AG Healey should form independent commission to investigate the failed agreement Last week in the first installment of this two-part column, I ran through the many problems with the January 2016 deal between General Electric, the city of Boston, and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts that has now collapsed for all intents and purposes. […]
THE FALL OF THE GE BOSTON DEAL, PART I
The official narrative and the real story Readers might feel that this should be a time for me to take a victory lap. The GE Boston deal that I criticized from the moment it was made public in January 2016 has crashed to Earth a bit over three years later. The now-failing multinational […]
BOSTON FIDDLES WHILE THE WORLD BURNS
City government continues issuing reports while UN calls for immediate action When writing about human-induced global warming on a regular basis, it’s a good idea to pace oneself. Because it’s such a relentlessly depressing topic that highlighting it too often can backfire. Faced with an existential threat of such magnitude that human civilization—and […]
SPECIAL INVESTIGATION: LIVING ON SCRAPS
Boston is aiming to achieve “zero waste,” which some say can create more living-wage jobs. Is part of this lofty goal rooted in the region’s dirtiest hypocrisy?
‘WALK THE TALK’
Mayor Walsh needs to act faster to mitigate regional global warming threats Environmental groups protested Mayor Marty Walsh last week during the International Mayors Climate Summit and subsequent US Conference of Mayors meeting—demanding fast action to make Boston carbon neutral (achieving net zero CO2 emissions) and better prepare the city for the many […]
TERROR AT 50 FEET
Acrimony over Seaport gondola plan speaks to need for expanded MBTA service Much ink has been spilled in the Boston press over a plan by luxury developer Millennium Partners and its subsidiary Cargo Ventures to spend $100 million to build an aerial gondola system from South Station up Summer Street across Fort Point […]
CITY VOWS TO SUPPORT IMMIGRANTS, BUT MAJOR HURDLES REMAIN
Carolina Mata is a recipient of TPS and escaped El Salvador in 1998 after her father was assassinated. Protected status has made life easier for Mata. “I found a stable job, got my driver’s license, and was able to take care of my children,” she said. As a single mother, Mata supports 10-year-old daughter, Gabriella, and her son who attends Fitchburg State College, while working in a plastics factory.
THE TERMINAL: SOUTH STATION IS A HOMELESS SHELTER WITH NO SERVICES
As television journalists reported that New England Patriots fans donated comforters for homeless people, transit cops disposed of every single blanket that the folks from Quincy C.O.P.E. and others handed out inside South Station.
TOWNIE: CORPORATE TAX FABLES AND COMMUNITARIAN KIDDIE TABLES
Big local corps quiet about huge profits to come from Repub tax scheme… except GE An interesting WBUR article, “Largest Mass. Companies Are Mostly Silent On GOP Tax Plans,” asked the top 12 corporations in the Commonwealth to comment on the recently passed Republican scheme to transfer vast amounts of money from the working […]
GENERAL ELECTRIC FAIL
Conglomerate’s woes throw Boston HQ deal contradictions into bold relief What a surprise. General Electric is tanking, and the scheme to bring the multinational’s headquarters to Boston is looking worse by the day. And whom shall the public blame if that once-secret deal cut by Gov. Charlie Baker and Mayor Marty Walsh in […]
