Saturday, May 18, 2013
Recap and analysis of the week in state government.
Like pieces of a puzzle that don't quite fit together yet, the Big Three may have been separated at birth, but with each incremental step their destinies seem to grow more intertwined. No, we're not talking about those Big Three - Gov. Deval Patrick, Senate President Therese Murray and Speaker Robert DeLeo - though they play major character roles in this thickening plot. Instead, three bills have come to define the early months of the 2013 legislative agenda and resolutions on tax hikes, local road funding and the annual state budget continue to be elusive and dependent on one another. Patrick spent the early part of his week welcoming British Prime Minister David Cameron to Boston for a few quick meetings and a visit to the Copley …
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Som|dog president Brian Davis and Alderman At-Large Dennis Sullivan discussed dog-related issues on "Greater Somerville."
Somerville Alderman At-Large Dennis Sullivan, som|dog President Brian Davis, and KyAnn Anderson, host of "Greater Somerville," discussed dog issues on the show this week. Among the things they talked about are an upcoming dog festival in Union Square, happening May 19, and a proposal to add off-leash hours to Somerville's parks. You can watch the show above.
Ward 5 Alderman Courtney O'Keefe said she heard about the comments through friends.
After allegedly being targeted by anti-lesbian comments, newly appointed Ward 5 Alderman Courtney O'Keefe, who is openly gay, wants to move on. "I'm done with this being a focus. My focus is Ward 5," O'Keefe told Somerville Patch Wednesday afternoon. The comments, which O'Keefe said she heard about through friends, prompted Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone to issue an open letter Tuesday denouncing "all anti-gay slurs and insults." (You can read the letter by clicking PDFs under the photo of O'Keefe.) The mayor's letter led Boston.com and the Boston Metro to publish stories about the situation. O'Keefe said she heard of two comments made about her with anti-lesbian insults. The first happened on April 11, the night former Ward 5 Alderman …
Implementing the study's recommendations will take time.
A study conducted by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation recommends tearing down the McGrath Highway's McCarthy Overpass and replacing it with a street-level boulevard. The implementation of such a proposal, if it were to move forward, is still years away. At a public meeting held Wednesday night at the Argenziano School in Somerville, MassDOT officials said the department studied a number of alternatives, including keeping the McGrath Highway overpass as it is, and concluded that building a street-level boulevard would best accommodate vehicles, public transportation, pedestrians and bicyclists while reconnecting neighborhoods currently divided by the crumbling elevated roadway. "It's the most complete streets alternative," …
42.379367
-71.099156
Dr. Albert F. Argenziano School at Lincoln Park
290 Washington St, Somerville, MA
/articles/replace-elevated-mcgrath-highway-with-a-boulevard-says-massdot-study
1346714
/locations/9392510
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Many people want to tear the elevated highway down, but there have been differences of opinion about when and how to do that.
Plans for the McGrath Highway, a crumbling roadway with an overpass many in Somerville want to see torn down, will be discussed Wednesday night at a presentation hosted by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. MassDOT has spent nearly two years conducting a study of the roadway. The study is called, "Grounding McGrath: Determining the Future of the Route 28 Corridor." The state transportation department will present draft recommendations from the study at a meeting scheduled to take place at the Argenziano School at 6 p.m. At a public meeting about the study held in spring of 2012, many members of a passionate crowd urged MassDOT to tear down the McCarthy Overpass, the elevated part of McGrath Highway, immediately. Doing so would…
42.379367
-71.099156
Dr. Albert F. Argenziano School at Lincoln Park
290 Washington St, Somerville, MA
/articles/future-of-mcgrath-highway-topic-of-wednesday-presentation
1346714
/locations/9388106
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
The Somerville congressman has indicated he's not happy with the political culture in Washington.
Rep. Michael Capuano, formerly mayor of Somerville, is getting closer to making a decision about whether or not to run for governor in 2014, according to the State House News Service. "The clock is running, so I’m closer," Capuano told reporters Monday, according to the news service. The State House News Service said the congressman has been frustrated with gridlock in the House of Representatives. "We’ve been doing almost nothing but pontificating and posturing for almost this entire year," he said. In February, Capuano told WBUR, "Part of me thinks that some of the more interesting, more important fights over the next several years might be conducted at statehouses around the country and not necessarily on Capitol Hill." He said at the …
It's only one quarter of a mile long, but it's a big step toward extending the pedestrian and bike path to Boston, said advocates.
Somerville broke ground Monday on the first new section of Community Path to be constructed in 18 years. The pedestrian and bike path, which begins in Davis Square and connects to the Minuteman Bikeway in Cambridge, will be extended about one quarter of a mile from its current end point at Cedar Street to Lowell Street. Work should be complete at the end of this fall, according to Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone, who spoke at Monday's ceremony. This new stretch of path runs past Maxwell's Green, a new residential community in the heart of Somerville. Eventually, city officials and Community Path advocates want to extend the path all the way to Boston. It's a project that, in a perfect world, would be constructed in conjunction with the …
42.39442
-71.11079
Cedar St & Morrison Ave, Somerville, MA
/articles/city-breaks-ground-on-new-stretch-of-community-path
/locations/9383859
42.39246
-71.10641
Princeton St & Lowell St, Somerville, MA
/articles/city-breaks-ground-on-new-stretch-of-community-path
/locations/9383860
Monday, May 13, 2013
After more than 25 years on the Somerville Board of Aldermen, Ward 3 Alderman Tom Taylor is retiring.
Ward 3 Alderman Thomas Taylor, who was first elected to the Somerville Board of Aldermen in 1986, will not seek reelection this fall, according to an announcement sent Monday morning by Taylor. In his announcement, Taylor, 63, wrote, "Due to health concerns it's time for me to retire." In recent years Taylor has battled cancer. Taylor, speaking to Somerville Patch Monday afternoon, said it was a difficult decision to make. He said he'd been thinking about retiring for a few months, and when it came time to pull nomination papers for the 2013 election, he decided it was time to step down. Radiation treatment has damaged a nerves in his foot and bladder, he said, and he felt it would be difficult to campaign, collect signatures and serve. …
Some of the square's trash cans are "disgusting," said one alderman.
Ward 6 Alderman Rebekah Gewirtz would like the city to review trash pickup and street sweeping procedures in Davis Square. During the recent Somerville Spring Clean Up, which took place at the end of April, "One thing I couldn't help but notice was how, frankly, disgusting some of the trash cans are in Davis Square," she said, speaking at a Board of Alderman meeting Thursday night. Many of the square's bins are solar powered BigBelly trash cans. "They're supposed to be compacting the trash. I'm not sure all of them are functioning," Gewirtz said. She got an email from one resident, and the essence of the email was, "There just is a lot of trash around Davis Square," she said. The Department of Public Works sweeps the streets in Davis …
Saturday, May 11, 2013
Results from a recent executive survey ranked Massachusetts 47th for business.
A CEO magazine ranks Massachusetts as one of the worst states in the nation for business. Chief Executive Magazine ranked Massachusetts 47th based on a survey of corporate leaders. Survey respondents reported the Bay State is one of the worst for taxation and regulation. The state Republican Party is pointing to the survey and saying that Gov. Deval Patrick and the Democratic-led Legislature are bad for the economy and business. What do you think about Massachusetts’ business climate? Is this a good state in which to do business?
David H. Cheresh
12:43 pm on Monday, May 20, 2013
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