Oped: Better Government Archives

MBTAAnalysis: A look inside the MBTA

0 Comments

April 1, 2019

The MBTA shuttles over a million passengers a day around Greater…

The Clock is Ticking…….

0 Comments

February 20, 2017

The clock is ticking towards December 30, 2017. As part of…

MBTA retirement fund is headed for a financial reckoning

June 21, 2023

The new MBTA Retirement Fund Actuarial Valuation Report shows the fund is only about 51 percent funded. In 2006, it was 94 percent funded. A “death spiral” generally accelerates when retirement system funding dips below 50 percent.

Installing bike and bus lanes requires public debate

June 12, 2023

The problem isn’t with the concept of bike lanes but, rather, the lack of public conversation or transparency. Municipal governments are changing the infrastructure and character of entire neighborhoods and small commercial centers with little input from those most affected.

Removal of Mass. and Cass encampment long overdue

December 17, 2021

Michelle Wu’s plan to clear tents from the Mass. and Cass homeless camping site by January 12 is long overdue. If only it had been done earlier, the move could have averted a humanitarian crisis.

A truly progressive student loan policy

0 Comments

July 12, 2021

This op-ed originally appeared in the Boston Globe. It was written…

A Rare Victory for Transparency. Massachusetts Could Use Many More.

0 Comments

May 20, 2021

Massachusetts is in the midst of wrongdoing on an unprecedented scale. Thousands of convictions had to be vacated because of the corruption of state drug laboratory chemists. Thousands more convictions were vacated because of the combined misconduct of the chemists and prosecutors. And still more will be vacated because of the Commonwealth’s repeated and deliberate failures to investigate the extent to which its evidence was compromised.

American Rescue Plan Gives States Money, Ties Their Hands

0 Comments

April 16, 2021

For state governments, the good news is that the American Rescue Plan recently signed by President Biden will inject $350 billion into their budgets. The bad news is that it places unwise and possibly unconstitutional limitations on how states can use the money.

Contracting with private providers could avert MBTA cuts

0 Comments

November 20, 2020

In response to a collapse in MBTA service in the winter of 2015, the newly formed Fiscal and Management Control Board (FMCB) set the authority on a course of bold reforms. The COVID-19 pandemic is once again presenting new and significant challenges to T leadership that require a rethinking of how service is delivered to stave off painful service cuts.

During construction, the Allston Mass. Pike project must address commuters’ needs

0 Comments

October 13, 2020

As part of the state’s $1 billion reconfiguration of the Massachusetts Turnpike in Allston, Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack recently announced that a narrow strip of land known as “the throat,” will be considered for an at-grade option in addition to a proposal to rebuild the highway viaduct by Boston University.

Executive branch overreach, blanket orders having harmful effects

0 Comments

September 1, 2020

At the outset of the pandemic, limited knowledge and the need to mitigate risk understandably led to political overreach. At this point in the disaster response, though, we are far better at distinguishing fact from fiction and policies that have worked from those that have not.

Sensible police reform includes changing ‘qualified immunity’ laws

0 Comments

June 20, 2020

Even in a time of painful divisions in our country, there is little doubt among people of good faith that what Derek Chauvin and three other former Minneapolis police officers did to George Floyd was criminal. If they are indeed convicted of a felony, how is it that the former officers could very well be immune from civil liability?

In The Era Of COVID-19, Mass. Needs To Get Long-Term Care Right

0 Comments

May 20, 2020

This op-ed originally appeared in WGBH News. In much of the…

Congress should fix aid, provide block grants

0 Comments

March 27, 2020

This op-ed by Greg Sullivan and Charlie Chieppo appeared in the…

Employers should offer commuter benefits to employees

0 Comments

January 7, 2020

There is no single solution to solve our traffic congestion crisis, but offering employees commuter benefits programs, which bring economic and environmental benefits, among others, can help.