| Parks shortchanged |Downtown hopes rise |Defying common sense in Everett | BPS debate escalates | About Contrarian Boston |
Edwards: Backlash brews on Beacon Hill as rents soar
Lydia Edwards, the newest member of the state Senate, has a simple, two-word warning for the real estate industry: rent control.
As groups representing developers, landlords and investors push back hard against fees on luxury sales and an array of more limited proposals, they risk a backlash that could see caps on rents wind up becoming the law again in Boston and other cities, the East Boston Democrat tells Contrarian Boston.
However, Edwards contends all she hears from the real estate sector is the same old complaints that any fee or regulation will have a devastating impact, something she finds hard to believe given the surge in rents and prices during the pandemic. A city councilor and ally of Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, Edwards ran and won a special election in January for a state senate seat.
“It is the same white noise – good economy, bad economy, they are always suffering,” she said. “The real estate community needs to be more creative in their pushback.”
Edwards is now helping push one of the mayor’s key housing proposals at the State House, legislation that would stick a 2 percent fee on condo and other residential sales over $2 million in Boston. After some pushback, the proposal has been retooled to include tax relief for seniors and other modifications.
Edwards, who will be stepping down from the City Council at the end of April, is also backing legislation that would give cities and towns the ability to give tenants – and nonprofits – a right of first refusal when apartment buildings hit the market.
As frustration builds at the State House and in local communities, Edwards sees the potential for some form of rent control to make it through the Legislature, if not this year, then next, when Attorney General Maura Healey, a Democrat, may very well be settling into the corner office.
“They won’t even use the word displacement,” Edward said. “It is because of their hard-headed, singular focus, not living in reality, that rent control is back on the table.”
The Pioneer Institute raises the ‘R’ word
After it was announced earlier this year that BPS Superintendent Brenda Cassellius will be leaving her post after the school year, we mentioned here it was only a matter of time before the ‘R’ word – i.e. receivership – was raised.
Well, the Pioneer Institute is now raising it, saying Boston schools have underperformed long enough and need to be put under state oversight, as the Herald’s Marie Szaniszlo reports.
We still think the state will likely balk at taking such action, opting instead to give new Mayor Michelle Wu time to shake things up and get results at BPS. We’ll see. The appointment of a new superintendent is going to be key.
Finally, a thawing of the downtown office market?
The future of downtown Boston – and downtowns everywhere – remains highly uncertain as we come out of the deep freeze imposed by the pandemic.
But there are signs of a thaw, with office occupancy rates, a key figure over the past two years, starting to edge up again in cities across the country, consulting firm Kastle reports.
Office occupancy is now up to 38 percent, according to Kastle’s Back to Work Barometer, which tracks 10 cites. New York is leading the way, with a 3 percent jump in February.
While Boston isn’t on the list, other surveys have shown the city performing at the top end of the range, so it wouldn’t be surprising if the Hub were nearing 40 percent as well.
As a point of comparison, Boston saw companies, led by life sciences firms, move into 3.75 million square feet of previously empty space over the past year, tops in the country, the National Association of Realtors’ research economist reports.
Downtowns across the country, including Boston’s, still have a long way to go. But the numbers are moving in the right direction.
Everett casino owner’s common-sense defying argument
The state’s gambling watchdog will take up today what should be a fairly open and shut case.
Wynn Resorts wants to build a massive entertainment, hotel, dining and shopping project literally across the street from its $2.6 billion Encore Boston Harbor casino in Everett.
Oh yah, and the Las Vegas gambling giant claims the project is a completely separate development from the casino, so it conveniently won’t have to fall under the purview of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission.
We’re sure people will be booking rooms at the two new hotels just for the thrill of spending the night in Everett, not to visit the casino. Ditto, for the nearly 3,000-space parking garage, which, of course, no one will ever park in to go to the casino across street.
And what about the pedestrian bridge over Broadway that will connect the new shopping and entertainment complex, including a performance venue, with the casino itself? Well, that’s just for traffic safety, Wynn claims.
Hopefully the MGC won’t spend months debating this one. As they say, if it looks like a casino, acts like a casino …
Mass. lawmakers to state parks: Take a hike
After reaping a multibillion-dollar windfall in federal relief money, guess how much Beacon Hill set aside for beleaguered state parks?
By our calculations, roughly $25 million, a pathetic figure given the $250 million being eyed in Michigan or the $50 million Maine has been looking at spending.
This stinginess is even more puzzling given the well-documented surge in visitors to parks across the state over the past two years. More than a few Bay State parks, in turn, are clearly living off the fumes of infrastructure built during the Depression by the Civilian Conservation Corps.
In this piece in CommonWealth Magazine, David O’Neill, president of Mass Audubon, and Deb Markowitz, the Massachusetts director of The Nature Conservancy, argue it is time to boost that number eight-fold, to a more respectable $200 million.
“Massachusetts has underfunded outdoor recreation and parks for years,” the two write, arguing the money is essential to address the state’s “nature deficit.”
Quick Hits
You have to wonder what Tom Brady is thinking: “Green Bay Packers’ Aaron Rodgers ‘to sign 4-year $200m contract extension’ making him highest-paid player in NFL history” (The Sun).
Planet Howie: “Howie Carr: Charlie Baker’s COVID dictatorship thankfully ending soon” (Boston Herald)
No brainer: “House would extend outdoor dining in $1.6B spending proposal” (Boston Herald)
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.