Matt Martinelli

If it kept up its 2008 share of the budget, Boston would have $685 million more in local aid. Only one-third of that ($232 million) would have been enough to keep residential property tax rates flat year over year in FY26. 3/3

The local aid from the state to Boston has decreased by 13% since 2008 ($74M). That outpaced growth at the state level means the state went from giving 2.2% of its total budget to Boston in local aid in 2008, to just 0.9% of its state budget in local aid to Boston in 2025. 2/3

Some numbers to put this in context for Boston’s budget: Since 2008, the state budget has grown by 215%, while Boston’s budget has grown at a slightly slower pace of 204%. 1/3

@jarjoh @FortPointer I will just point out that the North Station/South Station BRT would actually provide a missing link connecting two stations not currently connected. One of the BHA criticisms is that you just get dumped out to regular traffic. It doesn’t connect directly to a T stop.

@FortPointer without the brt project once promised.

Congress Street in FiDi is being regraded. 💯

@FortPointer Hard to calculate cost as we don’t know how much asphalt is wasted each day. You could conceivably take any leftover asphalt from a pothole-filling truck to a private street at end of a day. Most public potholes are filled somewhat quickly. The wait comes when it’s utility patch.

@MattJMartinelli And I take your point that it could be just a tweak in language re. materials.

A few Councilors are calling for the City of Boston to pick up the tab on maintaining private streets. That could be a budget buster. The vast majority of streets in Seaport (west of D Street) and Fort Point are privately owned with public easements. boston.maps.arcgis.com/apps/mapviewer…

@FortPointer Many folks bought on these private ways without even knowing they were private. There have been Council hearings on this in the past if you need more info.

@FortPointer It’s a tweak to the current law to allow the filling of potholes on these private ways with asphalt rather than the dirt/cinder the city is currently allowed to use. There is also a mechanism to allow for larger patching (up to 25% of a road).

@FortPointer There are a lot of normal-looking streets in Dorchester, Mattapan, etc. that are “private,” but they function as public streets. This allows for them to have potholes repaired - something that’s far cheaper for a city to do than residents to contract out privately.

@FortPointer There is no “maintenance” beyond that. Nothing with sidewalks, utilities, parking, etc. And certainly not making them public, which requires them to be up to city code and would cost millions.

@SeanGrandePBP @John_Karalis And who controls the WNBA? The NBA. This is on all the NBA owners for being unwilling to give up any control of the WNBA, and primarily on the Celtics owners for not OKing Pagliuca’s bid.

Really bad look for the WNBA here...off the chart bad. Turned down more money, from a proven NBA owner, to keep the team in New England. Houston should have a team, just not New England's. It took the NBA 20 years to correct the same mistake with Seattle.

@FortPointer @leung Anyways, back to Suffolk Downs. You would offer the tax break on any nonresidential or apartment building, if they turned a portion of the project to condos. The tax break wouldn’t make sense for the actual condos since the developer is selling those.

@MattJMartinelli @leung Here’s the flip I’m referring to. Six months after playing their tiny violins about the market forcing them to build apartments, jettisoning $26m in affordable housing obligations, they were selling the units as condos. bostonglobe.com/2020/07/16/bus…

A second column by @leung hawking tax breaks for HYM and its partner this month? Wasn't @leung hawking breaks for HYM at P3 in two January columns? That's four columns! MEMO: Madison Park is an investment in community and Boston. My Globe comment 👇🏽 bostonglobe.com/2026/03/24/bus…

@FortPointer @leung I’m guessing this got caught up in some of the systemic funding issues with affordable housing condos vs affordable housing apartments. The funding system (federal and state) is very much rigged in favor of affordable rentals, which of course means a forever-rent-burdened cycle.

@FortPointer @leung Ugh. Can’t* and not*

@FortPointer @leung I cat recall - Just the current office-to-resi conversions, which is a success but long-term that great for tax revenue. Somehow getting any new downtown residential towers to be condos over apts would be a huge win for the city’s tax base-and ultimately a win for all homeowners.

@FortPointer @leung I look at One Dalton, which generates $15M in taxes because its condos (and hotel), as opposed to Avalon North Station, which is 500 apartment units and only generates $3M in taxes.

@MattJMartinelli @leung Have you ever seen a new residential project get a tax break in Boston? I can’t recall any.

@FortPointer @leung They can’t force them. But they could theoretically offer the carrot of a tax break for a certain amount of condo units where it pencils. It doesn’t happen because the investors want the long-term certainty of rental returns. But the city would make far more tax $ from condos.

@MattJMartinelli @leung I’ve never seen an instance where BPDA can force a market rate residential project to be condo in perpetuity if the developer/owner wants rental units. Or vice versa. Is that a thing?

@FortPointer I can’t speak firmly to methods/objectives. But to clarify, the fan meetups are city organized/planned. This stuff is likely fluid since it’s not public yet, so my guess is the objective would be to get it relocated before it’s made public. But that part is a guess.

@MattJMartinelli If such plans exist within the fan community, why not prepare for the inevitability rather than crank up anxiety and opposition among residents? What is the objective?

Councilor Flynn is now suggesting an event is being planned for FIFA fans at M Street park, in which “thousands” would march. All based on scant tidbits of information. No such event is planned. Impact? Drum up more anti-admin anger while gaining adoration from constituents.

@KevinOConnor This is pretty blatant plagiarism of Zarren’s idea from a decade ago. No mention of him in the tweet and he’s not mentioned till well into the article. It’s not your idea.

Tanking in the NBA is getting out of hand. I have an idea to fix it. It’s called: The Lottery Wheel. sports.yahoo.com/nba/article/th…