Flashback Friday: On Heritage Road

 

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New from CommonWealth Beacon CLEAN ENERGY TRANSITION: Massachusetts’s 2024 climate law aims to hasten the clean energy transition to meet the state’s climate goals, but a dispute over whether natural gas utility companies have an “obligation to serve” natural gas customers could stall the transition off of fossil-fuel infrastructure. Bhaamati Borkhetaria has the story.  NEW FORECAST: The operator of the New England power grid released a study saying a 10-year downturn in the consumption of electricity from the region’s generating plants is coming to an end and giving way to the need for more electricity production over the next decade. Bruce Mohl explains.  OPINION: The newly renamed Thomas Michael Menino Convention & Exhibition Center is a fitting tribute to the former Boston mayor’s steadfast commitment to the convention center, which his former press secretary Seth Gitell says stands as an unparalleled success in the history of the city.

Flashback Friday: On Heritage Road  In our first summer “Flashback Friday,” CommonWealth Beacon is rolling back the clock to 1996 to share our inaugural cover story, “On Heritage Road.” Though the story itself is nearly 30 years old, the central thesis – that it’s getting increasingly difficult to make it in the middle class – still resonates today. Written by Dave Denison, CommonWealth’s first editor, the story profiles the families that lived in the Heritage Heights subdivision in Billerica, detailing their anxieties about the rising cost of housing, college, and car insurance – to name just a few of their many bills. Underlying this apprehension is a deep concern that their children will not be better off than they were.

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Dave’s reporting takes us not just inside the homes of the families on Heritage Road. He deftly weaves throughout the piece an explanation of the economic forces at work – declining real wages, the split between those with college degrees and those without, and a widening income inequality gap. As Dave notes, “When the demographics of families at different income levels are examined closely, what you see is the emergence of two different groups in the middle class. On the upper end are the well-educated families whose job skills mesh well with the changing economy. On the lower end are those who don’t have two wage-earners, who have less education, or who do the kind of work that either doesn’t command high wages or that can be eliminated by new technology.” Those are words that could easily be used to describe the pressures squeezing the middle class in 2025, though the value – and cost – of a college education has risen and the pace of technological innovation has accelerated. And what it all adds up to is a diminished sense of opportunity. – CommonWealth Beacon staff READ MORE

More from CommonWealth Beacon STORMY SEASON: It’s been a chaotic few years on Nantucket, which, like its neighbors on the Cape, is trying to chart a path forward as a community torn between the rental economy and a housing crunch. Jennifer Smith has the story.  MBTA COMMUNITIES: Marblehead nullified zoning changes that the town approved earlier, placing the town in non-compliance with the MBTA Communities Law. William Dowd from the Marblehead Current reports. OPINION: Hillary Casson, the CEO of Up Education Network, which operates two public schools in partnership with Boston Public Schools, says both academic skills and career-connected learning are crucial for student success.

The Codcast: Keeping time with MBTA’s Phil Eng Phil Eng, General Manager of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, joins the Codcast to talk about the state of the system and what lies down the track. LISTEN NOW

What We're Reading HOUSING: Funding cuts and tariffs nearly derailed a housing development for homeless veterans until the Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities stepped in to save the project. (GBH News)  NIH CUTS: UMass Chan Medical School didn’t receive more than $40 million in federal grant funding it was allocated last fiscal year. And, school officials say they’re also facing a $94 million gap for this fiscal year. (WBUR)  MANUFACTURING: In response to tariffs, Hasbro officials say they will move more of the company’s board game production to a plant in East Longmeadow. (MassLive – paywall)  OPIOIDS: The number of opioid overdose deaths declined by 36 percent in 2024, according to federal statistics. The decline is attributed to the increased availability of Narcan and substance-use programs. (The New Bedford Light)  EDUCATION: Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey are co-sponsoring legislation to fully fund special education. The legislation would allocate more than $30 million in federal dollars to hire 400,000 teachers and therapists. (The Boston Globe – paywall)

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