Michelle Wu is ready to remake the system for remaking Boston

By CommonWealth Staff 0 Comments Feb 6, 2023

LOOKED AT ONE WAY, Michelle Wu concedes, it’s pretty eye-glazing stuff. “I bet if you ask most residents around the city, what are you worried about most, I don’t know if you’d find anyone who would say it’s the zoning code,” she said on this week’s episode of The Codcast. But Boston’s millennial mayor, who(...)

Economy/ Government

Michelle Wu is ready to remake the system for remaking Boston

Mayor makes the case for her overhaul of development and planning

By Michael Jonas 0 Comments Feb 6, 2023

Arts + Policy/ Arts and Culture/ Race/Racism/ Opinion

‘The Embrace’ is good art, but not good public art

Tribute to MLK and Coretta Scott King misses the mark

By Kevin Peterson 0 Comments Feb 5, 2023

I AGREE WITH those who say “The Embrace” tribute to Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King is good art. But it may not be good public art. Good public art, as understood both in the academy and among regular folks, is art that evokes both historical memory and challenges us in ordering our future(...)

Public Records

DAs ignore many requests for public records

Offices also don’t respond to state regulator

By Colman M. Herman Pubic records 0 Comments Feb 5, 2023

THE STATE’S DISTRICT attorneys are sworn to uphold the law, but when it comes to one particular law – the Massachusetts Public Records Law– they often fall short. Under the records law, citizens can file requests for records with state and municipal government entities and are entitled to receive them as long as the documents(...)

Tracking Transportation/ Transportation/ Opinion

MBTA’s Widett plans don’t make sense

Commuter rail electrification, not storage, should be priority

By Ethan Finlan, Jarred Johnson and Matt Robare MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Feb 5, 2023

THE MBTA’S recent announcement of a $155 million land purchase at Widett Circle is an opportunity for the agency to consolidate its wide footprint of bus and rail facilities in central Boston, reducing the amount of valuable land used for these purposes. Yet the agency is intent on doing the opposite. As StreetsblogMass pointed out,(...)

Plugging In/ Energy/ Environment/ Opinion

Is mining lithium in Maine a cost of going electric?

Electric vehicles come with their own environmental costs

By Paul D. Craney and Nick Murray Electricity, Energy, Environment 0 Comments Feb 4, 2023

WHETHER THEY know it or not, both Maine Gov. Janet Mills and Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey have bet big on lithium, a critical element for making batteries for electric vehicles and other “green” technologies. Their administrations, to varying degrees, have supported electrifying everything. Massachusetts is now following California as one of several states to mandate(...)

State government

State tax revenues miss mark for first time since June 2020

Sluggish numbers may impact discussions about new tax revenues

By Colin A. Young State Government, Taxes and Budget Issues 0 Comments Feb 3, 2023

STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE STATE REVENUE collections missed the mark by nearly 5 percent in January, with the $3.834 billion that the Department of Revenue reeled in landing $192 million, or 4.8 percent, shy of the previous January’s collections and $185 million or 4.6 percent below the monthly benchmark. It is the first time since(...)

Plugging In/ Energy/ Environment/ Uncategorized/ Opinion

Getting to yes on climate change response

Those with differing views need to listen more closely

By Jerrold Oppenheim, Carl Gustin and Theo MacGregor Climate change, Electricity, Energy, Environment 0 Comments Feb 3, 2023

CLIMATE CHANGE is real. So too is a massive transformation underway of electric power generation markets and transmission networks. That transformation is largely driven by public policies focused on electrification of vehicles, buildings, and industrial processes. This electrification, to achieve climate goals, will depend increasingly on electricity from wind and solar resources. Implementing these policies(...)

The Download

Vocational school admissions debate at center of New Bedford stand-off

By CommonWealth Staff 0 Comments Feb 3, 2023

CRITICS OF VOCATIONAL school admissions in the state are now literally making a federal case of the issue with yesterday’s filing of a civil rights complaint with the US Department of Education alleging discriminatory practices in the admissions policies at Massachusetts vocational high schools. It’s another step in a long-running debate that started at the(...)

Education