The quote of the day, from Urban Compass: "I had to choose between keeping police on the streets, and books” — Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno Sarno announced the layoffs of 89 city employees today. The greatest number (44) are in the Department of Public Works, but the city's library department seems to be getting the […]
Gateway Cities
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Better know a Massachusetts district, thanks to Google Maps
The Electoral Map discovers a fun (for political geeks) way to use Google Maps: "walking" through congressional districts using the Street View feature. What would you see if you visited the Bay State's congressional districts? Below are links Street Views of our US representatives' district offices, at least those that have been captured by Google's […]
Posted inEducation, Politics, The Download
Worcester’s trial balloon: Tax dorm rooms
Like almost every other Massachusetts municipality, Worcester is starved for revenue, and one city councilor has come up with a new source of tax dollars. From the Worcester Telegram‘s Lisa Welsh: [City Councilor Michael] Germain suggested at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting extending lodging taxes to dormitory rooms as a way to raise revenue. City Solicitor […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Springfield budget cuts hit 311 phone line and CitiStat program
There's a widespread belief (or hope) that tough times can offer a "golden opportunity" for government reform, but things may not be working out that way in Springfield. Urban Compass explains that the city may gut spending on an effort to determine more efficient ways of spending city money: According to a report in today’s […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Tough negotiations with firefighters’ union forecast in Haverhill
Here's another example of municipal officials trying to save money vs. public sector workers trying (like everyone else) to preserve their incomes in a tough economy. From the Eagle-Tribune's Shawn Regan: He may have been the last person Mayor James Fiorentini wanted to find on the other side of the negotiating table. A fire captain […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
New Bedford city councilors are not “complementary” potted plants
City politics in Boston are still pretty quiet, but there's plenty of bad blood in New Bedford, according to SouthCoastToday's Jack Spillane: Mayor [Scott] Lang recently described the council as existing primarily to "complement" his agenda, and five councilors returned the insult by writing a letter calling him incompetent to craft a city budget. The mayor […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
Worcester wants struggling artists
Despite the bad economy, Worcester is apparently proceeding apace in its bid to become a magnet for the creative class (or, in Michigan lingo, a cool city). The Daily Worcesteria notes that the renovated Hadley-Burwick Building on Main Street, once a furniture store, is now advertising for tenants on craigslist. The ad makes a pitch for […]
Posted inEconomy, Environment, The Download
New Bedford gets shout-out from the New Yorker
If you're not a New Yorker subscriber, you might have missed the use of New Bedford as a backdrop (complete with a cameo by Mayor Scott Lang) in Elizabeth Kolbert's profile of Green for All president Van Jones. The description of the city obviously doesn't come from the local chamber of commerce: A hundred and fifty years ago, […]
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US mayors ask for a jump-start from Congress
The US Conference of Mayors is asking for $24.4 billion from Congress to fund "ready-to-go" infrastructure projects — meaning projects that, theoretically, can be started and completed within calendar year 2009. (See the press release here, or the 222-page report here.) According to the mayors’ group, the 4,951 projects would create 256,000 jobs in urban […]
Posted inPolitics
A Newspaper Grows in Holyoke
HOLYOKE–Mary Signet’s afternoons felt empty after the daily Transcript-Telegram newspaper folded three years ago. She would climb the stairs to her home in Holyoke’s Highlands after teaching grammar school all day, feeling almost lost without an evening newspaper to read. The Transcript had served as companion and chronicler for her five decades in Holyoke. On […]