INTRO TEXT sandwich attorney jonathan Fitch doesn’t like the term “workforce housing.” He thinks it’s “gimmicky.” All he and his wife Nancy, who have been active on land-use issues in town since 1970, wanted to do was build “the least expensive new housing” in the area. But town officials and local housing groups persuaded the […]
Gabrielle Gurley
Gabrielle covers several beats, including mass transit, municipal government, child welfare, and energy and the environment. Her recent articles have explored municipal hiring practices in Pittsfield, public defender pay, and medical marijuana, and she has won several national journalism awards for her work. Prior to coming to CommonWealth in 2005, Gabrielle wrote for the State House News Service, The Boston Globe, and other publications. She launched her media career in broadcast journalism with C-SPAN in Washington, DC. The Philadelphia native holds degrees from Boston College and Georgetown University.
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Two startups try to make consultants affordable for nonprofits
most nonprofit organizations run lean, if not mean, operations, with only the largest able to afford luxuries like contracting out a new database design to private management consultants. But even in the nonprofit world, performance matters more than ever, and engaging expert consultants is no longer a frill, but a necessity. What’s a shoestring operation […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Towns get steamed over water rules
INTRO TEXT the soggiest spring on record may have given Quabbin Reservoir a two-year supply of water, but the rushing rains did little to replenish the groundwater that towns outside the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority district rely on. Nor will flooding in May and June keep many rivers and streams from slowing to a trickle […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics, State House News Service
Flirting with Disaster
Route 1, in Saugus, took a dipduring this May’s floods.Photo by Nancy Lane/Boston Herald when disaster strikes, the planning that happened ahead of time means everything. With that in mind, shortly after taking office in January, Methuen Mayor William Manzi tapped former state secretary of public safety James Jajuga to study the city’s emergency preparedness. […]
Posted inEducation, State House News Service
The pilot school concept comes to Fitchburg
INTRO TEXT would you lend ancient Chinese masterpieces to a middle school? Maybe not, but the Sackler Foundation didn’t blink before sending 33 priceless artifacts, among them Chinese Buddhas and tomb figures dating from 2000 BC, for use at Fitchburg’s Museum Partnership School. “We think that’s a unique situation,” says Roger Dell, education director at […]
Posted inUncategorized
Hazardous Duty
the department of social services was in the dock – again – and that meant Harry Spence was on the hot seat. This time, it was the horrifying tale of yet another child whose name became a household word synonymous with the failings of a state agency charged with protecting her. The tragedy of Haleigh […]
Posted inEducation, State House News Service
Education officials grow impatient with perenially failing public schools
INTRO TEXT ‘F’ is for failing, and some Massachusetts public schools have the dubious distinction of doing just that. But school turnarounds have not taken place as fast as education officials had hoped. A sizable cohort of students, especially in city schools, continues to be held back by poor academic performance, posting dismal MCAS results. […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
Academics measure the effects of the Red Line expansion
INTRO TEXT Growth & Development Extra 2006 What’s mass transit worth to you? It depends on how close you are to it. “Proximity matters,” says Matthew Kahn, a Tufts University economist and co-author, with Brown University economist Nathaniel Baum-Snow, of a new study of urban rail transit expansion and its impact in 16 cities, including […]
Posted inState House News Service, Transportation
Mr Nice Guy
Growth & Development Extra 2006 If Grabauskas can turn around the RMV, perhaps he can revolutionize the MBTA. When Dan Grabauskas left the Registry of Motor Vehicles in 2002 to run, unsuccessfully, for state treasurer, Stephen Doody, his chief of staff, signed on as campaign manager, living on a $500-per-week stipend and no health insurance. […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Municipalities face a deadline in making polling sites accessible for all
INTRO TEXT Fall 2005 Everything these days is regulation, regulation, regulation, penalty, fine, threats.” That’s Medfield town administrator Mike Sullivan’s take on the Help America Vote Act, which is requiring municipalities to make all their polling places accessible to people with disabilities as of next year. Sullivan, who has been Medfield’s administrator for 30 years, […]