02.16.2022

| The next Lincoln | Allen gone | Bye Bye local news | Wu and heights | Doughty speaks | Quick Hits | About Contrarian Boston |

Big trouble ahead for Gov. Baker’s housing push?

The governor’s campaign to spur construction of hundreds of thousands of new apartments, condos and homes near T stations across Greater Boston is already hitting turbulence.

Newton City Councilor Marc Laredo is taking heat over comments suggesting the Garden City do a cost benefit analysis on whether to comply with the new MBTA Communities law.

Laredo, at a city council meeting, questioned the new rules, which would require cities and towns with T stations to create a multifamily housing zone of at least 50 acres, or risk losing some state grant money.

In particular, Laredo said the rules would limit the city’s ability to “manage and control what gets built here” since developers would be able to build apartments and condos by right, instead of having to obtain a special permit.

“I think we need to weigh that against, in my mind, what is a very small amount of funding at stake,” Laredo said.

Laredo, who was blasted on Twitter after his remarks were posted there, told Contrarian Boston that shouldn’t be characterized as having “concerns.” He was just simply asking questions and doing his due diligence as an election official.

Hmmm …

Given Newton’s well documented history of NIMBY spats over housing proposals, there’s a reason Laredo’s comments have raised eyebrows.

File under: Pointed questions.

Big question: Where does Wu stand on tower heights?

That’s our question as Boston’s new mayor effectively shoves aside Don Chiofaro’s plans for a 600-foot waterfront tower next door to the New England Aquarium.

Instead, city planning officials will be focusing their efforts on a new harbor development plan for East Boston, the Globe reports.

Under former Mayor Marty Walsh, Boston embraced – even if a little warily – a number of lofty new towers.

Is Boston headed back to its old, height-phobic ways?

Stay tuned.

Planet Clueless: Newspaper chain CEO brags about local coverage

Here’s wondering if Mike Reed, CEO of Gannett, actually reads any of the dozens of local papers his chain is steadily driving into the ground here in Massachusetts.

“There’s a big misperception out there that there’s a big hole in local journalism, and I think that narrative’s been created by people who aren’t sitting in local markets,” Reed told the New York Times.

We beg to differ. Gannett’s holdings in Massachusetts range from the MetroWest Daily News and Patriot Ledger to small weeklies like the Sudbury Town Crier and the Grafton News, but they all have one thing in common: rapidly shrinking local news coverage.

It’s a banner day when any one of these dailies carries a substantive piece of enterprise reporting on their local communities. But there are lots of advertiser friendly features on local restaurants, and a growing number of “regional” stories that often mix in material from other Gannett papers in other states and regions across the country.

Long gone are the days when these papers had their own City Hall and State House reporters, with most relying now on almost exclusively on the State House News Service.

Thanks to Dan Kennedy at Media Nation for spotting the head-scratching comment.

Meanwhile, Kennedy, the dean of media reporting, has a great scoop on Gannett’s latest local endeavor, which will require local reporters at its many weeklies and dailies in Massachusetts to cover regional news.

“I understand that circulation at Gannett’s weeklies is shrinking, but I think it’s more likely because there isn’t enough local news rather than too much,” Kennedy writes. “This does not strike me as a smart move, to say the least.”

From poverty to public office: New Power looks to shake up local elections with up-from-their-bootstraps candidates

Just maybe they’ll find the next Lincoln.

It’s kick off time for a national campaign based in Boston that aims get candidates from impoverished backgrounds elected to local and state office.

Launched by David Abromowitz, a nationally known real estate lawyer and housing policy expert, the New Power Project recruits and supports candidates with hardscrabble childhoods who have gone on to build a track record of public service.

The group is backing three candidates running for state legislative seats in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Indiana, and two candidates for city council in Trenton, N.J. and Sacramento.

New Power is also in talks with a pair of candidates in Massachusetts that it hopes to announce soon, one eyeing a legislative seat, the other a potential city council candidate, said Abromowitz, of counsel at Goulston & Storrs and former chief public policy officer of YouthBuild USA.

The new organization, backed by 50 different contributors, pays for a campaign advisor and another staff member while also connecting candidates to an array of mentors, including former Newton Mayor Setti Warren.

Abromowitz noted that 70 percent of all local and county elections are uncontested.

“We think many of those uncontested elections would benefit from having a candidate from within the local community,” said Abromowitz, who has advised former Gov. Deval Patrick, and former Boston mayors Thomas M. Menino and Marty Walsh, among others, on housing and related issues.

Leaving the party so soon? Danielle Allen calls it quits

The Harvard professor wasn’t afraid to take controversial stands, such as decriminalizing hard drugs.

That helped grab some local headlines, but Allen faced an uphill battle just to get enough delegates at the state Democratic party convention  – 15 percent – to make it on the state ballot.

But true to form, Allen left with a bang, blasting a process that is stacked against promising new candidates that don’t have the financial wherewithal and name recognition to make it through the party primary.

It’s good news for state AG General Maura Healey, we guess, leaving just state Sen. Sonia Chang-Díaz, another underdog, in the race.

That said, a sleeper of a primary might not necessarily be in Healey’s best interest, especially when it comes to sharpening her message for the fall.

As Dems doze, MassGOP race heats up

Meanwhile, Wrentham factory owner Chris Doughty, the hope of the beleaguered moderate wing in the state GOP, would love to take a swing at Healey in the general election.

But first he’ll have to make past Geoff Diehl, the favorite right now of the state party’s dominant Trump wing, with the state lawmaker having won the endorsement of the whacky ex-president.

Doughty’s budding campaign has released some radio ads and is poised to announce some new hires.

Doughty is looking to win over voters, including independents who were the backbone of Baker success, with a two-pronged message.

First, Doughty says he’s just the man to fill Baker’s shoes as a counter balance to a Democratic-controlled Legislature and what he contends is its troubling tendency to run up the state charge card.

(Not that he exactly would put it that way – when asked whether he is a ‘Baker Republican’, Doughty countered that “I am my own man,” calling himself a “Chris Doughty Republican.”)

Second, Doughty said he’ll also focus on the high cost of living in Massachusetts, from what he contends is an excessive tax burden on businesses and families, to the soaring cost of groceries and housing, among many other items.

“We are now one of the most expensive states in the country for businesses and one the top three (most expensive) for our citizens,” he said. “I want to bring in common sense, pragmatic ideas.”

Quick Hits:

Now here’s an idea: “What if Boston just scrapped its school committee altogether?” (CommonWealth Magazine)

“In historic vote, Mass. House passes bill to allow driver’s licenses for residents without legal immigration status” (Globe)

No, it’s the land underneath, not the casino: “Wynn Resorts cashes in on Everett casino in $1.7 billion deal” (Globe)

“Varsity Blues college admissions scam: Massachusetts man receives longest sentence yet in scandal” (Herald)

Putin mind games? “U.S. and Russian officials clash over status of troops near Ukraine” (WP)

What is Contrarian Boston?

I have fielded emails over the past couple weeks asking what Contrarian Boston is about.

Here’s a link to our mission statement – you can find it in the “about” section.

For a more prosaic, nuts-and-bolts description, read on.

An online newsletter, Contrarian Boston publishes every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. In Contrarian Boston you’ll find analysis of the day’s news, and original reporting as well.

Our focus is:

·      Politics and all levels of governance, good and bad, with an emphasis on state and local, with some national mixed in;

·      Economic growth and business, especially real estate, housing and new development projects;

·      The media and why it does what it does;

·      Education, from school board spats to the doings of multibillion-dollar university endowments;

·      And whatever else catches our fancy.