After the House voted on a major overhaul of the Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) back in June, the Senate advanced its own version this month, which also includes a decrease in the number of members for the issue-riddled commission down to three.
Gin Dumcius, editor at MASSterList, said although both the House and Senate seem to be looking at “hitting the reset button,” interpersonal issues, including who’s in charge of the commission, are continuing to foment disorder.
“The chair, Shannon O’Brien, just came back. She said she’s thinking about…new beginnings, but she’s relitigating past votes, pressuring fellow commissioners into votes and she’s threatening [State] Treasurer Deb Goldberg, who sought to oust her from the commission, with a defamation suit,” Dumcius said. “So much for new beginnings, I guess.”
Shannon O’Brien was fired from the CCC for “gross misconduct” back in 2024.
Meanwhile, a new report from the Boston Foundation is illustrating the depths of the housing crisis in Greater Boston. This year’s report found that in 2021, a household earning $98,000 could purchase a house in Greater Boston at “the low end of the market.”
Today, that number has skyrocketed above $162,000. With more than half of Boston renters spending more than 30 percent of their income on housing, Massachusetts has stranded residents in the crossfire of a decades-long affordable housing struggle.
Alongside affordability issues is the type of housing that’s available for potential buyers, said Seth Daniel, news editor at the Dorchester Reporter.
“I’ve heard [from] so many people — these are realtors talking to me off the record, of course — that there’s a lot of empty apartments, condos,” Daniel said. “They can’t sell them. The people looking to buy are not what these were made for.”
Daniel said additional problems in the housing market include a combination of interest rates not coming down and rising borrowing costs for developers.
And the MBTA Communities Law continues to cause controversy. The law, which Governor Charlie Baker signed back in 2021, requires cities and towns near T stations to invest in affordable housing. While certain cities like Winthrop are attempting to skirt this law, claiming the law is destroying “small-town America,” Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell is seeking compliance through potential lawsuits.
“It should be noted that the SJC — the Supreme Court of the state—upheld the constitutionality of that law, meaning that the Attorney General can enforce it,” said Mike Deehan, reporter at Axios. “Suing these towns and holding them accountable for not following the law seems to be legal, in a way, at least according to the state’s high court at this point.”
All this and more on this week’s local news roundtable!
Guests
- Seth Daniel, news editor at the Dorchester Reporter
- Mike Deehan, reporter at Axios
- Gin Dumcius, editor at MASSter List
Stories discussed in this week’s roundtable
- Boston.com: Report finds loopholes, permitting slowdown are worsening Greater Boston housing crisis
- MASSter List: MBTA housing law a source of inspiration and frustration, Lt. Gov. Driscoll says
- MASSter List: A higher purpose
- Boston Globe: Elation, disbelief, disappointment (and a spike in reservations): How Michelin honorees feel the next day
- Boston.com: How SNAP cuts led neighbors in Allston-Brighton to create a lifeline for families
- GBH News: As SNAP benefits stalled, a Massachusetts teen stepped up with a digital lifeline: MySnapMap
