MORE ARTICLES
Statement: Pioneer Institute in Support of Accessory Dwelling UnitsMay 2, 2024 - 12:50 pm
Study: Expand Voc-Tech Seats, Don’t Require Lottery- Based AdmissionsMay 2, 2024 - 8:50 am
Colonel Peter Hayden on U.S. Cyber Command & National SecurityMay 1, 2024 - 1:52 pm
Losing Local Labor: Retaining Workers Remains a Massachusetts ChallengeApril 30, 2024 - 10:49 am
Outmigration and the Labor ForceApril 25, 2024 - 11:44 am
Study Finds Obstacles to Search for Opioid SubstituteApril 25, 2024 - 9:11 am
Annual Massachusetts Outmigration Hits 39,000, Up 1,100% Over The Last Decade: BU StudyApril 24, 2024 - 1:00 pm
Hoover at Stanford’s Stephen Kotkin on Stalin’s Tyranny, WWII, & the Cold WarApril 24, 2024 - 12:33 pm
Superior Court Judge Invalidates “Equity Theft” Law as UnconstitutionalApril 23, 2024 - 1:04 pm
Tax Man Confounded: Why High Rates Haven’t Yielded Higher RevenueApril 23, 2024 - 12:58 pm
Parking garages are silly investments for the State
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Better Government, News /byToday’s Globe reports on a bond bill earmark that gives Salem funding to build a parking garage. The article focuses on environmental advocates objections. They (correctly) don’t want to see the bulk of Transit-Oriented Development funding going to a single project. And I’ll give you another reason to dislike the idea — parking garages should be able to support themselves. If there really is ‘demand’ for parking, then people will pay for it. And if parking generates a revenue stream, then it should be able to finance some portion of the garage, if not all of it. Perhaps a private developer could be given a 20 year lease to take any risk off of the community. Don’t believe me, take […]
Zoning out or zoning in-clusionary
/0 Comments/in Blog, News /byHot trends in local zoning include age-restricted villages, in-law abodes, and inclusionary zoning – a requirement or incentives to include affordable houses in market rate developments. Our 2004 survey revealed that 99 of the 187 communities within 50 miles of Boston have inclusionary bylaws on the books. Developers argue that some inclusionary laws drive up the cost of development (and ultimately the price of market rate housing), and can make some projects infeasible. Housing advocates argue that inclusionary policies are the best way to ensure that affordable housing is integrated throughout communities, and built in the first place. NYU just released a study comparing inclusionary laws in MA localities to San Francisco and DC regions. If you are considering inclusionary […]
Results in on Teach for America
/0 Comments/in Blog, News, Related Education Blogs /byWhat kind of impact does the influx of young, motivated people (ahem, without formal training in our dear schools of education) have on student performance? A big thank you to the Urban Institute for looking into this question. From their press release (last week): Teach for America teachers may be new to the profession, but they are generally more effective than their experienced colleagues, finds a new Urban Institute analysis. On average, high school students taught by TFA corps members performed significantly better on state-required end-of-course exams, especially in math and science, than peers taught by far more experienced instructors. The TFA teachers’ effect on student achievement in core classroom subjects was nearly three times the effect of teachers with […]
Patrick comes out for school choice!
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Education, Blog: School Choice, Jim Stergios, News, Related Education Blogs /byYour Excellency, We at Pioneer were feeling as double-crossed as perhaps Bobby Haynes. We were feeling it on school choice, knowing that you benefited from the school choice opportunity provided by the “A Better Chance” foundation to attend Milton Academy. Bobby felt it on being double-crossed by the Doubleday deal, when you double-booked on the day of the casino vote. He stayed on the Hill and earned himself the Speaker’s ire. As someone who respects the free-market, I hope you got a good deal. Now, I know that it is difficult to come right out and say you are for school choice, so I think the sophisticated way you did it is just great. According to today’s Globe, “an unspecified portion of […]
One Last Word on the Film Tax Incentives
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Better Government, Housing, News /byYesterday’s Globe had an article critical of the film tax credit offered by the Commonwealth. I will say that it has significantly improved the celebrity level of the gossip columns, minimizing the Globe’s Names & Faces section’s embarassing fascination with C-list celebrities eating chinese food at the Kowloon. Wow! John Waite? Pro wrestlers? Wasn’t exactly Page 6 material. However, the Department of Revenue’s report makes one fact clear — these are temporary jobs: …the 20 film productions for which tax credits were claimed in calendar year 2006 employed approximately 2,267 individuals, with an average employment duration of 3.2 months, with the employment duration ranging from one week to 12 months. Weighted for the number employed and the duration of employment […]