The big picture here is this: CONTINUE TO VOTE FOR CITY COUNCILORS WHO VOTE FOR THESE IMPROVEMENTS!

https://www.cambridgeday.com/2022/11/09/in-divided-u-s-massachusetts-turns-deeper-blue-turnout-in-cambridge-somerville-is-under-50/

This is fantastic. Love to see Cambridge lead the way. Hopefully other jurisdictions in the Greater Boston Area pick it up where Cambridge ends. The Cambridge Watertown Bike Path is amazing also.

Where are we on scooters? Car lane, bike lane, sidewalk, or a fourth?

I have a couple shovels, you can borrow one if you want, PM if interested, I am in North Cambridge, just off Mass.

This is so exciting!!! We are moving back in January and very excited to bike!

Was there today, already saw old person confused and driving in the bike lane, then turn left across the actual lane to go down side street

Call the cab company first before filing the complaint. If the cab company will make amends satisfactorily - great. If not, then your complaint will have more weight since it's clear that they aren't doing right.

Btw, this is just phase one of the Brattle Street improvements. The newly painted lane ends at Sparks Street. Phase two will extend it to Mt. Auburn.

More info here: https://www.cambridgema.gov/StreetsAndTransportation/ProjectsAndPrograms/BrattleStreetSafetyImprovementProject

It does look good — but the nimbys successfully got into court. The judge made some really weird comments on the issue

Buy nothing groups, one can ask to borrow things also. Most towns have them now on Fb.

Don’t all cycle down it at once

Putting the inbound lane on the right side would be best. The last major intersection is way safer if you only have to contend with the side street and the one way out of Harvard. Let’s advocate for a better design.

The new design means that inbound riders contend with all the lanes of car traffic instead of just two. Those two lanes have the least traffic.

Is this the owner of Premiere on Broadway!?

>I’m not biased I just know super wealthy people, people working in startups, people living in and selling extremely expensive homes. We are upper middle class and I promise you this tax does only good for us, no harm at all.

https://www.nepm.org/regional-news/2017-04-08/voluntarily-pay-more-taxes-few-in-mass-opt-for-higher-rate

It feels strawman, you're the second person to reply saying "I think this tax is great and I look forward to paying it". Massachusetts already has an optional higher tax rate (and surprise, no one pays it). To your point though, no one making a million dollars, even in a windfall event, is really going to think the extra 6000 in taxes is life changing, especially since at that point they likely will have paid hundreds of thousands in federal and other state taxes. It does feel like a gross money grab, and that's why I'm much more a fan of increasing the cooperate taxes instead. Why does the mob think it's okay to scream "eat the rich" because some one got a windfall? There are plenty of places that money can come from.

I know someone who had a windfall like that. They had to pay over a million dollars in taxes that year. It feels dishonest to say "They didn't pay enough. We need even more of that money". I think putting in a carve out for the windfalls would have also helped target the truly wealthy while letting the middle class continue to build wealth

Ok so reading this I’m curious about something… do you think this taxes assets?

I’m not biased I just know super wealthy people, people working in startups, people living in and selling extremely expensive homes. We are upper middle class and I promise you this tax does only good for us, no harm at all.

Over the summer our friends sold their house for $1.3 million more than they purchased it. Their capital gains were nowhere near a million dollars because of their capital improvements.

I know you think I’m biased but you seem emotional. You feel like some day this tax could cost $.04 for every dollar over a million that you make in a year, but you’re not being logical at all. The likelihood that you ever make $1,000,001 in a single year is very low.

Theoretically, let’s say you have an income of $150k and you sell your house for $1,000,000 more than you spent on it with no qualifying capital improvements. That means you’ll pay an extra $6k in taxes. Given that you just sold your house and made seven figures, I think you can afford the $6k and also likely won’t feel it much.

But, let’s also look at absolute numbers for home prices since the recession. If you spent $500k in 2008 on a house, and it has appreciated 60%, that means the house is now worth $800k, for a gain of $300k. That means in order to feel this tax for even $.04, you would need an annual income of $700,001.

In the event of a windfall that sets your annual income — even for a year — at a million dollars, I’d argue that you’re no longer middle class.

I just think you are proving the whole temporarily embarrassed millionaire thing and it’s not a great look.

Arlington library has tools.

I mean, you're clearly biased so nothing I say will change you mind, but for an example

https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/bostons-housing-market-three-charts#:~:text=City%20center%20prices%20are%20outpacing,between%2045%20and%2059%20percent.

House prices since the last recession have gone up over 60%. It wouldn't even take someone living a lifetime to have appreciation of over a million dollars if you bought after the dot com bubble.

​

Similarly, as its been repeatedly pointed out, middle class people can have all types of windfall events. https://www.bizjournals.com/boston/news/2022/07/13/ipo-market-boston-downturn.html#:~:text=The%20Bay%20State%20closed%202021,2018%20and%2021%20in%202017.

Over 20 Boston area companys per year IPO. Anyone working those could be making even just 5 figures, and still see a sudden pile of cash from an IPO event. As the study points out, most people who breach 1 million a year in income are doing it just once. It's not CEOs making 800k a year suddenly getting a nice bonus (I mean, it is going to be that too), but it's mostly people having some once in a lifetime scenario that helps move them out of the rat race.

I want a shovel to remove a poorly placed raised bed. I have no need or location for it once I’m done. Are there any places that lend out shovels?

Humorously, when I asked at Home Depot an employee suggested that I buy one, use it, then return it when I was done. I don’t think that is an official corporate recommendation.

The upper middle class are not in the .6% of the Massachusetts population making a million dollars a year, even if they are selling big fancy houses. Selling a million dollar house does not mean a million dollars of income, for tax purposes.

There’s a Facebook group in Roslindale where people share tools and kitchen stuff. Other neighborhoods or towns might have similar things.

Can you wear your own hydration vest for the Cambridge half?

Good thing #1 doesn't apply to house sales :-D

when I sell it after my daughter graduates college (in 15 years) I'm sure it will be

Thanks. The latest Street View shows a mess of construction, but before that there were 2 hour meters and street cleaning signs. So I doubt it's going to remain unrestricted.