What I’m Thinking

Back in September, we alerted you to the Massachusetts National Guard’s plan to engage the National Academies of Science (NAS) to review the proposed multipurpose machine gun range (MPMGR) in an article called, “Beware the Secret Meetings.” The proceedings of that...

The Massachusetts National Guard recently signed a settlement agreement with APCC that obligates the Guard to pay over $26,000 in APCC’s legal fees to settle a public records lawsuit brought by APCC. The Guard is not eager to publicize it, but this settlement...

Last week, we told you about changes to the state system for financing wastewater management projects. This week, APCC proposed a solution directly to Governor Healey. APCC requested that the governor’s proposed Environmental Bond include $500 million to further...

For almost two decades, the Cape and the state have been building a set of financing tools that have broken the barriers to progress on wastewater management needed to improve water quality. The lynchpin of this wildly successful financing strategy is the State...

The headline around the Healey administration's release of its housing plan is that Massachusetts needs to create almost a quarter million homes to address a chronic housing shortage. That’s a lot of housing. On its face, this is a call to build our way out of a...

Despite widespread news reports that would lead a reasonable person to conclude that frozen federal funds were flowing again, that is not the case. As of this writing, APCC remains unable to access the federal payment system to submit invoices for work legally...

Imagine for a minute you award a contract to a general contractor promising to pay the GC to build your house. The GC submits a bill for work authorized by you and preformed to specification, but the bill is unpaid. The GC never hears from you, but reads on the...

I don’t know what the future holds; no one does. How else can you explain people pinning their hopes on the Minnesota Vikings (playoff losers to the Rams)? That said, we all take and consider the information we have and run it through our own biased view of the world...

While it finally feels like winter, my mind has gone to spring, but not just because spring brings with it longer days. On Cape Cod, spring is also the heart of the town political season. The seeds for what we want to see from our towns need to be planted now in order...

With the holiday season in full swing and APCC about to take a well-earned break, (yes, this is your last APCC weekly email of 2024) now seems a good time to reflect on a busy and remarkable year at APCC. There are a lot of ways to look at our body of work and judge...