What do former grisly mob haunts say about modern day Greater Boston?

It’s a transformation playing out across the region. As Greater Boston has gentrified, it has become less of a backdrop for working-class, clannish noirs that hinge on loyalty and limited life choices directed by Ben Affleck or Martin Scorsese. It’s now more of a hub of gentrifying young professionals, skyrocketing housing costs, and concerns about displacement.

In Massachusetts, Town Meetings Are Gatekeepers To New Development

Having deep roots in the region’s Puritan founding in the mid-17th century, town meetings were designed to decide fundamental things like land distribution, taxation, and infrastructure needs. They have now become make-or-break steps for large-scale developments.

Should you have to pay for your resident parking permit?

The politics and policies of public street parking vary wildly in Greater Boston. Some communities, including the state’s largest city, allow residential parking for free. Others charge fees, but the amounts are all over the map. Some charge $10 for 10 months of parking and offer free residential parking for the other two months, while in one affluent suburb, renting a municipal overnight spot could cost you $1,200 a year.

An Oligarchy of Old People

Gerontocracy has always thrived in undemocratic places—Communist people’s republics, Gulf monarchies—where only death could pry power from the ruling elders. American gerontocracy is exceptional for being freely elected. Donald Trump will soon be an octogenarian, and is president in part because the preceding octogenarian, Joe Biden, did not want to admit his senescence. The median senator is 65, and the oldest, 92-year-old Chuck Grassley, has not ruled out running for reelection in 2028. The typical general-election voter is a spry 52, but in primary elections, which decide the majority of political contests, that number rises to 59. Half of all the money donated to political campaigns comes from Americans age 66 and older.

What Mayors Have to Say About the Housing Shortage

A new report from the Menino Survey of Mayors, based at Boston University’s Initiative on Cities, finds that a large and growing majority of U.S. mayors say increasing housing supply would reduce housing costs. Yet mayors’ support varies (often by political party) across the range of policy tools commonly proposed to expand housing production, with inconsistent backing for many of them.

Mass. Transportation Boss Joins Initiative on Cities to Chat Transit with City Planning & Urban Affairs Students

Just how does public transit enrich a city? On Thursday, March 5, the Metropolitan College City Planning & Urban Affairs (CPUA) programs, the BU Initiative on Cities, and the student-run Urban Planning Association hosted Phil Eng—MBTA general manager and interim Massachusetts secretary of transportation—for a lively “fireside” conversation that sought to unearth some of the answers. Held at the Kilachand Center, this student-centric discussion touched on the ways public transit shapes urban lives and those who work, live in, and visit cities—with Boston serving as the main example.

Being Boston’s University

BU’s place in Boston is a big reason students choose to study here. And the city embraces the University. Besides its arts, culture, sports, history, food, and recreation, Boston offers endless educational, research, and service opportunities to faculty, staff, and students. Internships at city hall. Partnerships with nonprofits. Meaningful experiences with Boston Public Schools.

This engagement was established in the early 20th century, as the University grappled with the example it intended to set. Lemuel Merlin, BU’s third president, determined that the institution would thenceforth be “in the heart of the city, in service of the city.” That mission remains true today.