Editorial Roundup: New England
Connecticut Post. October 26, 2023.
Editorial: The economic cost of disconnected youth
The issue of “disconnected” young people, as highlighted in a report commissioned by Dalio Education this month, has many facets. One is the sheer scale – according to the findings, about 119,000 young adults in Connecticut are at risk of not graduating from high school or are disconnected from post-secondary education or employment.
That’s nearly one in five young people in the state either disconnected or at risk, and it’s a number that should concern everyone. The potential that is being squandered is a problem for every person in Connecticut.
There is a stark moral dimension to this largely unspoken crisis, which is that young people are not presumed to be responsible for their difficulties in life. They didn’t ask to have tough childhoods or parents who were unable in some way to provide for their needs.
Adults make their own choices, but even there, people are shaped to a huge degree by their upbringing. A focus on young people and their disconnection puts the onus on the rest of society to help people who have done nothing to deserve their fate.
If a moral cause was enough to spur action, there would be no such thing as underfunded schools or a shortage of child-care providers. That’s not the world we live in. For that reason, the Dalio report’s authors have also highlighted the economic dimensions of this longstanding crisis. The numbers there, as well, are stark.
The economic numbers take two forms. One is the amount of money it costs to support or in other ways deal with someone who is disconnected from school or the workforce. That could mean public support for people in need, but it also means the costs of police and the courts, which are much more likely to become involved with a person who is not regularly employed or in school.
These are costs borne by everyone. Taxes pay for our public functions, and that money comes from all of us. But even that doesn’t cover all the economic impacts of thousands of disconnected young people.
There is also the lost potential to consider. People who are not working or not in school are often not contributing meaningfully to economic growth. That’s not true in all cases, but for a broad swath of people who are merely drifting through life, any potential contributions they might have made to society in general are simply sacrificed. We don’t know what we could be missing.
It’s hard to quantify such a loss, but it’s real. No matter what form it takes, if we choose not to take action to reach people disconnected from society at large, we are accepting less for everyone. It’s a choice that we could make differently.
There are many ways forward, but the first step must be to take this issue seriously. Local and state officials need to construct plans to identify and reach out to people who are disconnected, and help people who are at risk. By offering assistance before young people go off track, we can save time and money in the long run.
This is not a new problem, but it’s also not one that is going to disappear on its own. It needs to be a top priority.
Portland Press-Herald. October 22, 2023.
Editorial: Yes on Question 4 to preserve Maine’s right to repair our vehicles
That most important relationship – between a Mainer and their mechanic – could be put in peril.
Residents across the state rely on Maine’s 700 or so independent auto repair shops to keep their cars on the road, year after year, without busting their wallets or opening themselves to risk.
However, rapid changes in the automotive world are putting that most important relationship – the one between a Mainer and their mechanic – in peril.
The next generation of cars and trucks will be almost completely computerized, able to record reams of information on the vehicle’s movement and performance, and send all of it, wirelessly, wherever it’s needed.
The auto dealers who sell these vehicles want to keep that information to themselves. Without that information, no other auto mechanic will be able to properly diagnose and fix a problem when it arises.
In time, those limitations would put a lot of independent auto repair shops out of business – and take from Mainers an affordable, reliable option for vehicle maintenance.
That’s why we endorse a yes vote on Question 4, the right-to-repair referendum.
THE RIGHT TO REPAIR
Question 4 asks, “Do you want to require vehicle manufacturers to standardize on-board diagnostic systems and provide remote access to those systems and mechanical data to owners and independent repair facilities?”
If approved, the law would require that Maine’s attorney general work with auto repair shops and car manufacturers to create a streamlined way for independent shops to access performance and maintenance data now available only to manufacturers, as well as standardized tools for fixing problems.
It’s not the first time that independent auto repair shops have fought for the right to access this information. The same thing happened a decade ago, as computerized components in cars and trucks started becoming the norm. Access to on-board data was necessary to fix newer cars, but manufacturers held tightly to the diagnostic codes needed to make sense of it.
In 2013, however, Massachusetts became the first – and so far only – state to pass an auto right-to-repair law, forcing manufacturers to make the performance and information produced by the vehicle accessible through a standardized port on the car.
Automakers the next year signed a memorandum of understanding saying it would honor the Massachusetts law across the country. Critics of this move see it as a means of discouraging other states from passing their own right-to-repair legislation.
In any case, it was soon clear that the 2013 policy would be outdated in no time. New cars coming out of factories now don’t have a standardized port; they send data wirelessly directly to the manufacturer, once again giving the car manufacturers exclusive control of the necessary data.
In response, Massachusetts passed, with 75% of the vote, an updated version of its right-to-repair law in 2020, this time including the right to access wireless data. Put on hold by a lawsuit from a manufacturers industry group, federal authorities said recently that the law can now be enforced.
PRIVACY ISSUES MANAGEABLE
Opponents of the right-to-repair law say that allowing wider access to the wireless information would put the privacy of drivers at risk.
No doubt, whatever system the right-to-repair law produces must put security first. But the information available to independent shops – which, critically, first becomes available to the car owners themselves – can be limited only to what’s necessary and protected throughout the process.
Opponents also argue that independent shops already have access to all the information they need. Mainers who work on cars and trucks throughout the state, however, say otherwise – and that while it may be relatively rare to encounter a problem they can’t fix today, it won’t be like this for much longer.
KEEP OUR OPTIONS OPEN
There’s a lot to say about getting your car serviced at a dealership, where mechanics tend to know the brands and the parts they use better than anyone else.
But when Mainers find a mechanic they trust to do good work at a fair price, or quickly, they want to keep going back to that shop, regardless of its affiliation.
Without the right to repair the new cars and trucks coming out of the factories, independent auto shops will fade away. When Mainers a decade or two from now are trying to keep their cars on the road as long as possible, they’ll have fewer places to bring them, and those places will have less incentive to keep things affordable.
Mainers have always enjoyed the ability to take their vehicle where they like for repairs – or to have a shot at repairing it themselves. They should vote yes on Question 4 to keep it that way.
Boston Globe. October 22, 2023.
Editorial: Statewide zoning could boost accessory dwelling unit construction
Healey’s proposal is expected to add 8,000 ADU units.
When Carol Brenner and her husband moved to Falmouth three years ago from Virginia seeking a more liberal political climate, they reached out to town officials to see if they could get permission to build another small unit behind their single-family Cape-style home about 10 minutes from the beach. They wanted to build a one-bedroom unit — about 750 square feet with a den and an open concept kitchen/living room — for Brenner’s sister, 74, who was living in Oregon and wanted to be near family as she aged.
Such small, add-on living spaces — known in real estate jargon as accessory dwelling units — have caught on as a potentially easy way to add more desperately needed homes in housing-starved places like Massachusetts. Encouraging more of them is a major feature of Governor Maura Healey’s new housing plan, which she unveiled Wednesday and which would override local zoning by requiring all municipalities in the state to allow homeowners to add such apartments.
Brenner’s experience is both a testament to why add-on units are so appealing to state officials — she eventually succeeded, and her sister just recently moved into a small standalone structure — and a warning of the pitfalls if the rules are not well crafted. As the Legislature considers Healey’s proposal, it needs to make sure that towns not only allow accessory dwelling units but aren’t able to impose so much red tape that few are actually built.
In Brenner’s case, town officials reassured her that accessory dwelling units were allowed in Falmouth. She just needed to get a special permit. But, Brenner said, the approval process for that permit still took nearly a year and required her to make her case at multiple public meetings. There was no opposition to the building among neighbors or town officials, and neighbors came to meetings to support her. But there were issues related to whether another septic system was needed, questions about a mobile coffee shop Brenner considered opening, and concerns about whether sheds could remain on the property.
“Everyone in the town of Falmouth was super helpful, but it’s such a red tape bureaucratic way of doing things,” Brenner said.
In towns across Massachusetts, a similar story emerges: Even in places where accessory dwelling units are legal on paper, they’re scarce on the ground because of the torturous approval process that few are willing to brave. In Greater Boston, where the state’s housing shortage is most acute, the promise of add-on units has been hampered by excessively complex rules.
Take Concord. The town has allowed accessory dwelling units since 1974. But for years, approval required a special permit. There were restrictions on lot and unit size, and the permit expired when the property was sold. In 46 years, just 52 permits were issued in a town of almost 20,000 people.
In 2020, seeking more development, Concord changed its zoning rules to allow accessory dwelling units of up to 750 square feet without the bureaucratic special permit process, as long as they met certain criteria. The town also made some rules about ADUs less restrictive. Since 2020, there have been 13 units permitted.
Concord Town Planner Elizabeth Hughes said the new bylaws allow a reasonable number of additional units to be built more easily. “There was definitely a fear that there was going to be this huge influx of additional dwelling units, but that really hasn’t been the case,” she said.
Healey’s proposal would authorize accessory dwelling units everywhere in the state and specify that they must be allowed by right — meaning, without the kind of approval process Brenner endured in Falmouth — if they measure less than 900 square feet. Healey administration officials estimate 8,000 new units could be created in five years. If her proposal becomes law, some of the most onerous types of local regulations would also be prohibited. Parking could not be required for a unit within half a mile of public transit and communities could not restrict occupancy to a homeowner’s relative.
But in Healey’s proposal, municipalities could still impose some regulations related to setbacks, height, parking, or short-term rentals — meaning, communities could ban rentals of ADUs through services like Airbnb.
The Legislature should carefully scrutinize the proposal, and the details will matter. Letting municipalities retain too much latitude would allow them to continue imposing requirements that are nearly impossible to meet. Lawmakers should ensure the state sets sufficient minimum requirements on what must be allowed “by right,” while leaving only limited discretion to municipalities.
In doing so, they can look to California as a national model: The state tried to legalize ADUs with a light touch but soon had to change course. In 2016, California passed a law requiring municipalities to allow accessory dwelling units. But many municipalities put strict restrictions on ADUs, like requiring occupants to be related to the homeowner or requiring multiple off-street parking spaces. Between 2019 and 2022, California passed additional laws stopping municipalities from imposing the most restrictive requirements. Before statewide legislation passed, California was issuing around 1,200 ADU permits annually. In 2019, there were around 12,000 ADUs permitted, and in 2022, there were over 24,000 permits approved, according to California’s Department of Housing and Community Development.
Oregon, Vermont, and Washington state all passed laws in the past few years making it easier to build ADUs. ( Cities that have relaxed zoning regulations on their own volition and used ADUs to substantially increase their housing stock include Portland, Ore.; Seattle; and Vancouver, British Columbia.)
In Massachusetts, the Legislature should seek to pass legislation strong enough to end what is now a patchwork of local rules. A 2018 report by researcher Amy Dain, published by the Pioneer Institute, found that of 100 municipalities in Greater Boston, 37 allowed ADUs that could be rented and another 31 allowed ADUs only for relatives of the homeowner. (The rest had no ADU zoning at all.)
Communities have devised many tricks to make ADUs nearly impossible to build. In Burlington, according to Dain’s report, ADUs are allowed in houses that had at least 1,800 square feet of floor area in 1989. But few houses in the town were built that big before the 1990s. Belmont only allows ADUs in detached historic structures like antique carriage houses, which few homes have. Several communities, including Burlington, require two off-street parking spaces per ADU. The report found that, on average, only 2.5 ADUs are built each year in the municipalities where they are nominally allowed.
Restrictions that typically create the most barriers for new ADU housing are those that require a special permit, require parking, or require the owner to live in the primary house. Other common restrictions relate to minimum lot size, maximum unit size, architectural design, and restricting inhabitants to a homeowner’s relatives.
Changing just some of these restrictions can have a big impact. In Newton, for example, from 2008 to 2017, ADUs were allowed only by special permit with significant restrictions, and only 25 were permitted. In 2017, the city began allowing internal ADUs by right, eliminated a parking requirement, and eased rules regarding lot size. Over the next five years, 72 units were permitted.
The way that Newton and Concord relaxed their rules shows that some localities are genuinely trying to make ADUs work. Boston experimented with two small pilot programs, working with homeowners to understand the barriers to building ADUs. On Wednesday, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu proposed allowing internal ADUs — those inside an existing home — by right citywide and said the city is exploring a similar shift for detached units.
But there’s no substitute for a strong statewide policy. Rules for ADUs that are generally the same everywhere in Massachusetts should also attract more builders and lenders to create what is now still largely a bespoke product.
Today, traditional funding mechanisms are often not designed for smaller, less expensive accessory units. Units generally have to be custom designed.
If statewide standards increase the market for ADUs, that would also make it easier for banks to offer standardized products for financing small homes and for building companies to design standard, prefab small homes.
Chris Lee’s Brunswick, Maine-based construction company Backyard ADUs builds one-bedroom units of around 550 square feet costing about $200,000. Lee, who operates throughout Massachusetts, said his company has more demand than it can fulfill, but building is challenging because local planning boards “tend to create long arduous processes in order to get things approved.” Different municipal rules require builders to be familiar with each town’s process. “Knowing how to do it in Concord doesn’t help you do it in Newton,” Lee said. A statewide policy would be an important step toward changing that.
The bill’s passage is far from certain. Healey’s proposal is only the beginning of the legislative process, and municipalities tend to strongly resist curbs on local control of zoning laws. But municipalities have had nearly a century to show they can use their zoning powers for the common good. Healey, like her predecessor, has clearly come to the conclusion that it’s time to try something different.
Barre-Montpelier Times Argus. October 19, 2023.
Editorial: Roadway worries
We regularly receive press releases from the Vermont State Police and other local law enforcement agencies about incidents of excessive speed. Usually, they are reported on our interstates, but there are a startling number on state roads and in construction sites.
In the last week, we were made aware of three incidents where drivers exceeded 100 mph on a Vermont road. The newsroom scanner also would indicate there is chronic speeding that doesn’t always get caught, but drivers on the roads still raise the alarm by calling in the negligent operation.
Two of the most recent incidents involved individuals under age 25. In the last 12 months, there have been several citations issued that also included distracted driving, including texting.
Vermont reported 74 fatal crashes in 2022, the highest amount since 2006. In those 74 crashes, 77 people died. The average number of highway fatalities in Vermont is 60. (It is not clear how many of the 2022 fatal crashes involved speeding or distracted driving.)
As of Oct. 9, the most recent date for which data is available, there have been 54 people killed in 48 crashes in Vermont so far this year.
Nationwide, crash and fatality rates among drivers under 21 have fallen dramatically in the U.S. during the past 20 years, a new report says.
Using data from 2002-21, a nonprofit group of state highway safety offices says in the report made public this week that fatal crashes involving a young driver fell by 38%, while deaths of young drivers dropped even more, by about 45%. For drivers 21 and older, fatal crashes rose 8% and deaths rose 11%, the report found.
The report from the Governors Highway Safety Association acknowledges that young people are driving less than they were 20 years ago, but highlights several other reasons for the improvement, while offering recommendations for building on them.
State programs that phase in driving privileges were at the top of the list. These programs, called graduated driver’s license laws, often restrict or ban certain activities, such as driving at night or with peers, for teens. The GHSA suggests strengthening those programs and even expanding them to cover drivers 18 to 20 years old.
Other recommendations include bolstering adult and parent participation in their child’s driving education, more peer-to-peer education programs and making driver training accessible to all, the report states.
“Young drivers are the riskiest age group on the road, and the reasons are straightforward — immaturity and inexperience,” said Pam Shadel Fischer, author of the GHSA report, told The Associated Press. “Many young drivers simply don’t have the behind-the-wheel experience to recognize risk and take the appropriate corrective action to prevent a crash.”
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Commission, overall traffic fatalities dropped 3.3% in the first half of the year compared with the prior-year period and have now fallen in five straight quarters after a pandemic surge.
In 2022, there were 42,795 people killed on U.S. roadways, which government officials described at the time as a national crisis.
There are always considerations for what causes highway crashes: impairment, speed, experience of the driver, weather, roadway hazards, and the like.
In 2021, there were 3,522 people killed and an estimated additional 362,415 people injured in motor vehicle traffic crashes involving distracted drivers. This is an increase of 380 fatalities compared to 2020, according to the safety commission.
Distracted-driving crashes accounted for 8% of all fatal crashes, 14% of injury crashes and 13% of all police-reported motor vehicle traffic crashes in 2021.
Five percent of all drivers involved in fatal traffic crashes in 2021 were reported as distracted at the time of the crashes. Seven percent of drivers 15 to 20 years old involved in fatal crashes were reported as distracted. This age group has the largest proportion of drivers who were distracted at the time of the fatal crashes.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that more than 3,000 will die because of distracted driving in 2023. Statistics suggest there are 400 deaths from texting and driving every year in the United States.
Fortunately, in 48 states, including Vermont, texting while driving is an illegal, ticketable offense. No state currently bans cellphone use for all drivers, but 36 states and D.C. ban all cellphone use by novice drivers, and 23 states prohibit it for school bus drivers.
But it clearly is not enough. One would hope that common sense would prevail, and that drivers of all ages would not get behind the wheel and do anything other than drive to their destination. As we can see, we seem to think we can multitask or act recklessly with consequences.
That’s a gamble we should not be taking on Vermont roads. Ever.
Rutland Herald. October 24, 2023.
Editorial: Plugging in to progress
We are excited that the Biden administration felt Vermont was deserving of being one of 32 potential tech hubs across the nation.
In Vermont, according to the administration, the hub in question will include the University of Vermont’s Advancing Gallium Nitride (GaN) Tech Hub, which works on developing semiconductors.
This week, the administration designated the hubs to help spur innovation and create jobs in the industries that are concentrated in these areas.
For years, Vermont has been jockeying to bring more manufacturing, technology and “green” jobs to the state. More employees would give a badly needed boost to the state’s economy. This designation is welcome news.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told reporters on Monday that in her entire career in public service, she has never seen as much interest in any initiative. Her department received 400 applications, she said.
“No matter where I go or who I meet with — CEOs, governors, senators, congresspeople, university presidents — everyone wants to tell me about their application and how excited they are,” said Raimondo.
We knew here in Vermont. Tech hubs are big money, and our state has had some success growing tech during the past two decades.
The $500 million for tech hubs nationwide came from a $10 billion authorization in last year’s CHIPS and Science Act to stimulate investments in new technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing and biotech.
The program, formally the Regional Technology and Innovation Hub Program, ties into the president’s economic argument that people should be able to find good jobs where they live, and that opportunity should be spread across the country, rather than be concentrated. The White House has sought to elevate that message and highlight Biden’s related policies — Bidenomics — as the Democratic president undertakes his 2024 reelection bid.
State officials were thrilled by the announcement.
“The CHIPS and Science Act is being implemented right here in Vermont, and I’m confident that partnerships between our world-renowned researchers at the University of Vermont and innovation leaders in the field will make our state’s Tech Hub — one of the first in the nation — stand out,” said U.S. Sen. Peter Welch in a statement released Monday afternoon. “The Tech Hubs program is a commitment to U.S. innovation, our national security, and our global competitiveness. Importantly for rural communities, these hubs create jobs and bolster our education and workforce training opportunities. … I’m encouraged to see the Department of Commerce investing where it’s needed most.”
Ultimately, this is the first phase of the new Tech Hubs program, which is an economic development initiative designed to drive regional innovation and job creation by strengthening a region’s capacity to manufacture, commercialize, and deploy technology that will advance American competitiveness. The program invests directly in burgeoning, high-potential U.S. regions and aims to transform them into globally competitive innovation centers.
“The consortium’s Tech Hub designation galvanizes UVM’s standing as a national leader in research and workforce development related to this vital technological space,” said UVM President Suresh Garimella. “We are deeply grateful to our partners in the consortium-GlobalFoundries, the state of Vermont and the Vermont State College System-for their collaboration and support helping establish Greater Burlington as a national center for semiconductor innovation.”
According to published reports, the designation is an endorsement of the region’s plans “to supercharge their respective technological industries to create jobs, strengthen U.S. competitiveness, and protect national security.” The Tech Hubs announced focus on industries ranging from autonomous systems, quantum computing, biotechnology, precision medicine, clean energy advancement, semiconductor manufacturing, and more.
For sure, Vermont needs the potential jobs, as well as the push into more innovation and cutting-edge research.
The tools and resources that come out of the UVM work will drive economic growth locally, as well as across the nation, hopefully for generations to come.
We hope as opportunities develop that state and local officials, as well as lawmakers and members of the Scott administration, will keep pace. We cannot allow the momentum to slip due to politics and laying claim to the coming kudos and praise. This is a solid step toward growth, as long as everyone keeps their eyes on the prize. Vermont has needed good news such as this. We hope the Biden administration’s designation is the first of many good news stories that suggest the state is making the right steps forward — not backward.
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