The U.S. Census bureau confirmed on Tuesday that Massachusetts will lose one of its 10 Congressional seats during the 2012 election cycle. Although the population in the state grew from 6,349,097 to 6,547,629 in the last 10 years, a gain of 3.1%, nationwide 12 Congressional seats will shift to faster growing states in the southern and western parts of the U.S. Beacon Hill lawmakers oversee the redistricting process which lawmakers fear may result in lower levels of federal aid for transportation and education. The Census bureau’s announcement also set off a scramble among Massachusetts Congressional Representatives. The 10 Democratic Congressmen now face the unappealing prospects of retirement, running for another office or a putting up a primary challenge to one of their current colleagues. A number of the US Reps such as Michael Capuano, Stephen Lynch and Ed Markey have been mentioned as potential candidates to run against US Senator Scott Brown in 2012. The loss of the Massachusetts seat is the first time that the size of the Massachusetts Congressional delegation has changed since 1992.
The seasonally adjusted unemployment figures were released this week and showed that the unemployment rate was significantly higher in certain geographic regions in the state. According to the new numbers, the statewide seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased from 7.6% in October to 8.2% in November. The new statistics show that the jobless rate was up in all 22 of labor market areas. Fall River, Leominster-Fitchburg-Gardner, and Lawrence-Methuen-Salem in particular registered unemployment rates over 10%. The unemployment rate in the Boston, Cambridge and Quincy area was lower, at 7.2%.
On Monday, the Massachusetts Department of Revenue released the tax collection figures for the first half of December. The state collected $782 million during this period, a $53 million drop from the same period one year earlier. Navjeet Bal, the state revenue commissioner attributed the decrease to a one-time tax settlement of $120 million that Massachusetts received in December 2009. She said that Massachusetts typically collects the majority of its tax revenue for the month during the second half of December.
The Warren Group, which monitors home sales in the state, said single family homes sales in October were down 30% compared to October 2009. This is the fifth straight month that the number of single family homes sales (2,903 in November) decreased measured year-over-year. Tim Warren, CEO of the Warren Group, said home sales were up in the first half of the year due to a homebuyer tax credit that ended in June. The median price of a single-family home was up 7.3% from last year to $294,000.
John Nunnari, Assoc AIA
Executive Director, AIA MA
jnunnari@architects.org
617-951-1433 x263
617-951-0845 (fax)
MA Chapter of American Institute of Architects
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52 Broad Street, Boston MA 02109-4301
www.architects.org
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