Citizen journalist Lisa Williams wants to add to,not replace, the media mainstream.On an early-October evening at Watertown High School, Lisa Williams is in full schmooze mode. Williams, a 35-year-old mother […]
Watertown provides a case study of citizen journalism on the web
Posted inEconomy
Growth spurts
The 21st century has brought more choices to people looking for apartments and condos just outside Boston or spacious homes in the Berkshires, but the construction spurt hasn’t been so […]
Posted inPolitics
Turning 10
In 1996, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at about 4,000 and just beginning its dizzying five-year runup to more than 11,000. The United States was in the midst of […]
Posted inEconomy
Federal tax reform could be a mixed bag for Massachusetts
Winter 2006 When President Bush’s Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform issued its report in November after 10 months of study and debate, US Sen. John Kerry wasn’t impressed. A […]
Posted inPolitics
Local officials warned against chatting about town business online
Winter 2006ROWLEY—The Internet has made shopping, paying bills, reading the newspaper, and, it turns out, breaking the state’s Open Meeting Law more convenient than ever. Fifteen years ago, if town […]
Posted inUncategorized
Revolting development
Popular culture is filled with sympathetic characters who provide food for our tables, from Ernest Borgnine’s lonely butcher in the 1955 film Marty and the sweet-tempered grocer Mr. Hooper on […]
Posted inOpinion, Uncategorized
Business leaders take the lead on growth issues — but not here
Growth & Development Extra 2006 From the outside, Greater Boston’s economic prospects look bright. Living up to its reputation as a scrappy, live-by-your-wits metropolitan area, the region survived globalization and […]
Posted inUncategorized
Letters
The issue of immigration is one of complicated policies and high-strung emotions. Ian Bowles’s Publisher’s Note (“Counting on new pilgrims,” CW, Fall ’05) brought to light the complicated and emotional […]
Posted inUncategorized
Development expert Joel Kotkin on suburban life: Mend it, don’t try to end it
Growth & Development Extra 2006 His latest book is The City: A Global History, but it is as America’s leading defender of suburbia that Joel Kotkin has made a mark. […]
Posted inUncategorized
How large lot zoning and other town regulations are driving up home prices
function bigPopUp(url, width) { newWindow = window.open(url, ‘new’, ‘width=’+ width +’, height=650, resizable=1, scrollbars=1′); } Large lots and other requirements drive up the cost of Bay State homes By Edward […]
Posted inUncategorized
Arlington is a case study on how growth has become a dirty word in the Boston area
Growth & Development Extra 2006 Local planning and building regulations that control new residential construction in Massachusetts have long had their critics. Zoning and related laws are seen as impeding […]
Posted inUncategorized
Counterpoints
Growth & Development Extra 2006 Recent research has given us a glimpse of the Commonwealth’s economic future—and it’s not a pretty picture. Boston has the highest cost of living of […]
Posted inUncategorized
Argument
Growth & Development Extra 2006 For years, Massachusetts has been struggling to control sprawl. The MBTA has been systematically expanding transit service as an alternative to the automobile. Cape Cod […]
Posted inUncategorized
Thirsty homes endanger the Ipswich River
INTRO TEXT Growth & Development Extra 2006 Despite the 10th-wettest spring on record in Massachusetts, the 24,000 residents of Reading were required to shut off their lawn irrigation systems from […]
Posted inUncategorized
The state slows spending on open space
INTRO TEXT Growth & Develpment Extra 2006 Conservation advocates and the Romney administration agree on one fact: Development is consuming too much open space in Massachusetts. The Massachusetts Audubon Society […]
Posted inUncategorized
The construction industry prospers
INTRO TEXT Growth & Develpment Extra 2006 Both public and private projects arekeeping hardhats busy. With the Big Dig winding down, Boston Harbor (mostly) cleaned up, and the new convention […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
Boston may join the minor leagues
INTRO TEXT Growth & Develpment Extra 2006 Boston City Councilor John Tobin’s dream comes with a name, and it’s not of a higher political office. “The Boston Nine—what do you […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
Academics measure the effects of the Red Line expansion
INTRO TEXT Growth & Development Extra 2006 What’s mass transit worth to you? It depends on how close you are to it. “Proximity matters,” says Matthew Kahn, a Tufts University […]
Posted inEconomy
Urban ReRenewal
Growth & Development Extra 2006 New and restored streets will reattach the landmark Union Station with downtown Worcester. At night, Worcester’s Shrewsbury Street is alive with restaurant-goers and revelers, […]
Posted inUncategorized
Second Act
Growth & Development Extra 2006 It took a year, back in the early part of the 20th century, to build the four-story, half-million-square-foot headquarters of the General Electric transformer division […]
Posted inState House News Service, Transportation
Mr Nice Guy
Growth & Development Extra 2006 If Grabauskas can turn around the RMV, perhaps he can revolutionize the MBTA. When Dan Grabauskas left the Registry of Motor Vehicles in 2002 to […]
Posted inEconomy
House Rules
Growth & Development Extra 2006 Talk long enough to anyone about the high cost of housing in Massachusetts and the conversation usually gets around to the same illustration of just […]
Posted inUncategorized
Growing together or apart
Growth & Develpment Extra 2006Today, Massachusetts is fast becoming not one state but two—and our sense of commonwealth is the worse for it. Some residents are enjoying the bounty provided […]
Posted inUncategorized
Is the home we long for within our reach or beyond it?
Growth & Development Extra 2006There is quite possibly no word in the English language more evocative than “home.” The very sound of it is rich, warm, comforting; the word lends […]