Contrarian Boston/Dec. 20, 2021

Curious reform timing | Lelling’s softer side | Natick Mall neighbors | Globe editor moves on | WaPo blues |What is Contrarian Boston? | Seeking contributors/writers

Free at last, Baker pushes major housing reform

Maybe it’s all just one big coincidence.

But now the governor won’t be running for reelection, his state government minions have finally released the regulations for a new housing push sure to infuriate NIMBY suburbanites.

Cities and towns across Massachusetts with MBTA stations would have to enact by-right zoning for new apartment and condo developments, under draft rules issued by state housing regulators.

The new multifamily-friendly rules would have to cover at least 50 acres and be within a half mile of an MBTA train, subway or major bus station, according to Banker & Tradesman, which has all the details.

Towns that refuse to play ball would lose access to coveted infrastructure grant programs under the proposed rules, which fall under Baker’s Housing Choice bill that cleared the Legislature last January.

Get ready for a whole lot of kicking and screaming in upscale suburbs about new apartments bringing in crime and busting school budgets, etc., etc.

Varsity Blues prosecutor GOP’s best shot for governor?

That would be Andrew Lelling, the former U.S attorney for Massachusetts who made a name for himself blowing open the Varsity Blues college bribery scandal.

Contrarian Boston thought his decision to appear on Radio Boston’s Tiziana Dearing  show was telling given that Dearing, along with being a fine journalist, has to be one of the nicest people on radio. Maybe just someone was hoping that a little of Dearing’s basic human decency might rub off on Lelling, softening his image with her public radio listeners?

Lelling could certainly use some help in that category. The Varsity Blues probe may have made for great headlines, with Lelling relentlessly pursuing a mix of wealthy parents and some celebrities.

But trying to convince voters in a statewide election that he is truly a nice guy at heart could be a challenge

Still, Lelling might not be the only hope for state Republicans seeking a moderate to go up against Trumpie Geoff Diehl in the GOP primary.

Don’t forget: Warehouse king Benjamin Butcher may also be looking to run in that lane as well, as we noted here on Friday

Natick Mall luxe condo owners in for a surprise

Well, there goes the neighborhood.

One has to wonder how condo owners at the Natick Mall’s Nouvelle condo high-rise will react once the news filters out that their beloved Neiman Marcus could end up as lab space.

Here’s the scoop from the Globe, which broke the story that local developer Bulfinch Cos. has acquired the upscale department store and may very well look at converting it into lab space.

Missing from the story, though, was any mention of Nouvelle, the $175 million condo high-rise with a rooftop garden and a host of other luxury amenities that overlooks Neiman.

When it was built more than a decade ago, the Nouvelle was marketed to buyers for its easy access to upscale shopping at Neiman and other stores, with one buyer shelling out $1 million for a three bedroom-penthouse.

Given the pushback life-sciences projects have seen in the suburbs, we’d be surprised if they didn’t throw a fit in this case.

Globe’s editorial page editor moving on

That’s the word from Dan Kennedy at Media Nation.

Two weeks after she sent a memo to staff on how she was looking forward to the year ahead, Bina Venkataraman has taken to Twitter to say she’s moving after more than two years at the Globe, Kennedy reports.

A science journalist, Venkataraman was an “unconventional hire” as editorial page editor, without the traditional politics and policy chops that most editorial page editors draw upon, Kennedy notes.

We’d add her inexperience as an op-ed editor showed at time. In what is arguably a Golden Age for opinion journalism, Venkataraman seemed out of step, with health-care pundits and other wonks seemingly hijacking the Globe’s editorial pages of late.

Washington Post losing its edge?

The departure of legendary editor Marty Baron has ushered in some big changes at the Washington Post, not all of them particularly welcome here.

A new emphasis on features makes it feel at times we are reading an upscale version of USA Today leavened with a predictable, AP-like summary of the day’s news.

You can find an inside look in this this Wall Street Journal piece how the Post is changing things up under new editor Sally Buzbee, who left the risk-averse Associated Press in May to take the helm.

Buzbee seemed like an odd choice to take over from the retiring Baron, who took the Post to new heights after leading the Globe to a Pulitzer for breaking open the child sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church, and nothing has happened to change that impression.

Certainly, Buzbee has her hands full – the Post’s base of digital subscribers has fallen to 2.7 million, down from 3 million earlier this year.

Has there been a corresponding de-emphasis on hard news and politics at the Post? 

That’s harder to put a finger on, with the Post this morning all over the Joe Manchin/Build Back Better debacle.

Yet the real test is what happens on seemingly slow days, when the Post should be leading the way with its own reporting and digging, and there most definitely does feel like there’s been a drop off there.

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.

Contrarian Boston seeks contributors

Have a news tip? Is there an issue you would like to see explored? Interested in writing up a news item or short opinion piece? As Contrarian Boston gets on its feet, I would like to add more news and a wider range of commentary as well.

Intrigued? Drop me a line at sbvanvoorhis@hotmail.com.

Thanks for reading and see you Wednesday.