Monday, July 20, 2015
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By George Donnelly (@geodonnelly) with Sara Brown
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Happening today...
Rep. John Lewis, the legendary Georgia Democrat, will speak at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the U.S. Senate about voting rights, civic engagement, and his work with the late Sen. Edward Kennedy. Lewis will appear as part of the EMK Institute's "Getting to the Point" speaker series, 6 pm to 7 pm, Columbia Point, Boston...
Boston's transportation future is the subject of the "Boston Futures: 2024 & Beyond Series" event tonight. Panelists will also discuss how hosting the Olympics in 2024 will impact the city's path toward identifying and implementing new transport solutions for the future. The panelists are: Shelia Kennedy, MIT Department of Architecture; Wendy Landman, WalkBoston; Kent Larson, MIT Media Lab; Carlo Ratti, MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning; Stacy Thompson, Livable Streets; and Eva Kassens-Noor, moderator, Michigan State University. It's at 6 pm, MIT Lab, Building E14 3rd Floor, 75 Amherst Street, Cambridge.
...And the week ahead:
Don't expect the Legislature to come charging back after Gov. Baker's $162 million worth of vetoes he unveiled Friday when he signed the FY 2016 budget. A formal session of the House isn't scheduled until July 29.
... The new MBTA Fiscal and Management Control Board will hold its first meeting on Tuesday to establish the role of the board, set board bylaws and determine its meeting schedule. The meeting will feature reports from Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack and MBTA Interim General Manager Frank DePaola as well as a period of comments from the public
...The sales tax holiday seems like a done deal, but not quite. Expect more conversation about pros and cons of the tax-free weekend slated for Aug. 15-16.
State Police discount: Only $1.2 million for those public records
Todd Wallack of the Boston Globe has been like a dog on a bone in covering Massachusetts' dreadfully ineffectual public records law. In recent months Wallack has exposed the absurdities, obfuscation, and high costs that often are involved in obtaining public records from various Massachusetts government agencies, whose bureaucrats are comfortable stalling, overcharging, and redacting with impunity because the law has no teeth. His story yesterday was his best, placing Massachusetts in context with the rest of the nation for slowness with which it responds to public records requests. We ranked 49th with only Hawaii behind us.
It gets worse. We're the only state in the country with the executive office, the legislature and the judiciary exempt from the law.
A bill to reform the public records law just moved out of committee, most importantly placing some limits on how much agencies can charge and giving record-seekers the ability to recoup court costs.
A better law can't come too soon. The State Police have been particularly egregious interpreters of the open records law, finding ways to charge enormous amounts for public records. Wallack reveals that the State Police wanted to charge a Taunton attorney $2.7 million for records involving the use of Breathalyzers. But a State Police spokesman said there was a mistake: The charge would only be $1.2 million. It takes one's breath away. In what democracy can this possibly be tolerated?
It's heartening the Legislature appears to be taking an interest in amending the law and giving it some teeth. It would be even more heartening if Gov. Baker would show some leadership in the matter. ICYMI, here's Wallack's story: http://bit.ly/1HKT3WO
The cost of doing nothing
Massachusetts is leaving mucho dinero on the table with its slow-go approach to casinos, the Globe notes today, upwards of $1 billion when you add up the lost revenue between the original projected opening of 2016 to a "best-case scenario" of 2018. Sean Murphy provides a good primer on the issues dogging the Wynn casino as well as MGM's issues in Springfield. http://bit.ly/1fXNu0w
A fresh take on the film tax credit
UMass Dartmouth economist Michael Goodman is hardly the first to dissect the questionable economic benefits of the film tax credit, but his critique certainly is one of the best. Peeling away the numbers, Goodman tells us that that Commonwealth has spent $400 million to receive back $260 million in in-state spending. And he has a good idea to reform the tax credit program so it grows the local film industry. http://bit.ly/1I473KL
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