Massachusetts

Massachusetts church vandalized after congregation removes LGBT pride flags

Published

2 years ago

June 21, 2023

Press Room

Massachusetts church vandalized after congregation removes LGBT pride flags

A man waves a rainbow flag while observing a gay pride parade in San Francisco, California June 28, 2015. | Reuters/Elijah Nouvelage

A Massachusetts church was vandalized after a preschool that rents space at the church posted online about how LGBT pride flags its owner posted on the church property was removed by church members.

Pleasant Street Preschool, owned by the openly gay Mike Richmond and his partner, rented space at Grace Community Church of Marblehead. Richmond recently posted pride flags on the church property to celebrate LGBT pride month.

According to an Instagram post by Richmond on the Pleasant Street account last Wednesday, a married couple removed the pride flags. In the post, Richmond also said the church told the school in March that they were being evicted in June without a clear explanation why.

“As a gay person who runs a business there, I simply wanted representation and to display this symbol of peace, love and acceptance,” claimed Richmond. “I never discussed Pride, the flags or what it means to be gay with the children. They noticed them on the way to the park and thought they were pretty.”

“I’m so beyond sad and frustrated. I can’t tell you how difficult it is to have to go there every day now and try to remain composed and run a normal day for the kids.”

Last Friday, the Marblehead Police Department announced that Grace Community Church, which first opened in 1810 as a Baptist church but is now nondenominational, had been vandalized with LGBT-themed graffiti. The incident likely took place late Thursday evening.

“The content of the graffiti most likely is in support of the LGBTQ+ community,” stated authorities, stressing that “members of Marblehead’s LGBTQ+ community have already offered to pay for and clean up the vandalism.”

Marblehead Police Chief Dennis King said in a statement that “vandalism will not be tolerated, and those responsible for this act, or any future acts, will be held accountable if identified.”

“I know that tensions are high around the removal of pride flags at the church. But people need to allow for the process to address any dispute between the Church and their tenant,” stated King.

“I think that I can say with confidence that people in the Town of Marblehead choose to respect one another over everything, even if they disagree.”

The graffiti included a rainbow spray-painted on the side of the church, with the phrases “stay gay stay hard” and “love is 4 everyone” painted next to it. The vandalism was first discovered by Richmond, who called the police.

The Marblehead Pride Committee posted on Instagram that it “does not condone any form of violence or vandalism.”

“Positive change happens when we are kind and respectful to ALL of our neighbors,” the post reads.

Preschool supporters staged a nonviolent protest against the church Sunday for its eviction decision, with local news estimating that around 150 people attended.

Church leadership issued a statement to The Marblehead Current published on Sunday, saying that the congregation removed the pride flags in part because they generally refuse to engage in political activism.

“We are a politically and culturally diverse congregation. For this reason, we do not put signage for many things, even good things, on the church front,” stated the church.

“We generally steer clear of any displays that may be interpreted as political. As a church, and as a landlord, that is our right. Civil liberties also apply to churches, and means we must extend respect in all directions.”

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Massachusetts

Local startups recovering from the burst tech funding bubble – The Boston Globe

Published

1 hour ago

January 15, 2025

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Local startups recovering from the burst tech funding bubble – The Boston Globe

Tech startups based in Massachusetts finished 2024 with a buzz of activity in venture capital fundraising.

In the fourth quarter, 191 startups raised a total of $4.1 billion, 20 percent more than startups raised in the same period a year earlier, according to a report from research firm Pitchbook and the National Venture Capital Association. For the full year, local startups raised $15.7 billion, about the same as in 2023.

The stability ended two years of sharp declines from the peak of startup fundraising in 2021. Slowing e-commerce sales, volatility in tech stock prices, and higher interest rates combined to slam the brakes on startup VC activity over the past three years. The 2024 total is less half the $34.7 billion Massachusetts startups raised in 2021.

But local startup investors have expressed optimism that VC backing will continue to pick up in 2025.

The fourth quarter’s activity was led by battery maker Form Energy’s $455 million deal and biotech obesity drugmaker Kailera Therapeutics’ $400 million deal, both in October, and MIT spinoff Liquid AI’s $250 million deal last month. Two more biotech VC deals in October rounded out the top five. Seaport Therapeutics, working on new antidepressants, raised $226 million and Alpha-9 Oncology, developing new treatments for cancer patients, raised $175 million.

Massachusetts ranked third in the country in VC activity in the quarter. Startups based in California raised $49.9 billion and New York-based companies raised $5.3 billion.

Venture capital firms, however, had an even harder time raising money in 2024 compared to earlier years. Massachusetts firms raised $5.9 billion, down 7 percent from 2023 and the lowest total since 2018. That mirrored the national trend, as VC firms across the country raised $76.1 billion, down 22 percent from 2023 and the lowest since 2019.

Only one Massachusetts-based VC firm raised more than $1 billion in 2024, a more common occurrence in prior years, according to the report: Flagship Pioneering in Cambridge raised $2.6 billion in July for its eighth investment fund plus another $1 billion for smaller funds. The firm, founded by biotech entrepreneur Noubar Afeyan, helps develop scientific research for startups in addition to providing funding.

The next largest deals were Cambridge-based Atlas Ventures’ $450 million biotech-focused fund announced last month and Engine Ventures $400 million fund investing in climate tech startups announced in June.

The decline comes as VC firms have had trouble getting a return on their investments, because so few startups have been able to go public. Just six biotech companies based in Massachusetts and no tech companies went public last year.

Aaron Pressman can be reached at aaron.pressman@globe.com. Follow him @ampressman.

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Massachusetts

Mass. gives noncompliant towns more time to meet MBTA zoning regulations

Published

10 hours ago

January 15, 2025

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Mass. gives noncompliant towns more time to meet MBTA zoning regulations

The Healey administration filed emergency regulations late Tuesday afternoon to implement the controversial law meant to spur greater housing production, after Massachusetts’ highest court struck down the last pass at drafting those rules.

The Supreme Judicial Court upheld the MBTA Communities Act as a constitutional law last week, but said it was “ineffective” until the governor’s Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities promulgated new guidelines. The court said EOHLC did not follow state law when creating the regulations the first time around, rendering them “presently unenforceable.”

The emergency regulations filed Tuesday are in effect for 90 days. Over the next three months, EOHLC intends to adopt permanent guidelines following a public comment period, before the expiration of the temporary procedures, a release from the office said.

“The emergency regulations do not substantively change the law’s zoning requirements and do not affect any determinations of compliance that have been already issued by EOHLC. The regulations do provide additional time for MBTA communities that failed to meet prior deadlines to come into compliance with the law,” the press release said.

Massachusetts’ Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the state’s attorney general has the power to enforce the MBTA Communities Law, which requires communities near MBTA services to zone for more multifamily housing, but it also ruled that existing guidelines aren’t enforceable.

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The MBTA Communities Act requires 177 municipalities that host or are adjacent to MBTA service to zone for multifamily housing by right in at least one district.

Cities and towns are classified in one of four categories, and there were different compliance deadlines in the original regulations promulgated by EOHLC: host to rapid transit service (deadline of Dec. 31, 2023), host to commuter rail service (deadline of Dec. 31, 2024), adjacent community (deadline of Dec. 31, 2024) and adjacent small town (deadline of Dec. 31, 2025).

Under the emergency regulations, communities that did not meet prior deadlines must submit a new action plan to the state with a plan to comply with the law by 11:59 p.m. on Feb. 13, 2025. These communities will then have until July 14, 2025, to submit a district compliance application to the state.

Communities designated as adjacent small towns still face the Dec. 31, 2025 deadline to adopt compliant zoning.

The town of Needham voted Tuesday on a special referendum over whether to re-zone the town for 3,000 more units of housing under Massachusetts’ MBTA Communities law.

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Like the old version of the guidelines, the new emergency regulations gives EOHLC the right to determine whether a city or town’s zoning provisions to allow for multi-family housing as of right are consistent with certain affordability requirements, and to determine what is a “reasonable size” for the multi-family zoning district.

The filing of emergency regulations comes six days after the SJC decision — though later than the governor’s office originally projected. Healey originally said her team would move to craft new regulations by the end of last week to plug the gap opened up by the ruling.

“These regulations will allow us to continue moving forward with implementation of the MBTA Communities Law, which will increase housing production and lower costs across the state,” Healey said in a statement Tuesday. “These regulations allow communities more time to come into compliance with the law, and we are committed to working with them to advance zoning plans that fit their unique needs.”

A total of 116 communities out of the 177 subject to the law have already adopted multi-family zoning districts to comply with the MBTA Communities Act, according to EOHLC.

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Massachusetts

Revere city councilor slams Massachusetts officials for being ‘woke’ after migrant shelter bust

Published

18 hours ago

January 14, 2025

Press Room

Revere city councilor slams Massachusetts officials for being ‘woke’ after migrant shelter bust

A Revere city councilor says the state’s right-to-shelter law is a “perfect example” of how “woke” ideologies are harmful, as he addressed the arrest of a migrant who allegedly had an AR-15 and 10 pounds of fentanyl at a local hotel.

Originally Published: January 14, 2025 at 6:24 PM EST

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