Road pricing can be introduced as a way to manage traffic congestion, but that only works if we also significantly improve public transportation alternatives, because the traffic management/congestion reduction benefits of road pricing go hand-in-hand with providing enough people with viable public transit alternatives that it makes a difference to highway levels of service.
Opinion
Posted inOpinion
About $115 billion — that’s what it might take to fund the MBTA over next 15 years
Here is the exercise I would like to recommend to the governor and her leadership team, and indeed to each of us: What is the public transit and rail system we want operating in metro Boston in 2040?
Posted inOpinion
First steps toward a coherent transportation revenue plan
These issues – the short-term need to generate ample net new revenue for the MBTA and the state regional transit authorities (RTAs), and the long-term need to find a permanent, fair, and viable replacement for the gas tax – intersect, and it’s important to understand this as policymakers decide what course to take.
Posted inOpinion
Governor, get your facts straight on MCAS ballot question
We were disappointed when Gov. Maura Healey, answering a question about the ballot question, responded that she’s against it because we need “to be able to assess how our young people are doing.”
Posted inOpinion
Proposed landfill would pose threat to the Quabbin
Casella wants to build the landfill near Quabbin because the company has been forced by court order to close a similar facility that it has operated since 2003 in Southbridge.
Posted inOpinion
Rethinking the way we do high school
Especially for disadvantaged kids who may not have as many family and friends who attended college or who work in leading sectors, we need to build stronger connections between what students are learning and experiencing in high school and the careers that await them when they graduate.
Posted inOpinion
Commuter rail’s ridership recovery plan is working
MBTA commuter rail attracts back riders the old-fashioned way, with frequency and reliability.
Posted inOpinion
Congestion pricing is the wrong answer to Boston traffic woes
Some have proposed congestion pricing as a solution to Boston’s traffic problems, but we should be wary of any plan that could harm the fragile post-pandemic downtown economy.
Posted inOpinion
Remove the social worker exam requirement
We are facing a massive shortage of behavioral health providers in Massachusetts, and the behavioral health crisis has gotten worse. We need less barriers to entry into the profession, not more.
Posted inOpinion
Debate over Everett soccer stadium shows flaws of decision-making by municipal boundary
Decisions about a possible professional soccer stadium along the Mystic River are being driven entirely by the City of Everett, though plenty of people in adjacent communities live closer to the site than some Everett residents. Does that make any sense?
Posted inOpinion
A travesty in Manchester by the Sea
The battle brewing at Shingle Place Hill in Manchester by the Sea is a paradigm for what affects cities and towns across the Commonwealth.
Posted inOpinion
Ending MCAS requirement would be a step backward
IN RECENT YEARS, many Massachusetts public education policy decisions have been made with an eye toward increasing equity. It’s a worthy goal, but too many of the policies have proven to […]
Posted inOpinion
Lead exposure may have played role in Maine shootings
Symptoms of acute lead exposure run the gamut of cognitive problems; exposures have been linked to feeling confused, more prone to anger and hostility, and issues with thinking straight.
Posted inOpinion
Searching for college funding with a simple click
The system’s opaqueness presents obstacles, particularly for low-income students who can be unaware of the significant financial aid available to them. Other states and even regions within Massachusetts have successfully implemented technological solutions to offer students a transparent and user-friendly portal to access this critical information. It’s time for our state to follow suit.
Posted inOpinion
Legislation needed to address teacher diversity
Despite our best efforts, the gap between the percentage of educators of color and students of color is expected to continue to widen in the coming years.
Posted inOpinion
Let’s use Steward crisis to reimagine health care in the Merrimack Valley
We believe that a regional system of care led by Lawrence General Hospital, the community’s own anchor institution, would reduce waste. It would also provide new opportunities to focus on significant unmet needs.
Posted inOpinion
Both sides overselling MBTA Communities Act
Its real impact will be far less than the rhetoric from both sides of the debate. Proponents tout it as a transformative effort to tackle racial segregation and build affordable housing in our region’s most exclusionary suburbs. There is truth in these claims. But now that we’re shifting to implementation, I worry that overstating the law’s magnitude has contributed to the blowback.
Posted inOpinion
Why we need more Parole Board members
The Massachusetts Parole Board, already stretched beyond its capacity to handle cases in a timely fashion, will soon have more because of a recent landmark Supreme Judicial Court ruling.
Posted inMedia
WBUR, once flush, is warning of tight times ahead
We’ve seen a dramatic loss of sponsorship support. In the digital age, almost all that money now goes to the big platforms — like Facebook, Google, Amazon and Spotify. This is bad news for the news business and has created big gaps that can’t easily be filled. In the last five years, our annual on-air sponsorship income (underwriting) has dropped by more than 40 percent — nearly $7 million.
Posted inOpinion
Sunshine Week casts light on Beacon Hill’s democratic decline
During this Sunshine Week, when good governance advocates highlight the importance of public records and government transparency, there just might be a break in the usual clouds hanging over Beacon Hill.
Posted inOpinion
Community colleges are not Harvard — and that’s a good thing
Even traditional liberals are beginning to wonder whether progressive ideology, or “wokeness,” on college campuses has gone too far, and become its own form of discrimination and free speech suppression.
Posted inOpinion
Mass. on wrong track with child protection policy
In 2021, Massachusetts took children from their families at a rate 70 percent above the national average, when rates of child poverty are factored in.
Posted inOpinion
High electricity rates undermine heat pump expansion
What will it take to change course? Building more transmission from affordable Canadian hydropower in Quebec? Streamlining permitting for offshore wind? Permit reform for transmission? I’m all for any of those.
Posted inOpinion
One of our major climate challenges is our own trash
Calling incinerators “waste combustors” doesn’t change the fact that they are a major health hazard to local communities, emitting toxic air pollutants like particulate matter and heavy metals which are linked to a variety of health problems including asthma, heart disease, and high blood pressure.