portland or maryland? Sticks or carrots? That’s the choice that the new administration needs to make as it translates candidate Deval Patrick’s stated support for smart growth into Gov. Patrick’s […]
Getting smart
Posted inPolitics
Recipe for success
shortly after the polls closed on election night, November 7, it was clear that voters from all around Massachusetts had turned out in droves to elect Democrat Deval Patrick as […]
Posted inPolitics
Republicans have a positive role to play
For the past 16 years, the Massachusetts Republican Party, including its legislators and candidates, has been dominated by the agendas and personalities of single individuals: governors who mobilized the Republican […]
Posted inEducation
The new math
EDITOR’S NOTE: After CommonWealth went to press, it was reported that Manuel Rivera would not be taking the job of superintendent of Boston’s public schools. Manuel Rivera, who arrives in […]
Posted inPolitics
ACTIVISTS, NOT MAYOR, CHANGE NEW BEDFORD
Your article on the mayors of New Bedford and Fall River (“Bright Lights, Little Cities“) is well-written, but there is a message that is lost, and those of us who […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics
Performance pacts offer energy upgrades for (almost) nothing
INTRO TEXT it sounded almost too good to be true, the way the young man speaking before Newton’s board of aldermen described how improvements to crumbling firehouses and neglected school […]
Posted inEducation
Another day of reckoning approaches for Renaissance
Renaissance is the largest charter school in the state. Has its size protected it from scrutiny? Photograph by Frank Curran. HAS THE BOSTON Renaissance Charter School gotten its act together, […]
Posted inPolitics
Romney’s scorecard
INTRO TEXT When Mitt Romney announced in December 2005 that he would not seek a second term as Massachusetts governor, his reason was simple: “We got a lot more done […]
Posted inEconomy
Not all contractors are so independent
INTRO TEXT Employers may be keen to offload workers from their payrolls and contract for services instead (“Lone Rangers,” CW, Summer ’05). But recent cases suggest that companies can go […]
Posted inEducation, State House News Service
Accreditation agency raises questions about school finance
INTRO TEXT at first, the news looked good for Georgetown Middle High School, the sole secondary school in a northern Essex County town of 7,377 residents, with students in grades […]
Posted inEconomy, State House News Service
Taking Off
andreas gottzmann racks up quite a few frequent-flyer miles, traveling to Germany on business, but getting to the gate is a hassle. With no flights to Europe from Hartford’s Bradley […]
Posted inEnvironment
Climate change
By now, it is old news that MassINC president and CEO Ian Bowles has left to become Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs in the administration of Gov. Deval Patrick. […]
Posted inArts and Culture, Uncategorized
Path breaker, but no trendsetter
the election of a charismatic African-American to statewide office continues to raise eyebrows in many places, most especially here in Massachusetts. Deval Patrick’s march to the Corner Office drew national […]
Posted inEconomy, Education, Politics
Higher authority
weston To Regis College, it seemed like a win-win proposition. The 362-unit retirement community the college wished to build on its campus would reverse the school’s financial fortunes and bolster […]
Posted inPolitics
Statistically Significant
Illustrations by Travis Foster big employers still hold sway in bay state Politicians in Massachusetts often refer to the economic importance of smaller employers (for instance, in her speech on […]
Posted inEconomy
Where the economic action is
after ranking 13th in growth of gross domestic product (GDP) over the period from 1997 through 2004, Massachusetts came in a lowly 42nd the following year, behind every northeastern state […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
The cable guys
it may not be etched in stone, but it’s a rule nonetheless: No one can write about public-access television without making reference to “Wayne’s World,” the Saturday Night Live skit—later […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Cherry pie
the low-income cities of Lawrence and Holyoke are the only two communities in the state that will receive more than $2,000 per citizen in state aid during the current fiscal […]
Posted inPolitics
Homing in on the problem
phil mangano, former manager of hippie musical acts of the 1960s and volunteer at a downtown Boston soup kitchen, would seem one of the least likely Bay Staters to find […]
Posted inEconomy, Health Care
Spend shift
A long line at JP Licks is an inconvenience, but it may also signal a turning point in Boston’s spending habits. While the rest of the country spends less and […]
Posted inEconomy
THE LONG VIEW
boston’s recovery from the last recession has been slow and uneven. Some sectors of the region’s economy have crept back to pre-recession employment levels, while others—notably, information technology—remain below early […]
Posted inEducation, Politics
A tale of two valleys
The first signs of life downtown are at Open Square,a renovated mill complex.The pioneer valley of western Massachusetts is not one valley but two. To those who think of it […]
Posted inPolitics
If the Democrats regain control of the House the Massachusetts delegation will be big winners
Could 12 long years in exile finally be coming to an end for congressional Democrats? Some of the most respected prognosticators in Washington are saying this could be the year […]