MBTA housing law a source of inspiration and frustration, Lt. Gov. Driscoll says

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One of the more closely watched elections last Tuesday was the one community north of Boston, where for months supporters and opponents of the MBTA Communities law waged a proxy war through town council candidates.

The day after the election, the Boston Globe’s headline summed up the results: “In Winthrop, the state’s ambitious housing law was on the ballot. It lost in a rout.”

The animosity was palpable in the weeks leading up to the election, when the town’s state rep, Jeff Turco, said on a local cable access show that Gov. Maura Healey’s housing secretariat, which is charged with implementing the law, should be cleaned out. “They have a singular mission at the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities to destroy small town America,” he claimed.

Conflict makes for good copy, and the fights over the law, which calls for cities and towns near public transit to zone for multifamily housing, may seem like the early stages of the Bay State’s version of the Punic Wars. But Healey administration officials like to point out that out of the 177 communities falling under the law, 158 have signed off on a plan to comply.

“The MBTA Communities law, we certainly spend a lot of time talking about that. It has been a source of inspiration and, at times, a source of frustration,” Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll said Wednesday, drawing knowing chuckles from the pro-housing crowd gathered at the Boston Foundation’s offices. “But we know this is requiring communities to think more concretely about the type of housing they have.”

A former land use lawyer, she recalled when her hometown of Salem had its “ah ha” moment about its outdated zoning regulations. “People began to realize in a city as old as ours, some of our most desirable neighborhoods were crafted before zoning,” she said. “Beautiful homes, Federal-style mansions, carriage houses and the like, places where people want to live, I could not recreate those neighborhoods because of zoning. Somehow zoning became a Bible that really wasn't helpful in terms of delivering on the promises we made for the way people actually like to live and where they want to live.”

Later, when she was on a panel with researchers who helped put together this year’s edition of the Greater Boston Housing Report Card, Driscoll suggested reframing the argument for more housing and talking more openly about tradeoffs.

She noted that a new apartment building sometimes gets a more negative response than a new business that opens and brings jobs. Some residential buildings can help pay for more municipal services than underutilized commercial property, she added.

Addressing the complaints that new housing can add to traffic woes, she said yes, it may take five minutes longer to get home because the leather warehouse was converted to housing. “That’s a tradeoff I’m willing to live with,” she said.

As always, the Greater Boston Housing Report Card is worth a look. Give it a read and let me know what you think: [email protected].

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HAPPENING TODAY

8:00 | Dr. Sonja Kreibich, Consul General of Germany for New England, will share insights about global trade and investment and Massachusetts’ strong relationship with Germany and the European Union as part of a keynote address at the 2025 AIM International Business Symposium. | The Track at New Balance, 91 Guest St., Boston

10:30 | Massport celebrates the opening of the new and improved Framingham Logan Express. Massport CEO Rich Davey, Senate President Karen Spilka and Mayor Charlie Sisitsky attend. | Framingham Logan Express, 11 Burr Street Extension, Framingham

11:00 | The Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies holds a public hearing on 13 bills mostly focused on gaming. | Room A-2, State House, Boston | Agenda and Livestream

12:00 | Gov. Maura Healey visits Project Bread’s headquarters to thank its staffers. | 145 Border St., East Boston

2:45 | Congressman Richard Neal, back from Washington D.C. after the end of the longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history, is the featured speaker at the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce's government affairs forum. | Nutter, 155 Seaport Blvd., Boston

AARP thanks the Massachusetts House for passing H.4706, An Act to Improve Massachusetts Home Care, creating the state’s first Family Caregiver Commission. During National Family Caregivers Month, we urge the Senate to pass this vital bill and give the state’s 1.4 million caregivers the support they deserve. Learn more: aarp.org/ma

FROM BEACON HILL

ANTI-BOOK BAN: Book bans and panicked attempts at censorship are a fixture of American history, including the Watch and Ward Society and its clash with H.L. Mencken in 1920s Boston. State senators are now set to pass legislation making it harder to ban books in school libraries, and requiring districts to set up a process for complaints and challenges. – WBUR

ENERGY BILL ADVANCES: House members voted 7 to 0 on a bill from Braintree Rep. Mark Cusack to set up an “affordability and competitive standard” for state energy decisions and cut the budget of Mass Save. Environmental advocates are decrying the bill as a step backwards on climate laws. On the campaign trail, GOP candidate for governor Mike Kennealy is calling for a review of all state climate programs and spending. – State House News Service and Boston Herald

NEW PUBLIC SAFETY CHIEF: Gov. Maura Healey appointed prosecutor Gina Kwon to her cabinet as public safety secretary, replacing Terrence Reidy, a Baker administration holdover who retired earlier this year. – WWLP

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NEWS NEXT DOOR

CONVICTION IN LAWMAKER THREAT: A Barnstable District Court jury convicted a Dennis man with threatening Rep. Steve Xiarhos on social media. James Spence, 63, told the lawmaker he would burn his house and office and “I will not support you or your Trumpism.” – WCVB

NEW ADAMS PARK: The city of Quincy opens a “pocket park” this week dedicated to the legacy of John Quincy Adams, a diplomat who worked on the treaty that ended the War of 1812 in addition to his time as the sixth U.S. president and as a congressman. City officials took the land for the park by eminent domain and knocked down a building that housed a Mexican restaurant. – Patriot Ledger

LIQUOR LICENSES: A Suffolk County grand jury has indicted an attorney for forging Boston liquor licenses for a Brighton food hall, a restaurant in the Seaport and the Boston Park Plaza hotel. Lesley Delaney Hawkins, who previously worked for a top law firm and the city’s cannabis regulatory agency, is set to be arraigned later this month. – Universal Hub

DIVESTMENT RALLY: Supporters of a Somerville ballot question demanding divestment from Israel are holding a rally Thursday to pressure city councilors to adopt a resolution along the same lines. The ballot question was nonbinding and the mayor-elect, Jake Wilson, has indicated it is legally unenforceable. – GBH News

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