The Boston Planning and Development Agency has permitted Trinity’s project, but there is an appeals process under law, and we plan to use it.
Development proposed at Shawmut T stop still too big
Posted inGovernment
Short takes: While no one was watching, Boston watchdog departed
Pam Kocher, who took the reins as head of the business-backed nonprofit in 2019, left in November with no public announcement from the group.
Posted inPolitics
Bid launched to block Trump’s access to ballot in Mass.
Free Speech For People and Massachusetts-based civil rights firm Lichten & Liss-Riordan, P.C late Thursday filed an objection with the Massachusetts Ballot Law Commission to having Trump’s name on the ballot.
Posted inState Government
State tax revenues coming in much lower than forecast
Doug Howgate, the president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said the numbers suggest to him that it’s time for the Healey administration to revise downward the tax revenue forecast for this year by about $1 billion and begin to pare back spending using her power to make unilateral cuts.
Posted inOpinion
MIT students propose better ways to connect Kendall Sq. and Logan
Students taking my Urban Planning and Policy class at MIT this fall were given an assignment: come up with a viable plan to improve travel between Kendall and Logan via some form of public transportation.
Posted inCourts
SJC takes another swing at Uber ‘clickwrap’ contracts
Are the current “terms and conditions” details that ride-share passengers must agree to sufficient, or are they signing away certain legal rights without enough notice?
Posted inState Government
House, Senate leaders tapping brakes on spending growth
Senate budget chief Michael Rodrigues of Westport was noncommittal when asked about Gov. Maura Healey’s plan to drain $700 million in surplus revenue funds to cover rising expenses this year and next year associated with the state’s emergency shelter system.
Posted inOpinion
Bridging the diversity gap in Massachusetts’s corporate sector
Diversity is more than a buzzword; it’s now a strategy for success. The recent report should serve as a wake-up call to make the reality of the corporate workforce in Massachusetts match the hype.
Posted inEnergy
Vineyard Wind takes one giant step
On Tuesday night at 11:54 p.m., the wind farm team of Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and Avangrid passed a major test – generating 5 megawatts of electricity from one turbine and successfully transmitting the electrons via a transmission line into the regional power grid on Cape Cod.
Posted inHousing
With housing crisis, it often feels like same old story
Drawing more attention to the housing crisis surely can’t hurt, though the persistence of the problem underscores the strength of the forces resisting efforts to put a big dent in it.
Posted inEnergy
Vineyard Wind, a couple days after target date, delivers first power
The developers behind Vineyard Wind failed to follow through on their pledge to begin delivering electricity to the power grid in 2023.
Posted inOpinion
Why is Mass. always in a state of emergency?
Notice that Healey trying to use the Civil Defense Act without invoking it is not an oversight or misunderstanding. She, as attorney general, argued before the Supreme Judicial Court in defense of Baker’s use of the Civil Defense Act. This sleight-of-hand is a choice.
Posted inImmigration
Work authorizations for migrants in shelter system soar
Between December 18 and December 28, the number of migrants in the emergency shelter system who are authorized to work under federal law rose from 813 to 2,713, according to a status report provided to the Legislture.
Posted inHousing
‘What is can be’ – A second life for the Somerville triple-decker
In Somerville, a years-long push to re-embrace the triple-decker dovetailed with a serious need for new housing units, and its city council voted in November to fully legalize new three-unit construction.
Posted inThe Codcast
Long live the triple-decker
After many years in which it was effectively illegal to build new triple-deckers in Somerville, any homeowner can now add a third unit to their property. Somerville city councilor Matt McLaughlin, and Jesse Kanson-Benanav of Abundant Housing, join CommonWealth Beacon’s Jennifer Smith to discuss the past, present, and future of the triple-decker and its contribution to affordable housing in Massachusetts.
Posted inRace/Racism
3 academic experts analyze O’Brien’s comments
After reading excerpts from Shannon O’Brien’s court filing about the allegations against her, the experts all agreed that more context and information are necessary to determine if O’Brien should be fired for racial insensitivity.
Posted inOpinion
Every police ‘bad shoot’ should be treated as a system failure
We should be streamlining the path to restoration for the victims, not saddling them with the burden of demonizing cops and proving misconduct.
Posted inOpinion
A better way to deal with the state’s shelter crisis
Using state, federal, and philanthropic resources, refugee resettlement providers helped Afghan evacuees find apartments, learn English, enter the workforce, meet their neighbors, and integrate into communities across the state.
Posted inOpinion
Meeting climate goals requires new policy, funding
There are statutory, policy, and funding changes we must adopt if we are to meet our climate goals.
Posted inState Government
Baker portrait hung at State House
Charlie Baker’s official portrait, unveiled at a private soiree December 21 in the State House library, was up on the wall this week in the lobby of the executive suite for all to see.