Massachusetts excise tax based on size and weight when?

Actually we should just give citizenship to every undocumented person in the United States who wants it. Walking over an imaginary line isn't some great moral atrocity. Making people live in the shadows as a permanent underclass absolutely IS.

This is so, so well-articulated.

I don’t want to workshop these things, I want to vote for electeds who consider this a priority and have them appoint experts to make it happen without me going to more meetings

Congrats to the mayor

Know what allows cities in MA to raise tax basis above the Prop 2.5 limit w/o an override vote? New MF housing development. Know what is proven to stabilize & even decrease rents? New MF housing development Know what we have virtually zero of these days in Boston? New MF housing development.

Let's be clear about what he's doing here: making an extremist argument about the unpaid labor women should have to carry in the home in order to justify cutting vital Medicaid home and community-based services (HCBS) for people with disabilities.

Somerville is sending out a call for an artist to make Know Your Rights information bold and visible across the city. $4,000 stipend, deadline April 21. Artists with immigrant backgrounds especially encouraged to apply. somervillema.gov/KYRartists

People come up with complicated reasons why art/music scenes are less vibrant now but it is like 90% just this

Lexington schools have lost 550 students and face a $4.7 million gap. Staff cuts are coming. Those 1,600 apartments some are fighting will bring at least $7mil in revenue & maybe 250 students. That new housing is not a burden. It's a desperately needed bailout. www.bostonglobe.com/2026/03/27/m...

Wasn't someone asking for our "most woke opinions" the other day? Here's mine: we should have a social norm against conspicuous consumption. If you get rich & buy a yacht, you should be widely viewed as an asshole, and shunned.

We actually do need the commodification of housing in that we should produce so much it is a low part of a household’s total spending as it is a commodity.

Sorry but it’s weird to me that so much rhetoric from pundits and even actual Dem politicians concedes that even if the citizenship of all Americans technically formally equal, it is not morally equal. “Coastal women are lesser Americans than southern/midwest men” No they’re not. That’s not true.

I am increasingly convinced that Sonja Trauss was right and we should have public funerals for buildings so people can have a healthier outlet for their Big Feelings About Neighborhood Change.

Somehow, DavisNow has returned

🎨 major public art opportunity alert! help us get a great mural in the heart of union square! Somerville is accepting proposals for art on the electrical station across from the Green Line station - spread the word! somervilleartscouncil.org/public-art/c...

He is just unbelievably good at this

The MBTA bus fleet makes up 0.1% of statewide emissions. By contrast, 38% of emissions come from cars and trucks. Cutting service to go all-electric will mean an increase in emissions as more people drive - and that's the real problem.

Barrett has absolutely no clue here—if you cut service you will get more driving which will worsen local air quality, not improve it. these things don’t happen in a vacuum

I’m pretty sure speed cameras don’t do this.

this is not supported by the research and completely fails to take into account the racial and income disparities in who's a victim of traffic violence

i keep staring at this quote and it keeps getting worse

Inject it into my veins.

Okay, so on further review: - The City's comments are car-brained. - Their proposals substantially hurt the project. - The planners (who have expertise) were not allowed to engage with the MBTA. - A mayoral appointee was the person driving the response. Damage control. bsky.app/profile/bost...

Every bus I have been on today has been 10 minutes late and getting worse as it went, and I don’t know if the T is writing schedules that aren’t feasible or lack of commitment among front line employees to on-time arrivals, but I am getting a little annoyed

Policymakers really need to let go of this idea that rental housing is intrinsically inferior and homeownership needs to be considered the normative default for everyone. The policies that flow from this view inevitably end up screwing over actually existing renters.

A beautiful sign of spring -- the nasturtiums being hung at the Gardner Museum. Pic by WBUR photographer Robin Lubbock

tough to say the #MBTA is taking rail electrification seriously when they can’t be bothered to correctly identify rolling stock in use at other US agencies

I find the idea that Gen Z are making large purchases on their phones extremely upsetting. Flights? My friends, get a hold of yourselves, get your lives together.

A question you have to ask yourself if you’re going to approach politics as a responsible adult is whether your goal is to improve material conditions and achieve changes that reduce human suffering, or whether it is to look really cool in front of your friends online.These are not compatible aims.

I thought we were collecting a broad range of feedback to move towards consensus?

yeah, we know, that's what we're complaining about. because the 'consensus' approach--listening to neighbors complainin and taking them at face value--is always going to be slower and worse than depending on expert advice that tells you that people in your town are fucking dying while you wait.

Americans following this:

it is always kind of funny to encounter the "liberals have no theory of power" shibboleth from people who, in my experience, are not merely as far from understanding power--how to gain it and how to exercise it--as it is possible to be, but who do not seem to even *want* to gain and exercise power

I think we overindex on the explanation that politicians do things because of lobbyist money because it’s an easier story to tell ourselves than that they truly believe it, especially when the politician does not share our views

I personally would be embarrassed to write an article in the globe about housing without ever having heard of condos

She deserves to get her license suspended simply for going 75(!!)mph in a 25mph zone and that's before the FOUR PEOPLE SHE KILLED.

the ironic thing about California’s insanely strict fire codes is that they make it significantly harder to build multifamily housing, resulting in more exurban sprawl into fire zones. on net, the overly strict fire codes result in more fire deaths

Besides having to pay insanely high rent in Los Angeles, I don’t think there’s anything else that radicalized me more on housing than Jordan’s threads on California’s public meetings

New in OPINION: The growing case for single-staircase buildings as one answer to our housing crisis commonwealthbeacon.org/opinion/the-...

this is unironically the best case for punitive taxation there are arguments about fairness and freedom and whatever else but at the end of the day it is self-evidently far too dangerous for society as a whole for anyone to have that much money, the end

The next level after this is: can your city elected officials name YOU (The downside of this is that you’ll run into your city councilor in the grocery store while you’re jet lagged and shopping in pajamas and have to make conversation about local politics while you’re not sure what day it is)

11% cheaper rents would make boston unrecognizable in the best possible way, compared to where things stand now, and if we’re going to survive without federal funding, we need a dramatically larger tax base

Headlines like this reflect, and contribute to, a misunderstanding of public finance. Marblehead is not an affluent town! www.bostonglobe.com/2026/03/17/m...

This is a good article, but I wish it had pointed out that most of the changes are very popular and are only opposed by a handful of loud cranks! www.bostonglobe.com/2026/03/15/m...

Save this. Share it. Spread the word. My office officially launched a new portal with Governor Healey to report violence and unlawful ICE activity here in MA. This will help us keep track of incidents for potential legal action, help us gather data, and connect victims with resources and support.

Someone in NYC should do interviews with middle-school kids who take the subway to and from school every day, to see if they have any advice for Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy who can't seem to go a single day without pissing himself in fear over them.

The folk morality around housing type and tenure in American cities: