The Horse Race

This week on Mass Reboot, the pandemic’s impacts fell heavily on restaurants. What did industry professionals do to survive the pandemic, and how are they bouncing back as eager diners return in droves as the state reopens? Find out on Episode 4, Food.

Bob Luz, President and CEO of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association, describes what it was like reckoning with an entire sector of the economy screeching to a halt almost overnight, and what it took to keep restaurants afloat during that time.

Former Lawrence mayor Dan Rivera remembers the quick mobilization of a local coalition when COVID hit-- to both support restaurants and provide food assistance to those who needed it.

Restaurant employees Ashley, Caroline, and Bruno anticipate a return to full restaurants and bars, but wonder whether Boston will remain the thriving hub of lunch spots and after-work drink hangouts if remote and hybrid work continues to be as popular as it has been.

Next week: Work.

Mass Reboot is a production of The MassINC Polling Group, in association with CommonWealth Magazine. Our music is from Blue Dot Sessions. To help us make more episodes, donate at patreon.com/mass_reboot.

This week’s episode is sponsored in part by Rasky Partners. They’re a long-time supporter of ours and a nationally recognized government affairs and communication firm. For over 30 years the team at Rasky has worked with all types of organizations, large and small, helping each one reach their business objectives through advocacy and storytelling. Find out more about Rasky Partners at rasky.com.

7/8/21--Welcome to the third episode of Mass Reboot, a summer podcast series about restarting Massachusetts after COVID-19 and what we lost along the way. Each week, we’ll dive into a sector of life in the commonwealth, exploring how the pandemic hit it, how it adapted, and how the people inside it envision a new normal.

This week: Transportation.

The pandemic swiftly brought the traffic crisis well-known to Bay Staters to a halt. But that didn't last long. As businesses, office, and schools reopen, traffic is back with a vengeance. Meanwhile, the public transit system is only getting a fraction of the ridership it received before the pandemic.

State Representative William Straus describes a need for better connectivity throughout the state. He represents parts of the South Coast, where drivers to Boston spend about 5 hours round-trip on the road.

Monica Tibbits-Nutt, executive director of the 128 Business Council, sees public-private partnership is a key to closing transit gaps, and incentivizing commuters out of their cars and onto public transportation options.

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Mass Reboot is a production of The MassINC Polling Group, in association with CommonWealth Magazine. Our music is from Blue Dot Sessions. To help us make more episodes, donate at patreon.com/mass_reboot.

This week’s episode is sponsored in part by Rasky Partners. They’re a long-time supporter of ours and a nationally recognized government affairs and communication firm. For over 30 years the team at Rasky has worked with all types of organizations, large and small, helping each one reach their business objectives through advocacy and storytelling. Find out more about Rasky Partners at rasky.com.

Episode 3 is also sponsored by the Massachusetts Business Roundtable, an employer-driven member organization comprised of CEOs and Senior Executives from large employers. Through the Roundtable, business leaders engage with the public and private sectors to advance policies that support the state’s competitiveness and long-term economic prosperity.

6/30/21--Welcome to the second episode of Mass Reboot, a summer podcast series about restarting Massachusetts after COVID-19 and what we lost along the way. Each week, we’ll dive into a sector of life in the commonwealth, exploring how the pandemic hit it, how it adapted, and how the people inside it envision a new normal.

This week: Home.

In a state where housing costs were already sky-high, what did the pandemic mean for people who lost jobs and wages? Did the shifting of populations and economic upheaval budge the housing or rental markets? And how did our ideas of home change when it became our only safe space for 15 months?

These are the questions hosts Libby Gormley, Steve Koczela, and Jennifer Smith seek to answer this week. Guests Denise Matthews-Turner of City Life / Vida Urbana, Jessie Partridge Guerrero of the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, and Symone Crawford of the Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance weigh in on what they witnessed during the pandemic and what they predict the future holds for Massachusetts.

Next week: Transportation.

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Mass Reboot is a production of The MassINC Polling Group, in association with CommonWealth Magazine. Our music is from Blue Dot Sessions. To help us make more episodes, donate at patreon.com/mass_reboot.

A big thank you to our sponsor this week, Rasky Partners. They’re a long-time supporter of ours and a nationally recognized government affairs and communication firm. For over 30 years the team at Rasky has worked with all types of organizations, large and small, helping each one reach their business objectives through advocacy and storytelling. Find out more about Rasky Partners at rasky.com.

6/23/21--Welcome to the first episode of Mass Reboot, a summer podcast series about restarting Massachusetts after COVID-19 and what we lost along the way. Each week, we’ll dive into a sector of life in the Commonwealth, exploring how the pandemic hit it, how it adapted, and how the people inside it envision a new normal.

This week: Art.

Hosts Libby Gormley, Steve Koczela, and Jennifer Smith of The Horse Race are spending time in Boston’s Theater District and Dorchester, then taking a wide view of the Massachusetts arts world over the past year.

Joe Spaulding, CEO and President of the Boch Center, describes the shock of a silent Wang Theatre and the long and unsteady road back to a vibrant performance space. Emma Leavitt, of the Dorchester Art Project and Brain Arts, recounts the struggles of the local arts program to continue supporting and reaching its diverse arts community.

As for impacts across the state, and the long-term inequities that still exist in the arts space, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Cultural Council Michael Bobbitt breaks down the scale of creative losses and the need to rethink arts sector power structures.

Next week: Home.

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Mass Reboot is a production of The MassINC Polling Group, in association with CommonWealth Magazine. Our music is from Blue Dot Sessions. To help us make more episodes, donate at patreon.com/mass_reboot.

A big thank you to our sponsor this week, Rasky Partners. They’re a long-time supporter of ours and a nationally recognized government affairs and communication firm. For over 30 years the team at Rasky has worked with all types of organizations, large and small, helping each one reach their business objectives through advocacy and storytelling. Find out more about Rasky Partners at rasky.com.

What happens when you reboot a whole state? Yesterday, after one year, three months, and five days, the COVID-19 state of emergency ended in Massachusetts. With millions vaccinated across the state and with summer on its way, the gears are beginning to turn again. Things that stopped are starting. Things that were closed are re-opening. That leaves a big question.

What does a post-pandemic Massachusetts look like?

The team behind The Horse Race, Massachusetts’ favorite political podcast is back with a new summer podcast. Mass Reboot is a 10-episode series on restarting Massachusetts after COVID-19 and what we’ve lost along the way. Steve Koczela, Jennifer Smith, and longtime Horse Race producer Libby Gormley will share hosting duties, telling the stories of Massachusetts residents as we emerge from the pandemic. Each week, they will explore a new area of Massachusetts society - from housing and government to sports and food.

The first episode, “Art” will post June 23rd. New episodes of Mass Reboot will post weekly on Wednesdays and will be available wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribers to The Horse Race and The Codcast will find the podcast in their feed.

Mass Reboot is a production of The MassINC Polling Group and CommonWealth Magazine and is sponsored by Rasky Partners.

5/12/21--Listeners, The Horse Race is taking a step back for a few weeks as we prepare to bring you a brand-new series this summer! So be sure to stay on the lookout for that, and in the meantime, we leave you with this last episode where Steve and Jenn are joined by the founding members of The Horse Race -- original cohost Lauren Dezenski and original producer Hannah Chanatry. The four reminisce on the nearly four years since the podcast began and the many guests, segments, live shows, and horse puns that came along with it. Enjoy, and we'll be back in your ears soon!

5/5/21-- It's a bittersweet day here in the virtual bunker because it is Stephanie Murray's last appearance as co-host of The Horse Race! She is taking a new role at Politico as author of The Morning Score, a national weekly newsletter.

Stick around to the end of the episode to hear how Stephanie has scene the political landscape change in her years on the #mapoli beat. But to begin, we're talking about a persistent debate among Massachusetts officials about whether to make vaccines mandatory for public workers. Many Democratic officials and public figures say yes. Governor Baker's stance is a hard no.

Later in the show we're joined by Miles Howard, a freelance journalist who recently published a column in the Boston Globe posing the idea of turning empty office space into desperately needed affordable housing in Boston. He explains how it might work, what's standing in the way, and whether we can predict a return to offices or the continuation of widespread remote work.

Finally, Jenn and Steve grill Stephanie on her time covering Massachusetts politics and engage in a #mapoli lightning round digging up her favorite moments as a reporter and, more importantly, a proud Bay Stater.

4/28/21--This week on The Horse Race, we bring you some bittersweet news. Our very own, extremely talented, reporter and co-host extraordinaire, Stephanie Murray, will be joining us for just one more episode of The Horse Race! She has been promoted to a national position for Politico, so keep an eye out for her as the new author of The Morning Score.

In other big #mapoli news, Massachusetts is making big reopening moves. New reopening guidelines include, effective May 29th,(dependent on public health and vaccination data) gathering limits will increase to 200 people indoors and 250 people outdoors; May 10th will bring the opening of amusement parks and water parks at 50% capacity; and on August 1st other industries will be permitted to open such as nightclubs, saunas, and ball pits (?).

Jenn has been closely following the Boston mayoral race and analyzes the newest development, or lack thereof. State senator Nick Collins announced he will not be running for mayor of Boston. Many had speculated he might jump into the race, but his official decision not to run means in all likelihood, the race for Boston mayor will for the first time in history not include a white man.

Steve sounds off on Secretary of the Commonwealth Bill Galvin's deflection on the question of whether he'll run for re-election. Galvin has been in office since 1995, and his response to the State House News Service that he "enjoy[s]" his job indicates he might run for an eighth term.

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New data from the 2020 Census is out this week. Some states’ Congressional seats will change as a result, but Massachusetts will keep its same nine. Stephanie Murray explains what the data tells us about our districts and provides national context as well.

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In the wake of devastating mass shootings this year, a Massachusetts reporter looked into why the commonwealth's rates of gun deaths are the lowest in the country. Sarah Betancourt's Guardian article details the work of John Rosenthal, co-founder of Stop Handgun Violence, an organization that is in part responsible for the low gun death rates. She stopped by The Horse Race to tell us what gun restrictions contribute to our state's performance and explains in what other ways Massachusetts is in fact contributing to the gun violence epidemic.

4/21/21--This week, there's good news surrounding the vaccine in Massachusetts. Saturday marked a happy milestone in that the state surpassed 2 million residents fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

In national news, all eyes were on Minneapolis Tuesday night when a verdict came down on the Derek Chauvin trial. Chauvin was convicted on all charges in the death of George Floyd. Massachusetts political figures have since been responding to the decision, including the six Boston mayoral candidates during a forum Tuesday night.

Jenn and Stephanie parse the candidates' responses during the forum to issues including racism, police accountability, the Boston Planning and Development Agency, affordable housing, and education.

Later, the hosts are joined by Boston Globe reporter Matt Stout, who wrote about a puzzling development upon an election that occurred more than a year ago. He explains why a former write-in candidate for the Republican state committeewoman is suing the Secretary of State's office.

4/14/21-- This week, there is a lot of #bospoli news to discuss, and it begins with the Boston Police Department. Acting Mayor Kim Janey on Tuesday named the executive director of Boston’s first Office of Police Accountability and Transparency. This comes as the department is reeling from two major scandals. Jenn and Stephanie discuss where things stand now, and what the future may hold the BPD.

Next, Steve Koczela has new data from a poll conducted by The MassINC Polling Group and sponsored by WBUR and The Dorchester Reporter. The poll asked Boston residents who they're voting for in the mayoral election, what issues are most important to them, and what they'd like to be done about the lack of affordable housing in the city.

Finally, we are joined by Nicole Calabrese, the leader of a ballot committee urging Wakefield residents to vote "no" on the question of whether to keep Wakefield Public Schools' current logo. The logo, which depicts an Indigenous person, has drawn debate for years. And recently, the rhetoric surrounding it has gotten so vitriolic as to polarize the town. Calabrese explains how things got so bad and what will happen next.

Full transcript here: https://www.massincpolling.com/the-topline/episode-177-mayorals-for-spring-groundbreaking