Under Control

By B.J. Roche Municipal Government, Taxes and Budget Issues 0 Comments Aug 1, 2005

Consultant Carroll Buracker (left at microphone) gives the Springfield Finance Control Board his grade of the police department: “Dysfunctional with a capital ‘D.'” It was nearly a year after the city of Springfield, on the brink of bankruptcy, received a $52 million state loan, and the five-member Finance Control Board imposed by the state in(...)

Uncategorized

Statistically Significant

By Robert David Sullivan Demographics 0 Comments Aug 1, 2005

Illustrations by Travis Foster GREEN CARS MAY HIT GLASS CEILING Hybrid cars, which are partly powered by electric batteries and thus burn less gasoline, are surging in popularity, according to automotive industry analyst R.L. Polk & Co. The number of hybrid cars registered last year was 83,153, an annual increase of 81 percent. Massachusetts ranked(...)

Politics

Lynnfield tries to add town meeting attendees by reducing its quorum

By Eric Wagner Municipal Government 0 Comments Aug 1, 2005

LYNNFIELD – It’s Monday, May 2, the second night of town meeting, and residents are gathered in the auditorium of Lynnfield Middle School to consider two articles left over from the previous week. Things are supposed to start at 7:30 p.m., but 10 minutes later there are only 139 people in the room, far short(...)

Politics

Walpole tackles football bleachers and the Patriot Act

By Ray Hainer Municipal Government 0 Comments Aug 1, 2005

WALPOLE – “I know some people don’t want to hear this, but I just don’t see the greater benefit to the entire population of the town,” says Lee Ann Bruno, a lifelong Walpole resident and a thirtysomething mother of two, on a Tuesday evening in early May. She’s talking about new bleachers for Walpole High(...)

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Ted Kennedy takes up immigration reform

By Shawn Zeller Immigration 0 Comments Aug 1, 2005

It isn’t a typical day in Washington when that liberal lion Sen. Edward Kennedy joins forces with a conservative Republican from Idaho, especially to take up a cause of prime importance to farmers. But that was the scene in April, as Kennedy and Sen. Larry Craig proposed an amendment to a defense spending bill that(...)

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Florida dreaming

Is the Creative Class coming or going?

By Robert David Sullivan Immigration 0 Comments Aug 1, 2005

Illustrations by Elizabeth Rock In The Rise of the Creative Class, economist Richard Florida wrote that gays are good for a region’s economy. In his new book, The Flight of the Creative Class, he tells us that immigrants are even better — and America is in danger of getting a lot fewer of them. The(...)

Economy

Growing pains

By Ian Bowles Housing 0 Comments Aug 1, 2005

A long about June, the “housing bubble” became big news nationally. In the same week, a cover story in Time (HOME $WEET HOME) focused attention on the “blistering” US real estate market and a New York Times Week in Review piece took the story global, noting the run-up of housing prices in coastal cities and(...)

Politics

Open government

By Robert David Sullivan Municipal Government 0 Comments Aug 1, 2005

Economy

Lawrence CommunityWorks expands the definition of a CDC

By Robert Preer Growth and Development 0 Comments Aug 1, 2005

On most evenings, the offices of Lawrence CommunityWorks bustle with activity. The sprawling former mill building that houses the nonprofit community development corporation is divided into many small spaces, which get steady use for meetings of all kinds. In one room, a group could be meeting to talk about a new zoning plan that is(...)

Economy

Flying solo

By Robert David Sullivan Employment 0 Comments Aug 1, 2005

Additional research by Eric Wagner The self-employment sector is often depicted as a haven for nonconformists, so maybe it’s appropriate that there seems to be an infinite number of ways to count Americans working on their own. Our chart uses data from the Social Security Administration, which offers the advantages of exact figures (rather than(...)

Summer 2005

Is the Creative Class coming or going?