HOPKINTON–On a sunny Saturday morning in March, nearly 110 Hopkinton residents sit down to solve a problem that their elected officials would prefer not to touch: the town’s budget crisis. Ensconced in the parish room of St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church, they’ve worked three hours last evening, and will clock eight more before they’re […]
Economy
Posted inEconomy, Politics
A housing firm with all the answers
WHEN FALL RIVERÂ officials pushed for state approval to raze the 100-unit Watuppa Heights public housing development last summer, they bolstered their case with a consulting firm’s study that said the city had an “excess” supply of affordable housing. Not long before, a study by the same firm, RKG Associates, informed the town of Plymouth that […]
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 inEconomy, Politics
The smartgrowth movement meets its Waterloo in Kingston
KINGSTON–On windy days, commuters shield their eyes from the flecks of sand and dust blowing toward them as they step onto the commuter-rail platform in Kingston. Abutting the station is a desert-like expanse of 140 acres, and no one really knows when or how the land is going to be developed. Seven years ago, advocates […]
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 inEconomy
Anti-Family Values
Photographs by Flint Born TRACEY AND SEAN FRANCIS used to look forward to Fridays, but not for the usual reasons. That’s the day The Patriot Ledger newspaper carries its big weekly real estate listings covering the South Shore area where they both grew up, and where they hope to raise their two young daughters. […]
Posted inEconomy, State House News Service
The New Economys dubious dividend
As we find ourselves heading into a particularly brutal state budget-debate season, the focus, naturally enough, is on the fiscal realities ahead and how to come to terms with them. Still, we ought not to neglect the story of how we find ourselves in the current mess. After all, this has been, in historical terms, […]
Posted inEconomy
Economists give their prognoses for recovery
Left to right: Adrienne Ortyl, Paul Harrington, and Alan Clayton-Matthews. Back in March, when economists and other observers were trying to figure out what kept consumers spending even as indicators of an impending downturn piled up, The Boston Globe‘s Adam Pertman trotted out this theory: “Many Americans [are] feeling certain that any downturn probably will […]
Posted inEconomy
New Economy Potential
The good news is that Massachusetts has retained its number-one ranking in the California-based Milken Institute’s annual New Economy Index, which measures states by their potential for high-tech growth. The Bay State finished in the top 10 in all but two of the index’s 12 criteria, benefiting from a highly educated population; venture capital investment […]
Posted inEconomy
Small cities face big economic challenges
In the shadow of Mount Greylock, high in the rolling Berkshires, Pittsfield opens the commercial gateway to western Massachusetts. . . . Today the city has a prosperous, tranquil look of general comfort and cultivation. . . . The homes of the well-to-do line its elm-shaded streets with substantial dignified residences and smooth lawns. . […]