Quick Updates, No Meeting 1/6, & Prog MA's Annual Meeting 1/31

I hope everyone had a great holidays and New Years and weekend.

Unfortunately our plans to host a Community Defense Training for this month’s meeting needed to be postponed due to a venue conflict, but we are still working behind-the-scenes on that, so stay tuned!

We will definitely have a general meeting next month (Tuesday, February 3rd!), and will likely host the Community Defense Training as a separate event this winter/early spring.

Our new Steering Committee will be meeting in the interim to cook up some new ideas, projects, and committees to multiply our impact.

In the meantime, we wanted to be sure to share some local news and updates, as well as ask people to mark their calendars for Progressive Massachusetts’ Annual Meeting on 1/31.

My very first official Progressive Massachusetts event was actually last year’s Annual Meeting and I found it to be an incredibly energizing day. Last year, I met some great folks, learned a ton about what is going on (or not) in the State House, and even changed my position on at least one issue after an informative session with other progressive activists!

Needless to say, I highly recommend it!

In the meantime, if Venezuela is on your mind, Call Senator Warren, Senator Markey, and Rep. Rep. Pressley to show you care about the illegal attempt to take over Venezuela, and urge them to take whatever actions they can to stop it and pass the Russian sanctions bill. Contact info here.

And don’t forget Progressive Mass holds Power Lunch phonebanks on Thursdays from noon - 1:00 to call PM members about priority bills. Sign up for Jan 8, Jan 15, Jan 22, or Jan 29. A lot of important bills are still in play - data privacy, stopping book bans, protecting immigrants, climate policy, fair taxation, and more.

Finally, I am reproducing a short section below from our friends at Progressive West Roxbury & Roslindale about the ongoing mess regarding property taxes, and our Senator Brownsberger’s opposition to Mayor Wu’s plan to provide relief to homeowners and renters.

Boston real estate taxes - call Collins & Brownsberger

Anybody who got a real estate tax invoice this month saw that the pandemic's impacts are still unfolding. Read Councilor Ben Weber's thorough summary. Listen to Mayor Wu's short explanation here. By not passing Mayor Wu's home rule petition (bill) yet again, residential property tax is up again this year, destabilizing neighborhoods, while the corporate share will be the lowest it's been in 43 years. 

Two MA senators have stalled Mayor Wu's bill: Nick Collins (contact info) and Will Brownsberger (contact info). They're playing politics instead of serving residents. Maybe calls will prompt action.

Super brief background points: Usually residential and commercial values both go up or both go down, but not during the pandemic. Residential values went up while commercial values went down - for all the awful reasons that we all lived through. A state formula controls tax rates, a formula that was not designed for pandemics. Only the legislature can alter the formula. Mayor Wu proposed a bill last year to stabilize communities as much as possible, similar to a law that Mayor Menino proposed some 20 years ago. The legislature allowed the adjustment then, and the City Council and House of Representatives voted twice for it last year.

That’s all for now, folks! Look forward to seeing you in February.

Best,

Caitlin