Winter 2007

Winter 2007

Meeting transportation needs may require more tolls and a higher gas tax

Meeting transportation needs may require more tolls and a higher gas tax

gov. patrick faces a transportation challenge that could make the Big Dig look like a piece of cake. Massachusetts could have a shortfall in highway and transit funding of $13 billion to $17 billion over the next 20 years—potentially exceeding the $15 billion price tag of the Central Artery/Tunnel Project. Closing the gap will require(...)

Read More »

Risky business

Risky business

few books have generated as much anticipation here in the CommonWealth office as Jacob Hacker’s The Great Risk Shift. In terms of addressing themes we keep coming back to in this magazine, the only equivalent that comes to mind is Robert Putnam’s Bowling Alone (see “Picking up the Spare,” CW, Summer ’00), the book-length expansion(...)

Read More »

The new math

The new math

Rejiggering grade configurations to eliminate middle schools is catching on

EDITOR’S NOTE: After CommonWealth went to press, it was reported that Manuel Rivera would not be taking the job of superintendent of Boston’s public schools. Manuel Rivera, who arrives in Boston in July, launched a wholesale reconfiguration of the Rochester school system. AS THE BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS struggle to raise achievement and keep students and(...)

Read More »

Recipe for success

Recipe for success

shortly after the polls closed on election night, November 7, it was clear that voters from all around Massachusetts had turned out in droves to elect Democrat Deval Patrick as governor. At one point that evening, CBS4 political analyst Jon Keller went on the air with some wry advice for the governor-elect. Noting that there(...)

Read More »

Republicans have a positive role to play

For the past 16 years, the Massachusetts Republican Party, including its legislators and candidates, has been dominated by the agendas and personalities of single individuals: governors who mobilized the Republican base and appealed to voters wanting balance in state government. For all that time, the party focused its efforts on keeping hold of the governor’s(...)

Read More »

Climate change

Climate change

By now, it is old news that MassINC president and CEO Ian Bowles has left to become Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs in the administration of Gov. Deval Patrick. But it is by no means too late to give the publisher of this magazine a proper send-off. Ian Bowles’s arrival on the MassINC scene(...)

Read More »

Cold case

Cold case

a century ago, it was a little easier to gain access to the Commonwealth’s chief executive than it is today. Most appointments were scheduled in advance, but sometimes people just showed up in the lobby of the governor’s office, hoping he would see them. That’s how it was on December 5, 1907, when three men(...)

Read More »

Higher authority

Higher authority

A retirement village on a college campus is too much for opponents in Weston

weston To Regis College, it seemed like a win-win proposition. The 362-unit retirement community the college wished to build on its campus would reverse the school’s financial fortunes and bolster its educational mission, while also providing a valuable resource to the town. But when plans for the development were unveiled in 2005, many residents of(...)

Read More »