Billionaires on Nantucket? Who knew! | More cuts loom at sinking local news chain | Billions in federal cash in limbo | Quick Hits | About Contrarian Boston
Note to readers: Contrarian Boston will be on vacation until the week of Aug. 22, when we will resume our normal publishing schedule. (We will send out an abbreviated version next Monday). However, we are always interested in hearing your ideas and tips, so feel free to email us at sbvanvoorhis@hotmail.com.
The gift that keeps on giving: Billions in federal relief dollars at risk after state legislative session ends in chaos
Gov. Charlie Baker spent months pushing to get remaining $2.3 billion in use-it-or-lose-it federal pandemic relief dollars out the door this year.
Now it looks like none of the remaining American Rescue Plan Act dollars will get appropriated – let alone spent – this year after the calamitous end to the state legislative session a week ago.
First, legislative leaders, brushing aside warnings about federal deadlines for the use of the pandemic relief money, took all but $1 billion in ARPA funding out of the governor’s economic development bill, essentially punting the question of what do to with the remaining $1.3 billion until next year.
Then that bill itself died after news broke that a 1986 law would trigger roughly $3 billion in give backs to state taxpayers, upending Beacon Hill with a little more than four days to go until the end of the two-year legislative session.
There is a big problem now, and that’s the clock ticking on the use of $2.3 billion in federal money, which needs to be appropriated for specific projects and purposes by the end of 2024 and spent by the end of 2026.
That’s not much time, especially given how long it can take to get new housing built. Plus, should the Republicans take control of Congress after this fall’s mid-term elections, expect efforts to claw back the money to start immediately.
The “clock is really ticking loudly,” Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller, president of the Massachusetts Municipal Association, warned state lawmakers, according to State House News Service.
That was back in late June. Too bad state lawmakers failed to act on the Newton mayor’s warning then.
The Globe discovers Nantucket has lots of super rich people
The headline says it all: “Here on Billionaires’ Isle: Nantucket is attracting the uber-wealthy.”
If you want to write a story the corporate elite and their pricey Nantucket mansions, go right ahead, it’s certainly interesting fodder.
But to claim that this is a new phenomenon – that Massachusetts “as of late can easily lay claim to Billionaires’ Isle,” as the Globe story puts it – is more than a stretch. It’s ridiculous.
Compounding matters, one of the two big real estate deals the story uses to illustrate this supposed new trend involves Globe owner – and bonified billionaire – John Henry, who recently bought his own Nantucket estate and an adjoining property for $37 million, breaking island real estate records.
Henry, though, is hardly the first billionaire to discover Nantucket. Former Google CEO and fellow billionaire Eric Schmidt has him beat by a good quarter century.
In fact, Schmidt’s wife, Wendy, began a campaign to preserve local businesses amid concern the island was being overrun by billionaires, The Wall Street Journal reported at the time.
And that was back in 2008.
Gannett’s big loss means more cuts coming to local newspapers
How big? Well $54 million on revenue of $749 million, according to Dan Kennedy at Media Nation.
That immediately raises the specter of layoffs at the many local papers Gannett, publisher of USA Today, owns across Massachusetts.
Kennedy, in a separate post, also takes aim at the arguably gold-plated salaries executives at the sinking newspaper chain are raking in.
Michael Reed, Gannett’s chairman and CEO, pulled down $7.4 million last year, including a $767,000-plus bonus for all his fine work.
“You also have to ask what, exactly, Gannett’s executives and board members are being rewarded for,” Kennedy writes. “Last week’s bad news was only the latest for a company that seemingly can’t find a way forward.”
Quick hits:
Give Boston other local cities and towns a seat on the T board? “Don’t scrap the MBTA. Free it from Beacon Hill politics.” Joan Vennochi/Boston Globe
Bold move and made right in the light of day: “Mayor Michelle Wu proposes hefty pay raises for top city officials” Boston Globe
You’ve got to be joking: “Which photo from PR maven George Regan’s wedding is your favorite?” Boston Herald
Well, good luck to him: “Mitt Romney’s lonely quest to make the GOP an actual pro-family party” Washington Post
Whatever is happening here, it’s not good: “Data Show Gender Pay Gap Opens Early” The Wall Street Journal
What is Contrarian Boston?
I have fielded emails over the past couple of months 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.