Does anyone know why are roads in such bad condition in Everett? I recently moved to the city, and it is really surprising to see the condition of roads. They're definitely hurting car suspensions.
Property taxes haven't kept up with inflation in MA because of a 1980 anti-tax law called Prop 2.5. It limits the overall property tax growth in a town/City to 2.5% per year plus any new growth (new developments or improvements made to existing lots). Inflation in recent years exceeded that and on average it's closer to 3% so towns which didn't have much new developments are behind on new revenue. You can bypass this via a Prop 2.5 Override but those are unpopular and require a majority vote by the town residents to pass.
I have this vague notion that Cambridge gets around that by keeping property taxes relatively low, but office building taxes are huge. But I could be wrong.
Cambridge has had like $2B in new growth in just the last year IIRC. I'd have to dig up the docs I was looking at a few weeks back, but it was pretty insane. Note that is not $2B in new revenue - just new property value that they can tax. It was like $10M or more in new revenue.
Also there is a limit under Prop 2.5 on how much you can shift the property tax burden between residential vs commercial. Cambridge likely maxed that out and benefits hugely from the biotech boom. Adding billions in new property value each year and millions in new revenue is enough to fund their spending without ever needing to consider a Prop 2.5 Override. Other Cities, like Medford that I live in, are not as fortunate. Here we don't have anywhere near that new growth and still have massive infrastructure costs to deal with. A Prop 2.5 Override (likely several) is basically necessary at this point unless we keep cutting spending which can only go so far before we hit a brick wall in legal limits on stuff like school spending and what not.
So you're sorta on the right track. Commercial tax revenue is keeping Cambridge afloat without needing to tax residential properties much.
Because Massachusetts hates infrastructure
The roads are in bad condition all around because maintaining roads is really, really expensive. While roads aren't thought of, they're kind of a luxury that has to lead to the increased business from them paying for itself. You need roads to bring you to businesses that would pay taxes to then help fund the roads. Only we don't tax nearly enough to pay for the roads, and it reached a point where you'd have a massive bill to actually fix everything. Honestly, if you're from here, you're just used to it. Tar black asphalt always feels like a luxury when they put it down.
Yeah for an example from nearby Medford, we have a $68M road repair backlog IIRC. It's grown over the last few years because we haven't fixed the really bad roads which require full resurfacing or major repairs to prevent future degrading.
I imagine Everett is similar. Huge repair backlog. Not enough money in the budget to put a dent in it, so it keeps getting worse. Much of MA is like this. Combined with colder months that limit construction seasons, so it takes years to get a lot of projects done.
Road building and maintenance also costs a lot more in MA than in other states.
Because Everett sucks.
Source: born and raised in Everett and happily been free for a long time.
Worst than Newton?Â
Lol, my wife and I started calling it Newton Oblast since the roads look (and feel) like they've been shelled by mortar fire.
Much worst
Because they don't repave after any major work. They patch the cuts and do a shit job.
Major cities in Africa have better roads then Boston
It's not just Everett. Even the "nicer" towns such as Wakefield have horrendous roads.
The more pressing question is why they take almost a month to re-pave the streets. Ferry was a shit hole for so long I didn't even want to leave my house, since I inevitably have to drive through it to get to places.
Yeah, it's pretty bad. Had to go through the city for a trip, and the whole place is under construction.
I'm talking about sidewalks, roads, apartments - what a mess.
Can’t Weston share some of its tax revenues?
They just redid half of broadway, which is nice. The other half is still crap though.
All the answers here are true but it’s because too many damn cars drive through Broadway and Ferry every day.
I think the only time it’s genuinely quiet is from 11pm - 4am.
Even when you repave, the sheer amount of cars, buses and trucks that drive through leaves a ton of wear.
- No rail service, so everyone drives.
- Large volume of heavy vehicles. Between all the tradespeople in vans/trucks and all the box trucks and semis coming down 99, heavy vehicles destroy roads exponentially faster.
- Boston seems to be refusing to maintain the stretch of 99 between Encore and Sullivan, even though the Everett/Boston border is right around the entrance to the casino. Those massive potholes are on Boston, not Everett.
Aside from that, I live in Everett and I don't actually agree with OP overall. Besieds the major trucking routes and the roads under construction, I don't think the roads in Everett are any worse than any of the neighboring towns, arguably better than Medford or Chelsea.
OMG I had guests from Germany and we were over in that section of MA. One of them turned to me with his jaw on the floor and said "what happened?" I didn't even know what he was talking about. Well, he said it looked like eastern Germany or a previously bombed out communist country. I was so embarrassed since I had become accustomed to it. 🤯
Because there is no accountability for construction and utilities companies in this state. They constantly rip up roads and do the bare minimum patching them back up.
It's not just Everett.
A joke my friend from Algeria once told me: you know how we swerve all over the road when we're drunk? In Algeria, it's the opposite. Drunk people drive in straight lines, sober people swerve all over the road. You know why? Because of the road conditions.
All the money is spent near encore.
Low property values, low tax receipts, low infrastructure spending.
So basically, what makes the city relatively affordable is what makes hurts the infrastructure development? No wonder this state is stuck in a rabbit hole, lol
As I pointed out elsewhere in this thread, Cambridge is an expensive city, but our residential property taxes are relatively low while tax receipts are high. All the biotech and latest internet fad tech in the world wants to be near MIT, so our revenue comes from them.
A "bedroom community" has nothing to tax but the bedrooms.
It's called Traffic Calmingâ„¢
Roads cost a lot. The property taxes collected in the area (which pays the vast majority of the bills for towns) don’t cover the bill when it’s due. Maintenance is deferred. Infrastructure breaks down. The roads suck.