Score Boston Mayor Tom Menino:1; Boston Globe:0 on the proposal to bring the Olympics to Boston in 2024. Opined an editorial, a chance to host the Olympics is "too rare to pass up without further consideration." Really? As the Mayor restated Thursday on WGBH's Greater Boston, the city has too many other, higher priority needs - …
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This time, the Phoenix does not rise
The announcement yesterday that the Boston Phoenix is ceasing publication marks the end of an era, an era of substantive, long-form journalism. Jim Barron and I wrote for the paper back in the 1970's. It was the place to be, along with The Village Voice, the best of alternative journalism. Back in 1975, Jim Barron and …
Grossman, DeLeo speak reality to Patrick’s dreams
Governor Patrick's hopes for Massachusetts, delivered in his state-of-the-state address in January were big-picture, visionary, limitless in their possibilities - especially in transportation, education and tax reform. They were so big, in fact, they took your breath away. His proposals focused on increasing income and gas taxes to pay for transportation improvements, more early childhood education and extended middle school hours, all the while …
Continue reading Grossman, DeLeo speak reality to Patrick’s dreams
Sequester brings crisis fatigue
Scream! Make that, primal scream!! Washington's failure to deal with the sequester before it kicked in is just the latest in a series of failed attempts to deal responsibly with federal deficit and budget issues. So bad are the constant failures and so great the frustrations with Republicans, Democrats and the White House that I …
Menino v. Connolly an intergenerational competition
One need look no further than Joe Fitzgerald's column in today's Boston Herald to know why City Councillor John Connolly's mayoral bid is such an uphill race. Fitzgerald looks at Menino through his wife Angela's eyes. Angela is much loved and, wherever Tom Menino goes, she is there. She talks about how far he has …
Continue reading Menino v. Connolly an intergenerational competition
A liberal manifesto with a centrist tinge
President Barack Obama's state-of-the-union speech was as much a liberal manifesto as I've heard in decades. Not surprising then that so many of the talking heads take the speech as evidence that Obama is trying to move the American center to the left in much the way Ronald Reagan moved it decades ago to the …
Blizzard 2013 – a rare interlude
City plows have made a token pass down our street, scooping out a rut the width of a sedan. It will probably be tomorrow before we're plowed and shovelled out. For now, the neighborhood is breathtakingly beautiful. Tranquil. Pristine. No distant sounds from Route 128. Very quiet and peaceful. My mind has taken a cue from what's outside. I'm content to read …
Coakley top executive material
Attorney General Martha Coakley told a Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce breakfast Wednesday that government's role is not to pick business winners and losers but to create a competitive environment conducive to the development of new ideas and technological innovation. How to do that will be one of several topics explored at an energy summit …
Facing up to 2 1/2 override
Newton is one of many communities in which the Prop 2 1/2 chickens are coming home to roost. For the last 30 years, that 1980 tax limit referendum has held a community's total tax levy to two and a half percent annual increases, not counting growth through expansion of the tax base. Having the cap on the …
Frankly, Barney’s best for interim senator
Wanted: Smart, courageous, savvy individual for temporary posting. Location: United States Senate. Experience: track record of experience in complicated political settings with record of success in achieving goals. Education: longtime immersion in complicated policy challenges with particular expertise in military budgeting and entitlements. Skill sets must include ability to work collaboratively with people across the …
Marjorie Arons-Barron 