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Mayor Wu’s line in the sand on property taxes doesn’t make political or economic sense – The Boston Globe

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Mayor Wu’s line in the sand on property taxes doesn’t make political or economic sense – The Boston Globe


Apparently not, even with a late-November deadline for legislative approval of her home rule petition fast approaching.

To the bafflement of many on Beacon Hill and in the business community, Wu on Wednesday made clear once again she wasn’t interested in modifying the bill she filed with the Legislature in April to help the city offset the decline in commercial real estate values.

The legislation has stalled amid opposition by business groups and skeptical state senators who think City Hall should share the financial pain of property owners by also reducing spending or tapping reserves to balance its budget.

The news: Such moves “would be very financially irresponsible,” Wu told reporters in a virtual briefing from Moon Island, where she was attending a Boston firefighters event. It’s a message she recently delivered behind closed doors to lawmakers and business leaders.

The mayor also dismissed the idea of using city funds to help homeowners who can least afford to pay higher property taxes, saying it would violate state laws and perhaps the state constitution.

  • Wu said City Hall would need to cut its $4.64 billion budget by $265 million, or nearly 6 percent, to have the same impact as her property tax plan. That would force a layoff of 2,200 city employees and cuts to essential services.

The reaction: Business leaders said they’re not asking the city to come up with the entire $265 million. Instead, they are pushing for a package of changes that would soften the blow on commercial landlords and still provide relief for homeowners.

  • “We need to piece a solution together,” said James Rooney, chief executive of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. “This was not an unexpected storm,” he said, noting that the city’s budget increased 20 percent over the past three years even as signs emerged that commercial real estate was in trouble.

Marty Walz, interim president of the Boston Municipal Research Bureau, a business-backed watchdog group, said that after boosting spending by 8 percent in the current fiscal year, a trim of 1 or 2 percent was easily manageable without crippling the city.

  • “What manager can’t find that in their budget?” she said.

Recap: High vacancy rates have eroded the value of office buildings and other business properties. Recent data from real estate firm JLL show a slight improvement, but the decline threatens to throw Boston’s operating budget out of whack. Commercial real estate taxes, which are pegged to assessed values, account for about 40 percent of its revenue.

New numbers: At her briefing, Wu said the city’s latest data show that commercial assessments will drop an average of 7 percent, effective in January. The average residential assessment will increase 4 percent.

  • Based on those numbers — which are subject to a final revision — residential tax bills would increase an average of 14 percent compared with the fiscal year ended in July without approval of Wus plan, and 5 percent if she gets the green light from lawmakers.
  • The impact on commercial properties would vary, but Wu said a typical building valued at $5 million would see its tax bill fall 6.7 percent under the new assessments, or 0.5 percent if her plan is in place. (Newer “Class A” properties, which are doing better in attracting and retaining tenants, would likely see an increase in tax bills, the city said previously.)

Final thought: For the average Boston home, which the city said is assessed at $838,000, the tax increase in the third and fourth quarters of 2025 compared with the first two quarters would be a total of $770 if Wu’s bill doesn’t pass, and $275 if it does.

As a possible compromise, the city could kick in enough money to split the difference between those two outcomes, leaving an increase of less than $250 on the average residential tax bill between January and June.

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Why is the mayor taking on Spilka — whose approval she also needs to complete the city’s takeover of the Boston Planning and Development Agency — over a change the city could afford?

  • “If you think that the only way forward is to be as uncompromising as possible,” Obama said, “you will feel good about yourself, you will enjoy a certain moral purity, but you’re not going to get what you want.”

Wise words for any politician.


Larry Edelman can be reached at larry.edelman@globe.com.





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Boston, MA

Investigation underway after daylight shooting in Dorchester leaves person hospitalized – Boston News, Weather, Sports | WHDH 7News

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Investigation underway after daylight shooting in Dorchester leaves person hospitalized – Boston News, Weather, Sports | WHDH 7News


BOSTON (WHDH) – Police are investigating a shooting in Dorchester on Saturday afternoon that left a person hospitalized, officials said.

Officers responding to a reported shooting in the area of 480 Quincy St. around 3 p.m. found a person suffering from a non-life-threatening gunshot wound, according to Boston police. The person was taken to a nearby hospital to be treated for their injuries.

Ballistic evidence was recovered nearby in the area of Coleman Street.

No arrests have been made.

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No additional information was immediately available.

This is a developing news story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest details.

(Copyright (c) 2025 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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Boston hosts one of the oldest St. Patrick’s Day celebrations

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Boston hosts one of the oldest St. Patrick’s Day celebrations


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With St. Patrick’s Day only two weeks away, the city of Boston is preparing to host the biggest celebration of the holiday in all of Massachusetts – the South Boston St. Patrick’s Day parade.

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However, the Southie parade is not only one of the biggest St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in the country, but also one of the oldest. In fact, Boston first hosted a parade for St. Patrick’s Day in 1737, 39 years before the country itself was even formed. While the celebration has not happened every year since then, according to the date of establishment, Boston’s parade is the second-oldest St. Patrick’s Day parade in the world.

Here’s a brief history of South Boston’s St. Patrick’s Day parade.

History of Boston’s St. Patrick’s Day parade

According to the parade website, the city of Boston first hosted a St. Patrick’s Day parade on March 17, 1737. The celebration was “a gesture of solidarity among the city’s new Irish immigrants,” as “Boston’s Irish community joined together in festivities of their homeland to honor the memory of the Patron Saint of Ireland.”

In 1901, the parade moved to South Boston, a neighborhood with a large Irish population. Southie is also home to Dorchester Heights, where British troops evacuated Boston on March 17, 1776. Given the significance of both occasions to the city, Boston’s annual parade came to celebrate both St. Patrick’s Day and Irish heritage, as well as Evacuation Day and military service.

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The parade happens each year on the Sunday closest to St. Patrick’s Day, taking a break in 1994 and again in 2020-21.

What is the oldest St. Patrick’s Day celebration?

The oldest recorded celebration of St. Patrick’s Day took place in St. Augustine, Florida in 1600, with the city’s first parade following in 1601.

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According to University of South Florida history professor J. Michael Francis, “The first recorded St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in the United States did not occur in Boston or New York. Rather, those who first gathered to venerate St. Patrick and process through city streets included a blend of Spaniards, Africans, Native Americans, Portuguese, a French surgeon, a German fifer, and at least two Irishmen, who marched together in honor of the Irish saint.”

While St. Augustine still hosts a parade for the Irish holiday today, the oldest continuous St. Patrick’s Day Parade is in New York City, where there has been a parade every year since 1762.



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Andris Nelsons out as music director of Boston Symphony at end of 2026-27 season

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Andris Nelsons out as music director of Boston Symphony at end of 2026-27 season


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Boston will have the third vacancy among major U.S. orchestras.

Latvian conductor Andris Nelsons conducts the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra during a rehearsal for the traditional New Year’s concert at the golden hall of Vienna’s Musikverein, in Vienna, Austria, Monday, Dec. 30, 2019. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak, File) AP

Andris Nelsons is being forced out as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in the summer of 2027 after 13 seasons.

The orchestra made an unusually blunt announcement Friday.

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“The decision to not renew his contract was made by the BSO’s board of trustees because, beyond our shared desire to ensure our orchestra continues to perform at the highest levels, the BSO and Andris Nelsons were not aligned on future vision,” the BSO said in a statement from its trustees and CEO Chad Smith.

A five-time Grammy award winner, the 47-year-old Nelsons is currently leading the Vienna Philharmonic on a U.S. tour and was to conduct the orchestra in Naples, Florida, on Friday night.

“While this is not the decision I anticipated or wanted, I am unwaveringly committed to you and to our work together,” Nelson wrote in a letter to BSO musicians and staff that was released by his management agency. “I understand the decision was not related to artistic standards, performances, or achievements during my tenure, and, therefore, my focus is straightforward: to protect the music, support the orchestra’s stability, and continue to perform with the musicians of the BSO at the highest artistic level.”

Nelsons made his BSO debut in March 2011 at New York’s Carnegie Hall as a replacement for James Levine, who announced 10 days earlier he was stepping down as BSO music director at the end of the 2010-11 season because of poor health.

Nelson was announced as music director in May 2013 and given a five-year contract starting with the 2014-15 season. The orchestra announced contract extensions in 2015 and 2020, then in January 2024 said he was given an evergreen rolling contract. He was bestowed an added title of head of conducting at Tanglewood, the music and educational center that is the orchestra’s summer home.

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The last extension was announced a few months after Smith, who had been with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, started as the BSO’s chief executive.

Nelsons was music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in Britain from 2008-09 and has been chief conductor of Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra in Germany since the 2017-18 season. He married soprano Kristine Opolais in 2011, and in 2018 they announced their divorce.

Boston will have the third vacancy among major U.S. orchestras. Gustavo Dudamel is leaving the Los Angeles Philharmonic this summer after 17 seasons to become music director of the New York Philharmonic and Franz Welser-Möst will depart the Cleveland Orchestra at the end of 2026-27 after 25 seasons.

In addition, Klaus Mäkelä takes over the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 2027-28, when he also starts as chief conductor the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in the Netherlands.





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