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Boston's Morning Newsletter
Gov. Healey warns cities and towns against disregarding MBTA Communities Act
Editor's Note: This is an excerpt from WBUR's daily morning newsletter, WBUR Today. If you like what you read and want it in your inbox, sign up here.
TGIF! With just over three weeks left in the year, we want to know: What should Boston’s New Year’s resolution be? Whether you want fewer MBTA slow zones or more daring Bailey Zappe passes, fill out this form to share your resolution for the city in 2024.
Now, to the news:
Gov. Maura Healey has a 2024 resolution for the cities and towns around Boston: build more housing. During yesterday’s appearance on Radio Boston, the governor issued a warning to the communities that don’t comply with the MBTA Communities Act, as a dozen inner suburbs approach the law’s first deadline on Dec. 31. “If you don’t comply with the act, then you’re going to see us withholding as a state money for any number of programs that you’re used to receiving money for,” Healey said. “That includes for schools, it includes for roads and bridges, it includes for a whole host of things that are important to communities.”
- The law broadly requires communities in the MBTA’s service area to allow multi-family housing (i.e. apartments, condos, etc.) to be built — without special permits —near public transit stops. Those with rapid transit stops must meet stricter requirements by Dec. 31, while others have more time. The state has a map and chart showing the specific requirements for each city and town.
- Heated battles have been playing out this fall in communities like Newton, as some pushed back against required zoning changes. Meanwhile, Milton and Braintree are edging up against the end-of-the-year deadline. Healey stressed to Radio Boston host Tiziana Dearing that her administration will take enforcement of the zoning law “very seriously.” “We took the existing list of programs that communities weren’t going to get money for if they didn’t comply and we more than doubled that list,” she said.
- Go deeper: Listen to this Radio Boston segment from last week for a closer look at the debate over the MBTA Communities Act.
- The big picture: Healey said “housing is the top priority” for her administration, as they try to increase the supply to bring down costs. WBUR’s Amanda Beland has more here on how Healey’s new economic development plan plays into that effort.
NoWa: After a year of delay, MassDOT is planning to open half of the new North Washington Street Bridge between Boston’s North End and Charlestown this weekend. Beginning tomorrow, both car and foot traffic will shift from the adjacent temporary bridge that was built during the project to the eastern half of the new bridge.
- About the project: The new NoWA bridge (yes, I’m calling it that) is replacing the demolished “Charlestown Bridge” that originally opened in 1900 and once carried the elevated Orange Line. The crossing is used by tens of thousands of vehicles a day, not to mention the many tourists who cross it on the Freedom Trail.
- What’s next: Officials plan to fully open both sides of the new bridge next winter. When complete, it will include two car lanes in both directions, an inbound bus-only lane, separated bike lanes and wide sidewalks on both sides. Here’s what it will look like.
Massachusetts is closing the overflow family shelter site it set up three weeks ago in the state transportation building in Boston today. WBUR’s Gabrielle Emanuel reports that 25 families who were on the waitlist for the shelter system were staying overnight in conference rooms in the building.
- What’s next: While the Healey administration says an additional overflow site will open soon, it’s unclear where the families will go in the short term. Officials plan to move the temporary shelter from the transportation building to a site in Quincy, but state data shows the emergency beds there are already full.
More MBTA fare discounts for low-income riders could be around the corner. During a meeting yesterday, T officials said they could present the proposed changes as soon as next month. While they’re still working on the details, the low-income fare program could benefit up to 60,000 riders with incomes below 200% of the federal poverty line who aren’t eligible for the T’s current reduced fare offerings.
Just in: Healey announced this morning that she is nominating State Solicitor Elizabeth “Bessie” N. Dewar to fill one of the two soon-to-open seats on the state’s Supreme Judicial Court. Dewar — who Healey called a “consensus builder” and a “true student of the institution” — is nominated to take the seat of Justice Elspeth B. Cypher, who plans to retire on January 12, 2024.
P.S.— Who or what did President Biden say will put democracy at risk at his speech in Boston this week? Take our Boston News Quiz and test your knowledge of this week’s stories.
