Blog

A Better City Joins City of Boston Response to U.S. Department of Justice Threats
August 20, 2025

On August 19, 2025, Kate Dineen, President & CEO of A Better City, joined Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and community leaders to respond to a letter from the U.S. Department of Justice threatening to prosecute City officials and withhold federal funds unless Boston cooperates with carrying out mass deportations. In her remarks, Kate reaffirmed the power of our cities and uplifted the economic contributions of Greater Boston's immigrant communities. 

"We believe in the power of our cities to drive progress and innovation and economic growth—and to unite us not to divide. Our city drives our region, and our immigrants drive our city. 

From learning at our world-class universities, to powering our world-class hospitals, to building our world-class skyline, Boston is a global city, because of (not in spite of) the immeasurable contributions of immigrants. The vibrancy and strength of our economy is a reflection of every single person who has come to our city and made it home. 

According to a recent Boston Indicators report, immigrants contribute roughly $103 billion annually, about 21 percent of regional GDP, and comprise 28 percent of all business owners in Greater Boston.

The American economy has always been powered by people who come here with a belief in possibility. Turning our back on that legacy means turning our back on what has made us strong."

Watch the full press conference

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Cambridge BEUDO Regulations Update
August 20, 2025

Cambridge is going through the regulatory process for its Building Energy Use and Disclosure Ordinance in 3 phases. A blogpost earlier this year provided an update on Phase 1 of the regulations that related to carbon emissions calculations and ways in which owners can purchase renewable energy to offset emissions created from grid electricity.

Phase 2 regulations and procedures related to property ownership and configuration, third party verification, alternative baseline selections, and updates to previously drafted sections regarding emissions factors and renewable energy purchases. A Better City provided comments to the draft language in this phase, based on member feedback.

Final phase 2 regulations and procedures were posted on August 6.

Draft Phase 3 regulations that relate to campus designation, applications for hardship and deferral plans, and appointments to the Review Board will be developed in the fall.  

Please reach out to Yve Torrie if you have any questions or would like to be part of A Better City’s Buildings Policy . . .

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Governor Healey Files Nearly $3B Environmental Bond Bill
August 19, 2025

On June 24^th, Governor Healey held a press conference to launch S.2542, An Act to Build Resilience for Massachusetts Communities, also known as the Mass Ready Act. This $2.9B environmental bond bill authorizes $2.9B in climate resilience funding over the next 5 years, with significant investments in existing programs, new programs, as well as outside sections (sections that are not related to funding authorizations) that advance various policies. The 2025 Mass Ready Act is about 20% larger than the last environmental bond bill from 2018. As with all bond bills, bill authorizations do not necessarily mean that such funds will be spent, as they still need to be allocated funding through state capital plans, often released annually in late June.

After significant action on climate mitigation through 2021, 2022, and 2024 Climate Acts in Massachusetts, the Mass Ready Act is a welcome investment in climate resilience, seeking to protect vulnerable communities and infrastructure against the impacts of extreme weather events in particular. In addition to investing in resilient critical infrastructure like roadways, dams, culverts, and bridges, the Mass Ready Act also establishes a revolving loan fund for climate resilience, known as the Resilience Revolving Fund. This non-budgetary Fund would be administered by the Mass Clean Water Trust and would provide low or no-cost loans to municipalities and public water and wastewater districts for resilience infrastructure projects. In outside policy sections of the bill, Mass Ready Act also streamlines permitting processes for housing, culvert, and marsh restoration projects, but this does not include other climate resilient waterfront projects. It also establishes climate resilience expertise on the Board . . .

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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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