The last time casino gambling legislation looked like a sure thing in Massachusetts, the gambling push devolved into back-biting and chest-thumping among the state’s top political leaders. That’s unlikely this time, as the leaders have agreed on everything behind closed doors. But a potentially messy court fight is looming, a fight that centers around the […]
Paul McMorrow
Paul McMorrow comes to CommonWealth from Banker & Tradesman, where he covered commercial real estate and development. He previously worked as a contributing editor to Boston magazine, where he covered local politics in print and online. He got his start at the Weekly Dig, where he worked as a staff writer, and later news and features editor. Paul writes a frequent column about real estate for the Boston Globe’s Op-Ed page, and is a regular contributor to BeerAdvocate magazine. His work has been recognized by the City and Regional Magazine Association, the New England Press Association, and the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. He is a Boston University graduate and a lifelong New Englander.
Posted inEconomy, Transportation
Delaware North bids $75m for T garage
An affiliate of Delaware North submitted the sole bid for the MBTA’s North Station garage today, putting the financially struggling transportation agency in line for a $75 million windfall. The sale of the 1,280-space garage is the second significant one-time sale that the T has initiated this year, as it seeks to close nearly $900 […]
Posted inEconomy, The Back Story, Transportation
Garage gamesmanship
The MBTA is facing a $45 million budget deficit just days into the new fiscal year as a real estate deal the transportation agency is counting on to balance its budget is in danger of collapsing. The T is wrestling with nearly $900 million in cumulative budget deficits between fiscal 2013 and 2016. It closed […]
Posted inEconomy
Divining Devens
massachusetts hasn’t created a new municipality in nearly a century, since East Brookfield and Brookfield divorced in 1920. Five years ago, it looked like Devens would displace East Brookfield as the state’s newest town. Commercial construction at the old Army base on Route 2 had been speeding along for a decade, and it had recently […]
Posted inEconomy, The Back Story
Back where they started
The state-owned building at Parcel 7 has kept a lonely watch over Boston’s Rose Kennedy Greenway for a decade now. The office structure, a relic of the Big Dig, has stood empty since the tunnel project was in full swing, as state transportation officials haggled over just what to do with the hulking, unfinished brick […]
Posted inPolitics, The Back Story
DiMasi trial pulls back the curtain
Through two weeks of testimony, prosecutors in the Sal DiMasi corruption trial have elicited sensational testimony about bribes, kickbacks, and sleaze inside the State House. But as they’ve tried to pin a federal corruption rap on the former House speaker, they’ve also ended up pinning a wider indictment on Beacon Hill. The political system described […]
Posted inPolitics
Bump releases report critical of DeNucci
Massachusetts Auditor Suzanne Bump unveiled a highly critical report on the condition of the office she inherited today, driving a wedge between herself and her predecessor, longtime auditor Joe DeNucci. Bump asked the National State Auditors Association to review the operations of the auditor’s office in the final six months of DeNucci’s tenure. The review […]
Posted inThe Back Story, Transportation
At the T, reform gives way to revenue
Gov. Deval Patrick’s transportation chief opened the door to new transportation revenues this week. And while MassDOT CEO Jeff Mullan pointedly refused to discuss where new revenues might come from, he did indicate that the state has a powerful economic incentive for fixing the MBTA’s finances soon: Massachusetts is legally required to extend the Green […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Fall River gambler
in upending a planned 300-acre biotech park, Fall River Mayor William Flanagan picked a fight with the governor, angered the state university, junked a decade’s worth of planning, and endangered a $23 million development project. He did it all for a roll of the dice with the Mashpee Wampanoag, who promised to bring a casino […]
Posted inUncategorized
Who does he think he is?
IT’S AN EARLY March afternoon and a gaggle of reporters are waiting outside the House chamber. The focus of their interest finally steps out and obliges the group. He and the governor, whatever their differences, both agree on the importance of unions to the public workforce, he says. It shouldn’t have been a remarkable scene. […]