The Massachusetts Recovery Plan
“Securing Our Common Economic Future”
The world’s economy is in crisis. Every individual, every family and every business in our Commonwealth is facing unprecedented challenges and uncertainty.
This crisis also reminds us how interconnected we are. Hardships in one sector of our economy affect others. One neighbor’s struggle becomes a neighborhood’s. We rise or fall together.
In times like these the mission of state government is clear: Secure our common economic future. That means doing everything we can to create and sustain jobs and opportunities for Massachusetts people and businesses to regain their economic footing and move forward.
Integrating state, federal and, where possible, private efforts, our Massachusetts Recovery Plan will deliver immediate relief by putting people to work today, invest in opportunities to position us for a better tomorrow, and reform the way government does business to prepare our Commonwealth for the ultimate revival of the global economy. Here’s how:
Deliver Immediate Relief:
Road, bridge and rail projects that put people to work today
Services such as unemployment insurance and health care that sustain people who are especially vulnerable during a crisis
Invest in a Better Tomorrow:
Education and infrastructure investments to position us for a better tomorrow
Clean energy, broadband, and technology investments to cut costs and grow the economy
Preparing workers for the jobs of tomorrow in growth and innovation industries
Reform State Government:
Eliminate Pension and ethics loopholes that discredit the work of government
Revitalize transportation systems that have suffered from a pattern of neglect and avoidance on Beacon Hill
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p>http://vps28478.inmotionhosting.com/~bluema24/s… With the availability of construction jobs the lowest they have been in 10 years, getting projects like the three JPI housing projects that are locked down by the credit freeze up and running would provide instant jobs, and relief to municipalities that approved those projects and need the tax revenue from their completion as well as the permitting fees and ripple effects.
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p>2. The cost of housing homeless families with children in motels is higher then the cost of using the voucher programs to put them into now-vacant rental housing in foreclosed units [such as foreclosed 2-6 family buildings] – as you and I know at one motel in Cambridge there are 75 families with more then 150 children, 100 or so under the age of 5 – with only one room per family at $85.00 per night, which is $2550.00 – the practice that banks have of throwing tenants out of foreclosed properties should be somehow frozen, too.
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p>3. Access to Justice. Full funding for MHLAC [civil legal aid – line item 0321-1600] would help prevent evictions, which would mean fewer homeless families and fewer costs for housing homeless families. Duh – no brainer. Similarly, Full funding for indigent defense [line item 0321-1510 which is constitutionally mandated anyway, and does not involve staff, payment of benefits such as health insurance, but solely provision of legal services – the fewer children wrongfully removed from their parents [child welfare representation is provided by 0321-1510, not just criminal defense] the less trauma, and lower $$ needed by DCF.
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p>Just my .02
Evaluate proposed projects with respect to your objectives:
– deliver immediate relief
– invest in a better tomorrow
– reform State government
Using the “Wish List” already published, both “reviewed” and “not-yet-reviewed” projects, how do they measure up to the criteria you have set?
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p>I would add an objective to use these public funds to leverage private investment in order to maximize the payoff – such as funding infrastructure improvements necessary to stimulate private commercial and housing developments, particularly if these developments support the transportation plan and employ green construction.
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p>Why don’t you just go ahead and totally do away with that arthritic, thoroughly abused and antiquated shred of snotty tissue we call the state constitution. Write an entirely new one. Burn the old one and start from zero.
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p>I’m totally serious here. Put everything on the table; Tax policy, Governmental structure, Citizenry expectations, Ethics… Everything.
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p>And get everyone involved. Everyone.
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p>Seriously. Have you tried reading that thing lately? It’s a twisty maze of adumbrated legalese all incomprehensible and all leading in several different directions (at once). Interestingly, the only place we ever get to is more of the same… We are on this not-so-merry-go-round of incremental progress followed by reactionary histrionics that sets us backwards several steps at a time… that is, when we’re not fighting the swirling melange of corruption and dirty dealings that manages to be both underhanded and backhanded at once….
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p>Break the cycle. The document we use now has lost any relevance and therefore cannot guide us. If Deval Patrick wants to lead, this is step one.
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Put Marian Walsh in charge.
Full employment begins next door…in Milton.
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p>Or in East Boston.
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p>Reform before revenue!