Fifty-nine days into a new term, we enter the most challenging of seasons. It’s budget time in Boston. Typically, the decisions we make in the next few months set us […]
Municipal Government
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download
Are two jobs in Lawrence better than one?
By Gabrielle Gurley Rep. William Lantigua thinks so. Elected mayor of Lawrence last fall, the Democrat is hanging on to his House seat for dear life. And no one — […]
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 inPolitics, The Download
Property bill story makes for a taxing read
Boston homeowners are probably in a bad enough mood after learning they will absorb an increase in their property tax bill next year. They might just be pulling their hair […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Dukakis breaks silence to protest Brookline’s “confounded wreck”
The Globe's Brock Parker takes note of former governor Michael Dukakis in a rare example of spending some political capital where he still has plenty of it: at a Brookline […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
An election result you’ll be hearing about for the rest of your life
Assuming the results hold up, yesterday's election in Barnstable will be trotted out for years to come in "why you should vote" editorials. The Cape Cod Times reports that an […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, State House News Service
Towns offer space to keep popular RMV branches open
cities and towns across the Commonwealth are making the state an offer it can’t refuse: Free or low-cost public space for Registry of Motor Vehicles branches. To save $1.7 million […]
Posted inPolitics
Municipal workforces
just about every community in the Bay State is trying to make do with less, but there are huge differences in the sizes of their municipal payrolls in relation to […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, State House News Service
State of the unions
”Governor Patrick, Anti-Labor.” ”Governor Patrick, Anti-Public Safety.” That was the 411 from Arlington and Medford police officers lined up more than 200 strong in front of Arlington’s Town Hall in […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Sharing service
"Reduce overhead!" "Cut administrative costs!" It's hard to find anyone who is against cutting costs — especially in the current economy, and especially when the cuts are the vague kind […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download
Oooh-no! A municipal wake-up call from Hurricane Bill
The New England saying, “Wait five minutes and the weather will change,” goes doubly so for hurricanes. Hurricane Bill is a Category 4 storm, one that could pack a devastating […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Untouchable turf
You know that municipal governments are in dire financial straits when they start looking to tax-exempt properties — schools, hospitals, and other nonprofit institutions — for new revenue. Many colleges […]
Posted inHealth Care, Politics
Towns seek more power to curb health care costs
The state of Massachusetts, facing a multibillion-dollar budget gap, plans to cut $86 million from its health insurance spending this fiscal year by unilaterally raising the percentage of premiums paid […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Health Care, Politics
Boston health inspectors ease up on eatery grades
The city of Boston is doing away with failing grades for most of the restaurants that don’t measure up on health inspections. Thomas Goodfellow, assistant commissioner of the health division […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Laboy is persona non grata on Lawrence school lunch trucks
For elected officials, there doesn't seem to be much of a downside to slapping their names on anything that will stay still. But the head of public schools in Lawrence […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Billerica betrayed by town manager?
The Boston Globe reports that Billerica town manager William F. Williams resigned this morning after "peeving" selectmen by making negative remarks about the town at a Greater Lowell Chamber of […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Expectedly bad year for public pensions in Massachusetts
The Pioneer Institute's Steve Poftak looks at how the state's public pension systems fared in last year's horrible, horrible market (see full report here), and the news is unsurprisingly awful:…almost […]
Posted inEducation, Politics, The Download
Will Menino campaign against the teachers’ union?
For many, the phrase "charter school" conjures up images of parental choice and innovation, of passionate young educators taking the place of frowsy, lazy clock-watchers in sensible shoes. So it […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Some Medford city jobs are worth keeping
Last week we noted that things are so bad at Medford City Hall that the mayor is telling workers to get out while they can:“If [you] can secure employment somewhere […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Government work not so secure in Medford and Worcester
Notwithstanding the sweet pension packages for certain public employees in Massachusetts, it's getting scary for a lot of people who get their paychecks from City Hall. For example, Medford Mayor […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Raynham deems 0.54% voter turnout good enough for town meeting
The South Coast community of Raynham, which has 9,283 registered voters and about 13,600 residents, last night "saved" its town meeting by lowering the quorum from 200 to 50 people, […]
