Fall 2007

Top cop

By Neil Miller 0 Comments Oct 23, 2007

at a park on the corner of Talbot and Washington in Dorchester’s Codman Square, a sea of blue uniforms behind him, Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis is announcing the expansion of his Safe Streets initiative. For the previous six months, teams of officers on foot and on bikes have been deployed at three high-crime “hot(...)

Politics

Municipal meltdown

By Gabrielle Gurley Municipal Government 0 Comments Oct 23, 2007

Illustration by Tim Bower a majestic grove of evergreen trees overlooks the town swimming pools in West Boylston’s Goodale Park. For Dennis Mulryan, it’s a sentimental spot. The longtime resident of the Worcester suburb worked there as a lifeguard, met his wife poolside, and saw his son take up his old job of keeping an(...)

Politics

Betting the farm

By Sean P. Murphy Municipal Government 0 Comments Oct 23, 2007

on july 28, thousands of Middleborough voters assembled on a high school football field for town meeting, one of the purest exercises in grass-roots democracy. Carpenters and lawyers, farmers and small-business owners all mingled under the hot sun. The question of the day: Should Middleborough approve an agreement negotiated by selectmen with the Mashpee Wampanoag(...)

Politics

Dispatches

By B.J. Roche Municipal Government 0 Comments Oct 23, 2007

THE $15 MILLION PARKING SPOT It’s one thing to figure out the tax bill for a homeowner’s new deck or rehabbed kitchen, but the board of assessors in the town of Rowe faced a more unusual valuation conundrum last year: Just what is the property value of 244 tons of nuclear waste? The waste is(...)

Education/ Politics

The 0.1 solution

By Charles Euchner Elementary and Secondary Education, Municipal Government 0 Comments Oct 23, 2007

in the summer of 1995, the entire Boston public school system seemed possessed by anger and incompetence. Every day brought new reports of financial scandals, mismanagement, racial tensions, sour labor relations, high dropout rates, low test scores, school violence, crumbling buildings, and middle-class flight. Schools superintendent Lois Harrison-Jones had just left office after four years(...)

Politics

Tax returns

By Shawn Zeller 0 Comments Oct 23, 2007

critics have blamed much of Deval Patrick’s early troubles on Beacon Hill on a lack of political experience. But if experience counts, Patrick may do better on Capitol Hill, where his chief Washington advocate—Susan Liss—is a policy veteran with close ties to Sen. John Kerry and Democratic Party leaders. Liss’s hire is part of a(...)

Politics

Statistically Significant

By Robert David Sullivan Municipal Government 0 Comments Oct 23, 2007

Illustrations by Travis Foster The Web site LegiStorm reports that Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank of Newton has logged more trips paid for by private sponsors (84) than any other member of Congress so far this decade. But his itinerary is strikingly different from the others on the Top 10 list, such as Stephanie Tubbs Jones(...)

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