Boston, MA
Lawsuit that alleges Boston is inflating commercial property taxes goes to court this week
A lawsuit that alleges the City of Boston is inflating the assessed value, and taxes, for commercial properties that file abatements will be taken up by Suffolk Superior Court on Wednesday.
The alleged practice has been slammed as retaliatory and unlawful by the Pioneer New England Legal Foundation, a watchdog group that filed the class-action lawsuit on behalf of a commercial property owner last December. The property is 148 State St., a Seaport office building.
The city filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit in February, arguing that the case does not qualify as one that should be considered by Superior Court, given that the plaintiff “has an adequate legal remedy at the (state) Appellate Tax Board.”
City Hall attorneys will be asking the court to grant the motion at Wednesday’s 2 p.m. hearing.
“Plaintiff failed to exhaust its mandatory administrative remedies; indeed, plaintiff and the city are involved in a pending administrative action that will address some of the excessive valuation claims raised in its complaint,” the city’s motion states. “Plaintiff chose not to appeal the remaining excessive valuation claims raised in its complaint.
“Contrary to its argument, plaintiff’s claims do not fit into the exceedingly narrow exception that would permit the Superior Court to hear its claims for declaratory and injunctive relief under extraordinary circumstances,” the city’s motion states. “As a result, the court is without jurisdiction to entertain the complaint, and it must be dismissed as a matter of law.”
The Pioneer New England Legal Foundation filed an opposition to the city’s motion to dismiss last month that argues against what it sees as the “essence” of the the motion, which is that “the court must decline to hear the case because the statutory abatement and Appellate Tax Board process is mandatory and exclusive.”
“Defendant’s framing baldly misstates what the complaint actually pleads and what this action seeks to remedy,” the Pioneer filing states. “Contrary to the premise of the city’s motion, this action is not a routine dispute over the valuation of a single parcel.
“Plaintiff alleges a deliberate, systemwide retaliatory practice: when a taxpayer exercised the right to petition by pursuing an ATB appeal, the city used an add-back or override methodology to inflate the property assessment at issue artificially, and ostensibly to ‘stabilize’ the taxpayer’s value at prior-year levels.
“Similarly-situated taxpayers without ATB appeals did not receive the same treatment. Plaintiff further alleges that this practice is reflected in the city’s own property record cards and operated as a hidden penalty on protected petitioning activity,” the Pioneer filing states.
Pioneer’s attorneys added, “At the pleading stage, those well-plead allegations must be credited as true, and the city cannot obtain dismissal by trying to recast the complaint as nothing more than an ordinary overvaluation claim.”
The lawsuit is seeking restitution, for the city to repay the plaintiff commercial taxpayer, along with others who may join the filing, the amount they were overcharged in property taxes, due to the city’s alleged overvaluation.
Despite reportedly agreeing privately to stop the alleged overassessment practice as part of settlement negotiations, the city has publicly dismissed Pioneer’s allegations as “baseless and full of misinformation,” per a prior statement from Mayor Michelle Wu’s office.
Frank Bailey, Pioneer’s president and a retired judge of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Massachusetts, has said Pioneer estimates as many as 200 commercial properties have been overtaxed by the city practice.
If the suit is successful, those properties could be owed restitution at a time when the city’s finances are hampered by declining commercial property values tied to vacant office space that one City Hall watchdog has projected may lead to a $1-2 billion budget shortfall over the next five years.
The city is scrambling to close a $48.4 million budget shortfall by June 30, the end of this fiscal year 2026. The mayor has pitched a $4.9 billion budget for FY27 with a 2.1% increase, the lowest rate of growth since the Great Recession in FY10.
Bailey said the lawsuit was filed “only after serious consideration and after literally months of efforts to engage the city and the Department of Revenue to ensure basic questions about the transparency and fairness of the Boston commercial real estate tax system” and that it “is operating in compliance with the law.”
He said the alleged overassessment practice went on for fiscal years 2024 and 2025.
City Hall disagrees.
“The city assesses 180,000 properties annually, and less than one out of every 200 end up in dispute,” a city spokesperson said in a prior statement. “There is a well established and clear legal process for any property owner to appeal who believes their valuation is too high, including this plaintiff.
“Ultimately, Pioneer chose to sue and the city will defend Boston taxpayers and our authority to fairly tax our largest commercial properties.”
Boston, MA
Boston’s Logan airport opens first-in-nation remote airport terminal
A first-of-its-kind remote airport terminal is set to launch in Massachusetts next month, giving some travelers flying out of Boston’s Logan International Airport the option to complete TSA screening nearly 25 miles away before heading straight to their gate.
Starting June 1, the Massachusetts Port Authority will open the Logan Airport Remote Terminal at 19 Flutie Pass along Route 9 in Framingham. Passengers will be able to check in for their flights, drop off luggage and complete TSA screening before ever reaching Logan Airport. After that, they will board a dedicated shuttle bus driven by Massport operators that takes them directly to their airside gate.
“It’s going to be more seamless, more convenient for the passengers and the traveling public,” Massport Deputy Director of Roadway Management Peter Howe told CBS News. “We want to see how this pilot goes to see what we can learn from it and how we can expand.”
During the pilot phase, the service will be limited to Delta Air Lines and JetBlue passengers traveling on flights scheduled between 5:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. Shuttle buses, which hold about 55 passengers each, will run hourly from 4 a.m. to 1 p.m., with tickets costing $9 each way. Buses are scheduled to arrive at Logan at least 45 minutes before departure.
The Framingham site also includes about 400 parking spaces priced at $7 per day, which is significantly cheaper than parking rates at Logan.
Security remains a central focus throughout the new process, according to Massport. After passengers check their bags, those items stay secured for transport and contingency plans are in place to handle any unexpected issues along the route.
“You’ve got state-of-the-art equipment, this is all regulated just as if you’re flying to an airport,” Daniel Blake, the VP of Airport Experience for JetBlue, told CBS News. “Those of you who like aviation, you’re going to be [dropped off] ramp side, so you’ll be among the airplanes walking up – it’s going to be a pretty cool sight.”
The concept is modeled in part on similar systems operated by The Landline Company in cities like Philadelphia and Chicago, where passengers are bused from regional locations directly to major hub airports for connecting flights.
“The magic of this is that the stress and the headache that you experience when you’re pulling up to a big airport, you’re wondering how long the baggage line is, how long the security line, all these kind of anxieties that come to your mind. We take care of all those up front,” Landline CEO David Sunde told CBS News.
Framingham passengers can already begin booking shuttle tickets, which are available from 90 days up to 90 minutes before departure. However, Massport is encouraging travelers to book early, since seating will be limited during the pilot phase and adjustments are expected as the program gets underway.
Boston, MA
With the World Cup weeks away, Boston and the T clash over Summer Street closure – The Boston Globe
“As we have shared with your team, it is imperative that a limited portion of Summer Street near South Station is closed to traffic,” read the letter sent from the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s General Manger Phillip Eng to the city’s interim chief of streets, Nicholas Gove.
The T’s letter, dated May 15, goes on to suggest that the state is moving forward with the plan to close down that stretch of Summer Street with or without the city’s buy-in, with Eng stating that the letter serves “as notice that the MBTA intends to acquire the temporary right to occupy this portion of Summer Street.”
“The MBTA will continue to work with the City to secure a permit, which would allow the MBTA to withdraw this notice,” read the letter.
The city says not so fast, painting the letter as an “eminent domain” power move.
“The City opposes this inappropriate use of eminent domain to bypass the permitting process for roadways under local jurisdiction, and we urge the Commonwealth to withdraw the filing while plans are being reviewed,” said a spokesperson for Mayor Michelle Wu’s administration in a statement.
The city’s agencies, according to the spokesperson, “have extensive experience managing major events of comparable scale, and the City has proposed alternatives to meet the safety and security needs of the World Cup while preserving access to this area for residents, visitors, and local commuters.”
The statement continued, “Full closure of a major route into the City for multiple entire workdays should be undertaken only as a last resort, and the City will continue working toward a resolution.”
The MBTA expects about 20,000 fans to take trains from Boston to Gillette Stadium for each of the local World Cup matches.
“Given the unprecedented number of people who will be coming to the South Station area to attend the World Cup, take their regular commutes or attend fan-related events, the MBTA has elevated its security posture in and around South Station to mirror those in place at [Gillette] Stadium on match days,” said Eng in the letter.
Boston city officials argue that the plan would further snarl traffic in an area that is already heavily congested during rush hour. They worry that planned detours for the closure don’t accurately account for driver behavior and that the proposal is underpinned by old data.
The city also says it has identified alternative plans that would not involve shutting down Summer Street, including utilizing Dewey Square and the Rose Kennedy Greenway as staging areas for passengers.
World Cup matches will be held in Foxborough on June 13, 16, 19, 23, 26, and 29, as well as July 9. The T plans to close down the street for stretches of 10 hours on game days, according to the letter. Previously, the T and the city agreed to shut down a portion of Summer Street for games on June 13 and 19, but Eng declared in the letter that “equal public safety needs exist for the other five matches.”
Summer Street is a busy thoroughfare that stretches from the city’s Financial District into the Seaport and South Boston. The stretch of road that would be shut down for World Cup game days is about a fifth of a mile, from South Station, a central commuting hub home to the Red Line, buses, and commuter rail service, to just before the Fort Point Channel. The intersection of Summer and Dorchester Avenue itself would not be shut down.
The move to close it down comes at the recommendation of State Police and the T’s public safety personnel, and local businesses have been apprised of the plan, according to the T’s letter.
“It is also consistent with steps we collaboratively take during other major events, such as First Night and the Boston Marathon,” said Eng in the letter.
Danny McDonald can be reached at daniel.mcdonald@globe.com. Follow him @Danny__McDonald.
Boston, MA
Sexual assault trial of Alvin Campbell, Massachusetts attorney general’s brother, begins today
The sexual assault trial of Alvin Campbell, the brother of Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell, began Monday.
Alvin Campbell is accused of posing as an Uber driver and raping or assaulting nine young women in Boston between 2017 and 2019. He was also charged with assaulting a correctional officer last year.
The case got underway at Suffolk Superior Court in Boston Monday morning with opening statements.
“A common denominator in the attacks is evidence that Campbell masqueraded as a rideshare driver and in one case a bar employee, and targeted women at venues in the downtown Boston area who were too intoxicated to consent to sex or to resist his assaults,” prosecutors said in a criminal complaint. “He used his own cellphone to record his crimes against these defenseless victims.”
Campbell did previously work for Uber, but investigators say he had left the company before alleged crimes. The district attorney’s office said that when his car was seized, it was “festooned with Uber stickers and logos.”
Attorney General Campbell released a statement about the trial before it started.
“As my brother’s trial begins, I am praying for the survivors and all those affected. It takes extraordinary courage to come forward, and they deserve dignity and respect,” the attorney general said. “This is an incredibly difficult situation for everyone involved, and I carry that weight with me, including in my prayers for my brother. The case is now before the court, and I respect the judicial process as it moves forward.”
-
New York24 minutes agoVideo: Judge Grants Luigi Mangione’s Request to Supress Some Evidence
-
Los Angeles, Ca30 minutes agoCardi B in the lead as 2026 BET Awards nominations announced
-
Detroit, MI54 minutes agoSouthfield police chase ends in fiery crash in Detroit
-
San Francisco, CA1 hour agoSan Francisco ninth graders will now be measured by a controversial ‘Wheel of Power’ — so how would the city’s leaders fare? We put them to the test. – The Voice of San Francisco
-
Dallas, TX1 hour ago
Mailbag: Could Valdes-Scantling battle for WR3?
-
Miami, FL1 hour agoMen arrested for defacing Miami Beach pride bench with antisemitic graffiti, cops say
-
Boston, MA1 hour agoBoston’s Logan airport opens first-in-nation remote airport terminal
-
Denver, CO2 hours agoVehicle goes airborne, hits home overnight in Denver: Police