Tag: part

Real Estate Law

A 1-foot-wide piece of land? A tiny banana-shaped parcel? They were almost part of Orinda’s housing plan.

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A 1-foot-wide sliver of land sandwiched between a road and a backyard pool. A “vacant” site next to a water sanitation building. A handful of minuscule parcels—one of them shaped like a banana, another a triangle—tucked behind single-family homes.

These were some of the most absurd examples of the properties Orinda tried to pass off as future housing sites, in its attempt to meet the California Department of Housing and Community Development’s lofty goal to build 1,359 units of housing by 2031.

They were among roughly 40 different sites that were included in the final draft of the city’s Housing Element inventory, but were removed at the last minute, after a campaign of ridicule from Twitter watchdogs and housing advocates on social media forced Orinda officials to drop them.

Kevin Burke, a local software developer who serves on the board of East Bay for Everyone, said he started flagging a

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Real Estate Law

Massachusetts enacted its most ambitious housing law in decades. Now the hard part is enforcing it.

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Even more perplexing than the cuts, Gollinger says, is the reason for them: Waltham’s failure to comply with early procedural requirements of the state’s new MBTA Communities law, an ambitious effort to tackle Massachusetts’ housing crisis by mandating new multifamily zoning in communities served by the MBTA.

Zoning issues are typically a matter for planning departments and city councils, not housing authorities. If anything, Gollinger’s agency — which administers public housing and voucher programs for low-income renters — exists to deal with the fallout of Massachusetts’ sky-high housing costs, which have been fueled by restrictive local zoning rules.

“The question that we all have is, why are we involved in this?” he said.

Yet Waltham is one of six housing authorities that in late September received the same letter from the state Department of Housing and Community Development, a copy of which was obtained by the Globe. And that has

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Careers Employment

December Jobs: Employment Rises by 717,000 All of Them Part Time – Mish Talk

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Payroll and employment data from the BLS, chart by Mish

Payroll and employment data from the BLS, chart by Mish

Today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its Monthly Payroll Report.

Initial Thoughts

  • The divergence between jobs and employment continues for the ninth month but lessened in December.
  • However, the full time employment divergence did not budge.
  • The divergences between jobs and employment date back to March.

Payrolls vs Employment Since March 2022

  • Nonfarm Payrolls: +2,887,000
  • Employment Level: +916,000
  • Full Time Employment: -288,000

Full time employment is down 288,000 since March and down by 444,000 since May!

Mainstream media misses general miss the big picture captured in my lead chart. This is not strong employment growth. 

The internal details have been weak for 9 month and I have been talking about the discrepancy for six of them. The charge of employment “noise” is a siren song. 

Job Report Details

  • Nonfarm Payroll: +223,000 to 153,743  – Establishment Survey
  • Civilian Non-institutional Population:
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Real Estate Law

Mass. enacted an ambitious housing law. The hard part is enforcing it.

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The Boston Globe

The commuter rail station in Waltham. The city’s Housing Authority could have its budget cut by more than $300,000 because officials there have failed to comply with the early procedural requirements of the MBTA Communities law. Lane Turner/Globe Staff

By Andrew Brinker, The Boston Globe

John Gollinger is scrambling.

Two months ago, Gollinger, the executive director of the Waltham Housing Authority, learned that the state is cutting its contribution to his budget next year by more than $300,000.

That will almost certainly mean a reduction in services for people who live in public housing in Waltham, many of whom are disabled, elderly, or extremely low income. Maintenance requests could go unheeded. Much-needed renovations could fall to the wayside.

Even more perplexing than the cuts, Gollinger says, is the reason for them: Waltham’s failure to comply with early procedural requirements of the state’s new MBTA

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