Northeastern University - Cauldron Yearbook (Boston, MA)

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WWy . l- L.-lUUMAm a sense that, if certain things don ' t hap- pen, Boston isn ' t going to be able to make it financially. Could Boston go the way of New York and Cleveland? White believes it could unless the city can change the way in which it collects its revenue. Boston, like many older cities, depends exclusively on property taxes for revenue. Despite the current influx of younger people who are buying property in Boston to take advantage of depressed land values, White believes that will be only a minor tem- porary high in raising property tax revenue. White ' s assessment is correct, according to the Office of Economic Research of the Massachusetts Depart- ment of Commerce and Development. Its statistics show that Boston ' s popula- tion grew from 616,000 in 1965 to 638,000 in 1975. However, the same statistics show that the population is expected to drop to 620,000 by 1980, 616,000 by 1990 and 608,000 by 2000. A city that depends as heavily on property taxes as Boston cannot afford to see its tax base dwindling. If you depend on property value, you ' re in trouble, said White, claiming that Boston ' s tax base is lower today

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owner, chairman of the Fenway Project Area Committee (FenPAC), says he wouldn ' t live anywhere else. I think many of us in this area think the city ' s making a comeback, says E. Vaughn Gulo, who grew up on Sym- phony Road and has lived on St. Ste- phen Street the past 12 years. I ' m really more upbeat about what ' s going to happen in Boston than I ' ve ever been in the past. We see improvements, we ' ve been involved in improvements and we ' re planning improvements, continues Gulo, a professor of psychology in edu- cation at Northeastern. There ' s a very definite upbeat. I think it ' s much more exciting now than before. Yet, for all Gulo ' s optimism, there ' s

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than it was in 1930 — the peak of the Depression. But if you can get off it, if you can get off that intravenous feed- ing, you can get up and walk around. The solution, according to the mayor, is to reduce the property tax burden and introduce sales taxes to take advantage of Boston ' s economic growth. He ' s failed before. Several years ago, he attempted to tax nonresi- dents who work in the city, but the Leg- islature thwarted him. This time, how- ever, he thinks it will be different. Resi- dents and businesses will favor it, he said, because tourists and commuters will share the burden and because their property taxes will go down. White cited Faneuil Hall Market- place as an example. Although the city did all the work in restoring the historic market into what it is today, he said, the state collects many times more rev- enue from it than Boston does. The rea- son is that the state can collect sales and income taxes, while the city may take only property taxes. Of course, Faneuil Hall Marketplace is more than just a symbol of Boston ' s tax problems. During its renovation between 1976 and 1978, it became a symbol to the nation of the city ' s revi- talization. The Quincy Market, North Market and South Market, as the marketplac- e ' s three buildings are known, built by Mayor Josiah Quincy in 1826, are today the city ' s most popular attrac- tion, with thousands of people visiting the area every day. Admirers have called it one of the crowning achievements of White ' s 11- year administration. But detractors believe it symbolizes the misoriented priorities of the city government. H-— ftr..--. ' ■SJ. .T.-t v