Blog

I-90 Allston Project Update
July 25, 2025

On July 22, 2025, MassDOT organized an I-90 Allston Task Force meeting to provide updates on the project schedule and overall finance plan. Luisa Paiewonsky, the Executive Director of MassDOT’s Megaproject Delivery Team, previously released a statement affirming support for the project, despite the recent news that Congress and the Trump Administration would be rescinding a federal infrastructure grant for the project. At this meeting, three things were clear:

1. There is still overwhelming support to deliver this project: from MassDOT leadership, to the City of Boston, to community leaders, to our peer environmental and transportation advocacy organizations the message is consistent that this project should move forward.
2. In the next few months, MassDOT will be continuing the preliminary design phase and the environmental permitting process. Concurrently, MassDOT will be conducting an independent engineering review that will look at layover options in Beacon Park Yard, rail alignment, construction staging, among other issues.
3. During the review of the overall design, there will be plenty of time to revise the current project finance plan. At the July 22^ndTask Force meeting, Tom Nally stated that we feel very confident there are multiple options for funding this project and when we consider the economic benefits, we know the project . . .

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B-COOL Partnership Launches Second Summer of Heat Research
July 23, 2025

Thanks to the generous support of The Boston Foundation, with additional support from the Barr Foundation and Paul & Edith Babson Foundation, the “Boston Cool” or B-COOL partnership between the Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH), City of Boston’s Office of Climate Resilience, The Boston Foundation, and A Better City, began a second summer of temperature monitoring in Boston in June.

Last summer’s B-COOL pilot research focused on comparing official heat advisory and emergency declarations based on National Weather Service data from a sensor at Logan Airport, to lived heat experiences and temperatures measured by 15 HOBO temperature sensors located across environmental justice neighborhoods in Boston. B-COOL’s summer 2025 research builds upon the 2024 pilot and is beginning to explore the impact of shade interventions on heat stress for different heat-vulnerable populations.

Although tree planting and urban forestry are often seen as a go-to solution for heat relief in hotspot neighborhoods, newly planted trees take time to mature and provide shade and cooling and are also dependent on sufficient resources for maintenance and stewardship to survive, including resources for regular watering. Human-made shade structures can be a faster option for shade and heat relief than trees, and can be deployable either permanently, semi-permanently (across a summer season), or as pop-up structures in advance of high heat events. For locations with insufficient street/sidewalk space for trees to grow and thrive (like Chinatown), shade structures could also be pivotal in providing heat relief.

To help provide evidence on the efficacy of different shade structures, the B-COOL research team, led by Dr. Patricia Fabián and Jonathan Lee from BUSPH, is evaluating the impact of shade structures like green roof bus shelters, shade structures placed on playgrounds, and pop up shade structures deployed by the . . .

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Governor Healey’s Energy Affordability, Independence, and Innovation Bill
July 23, 2025

In May 2025, the Healey-Driscoll administration filed an energy affordability bill known as An act relative to energy affordability, independence, and innovation. In the press release for this bill, Governor Healey shared that her Administration filed it largely in response to crippling high energy bills for residents in the winter of 2024-2025, alongside increasing costs for housing in Massachusetts. Although the energy affordability bill does not contain funding or bond authorizations like the environmental bond bill, the Administration claims that the bill could result in cost savings of over $10B for ratepayers over the next 10 years. The energy affordability bill was taken up by the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy in June, with a marathon hearing lasting about 6 hours.

The energy affordability bill has multiple policies relevant to A Better City’s 2025-2026 E+E Policy Agenda. As a whole, the bill seeks to address increasing energy bills and especially energy burdens in Massachusetts, or when ratepayers pay a disproportionately high amount of their salary towards energy bills. While this is not a comprehensive summary, some key items relevant to ABC’s work and climate policy priorities include:

• 3^rd Party Competitive Electricity Suppliers: although it does not include a full ban on 3^rd party electric suppliers for the residential sector as the 2024 Climate Act initially tried to pass, this bill offers compromise language to protect consumers from competitive electrical suppliers and prevent nefarious practices. Such changes include: eliminating automatic renewals and variable billing rates, establishing licensing requirements for door-to-door telemarketing, increasing transparency on typical energy rates, improving DPU . . .

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Article 80 Modernization Focus Group Recap
July 21, 2025

on Tuesday July 15 we convened an Article 80 Modernization Focus Group with Nupoor Monani and Kevin Crossley of the Boston Planning Department as they briefed members of A Better City on the latest changes in the Article 80 Development Review process. The changes include proposed zoning language changes, Early Action operational changes, and Long-Term changes.

You can review their slides here and a full recording here.

The language changes are:

• Updated Thresholds for review and procedures for the Boston Civic Design Commission (BCDC)
• Support for residential conversions, sustainability, and reinvestment
• Modernized communications methods
• Adjusting the Zoning Code to harmonize with existing procedures
• Improvement of City-wide coordination
• Removal of language contradictions and improved usability

The basic approach is to learn lessons from experience to bring procedures, and threshold triggers up to date with current best practices. The BCDC will also be changing its bylaws to provide clarity for public participation in the review process. A new Article 81 in the Zoning Code will now cover BCDC procedures. Outdated language and methods will be replaced in the code, and new review procedures will facilitate coordination of review among the range of city agencies with jurisdiction on development.

Changes sought in the culture of the Planning Department and development review are a critical part of this approach, with three Early Action directions for:

• Effective engagement
• Consistent . . .

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An Update on Transportation Funding
June 18, 2025

On Monday, June 16th the Legislature reached a final agreement on how to allocate over $1.3 billion in Fair Share surtax revenue. This funding has been collected through the new surtax on incomes over $1 million, and must be spent only on education or transportation programs. For the first time, this bill spends nearly 60% of this money on transportation programs, marking a significant shift and a major milestone for public transit advocacy in Massachusetts. Since the implementation of the surtax in 2023, the Commonwealth had spent approximately 40% on transportation and 60% on education.

This new spending bill reflects long-standing priorities championed by A Better City, including using the Fair Share surtax to increase state assistance to the MBTA. In this bill, the MBTA will receive $535 million to help close its projected operating budget deficit. This money will now prevent service cuts for riders and avoid layoffs for transit workers. In addition to MBTA funding, the bill provides: over $140 million for municipally owned transportation infrastructure; $50 million for Regional Transit Authorities; and over $35 million for small bridges, culvert repairs, water ferry service, and other transportation projects across the Commonwealth.

"This agreement would provide the MBTA with multi-year stability for their operating budget and service levels for riders, while also addressing other transportation needs in all areas of the Commonwealth. This legislative compromise also makes meaningful progress toward achieving a 50/50 split between transportation and education spending from the surtax, which was a key recommendation of the Governor's Transportation Funding Task Force. We appreciate the complexity of making a budget amid unprecedented federal uncertainty, and thank Legislative leadership for prioritizing investments in transportation that will pay dividends in economic benefits to our regional economy and . . .

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