By Daniel Grabauskas Tasking business executive David D’Alessandro to determine if the MBTA’s financial situation is still dire is a lot like asking someone 25 years ago to confirm that […]
Grabauskas on the D’Alessandro Report: It goes beyond the news that “the T is still broke”
Posted inArts and Culture, Economy, The Download
Will creativity gild the road to growth in Gateway City economies?
At a recent roundtable with leaders from across the state, we learned how Massachusetts discovered the value in “creative economy” economic development well before Richard Florida popularized the concept with […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download, Transportation
An inconvenient truth: Fixing the MBTA’s problems costs $$$
So many problems, so little money. Few people understand, much less want to wrestle with, the MBTA’s financial morass. That’s why safety issues captured the headlines with this week’s release […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
An election result you’ll be hearing about for the rest of your life
Assuming the results hold up, yesterday's election in Barnstable will be trotted out for years to come in "why you should vote" editorials. The Cape Cod Times reports that an […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Warning sign for the “Menino in 2021” campaign
The Berkshire Eagle reports on the upset at the opposite end of the state:After an historic 26-year reign, John Barrett III — the state's longest serving mayor — has lost […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download
A Corzine warning to Patrick?
According to State House News Service (subscription required), Gov. Deval Patrick was on the radio this morning saying there is "no comparison" between yesterday's New Jersey/Virginia gubernatorial elections (both won […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Flaherty as change agent a shaky idea from the start
If there was a path to upset victory in yesterday's Boston mayoral race, it was never going to run through Michael Flaherty's "Good/Better" campaign, which always seemed to suggest that […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
No treats at Deval’s Milton house
A state trooper turned away trick or treaters outside Gov. Deval Patrick's home in Milton on Halloween night even though no one appeared to be home. The governor's home is […]
Posted inHealth Care, The Download
US should emulate Bay State health care reform, says MIT’s Gruber
Via Ezra Klein, MIT economist Jonathan Gruber (subject of a CommonWealth Conversation in 2007) says that the Massachusetts health care reform law suggests that national reform can lower insurance premiums:The […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download, Transportation
All aboard for MassDOT
"This is new, and anything new draws critics." Ever mindful of the less-than-stellar reception his picks for the Massachusetts Department of Transportation board of directors received on Beacon Hill and […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, The Download
Bay State sheriff defends his right to bill inmates
The Standard-Times reports on Supreme Judicial Court arguments around Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson's practice of charging inmates $5 a day for his hospitality. Lawyers for a prisoners' rights group […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download, Uncategorized
Harvard panel, Boston police chief Davis discuss the Gates controversy
That human beings profile one another isn’t surprising. But when certain social, class, and cultural norms and values collide during confrontations between police and civilians, those instincts sometimes take on […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
An ethics dilemma: Do as I do or do as I say?
What would be the official reaction if someone had a court date for a speeding ticket but showed up a couple days later, maybe as much as three weeks after […]
Posted inEducation, The Download
It’s the teachers, stupid
Our cover story in the new issue of CommonWealth explores the outmoded, industrial-model teacher policies that are holding our schools back. It is increasingly clear that teachers are the key […]
Posted inEducation, Politics, The Download
School facts not friendly to Menino, but that’s not the biggest problem
The troubled state of the Boston public schools is Mayor Tom Menino’s Achilles’ heel. The woeful performance of the schools has surfaced over and over during the mayoral campaign, including […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Patrick gets the ultimate insult on Martha’s Vineyard
The Vineyard Gazette reports that a delegation from the island is miffed at how difficult it is to meet with the governor to discuss their concerns about the Cape Wind […]
Posted inEducation
School facts not friendly to Menino, but that’s not the biggest problem
The troubled state of the Boston public schools is Mayor Tom Menino’s Achilles’ heel. The woeful performance of the schools has surfaced over and over during the mayoral campaign, including […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
What Gateway Cities need to do to attract biotech firms
Gateway Cities officials today got a roadmap for attracting biotech companies from an executive of a company that moved to Massachusetts from Connecticut two years ago. Robert Cunningham, vice president of […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Fact-check: The US Senate debate
By Michael Jonas and Bruce Mohl The four Democratic candidates for US Senate met last night at the John F. Kennedy Library in Dorchester in the first formal debate of […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Full disclosure
It’s a simple equation: Transparency is only as good as the access available to public documents. But simple doesn’t always mean easy. Despite living in an age when a click […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Pappas plans to build film studio in Southie
South Boston developer Tim Pappas says he wants to build a movie studio in South Boston that would cater to the production companies coming to Massachusetts to take advantage of the […]
Posted inEconomy, Education, Opinion
Ed reform erosion
in 1993, the state passed an education reform law with a funding formula that closely followed proposals I developed with the late Jack Rennie and the Massachusetts Business Alliance for […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Public spaces, private rules
many government agencies are quietly redefining themselves as private, nonprofit businesses. Citizens are learning that, at some agencies, public accountability laws no longer apply, or never existed. Our proven tools […]
Posted inEconomy, State House News Service, The Download, Transportation
Can South Coast Rail qualify for stimulus funding?
Securing funds to offset the some of the costs associated with the $1.9 billion South Coast Rail project would be a significant coup not only for southeastern Massachusetts, but also […]