The elegant, lazy motion of wind turbines once appealed to Eleanor Tillinghast. Generating energy takes a heavy toll on the natural world, so it stood to reason that Tillinghast, a […]
Growth and Development
Posted inEconomy, Environment
Power portfolio
If power on Beacon Hill is measured in terms of share of the state budget, Ian Bowles is a nobody. The state’s secretary of energy and environmental affairs oversees agencies […]
Posted inEconomy, Opinion
Grow the Greenway the right way
Public discussion about real estate development on parcels adjoining the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway is being polarized by “debate” over the height and shadow impact of one proposal for one […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, The Download
The ‘comment’ game, part 2
By Bruce Mohl As of this afternoon, 90 comments had been posted on Boston.com about the Boston Globe’s story about Don Chiofaro’s clash with Mayor Thomas Menino, and they seemed […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
Playing the ‘comment’ game
By Bruce Mohl The reader comments at the end of online newspaper stories are apparently becoming a battle ground in the fight over a proposed high-rise tower along the Rose […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Chiofaro: A latter-day Leventhal?
Developer Don Chiofaro says his escalating battle with City Hall is not about his proposed waterfront towers, but about the future of the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway. At a press […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, The Download
Chiofaro to crank it up
By Bruce Mohl The sparks are about to start flying between developer Don Chiofaro and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino. Chiofaro wants to build a pair of 625-foot towers on the […]
Posted inEconomy
Raised stakes
any debate over the possible arrival of casinos in Massachusetts (see “Ka-ching”) has to take into account how much we already rely on the state lottery, and whether scratch ticket […]
Posted inEconomy
Job prospects
the no. 1 issue on the minds of voters this year is jobs, and politicians on Beacon Hill are responding with a flurry of proposals. Most of them fall in […]
Posted inEconomy
Private developers ape BRA controversial resale fees
the controversial resale fees assessed by the Boston Redevelopment Authority may be coming to a private development near you. In the Winter 2010 issue of CommonWealth, we reported how the […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Galvin gets less secretive about tax credit recipients
secretary of state William Galvin is starting to lift the veil of secrecy surrounding his management of the state’s historic rehabilitation tax credit program, which provides financial incentives for developers […]
Posted inEconomy, State House News Service, The Download
Transparency provision defeated
By Bruce Mohl The Massachusetts Senate unanimously passed an overhaul of the state’s economic development agencies, but rejected by a 21-13 vote a measure that would have required greater public […]
Posted inEconomy, Opinion
DeLeo’s “jobs” bill
Let me be very clear: The legislation I’m proposing to you today is a jobs bill. It creates a new sector of our economy that will create jobs and help […]
Posted inEconomy, Opinion, Politics
Economic development reform bill missing key transparency provisions
Senate President Therese Murray’s economic development bill scheduled for debate this Thursday includes a number of smart ideas. Topping the list are proposals to make state economic development spending more effective […]
Posted inEconomy
Reversal of fortune
House Speaker Robert DeLeo’s plan to bring casinos and racinos to the state looks on its face to be facing long odds — if the only casino vote on record […]
Posted inEconomy, Opinion
DeLeo’s gambling proposal
I’ve now been Speaker for more than a year. It has certainly been a year of challenge, not only for those of us in government but for our citizens, as […]
Posted inEconomy, Opinion
HEFA backs Murray bill
There has been much written and said about HEFA in the last year, and unfortunately far too little of it has been accurate. In fact, none of the publicity captured […]
Posted inEconomy, Opinion
Merge MassDevelopment with HEFA
Each and every MassDevelopment employee puts the highest priority on increasing employment in Massachusetts. Improving the coordination and the efficiency of economic development efforts are goals worthy of the highest […]
Posted inEconomy, Opinion
Stop Bay State subsidies for Hollywood moguls
It’s time to pull our heads out of the popcorn buckets. With 310,000 jobless residents, Massachusetts can’t afford to waste any more public resources on subsidies for Hollywood moguls. The […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Money machine
UPDATE: CommonWealth magazine and Fox 25 Undercover worked together on our special reports on the Boston Redevelopment Authority. For links to the Fox 25 broadcasts, go to Fox Undercover. The […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
City workers tap BRA housing program
UPDATE: One of the benefits of our new website, as well as our new media partnerships, is the ability to have timely updates on stories that appear in CommonWealth magazine. […]
Posted inEconomy, Education, The Download
Judge rules against Catholic college’s plans for retirement community
A state judge has ruled that Regis College can't skirt local zoning laws in building a 362-unit retirement village in Weston. The Catholic school had argued that the development was […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
Maryland’s “carrot” approach to smart growth gets failing grade
Right before Gov. Deval Patrick took office, Harvard University's David Luberoff gave him some advice about "smart growth" policies in the pages of CommonWealth. Luberoff posed a simple question:…should Massachusetts […]