SALISBURY — On a brisk October weekday, the only deals going down on Broadway are at Christy’s, a small pizza stand. At 1 p.m., the lunchtime crowd consists of two construction workers who have made the trip from Dracut, 30 miles away, just for a slice. Jerry and Bob have been coming to Salisbury their […]
Growth and Development
Posted inEconomy
Romney downplays job turnover and jousts with legislators over economic development
INTRO TEXT Mitt Romney swept into office with a vow to put his business know-how to work for the Massachusetts economy. Nearly two years after his arrival, however, employment growth remains sluggish, while Romney has faced a job challenge of his own, with the top two members of his economic development team resigning in the […]
Posted inEconomy
Split-level personality
In 1980, Republican presidential nominee Ronald Reagan, running against Democratic incumbent Jimmy Carter, asked voters, “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” Note that he said “you,” not “we” or “the United States.” Reagan believed that when things get better for individuals, society is better off; since his victorious campaign, few American […]
Posted inEconomy
Public officials and business leaders put on a fullcourt press to save Bay State military bases
The nation is engaged in a tenuous campaign to rebuild and democratize Iraq. In Afghanistan, US soldiers continue to hunt for Al Qaeda terrorists. But back in Washington, the military is gearing up for another kind of battle. Less than a year from now, the Department of Defense will recommend to Congress that as many […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Septic-tank rules cloud the real estate market in Orleans
ORLEANS—Twenty years ago, Augusta McKusick could step outside of her home on Ares Pond in Orleans and dig up as many clams as she liked. But no more. “They’re not there now,” she says. “They’re gone. The eelgrass is gone. In the summer there are big mats of scummy green algae floating in the pond.” […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
The Big Dig gave birth to a business association that redefined civic leadership
By the beginning of summer, the last remnants of the elevated Central Artery were being taken down, the green steel superstructure that walled off the financial district from the waterfront for decades torn into scraps and hauled away by the truckload. As the subterranean construction project known simply as the Big Dig turned into the […]
Posted inEconomy
Business is booming at security expo
INTRO TEXT Whether the Democratic National Convention will be an economic boon or bust for the city of Boston is still a matter of dispute. But for one rapidly growing sector of the Massachusetts economy, the mega-event is a guaranteed boost. “The DNC will be huge for us,” says Gerard Boniello, co-owner of Corporate Resources […]
Posted inEconomy
Downtown Bostons Greenway is still up in the air
INTRO TEXT By the time this article appears, an agreement may finally be in place about how to govern and maintain the 27 acres of downtown land now opening up in Boston as the steel cloud of the Central Artery disappears. Then again, maybe not. The complicated mix of public and private parties that for […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Down but not out
SPRINGFIELD, THE STATE’S third largest city and the metropolitan anchor of western Massachusetts, is in the soup. To say it is on the brink of disaster might be going too far. But to say it is a struggling third-tier city facing the same challenges as many urban centers across the state, while true, would not […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Fiscally strapped Hopkinton puts its own citizens on the hot seat
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 […]