AFTER ATTENDING the October 18 meeting of the Boxborough Select Board, I am concerned about where our town is headed and who is leading. Police Chief Warren Ryder, a 25-year […]
Municipal Government
Posted inThe Download
Boxborough board seeks FBI investigation
The Boxborough Select Board did something earlier this week you don’t see happen very often. It voted 3-2 to have the acting town manager ask the FBI’s public corruption unit […]
Posted inUncategorized
Boxborough board seeks FBI investigation
THE BOXBOROUGH Select Board did something earlier this week you don’t see happen very often. It voted 3-2 to have the acting town manager ask the FBI’s public corruption unit […]
Posted inOpinion
Save Pier 5, don’t develop it
A CITY MUST always protect its public assets. For Boston, these assets are largely embodied in our harbor and its waterfront. Foremost among our waterfront assets are the Harbor Walk […]
Posted inPolitics
Call for big investments, but no new taxes, fees
THE CANDIDATES for mayor in Boston are calling for major investments in housing, transportation, climate resiliency, schools, and a host of other areas, but they don’t intend to hike taxes […]
Posted inUncategorized
Clean Energy Center offers help on Brayton Point
THE MASSACHUSETTS Clean Energy Center is putting up some grant money to help the town of Somerset build consensus around the development of offshore wind at Brayton Point, but the […]
Posted inThe Download
In Kingston, dueling policies over masks
The Kingston Board of Health voted to require masks in schools last week and the following day the Kingston School Committee voted not to. The Board of Health has no […]
Posted inUncategorized
In Kingston, dueling policies over masks
THE KINGSTON BOARD of Health voted to require masks in schools last week and the following day the Kingston School Committee voted not to. The Board of Health has no […]
Posted inUncategorized
With federal aid, small towns keep it simple
This is the first in a three-part series on how municipalities are spending ARPA money. WHEN MICHELE GIARUSSO, the municipal assistant in the small town of Leyden, read the rules […]
Posted inUncategorized
Somerset officials press Baker to intervene at Brayton Point
THE SOMERSET Board of Selectmen voted Wednesday night to send a letter to Gov. Charlie Baker urging him to shut down a scrap metal export business that the board says […]
Posted inUncategorized
Baker unsure about state ownership of Brayton Point land
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER says he is not sure whether the state actually owns a key chunk of land at Brayton Point in Somerset, as several town officials have insisted. “We’re […]
Posted inPolitics
Souza victory unites Somerset Select Board
KATHY SOUZA, a candidate for Select Board in Somerset, was asked at a recent debate how she would heal the division in town over a scrap metal export operation at […]
Posted inGuns
Insular thinking in Boston’s suburbs
AFTER AN EFFICIENT campaign by gun control proponents, the Newton City Council recently approved zoning changes to keep gun stores out of Newton. Yard signs that dotted lawns across the […]
Posted inThe Download
Baker administration breaks silence on Brayton Point
The Baker administration, after months of silence, issued a cryptic statement suggesting it is reviewing the legal status of a controversial scrap metal operation using a state-owned pier at Brayton […]
Posted inPolitics
Is Janey in violation of the city charter?
WHAT’S IN A TITLE? Acting Boston Mayor Kim Janey thinks a lot. Janey refers to herself as “Mayor Janey” in her bio and in the many press releases she puts […]
Posted inEnvironment
Somerset coming apart at the seams
THE SOUTH COAST community of Somerset seems to be pulling apart at the seams, as rancor over stop-gap development at Brayton Point prompted the chair of the Board of Selectmen […]
Posted inOpinion
Building a city center serving six cities
QUICK QUIZ: What is the biggest growth district in Massachusetts outside of the city of Boston right now? Did you guess Kendall Square? Cambridge Crossing? Somerville’s Union Square? Watertown’s Arsenal […]
Posted inOpinion
All school committee members deserve compensation
MASSACHUSETTS EDUCATION Commissioner Jeff Riley’s push to have elementary students back in classrooms, which required school committee action in each district, shows just how important school committees are to public […]
Posted inUncategorized
Rep reports live on state aid to Pittsfield
REP. PATRICIA FARLEY-BOUVIER of Pittsfield on Tuesday transformed a fairly dry Zoom call about a government site readiness program into a live, personalized, on-site report about how state investments can help […]
Posted inOpinion
Lawrence no longer a ‘city of the damned’
TEN YEARS AGO, the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston released “Lessons from Resurgent Cities,” in which they set out to discover the “secret sauce” that enabled some mid-sized industrial cities […]
Posted inThe Download
Walsh goes from shoo-in to hot seat
It was only a few weeks ago that Mayor Marty Walsh seemed to be the man for the moment. Holding regular briefings outside Boston City Hall on all things coronavirus, […]
Posted inUncategorized
Walsh says governing has become about ‘life and death’
MARTY WALSH IS THE FIRST to admit that dealing with a global pandemic was never among the challenges he imagined facing as Boston mayor. “The last thought in my mind — […]
Posted inThe Download
Walsh says governing has become about ‘life and death’
Marty Walsh is the first to admit that dealing with a global pandemic was never among the challenges he imagined facing as Boston mayor. “The last thought in my mind […]
Posted inUncategorized
Boards of health combine education, enforcement
AS BUSINESSES START to reopen this week, local boards of health are both educating firms about the state’s rules on COVID-19 and policing them. The goal is to keep businesses […]