💸 Gov. Healey’s $55 billion wish list

It's Thursday, Boston.

🐶 Reminder: March 31 is annual deadline for licensing your dog in Boston, which you can do here. Cats, on the other hand, are off the hook.

👀 What’s on tap today:

• Gas bills going down

• It’s going to be SLOPPY

• Topless weed dispensary

Up first…

GOVERNMENT

Healey’s budget just dropped

What can you buy with $55.5 billion? Free community college, a cabinet-level housing secretary, and the start of the West-East rail project, for starters. At least that’s according to Gov. Healey’s 2024 state budget proposal.

Here’s a snapshot of what’s inside:

🎓 Free community college program. Healey proposed setting aside $20 million to launch MassConnect, a new program that would cover the cost of community college for residents 25 and older without a college degree. The program could impact around 1.8 million residents who have a high school diploma or the equivalent, and bring back students to school who already have some kind of college credit.

🚃 More $$$ for the MBTA. Which needs the help. The T would get $181 million for capital projects, plus $5 million for “start-up costs” for a program that would cut fares for low-income riders. The budget also spurs progress on the Red-Blue Line Connector and the electrification of the state’s bus fleet.

🏠 The housing crisis gets a leader. Healey’s proposal sets aside $1 billion to create the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, which would be tasked with creating more affordable housing and promoting housing stability. It also boosts the state’s emergency shelter system by nearly 50% and includes funding for more vouchers for low-income tenants and people with disabilities.

☀️ 1% of the budget will go to climate and the environment. In other words, a 24% boost in funding to the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, which would allow them to hire 240 more staffers.

💰 Millionaire’s tax revenue gets its own trust. Healey proposed creating a separate trust fund where the money could flow to the designated issues of education and transportation. $510 million of the new tax revenue will go toward education and $490 million toward transportation, per her proposal.

❓ What’s next? Along with her nearly $750 million tax relief package, her budget is off to Beacon Hill for negotiations before it’s signed into law. So all these numbers mentioned above are subject to change. Stay tuned.

TOGETHER WITH SOFAR SOUNDS

Wanna hang with The B-Side team?

🥳 It’s your lucky day. We’re putting on a concert with Sofar Sounds in Davis Square at 7:30 p.m. on March 16. The catch? You won't know who’s performing or where the performance is until 36 hours before the show. So if you like music and surprises, this one’s for you. Get your tickets here (they’re only $24). Can’t wait to meet you!

CITY

Quick & dirty headlines

📉 Your gas bills are going down (again). The state’s’ Department of Public Utilities has ordered another round of rate reductions from National Grid and Eversource, which means you’ll likely see a 10% decrease in your heating bills between now and May 1. This roughly translates to $23 in monthly savings for National Grid customers and $57 for Eversource customers (and is on top of the 4% to 5% decrease we saw at the beginning of February).

❄️ The next storm looks SLOPPY. At least that’s how some local meteorologists are describing the weather that’s scheduled to arrive Friday night. Although nothing is set in stone, there’s growing confidence that those of us north of I-90 will see some kind of snow or wintry mix. The National Weather Service said on Wednesday there’s a 60% to 80% chance that areas along and north of the Pike could get more than 4 inches of snow. But given the dud storm we got earlier this week, I’ll believe it when I see it.

😬 The Pats got a mediocre report card. The NFL Players’ Association released report cards for each team and their facilities, and the Patriots have some work to do. While players gave the training staff an ‘A’ and strength coaches a ‘B+,’ the Pats ranked in the bottom half of the league for most categories, with their weight room receiving a ‘D.’ Players also noted that the stadium doesn’t offer daycare or a family room. Luckily, these facilities should be overhauled as part of stadium wide renovations.

🥪 There’s a new deli in town. If you’re missing the Darwin’s Ltd. location on Mount Auburn Street in Cambridge, you’re in luck. Roust Deli just opened in the space. And while it’s technically not Darwin’s, it feels very similar (and it’s even run by the same manager). One side of the shop is home to a cafe selling sandwiches, drinks, and baked goods, while the other side is a deli and grocery store. The manager’s thought is, “we didn’t want to fix what wasn’t broken.” 

ONE LAST THING

Topless weed dispensary

How do you stand out in an oversaturated marijuana dispensary market? Take your top off.

At least that’s what the owners of Club Castaway, a strip club in Whately, are doing. They’re planning to transform their business into a topless cannabis dispensary in the hopes of drawing more eyeballs in the state’s multi-billion-dollar industry.

To no one’s surprise, the approval process for this kind of dispensary is a little unclear, but they’re already in agreement to buy an existing Whately dispensary and hope to transfer the permit to their current club. So the ball is already rolling.

🐶 Thanks for reading! Give me a dog park dispensary and I’m there.

💃 Keep up with us @BostonBSide on IG, TikTok, and Twitter. Send comments and suggestions to [email protected].