Friday, August 21, 2015
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By George Donnelly (@geodonnelly) with Keith Regan
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Today: Tourism numbers; coastal erosion grant
Gov. Baker joins Greater Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Director Pat Moscaritolo, Massport CEO Thomas Glynn, and tourism representatives to make an announcement about an increase in international visitors, at the Hyatt Boston Harbor, Harborside Room - first floor, 101 Harborside Dr., East Boston, 2:30pm... Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Matthew Beaton joins Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito and state and municipal officials for a grant announcement for coastal communities to combat effects of climate change, Coughlin Park, 30 Bay View Avenue, Winthrop, 11am.
Massachusetts: The deferred maintenance state?
Massachusetts is proud of its history, but it also has artifacts serving as live, necessary infrastructure. Today's story on gas leaks in the Globe reinforces the point: Massachusetts has 20,000 gas leaks, some that have been leaking for 30 years. Cohasset leads in the state in number of gas leaks per household that use gas. The town manager there said National Grid will soon replace 2,000 feet of pipes that were installed in 1928. I say send those pipes to the Smithsonian.
Is it possible that if a survey were done of the states with the most neglected infrastructure, would Massachusetts come out on top? Rolling stock on the T going back to 1946. Water infrastructure in many Massachusetts towns is ancient, creating a $21 billion funding gap in water and sewer line repair over the next 20 years. Massachusetts needs $14 billion to repair its bridges. Eleven percent of Massachusetts' major roads are in "poor" condition. And gas leaks cost ratepayers an estimated $90 million per year. Although the gas line infrastructure is not a government problem, the cost falls on the average citizen all the same. Perhaps a new tagline is in order for the Commonwealth: Massachusetts -- the deferred maintenance state. Here's David Abel's story in the Globe. http://bit.ly/1WIS5o3
The Olympic bid: What's the moral of the story?
Boston needs to continue to think big and not get hung up on numbers. That's one theme of Shirley Leung's column today in addressing the Brattle Group's report on Boston 2024's bid, which made a convincing case that there was a high risk of billions in cost overruns. "Know this: Any big idea requires a leap of faith -- and the confidence that a good plan will reduce the risk and that the benefits will eventually outweigh the costs," writes the Globe columnist. One can only hope Shirley will retire the "know this:" rhetorical device, although it is her prerogative to tell us what to know. What taxpayers now know, thanks to the Brattle Group report, is that the promise of a profitable Olympics likely would have amounted to a fairy tale. The Olympics movement here never evolved into a debate about whether it was worthy a certain amount of taxpayer investment, which says a lot about the fundamental lack of enthusiasm for the idea in the first place. Boston 2024 and Steve Pagliuca take umbrage with the Brattle Group's findings, Leung says, and will issue a full response to the report soon.http://bit.ly/1Lo5luI
Former Chicopee Mayor acknowledges Ashley Madison visit
Amid a national debate about the ethics of revealing the identities of those caught up in the Ashley Madison hack and data dump, MassLive reports that former Chicopee Mayor Michael Bissonnette acknowledged his address was among those found on the site. Bissonnette -- who intends to seek the mayor's office again this fall -- tells MassLive that he visited the site on his personal tablet after discussing it with a friend and was required to enter an email to view it. He was unmarried at the time. Municipal email addresses from Boston, Chicopee, Framingham and other cities and towns, as well as area military bases, were among those identified in the data released by hackers this week. http://bit.ly/1fuCNkY
T: No layoffs with privatization
MBTA officials say their push to privatize certain bus routes will not result in any layoffs at the agency, the Globe reports. The T says that the 65 bus operators and the 93 buses that it hopes to replace with a private contractor will instead be reassigned to other parts of its system. http://bit.ly/1LoyE0p
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