Statistically Significant

By Robert David Sullivan Demographics 0 Comments Apr 1, 2005

Illustrations By Travis Foster CREEPING UP TO HUB HOME PRICES According to the National Association of Realtors, the Boston housing market stood out for not registering double-digit percentage increases in home sales during the last quarter of 2004. The median sales price for a single-family home in the metropolitan area was $389,000, an increase of(...)

Economy

Risk takings

By Robert David Sullivan Taxes and Budget Issues 0 Comments Apr 1, 2005

Dozens of state governments are increasing their dependence on revenues from lotteries and casinos, but even without slots and table games Massachusetts is near the head of the pack. In fiscal year 2002, revenue from gambling activities, almost all of it from the state lottery, accounted for 4.24 percent of the state’s total revenue, up(...)

Uncategorized

Sense of Loss

By Robert David Sullivan Demographics 0 Comments Apr 1, 2005

Population drop may have been a fluke, but slow growth has its costs By Robert David Sullivan Coming at the end of a year when Massachusetts had more than its fair share of the national spotlight (thanks to football, baseball, and presidential politics), it was disconcerting to learn that we were the only state in(...)

Politics

Former political activist Jim Braude wins converts as a broadcast news star

By Jeffrey Klineman Media and Journalism 0 Comments Apr 1, 2005

It’s hour two of the Wilfredo Laboy Telethon, and Jim Braude and Margery Eagan have managed to raise only $37. But since the telephone lines are lit up—with callers ready to pile on, rather than shell out—they’re hardly disappointed. Jim Braude: Now going solo on New England Cable News. The paltry sum isn’t that surprising,(...)

Economy/ Education/ Opinion

For the good of our economy the next phase of education reform must aim higher

By Paul S. Grogan 0 Comments Apr 1, 2005

The recent news that Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble was buying the Gillette Co. set off the predictable round of hand wringing about Boston’s future. Yet the vibrancy of the Massachusetts economy, driven as it is by the Boston region, will depend little on the presence of this or that company headquarters, poignant though their loss(...)

Uncategorized

Past their prime

By Robert David Sullivan Demographics 0 Comments Apr 1, 2005

According to 2003 estimates from the Census Bureau, 126 of the state’s 351 communities (shaded on the larger map below) are now short of their population peaks. In some cases, such as Cohasset, Natick, and Woburn, the high-water mark came in 2002, and the population drops have been tiny. But the cities of Chelsea, Everett,(...)

Economy

Corporate Citizens

By Robert Keough Growth and Development 0 Comments Apr 1, 2005

There is no question that the announcement in January that Procter & Gamble, the Cincinnati–based consumer-products conglomerate, would acquire the Gillette Co., a Boston stalwart, struck a nerve. Partly, it was simply the shock. Unlike other recently sold companies, Gillette was not publicly in play. Indeed, having fought off P&G’s advances several years ago, Gillette’s(...)

Politics

Brave new world

By Ian Bowles 0 Comments Apr 1, 2005

The spate of sales of large local companies to out-of-state owners has been the topic of water cooler conversation for months now. Recent acquisitions of three prominent Boston-based companies are producing newfound concern about the loss of local identity. As the civic spotlight scans for new people and entities to take their place, one wonders,(...)

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Letters

By CommonWealth Staff 0 Comments Apr 1, 2005

Your article about Proposition 21/2 overrides (Head Count, CW, Winter ’05) fails to mention two important community income-generating sources. These two sources are reinventing the local tax system and increasing tax assessments on property. First, many communities are now imposing a higher rate for business owners than for homeowners. And there is no depreciation for(...)

Politics

The feds demand more progress on state welfare reform

By Shawn Zeller 0 Comments Apr 1, 2005

In 1995, Massachusetts was ahead of the welfare-reform curve, adopting guidelines aimed at moving welfare recipients from public dole to employment payroll a year before federal legislation was passed to do the same thing. But since then, the state has gone from leader to laggard, and it now faces the loss of federal funds if(...)

Spring 2005