Spare Change News

Author: Spare Change News Editorial Board

  • Editorial: Empty gestures on homelessness

    It’s easy to fault Rhode Island’s recently passed Homeless Bill of Rights as a gimmicky gesture. The bill, among other things, guarantees a person the right to use public sidewalks, parks and transportation as well as public buildings “without discrimination on the basis of his or her housing status.” It also guarantees a “reasonable expectation…

  • Editorial: Romneycare and Obamacare

    The same reasons for passing near-universal health care in Massachusetts were behind President Obama’s national health care reform. Yet national reform is now under challenge by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who helped to pass the Massachusetts law only to blur his position now that he’s catering to a different set of voters. And now…

  • Editorial: Guns for Everyone

    On a recent Thursday in a Boston courthouse, screams and shouts broke out as not guilty verdicts were read at the conclusion of the quadruple slaying case that has become known as the Mattapan Massacre. A five-week trial ended with an acquittal for Edward Washington and a mistrial for Dwayne Moore in a case involving…

  • Editorial: More MBTA scenarios, please

    The MBTA has two scenarios to meet a $160 million budget shortfall. Both involve a combination of fare increases and service cuts. Neither is acceptable. State policy makers and MBTA officials need to go back to the drawing board and come up with a better plan. Both of the current T scenarios, one of which…

  • Editorial: Cut!

    Massachusetts is preparing another grim budget for the next fiscal year that is expected to include modest “revenue enhancers” — that is, tax and/or fee hikes on the general public — and yet another round of cuts to social services. Given those two eventualities, the state’s dubious film tax credit program belongs on top of…

  • Editorial: The Need For Public Records Reform

    While Massachusetts lawmakers continue to dawdle instead of passing the first substantial update to the state’s public records laws since 1973, news stories continue to expose state and local officeholders thwarting the public’s right to know how government works. One example is the recent disclosure that in the final weeks of Mitt Romney’s term as…

  • Editorial: Marjorie Decker, A Record of Helping Others

    Editorial: Marjorie Decker Last spring, the Homeless Empowerment Project held a silent auction to raise money for Spare Change News. We had invited Cambridge City Councilor Marjorie Decker as our speaker for the evening, but we were still looking for someone to auction off a few valuable lots. Marjorie came through for us, as a…

  • Editorial: Flip-flops and hypocrites

    Editorial: Flip-flops and hypocrites After all these years, Mitt Romney is still on the make. While that comes as no surprise, the former Massachusetts governor occasionally catches us off guard with another breathlessly unprincipled statement that underscores his willingness to say anything to get elected. A recent example came on Romney’s appearance on Mike Huckabee’s…

  • Editorial: Put the ‘public’ back in public information

    The Massachusetts Lottery wants to be paid $3,695 before it releases information that should be free and available to the public. A Freedom of Information Act request – which any citizen can file to get a copy of many govern- ment documents – has been met with foot-dragging at the state Lottery’s Braintree headquarters for…

  • Editorial: Betting on trouble

    As a federal judge lectured yet another Massachusetts legislative leader for official corruption and sentenced him to multiple years in jail, the remaining powers that be on Beacon Hill were busy pitching a scheme that was devised behind closed doors to bring Las Vegas-style casinos to the Bay State. Somehow, it’s impossible to think about…