To register:  https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAsdOqsqTsoHNOYhs1ylc-5sXCmiVP0XJF3

Questions? Email us at communications@apa-ma.org  One CM Credit Available

On Wednesday, June 16th, 2021, the Governor Charlie Baker signed An Act Relative to Extending Certain COVID-19 Measures Adopted During the State of Emergency. Several key provisions of the bill are listed are below; for more detail, visit the recent blog post on NAIOPma.org.

• State and local public entities can conduct remote public meetings until April 20, 2022, extending remote public meeting legislation that expired after midnight on June 15th. 

• Notarization procedures can remain remote through December 15, 2021. These provisions were set to expire three days after the end of the State of Emergency.
  
  
• Current residential evictions procedures were extended:

• Landlord notification requirements relating to the issuance of a Notice to Quit, as well as a report detailing all activities of the Governor's Eviction Diversion Initiatives will be submitted through January 1, 2023.

• Special permits related to outdoor dinging were extended through April 21, 2022.

• To-go wine, beer and cocktail sales were extended through May 1, 2022. Additionally, all takeout and delivery drinks must be sold at the same price as those consumed on-site.

Post-State of Emergency State Permitting Guidance Issued

Following the declaration of the State of Emergency in March 2020, Governor Baker issued COVID-19 Order No. 42, Order Resuming State Permitting Deadlines and Continuing to Extend the Validity of Certain State Permits. The Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs and the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development have now issued guidance to clarify how Order 42 will apply to state permits after the end of the State of Emergency.

The unanimous vote kickstarts a 2-year-long process which would see about 9,000 more housing units at various income levels built over the next several years.

https://www.berkeleyside.com/2021/03/25/berkeley-single-family-zoning-city-council-general-plan-change

The city of Boston will undertake an experiment about how to center public transit as an economic recovery tool.

https://www.planetizen.com/node/112813?utm_source=newswire&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=news-04052021&mc_cid=dfe9c9f251&mc_eid=b9p0fICGm0

Local leaders in Virginia are banking on mall redevelopment projects to revive their tax bases and create more mixed-use neighborhoods.

https://www.planetizen.com/node/112814?utm_source=newswire&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=news-04052021&mc_cid=dfe9c9f251&mc_eid=b9p0fICGm0

"Cities around the world are reconfiguring their urban grids to support local communities and economies. Boston should do it too.

OVER THE PAST YEAR COVID-19 HAS FORCED DRAMATIC CHANGES in our communities, especially when it comes to outdoor public places. Gyms moved fitness classes into parks. Retailers found new opportunities for "sidewalk sales." Restaurants claimed parking spaces and roadways for outdoor dining service. And in the process, we've sensed how much better our cities and local economies can be after the pandemic.

We hear less traffic on city streets and are exposed to lower levels of harmful pollutants. And we’ve gained an entirely new way of thinking about space in our cities and towns."

https://apps.bostonglobe.com/opinion/graphics/2021/03/superblocks/

"One of the things Lynne Peskoe-Yang, a science writer who lives in Tarrytown, New York, misses about life before social distancing is working from one of the two coffee shops in her town. In fact, now that she's stuck at home, she sometimes plays an eight-hour YouTube video of ambient coffee shop noises while she works. She says it helps...pending most of our days inside our homes, we could be almost anywhere. And yet, where we live — and the public spaces we use to connect with our communities — still matters, maybe even more now than ever. "

https://www.planning.org/planning/2020/jul/social-space-physical-distance/

“Whatever white people do not know about Negroes reveals, precisely and inexorably, what they do not know about themselves.”

By James Baldwin

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1962/11/17/letter-from-a-region-in-my-mind?utm_source=nl&utm_brand=tny&utm_mailing=TNY_Classics_Sunday_HEU_022821&utm_campaign=aud-dev&utm_medium=email&bxid=5be9d5683f92a40469e3b675&cndid=53789725&hasha=e7fe6adf96fb1cbd195cfa6c519815ba&hashb=a637dd18e2e0893e5470bf47e9a249a5448805d4&hashc=078ee6deb2341328a25372bdbeeaa21df7a090fa3a8b0ef5b6c3ce9f8246904c&esrc=&mbid=mbid%3DCRMNYR012019&utm_term=TNY_Classics

Have all cities lost people due to COVID-19, or just a few high-cost ones?

There have been many, many stories about a decline in demand for urban housing* caused by the COVID-19 recession. Because many people can work for home, they no longer need to live in expensive downtowns. As a result, rents in midtown Manhattan and urban San Francisco have plunged. One possible interpretation of these facts is that the 2020s will be like the 1970s, when cities declined and suburbs exploded. Another interpretation is that the most expensive cities are losing people, but that cheaper cities are doing no worse than usual. Which story is supported by the data?

https://www.planetizen.com/node/112426?utm_source=newswire&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=news-03012021&mc_cid=b8460f7015&mc_eid=b9p0fICGm0

Strengthening U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's civil rights enforcement could send a powerful signal to communities resistant to changing discriminatory housing rules.

https://www.planetizen.com/node/112381?utm_source=newswire&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=news-03012021&mc_cid=b8460f7015&mc_eid=b9p0fICGm0