State of the City

VOL. 120 - NO. 4 BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, JANUARY 22, 2016 $.35 A COPY STATE OF THE CITY Walsh Promises Education as Top Priority by Sal Giarratani While the City of Boston faces funding” for both district and However, what I found miss- fl ows across the city from one a number of challenges of the chartered schools. “Let us work ing was in respect to the qual- place to another. human scale, Mayor Marty through the state budget pro- ity of life in our city. Solu- I wish I had heard more Walsh announced at his State cess this year to make a full tions to strategies that address focus emphasizing strategies in of the City address at Boston investment in our children and the growing violence in many dealing with all the players in Symphony Hall that his num- our families and our Common- of our neighborhoods that this situation. Good schools are ber one challenge will be an wealth’s future.” have long been called “killing great, but safer neighborhoods uplifting of public education Walsh spoke of the recent zones.” The impact of street are even more important and across the city. While inside the news of General Electric’s deci- crime, gang, drug and gun a much greater challenge for Hall, speaking of his academic sion to relocate its headquarters violence continues unabated. all of us. reforms, picketers were outside to the Seaport District. This On the afternoon of the Mayor’s In order to make better faulting him on a $50 million corporate move could bring State of the City address, it schools, it will take our elected defi cit facing schools next year. additional folks into Boston’s looked as though the Gunfi ght offi cials, our teachers and our In challenging the audience to growing work force. at the OK Corral was taking parents working together in a stand as one, the mayor stated, The mayor also announced place at the Maverick T Station common cause, and the same “We have a tremendous opportu- the creation of a new Offi ce of on the Blue Line in East Boston. kind of commitment is needed nity to come together right now, Housing Stability “to develop where the color flowing was when it comes to community behind programs that experts, resources for tenants, incen- sadly bloody red. policing. Residents of this city teachers, and parents all agree tives for landlords who do the In order to keep and maintain must unite and empower them- will make a lasting difference.” right thing, and partnerships Boston as a world-class city, selves because that is how that Walsh announced his sup- with developers to keep more of the mayor must deal with the better tomorrow for our children port “for fair and sustainable our housing stock affordable.” undercurrent of violence that will happen. Massachusetts Launches Comprehensive News Briefs Digital Health Initiative by Sal Giarratani Industry, Healthcare & State and Local Government Partner to Enhance Economic Development, Patient Care in Growing Health Industry What Ever Happened to Post-Racial Obama America? Massachusetts Governor ment of a digital health inno- Charlie Baker, Boston Mayor vation hub. The initiative will It seems like over the last seven years of the Obama Martin J. Walsh, Speaker Rob- provide space, programming, White House, America has become more obsessed ert A. DeLeo and executives a strong industry network for with race than ever before. Look at the Black Lives from the Massachusetts Com- digital health startups and will Matter agenda. Look at President Obama and all the petitive Partnership (MACP) serve as a Boston “hub” for the Democrats always preaching race differences. I had joined leaders from across state industry. Programming through hoped that those things that unite us as a nation government, healthcare, and the hub will be managed and would grow stronger, but that is not how things have the technology sector at Boston operated by MassChallenge. gone, sadly. Children’s Hospital to announce decade. The sector spans a “Strong public-private part- Recently, I heard several school districts across the a comprehensive public-private variety of technologies includ- nerships are what make our country will be holding school on the MLK holiday to partnership designed to ac- ing electronic health records, City, and our region, more com- discuss and debate why Ferguson happened. Freddy celerate the competitiveness consumer wearable devices, petitive in the global economy,” Gray and the Chicago Police Department’s policies on of the Commonwealth’s digital care systems, payment manage- said Mayor Walsh. “We know race. Is that what the King holiday is all about? Every- healthcare industry. ment, Big Data analytics and that the digital healthcare in- thing now is seen through the prism of race. America “Our administration is com- telemedicine among others, and dustry is Boston’s future, and I should be moving forward, but it seems like it is being mitted to making Massachu- has close connections to the thank our state and private sec- pushed backward by those whose agenda is division. setts a national leader in digital state’s technology and life sci- tor partners for their support. I heard that among the topics to be discussed is the health by partnering with pri- ences sectors. Massachusetts By working together, we can issue of white guilt, because that is what seems to fuel vate industry, convening key is well-positioned for success in maintain Boston’s leadership in folks in the multicultural world of diversity. stakeholders and addressing digital health as host to world- health care and the life scienc- Did you hear that CBS Television wants to bring market gaps,” said Governor class healthcare and academic es, and create an environment those old Nancy Drew Mysteries back? Except this Baker. “This emerging indus- institutions, a strong startup where the digital healthcare time, Nancy HAS to be either African-American, Asian- try cluster has the potential culture, significant venture industry can thrive and we can American, or Latina. White actresses need not apply, to become a powerful driver of capital investment, a dominant better serve our patients and says CBS head honchos. Isn’t this racist? job creation across the Com- life sciences sector and roughly their families.” U.S. Senate Says No to New Obama War Powers monwealth, while also unlock- 250 existing digital health com- MACP also announced several The U.S. Senate will not be taking up President ing new advances in improving panies. private industry-led initiatives Obama’s request for new war powers to fi ght the patient care and lowering health The initiative will bring pub- that will help accelerate growth Islamic State. According to Majority Leader Mitch care costs.” lic, private, academic, and in the digital health sector, in- McConnell, they want to avoid tying the hands of the Digital health, or eHealth, healthcare leaders together to cluding innovative approaches next president. is a rapidly growing sector at build a stronger and more con- to providing private funds for Last fall, the Obama Administration proposed a the intersection of healthcare nected statewide digital health digital healthcare companies three-year authorization that would take the fi ght and information technology, ecosystem. To support digital that are starting up, located in, beyond national borders and expand it to any “closely- and according to a report by health startups, the City of Bos- or planning to re-locate to, Mas- (Continued on Page 10) Goldman Sachs represents ton, Massachusetts eHealth In- sachusetts. MACP also facili- an approximately $32B mar- stitute at MassTech (MeHI), and ket opportunity over the next MACP announced the establish- (Continued on Page 7) THE POST-GAZETTE SATELLITE OFFICE HAS MOVED TO 343 CHELSEA ST., DAY SQUARE, EAST BOSTON This offi ce is open on Tuesdays from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM and Thursdays from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM, for the convenience of our East Boston and North Shore clients and contributors Call 617-227-8929 for more information PAGE 2 POST-GAZETTE, JANUARY 22, 2016 Res Publica by David Trumbull The Ride to Partner with Uber and Lyft? When President George H.W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) into law on July 26, 1990, he said: “It signals ROMANESQUE CHURCHES the end to the unjustifi ed segregation and exclusion of persons Germany, and England. There with disabilities from the mainstream of American life.” Among was a decline of community the things mandated by the ADA is The Ride, the Massachusetts life after the fall of Rome, when Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) paratransit system for her strong guiding hand was handicapped riders. removed from Western Europe. The Pioneer Institute, an independent, non-partisan, privately Cities disappeared and whole funded research organization that seeks to improve the quality countries slid into the Dark of life in Massachusetts, recently reported on some proposed Ages. For several hundred changes to The Ride. On December 14, 2015, the MBTA’s Fiscal years, the people lived a rural and Management Control Board (FMCB) met to discuss how to fi x life around the castles of the the agency’s out-of-control budget and debated making changes wealthy barons, and in little to The Ride. According to the Pioneer institute: “The FMCB has villages. Christianity was the proposed a real innovation for MBTA paratransit: using Uber, Lyft, chief source of education when and taxis for certain trips, specifi cally the 80 percent of trips that science, letters, art and culture don’t require wheelchair accessible vans.” The report notes that became the monopoly of the this would make the MBTA the fi rst public transit agency in the religious orders.

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