ak47workaccnt

ak47workaccnt OP t1_ixhc2fn wrote

Reply to State to open temporary shelter at Devens by ak47workaccnt

"Temporary" intake shelter they said.

Up to 60 families (125 people maxium) they said.

Stays at the center will be short they said.

Expected to be open for four months they said.

I suppose they expect it to be open for 4 months because they'll feel more comfortable making people homeless when it's not so cold outside.

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ak47workaccnt OP t1_iwkvycj wrote

Reply to For Massachusetts, no news of a new state seal or motto by ak47workaccnt

>A law Gov. Charlie Baker signed in January 2021 created the commission to review the seal and motto

>The law originally set an Oct. 1, 2021

>Six months ago, members of a special commission unanimously agreed that Massachusetts should replace its state seal and motto.

>Commissioners were hoping to secure a third extension, until March 2023, to give them time to solicit public input.

>At a virtual meeting Tuesday, commission members discussed the possibility of steering the money toward a survey that would gauge what Massachusetts residents want in a new state seal, or using it to hire a graphic designer.

It took them until 6 months after their first deadline to even agree that it should be changed at all. WTF?

Why, after nearly two years, are they just now considering surveying the public?

What is going on here? Is the commission spending all of its time and money figuring out how to get more extensions instead of doing their job?

These lawmakers are on the commission and presumably bear some responsibility for dragging this out as long as possible.

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ak47workaccnt t1_itz151b wrote

Reply to NIMBYs bare their fangs at new Mass. housing law - The Boston Globe by Bulky-Mark315

>So last May, at a special town meeting, Rockport adopted new zoning bylaws that would put it into compliance with the Baker administration’s new rules aimed at increasing multifamily housing in the 175 cities and towns that are served by the MBTA.

>The plan, which passed...called for a 12-acre “transit-oriented village” near the Railroad Avenue commuter rail station

Yay! More housing! This is what we wanted. Public transportation is added benefit. Sounds great.

>the losing side filed a 10-taxpayer suit ... charging the administration’s regulations — and the entire Housing Choice law — are “unconstitutional.”

It's not unconstitutional, it non-constitutional. As in, nothing to do with the state constitution.

>The new rules, finalized in August, are expected to create an estimated 283,500 new units of housing statewide

>In the suit, the Rockport taxpayers allege that in adopting the law the Legislature “has attempted to coerce the municipalities to adopt MBTA zoning districts which it, itself, is not constitutionally empowered to draw. The coercion comes in the form of a statutory denial of access to specific grant programs.”

>MBTA communities that don’t comply will be shut out of the Housing Choice Initiative grant program, MassWorks, which provides grants for infrastructure, and the Local Capital Projects Fund.

Isn't this the same kind of coercion used by the Federal government to get states to have a 21 year drinking age in exchange for federal highway money?

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