General Boston Discussion

dames said:
Curious what people's take is on this article.

www.bostonmagazine.com

Is the Massachusetts Economy Cooked?

The unraveling of the Bay State's economy—and why the clock's ticking.
www.bostonmagazine.com www.bostonmagazine.com
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The gist of the article is that the President, a notorious elderly pedophile, does not like Massachusetts and his group of drunks, freaks, perverts, and apocalyptic Christian nationalists is punishing the state. So what should the state do? Become shittier to make him happy? Is that really the recommendation?
 
It should go without saying but Massachusetts receives one of the LOWEST (44th out of 51) amounts of per capita federal aid, investment, or subsidy of any state (DC included). The state is a consider “maker” state, producing significantly more tax receipts going to the federal government than it receives in federal funding.
 
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www.bostonglobe.com

Frustration mounts over delays to safety and transit upgrades on Blue Hill Avenue, other busy roads - The Boston Globe

Advocates expressed their frustration over the stalled projects at a council hearing Wednesday, which comes one month after a Globe report revealed the Wu administration has substantially slowed or effectively paused most streets projects involving design or infrastructure changes for the past year.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com

One of the administration’s top priorities is focusing on street repairs, such as resurfacing roads and filling in potholes, along with other efforts to slow traffic and reduce crashes, Gove said. But he offered relatively few specifics on how the city is prioritizing projects, or what their timelines are for completion, despite repeated questions from councilors and advocates.

[...]

Missouri said the administration is reluctant to push forward projects that do not have an overwhelming amount of public approval.

“We want to make sure that we’re hearing [residents’] voices and finding the best solutions that are unique to specific parts of the city,” Missouri said.
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Missouri said the administration is reluctant to push forward projects that do not have an overwhelming amount of public approval.

Interesting theory of governance here. I look forward to the monthly city-wide votes on BPS expenditures, BPD overtime, BWSC's road closures to repair water and sewer lines, BFD's loud fire trucks, the continued existence of the City Hall building and every line of Boston's 4 billion dollar budget that I personally do not overwhelmingly support.
 
Anyone familiar with Powder House Square in Somerville? I was walking through today and noticed for the first time that there’s a cute little pocket park right in the middle of the rotary. However, I’m 90% sure that there are no crosswalks to get to it! Do they expect people to dash through traffic, or are those benches merely decorative?
 
RandomWalk said:
They removed the crosswalks when they added the flex posts and bike lanes.
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And for the better, even if you can't get to the park in the rotary anymore:

Before:
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After:
1777331057311.png

1777330844785.png
 
Is there a plan to eventually extend the curbs out to where the flex posts are? Maybe they'd add curb cuts and a crosswalk for access then
 
3decker said:
Is there a plan to eventually extend the curbs out to where the flex posts are? Maybe they'd add curb cuts and a crosswalk for access then
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When this was implemented, that was alluded to. IIRC, based on their streets capital planning GIS map, I think it's part of the Broadway reconstruction scope, which was programmed at one point, but there hasn't been an update on that in a few years.
 
I really want the curbs there to keep drivers from taking the right from Broadway westbound onto Warner. Nevermind the mopeds that YOLO their way through the circle.
 
Boston recently released a Climate Action Plan.

The few articles I've seen about it mostly just mention they plan to study possibly implementing congestion pricing (good!), but that's also just a sliver what's in the 200+ page document. Has anyone else done a deeper dive? Thoughts?

www.boston.gov

Boston's Climate Action Plan

Boston’s 2030 Climate Action Plan is Boston's roadmap for how we will reduce our carbon emissions and protect our neighborhoods from climate change, while centering climate justice. Achieving our 2030 and 2050 emissions goals will provide benefits to every neighborhood in Boston: energy...
www.boston.gov www.boston.gov
 
ritchiew said:
Boston recently released a Climate Action Plan.

The few articles I've seen about it mostly just mention they plan to study possibly implementing congestion pricing (good!), but that's also just a sliver what's in the 200+ page document. Has anyone else done a deeper dive? Thoughts?

www.boston.gov

Boston's Climate Action Plan

Boston’s 2030 Climate Action Plan is Boston's roadmap for how we will reduce our carbon emissions and protect our neighborhoods from climate change, while centering climate justice. Achieving our 2030 and 2050 emissions goals will provide benefits to every neighborhood in Boston: energy...
www.boston.gov www.boston.gov
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I'm good with it as long as the "Climate Council" doesn't get on a high horse and stymie development.
 
Fidelity is going to five days a week:

www.bostonglobe.com

Fidelity to bring Boston employees back to the office five days a week - The Boston Globe

It's a significant shift from the financial services company’s current hybrid-work plan.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com

Fidelity Investments on Wednesday told thousands of employees at its Boston headquarters and three other locations that they’ll need to come to the office five days a week starting in September, a significant shift from the financial services company’s current hybrid-work plan.

Today, most Fidelity employees are required to be in the office for two full weeks out of every four, essentially 10 days a month. Fidelity started rotating people into the offices in 2022 for week-long stretches, once every four weeks, as it started to bring workers back from COVID-19 shutdowns. The company expanded the requirement to most employees the following year, and in 2024, ramped it up to two weeks out of four.

Fidelity’s latest decision comes as most large office employers seem to have settled into a post-pandemic pattern of allowing a mix of in-office and at-home days — with a few exceptions, such as Amazon and JPMorgan Chase, which are already back to full-time in the office. Boston’s other giant financial services firm, State Street Corp., moved to four days a week in late 2023, an aggressive shift at the time, and continues to hold steady with that requirement. Many other major Boston employers have been sticking with three.
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I don't know about Fidelity, but by 2019 most State Street employees were strongly encouraged to take two Flex days (as they were then called), and that was considered mitigation for the announcement that the company would soon get rid of assigned desks and reduce their office footprint and cram everyone into fewer buildings. Covid delayed that for a while, and now everything has reversed.
 
stevebikes said:
Fidelity is going to five days a week:

www.bostonglobe.com

Fidelity to bring Boston employees back to the office five days a week - The Boston Globe

It's a significant shift from the financial services company’s current hybrid-work plan.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com



I don't know about Fidelity, but by 2019 most State Street employees were strongly encouraged to take two Flex days (as they were then called), and that was considered mitigation for the announcement that the company would soon get rid of assigned desks and reduce their office footprint and cram everyone into fewer buildings. Covid delayed that for a while, and now everything has reversed.
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Also want to note that this was the first I heard that they're keeping 245 Summer St while also filling the Commonwealth Pier space. They had been looking to sublease the former.
 
Justbuildit said:
Also want to note that this was the first I heard that they're keeping 245 Summer St while also filling the Commonwealth Pier space. They had been looking to sublease the former.
Click to expand...

That's kinda annoying that they are trying to get out of 245 Summer. That's literally right at South Station.
 
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