Sarah Palin has sought to connect with voters in the "lower 48" by telling them Alaska is just a microcosm of the United States. It seems doubtful that the GOP […]
Zoning laws: Wasilla is no Wayland
Posted inEconomy, Politics, The Download
Film tax credits: A state budget horror show?
Tuesday, October 14, 2008 State tax credits for the film industry, which received a tough review in the spring issue of CommonWealth magazine, got national treatment in Sunday’s New York […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, The Download
Channel tax anger at Dems?
Boston Globe columnist Joan Vennochi picks up today on our recent post highlighting the fact that Massachusetts ranks last in the country in contested races by major party candidates for […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Massachusetts ranks dead last in contested elections
Massachusetts, once known for its raucous politics, now ranks last in the nation in the percentage of voters with a choice as to who represents them in the State House. […]
Posted inPolitics
What works
INTRO TEXT COMING TOGETHER IN WESTERN MASS. To municipal administrators these days, the word “regionalization” is what “plastics” was to The Graduate’s Benjamin Braddock: an easy, but just a little […]
Posted inEconomy
Redefining a ‘better’ life
“it’s crazy that none of us can afford to live in the town where we were kids,” said a high school classmate at a recent mini-reunion. We’d grown up in […]
Posted inOpinion, Transportation
Underfunded and overextended
moving people out of cars and into mass transit makes sense economically and environmentally, but not if the MBTA doesn’t have enough money to properly operate and maintain its existing […]
Posted inOpinion, Uncategorized
Seeing the forest and the trees
seen from a satellite high above, 29 percent of the city of Boston is hidden under the leafy canopy of trees during the summer months. That’s more shade than exists […]
Posted inPolitics
Mr. Cellophane
Whether we’re checking the test scores of local schools or looking for the fat content of a brand of yogurt, we are all players in a new way of life. […]
Posted inEconomy
Build to suit
early last year, MassINC released Reconnecting Massachusetts Gateway Cities, a report on how the state’s historic mill communities have been struggling to make the shift to the New Economy. It […]
Posted inPolitics
Override forces turn to the pros in the art of winning elections
INTRO TEXT Voter apathy may have hit a new low in Holliston in May. Even with a Proposition 2 1/2 override of $992,000 on the ballot, only 29 percent of […]
Posted inEducation, Politics, State House News Service
Patrick reveals a big appetite for education reform
INTRO TEXT The unveiling of the Readiness Project should dispel any doubt that Gov. Deval Patrick sees himself as the master builder of the next epoch of education reform. “Our […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics
Child care centers get Web scrutiny
INTRO TEXT Massachusetts is taking steps toward giving parents online access to information about licensing and state inspections of child care centers. Matt Veno, a spokesman for the state Department […]
Posted inPolitics
Liberal business group aims for impact on public policy
CAN A SEMI-ANNUAL gathering of liberal-leaning business bigwigs provide a fresh jolt of private-sector energy into civic doings and public policy in Massachusetts? That’s the thinking behind a year-old organization that […]
Posted inEconomy, State House News Service, Transportation
Pump it up
For a picture-perfect view of the Boston skyline on a bright, cloudless day, looking from the Longfellow Bridge to the other side of the Charles River is as good as […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Preserving power
Secretary of State William Galvin is running a $50 million-a-year state tax credit program like a personal fiefdom. He decides which developers receive historic rehabilitation tax credits from the state […]
Posted inEconomy
Moving the goal posts
Sudbury officials say this small stretch of sidewalk along Dakin Street qualified under the Community Preservation Act for partial state funding because the pathway is a recreational facility for walkers, […]
Posted inEconomy
Statistically Significant
Illustrations by Travis Foster FORECLOSURE CRISIS FLOODS DOUBLE-DECKERSThe current foreclosure wave in Massachusetts has knocked down a disproportionate number of multifamily homes, at least compared with the housing market crash […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
The price of prisons
What part of state government is growing faster than education or Medicaid? Nationwide, spending on correctional facilities jumped by 9.2 percent in fiscal 2006, second only to transportation, according to […]
Posted inPolitics
Point of entry
we live in a time of demographic upheaval. We are becoming foreign-born, non-English-speaking, black, brown, yellow, and white. That’s as true in Massachusetts as it is nationally. In 2005, a […]
Posted inArts and Culture, Politics
Play money
During tough fiscal times, arts and sports programs are often the first to get cut from municipal budgets. So it’s not a big surprise that the “culture and recreation” category, […]
Posted inEconomy
Hidden tax credit
Tax credits are exploding in popularity in Massachusetts. Over the last several years, state lawmakers have approved tax credits to lure movies and movie stars to the state, to redevelop […]
Posted inEconomy, Education, Opinion
Too many incompletes
Education reform in the Commonwealth focused our attention on those students who were passing through school without acquiring basic academic skills. We aimed for a particular target, and we hit […]