There are 41 municipal electric companies scattered across Massachusetts that charge, on average, 21 percent less for their power than the four investor-owned utilities that serve the rest of the state. But no munis have been established since the 1920s. The reason utilities like National Grid and NStar have a lock on the business is […]
Municipal Government
Posted inHealth Care, Politics, State House News Service, The Download
Salem mayor says health care impasse may require ballot solution
By Gabrielle Gurley Unless more immediate steps are taken to rein in accelerating health care and pension costs, municipal officials will continue to triage community services to pay for employee benefits, local municipal leaders and policymakers warned a Boston Foundation forum audience Wednesday. Mayor Kimberley Driscoll of Salem said cities and towns might resort to […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Chiofaro: A latter-day Leventhal?
Developer Don Chiofaro says his escalating battle with City Hall is not about his proposed waterfront towers, but about the future of the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway. At a press conference today at International Place, Chiofaro said tearing down the Harbor Garage and erecting towers full of offices, condos, and hotel rooms in its place […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, The Download
Chiofaro to crank it up
By Bruce Mohl The sparks are about to start flying between developer Don Chiofaro and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino. Chiofaro wants to build a pair of 625-foot towers on the site of the Harbor Garage along the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, but recently released city zoning guidelines for that area allow building heights of only […]
Posted inPolitics
Free speech dust-up in Southborough
UPDATE: In the story below, I incorrectly wrote the Southborough Board of Selectmen sent a third letter to Susan Fitzgerald demanding she reveal the identity of one of the posters on her blog. At their meeting last week, the selectmen discussed pursuing legal action since their initial demands last fall were denied but have not […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion, Politics
Menino’s fifth-term agenda
Fifty-nine days into a new term, we enter the most challenging of seasons. It’s budget time in Boston. Typically, the decisions we make in the next few months set us up for the next year. This is no ordinary term, and no ordinary time. I’ve come here to talk about decisions that will position us […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download
Are two jobs in Lawrence better than one?
By Gabrielle Gurley Rep. William Lantigua thinks so. Elected mayor of Lawrence last fall, the Democrat is hanging on to his House seat for dear life. And no one — not Gov. Deval Patrick nor any of his Beacon Hill colleagues — has yet been able to convince Latingua otherwise, even with his city’s finances […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Money machine
UPDATE: CommonWealth magazine and Fox 25 Undercover worked together on our special reports on the Boston Redevelopment Authority. For links to the Fox 25 broadcasts, go to Fox Undercover. The BRA also sent out a preemptive-strike press release before CommonWealth was released and Fox Undercover went on the air. Every time one of the condominiums […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
City workers tap BRA housing program
UPDATE: One of the benefits of our new website, as well as our new media partnerships, is the ability to have timely updates on stories that appear in CommonWealth magazine. Case in point is our joint effort with the FOX Undercover investigative unit at WFXT-TV (Channel 25) on the behemoth that is the Boston Redevelopment […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Property bill story makes for a taxing read
Boston homeowners are probably in a bad enough mood after learning they will absorb an increase in their property tax bill next year. They might just be pulling their hair out if they're relying on today's Boston Globe to make sense of the whole thing. The Globe account gets confused out of the gate, stating […]