the state and federal governments are spending more than $100 million to bring wired broadband access to the 5 percent of Massachusetts residents who don’t have it and can’t get it. Contractors are laying out more than 1,300 miles of fiber optic cable in 123 cities and towns from Worcester County westward. Part of the […]
Growth and Development
Posted inEconomy, Opinion
A Gateway to unintended consequences
what’s in a name? According to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, everything. In 2007, MassINC and the Brookings Institution issued a report that used the phrase “Gateway City” to describe “the state’s once-humming mill and manufacturing towns.” The report, which highlighted the economic problems and potential of these communities, created a buzz. The Commonwealth responded by […]
Posted inEconomy
Historical roadblock
The proposed site of the Meditech office park development. Photo by J. Cappuccio. Peace summits are preceded by battles. And as far as Beacon Hill turf battles go, the one that necessitated the November sit-down inside Secretary of State William Galvin’s offices was a doozy. The spat featured months of political gamesmanship and strident […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Game on
Baker College junior Matthew Herard, dressed in a suit festooned with sensors,moves in front of a green screen as cameras record his actions. His moves will beused to make a digital avatar that is more life-like. Herard says he’d like to go to work for Curt Schilling’s 38 Studios in Rhode Island after graduation. […]
Posted inEconomy, The Back Story
Smart growth funds running out
The account that funds the state’s smart growth law is running out of cash, raising the prospect that the state’s first major effort at using incentives to promote housing construction could grind to a halt before it really gets rolling. Less than $1.4 million remains in the state’s Smart Growth Housing Trust Fund, which pays […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, The Download
With casinos, all politics is political
If, as Barney Frank says, “Government is the name we give to things we choose to do together,” politics must be the name we give to things that advance our own agenda and self-interest while putting a flamethrower to competition that might injure our priorities. Less than a month since Gov. Deval Patrick signed the […]
Posted inEconomy
A have and have-not world
carol meyrowitz started her climb up the corporate ladder at Framingham-based TJX Corp. in 1983. Today, nearly 30 years later, she runs a $22 billion retailing giant whose off-price strategy seems to work well in good—and bad —economic times. Over the last three years, despite the Great Recession, the company’s sales have risen 10 percent, […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Winn pleads guilty to 2 misdemeanors
The prominent Boston developer Arthur Winn is pleading guilty to a pair of misdemeanor campaign finance violations, and a development company formerly headed by Winn agreed to pay a $1.5 million fine, in a case that should mark the end of the Dianne Wilkerson saga on Beacon Hill. US Attorney Carmen Ortiz today announced campaign […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
A different kind of slot position for Pats?
The Globe reports today that a lawyer for Patriots owner Robert Kraft’s company drafted a zoning change over the summer that would have allowed for a casino on property The Kraft Group owns directly across from Gillette Stadium in Foxborough. The revelation throws into sharp relief several weeks of near-denials from the Krafts, who, upon […]
Posted inEconomy, Transportation
North Station garage deal on shaky ground?
Members of the MassDOT board of directors are raising questions about the pending sale of the MBTA’s North Station garage, raising the possibility that the struggling transit agency could face an unexpected budget gap this year. The MBTA’s real estate arm put the 1,280-space Boston garage up for bid in April, inviting investors to submit […]