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GATEWAY TO CONFUSION: The state’s Gateway Cities designation comes with significant economic perks, meant to shore up the anchors of regional economies. But how does a city get on or off that list? Over time, some cities have met the state’s criteria without being added to the list, while others no longer qualify yet continue to reap the benefits. As Hallie Claflin reports, oversight of the designations seems to have been lost. |
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GASSING UP: The latest data on gas pipe repair in Massachusetts paints a damning picture: gas utilities spent a record amount of money in 2024 replacing leaky pipes, even as the actual miles of replaced pipes remained stubbornly flat since the program’s inception a decade ago. Jordan Wolman has more. |
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OPINION: Boston’s broken land use process is costing the city needed housing, writes John Infranca, professor of law at Suffolk University Law School and visiting professor of law at Yale Law School. Neighbors assert parochial interests to stymie needed housing development or impose additional costs and delays, even when that development advances the city’s purported goals – goals that city leaders appear unwilling to expend political capital to advance. |
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| | | By CommonWealth Beacon Staff |
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As Beacon Hill gears up for the second leg of its two-year legislative cycle, lawmakers are staring down a series of overlapping crises in housing, health care, education, and the state’s financial health generally. Outside and under the Golden Dome, municipalities and advocates have no shortage of suggestions. |
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This week on The Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon reporter Jennifer Smith hosts a start-of-year roundtable with Lynn Mayor Jared Nicholson; Jennie Williamson, the state director of the research and advocacy organization The Education Trust in Massachusetts; and Clark Ziegler, the outgoing executive director of the Massachusetts Housing Partnership, who is retiring after four decades at the helm of the quasi-public organization. |
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All three noted that Beacon Hill seems to recognize the need for action — be it ramping up housing production or addressing the literacy crisis among young people — but “much more work needs to be done,” Ziegler said. |
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For Zeigler, the past few years included some significant housing swings like the MBTA Communities law and the housing bond bill that legalized accessory dwelling units in single-family zoning areas. At the same time, “the housing trends are really discouraging,” he said, noting that production last year looks to be at a 12-year-low, “so there’s enormous unmet need to promote housing development and to remove barriers to new housing.” |
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He points to potential legislation in the Senate, which includes recommendations from a Healey task force focused on unlocking housing production – like removing large lot size requirements or parking minimums – as a promising move this term. |
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Williamson said the state needs to face that a quality education for most students in Massachusetts is closely tied to where they live and their families’ incomes, with some of the nation’s widest education gaps. |
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“I think the broader issue we’re facing here in Massachusetts is that we’re patting ourselves on the back for being number one in education,” she said, “but when you look beyond the state averages, there is a much more complicated and, frankly, troubling story that emerges. And that’s that we’re really only number one for some.” |
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Despite investments in K-12 education and a focus on supporting high need students, she said, the outcomes “aren’t improving at the pace we need.” On addressing the state literacy crisis, she said, efforts like providing funds to districts to transition them to so-called “evidence-based reading curriculums,” and a House bill that would require all districts to use those curriculums, are meaningful. |
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Even with a supportive gubernatorial administration and local delegation, Nicholson noted, cities are struggling to adequately fund their education systems. |
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“One of the big issues that remains to be tackled is municipal revenue and the limitations that municipalities experience trying to provide the services that our residents rely on,” he said, referring to the Proposition 2 1/2 limit on raising municipal taxes over time and “really intense cost pressures” in areas outside of municipal control like pension obligations and health insurance for city employees. |
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“There are a lot of good ideas at play — bold ideas at play,” Ziegler said. “We just need to see them through, and that’s where crunch time in a Legislature really matters.” |
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On the podcast, the guests break down what has and hasn’t been a lawmaking priority (2:00), dive into the current relationships between cities, the state, and the federal government (6:45), and discuss their legislative wish list for the second half of the two-year cycle (13:20). |
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More from CommonWealth Beacon |
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INCLUSIONARY ZONING: Just as an end-of-year lawsuit launched a broadside against a decades-old policy to boost affordable development, state lawmakers moved to make it easier for cities and towns to roll out their version of that same policy. Jennifer Smith has the details. |
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SENATE ACTION: After turning up their collective noses at Mayor Michelle Wu’s latest attempt to rebalance Boston’s property tax bills, Senate leaders are ready to forge ahead with their own relief plans — and to wrench open the financial curtains on a record-setting ballot question field. Chris Lisinski has more. |
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OPINION: In the face of rising waters and temperatures from climate change, environmental and open space advocates David O’Neill, Kris Sarri, Katie Theoharides, and Jodi Valenta urge passage of the Nature for All bill, which would steer $100 million per year from the sales tax on sporting goods to water and land conservation efforts. |
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COURTS: The ex-CFO of Brockton Public Schools is suing the city, claiming it made him a scapegoat for the $18 million deficit that rocked the district in 2023. (The Brockton Enterprise – paywall) |
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HEALTH CARE: Seventeen Republicans in the US House of Representative broke with their colleagues to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies for another three years. But the bill’s path through the US Senate is still in question. (ABC News) |
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ECONOMY: Two new studies show area business leaders feeling more pessimistic and less confident entering 2026. The cost of doing business in Massachusetts is rising, they say, with one company particularly worried about the downstream effects of soaring insurance costs. (Boston Business Journal – paywall) |
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CONGRESS: US Rep. Lori Trahan sits down with the Lowell Sun to reflect on a “tumultuous” 2025 and plans for 2026 as Democrats hope to make inroads in the midterm elections. (The Lowell Sun – paywall) |
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TAXES: A vendor mistake meant Holyoke sent incorrect 2026 property tax bills to residents, Mayor Josh Garcia said, which included a surprise surcharge. The issue has been fixed. (MassLive – paywall) |
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