1. Thank you for your support of CH 257 for human service workers.

2. Did I miss an allocation for the MBTA? Maybe to help the financial viability of the Parcel 13 project?

   1. As noted above, the bill includes “$112M (paired with more than $265M in the FY23 GAA) for safety improvements at the MBTA.”

      We did not do anything for parcel 13.

3. Thanks so much for your efforts to obtain additional Ch. 257 funding for human services workers. These people do so much good and are grossly underpaid.

4. Thanks for supporting right to repair. Understanding that it will be a long effort to see it enacted, but its a start!

5. $210,000 for rehab of O’Reilly Plaza in Fenway?

6. Why are we investing more in renewables than affordable housing? Also why was nothing address to assist low income renters but investment was secured for immigrants, some that maybe here illegally? There should be more options and assistance to our citizens first. Also, a major problem for first time home buyers, besides the current high prices of homes, are the current interest rates. I propose a state program that would offer first time home buyers a fixed low rate, something around 2-4% and/or based off their income. This would incentivize more young individuals to remain in the state and we can retain more young talent that attend our prestigious colleges/universities.

   1. The bill like most of our legislation reflects a balance of multiple priorities. Reasonable people can disagree on how much money to put in each bucket — indeed, that’s why the bill took three months to negotiate.

7. Senator,
   We have talked may times in person. I always appreciate your good work.
   Just a thought. Belmont’s population is 26,ooo and change. Watertown’s is 35,000 and change. There are many things I can think of in Watertown that needs to be improved–and Belmont gets the lion share of the money. There could be completely valid reasons for this that I am unaware of. I get that. But somehow, I can’t seem to separate this in my mind from a simple everyday observation: On a regular basis, I see 2, even 3 #73 buses start from Harvard Square before a #71 bus appears. “Them that has, gets.”

   And no, though I am proudly liberal (and was openly so when it was made into a slur by the Republicans), I am not a flame-throwing ultra leftist. In my career, I have been an exec officer of a NASDAQ company myself, and also an advisor to multiple CEOs/CXOs of brand name firms.

   One example: I would really be interested in knowing, for example, why no one thought of putting aside money to upgrade the traffic systems on Galen/Watertown Square to make the crossing safer for pedestrians, runners, and bikers. I had raised this issue in 2017 or 2018 when a pedestrian died on the Watertown Street/Galen Street crossing. At that time, the Chief of Police of Watertown–to whom YOU had directed my concerns–had written that the project was in the works and would take 2-3 years because of funding constraints. Here we are 4-5 years down the road and I’m still waiting for my life, and that of the walkers and runners in my family, to be made safer.

   1. Hi Amit,

      There is no disparity in spending — in fact, if you look at the list above, you’ll see that Watertown got more money in this bill. I give even-handed and diligent attention to all the communities I serve. I consult with local officials before allocating local priority funds and my allocations reflect those conversations.

      One thing that many people do not know is that bond bill money is subject to the Governor’s decision making in her capital planning process; bond bill allocations do not guaranty any funds. This bill allocates cash which is guaranteed to be delivered and Watertown does very well in this bill.

      Regarding the 71 and 73, if buses are bunched as they often are, then a bunch of the other line’s buses will go by while you wait for your bunch. I have plenty of people complain that the 71 gets all the buses. In fact, there are somewhat more on the 73 because there are more riders on the 73.

8. What is the status of reform as to the estate tax ? There is no mention in your update. It should not be that difficult to address. Blaming the fact that the legislature was unaware of 62F is not an excuse.

   1. To my chagrin, we did not get this negotiated.
      I strongly hope we can do it early in the next session.

      1. Thanks for the update Will. Despite all the fear inducing no on 1 commercials before the election it must be made clear to your colleagues and leadership that the Estate Tax is a much higher burden that adversely impacts a much larger percentage of people in this state, especially those in the middle class.

9. Thank You for your work, Will. Is there ANY local money to fix the streets in Belmont? There isn’t a street in Belmont that
   doesn’t need Re-paving !!!!

   1. There is money for Grove Street.

10. We may think more about aligning the tax burden with the beneficiaries. There is soo much need for affordable housing etc. but no revenue stream well matched to it. Just manufactured poverty (failed public policy) created by external subsidy (low interest rates caused a lot of real estate speculation for the gentrification market, when interest rates rise, property assessments on the high end fall off more than the low end causing the low end to market to take up the slack) while the speculators have grabbed their loot and ran.
    I am thinking, in this case, these 2 are mostly for automobile accommodations and should come out of the gas tax levy. not the general levy. The more road you use the more tax you pay .
    $6,000,000 for fencing along MassPike
    $9,000,000 for .. intersection of Western Avenue ..
    These roads are used by motor vehicles (the beneficiary) so the gas tax should fall on them (the burden).

11. Why shouldn’t all this one time money be spent on capital expenditures?

    1. It’s capital and it’s acute needs. But, for the most part, it does not build in new operating costs.

12. Will, thank you for all of your work on this and for keeping us informed on the substance of the bill. I would like to echo the comments of Martha Krache and David Smith On the importance of the legislature taking action on the state estate tax.

Comments are closed.