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Answer This Before You Expand the Convention Center

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The Convention Center Authority has convened a panel of Boston’s great and the good to examine the prospects for expanding the BCEC. That group is tasked to expand upon a consultant’s report that leaves a lot of big questions unanswered. I’m hopeful that at least some of the group (Hi Sam! Hi Mike!) takes it upon themselves to ask some hard questions. These might include: 1) What is a realistic assessment of the number of conventions that the BCEC misses out on solely because of facility size? The formal presentation to group suggests that the number is in the hundreds (see last slide here), but in a separate presentation (slide 18 here), the number appears to be closer to 70 […]

Close Hughes?

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Pioneer has always taken the view that the state should close failing schools (including charter schools). They should also take corrective action including perhaps closure when schools prove incapable of living up to fiduciary basics like handling money and reporting results honestly. Some charter supporters have urged us to come out and support shutting Hughes down. Some are worried about the bad PR for charters. I am of a different view. If the facts demonstrate failure (academic or fiduciary), then, yes, by all means close it. But I know enough from all the work we do in Springfield and our other cities that you don’t jump to conclusions from Boston. The Hughes case is way beyond a “misunderstanding.” But will […]

Gentle tap on the shoulders

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The governor gave everyone a less than gentle reminder of why he got elected, and why he will be a tough competitor throughout this campaign. Going after the consolidation of parole and reining in the judiciary’s probation system — these are tasks not for the meek or weak of heart. Kudos to him for putting it out there. Good messaging, hits some of the people he would enjoy hitting, as the Globe pointed out, and allows him to point the finger at Senators and Reps — i.e., good political strategy — because he will need their approval to consolidate parole (currently a $20 M exec function) and probation (a $100+M judicial function) in any executive branch office.

New Report on MA Reform

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It’s too bad that this new Cato report on health care reform in Massachusetts http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=11115  is not in a policy journal like Health Affairs as many more people would read it.  It certainly provides some interesting analysis and food for thought regarding the reform’s outcomes.  The results are in line with what I reported recently in the first chapter of Pioneer’s series evaluating the reform http://www.pioneerinst.wpengine.com/pdf/100113_interim_report_card1.pdf  The authors use CPS data to look at reductions in the uninsured, crowd-out from private to public coverage, and improvements in health.  They provide some interesting data assessing the effect of non-response on insurance questions pre and post reform.    They posit that the misreporting of insurance status is greater given the mandate to have […]

Sleeping through the election

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Two quick hits on yesterday’s election. One’s obvious. The geographical coverage of Brown’s victory is stunning. Coakley took western Mass, the tip of the Cape and most cities, but the rest of the state (again, the rest of the state went for Brown). Bad news for the Governor (no, scratch that – incumbents generally) with the 60+% of independents going for Brown. Second thing that strikes me from the data is that the cities may have gone for Coakley, but they really sat this one out. Voter turnout as a whole was high, and averaged around 60% outside the cities. But it was only in the high 20s to mid 40s in the cities. Boston 43% Chelsea 37% Fall River […]