08.15.2022

In search of local news at Gannett’s floundering papers | Housing, transit crises a long time coming | Another stressor on new apartment construction | Quick Hits | About Contrarian Boston |

News tips? Story ideas? Email us at sbvanvoorhis@hotmail.com.

We will return to our regular publishing schedule next week.

Ready to jump on the bandwagon: Boston exploring whether it too can ban new gas hookups

This fairly big news was buried way down in a Globe story on one of the more controversial provisions in the big state climate bill that was just inked.

A spokesperson for the Wu administration said it is “closely reviewing the rules for participating” in a new state pilot program that would allow up to 10 communities to start banning new natural gas hookups in commercial and residential buildings.

A big issue, and one not particularly well covered in the local media, has been the serious concern that banning natural gas hookups could drive up the cost of construction – and hence rents – at desperately needed new apartment buildings.

It was this provision that Gov. Charlie Baker balked at before eventually signing the bill, saying it gave him “agita,” given the potentially negative impact on new multifamily construction in Cambridge, Newton, and other communities seeking to ban new gas hookups.

Needless to say, all of these communities are prohibitively expensive to live in, with renting being the best chance most mere mortals will ever have to live in, say, a Cambridge, a Newton, or a Concord.

However, Boston’s serious interest should elevate those concerns given the large amount of apartment construction that takes place in the city.

Drowning in red ink, ailing newspaper chain doubles down on curbing local coverage

By Mark Pickering

Gannett’s moniker for many of its publications has been “WickedLocal.” But a much more accurate tag line should be “Wicked (but not much) Local.”

The national newspaper chain reported that it lost about $54 million in the second quarter of 2022. Gannett’s CEO has reportedly said the company was set to launch “a significant cost-reduction program.”

Here in Massachusetts, it’s hard to see what else the company could possibly cut. Gannett ceased printing about 20 weekly papers statewide this spring. These included the Waltham News Tribune along with the Watertown, Newton and Brookline Tabs.

The “new” Gannett is the result of a massive 2019 merger with GateHouse Media. Cutbacks at the weeklies had already been going on for years. Increasingly, press releases took the place of staff-written local stories.

However, before the great 21st-century collapse of the newspaper industry, covering council and school board meetings was the bread-and-butter of local papers ‑ weeklies in particular.

From the standpoint of a cub reporter, covering the COVID-19 pandemic could have been a career booster. Whether – and when – to reopen public schools was a hot topic.

However, the Watertown paper did not have a local reporter cover the school board’s debates about the optimal pandemic strategies – for students, staff and parents. Instead, the paper ran a regular column by then-School Committee Chairman John Portz.

The failure to cover school board meetings is a big departure from even the recent past.

A Watertown Tab front-page article last year (print edition: 07/09/21), “Cheers to 10 years!”, honored reporter Joanna Tzouvelis for her diligence in reporting for the Belmont Citizen-Herald for 10 years and taking on other civic activities as well. The article mentions that her new duties include reporting on Watertown.

The article talks of Tzouvelis penning 520 front-page stories while covering “32 elections, 57 Town Meetings, six ground breakings and a whole decade of … Select Board, Planning Board, Zoning Board and School Committee meetings.”

Her reporting speaks to the regular beats that local papers have covered in the recent past. Nonetheless, Gannett’s cutbacks continued.

Tzouvelis is now the Regional Housing and Real Estate Reporter. However, regarding Belmont and Watertown news, an automated reply from her email account redirects senders to send “submissions ready for publication” to a different email address.

Gannett had launched its spring cutbacks in March. For example, an email to Watertown Tab subscribers announced that there would no longer be a print edition of the newspaper: “The final print edition of The Watertown Tab will be May 6, 2022.”

Newspaper subscribers were refunded their payments for papers that would never be printed and delivered. The WickedLocal site for Watertown currently advertises subscriptions for $1 for six months and $9.99 per month afterwards.

The Watertown Tab website for Aug. 11 spotlights a courtesy photo picturing four classical musicians playing at Fenway Park. From there, a string of web links include:

·      A column on a Backstreet Boys concert in Mansfield.

·      A column on “summer fun” in Massachusetts.

·      An article on Lyme disease and possible vaccines.

·      A feature story that is labeled an ad for Microsoft.

·      An article on the Boston Seafood Festival.

There’s almost nothing that immediately speaks to any local Watertown news.

Subscribers to the Watertown Tab receives a couple emails on Thursday, perhaps a nod to the bygone days of weeklies. But the links are just more of the same, meaning they lack a Watertown angle.

One email has a lead story: “Flooding the zone: New England’s high tides are getting higher.” The regional article does not even mention Watertown.

Then there’s the email with the top story on “National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day.” Again, there’s no Watertown angle to the article that says it’s “For Subscribers.”

Finally, there’s one story with a Watertown angle: a feature story on a woman, dead at 101. She lived in Watertown for decades. Fair enough. But I had to really hunt to find anything that said: community news.

Mark Pickering is a veteran of the local news business, having worked on the business desk and the opinion pages of the Boston Herald.

Legislature and local media must also shoulder blame for housing, transportation crises

Long simmering, the Bay State’s cost of living crisis has reached full boil and now threatens the future of our local economy.

That’s our takeaway from the Massachusetts Taxpayer Foundation’s “Heeding the Warning” report issued on Friday.

The obvious question is how did we get here? These are issues, after all, that have been bubbling for decades now.

Governors typically get most of the blame for these issues, with Charlie Baker certainly taking his lumps in his last few months in office.

But it is the Massachusetts Legislature that arguably calls the shots in our state, and its approach to the twin crises of escalating housing costs and a crumbling transit system has been one marked by half measures and a puzzling lack of urgency.

The local media also shares a significant part of the blame as well.

There has long been too little consistent coverage of the issues facing middle class families, not just housing and transportation, but the cost of college, child care, electric bills, you name it.

That should mean more than just the occasional feature on some unlucky family struggling to pay their rent or mortgage, but rather reporting that holds legislative and government leaders accountable for their actions, or, as is so often the case here in Massachusetts, their inaction.

The Globe in the last couple of years seems to have gotten religion when it comes to covering the state’s transit woes, and, to a significantly lesser extent, the housing crisis. The public radio stations, WGBH and WBUR, have provided decent and at times excellent coverage of these issues as well.

That’s far better than the Herald, which, in its own quirky way, covered these issues from a more conservative perspective before the paper was gutted by venture capital firm Alden.

Yet it’s also telling that the Globe now has a Climate Team, but no Housing Crisis Team or, for that matter, any Middle Class Cost Team.

That speaks volumes.

Very strange times indeed at the U.S. Capitol

Ethereally white and seemingly floating above it all, The Capitol Building is a gorgeous sight on a clear summer night in D.C.

Three members of the Contrarian Boston team took a late-night stroll to The Capitol steps last Wednesday, during a swing through D.C. on a two-week vacation.

David Van Voorhis, aka Statman, a regular contributor, tweeted as he paced back and forth along in front of the building, while Pluto Van Voorhis, an honorary member of the team, snapped photos of me sitting on the steps.

The city – and the Capitol – seemed almost deserted, with Congress in recess and the only sign of life a security guard peering out from behind a barricade near the top of the steps.

Just a few days later, early on Sunday morning, a 29-year-old Pennsylvania man crashed his car into the barricades in front the Capitol, fired some shots in the air, and then killed himself, the Washington Post reported.

As the Post noted: “The incident near one of the most important symbols of national government comes at a jittery time, with law enforcement on alert following an FBI search of former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club last week and other events that have inflamed political tensions.”

Apparently, the quietude and peace we felt that night by the Capitol steps was just an illusion.

Keep the tips coming!

We have been pleased to field a variety of story ideas and tips that faithful readers of Contrarian Boston have been sending.

We are always interested in anything you think might be newsworthy.

We plan to run several stories in the weeks ahead that are based on your tips and suggestions.

As noted above, the best way to reach us is via email at sbvanvoorhis@hotmail.com.

Quick Hits:

What a mess: “Orange Line shutdown will cause ‘severe’ traffic congestion throughout the region, officials warn” Boston Globe

This guy is unbelievable: “Trump offers DOJ to ‘help the country’ lower tensions after FBI raid” Washington Times

Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy: “Giuliani Is Told He Is a Target in Trump Election Inquiry in Georgia” New York Times

No brainer: Making Massachusetts more affordable to be a theme of Healey’s campaign: “Gubernatorial hopeful Maura Healey launches first statewide ad. It’s focused on family, teamwork, and making ‘Massachusetts more affordable.’” Boston Globe

Benghazi hearings 2.0: “GOP House Report Sets Stage for Potential Probe Into Afghanistan Withdrawal” 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.