Adam Friedman » Local http://adamfriedman.org Let's Make Things Better, Together Mon, 30 Mar 2026 18:01:15 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.2 GovTech: 7 Ideas for Local Government http://adamfriedman.org/technology/govtech-7-ideas-for-local-government/ http://adamfriedman.org/technology/govtech-7-ideas-for-local-government/#comments Sat, 09 Aug 2014 16:18:19 +0000 Adam http://adamfriedman.org/?p=825 I found this list from Government Technology particularly inspiring. Click here for the original article. -Adam – The Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Mayors Challenge and the Knight News Challenge are two great contests that have provided hundreds of ideas of what Gov2020 might look like. Both struck a chord with innovators as the Mayors Challenge had more [...]

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]]> http://adamfriedman.org/technology/govtech-7-ideas-for-local-government/feed/ 0 Don’t use my tax dollars to immortalize your name http://adamfriedman.org/local/dont-use-my-tax-dollars-to-immortalize-your-name/ http://adamfriedman.org/local/dont-use-my-tax-dollars-to-immortalize-your-name/#comments Tue, 14 Jan 2014 04:22:39 +0000 Adam http://adamfriedman.org/?p=733 The Boston Globe finally spoke out on an issue that has always bothered me: signs emblazoned with “Thomas M. Menino” on practically every bridge, neighborhood boundary, tourist attraction, park, and body of water in Boston. I pay enough for public works. I’d rather not fund free political advertising for incumbent politicians. If Mayor-elect Marty Walsh spends [...]

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]]> http://adamfriedman.org/local/dont-use-my-tax-dollars-to-immortalize-your-name/feed/ 0 Ranked-choice voting would protect us from crowded-field chaos http://adamfriedman.org/policy/electoral-reform/ranked-choice-voting-would-protect-us-from-crowded-field-chaos/ http://adamfriedman.org/policy/electoral-reform/ranked-choice-voting-would-protect-us-from-crowded-field-chaos/#comments Mon, 23 Sep 2013 17:17:04 +0000 Adam http://www.adamfriedman.org/?p=691 [Note: This opinion piece was written during the 2013 Boston mayoral preliminary election.] In an age when powerful incumbents thwart new challengers, draping our civic life in drab monotony, the twelve-candidate potpourri vying to be Boston’s next mayor should be a breath of fresh air.  Instead, voters are gasping, choking with choices, cautiously checking the [...]

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]]> http://adamfriedman.org/policy/electoral-reform/ranked-choice-voting-would-protect-us-from-crowded-field-chaos/feed/ 0 Tewksbury slots: How the town government opposed the will of the people http://adamfriedman.org/government-corruption/tewksbury-slots-how-the-town-government-opposed-the-will-of-the-people/ http://adamfriedman.org/government-corruption/tewksbury-slots-how-the-town-government-opposed-the-will-of-the-people/#comments Sun, 25 Aug 2013 16:15:51 +0000 Adam http://www.adamfriedman.org/?p=676 Last Wednesday, in one of the highest-attended public meetings in decades, the people of Tewksbury, Massachusetts voted 1,568 to 995 against allowing a 24-hour slot parlor to open its doors in a 30-acre parcel zoned for commercial and research use.  The proposal required a two-thirds majority vote to pass.  At 60 percent opposed, it was [...]

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]]> http://adamfriedman.org/government-corruption/tewksbury-slots-how-the-town-government-opposed-the-will-of-the-people/feed/ 0 Wal-Mart: Act like Costco if you want to do business in Somerville http://adamfriedman.org/policy/wages/wal-mart-act-like-costco-if-you-want-to-do-business-in-somerville/ http://adamfriedman.org/policy/wages/wal-mart-act-like-costco-if-you-want-to-do-business-in-somerville/#comments Wed, 09 Nov 2011 18:22:08 +0000 Adam http://www.adamfriedman.org/?p=656 I just read local officials’ and candidates’ responses to questions about WalMart in the latest Somerville Scout and thought I would share an insight. Costco pays its workers an average wage of $17.00 per hour. Wal-Mart pays its workers an average wage of $11.75 per hour. Costco’s CEO takes a salary of $350,000 (thousand) per [...]

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