A Statement from the Town of Wrentham on MBTA Communities Act Decision

The following is a statement from the Wrentham Select Board and Town Manager Michael King: 

After careful consideration, the Wrentham Select Board has decided not to appeal the recent decision issued by the Superior Court in the case of Town of Wrentham vs. Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, et al.

The Select Board initiated this case to affirm the State Auditor's finding that the MBTA Communities zoning law constituted an unfunded mandate, imposing substantial requirements on municipalities without corresponding financial support. Based on that determination, the Town sought judicial relief from compliance until the economic impacts of the law could be assessed and addressed.

While Wrentham presented thorough arguments to the court, the presiding judge ultimately ruled that the Auditor erroneously determined that an unfunded mandate existed and found that the only mandatory obligation was to establish a zoning bylaw. Although the Select Board is dissatisfied with the outcome, it respects the court's decision.

Throughout this process, the Select Board has remained committed to advocating for Wrentham's fiscal and planning interests. The Select Board honored its obligation to the Town to seek financial impact information from the Commonwealth on the sweeping state-mandated changes to the Town's zoning Bylaws. Having pursued the case to a logical conclusion, the Select Board considered all various options, including appeal, and has determined that the most prudent and cost-effective option is to move forward while working proactively to manage future growth in a way that reflects the community's values and priorities. This decision also ensures that Wrentham remains eligible for key state funding opportunities that support infrastructure, public safety, education and other services critical to residents' quality of life.

The Select Board remains dedicated to protecting the interests of Wrentham residents and will continue to engage with state partners to advocate for balanced, sustainable growth that benefits the entire community.

Background:

Boston Globe: "Towns lose their latest challenge to controversial state housing law"  Continue reading the article online -> 

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/06/06/business/mbta-communities-lawsuit-housing/ 

How to access the Globe articles via the Franklin Library with your library card

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/02/how-to-access-online-resources-with.html

The Marblehead Current provides greater detail from the court case and decision

https://marbleheadcurrent.org/2025/06/06/judge-rejects-towns-lawsuit-over-mbta-housing-law-as-marblehead-braces-for-vote/

What is Franklin's Status? Per Mass.gov

Franklin Interim Compliance  District Compliance Application in review

https://www.mass.gov/info-details/multi-family-zoning-requirement-for-mbta-communities

Franklin Interim Compliance 
District Compliance Application in review

Boston Globe: "Attorney General Andrea Campbell issued guidance on Thursday for Massachusetts immigrants and their supporters"

"Attorney General Andrea Campbell issued guidance on Thursday for Massachusetts immigrants and their supporters on how to respond to federal immigration officials, as arrests have sharply increased in the state.

The guidance addresses questions her office has received about ICE’s jurisdiction, the rights of people being targeted, what bystanders are allowed to do, and whether local law enforcement can cooperate with federal officials.

Todd Lyons

It comes as Campbell has said there is little she or other local politicians can do to stop the ICE arrests taking place under the Trump administration.

“From arresting parents in front of their children to pulling people who present no public safety threat out of their cars in broad daylight, the aggressive ICE tactics we’re seeing across the Commonwealth do not protect the public, and instead spread fear,” Campbell said in a statement. “In releasing this guidance, I strongly encourage everyone to inform themselves of their rights when they see immigration officers in their communities.”

Continue reading the article -> 

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/06/06/metro/ice-immigration-rights-bystander/ 

How to access the Globe articles via the Franklin Library with your library card

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/02/how-to-access-online-resources-with.html

*** The Attorney General's guidance document -> 

https://www.mass.gov/doc/ago-ice-guidance-05292025/download

Boston Globe: "Towns lose their latest challenge to controversial state housing law"

"A Superior Court judge Friday dismissed a group of lawsuits from nine Eastern Massachusetts communities over a controversial state housing law that mandates cities and towns with access to the MBTA make it easier to build multifamily housing.

The lawsuits — filed by the towns of Duxbury, Hamilton, Hanson, Holden, Marshfield, Middleton, Wenham, Weston, and Wrentham — sought relief from the MBTA Communities Act on the grounds that it constitutes an “unfunded mandate,” and that more multifamily development would strain their local infrastructure like roads and sewer systems.

Judge Mark Gildea rejected the towns’ argument as “speculative,” saying they did not provide concrete examples of the costs multifamily housing would inflict on them.

“The Municipalities have neither pled specific costs for anticipated infrastructure costs, nor provided any specific timeline for anticipated construction projects,” Gildea wrote in the ruling. “Instead, the only allegations and averments before the court are generalized comments about large-scale issues they foresee, which are insufficient to sustain the Municipalities’ claims.”

Franklin Interim Compliance 
District Compliance Application in review

Continue reading the article online -> 

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/06/06/business/mbta-communities-lawsuit-housing/ 

How to access the Globe articles via the Franklin Library with your library card

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/02/how-to-access-online-resources-with.html

The Marblehead Current provides greater detail from the court case and decision

https://marbleheadcurrent.org/2025/06/06/judge-rejects-towns-lawsuit-over-mbta-housing-law-as-marblehead-braces-for-vote/

What is Franklin's Status? Per Mass.gov

Franklin Interim Compliance District Compliance Application in review

https://www.mass.gov/info-details/multi-family-zoning-requirement-for-mbta-communities

Auto accident updated: one fatality, driver arrested for OUI

Via the Boston Globe: 

"A girl died and two others suffered serious injuries after, police say, a drunk driver struck another car in Franklin on Saturday evening.

James N. Blanchard, 21, of Franklin, was arrested at the scene and charged with motor vehicle homicide while driving negligently and under the influence of alcohol, according to a statement released by the Norfolk District Attorney’s office.

The crash occurred around 6:22 p.m. in the area of 76 Grove St., according to the statement.

The girl, whose name was not released, was rushed to the hospital where she was later pronounced dead, according to the statement."

NBC Boston -> 

https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/deadly-drunken-driving-crash-franklin-mass/3723048/ 

Boston Globe -> 

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/05/25/metro/girl-dies-franklin-crash-driver-arrested-oui-police-say/ 

Initial Police press release -> https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/05/franklin-police-motor-vehicle-crash.html

Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners attempts to deal with Federal funding cuts

On March 14, 2025 President Trump signed Executive Order 14238 eliminating the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) "to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law." IMLS is the single largest source of critical federal funding for libraries. Through IMLS' Grants to States Program, for FY2025 the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC) was allocated $3.6 million to support statewide library services and grants to local libraries. In the weeks that followed the executive order, IMLS staff were placed on administrative leave and in the President’s FY2026 budget, IMLS is eliminated (pg. 39 under Small Agency Eliminations).

At the annual Massachusetts Library Association conference, MBLC Director Maureen Amyot addressed the impact of ongoing federal uncertainty caused by the executive order and spoke about the MBLC’s efforts to preserve as many federally funded statewide services as possible. Director Amyot announced the FY2026 plan for statewide research databases, the statewide eBook program, and the Commonwealth Catalog.

"The federal impact cannot be overstated. In Massachusetts, over 1,600 school, public, academic and special libraries from across the state benefit from federal IMLS funding. Millions of people rely on federally funded library services,” she said. "Developing a plan for services in an environment of almost daily federal change has been challenging, but our goal has remained constant: to maintain services that are integral to the functioning of our system and heavily relied on by the people of the Commonwealth."

Starting on July 1, 2025, statewide research database offerings will be significantly reduced. However, the MBLC and the Massachusetts Library System (MLS), which jointly fund databases, will maintain several of the most heavily used. The MBLC spends close to $2.2 million of its federal allocation to fund statewide research databases, an amount that cannot be made up in state funding. For FY2026, the eBook content grant to Networks from MBLC’s state line 9506 will likely be funded at $500,000*, which will allow for $500,000 funding in that line to go towards databases. MLS will increase its support for databases by $18,575 to a total of $670,575. Overall, combined database funding from MBLC and MLS will go from $2.8 million to $1.17 million.

"The President has determined that the Institute of Museum and Library Services is 'unnecessary.' But we know the opposite to be true. We know that welcoming ALL, including diverse voices in our collections, and providing free and equitable access to library services make public libraries the cornerstone of a free democratic society,” said Director Amyot. "Libraries change people’s lives. That’s why these reductions in critical library services hurt. But we’re in this for the long game and in the year ahead we’ll continue to work with local, state and federal partners to stabilize library funding and services."

Databases provide every Massachusetts resident with trustworthy online content covering topics such as science, health, history, biographies and more. Last year, there were over 9 million full text downloads from research databases, an increase of 12% in just one year. Sixty percent of database usage comes from schools. The chart below details which databases will be available as of July 1, 2025.

Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners attempts to deal with Federal funding cuts

Continue reading the press release -> https://mblc.state.ma.us/news/news-releases/2025/nr250520.php

Boston Globe’s All-Scholastics for Winter 2024-25 recognize Sullivan, Woodall, & CJ Neeley

"The sounds of winter athletics are timeless, from the thump of a bouncing basketball in a quiet gym, the slice of a skate across ice, the thwack of skin against mat, the whoosh of waxed skis, to the splash of swimmers coming off the blocks.

While the soundtrack is ageless, there’s a new crop of high school athletes filling those gyms, rinks, tracks, pools, and slopes every season. So after crowning 31 state championship teams, it’s time to recognize the top individual athletes with the Boston Globe’s All-Scholastics for Winter 2024-25.

Chosen by a panel of Boston Globe beat writers and editors — with the exception of the prep choices — the 250 All-Scholastics, 39 athletes of the year, and 38 coaches of the year are selected using a combination of statistics, awards, notes, recommendations, and observation. Student-athletes from schools in Eastern Mass. leagues are eligible."

Shared from -> https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/05/02/sports/boston-globe-all-scholastics-winter-2024-2025/

 

Boys Basketball ->  Caden Sullivan and CJ Neely recognized (Coach of the Year)

 https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/high-schools/202425/all-scholastics/?sport=boys-basketball

 

Wrestling -> Johnny Woodall

 https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/high-schools/202425/all-scholastics/?sport=wrestling

How to access the Globe articles via the Franklin Library with your library card

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/02/how-to-access-online-resources-with.html

 

 

Caden Sullivan led Franklin to its first boys' basketball state championship, earning himself a spot on the boys' basketball Super Team along the way. Ken McGagh for The Boston Globe

Boston Globe : "‘The pandemic broke us’: Mass. superintendents see long road to recovery for students"

"It’s a generation permanently scarred.

Five years after the COVID-19 pandemic began, Massachusetts students remain far behind where they were when the global health catastrophe struck and school leaders undertook the drastic step of shutting in-person learning down for months.

This is despite billions of dollars in federal aid to redress the damage done by prolonged school closures. Math skills have stagnated and reading achievement has worsened. Children who were not yet in high school when schools closed their doors have graduated, less equipped to navigate the world than those who came before.

Dozens of Massachusetts superintendents surveyed by the Globe said it will be years before students catch up. While a minority said their students have already matched pre-pandemic scores or will by the end of next year — six years after schools closed — most said it will take longer."

Continue reading the article online -> https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/04/24/metro/mass-education-covid-pandemic-learning-loss/? 

How to access the Globe articles via the Franklin Library with your library card

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/02/how-to-access-online-resources-with.html

Boston Globe "This is not a drill"

A repressive, arbitrary regime is taking shape before our eyes

History, as the saying goes, has a way of rhyming. So it is worth noting that as the nation marks the 250th anniversary of the Revolution — that world-changing rebellion against tyranny and taxation that began in Boston, Concord, and Lexington — there are rumblings of discontent with President Donald Trump’s sweeping and erratic tariffs.

Polls suggest that even many Republicans are growing restive about the potential cost of what are effectively broad-based taxes on American consumers and businesses that depend on imports, which is to say almost all of us. But there is another Trump policy with equally haunting echoes of 1775.

It is an issue that doesn’t touch our pocketbooks the way taxes, tariffs, or the price of tea do. But it is one about which every American — particularly those who care about what it means to be an American — should be asking hard questions. That is: The use of federal force to arrest, imprison, and deport without due process foreign nationals accused, usually with scant or zero evidence, of being a danger to the country.

Continue reading the editorial online ->   https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/04/18/opinion/trump-deportation-ice-revolution-anniversary/ 

How to access the Globe articles via the Franklin Library with your library card

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/02/how-to-access-online-resources-with.html

 

Here is a direct link: https://www.proquest.com/bostonglobe/newspapers/this-is-not-drill/docview/3191279476/sem-2?accountid=30660

 
This database is one of many services provided by Mass Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC). These resources are in danger of disappearing across the Commonwealth after Executive Order 14238. Learn more at: https://mblc.state.ma.us/federal-cuts.php

Boston Globe "This is not a drill"

What is behind the editorial? The 3 judges writing for the UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT said in part:

"It is difficult in some cases to get to the very heart of the matter. But in this case, it is not hard at all. The government is asserting a right to stash away residents of this country in foreign prisons without the semblance of due process that is the foundation of our constitutional order. Further, it claims in essence that because it has rid itself of custody that there is nothing that can be done. 

This should be shocking not only to judges, but to the intuitive sense of liberty that Americans far removed from courthouses still hold dear."

Read the full decision here ->   https://drive.google.com/file/d/17wvviF6w1L5Cg9dJltxDBJTC-RT2FiZj/view?usp=drive_link

Apparently forecasts don't matter until they hit you where it hurts

“From the college perspective, there’s some anxiety right now,” says Joseph DiCarlo, dean of enrollment and director of admissions at Worcester State University, as he looks out over the cavernous exhibition hall. “With a smaller number of students, you’ve got to cast a wider net.”

The number of college students in the state has already fallen since the last peak, in 2012, by more than 45,000, or nearly 9 percent — that’s more than the undergraduate enrollment of the University of Massachusetts Amherst and UMass Boston combined.

Before long, experts predict that higher education institutions, including some represented at this college fair, will begin to tumble down the demographic cliff and close. "

Apparently forecasts don't matter until they hit you where it hurts

Continue reading the article online -> https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/04/09/magazine/massachusetts-colleges-face-enrollment-drop-higher-ed-crisis/

 

How to access the Globe articles via the Franklin Library with your library card

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/02/how-to-access-online-resources-with.html

 

In 2020, our State Representative Jeff Roy and I talked about his work on the Higher Education Committee and the issue that colleges and universities faced with declining enrollment

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2020/04/fm-255-state-representative-jeffrey-roy.html

Boston Globe: "Fiber art has long been ‘treated as a little sister’ to fine art"

"Artist Merill Comeau started talking to others back in 2022 about Gather 2025, a monthlong series of events in April exploring fiber arts in the Greater Boston area.

“I was thinking it would be four events over four weekends,” she said in a phone conversation from her home in West Concord.

But interest snowballed. Museums, galleries, groups, and makers jumped in.

Franklin's "art bombing" project anticipated this trend

“Now it’s like 70 events,” Comeau said. When you add opening and closing receptions, it’s closer to 100. There will be panel discussions, maker gatherings, demonstrations, and tours.

Exhibitions include “Art Evolved: Intertwined,” a show connecting basketry and quilting at Fuller Craft Museum, “Interwoven| Textile Arts and Climate Change” at Mosesian Center for the Arts, and “Orange Line: Connecting Neighborhoods North to South” at Piano Craft Gallery."

Continue reading the article online -> 

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/04/03/arts/gather-2025-fiber-textile-art-symposium-greater-boston/

How to access the Boston Globe with your Franklin library card   https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/02/how-to-access-online-resources-with.html 

The Fiber Art event collection -> https://www.gatherfibersymposium.com/events

Relive the FHS Boys basketball Final Game on Sunday (video)

The basketball game Sunday is a good one to watch or watch again, thanks to Franklin TV.  Video link -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Xo__LX4fgI

The HockomockSports.Com write up and the Boston Globe recap can be found ->

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/03/hockomocksportscom-franklin-outlasts.html

HockomockSports.com: "Franklin Outlasts Newton North To Win First Ever State Championship"

Boston Globe preview of the BIG game for FHS boys basketball on Sunday, Mar 16, 2025

The Boston Globe has a rundown of all the Divisional Championship basketball games this weekend. The key "lowdown" on the FHS game vs Newtown North is:

"The lowdown: Franklin has reached the final three times in the past decade (2024, 2018, 2014) but has yet to get over the hump. Last year, the Panthers stood little chance against a juggernaut Worcester North squad, and Newton North was a massive underdog in 2022 when the Tigers faced undefeated BC High in the state final. Now both programs have a very good shot to emerge from a balanced Division 1 field to claim a title. If North wins and goes undefeated against in-state competition, it would harken back to the great teams that won consecutive titles under Connolly’s steerage from 2005 and 2006, and cement Swint as one of the greatest players to put on a Tigers uniform. Yet scoring consistently against Franklin’s defense will be a tall task. The Panthers allowed just 47.8 points per game this season, turning in several dominant defensive performances while going 10-0 away from their home court."

Continue reading the full article in the Globe ->

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/03/13/sports/miaa-boys-basketball-finals-tsongas/

How to access the Globe via the Library with your library card

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/02/how-to-access-online-resources-with.html

Boston Globe preview of the BIG game for FHS boys basketball on Sunday, Mar 16, 2025

Boston Globe: "State lawmaker dating top lobbyist accuses Globe of using ‘illegal materials’ in reporting on public court documents"

"State Representative Jeffrey Roy, who has been the focus of Boston Globe coverage about his relationship with a top lobbyist, leveled a series of accusations against the newspaper Wednesday, claiming it used “illegal materials” and violated a court order when it published claims from his estranged wife.

An attorney for the Globe disputed Roy’s assertions and said the newspaper did nothing unlawful in reporting information that was included in publicly available court records.

Roy made his comments during an appearance before members of the Medway Democratic Town Committee. The Franklin Democrat repeatedly criticized the newspaper’s coverage in the roughly hourlong talk, suggesting it committed ”journalistic malpractice" in its reporting of his relationship with a lobbyist who had business before the legislative committee he led."

Continue to read the Boston Globe article -> 

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/03/14/metro/jeffrey-roy-lobbyist-jennifer-crawford-boston-globe/

How to access the Globe articles via the Franklin Library with your library card

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/02/how-to-access-online-resources-with.html

I talked with Rep Roy early in February, 2025 and you can listen to our conversation

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/02/state-rep-jeff-roy-looks-back-on-2024.html

Rep Roy with Governor M Healey, and Councilor G Jones celebrating the climate bill signing in Dec 2024 (photo courtesy Rep Roy's office)

 

Boston Globe: "Turkey mating season has begun. Consider yourself warned."

"An aggressive wild turkey chased a parking enforcement officer in Brookline into a building on Wednesday, and police warned residents to be on the lookout as the turkey mating season gets underway.

Police in Brookline, where wild turkeys are known for their boldness, said several aggressive ones were seen along Babcock Street about 8:30 a.m.

“One such report stated a turkey chased a parking enforcement officer into a building and then began pecking on the glass door!” police wrote on social media.

An animal control officer came to help the parking officer, police said.

Breeding season for wild turkeys, which MassWildlife describes as a “strikingly handsome bird,” typically lasts from March into May."

Continue reading the article online -> 

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/03/12/metro/brookline-police-warn-of-aggressive-turkeys/?

How to access the Globe via the Library with your library card

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/02/how-to-access-online-resources-with.html

part of the flock of turkeys in the front yard in Dec 2024

Boston GLobe: "Roy will join Mariano’s inner circle as a close advisor"

"State Representative Jeffrey Roy, who was first appointed chair of the powerful energy committee in 2021 and is dating a lobbyist with business before the committee, was removed from his post as chairman of the Joint Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy committee and promoted by House Speaker Ron Mariano into his leadership team.

The move thrusts Roy into Beacon Hill’s powerful inner circle and assures the seven-term Democrat sees no cut to his compensation despite losing the coveted committee post.

The leadership shakeup comes after a series of stories published by the Globe last year revealed Roy’s relationship with lobbyist Jennifer Crawford, a partner in the state’s highest-grossing influence firm.

Mariano told reporters Wednesday that removing Roy from the top of the energy committee and promoting him into the leadership ranks makes “some of the negative things that he’s been attributed with goes away.”

Continue reading the article in the Globe:

State Representative Jeffrey Roy

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/02/26/metro/roy-crawford-committee-chairmanship-state-house-mariano/

You can access the full article at the Boston Globe with your Franklin Library card    ->    https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/02/how-to-access-online-resources-with.html

You can also listen to my converdsation with State Rep Jeff Roy recorded earlier in February. During this interview, Jeff did talk about this issue and the GLobe reporting on it. He has had other chairmanship roles and was open to a different role to help the Speaker and continue to deliver for the Franklin and Medway community he represents.

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/02/state-rep-jeff-roy-looks-back-on-2024.html

Boston Globe: "Here’s how Massachusetts proposes to measure graduation readiness for students, post MCAS"

Massachusetts education officials are proposing interim graduation standards that would require students, beginning with the class of 2026, to pass specific classes after voters last fall dropped the MCAS exam as a graduation requirement.

graduation readiness for students

The proposed new requirements would remain in place while a new graduation council explores long-term options

“This is a change the voters have put in place, and it’s a step until we get something that is more robust,” acting Commissioner Russell Johnston said Tuesday during a state education board meeting.

Shared from -> https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/02/25/metro/mcas-massachusetts-graduation-requirements-competency-determination/

You can access the full article at the Boston Globe with your Franklin Library card    ->    https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/02/how-to-access-online-resources-with.html

2 articles from the Boston Globe on the MA housing crisis and possible solutions

(1) Via the Boston Globe:  "Opinion | How Mass. can streamline its homebuilding process"

"It’s no secret that homeownership is out of reach for many people in Massachusetts. The average sale price of a single-family home is $642,000, the third highest in the nation. Renting instead is cold comfort; the average Greater Boston apartment costs $3,058. Although the state and local communities have taken steps to increase the housing supply, more housing still needs to be built.

Massachusetts achieved its notorious reputation for unaffordability by layering barrier upon barrier to new housing. In new research published by the Pioneer Institute, we lay out what we learned about the arduous and uncertain homebuilding process by interviewing builders, planners, lawyers, and scholars from across the state."

Shared from ->

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/02/21/opinion/homebuilding-permitting-process-massachusetts/

How to access the Globe via the Library with your library card

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/02/how-to-access-online-resources-with.html

Go directly to the brief that lead to this article

https://pioneerinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/PNR-608-Permit-Reform-02192025.pdf

(2) via the Globe ->  "State commission on housing production targets single-family zoning, other sweeping reforms"

"Single-family neighborhoods are synonymous with the American Dream. Their driveways and grassy yards define the communities of suburban America, including Greater Boston.

But are they also compounding Massachusetts' deep housing crisis?

A state-appointed commission focused on the state’s worsening housing shortage in fact identified single-family-only zoning — the land-use rules that created suburban single-family neighborhoods — as a primary obstacle blocking the surge of construction Massachusetts desperately needs to address its housing problem.

And so the commission proposes a seemingly profound idea: get rid of single-family zoning — everywhere in Massachusetts."

Continue reading the article online ->  https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/02/21/business/massachusetts-housing-affordability/

MA housing crisis and possible solutions

How to access the Globe via the Library with your library card

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/02/how-to-access-online-resources-with.html

Housing commission press release on the report ->   https://www.mass.gov/doc/building-for-tomorrow-a-report-from-the-unlocking-housing-production-commission

Direct access to the Housing Commission Report ->    https://www.mass.gov/doc/building-for-tomorrow-a-report-from-the-unlocking-housing-production-commission/download

Boston Globe: "Thanks to a 26-year-old nonprofit founder, one less downtown Boston office building is vacant"

"Imagine being 26 years old, at the start of your career, and figuring out how to buy an office building in the middle of downtown Boston for your fast-growing nonprofit.

The improbable scenario is all too real for Connor Schoen, who in December engineered one of the most surprising real estate deals in the city: a $6.3 million purchase of a five-story building on Franklin Street for the nonprofit he leads, Breaktime.

Schoen’s social entrepreneurship quickly became the talk of the town. Nonprofit executives and philanthropic leaders reached out to him about what they could learn from the deal, and whether they, too, could invest in downtown at a time when office building values have plummeted. For Breaktime and other nonprofits that might follow its lead, owning instead of leasing provides some control over their destiny."

Continue reading the article online (subscription maybe required)

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/02/11/business/breaktime-nonprofit-connor-schoen-downtown-office-building/

You can read the article using the Franklin Library subscription to the Boston Globe. Follow these steps to do that ->

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/02/how-to-access-online-resources-with.html

Boston Globe: "Thanks to a 26-year-old nonprofit founder, one less downtown Boston office building is vacant"

How to Access Online Resources with your Franklin Library card

As you have noticed, I share pertinent articles from other legitimate media sources.

When I do that for the Boston Globe and NY Times, you can access the full article in the newspaper with a Franklin Public Library card. If you don't already have one, might be a good idea to get one.

There are a whole listing of online resources available with a library card. You'll need to go the Library page, Online resources, and then follow that link which will prompt you for your library card to get access. A few clicks but those clicks save you the subscription fee.

How to access the Online Resources step by step with the Boston Globe newspaper shown as an example:

Go to the Library page ->  https://franklinma.gov/233/Franklin-Public-Library 

Select “Online Resources” as indicated by the red arrow

Select “Online Resources” as indicated by the red arrow

Scroll alphabetically, or chose the alpha section to the one you want

Scroll alphabetically, or chose the alpha section to the one you want

On the next screen enter your Library card # and then enjoy the online access to this resource

On the next screen enter your Library card # and then enjoy the online access to this resource

While these steps are the easy one two three for most of the databases, there are a few that require some extra steps. If you need help getting access please contact the library through the website contact forms (https://www.franklinma.gov/235/Contact-Us) or call the main line at 508-520-4941

Download this info as a one page PDF to remember or to share

https://drive.google.com/file/d/16jrK4oH3oAR7R0dcAtVHBbMBQzW__089/view?usp=drive_link