For the vast majority of citizens, municipal government is the most visible, and arguably most important, level of government, the one closest to home and the primary provider of the […]
Municipal Government
Posted inPolitics
Local officials warned against chatting about town business online
Winter 2006ROWLEY—The Internet has made shopping, paying bills, reading the newspaper, and, it turns out, breaking the state’s Open Meeting Law more convenient than ever. Fifteen years ago, if town […]
Posted inPolitics
Lynnfield tries to add town meeting attendees by reducing its quorum
LYNNFIELD – It’s Monday, May 2, the second night of town meeting, and residents are gathered in the auditorium of Lynnfield Middle School to consider two articles left over from […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
The Community Preservation Act finds its balance
DESPITE EARLY WORRIES that the Community Preservation Act was funding a land grab by suburban communities eager to lock in open space at the expense of the affordable housing the law […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Under Control
Consultant Carroll Buracker (left at microphone) gives the Springfield Finance Control Board his grade of the police department: “Dysfunctional with a capital ‘D.'” It was nearly a year after the […]
Posted inPolitics
Walpole tackles football bleachers and the Patriot Act
WALPOLE – “I know some people don’t want to hear this, but I just don’t see the greater benefit to the entire population of the town,” says Lee Ann Bruno, […]
Posted inPolitics
Was the political deck stacked against a new library in Framingham
FRAMINGHAM—Route 9 slices the state’s biggest town almost perfectly in two, and the two halves have come to resemble each other less and less. If you live on the north […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Counterpoints
Mayor Menino’s call for greater revenue diversity, which he delivered at the Boston Municipal Research Bureau’s annual meeting, stems from the fact that the city of Boston is more dependent […]
Posted inEducation, Politics
Harvard students help Somerville revamp its budgeting process
INTRO TEXT It was an unlikely scene last fall, as 60 students from a graduate course on budgeting at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government descended on Somerville City […]
Posted inPolitics
Leverett still measures its campaign seasons in minutes not months
LEVERETT—It’s the only municipality in the US named Leverett, and residents of this small Massachusetts town like to think it’s unique. Leverett was one of the first places in the […]
Posted inEconomy, Education, Politics
Municipal governments use college internships to snag future employees
INTRO TEXT In 2002, Michael Young was still a Midwesterner, earning his master’s degree in public administration at the University of Kansas. But in order to graduate, he needed to […]
Posted inPolitics
Whither Worcester
If and when Worcester converts its municipal government from city manager to “strong mayor” rule—a change some hope will take place as early as next year—it will be easy to […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Septic-tank rules cloud the real estate market in Orleans
ORLEANS—Twenty years ago, Augusta McKusick could step outside of her home on Ares Pond in Orleans and dig up as many clams as she liked. But no more. “They’re not […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Springfield discovers that bailout comes at a high price
INTRO TEXT In the drama that was the city of Springfield’s attempt to avoid going broke this spring, the theme on Beacon Hill turned out to be less helping hand […]
Posted inHealth Care, Politics
Boston’s Tom Menino walks the walk on health policy
INTRO TEXT When John Auerbach was in charge of the state Department of Public Health’s AIDS program in the 1980s, Larry Kessler, the director of the nonprofit AIDS Action Committee, […]
Posted inPolitics
Beavers get the upper hand after wildlife traps become taboo
INTRO TEXT Damned if they do–and dammed if they don’t. That’s how lawmakers feel about their attempts to modify a voter-approved ban on wildlife traps, even though a burgeoning beaver […]
Posted inPolitics
Devens inches closer to becoming the states newest municipality
DEVENS–Leslie Doolittle and Eric Edwards loved their townhouse the day they moved there in May 2002, but within a year they were ready for something bigger. They looked no further […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Down but not out
SPRINGFIELD, THE STATE’S third largest city and the metropolitan anchor of western Massachusetts, is in the soup. To say it is on the brink of disaster might be going too […]
Posted inPolitics
North Andover says the state is nothing but a tax deadbeat
NORTH ANDOVER–With the help of some thoughtful planning, the town of North Andover has been able to enjoy economic development without losing its historic character. About 27,000 residents coexist with […]
Posted inPolitics
Let towns have more power and regional planning may follow
In Massachusetts, the birthplace of town meeting, no civic value is more sacred than the idea of home rule. By the term “home rule,” people generally mean the right of […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
A 5 raise buys a lot of trouble for Stonehams town moderator
STONEHAM–Five bucks can’t even get you into a movie in most places, but it can still buy a lot of trouble in Stoneham. Moderator Michael Rotondi won an annual pay […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Marblehead hikes property taxes and avoids a sticky trash situation
MARBLEHEAD–Mayors and managers in cash-strapped communities may eye Marblehead with a certain amount of envy this summer, and not just because of the North Shore town’s rocky beaches. Last month, […]