This is a web edition of GBH Daily, a weekday newsletter bringing you local stories you can trust so you can stay informed without feeling overwhelmed.
☁️Cold and breezy, with highs in the 30s and a chance of rain or snow showers. Sunset is at 4:11 p.m.
Back in 2005, being able to get around on MBTA trains and buses was never a guarantee for disabled riders like Joanne Daniels-Finegold, a wheelchair user.
“Just getting somewhere was just a pain,” Daniels-Finegold told GBH’s Meghan Smith. She was part of a lawsuit challenging the MBTA’s accessibility practices.
And it worked: in the 20 years since the MBTA entered into a settlement agreeing to improve conditions, the number of bus trips inaccessible to riders with physical disabilities because of broken ramps or lifts has fallen from one in five to nearly zero. The system’s most-used elevators, which were out of service more than half the time in 2005, are now operational 99.4% of the time.
“The main thing that [has] changed for the better is the culture of the MBTA,” said another plaintiff, Andy Forman, who is legally blind. “The self-confidence that I, as a legally blind man, ride with, whether it’s the commuter rail or the buses or the subway, is just much better.”
Until now, a judge has overseen the settlement’s progress. That work will now go to a citizen advisory committee called the Riders’ Transportation Access Group, as well as to the Boston Center for Independent Living.
Four Things to Know
1. More news for the MBTA: the Boston area’s commuter rail is the only such transit network in the country coming close to recovering its pre-pandemic ridership, according to a new study from the MassINC Policy Center and TransitMatters. The network now carries about 90% as many passengers as it did before COVID, far higher than the national average of 70%.
“Our Commuter Rail service is a success story in terms of ridership rebound compared to our peer agencies,” said Caitlin Allen-Connelly, executive director of TransitMatters. But: she said there’s still plenty of room for improvement, especially in making the system a more fast, convenient and affordable alternative to driving.
2. PBS has stopped distributing the series Poetry in America because of emails showing its host, Harvard literature professor Elisa New, received money from convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein a decade ago. The first three seasons of the series were distributed by WGBH Educational Foundation, which also owns and operates GBH News.
New, the wife of former Harvard President Larry Summers, emailed Epstein in 2014 asking for a donation to Poetry in America. She has since said she regrets asking for the money. A spokesperson for GBH said the organization was “not aware of any Epstein financial contributions to the series” and has not worked with New since 2022. “Despite New’s guarantee that no Epstein money had been used to support this program, new GBH leadership decided we should terminate our work with her,” the spokesperson said.
3. How much will Boston’s renovation of White Stadium in Franklin Park cost? The city council unanimously passed a resolution yesterday demanding up-to-date cost projections for the city’s share of the bill. Once the renovation is complete, Boston Public Schools student-athletes and the city’s new National Women’s Soccer League team, Boston Legacy FC, will share the space. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu has said the cost to the city will likely be higher than previous estimates of about $91 million.
“We cannot move forward with a proposal of this scale without a full transparent process that lets us know what this city is on the hook for,” Councilor Julia Mejia said. “We need accurate, up to date cost estimates and nothing less.”
4. Union contract negotiations between Cape Cod Healthcare and the Visiting Nurse Association of Cape Cod — delayed because the government shutdown meant a federal mediator was not available — are back on the schedule for next Friday, Dec. 19.
Visiting nurses are asking for the same percentage raise Cape Cod Healthcare’s staff nurses received: 19% over three years. A spokesperson for the hospital system says the raise they are offering is higher than what competitors pay.
Worcester doesn’t have enough supermarkets. Some people blame the city’s tax rate.
Worcester is New England’s second-largest city by population, but many of the supermarkets that serve its residents are just beyond city limits. The town next door, Shrewsbury, has Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods locations right across Lake Quinsigamond on Route 9, and a Market Basket about a mile beyond Worcester’s borders along Hartford Turnpike. Meanwhile, the city has lost two supermarkets in recent years: Price Chopper on Cambridge Street and Stop & Shop in the Lincoln Village neighborhood.
So why do supermarkets and grocery stores open around Worcester, but not in it? Some people GBH reporter Sam Turken spoke with think it might be the city’s commercial tax rate: $28.61 per $1,000 of assessed value, which will rise to $29.06 per $1,000 next year. That’s higher than what businesses pay in Boston ($25.96 per $1,000) and Cambridge ($14.07 per $1,000).
The idea is to tax businesses more so the city can keep providing services while charging residents a bit less. But an unintended consequence is that stores that residents need — like supermarkets — might choose to open just beyond city limits, where they can still attract business from Worcester residents while paying a lower tax bill. That means Worcester residents without a car can have a hard time doing their grocery shopping. Recently GBH’s Sam Turken followed Worcester resident Jacquie Ormo on her grocery trip, which took three hours and four minutes by bus.
“It’s important that we look at ways to bring down some of these rates [in the future],” Mayor Joseph Petty said at a city council meeting this week. “We want to compete. We have to take this seriously. Because why not go to Auburn, why not go to Shrewsbury, why not go to Fitchburg and invest there?”
One potential solution: a nonprofit grocery store, which would be exempt from paying property taxes altogether. City Manager Eric Batista says the city is in talks with someone who wants to open one. Another option: tax breaks specifically for grocery stores, similar to the system Worcester uses for housing developers. But such tax breaks usually come with a lot of conditions that supermarkets have a hard time meeting, like providing a certain number of full-time jobs that pay livable wages.
“Certain supermarkets have a significant number of part-time jobs and minimum-wage jobs,” Worcester Chief Development Officer Peter Dunn told Turken. “If the city was to consider a TIF [tax increment financing program] for a supermarket or grocer, it would have to be the right type of employer and company.”
You can read Turken’s full story here.
Dig deeper:
-Some Worcester residents spend hours just getting to and from a supermarket
-Nine strategies to find free or low-cost food when money is tight
GBH Daily
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