An analysis of potential housing subsidies submitted to the city on Wednesday said a policy eliminating or reducing taxes on new development was anything but a silver bullet, especially with interest rates and supply and labor shortages grinding housing production to a crawl.
Boston puts housing tax incentives on ice
Posted inGambling
New company joins online Lottery ticket workaround
State lawmakers may be undecided on whether to launch online Lottery ticket sales, but those transactions are happening anyway, and the market seems poised to grow, with a new third-party vendor jumping in today to make online ticket purchases possible.
Posted inGovernment
From potholes to housing policy, Wu talks priorities in 2d State of City
Inside Fenway’s MGM Music Hall, Mayor Michelle Wu gave her second address, taking a victory lap while gearing up for a reelection effort.
Posted inOpinion
No middle ground on campus McCarthyism
Harvard president Claudine Gay was sent packing because of real misconduct, but the right-wing activists who drove her out have a much bigger goal — to undermine US higher education.
Posted inEnergy
Eversource taking financial beating on offshore wind
The company, which for months has been trying to reach a sales agreement for its offshore wind assets, said it is writing down the value of those assets by $1.4 billion to $1.6 billion. The adjustment is significant, as some financial analysts had as recently as August 1 estimated the value of the company’s offshore wind assets at $2 billion.
Posted inEconomy
Mass. springs up the progressive state tax rankings
With the passage of the Fair Share Amendment, or “millionaire’s tax,” Massachusetts is now the seventh most “progressive” state tax system in the country, according to a sweeping new report.
Posted inEnergy
Somerset files criminal complaint against town’s largest land owner
The town of Somerset is pursuing a criminal complaint – and more than $3 million in fines – in connection with a zoning dispute involving the company that owns Brayton […]
Posted inOpinion
Lessons from Boston’s most improved high schools
Boston high schools focused on key improvement strategies can provide examples to learn from for those dedicated to advancing educational outcomes.
Posted inGovernment
New Bedford mayor urges halt to residency requirement
The ordinance was approved by the New Bedford City Council over the mayor’s veto in 2020. It requires several high-level department heads to live in the city and imposes a 10 percent salary reduction on other nonunion management employees who choose to live outside the city unless they have been a city employee for a decade.
Posted inOpinion
Prodding waterfront landowners to address equity, climate change
As property owners design and permit their projects, it is clear that they will be responsible for improving access and reflecting community priorities in their design of outdoor spaces.
Posted inState Government
Healey sets in motion some mild belt-tightening
If the Legislature declines to go along with governor’s emergency shelter funding plan or goes in a different direction, the budget for this year could fall quickly out of balance again.
Posted inThe Codcast
Pandemic food pressures with the Globe’s restaurant critic
Few industries have faced more challenges in the past few years than restaurants. Devra First, the Boston Globe’s restaurant critic and food writer, joins CommonWealth Beacon’s Jennifer Smith to discuss how restaurants are adapting to those challenges, her approach to criticism, and what makes a great restaurant in 2024.
Posted inArts and Culture
The ‘frantic paddling’ of Boston’s food scene
Boston’s ever-changing food scene is now on the front edge of another era, one driven by the pandemic and marked not just by evolution in outdoor dining or cocktails to go, but labor unrest.
Posted inOpinion
A strategy for leveraging untapped talent in Mass.
The Healey-Driscoll administration is preparing a four-year workforce development agenda, an opportunity to embrace bold solutions to pave more pathways for Massachusetts’ untapped talent.
Posted inOpinion
A need for speed on MBTA, transportation funding
We cannot wait until the crisis of lost gas tax revenue is upon us. Now is the time to consider what will replace this unpopular tax and whether that replacement revenue will come from one or from multiple sources.
Posted inEnergy
7 communities picked for fossil-free construction experiment
“This is a huge milestone,” said Lisa Cunningham, co-founder of the ZeroCarbonMA advocacy group. “I hope it’s only the beginning of a sea change in the way we think about building, not just in Massachusetts but throughout the country.”
Posted inOpinion
Development proposed at Shawmut T stop still too big
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.
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.