Beware The Bomb-Throwers

Clearly the issue of well contamination in Charlton has resulted in frayed nerves and serious health concerns.

However, the use of this issue as a means of attacking Casella, the operator of the Southbridge landfill, has reached absurd levels.

Foremost to blame for this irresponsible behavior is local “activist” John Pulawski. 

The Local Impact Of Long-Term Unemployment Insurance Cuts

Ken O’Brien

On December 28, 1.3 million Americans were immediately cut off of their unemployment insurance coverage. New data from states across the country highlights the harm local communities will face due to the Republican failure to extend unemployment insurance before leaving for the winter holiday break.

When Congress failed to extend the federal Emergency Unemployment Compensation program more than 58,700 people in Massachusetts lost their insurance coverage immediately on Dec. 28, according to the Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance. An additional 54,800 people in Massachusetts will lose their coverage in the first six months of 2014 if Republicans continue to block an extension of the program, according to Department of Labor estimates. 

Southbridge Home Values Suffer In Comparison to Other Local Communities

Ken O’Brien

Yesterday I published data comparing the relative property tax rates for Southbridge and surrounding communities.

Today we will take a graphic look at the pattern of home sales in the same communities. Over a five-year period, with charts derived from City-Data, it is reasonable to take the trend in home sales and prices as representative of the general health of the housing market in each town.

A cursory review will show that two communities have shown a general downward trend in home values over the five years studied. Those two are Southbridge and Spencer. In Southbridge, however, the rate of decline is much steeper.

Webster shows a downward trend over the period 2006-2007, but this is followed by a stabilization of prices in subsequent years.

Sturbridge demonstrates slightly erratic behavior over the same period, but stabilizing prices thereafter.

Charlton saw a sharp decline in the fourth quarter of 2008, coinciding with the peak of the worldwide financial crisis. This was more pronounced than in any other community studied. Following this aberration, however, Charlton is showing a tendency toward price stabilization.

Dudley’s pattern is somewhat similar to that in Webster, but to a far less dramatic degree.

The remaining smaller communities show high degrees of variability to be expected from smaller sample sizes. Nevertheless these tend to cluster around a fairly stable central trend line.

The clear conclusion is that Southbridge’s property values have suffered a steady decline that is not found to a similar extent or degree in any surrounding community.