Statistically Significant

By Robert David Sullivan Housing, Taxes and Budget Issues 0 Comments Jul 22, 2008

Illustrations by Travis Foster FORECLOSURE CRISIS FLOODS DOUBLE-DECKERS The current foreclosure wave in Massachusetts has knocked down a disproportionate number of multifamily homes, at least compared with the housing market crash of the early 1990s. That’s one finding in Subprime Facts: What (We Think) We Know About the Subprime Crisis and What We Don’t, a(...)

Criminal Justice

The price of prisons

By Robert David Sullivan 0 Comments Jul 22, 2008

What part of state government is growing faster than education or Medicaid? Nationwide, spending on correctional facilities jumped by 9.2 percent in fiscal 2006, second only to transportation, according to One in 100: Behind Bars in America 2008. The report from the Pew Charitable Trusts’ Public Safety Performance Project warns that “prison costs are blowing(...)

Politics

What works

By B.J. Roche Municipal Government, State Government 0 Comments Jul 22, 2008

INTRO TEXT COMING TOGETHER IN WESTERN MASS. To municipal administrators these days, the word “regionalization” is what “plastics” was to The Graduate’s Benjamin Braddock: an easy, but just a little distasteful, buzzword that sums up the promise of the future. Like it or not, regionalization of services among the state’s 351 cities and towns now(...)

Politics

Point of entry

By Dan Kennedy Media and Journalism 0 Comments Jul 22, 2008

we live in a time of demographic upheaval. We are becoming foreign-born, non-English-speaking, black, brown, yellow, and white. That’s as true in Massachusetts as it is nationally. In 2005, a MassINC study found that one in every seven state residents was from another country. Earlier this year, according to The Boston Globe, the state Department(...)

Economy

Redefining a ‘better’ life

By Alison Lobron Cost of Living and Consumer Affairs, Demographics 0 Comments Jul 22, 2008

“it’s crazy that none of us can afford to live in the town where we were kids,” said a high school classmate at a recent mini-reunion. We’d grown up in Concord and Carlisle in the ’80s and ’90s (when, we all agreed, “normal” people could still buy homes there), and many of our parents had(...)

Arts and Culture/ Politics

Play money

By Robert David Sullivan Municipal Government 0 Comments Jul 22, 2008

During tough fiscal times, arts and sports programs are often the first to get cut from municipal budgets. So it’s not a big surprise that the “culture and recreation” category, which accounted for 2.68 percent of all spending in the average Bay State community in fiscal 2000, had dwindled down to 2.08 percent in fiscal(...)

Transportation/ Opinion

Underfunded and overextended

By Terry Regan 0 Comments Jul 22, 2008

moving people out of cars and into mass transit makes sense economically and environmentally, but not if the MBTA doesn’t have enough money to properly operate and maintain its existing system. Right now it doesn’t. In order to balance its upcoming 2009 budget, the MBTA has been forced to resort to a short-term fix of(...)

Tax Credits/ Economy

Hidden tax credit

By Bruce Mohl Taxes and Budget Issues 0 Comments Jul 22, 2008

Tax credits are exploding in popularity in Massachusetts. Over the last several years, state lawmakers have approved tax credits to lure movies and movie stars to the state, to redevelop historic buildings, and most recently to give a boost to life science companies. The tax credits are having an impact. At least 88 movie productions(...)

Uncategorized/ Opinion

Seeing the forest and the trees

By Charlie Lord Urban Affairs 0 Comments Jul 22, 2008

seen from a satellite high above, 29 percent of the city of Boston is hidden under the leafy canopy of trees during the summer months. That’s more shade than exists in many other cities, but it’s not enough. As scientists and social planners are discovering, trees are far more than mere ornaments to the urban(...)

Politics

Mr. Cellophane

By Michael Jonas Ethics and Open Government 0 Comments Jul 22, 2008

Whether we’re checking the test scores of local schools or looking for the fat content of a brand of yogurt, we are all players in a new way of life. We’re awash in information, and the decisions and choices demanded of us come from an increasing transparency in almost every aspect of society. It was(...)

Summer 2008