Boston was hoping to send out property-tax bills this month with a bit of a break for homeowners. Only problem: state Sen. Nick Collins, who represents South Boston and Dorchester, managed to get any discussion of a bill to let the city temporarily set a higher rate on commercial property until at least Thursday. Read more.
GBH News reports on efforts by councilors in the three cities, including Boston's Enrique Pepén (Hyde Park, Mattapan, Roslindale) to lift Massachusetts's current standing as the only state where tenants have to pay fees to apartment brokers who work for landlords.
The founders of the currently named BOS Nation say they've heard critics of their name: Read more.
It's still too early to say for sure, but NWS is at least raising the possibility of snow on Thanksgiving, and so the French Toast Alert gnomes are frantically looking up French Toast recipes again (it's been awhile since they've needed them).
The Boston City Council yesterday voted to accept millions of dollars in federal grants for projects across the city, including $20 million to upgrade Melnea Cass Boulevard, Malcolm X Boulevard and Warren Street in Roxbury, $11.4 million to plant hundreds of new trees and bolster an urban-forestry work training program and $2.3 million in two separate grants to help upgrade, expand and staff a Boston Rescue Mission program downtown that houses and train immigrants released from federal detention. Read more.
Mayor Wu says she will ask the City Council to approve a $110-million rotating fund to help tip the balance on new housing developments whose builders would otherwise hold back because of the high cost of financing these days - with the first project to be a mixed-income apartment building as part of the complete overhaul of Bunker Hill housing project. Read more.
I knew it would be bad, but oh my god. It took an hour to get from Broadway to Kendall yesterday, and this was before rush hour proper. Find some alternate route instead.
I guess the insane loop is to avoid a tight left turn, but it costs 30 minutes!
The City Council today rejected a resolution by Councilors Ed Flynn (South Boston, South End, Chinatown, Downtown) and Erin Murphy (at large) calling on the state to take over the city election department because of Election Day problems that included numerous precincts across the city running out of ballots. Read more.
WBUR reports. Possible opponents include City Councilor Ed Flynn and Josh Kraft.
The National Weather Service's Boston-area office says an end to our "red flag" days could be coming mid-week: Read more.
The city of Boston yesterday sued serial restaurant owner Barbara Lynch and her various corporate entities for unpaid taxes on equipment and furnishings in her Boston restaurants and bars that date to 2011. Read more.
Chris Lovett analyzes the presidential results across Boston wards - Democrats still won overall, but their numbers were down across the board.
Bluesky, a social platform that feels like Twitter circa 2014 (so, yay), seems to have really taken off the past week. Of course, the hardest thing about signing up on a new platform is finding people to follow. Folks on Bluesky have assembled a series of "starter packs" - collections of accounts to follow on specific topics - and there are several of possible interest to people in Boston and the Boston area: Read more.
The Dorchester Reporter reports Secretary of State Bill Galvin is looking at a temporary takeover of the Boston election department after a number of precincts ran out of ballots on Tuesday. The City Council wants answers as well.
Louijeune calling for a hearing and soon.
Both Secretary of State William Galvin and the Boston City Council decided today to investigate how precincts across the city ran out of ballots and numerous other ways voters had obstacles placed in the way of casting their ballots, from one polling place not having any working lights to voters with disabilities being refused access to handicap parking spaces at another. Read more.
Drew Starr asks:
Where's a good spot within say half an hour's drive (give or take) from the Pru where I can just stare into nature for awhile. Somewhere green with running water that's accessible enough with a mildly janky ankle?
WCVB is tracking the numbers for the five statewide ballot questions.
The Boston Election Department has numbers for Boston-specific numbers for both ballot questions and elected offices.
Once people in the line outside the Bates got in, they got to stand in another line. Photo by Jessica Burko.
Update: At 7:36 p.m., the Boston Election Department reported that several precincts across the city had run out of ballots. Department said anybody in line at 8 would be allowed to vote.
Around 5:10 p.m., voting came to a halt at ward 18, precinct 10 at the Bates School in Roslindale: Poll workers had run out of ballots to give to voters. Read more.
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