Elections and Politics
News topics:
What Maura Healey’s Climate Plan Reveals About Her Transportation Priorities
The framework contains a number of ideas about how to decarbonize the transportation sector, which generates roughly 40 percent of the state's climate-heating pollutants.
May 13, 2022
Feds’ Safety Review Could Impact Local Governance Over the T
"FTA leadership recently discussed the pattern of safety incidents with MBTA executive leadership, yet it remains unclear what actions the MBTA Board and executive team are implementing to prevent and address the system's safety violations," wrote federal officials.
May 10, 2022
Baker Administration Developing E-Bike Incentive Program
"We're placing more emphasis on strategies to reduce total vehicle miles traveled," said Judy Chang, the Undersecretary of Energy for Governor Baker's Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.
May 2, 2022
Two Factions Square Off Over Housing Issues in Brookline Town Meeting Races
A once-in-a-generation redistricting shakeup means that nearly every member of the Brookline Town Meeting is up for re-election this year, and two factions are squaring off over town zoning laws that prohibit affordable housing.
April 26, 2022
Mass. Senate Passes Climate Bill With Mandates (But No Funding) for Electric Trains, Buses
The Senate's legislation, titled "An Act driving climate policy forward," is, true to its name, mostly focused on driving.
April 15, 2022
State House Update: The Latest on E-Bikes, Low-Income Fares, and Automated Enforcement Bills
Some transportation advocates are looking at a new Senate climate bill as a way to advance more of their priorities, after the first draft of that bill neglected to include any policies that would expand transit services or promote biking or walking.
April 12, 2022
Transit Advocate Chris Dempsey Wants to Be Our Next State Auditor
“I think it’s been too long since we’ve had what you might call an urbanist in a statewide elected position in Massachusetts,” said Dempsey.
April 6, 2022
Bedford Town Meeting Narrowly Rejects Long-Planned Reformatory Branch Trail Upgrades
The Reformatory Branch is currently an unimproved and frequently muddy pathway for most of its length, and is only accessible to able-bodied hikers and mountain bikers.
April 5, 2022
A Fix for Chronic Transit Funding Shortfalls Could Be Up To the Voters This Fall
It's become an annual rite of spring: transit agencies across Massachusetts are examining blooms of red ink in their budgets for the next fiscal year, and wondering whether state lawmakers will step in and give them the funding they need to avoid service cuts.
April 1, 2022
Advocates Rally for E-Bike Legislation at Mass. State House
On Wednesday afternoon, a crowd of bike advocates and elected officials gathered on the steps of the Massachusetts State House to urge lawmakers to follow the example of 46 other states and formalize a new legal definition of and regulatory framework for pedal-assist electric bicycles.
March 30, 2022
