Three percent. That’s the total amount of land area that would be affected by a plan now before the Newton Council to update the zoning code in the city’s village centers. Just 3 percent. Which means 97 percent of Newton won’t change. Still, hundreds of passionate opponents and proponents gathered at City Hall and on Zoom […]
Municipal Government
Posted inGovernment, Housing, Opinion
Want to protect the historic character of Massachusetts cities and towns? Take away their power.
IT’S NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE to propose almost any change at the local level in Massachusetts—a new apartment building, a corner-store zoning variance, even a bicycle lane—without setting off yelps of protest. Though these complaints come in many varieties, a perennial and familiar one is the fear any such change will corrode the “historic character” of the place in […]
Posted inEnvironment
Cities, towns are frontline in addressing climate change
OUR HEALTH as a community is tied to the health of our environment and our planet. The stark reality however is that our future is not guaranteed. Climate change is no longer some far-off crisis we’re buckling up for – it’s here. And it’s an emergency. We don’t have time to be timid. A large […]
Posted inTransportation
New Bedford says MBTA is shortchanging the city
THE BOSTON GLOBE reported on Sunday that New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell could derail the long-awaited South Coast Rail project by threatening to file a lawsuit challenging the legality of an MBTA eminent domain taking of five pieces of property in the city. According to the Globe, New Bedford officials even sent a draft legal complaint […]
Posted inHousing, Politics
Wu wins two victories at Boston City Council
THE BOSTON CITY COUNCIL gave its seal of approval Wednesday to Mayor Michelle Wu’s rent control plan and her pitch to reshuffle the city’s development agency, twin victories for the mayor’s campaign vows to tackle housing costs and reform the city’s development review system. The margin of victory was strong on both measures, with both […]
Posted inEnergy, Environment
Somerset infighting resumes; cable factory may be threatened
THE TOWN of Somerset – and its largest landowner, Brayton Point LLC – are fighting again, potentially jeopardizing the construction of a factory making cable for the emerging offshore wind industry. The proposed factory, a tangible sign of offshore wind’s potential, would be a dream come true for the town, the company, and the state, […]
Posted inGovernment
Wu envisions a sustainable Boston with 800,000 people
IN HER STATE OF THE CITY address Wednesday night, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu outlined her core policy goals while conveying to listeners just how much fun she is having. The fun part came primarily at the end of the speech when she recounted how a third-grader in a pink puffy coat at the Blackstone School […]
Posted inGovernment
Boston Planning and Development Agency headed by volunteer
MOST PEOPLE do volunteer work at places such as hospitals, food banks, or shelters. But not Arthur Jemison — he takes his volunteer work to a whole new level, volunteering as the director of the Boston Planning and Development Agency, where he oversees 269 employees and a budget of roughly $78 million. Jemison’s regular job is […]
Posted inGovernment
Wu dialed back search for fire commissioner
WHEN BOSTON Mayor Michelle Wu went looking for a new police commissioner, the search was extensive. She assembled a five-member search committee headed by former Supreme Judicial Court justice Geraldine Hines. The panel spent three months talking to community leaders, holding listening sessions with the public, and conducting a multilingual survey of Boston residents. The city […]
Posted inGovernment, Opinion
Zoning variances are out of control in Boston
ALMOST NOTHING in Boston is built without a zoning variance. Yet few of the thousands of individual variances granted annually satisfy the relevant legal standard. There is perhaps no area of law where practice departs from legal doctrine more than zoning variances. Casebooks and court decisions frequently note that they are intended to be granted […]