Even before recent budget cuts, Massachusetts was considered a skinflint in the area of public higher education. According to the Center for the Study of Educational Policy, we ranked 48th in per-capita funding of public higher education ($158.32 per state resident) in fiscal year 2002 and 49th in funding as compared with the state’s total […]
Robert David Sullivan
Posted inUncategorized
CarFree in Boston finally pulls into bookstores
INTRO TEXT After nearly a decade in the shop, Car-Free in Boston is back in service–and, for those who prefer their transportation public rather than private, not a moment too soon. A compendium of every conceivable way of getting around Greater Boston without getting behind a steering wheel, Car-Free has had loyal fans since 1977, […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
The way we tax
With revenue diminishing due to the stock market downturn and rising unemployment rates, the Bay State is experiencing the same fiscal squeeze being felt nationwide. As states across the country struggle with tax levies that no longer seem to be covering the spending obligations they took on during the 1990s boom years, the adequacy, fairness, […]
Posted inUncategorized
Everyone wants to write the definitive definition of the American Dream
In the beginning, there was land ownership. American colonists understood the concept, American Indians didn’t, and the result was a nation that stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Now we have air rights, a concept that allows property owners to profit from the nothingness above them. Speculators buy the empty space above buildings, parking […]
Posted inEconomy
Household tax burden
How much of a burden are taxes in Massachusetts compared with other states? It all depends on how you make the comparison. In one common measure–total tax burden (state and local tax revenue) per capita–the Bay state ranks near the top 94th in the nation in fiscal year 1999). But that ordering ignores differences in […]
Posted inUncategorized
The conventional wisdom about Bostons image
Who stands for Massachusetts–Frasier or Spenser? Visions of conventioneers–and not Shriners in fezzes–are dancing in Boston heads. Mayor Thomas Menino wants to host the Democratic Party’s national convention in 2004, and he’s put together an impressively united front of civic and business leaders to make the city’s case. His argument is simple and compelling: With […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
State of the marital union
INTRO TEXT “Politics and marriage don’t really mix,” said Boston College political science professor Alan Wolfe at the June 18 Commonwealth Forum on “The State of the Union: Understanding Marriage in Massachusetts,” moderated by MassINC deputy director Matt Malone. But Wolfe and his fellow panelists agreed that changes in the institution of marriage have had […]
Posted inPolitics
Mapping Massachusetts Politics
Just as the candidates will tell you, there’s a clear choice to be made in this year’s gubernatorial election, but it’s not about them. Mitt Romney and the Democratic nominee will get the headlines, but they’re only surrogates for more powerful forces. Bay State voters will really have to decide between Plymouth and Concord, and […]
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Walpole chats up the web
Walpole seems to be a place that won’t take no or yes for an answer. The town has had three elections in less than a year, all of them related to a Proposition 2 1/2 override and all of them bitter. The long-running political drama may have finally reached a conclusion on March 16, when […]
Posted inOpinion, Uncategorized
Keeping the faithful
If there ever was a separation of church and state in the newsroom–a certain kid-gloves treatment of churchly foibles–the raging controversy over clergy sexual abuse in the Boston Archdiocese has demolished it. Investigative reporters and political columnists who usually uncover State House scandals are now probing pedophile priests, and their tone is anything but reverent. […]