09.21.2022
Bad political theater | Clueless Diehl | Cutting through the happy talk | More sticks, less carrots | Quick Hits | About Contrarian Boston |
News tips? Story ideas? Email us at sbvanvoorhis@hotmail.com
Maura Healey’s plan to tackle the housing crisis is full of carrots to get suburbs to stop blocking new apartments. But where are the sticks?
That’s our question after looking through the housing plan the Democratic gubernatorial candidate released this afternoon.
Healey pledges to “fully implement” the new MBTA Communities law, which, on paper at least, requires dozens of cities, towns and suburbs to roll out the welcome mat for potentially a couple hundred thousand apartments and condos near T stations.
But more than a few suburbs have been pushing back against the new law, enacted under the Baker administration’s to boost housing production. Elected officials in towns like Newton and Concord have talked openly of ignoring the law, while all but scoffing at the relatively mild penalties that generally amount to the loss of some minor grant money.
We couldn’t find any mention of stiffer penalties in Healey’s plan. Rather, there’s talk of “creating incentives” and initiatives that would “empower” towns and cities to revamp restrictive zoning rules and open their doors to new apartment construction.
Cheerleading alone won’t work. If it did, we wouldn’t be in the mess we are in right now with sky high rents and home prices, with Baker more outspoken about the state’s housing crisis than any other governor in recent memory.
Not that Healey doesn’t have some good ideas, like her plan for a dedicated housing secretary to ride herd over the state bureaucracy.
But Healey must have a stick or two up her sleeves after all those years and lawsuits filed as Massachusetts attorney general.
If so, here’s hoping our next governor has the gumption to wield them.
Earth to Diehl: No, Biden didn’t cause rents and home prices to spike
We are not sure we have ever seen a more inane statement from a major party candidate running for governor in Massachusetts.
But you really have to read it to believe it:
“Many high housing costs these days are due to the high inflation created by the radical liberal policies of the Biden economy,” a spokesperson for Republican gubernatorial candidate Geoff Diehl told MassLive.
Hmm …
It’s too nonsensical to even bother to fully address, but needless to say, home prices and rents have been on a tear for years now in the Boston area, long before Joe Biden was elected president.
The root cause has something to do with a little thing called supply and demand, something Republican candidates used to be big on.
A prime example of how NOT to battle climate change
That would be the attempt to block rush-hour traffic by a group calling itself Extinction Rebellion Boston.
Angering commuters by tying up traffic to demand an immediate end to all new natural gas hookups and other new fossil fuel infrastructure is a loser of an idea.
Most sensible people, especially in the Boston area, understand fully and support the need to transition, in an efficient and orderly fashion, to new and cleaner energy sources.
But it’s also not something that can be done overnight. One need look no further than Europe’s teetering economy in the wake of Russia’s cut off of natural gas supplies to see just how much damage a cold turkey approach might wreak.
Or at the huge electric bill increases we will soon all be paying in Massachusetts amid disruptions to the worldwide natural gas market.
Ironically, Massachusetts and all of New England would be in a far better position to more rapidly move away from natural gas, but for the environmental movement’s success in killing the region’s nuclear power industry.
Somehow we don’t think the members Extinction Rebellion Boston will be demanding the reopening of the region’s nuclear plants anytime soon, which is really too bad.
Given the growing climate dangers we face, it would make a whole lot more sense than attempting, via traffic-snarling stunts, to micro manage the region’s energy grid.
Complacent Mass? State elected leaders, local media, a little too self-satisfied over community reaction to Vineyard immigrant dump
The Globe’s Joan Vennochi slices right through the self-congratulatory happy talk in today’s column:
“What about Massachusetts and its outpouring of compassion toward 50 migrants who arrived last week without warning on Martha’s Vineyard? To be honest, the self-righteous back-patting that’s going on here right now seems excessive. Providing decent care on that small scale, while admirable, is not the same as dealing with thousands of people who show up daily along the Texas border.”
Quick Hits:
Now here’s an idea: Boston-area university to slash tuition, room and board costs by 33% Boston Herald
Just an isolated incident? We’ll see: “MBTA pulls Orange Line train with door problem day after shutdown” Boston Herald
Given the flaky opponents most statewide Democratic candidates face, no profiles in courage here: “Dems’ aversion to debates becoming campaign issue” CommonWealth Magazine
Next stop recession? “Fed Raises Interest Rates by 0.75 Percentage Point for Third Straight Meeting” Wall Street Journal
About 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.