a long-closed, octagon-shaped bathroom called a “comfort station” into a restaurant and then incurring total losses of $2.2 million over the past 11 years, the Florida-based Earl of Sandwich chain asked the city of Boston to allow it to shut down its Boston Common location at the end of next month, four years before its 15-year lease was due to expire.
Posted inOpinion
Mass. takes major step toward child care reform
With the funding and other provisions included in the 2025 state budget Gov. Maura Healey signed last week, Massachusetts is poised to become a national leader when it comes to child care reform.
Posted inPolitics
After Wu voices disappointment with Senate inaction on tax bill, Spilka hits back
After Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said homeowners would have the state Senate to blame if Beacon Hill doesn’t pass legislation shifting more of the city’s tax burden onto commercial property owners, Senate President Karen Spilka made it clear she was not pleased with the comment.
Posted inState Government
State starts fiscal 2025 with drop in revenue
State tax revenue in July was down $18 million, or 0.7 percent, over the same month last year, a gap state officials say would have been even greater but for a quirk of timing.
Posted inEconomy
In 2024, Mass. is still minding the wage gap
There remains a huge gender and race wage gap, and the issue is more complicated than is often recognized.
Posted inOpinion
AG’s gig driver settlement is a good start, but only a start
The Massachusetts settlement with Uber and Lyft marks a substantial improvement over the companies’ withdrawn ballot measure. But the state and the voters can and should do more to help gig drivers.
Posted inImmigration
Report says visa caps, red tape stifling immigrant entrepreneurship
A new report says visa restrictions and bureaucratic red tape are holding back entrepreneurship from international students in the US that could lead to billions of dollars in economic activity and the creation of hundreds of thousands of jobs in the US.
Posted inEconomy
The ‘Codfather’ is back in business
Three years after his release from prison, fishing mogul Carlos Rafael, banned from owning fishing vessels, has embarked on a different business venture: a multimillion-dollar real estate financing operation sprawling across New Bedford and its suburbs.
