Democracy
To: Mayor Thomas M. Menino, Boston City Councilors, Governor Deval Patrick and Legislators
Whereas: Mayor Menino and the Boston City Council have granted Liberty Mutual $24 million in property tax breaks and Governor Patrick has given Liberty Mutual $22.5 million in state subsidies to build a new office tower in Boston near its existing office in Boston.
Whereas: These subsidies are being granted to a corporation so wealthy that it testified to City Council that it could build the $300 million tower with cash on hand, and is on the Forbes 100 list, earning over a billion dollars a year in profit.
Whereas: This subsidy money is being taken from essential city and state services including schools, libraries, parks, transit, youth jobs and community centers, even as their funding is being slashed.
Continue reading Revoke $46.5M in Tax Giveaways for Construction of Liberty Mutual Office TowerThe Green Party, while struggling to establish itself in the United States, is part of a global political movement that is continually gaining steam and finding traction in various nooks and crannies across the planet.
It’s always reassuring to find gains and breakthroughs happening in other countries, so this Global Greens report on the UK local elections is a good sign that people are increasingly open to new approaches, and that the Greens are offering something fundamentally different than the standard bearer political parties. From the European Green New Deal policies to the Scotland Greens’ focus on improving local councils, the Green Party is slowly finding its voice and its focus, and people are responding with their votes.
Continue reading Greens gain in UK local electionsThe Urban Ring is a planned public transport service to encircle central Boston, connecting the existing subway line ‘grid’ so as to allow quicker routes around Boston’s center. It is expected to move 40,000 passengers each day in phase I, to about 275,000 per day in phase III in 2025, speeding commutes and relieving central Boston’s transit system congestion.
Because most business doesn’t know now what to do with capital, interest rates are near historic lows, so it’s a great time to raise building capital via municipal bond sales.
And it is a great time to hire transit system builders, amidst this seemingly endless recession, and to thus stimulate the greater Boston economy.
The land-owners of the to-be-connected new stops on the Urban Ring stand to gain tremendously in financial terms from the Ring’s connecting these sites right to the existing subway and busway system, and it would thus be fair to partly fund Urban Ring construction by taxing the increase in land value created at and near these new stops with special taxation zones. This funding method is addressed at: http://www.vtpi.org/smith.pdf
Continue reading Now is the Time to Start Building the Boston Urban Ring Transit Line.I just stumbled over this group, just after stumbling over Blue Mass Group, where I recently posted on how Mass might raise revenues now.
I was surprised to discover little support among BMG respondents for raising Mass revenues now.
While I see Mass education, police and fire as in desperate straits, others at BMG saw a Mass state revenue returning to the historical 15% of state GDP
as healthy.
I’m curious – Here at Green Mass Group, what do we think about the existing level of taxation?
Continue reading Mass State Revenues: too much, enough, or too little?Great speech by John Nichols of the Nation:
Continue reading John Nichols at Stein HQ opening in Madison, WI
From the Jill Stein camp:
Continue reading The race for ballot access & matching funds heating upWe are on the ballot in: Arizona, California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Florida, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, New York, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia
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Next major priorities include: New Mexico and Nevada
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We are currently petitioning in: Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai’i, Iowa, Indiana, New Hampshire, Vermont, Virginia
TEXT: A People’s State of the Union: A Green New Deal for America
Presented by Dr. Jill E. Stein, Green Party presidential candidate, January 2012 ~
Good evening and thank you for this opportunity to talk with you tonight. We’re here to talk about the actual state of our nation, and how we can reclaim the promise of our democracy and the peaceful, just green future we deserve. We have heard President Obama deliver his State of the Union Address. And we heard the Republican response. Each claims to have the answer, and that the other was an obstacle to progress.
Continue reading A PEOPLE’S STATE OF THE UNION: A GREEN NEW DEAL FOR AMERICA