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Blackstone's Peterson Launches Questionable Assault on Social Safety Net Programs

11 July 2008 - 5:50pm | jpramas
by Editor

At a time when a citywide coalition under the aegis of Community Labor United is demanding an $11 million Community Fund from the giant private equity firm and commercial landlord The Blackstone Group, we find it passing strange that Blackstone co-founder and senior chairman Pete Peterson is using his non-profit foundation to flog the release of a new documentary called I.O.U.S.A. this week.

Congrats Concerns as Tax Reform Package Passed by Mass. Legislature

4 July 2008 - 2:26am | jpramas
by Editor

Congratulations to the organizations - Neighbor to Neighbor, Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center and others - that helped successfully close some big loopholes for corporations in the state tax system this week. Gov. Deval Patrick's signature on the bill yesterday also represented a rare victory for him over House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi - for whatever that's worth.

Boston Taxi Drivers Need a Raise

27 June 2008 - 12:14pm | jpramas
by Editor

A new report released this week by Community Labor United - a coalition of labor and community organizations whose mission is to "protect and promote the interests of working class communities in the Greater Boston region" - indicates that Boston taxi drivers need a fare increase and other reforms to be able to keep pace with "rising gas prices, rising living costs and stagnant fares." The report also found that drivers need to work 16 hours a day in difficult and sometimes dangerous conditions to make a minimum-wage living.

Looking for Peace One Block at a Time

20 June 2008 - 11:26am | jpramas
by Editor

In this week's editorial, we'd like to praise a great new documentary by a group of young community leaders in the Health Careers Ambassadors Program of the Hyde Square Task Force in Jamaica Plain (in collaboration with Mystic Mirada Productions) - and encourage Open Media Boston viewers to check it out and spread the word about their fine work.

Questioning the Great Massachusetts Biotechnology Giveaway

13 June 2008 - 4:29pm | jpramas
by Editor

This coming Monday, Governor Deval Patrick will put ink to paper on a 10 year $1 billion deal that can justifiably be called a giveaway to the biotechnology industry - right before jetting off to a huge biotech conference in San Diego. Rushed into immediate effect as an "emergency law," the influx of cash is billed as helping to create new jobs in a growing economic sector, plus incubating new businesses and maintaining the state's reputation as a research innovator.

Councilor Yoon's Strange Crusade

30 May 2008 - 11:32am | jpramas
by Editor

We've been a bit puzzled this week at the spectacle of progressive Boston City Councilor Sam Yoon crusading against alleged abuse of sick-day buybacks by numerous city workers.

Sick day and vacation-day buybacks - which involve the City of Boston paying workers a bonus for unused sick and vacation days - are a fairly common perk in unionized public sector jobs, especially among teachers. The idea is that buying back unused sick-days and vacation-days provides an incentive against absenteeism. The buybacks are sometimes a percentage of a day's pay, and sometimes a full day's pay.

Gov. Patrick Needs to Stay the Course on In-State Tuition

23 May 2008 - 1:01pm | jpramas
by Editor

It is unfortunate, to say the least, that Gov. Deval Patrick recently chose to renege on his promise of a few months ago to grant hundreds of children of undocumented immigrants the right to pay in-state tuition rates to attend public colleges in Massachusetts.

Every year about 400 students who parents immigrated to the U.S. illegally, but who were raised and educated here in Massachusetts public schools, are effectively denied the possibility of attending state colleges and universities because they are forced to pay out-of-state tuition rates.

Lost Opportunties in the Mass. Senate Ways and Means Budget Proposal

16 May 2008 - 12:37am | jpramas
by Editor

While the Massachusetts state budget process for Fiscal Year 2009 is by no means the worst we've ever seen, we cannot help but muse about lost opportunities this week as the Senate Ways and Means Committee released its proposal.

For example, Ways and Means proposes a $2.3 million cut in the MCAS Low Scoring Student Support - funding the program at $11 million - while the House proposal level funded the program and the Governor's Budget increased funding by $2.2 million.

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Taxing Harvard Should Just Be the Tip of the Iceberg

8 May 2008 - 11:08pm | jpramas
by Editor

Kudos are certainly in order for Massachusetts legislators led by State Representative Paul Kujawski (D-Webster) that are finally calling to pierce the non-profit fig leaf draped over the vast multinational corporations that several area private universities have become and tax all colleges with endowments over $1 billion.

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