WHAT’S IT LIKE having the job as commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation? Ask a budget analyst on Beacon Hill and you’ll get an answer like: Manage a $250 million annual capital and operating budget, 500,000 acres of beaches, parks, and forests, and more than 600 miles of historic parkways ringing Greater […]
Kathy Abbott
Posted inOpinion
Adapting to water rather than fighting it
TEN YEARS AGO, Superstorm Sandy – after ravaging the Caribbean and much of the East Coast of the United States – turned inward and exerted its full force on New York City and the surrounding region, leading to tens of billions of dollars in damages, crippling the city’s subway system, and causing widespread power outages. […]
Posted inOpinion
Olmsted inspiration: Use parks to address climate change
IT’S ALL TOO EASY to imagine: a Boston neighborhood keeps flooding in extreme weather. Rising waters and dirty storm runoff threaten public health and homes. A community that wants to share in the continuing growth of a thriving city instead faces what seems to be a dire choice: Withdraw from the waterfront, or die. What […]
Posted inOpinion
Five priorities for Boston’s waterfront
THE LANDSCAPE of the upcoming Boston mayoral race makes it abundantly clear that the city’s biggest priorities—housing, education, economic opportunity—will be considered through a new lens, one more reflective of its diverse residents. Creating a waterfront for everyone through planning and a leading-edge approach to climate change must also land on that list of priorities. […]