Boston, MA

America’s new highest-paid mayor could come from Boston suburb

Published

2 years ago

May 8, 2024

America’s new highest-paid mayor could come from Boston suburb

The highest-paid mayor in the U.S. could soon come from a coastal New England town best known for its naval warship museum and ties to two U.S. presidents.

Quincy, a Boston suburb with a population of about 100,000, is preparing to sign off on a recommended 87% to 133% pay increase for its long-serving mayor, Thomas Koch.

Koch, who started his seventh term this year, currently makes about $159,000 has not taken a pay raise in nearly a decade. He took office in 2008.

“By any standard, that’s a bit of a long period of time, particularly given some of the price level changes we’ve had recently,” consultants hired to assess his salary said at last week’s city council meeting. “Setting a static level and leaving it static for nine years, like has been the case, is probably not optimal.”

Mayor Thomas Koch of Quincy, Mass. with his family

Mayor’s Office

The potential raise was not reflected in the proposed budget brought to the council on May 6. Koch said he will be “bringing in a separate order the next council meeting” on May 20 “to deal with the mayor’s and the city councilors’ raises.”

“We’ll make the adjustment as needed in the budget,” Koch said Monday night.

Dorminson Consulting of Boston suggested officials consider a $298,000 to $370,000 salary for Koch. The proposed $370,000 salary would be a $211,000 raise, or about a 133% increase from Koch’s current pay. If the council signs off on the higher end of the suggested range, it would make Koch the highest paid mayor in America.

The firm told the councilors they took into account the city’s population, consumer price index and a survey of more than 1,200 mayors and city managers’ salaries.

At Monday’s city council meeting, Koch called Quincy’s budget “stable,” with the city not needing to make any layoffs or cuts, unlike many of its neighbors.

“Quincy’s been on a pretty good run. We don’t live here, but we are financial economists at heart, and we know what we’re looking at. You’re on a good run,” the consultants told officials. “The consequential effects of trying to undercut quality is going to be tough to overcome.”

Quincy is the seventh-largest city in Massachusetts. A one-time major producer of granite, the city touts its status as the birthplace of former Presidents John Adams and his son John Quincy Adams as well as John Hancock. Perhaps more culturally important for Massachusetts residents, it’s also where Dunkin’ Donuts was founded.

The mayor of San Francisco, London Breed, is currently the highest earning mayor in the country, with a salary of about $357,000. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass comes in second with a salary of $301,000.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams was the city’s 418th highest-paid employee in 2023, with a salary of about $258,000.

In 2022, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s salary was upped to to $250,000 starting in 2026. Massachusetts’ second-largest city, Worcester, pays City Manager Eric Batista a salary of $313,000.

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Boston, MA

Yankees fans most surprised by Boston’s shaky start

Published

4 hours ago

April 11, 2026

Press Room

Yankees fans most surprised by Boston’s shaky start

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across Major League Baseball. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Yankees fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.

We’re very early in the 2026 MLB season, but there’s still been enough action to shock and surprise us. This week, we asked Yankees fans about which American League rival had gotten off to the most surprising start, with the options consisting of a number of clubs off to the disappointing starts: the Red Sox, Blue Jays, Orioles and Mariners.

The results are in, and it’s our rivals in Boston that have surprised us the most thus far:

Kyle Thele

The Red Sox garnered as many votes as the other three choices combined, and with good reason. At the time of the poll, the Red Sox were a dreadful 2-8, and they needed to win the last two games of their series with Milwaukee this week just to get to 4-9 and four games back of the Yankees for first in the AL East with the Junior Circuit’s worst record. Boston’s lineup has cobbled together a shoddy .646 OPS, while their pitching staff has yielded the seventh-highest wOBA in the league. There’s plenty of time for Boston to stabilize, but their start has been poor enough to cause some high-profile fans to start panicking.

All that said, there’s reason for concern elsewhere as well, particularly in Toronto and Seattle. The Blue Jays’ 6-7 is far from disastrous, but their injury bill is; Alejandro Kirk, Addison Barger, José Berríos, Trey Yesavage, and Shane Bieber are all on the IL at the moment, putting Toronto in a tough spot as they’ll now need to hope that their depth players can keep them from falling in a hole. The Mariners benefit from playing in a weaker division, but at 5-9 they’ve really scuffled out of the gate.

Now, onto our MLB-wide fan polls, which simply asked which team would win each division:

Kyle Thele

In related news, with Toronto, Baltimore, and Boston all off to iffy starts, the Yankees are the overwhelming choice by MLB fans to take the AL East. We’ve seen this movie before, with the Yankees consistently getting out to early division leads in recent seasons, but not consistently finishing the year in first in the East. Their stellar pitching so far has them looking like the favorites in perhaps the toughest division in baseball, but there’s still a very long way to go.

Here are the results for the other five divisions:

AL Central: Tigers (55%; runner-up: Guardians, 28%)
AL West: Mariners (69%; runner-up: Astros, 18%)
NL East: Phillies (40%; runner-up: Braves, 29%)
NL Central: Brewers (56%; runner-up: Cubs, 24%)
NL West: Dodgers (88%; runner-up: Padres, 5%)

There are a few interesting nuggets here. Despite rough starts from the Mariners and Tigers, MLB fans still tab those squads to secure the AL West and AL Central, respectively. Interestingly, the Phillies, despite an offseason that left their fans wanting and a third-place spot in the standings currently, rate as the top choice in the NL East, with the Mets not to be found in the top two.

The Brewers remain the top dog in the NL Central, off to a fine start but with teams like the Reds and Pirates also playing decently out of the gate. That said, the Cubs still come in second in the polls, and are likely still the team that should give Milwaukee their stiffest challenge. Out west, well, there’s little surprise to be found, as the expectation remains that the Dodgers will run away with the division.

These survey results are sponsored by FanDuel.

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Boston, MA

Full-length Replay: Boston | FOX Sports

Published

16 hours ago

April 11, 2026

Press Room

Full-length Replay: Boston | FOX Sports

Boston boasts a passionate sporting culture.

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Boston, MA

A long line awaited the opening of Uniqlo in Downtown Crossing. Take a look inside. – The Boston Globe

Published

1 day ago

April 10, 2026

Press Room

A long line awaited the opening of Uniqlo in Downtown Crossing. Take a look inside. – The Boston Globe

After 20 long, empty years, 399 Washington Street in Boston flooded once again with shoppers on Friday, as Japanese clothing retailer Uniqlo made its Downtown debut.

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu was on hand to help cut the ribbon at the store. A long line of eager shoppers queued up outside, taking in the opening-day festivities, which included a giveaways and a taiko drum performance.

A taiko drum performance entertained shoppers as they waited in line at the new Uniqlo store in Downtown Crossing.Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu helped cut the ribbon to Uniqlo in Downtown Crossing.Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff

Once inside the brightly lit storefront, customers perused displays of floral maxi skirts, linen blend shorts, and workout T-shirts. Spanning more than 20,000 square feet across two levels, the storefront got a substantive refresh from Uniqlo, which bathed the space in an airy white but preserved the exposed brick ceiling, embellished columns, and central staircase.

The new Uniqlo store in Downtown Crossing had its grand opening Friday. Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff

Mannequins pose and shoppers browse at the new Uniqlo store in Downtown Crossing.Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff

The debut of Uniqlo marks the first time that this retail space has been occupied since Barnes & Noble moved out in 2006. Just down the block, Asian lifestyle store Teso Life is also preparing for an opening in another long-empty storefront, sparking optimism about the future of the neighborhood.

The downtown location is Uniqlo’s sixth in Massachusetts, joining outposts on Newbury Street, at the Shops at Chestnut Hill, at the Natick Mall, in Braintree’s South Shore Plaza, and at the Burlington Mall.

Take a look at some more photos at the scene from Uniqlo’s grand opening.