An East Cambridge courthouse update It’s sad when a local public official claims powerlessness before real estate developers, the market, and state government. But that’s exactly what Cambridge Mayor Marc McGovern is doing in the latest round of the already half-century long East Cambridge Courthouse saga. Which I wrote about in some detail […]
CAMBRIDGE COUNCILORS CAN STOP UNDEMOCRATIC COURTHOUSE DEAL
Four votes against the proposed leasing of city parking spaces should do the trick
MORE ACTIVISM NEEDED IN STATE AND LOCAL POLITICS
Solely spending your money and free time on presidential pageants is unwise The other day my colleague Chris Faraone made an interesting comment on social media—inveighing against those who lavish money on presidential candidates with the next national elections still a year and a half away: We held a forum for the […]
STOP THE ELECTRIC SCOOTER SCAM
Mass needs expanded public transportation, not hazardous rental toys It’s not like I didn’t warn everyone. Last summer I wrote a column on the illegal rollouts of dockless electric scooters by Bird Rides in Cambridge and Somerville that was extremely critical of the company’s move on two grounds: safety, and the problem of […]
A WINDOW INTO THE STATE HOUSE
Rep. Mike Connolly’s blog offers a critical look behind the curtain of Mass politics The Massachusetts State House is not a bastion of democracy. I think a growing number of people in the Commonwealth are pretty clear on that fact. Dominated for decades by a series of imperial House speakers, and to a […]
SOME THOUGHTS ON TRANSPORTATION POLICY
Transportation is a subject I address frequently in my columns. But, as is often the case in journalism, it’s usually necessary to write about it piecemeal given various editorial constraints. So I might cover flooding subways one week and a gonzo proposal for sky gondolas over the Seaport the next. But rarely do I […]
GREENFIELD BLUES: HOMELESSNESS IS NOT JUST A BIG-CITY PROBLEM IN MASS
![Greenfield City Hall by ToddC4176 at en.wikipedia [CC BY-SA 3.0] from Wikimedia Commons](https://1fkoby17rlj41m4giv3x4cvk-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Greenfield-City-Hall-by-ToddC4176-at-en.wikipedia-CC-BY-SA-3.0-from-Wikimedia-Commons-728x410px-354x200.jpg)
We don’t get much news about Western Mass in Boston. And since the population is relatively small in the largely rural western counties of the Commonwealth, it can be easy to miss significant stories. Because the scale of noteworthy happenings is naturally smaller there. Because our diminished metro news outlets have trouble covering […]
A NOTE OF APPRECIATION TO OUR GOOD FRIENDS AT THE NEW YORK TIMES…
The timing couldn’t have been better. No sooner did this publication release last week’s editorial announcing our “unnaming” policy of refusing to print the names of ultra-right wing leaders and organizations, than the Gray Lady provided the best possible example of the type of reporting we think American news organizations need to stop producing […]
ANNOUNCING THE DIGBOSTON ‘UNNAMING’ POLICY
Doing our part to shut down the ultra right As journalists, my DigBoston colleagues and I have a responsibility to do our best to cover news of the day fairly and accurately. And that’s based on our abiding belief in practising ethical journalism. Even though we’re street reporters for an alternative urban news weekly—a […]
EVERY DAY IS LABOR DAY
DigBoston commits to expanding coverage of workers and unions For the past many years, I’ve written an annual Labor Day editorial for whatever publication I’m running at the time. And it’s always a relentlessly depressing exercise. Because there just hasn’t been much good news for working people in decades. Since the 1970s, […]
