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Permitted to Succeed? Part Two
/0 Comments/in Blog, News /byIn response to Mayor Menino’s pledge to create a “one-stop shop” for permitting, we’ll be examining what factors need to be addressed in order to spur job creation in Boston. On Day One, we looked at the leadership issues that would need to be resolved. Day Two – changing an organizational culture of highly personalized, uneven customer service – is harder. To make the permitting process easier for entrepreneurs, the culture of the bureaucracy that’s involved has to change from a process orientation to results. That means viewing business owners as customers, not obstacles. Talk to people trying to start businesses in Boston and you quickly hear about uneven experiences with the staff at the Inspectional Services Division at 1010 […]
Harvard’s Effort to Make Cities Matter
/0 Comments/in Better Government, Blog, Blog: Healthcare, Middle Cities/ Urban /byHarvard’s Advanced Leadership Initiative has recently launched an interesting academic exercise of a virtual think tank at the Harvard Business Review website HBR.org on the topic of revitalizing cities. The series of thought pieces serve as the appetizers for an upcoming multi-day conference feast at Harvard Law School on the same topic. Thursday, April 28-Saturday, April 30. Globally, 2008 marked the first time that a majority of citizens would reside in cities. Locally, the most recent census data showed significant growth in many smaller cities in Massachusetts. While large cities like Boston garner significant attention and resources as they adapt to population growth, the new growth in these smaller cities is more significant since they often have fewer resources to […]
Pioneer Goes Local! “MuniShare” Municipal Report Contest
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Healthcare, News /byAs part of Pioneer Institute’s annual Better Government Competition, Pioneer is offering two $3,000 awards for the best municipal reports. No daunting application and little effort! Entering is as simple as submitting a report by e-mail, with a brief (150-word) summary. What Kind of Reports? We are interested in public opinion surveys, departmental studies, environmental audits, and really, any type of report. The only requirement is that the report tackle an issue that fellow municipal governments might face as well. The reports can focus on department-specific or municipality-wide issues, and can be up to ten years old. There is no minimum or maximum length and no limit to the number of entries from a municipality. The more, the better! Selection Process: A panel of judges with vast experience […]
Lessons from Massachusetts Health Care Reform (Romneycare)
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Healthcare, News /byLast month marked the first anniversary of the federal healthcare law; this week the fifth anniversary of Massachusetts’ own health reform. President Obama likes to tout the federal effort as paralleling the Massachusetts’ reform, but the fact is that Obamacare has created a lot of uncertainty for states across the country, including Massachusetts. For example, will Massachusetts now have two individual mandate penalties? Will we shift close to 100,000 individuals from the new healthcare exchange to Medicaid? What are the implications of the federal law for the cost picture in already expensive Massachusetts? Obamacare is of little benefit to Massachusetts beyond pouring billions more dollars into the Massachusetts healthcare industry, which is likely to push the cost of care even […]
Permitted to Succeed? Part One
/0 Comments/in Blog, News /byMayor Menino’s new budget proposal included the intriguing commitment to create a “one-stop shop” for small business permitting. The state has long strived to create these kind of permitting shops, prompting one state official to muse that it might be worth putting together a guide to all the “one stop shops” in state government. To some extent, the city has consolidated some of those functions at 1010 Mass Ave., but a quick review of the city’s permitting literature reveals that there is significant consolidation to be done. With different agencies located at 1010 Mass Ave., City Hall, 26 Court St., and other locations, a true one-stop shop will require a lot of consolidation. Physical co-location is a great first step, […]