Stephen Lisauskas, a vice president at Waste Zero, a North Andover company that advises municipalities on ways to reduce their trash disposal costs, says cities and towns can fairly easily boost recycling and reduce trash generation. He worries that inertia on Beacon Hill and out-of-sight-out-of-mind attitudes toward trash among residents of the state are likely to discourage recycling and lead to a boost in expensive trash exports. Massachusetts and the rest of the states in the northeast alrea...
Jul 14, 2017•30 min
After a dumbfounding outburst by House Speaker Robert DeLeo on Wednesday evening, it appears the House and Senate are finally getting down to business. A fiscal 2018 budget is slated for a vote on Friday and the House and Senate lawmakers trying to broker a deal between the branches on marijuana legislation are finally getting back to work. In this week’s Codcast, CommonWealth’s Michael Jonas, Jack Sullivan, and Bruce Mohl analyze the legislative maneuverings of the last week, particularly aroun...
Jul 07, 2017•22 min
The health care debate is coming to a head in Washington, where the moment of truth has arrived for Republicans who have vowed for seven years to “repeal and replace” Obamacare the first chance they get. On Beacon Hill, state leaders are wrestling with how to restrain Medicaid costs without cutting people off coverage. No one understands these issues as well as John McDonough, who joined Bruce Mohl and me for this week’s Codcast. McDonough is a professor at the Harvard Chan School of Public Heal...
Jun 30, 2017•33 min
The Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway Conservancy gained a measure of stability this week as the state, the city of Boston, and park abutters agreed to provide $2 million a year to help cover the organization’s operational expenses. The Codcast provides two interesting views on the deal. James Aloisi, the former secretary of transportation who played a hand in the formation of the Conservancy, said he has a hard time understanding why the state was playing hardball in the first place. He likened ...
Jun 23, 2017•31 min
Jay Gonzalez and Bob Massie grabbed some badly needed media attention this week when the two candidates for the Democratic nomination for governor issued a joint press statement attacking Gov. Charlie Baker for refusing to take a stand on the millionaire’s tax.
Jun 16, 2017•35 min
Today’s Codcast features the TransitMatters guys who put the brakes on an $11 million MBTA redesign of the Auburndale commuter rail station that was going to improve handicap accessibility but result in poorer service on the Framingham-Worcester Line.
Jun 09, 2017•35 min
Add parking, cut emissions by CommonWealth Beacon
Jun 02, 2017•22 min
Ride-sharing regs redux by CommonWealth Beacon
May 26, 2017•27 min
It’s boom time in Dorchester. That’s what Bill Forry of the Dorchester Reporter told Bruce Mohl and me when we sat down to talk with him about what’s going on in Boston’s largest neighborhood. Dorchester is Boston’s grand melting pot -- or at least its polyglot point of convergence. It is home to more than 120,000 people with roots that span the globe, who, these days, mostly get along well.
May 19, 2017•35 min
Plotting the future at DOT by CommonWealth Beacon
May 12, 2017•42 min
Probation, patronage, and power struggles by CommonWealth Beacon
May 05, 2017•26 min
It was just two years ago that the Greater Boston region was in the thick of a high-stakes showdown over whether to proceed with a bid to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. In January 2015, Boston was designated the US entry in the global competition for the 2024 Games. It was all downhill from there. The bid’s boosters seemed to do just about everything wrong, from adopting a secretive approach to bid documents in a city that demanded everything be put on the table to the mayor disparaging resident...
Apr 28, 2017•35 min
The phrase “mealy-mouthed politician” often seems redundant, so closely do we associate political figures with an aversion to direct answers that cut through the usual fog. That does not describe Seth Moulton, the second-term Democratic congressman from Salem. Moulton answers questions with a degree of candor that is refreshing and sometimes jarring. When CommonWealth sat down with him for this Conversation interview in November 2014, just after his election, Moulton said he was now wearing the ...
Apr 21, 2017•33 min
Our Spring 2017 print issue has you covered. We've got stories on invasions, interesting people, politics, education, health policy, and even sports.
Apr 11, 2017•29 min
Patrick Sullivan, executive director of the Seaport TMA, estimates 4,000 people on a typical weekday come into North Station and then take shuttles to the congested Seaport District. He said his organization hopes to eliminate a lot of that vehicle traffic by launching a water shuttle between Lovejoy Wharf and the South Boston waterfront this summer. Test runs showed the trip would take about 13 minutes. Sullivan, participating in the Codcast with James Aloisi and Marc Ebuna of TransitMatters, s...
Apr 07, 2017•29 min
Massachusetts is about to submit to the US Department of Education its plan for monitoring and holding schools accountable under the new Every Student Succeeds Act, the law passed in late 2015 that replaced the No Child Left Behind law. The new law, which, like the No Child statute, is really a reauthorization of landmark 1965 legislation creating a bigger federal role in overseeing and funding education, gives states more leeway in how they hold schools and districts accountable for improving s...
Mar 31, 2017•28 min
State Treasurer Deborah Goldberg says when she talks to counterparts around the country, there is one aspect of her job that stops them in their tracks: Her office’s regulation of the state’s liquor industry. Goldberg now has another mood-altering substance to oversee with the passage of the ballot initiative to legalize recreational marijuana. Under the wording of the ballot question, the treasurer’s office will appoint a three-member Cannabis Control Commission that will form rules and regulat...
Mar 21, 2017•32 min
Beth Osborne, a senior advisor for Washington-based Transportation for America, was in town recently to discuss transportation needs with state officials and policy advocates. Osborne, a former undersecretary in the Department of Transportation and a longtime congressional aide to several lawmakers, said Trump's "skinny budget" isn't going to give a lot of answers for transportation, at least in the immediate future. Osborne joined Transit Matters board members Josh Fairchild and James Aloisi fo...
Mar 17, 2017•36 min
State Sen. Harriette Chandler of Worcester and state Rep. William “Smitty” Pignatelli of Lenox have introduced bills in the Legislature to create a new practitioner called “dental therapists,” a highly trained dental hygienist who can perform basic procedures such as fillings, simple extractions of non-impacted teeth, and x-ray readings. Dr. Ray Martin, president of the dental society and a dentist with a private practice in Mansfield, joined The Codcast to talk about the measure along with One-...
Mar 10, 2017•27 min
Most transportation advocates focus on the need for more money, but Chuck Marohn comes from a different starting point, asking why the system needs more money in the first place. The one thing Republicans and Democrats in Washington seem to agree on is that the country should invest in its infrastructure. But Marohn asks why the nation’s infrastructure, and particularly its transportation infrastructure, has been allowed to deteriorate so badly? Marohn, the founder and president of Minnesota-bas...
Mar 03, 2017•35 min
In what may be a precursor to a soon-to-come Beacon Hill debate on the Pacheco Law, state Auditor Suzanne Bump squared off with Greg Sullivan, research director at the right-leaning Pioneer Institute, to discuss (sometimes heatedly) the pros and cons of the law that regulates privatization of state services.
Feb 24, 2017•33 min
It was one thing when Sydney Chaffee was named Massachusetts Teacher of the Year. Now she's been named one of four finalists for National Teacher of the Year, with announcement of the winner due in April. The Codcast sat down with Chaffee and asked what she thinks makes for great teaching. The two top ingredients, she says, are a passion for what you're teaching (she says she has that in abundance for the interdisciplinary study of history and English that is her focus) and building relationship...
Feb 10, 2017•26 min
The press has been giving Gov. Charlie Baker a lot of advice on how he should deal with President Trump, so we thought we might as well get into the act. This week's Codcast features the CommonWealth staff kicking around what's at stake for Baker as the nation's preoccupation with Trump intensifies. Does Baker need to become more emotional and less of a technocrat? Can someone differ with Trump without going all-in with visceral statements of condemnation? And are Baker's would-be Democratic riv...
Feb 03, 2017•23 min
Sen. William Brownsberger has been a supporter of the pay raises and one of the few willing to speak out in justifying the hikes. He joined us on The Codcast to offer his insight and defend why the time is never right but it is the right thing to do. Brownsberger said the quickness with which the bill made its way through the process was because "it's not rocket science," that what you see is what you get. But he also said he understand the anger and frustration from voters over the issue and po...
Jan 27, 2017•21 min
In this week's Codcast, Jackson rips Walsh for his focus on a financially reckless Olympic bid, the ill-fated IndyCar race, and for squandering nearly $3 million in an unsuccessful legal fight against the Wynn casino in Everett. All of that has happened, says Jackson, while the city's schools have struggled to maintain programs for students and a yawning income and housing affordability gap threatens to displace long-time residents from their neighborhoods.
Jan 20, 2017•35 min
Sears and Macy's, two iconic names in retailing, recently announced they plan to close hundreds of stores resulting in the loss of thousands of jobs around the country. Both have targeted for closure a handful of stores at struggling malls in Massachusetts. David Harris, associate managing editor of the Boston Business Journal, and Jon Hurst, president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts, joined us on The Codcast to talk about the impact of the changes and what they bode for the state'...
Jan 13, 2017•25 min
At CommonWealth, we try to give you a little more in-depth coverage of the issues but don’t always have the time to apply what we know to an analysis of where we think things will go. So as an end-of-year Codcast, Bruce Mohl, Michael Jonas, and I decided to offer a little added value insight into some areas we’ve written extensively about.
Dec 22, 2016•36 min
It's almost Alice through the Looking Glass. An emerging industry leader that legally operates tax-free is asking - no, imploring - lawmakers to slap a levy on its business. That's exactly what Airbnb, the web-based app that pairs up travelers with people looking to cash in on a spare room or three in their private homes, is asking the Massachusetts Legislature to do. Will Burns, the director of policy for Airbnb, says it's a matter of fundamental fairness, but taking off his corporate hat, he a...
Dec 16, 2016•31 min
Lynn Weissman, the co-president of the Friends of the Community Path, joins us on The Codcast to explain why she thinks the MBTA’s decision to truncate the path is bad policy. The Somerville activist also would like to see the latest path design modified to allow more community access to the trail, which runs below grade.
Dec 09, 2016•29 min
Did you hear? Legal marijuana for adult recreational use is coming to Massachusetts. It may be soon, it may be later, but make no mistake, it’s on its way. Scott Moskol, a partner at the venerable Boston law firm Burns & Levinson LLP, joined The Codcast to talk about the budding industry. Scott has been traveling around the country and become familiar with the laws of the 29 states that have legalized some form of medical marijuana and is boning up on the laws in the seven states that have l...
Dec 01, 2016•26 min
