A People's Guide to Greater Boston

08/28/2026

As many celebrate the life of Dolly Parton, let us remember 9 to 5, the organization whose first offices were at the YWCA on Clarendon Street in the Back Bay and that inspired her hit song.

140 Clarendon Street, Back Bay YWCA building, 140 Clarendon Street, March 4, 1929. Photo credit: Edward A. Scanlan, Boston Globe Library Collection via Northeastern University Library Archives and Special Collections. A few months after the March 4, 1929, opening of the Young Women’s Christian Ass...

08/25/2026

As this Streetsblog MASS article shows, the City of Cambridge (Official) is doing good things to make its streets safe and welcoming to bicyclists. LivableStreets Alliance Boston Cyclists Union WalkMassachusetts MassBike

The City of Cambridge is building new protected bike lanes this summer on River Street from Central Square to the Charles River and on Broadway between Harvard and Kendall Squares.

08/25/2026

Harvard University needs to do much better on publicizing and being accountable for its ties to .

The research is part of Harvard’s long-running and controversial effort to investigate its ties to slavery.

08/12/2026

The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston findings are hardly surprising, but bothersome nonetheless: a huge wealth gap persists in Massachusetts. As they long have, race and class matter profoundly in the Bay State. Boston Democratic Socialists of America Occupy Boston

Though many Massachusetts families find themselves on strong financial footing, nearly 16% have zero or negative net wealth. And one in three people say they can't afford a $400 unexpected expense.

08/11/2026

Why would the Mayor Michelle Wu 吳弭 administration and the City of Boston cancel plans to enhance the safety of a key thoroughfare in East Boston? Boston Cyclists Union LivableStreets Alliance Conservation Law Foundation WalkMassachusetts

The developers of a new apartment building near Day Square had been planning to build traffic-calming safety improvements on a segment of Bennington Street in East Boston. A new plan to cancel those improvements in favor of more parking faces a final vote from Boston's Public Improvements Commission...

08/06/2026

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is trying to lease 249 parking spots in the city of Boston. Local officials are speaking out in opposition. Let us grow that opposition!

The federal government is interested in acquiring 249 parking spots in Boston. Local officials are already lining up against the move.

07/31/2026

Adjunct faculty at Simmons University are fighting for a fair contract--as recounted by this Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism article. Look out for ways to support these unionized workers. SEIU 509

University administration dragging its feet on signing a first contract

07/18/2026

As we discuss in "A People's Guide to Greater Boston," it was while living on Newhall Street in Lynn that wrote his famed autobiography, "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave." This article highlights the global nature of his life and abolitionist work.

Annual lectures will discuss work of writer and campaigner who ‘revitalised the anti-slavery cause’ in Britain

07/16/2026

“We cannot replace all that Louisa would have contributed to our communities in the years ahead, but we can take collective responsibility for carrying her work forward and honoring her legacy,” said Maha Aslam of LivableStreets Alliance.