HOMEOWNERSHIP HAS TRADITIONALLY been a marker of middle-class life, and a tool for vaulting families solidly into the middle class. Sustainable homeownership builds family wealth, and helps stabilize neighborhoods. But over the past decade, the nature of homeownership in Massachusetts has shifted drastically. Middle-class families in Massa-chusetts are increasingly struggling to access homeownership—especially in greater […]
Growth and Development
Posted inEconomy
Attract Amazon + fix the T
WE BOTH HAD THE SAME THOUGHT as soon as we heard about Boston vying for Amazon’s new headquarters facility: Locate it at Suffolk Downs and leverage the opportunity to take a giant leap forward in improving local and regional mobility. Suffolk Downs on paper is an ideal site for a large campus complex: over 100 […]
Posted inEconomy
First the Greenway, now the waterway
BOSTON MAYOR MARTY WALSH wants to transform Fort Point Channel into a waterway lined with parks that would serve almost as levees during periods of storm surge. During an address to the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, Walsh said he envisioned using fill to build slightly elevated parks up and down the length of the […]
Posted inEconomy
Give us a break, Amazon
IT’S A STORY TYPICAL of 21st century America. Amazon, a $150 billion company with $12 billion a year in profit and more than $20 billion in the bank, tells governments across North America they should drop what they’re doing and compete, with just a few weeks notice, for the promise of thousands of new workers […]
Posted inEconomy
Millennium promises shorter Winthrop Sq. tower
THE DEVELOPER MILLENNIUM PARTNERS agreed on Monday to cut the height of its proposed tower in Winthrop Square from 775 feet to at least 702 feet to ease concerns raised about the building’s impact on flight patterns out of Logan International Airport. The lower height, presumably, will also reduce the building’s shadow impact on Boston […]
Posted inEconomy
A Boston tower and the law of unintended consequences
I WAS REALLY BAD IN MATH and physics in college. My brain was wired to appreciate things like alliteration and metaphor, not equations or abstract laws of nature. But I remember one law that was referred to on occasion – how every action has an equal and opposite reaction. That’s what I’m discussing today – […]
Posted inEconomy
Where have all the children gone?
EVERY 10 YEARS, the Massachusetts Legislature must go about the arduous task of redistricting our House and Senate districts. Because of the continued shift in population within the state, each decade the districts creep farther toward Boston. The same is also true whenever Massachusetts loses a congressional seat. In 1962, we had 14 congressional districts. […]
Posted inThe Download
What’s Amazon up to?
Amazon slashed the prices of a handful of items at its just-acquired Whole Foods chain, a move that garnered loads of publicity but shed little light on the online retailing giant’s long-term supermarket plans. Prices for organic butter, milk, bananas, eggs, almond butter, baby kale, apples, and responsibly farmed salmon all fell. The price cuts […]
Posted inThe Download
On to the next ballot questions
Now that last year’s final ballot-approved law is in place (Gov. Charlie Baker signed the legislatively amended marijuana bill into law on Friday), Beacon Hill is gearing up for the next round of ballot initiatives to be placed in front of voters in November 2018. It looks like the top issues being championed are all […]
Posted inThe Download
Another big mention for Moulton
Politico’s massive profile of Seth Moulton struggles with the opposing Beltway views of the congressman from Massachusetts: Is he a rank opportunist willing to say and do almost anything to win White House mentions or is he the real-deal leader who believes in country, public service, and speaking his mind? Author Michael Kruse offers evidence […]