MASSACHUSETTS HAS a residential segregation problem. The issue is particularly pronounced in Greater Boston, where communities of color are tightly packed into environmentally hazardous areas and the racial home ownership gap continues to widen. Entrenched segregation cannot be fixed overnight, but the Commonwealth recently enacted a Housing Choice law that aims to begin the process. To have any chance at success, the law must be implemented […]
Opinion
Posted inOpinion
An MBTA to-do list for Gov. Healey
THE HEALEY/DRISCOLL administration will take office at a time when rider confidence in the MBTA and T employee morale have reached unprecedented lows. The necessary task of restoring confidence and morale will be a challenging one, but it cannot be avoided or deferred. In a recent article, I observed that while it is unlikely (and, […]
Posted inOpinion
Old laws, like Prop 2 1/2, need to adapt to times
I’VE BEEN STRUGGLING to find the right metaphor for our current economic situation. After the great recession of 2007-2009, my go-to was a staircase: the recession had knocked us down a flight of stairs and it took us a decade to climb back up. But that won’t do today. If COVID knocked us down the […]
Posted inOpinion
Closing a gap in our climate plans
THE RECENT report from the Commission on Clean Heat is short on numbers and, like any “consensus report,” it leaves some important issues unresolved. But it does identify the challenges we face in decarbonizing buildings in Massachusetts and offer an inventory of options. The state’s basic strategy for cutting carbon emissions is to electrify almost everything […]
Posted inOpinion
How do floating wind farms work?
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA has some of the strongest offshore winds in the US, with immense potential to produce clean energy. But it also has a problem. Its continental shelf drops off quickly, making building traditional wind turbines directly on the seafloor costly if not impossible. Once water gets more than about 200 feet deep – roughly […]
Posted inUncategorized
Teaming up to target the gender power gap
WE LIKE TO THINK of Boston as a bastion of progressiveness. The area hosts over 40 higher education institutions and hundreds of innovative and forward-thinking businesses are headquartered here. Yet, working women in Boston still earn, on average, 30 cents less on every dollar than their white male colleagues and Black, Latina, and Asian women […]
Posted inOpinion
GOP’s Lyons doesn’t sound like he’s calling it quits
This fundraising letter was sent out by Jim Lyons, chair of the Massachusetts Republican Party, Thursday night. Lyons has not indicated whether he will seek reelection as party chair next month, but several candidates have already thrown their hats in the ring. IT’S NOW BEEN exactly a month since the election, and I’d like to make several things clear. First […]
Posted inOpinion
Straight talk about plastics recycling
HAS RECENT NEWS left you wondering if it’s worthwhile to rinse and sort your plastic containers? As a lifelong waste warrior and 30-year recycling professional, my answer is an emphatic “yes.” Attacking recycling programs, as anti-plastic organizations have been doing, is like hiding the lifejackets during a storm. Yes, there is too much trashy plastic […]
Posted inHealth, Opinion, Transportation
Mass. plagued by regional inequities
THIS PAST ELECTION DAY, Massachusetts celebrated several historic milestones with the shattering of glass ceilings that we have long sought to break through. As we look ahead to the new administration and the new legislative session in 2023, I hope we can begin to address long-entrenched regional inequities across the Commonwealth. Until we take a […]
Posted inEducation
Schools flush with cash, but need better plan on how to spend it
IN 2010, a young Mark Zuckerberg partnered with a rising political star, then-Mayor Cory Booker, to donate $100 million dollars to Newark Public Schools. The idea was that a massive infusion of wealth could fundamentally alter learning within the community. New money led to modest change but did little to address major challenges in schools. […]