Victorian gets beautiful restoration

This completely renovated mansard Victorian sits on a side street in West Somerville near Tufts University.

The newly gut-renovated 1910-built single family at 30 Conwell Ave., on the market for $1,499,000, has four bedrooms, four full bathrooms, 3,183 square feet of living space and a detached three-car garage.

The home's restored gray clapboard exterior has white trim, a new asphalt-shingled mansard roof and bumpout bay windows on the front and sides.

A covered front entryway leads into a foyer with new oak floors and a contemporary overhead light. To the right sits a library/study with restored oak flooring, 10A-foot coffered ceilings and four windows, three in a bay arrangement. A full wall has built-in bookshelves and cabinets.

To the left of the foyer is the home's open living/dining area with new red oak floors and recessed lighting. The living space has four windows, with a three-part bay window and 10A-foot coffered ceilings. The dining area has a built-in granite-topped peninsula that seats six.

The adjacent kitchen has 14 white cabinets, with granite-topped counters, a herringbone-patterned white tile backsplash and an island. Jenn-Air stainless-steel appliances include a six-burner gas stove with a fluted hood, a large side-by-side refrigerator and a dishwasher. A corner breakfast nook gets light from a three-part bay window.

Behind the kitchen is a bathroom with a ceramic-tile walk-in shower and granite-topped vanity, and a good-sized bedroom with a bump-out bay window and restored oak floors.

There's also a rear sunroom, with a door out to a decent-sized grass backyard. A three-car garage sits at the end of a long driveway.

Back inside, a red oak staircase leads to three bedrooms on the second floor, off a hallway with a closet holding a washer/dryer hookup. There's also a second-floor sunroom.

The master suite has a good-sized bedroom featuring new red oak floors and a gas fireplace. There are three walk-in closets with built-in wardrobes. The en-suite bathroom has ceramic tile floors and a ceramic tile wall with glass-mosaic inlay above a tub. There's also a ceramic-tiled walk-in shower and a linen closet. A large granite-topped vanity has two sinks.

Two other bedrooms on this floor have restored oak floors and two windows each. They are served by a second full bathroom with small black-and-white tile floors. White subway tile with glass-mosaic inlays surrounds a tub/shower, and there's also a granite-topped vanity.

Half of the home's lower level has been finished as a carpeted family room, with a granite-topped wet bar with room for a mini-fridge. Adjacent sits a full bathroom with small-tile ceramic floor, a one-piece Fiberglas shower and a granite-topped vanity.

The other half of the basement is unfinished with lots of storage space, and it also houses the home's water heater and new gas-fired central heating and cooling system.

Home Showcase

• Address: 30 Conwell Ave., Somerville
• Bedrooms: Four
• Bathrooms: Four full
• List price: $1,499,000
• Square feet: 3,183
• Price per square foot: $471
• Annual taxes: $8,620
• Location: A mile to retail, restaurants and Red Line T stop in Davis Square; half a mile to Teele Square.
• Built in: 1910; gut renovated in 2014-15
• Broker: Stephen bremis of bremis Realty at 617-828-1070

Pros:

• Master bedroom suite with built-in gas fireplace, three walk-in closets
• Stylish granite kitchen with Jenn-Air appliances, island, breakfast nook
• Library/study with full wall built-in, coffered ceilings
• New and restored red oak floors throughout

Cons:

• It's a mile walk to Davis Square

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Globe site buyer bails as partners pull dough

The Boston Globe is looking for a new buyer for its Morrissey Boulevard headquarters after Concord commercial real estate firm Winstanley Enterprises pulled out of the sale agreement, the newspaper said yesterday.

"One of their equity partners pulled out and they couldn't complete the deal, so they're out of it," Boston Globe CEO Mike Sheehan said. "They're not the only developer around and we'll move on."

The Globe and Winstanley had agreed to the sale of the 16.5-acre site in Dorchester late last year. No sale price was disclosed, but real estate experts have valued the site at anywhere between $21 million and 
$75 million.

"It was a pleasure to work with the Boston Globe's leadership as we considered future uses for the site," Adam Winstanley said in a statement. "It is great real estate but ultimately it was not the best fit for our capital partner at this time. We know that this will be a great development and will bring jobs and opportunities to the neighborhood. We leave this process with respect for all of those involved."

Sheehan said now that the property is back on the market, the Globe will speak to other developers, including the two other finalists selected during its original round of inquiries. He said the Globe's plan to move out of its 815,000-square-foot headquarters will not be affected by the search for a new buyer.

"We'll take our time to do it. It doesn't affect at all our plans to move," Sheehan said. "We're not in a rush."

The Globe has announced an agreement to buy a building in Taunton that will be turned into a new printing press. Colliers International is advising the Globe on the sale.

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2015 Lincoln Navigator navigates blizzards with style

As the Blizzard of 2015 approached New England, I knew I would be called upon to photograph the impending snowstorm. I would have accepted any four-wheel-drive vehicle, but when a 2015 Lincoln Navigator 4x4 showed up in our lot, I thought why ride in coach when you can go first class.

My gray metallic tester with a split-wing chrome grille had 22-inch polished aluminum wheels that provided plenty of ground clearance and some visibility over the snowbanks. Doors automatically unlocked thanks to a passive entry system that senses when the key fob is in range of the vehicle. Power running boards dropped down automatically when the doors opened to provide a convenient step for climbing into the SUV. A push-button starter let me keep the key fob in my pocket under all the layers of clothing I had on for the storm.

As expected, the Navigator's interior was upscale. Dark wood trim on the center console, the top half of the steering wheel and the doors contrasted nicely with the plush light brown leather seats. As I cruised the city looking for snow photos with my window down, the Lincoln's climate control system kept the interior warm and comfy. Snow blown in by the intensifying blizzard quickly melted off the heated, 10-way power adjustable front seats. The third row seats folded flat with the push of a button to create a cavernous rear cargo area.

The Navigator's infotainment system had a 4.2-inch display in the instrument panel and an intuitive, 8-inch touch screen on the center stack. I appreciated the traditional knob controls below the touch screen and cruise, phone, and volume controls were integrated into the steering wheel.

The 5.4-liter V8 that has powered the Navigator for years has been replaced with a twin turbocharged 3.5-liter V6 engine. Lincoln reports that the new engine cranks out 380 horsepower and 430 pound-foot of torque with an undiminished towing capacity. I found the large SUV had ample power off the line and highway passing was effortless. A six-speed automatic transmission with a manual override option allowed me to take control of the gear shifting, which I found useful when descending steep and narrow, snow-covered streets.

The Navigator stomped through the accumulating snow as I ventured into Beacon Hill to look for people trying to dig out along the unplowed streets. The big SUV barely squeezed through the snow-clogged one-way streets, but never lost traction on the steep, frozen hills. A rear-view camera saved the day when I had to back down a side street blocked by snow removal crews.

Once the storm cleared, I switched the Navigator back into two-wheel drive and hit the highway. The Lincoln was quiet on the open road and handled like a much smaller vehicle, thanks in part to electronic power-assisted steering, which also made it easier to park. Road imperfections produced an occasional front end dive, which served as a reminder of the big SUV's size and weight.

The 2015 Lincoln Navigator might be the ultimate full-size 4x4 for New England weather. The Navigator has a base price of $61,920, which is considerably less than the Cadillac Escalade that starts at just under $73,000. My tester topped out at $73,895.

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Malden woman sues Anthem over data breach

A Malden woman is seeking class-action status for a federal lawsuit she filed against Anthem Inc., claiming the insurance giant was negligent in failing to protect the personal information of its subscribers before a data breach disclosed this month.

"Anthem failed to take adequate and reasonable measures to ensure its data systems were protected, failed to take available steps to prevent and stop the breach from ever happening," according to the complaint filed by Lisa Diane Daniels in federal court in Boston this week. The breach, which Anthem disclosed Feb. 4, affected 80 million subscribers nationwide including nearly 1 million in Massachusetts. The company said hackers obtained names, birth dates, addresses, Social Security numbers, health care ID numbers and employment information.

"When you are dealing with people's sensitive information at any level, it's important to prevent a breach," said Justin Browne, one of Daniels' attorneys, "but when we're talking about a health-related information it's particularly sensitive."

Still attorneys not involved in the case are split on whether the suit will be successful.

"Courts have generally been receptive to the claims that a company has not taken the necessary steps to protect the data that they're maintaining for their customers and their employees," said attorney Peter Rukin.

But attorney Lisa Soto said a negligence claim may be tough to prove.

"Chances are high that it's going to be very difficult to show a nexus between any damage anyone suffered and this event," Soto said.

Anthem did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

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No one's neutral on new Internet rules

The tech industry and activists hailed yesterday's long-awaited Federal Communications Commission vote on net neutrality rules, saying startups and other innovative companies no longer have to fear that they might be required to ante up to compete with more established businesses on the Internet.

"If the FCC had not taken this step, then the Internet was headed down a path in which it becomes unrecognizable ... an Internet in which the people who provide access to the Internet make decisions based on their commercial interest," said David Weinberger, a senior researcher at the Harvard Berkman Center for Internet and Society.

"The strength of the Internet has always been that it's not designed for any particular service — users get to decide what matters to them, what they think the Internet is for. The access providers were turning the Internet into a type of cable TV."

The rules, approved by the FCC on a 3-2 vote, reclassify the Internet as a public utility, making it subject to tighter regulation. They prevent companies such as Comcast, Verizon and AT&T from creating paid fast lanes and slowing or blocking Web traffic.

"Net neutrality is essential for the continued prosperity of the Web as we've known it," said Bob Davis, a venture capitalist with Highland Capital Partners. "A ruling on the other side of this would have been devastating."

Davis said the rules will ensure startups do not have a higher barrier to entry than entrenched companies.

Chad Dickerson, chief executive of Etsy.com, told the FCC equal traffic speeds are essential for his business.

"We know that delays of milliseconds have a direct and long-term impact on revenue," Dickerson said. "I'm here to thank you for taking action to protect the Internet as a platform for entrepreneurship and innovation."

Evan Greer of Fight for the Future, an Internet advocacy group, said net neutrality will preserve open access to information.

"This isn't about how quickly our cat videos load," Greer said. "This is actually about the future of freedom of speech ... and the freedom of our democracy."

Verizon saw it differently, releasing a statement made to appear as if it were written on a typewriter to draw attention to the FCC's reliance on 1934 legislation to regulate the Internet. The statement, that called the rules "misguided," also was released in Morse Code.

The broadband industry is expected to sue over the new rules.

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Life in the fast lane

Winners

President Obama

The president has repeatedly advocated for net neutrality. He hailed yesterday's decision, saying it would "protect innovation and create a level playing field for the next generation of entrepreneurs."

Activists

Internet users flooded the FCC with a record-breaking 4 million public comments, and a slowdown across many of the Web's most prominent sites last year showed the potential impact of Internet fast lanes and slow lanes.

Content creators

Services such as Netflix, whose shares closed up 1.7 percent yesterday, won't have to worry about paying more than the competition to ensure users get the best possible experience.

Losers

Republicans

The GOP opposed the regulations, and the two Republican appointees to the FCC voted against the rules. House Speaker John Boehner called it a "misguided scheme" that would "put the federal government in control of the Internet."

Internet service providers

Companies including Verizon and Comcast were staunchly against net neutrality, calling the regulation stifling and "heavy-handed."

Wireless providers

The regulations included wireless providers such as AT&T and Sprint, which were not covered by the original FCC rules in 2010.

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Finding 2-bedrooms for under $2G

The price of Boston apartments in the city's most desirable neighborhoods and in newly opened luxury complexes are out of reach for most renters.

"It's tough on everyone, including young professionals just out of college," said Jason Schuster, founder of Proper Realty in Allston. "For a $2,000 apartment, renters need to be making $80,000-$100,000, and many are earning only half that."

But while you won't find many apartments under $2,000 in Boston's tonier districts, except for some tiny studios, go farther afield in the city and there's a wide variety of more affordable offerings where two roommates or couples can pay a more reasonable $1,000 or so each, which often includes parking.

We went searching for two-bedrooms under $2,000 in several Boston neighborhoods.

Schuster says the cost of two-bedrooms in Allston/Brighton are creeping over $2,000, but Proper Realty has a $1,900 renovated two-bedroom listing on Commonwealth Avenue in Brighton that includes heat and hot water and in-building laundry.

Rachael Kulik, office manager of JP Rentals and Sales, said there are several options for renters looking to get in under $2,000 a month — owner-occupied two- and three- families, condos for rent by owners who've moved on but kept properties as investments, and units in older buildings where the rent includes heat and hot water.

"Individual landlords and others with an emotional stake in their properties often care more about the quality of the tenants than gouging renters," said Kulik.

Kulik said you can still find decent two-bedrooms in Jamaica Plain for around $1,650-$1,850 a month, and while you won't get the top-of-the-line amenities, multifamily units are usually well-maintained.

"The rule generally is that the further you get from the T, the less expensive apartments are," she said.

JP Rentals has a large two-bedroom on Goodway Road for $1,650 a month. It has a living room, dining room, large eat-in kitchen, laundry and a covered outdoor porch, and is about a mile from the Forest Hills Orange Line station.

In neighboring Roslindale, even farther from the T and where you most likely need a car, two-bedrooms run from $1,600 to $1,750, Kulik said. A large sunny two bedroom on Mendelssohn Street with a big eat-in kitchen, living, dining and laundry is renting for $1,650.

Another good area to find two-bedroom rentals under $2,000 is in Dorchester — neighborhoods such as Adams Village, Neponset and Lower Mills, said Kristine Ryan of The Galvin Group. She said that many renters priced out of South Boston have come looking in south Dorchester.

Galvin Group has a two-bedroom on Granite Avenue in an older brick building for $1,650 a month including heat and hot water. Ryan is also listing a 1,200-square-foot two-bedroom in an owner-occupied house on Hilltop Street near Neponset Circle for $1,600 that has hardwood floors, lots of storage space and a screened-in porch.

"You can still find reasonably priced apartments here and most have recently updated kitchens and free parking with no resident stickers," Ryan said. "These apartments often rent quickly, sometimes by word of mouth."

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Did ISPs bring the FCC's net neutrality action upon themselves?

In the wake of the FCC's net neutrality vote on Thursday, cable and telecommunications companies are characterizing the new set of regulations as something akin to a government sledgehammer.

They are chafing under a future of greater oversight over how they deliver Internet traffic to the consumer -- in other words, there's now a big check on who controls the pipes.

The FCC probably would not have even gotten to the point where they reclassified the Internet like a utility had Verizon not challenged a previous set of net neutrality rules, adopted in 2010, that had a lighter regulatory touch.

Those rules were imposed without Title II reclassification and, unlike the new regulations, exempted wireless providers from some of the more stringent provisions.

Back then, most ISPs said that they weren't crazy about the rules, but they could still live with them. Not Verizon. It challenged net neutrality and won, as the D.C. Circuit said that the FCC imposed them without establishing the proper regulatory authority.

In the immediate aftermath of the court's decision in January 2014, there was plenty of commentary that net neutrality was dead.

In April, FCC chairman Tom Wheeler proposed an approach that would have stopped short of reclassification. Yet his idea drew immediate criticism as being too weak and triggered a backlash that generated online protest campaigns, pickets outside the FCC offices and even, at one point, demonstrators who blocked the driveway of his home.

Through the summer the FCC was flooded with more than 4 million comments -- a massive outpouring that drew comparisons to the protest that helped sideline major antipiracy legislation, known as the Stop Online Piracy Act, in 2012.

The turning point, however, was in November, when President Obama threw his support behind reclassification.

So how did ISPs find themselves on the losing end of one of the FCC's most momentous policy debates?

After all, even congressional Republicans who once questioned the need for any net neutrality rules at all last month proposed legislation that would ban blocking, throttling and paid prioritization. The legislation also would apply to wired and wireless services, although Democrats have balked that it also limits what the FCC can do when technology changes in the future.

Net neutrality advocates had the advantage of framing the debate first, and having as their foe cable and telecom companies, which aren't exactly the most beloved of American companies.

It also helped that Netflix threw its weight behind the FCC's action, setting itself up as a chief foe to major ISPs and giving some urgency to the issue by claiming that it was pretty much forced into paying Comcast (CEO Brian Roberts pictured at right) and Verizon new sums to deliver their video traffic.

While ISPs argued that Netflix was skewing the issue, who is a consumer more likely to trust? Cable and telecom companies offering Internet service are in the unpopular position of also being bill collectors, to whom many consumers write three-figure checks each month. And those prices keep rising.

The situation would probably be a lot different if the FCC was about to extend its oversight over Internet companies, the Twitters and Facebooks and the Googles of the world, rather than companies that own the pipes.

Now the debate over net neutrality is likely to move to the courts and to Congress, where Republicans are investigating how it all came to this. There is likely to be an even louder chorus of voices that this is an unprecedented government power grab.

There's already been plenty of hyperbolic rhetoric that it's big government that is taking control of the Internet. But in this latest chapter of this long slog toward open Internet protections, net neutrality advocates were quicker to define the real threat as Internet service with no control at all.

© 2015 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

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Apps to track T in real time

Local software developers are creating a new crop of mobile apps to improve alerts and give MBTA riders a real-time snapshot of delayed or overcrowded trains as the beleaguered transit system struggles to get commuters to and from work.

"Right now it seems like the only voice that exists is the one from the MBTA to the people, but that's not a channel back from the people to the MBTA," said David Lago, one of the creators of MBTA Ninja. "We cannot trust the alerts from the T, because they're unreliable, they're not specific."

Lago, Geoffrey Litt and Radhika Malik built MBTA Ninja as part of last weekend's Code Across Boston hackathon. Lago said the three co-workers at Panorama Education had resorted to texting each other to find out about service issues because official T alerts weren't all encompassing — for instance, they don't report overcrowded trains.

Through MBTA Ninja, which is modeled after the GPS-based app Waze, riders can submit train issues and delays in real time. Litt said there were about 200 reports before yesterday's evening commute through the app, including medical emergencies MBTA Ninja reported before the MBTA.

Also aimed at monitoring T service, "Live MBTA Subway Mapping by Stefan!" offers riders a real-time look at the location of trains on all of the system's transit lines.

And another app, DELAID, by design firm Altr, uses analytics to determine which lines are most likely to have future delays based on weather and social media from commuters.

"If standing on a platform, freezing to near death is going to be a continued reality, an act of faith ... a total bet, then we want to show you the odds," the creators said in a blog post. DELAID is in development.

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Solons back Charlie Baker Olympics veto

Ninety lawmakers have signed on to a bill that would create a commission to ensure transparency in Boston's bid to host the 2024 summer Olympics and would give the governor the final say if the games require state money.

State Rep. Aaron Michlewitz, the North End Democrat who sponsored the bill, said the intent is to "create more accountability" for Boston 2024, the nonprofit leading the charge to bring the Olympics to the Hub, by, among other things, listing all public and private money spent on the games in an "Open Checkbook" registry on the Internet.

"Because we're talking about commonwealth tax money that is going to potentially play a large part in the process, we wanted to give the state's stakeholders some ability to have a seat at the table going forward," Michlewitz said. "That includes the governor having the ability to withdraw public funds if he feels that this is not living up to the standards."

Billy Pitman, a spokesman for Gov. Charlie Baker, said Baker "believes public input as well as transparency is vital to the bid process. He will review any legislation addressing those priorities should it reach his desk."

The bill would also require Boston 2024 to submit its bid documents to a 7-member appointed commission before the package is submitted to the International Olympic Committee.

Boston 2024 CEO Rich Davey said the organization is reviewing the bill "and supports the Legislature's goals of additional accountability and transparency."

Earlier this month, Mayor Martin J. Walsh called the bill redundant. But South End state Rep. Byron Rushing, who's still in the "middle" on whether Boston should host the 2024 games, said he thinks the mayor eventually will support the proposal due to growing calls for more transparency. Rushing pointed to Walsh's decision to renegotiate an agreement to strike a provision barring city employees from publicly criticizing the Olympic bid, weeks after city officials caught heat for signing it in the first place.

"The mayor looks forward to reviewing all legislation involving the Olympics to see what will work best for Boston and the commonwealth," Bonnie McGilpin, a spokeswoman for Walsh, said. "Mayor Walsh is committed to running an open and transparent process."

Rushing said he would like to have the bill, or a version of it, passed by June. He said he is hopeful the Legislature can do it, given the unusually large number of lawmakers backing it.

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Retailers feeling heat to increase wages

The pressure is on for retailers to follow Wal-Mart, and now Framingham-based TJX Cos., in raising hourly workers' pay to $9 this year and $10 in 2016 to attract and retain staff.

"I think you'll see a handful of retailers follow suit — those with better balance sheets and stronger sales growth," said Retail Metrics analyst Ken Perkins. "It's long overdue for many of these retailers."

TJX, the owner of T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods and Sierra Trading Post stores, yesterday said its hourly U.S. workers will earn at least $9 per hour starting in June, and those employed for at least six months will move to $10 per hour in 2016.

"This pay initiative is an important part of our strategies to continue attracting and retaining the best talent in order to deliver a great shopping experience for our customers, remain competitive on wages in our U.S. markets, and stay focused on our value mission," CEO Carol Meyrowitz said.

The move matches the new wage levels announced by Wal-Mart last week.

John Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., said the moves could create a domino effect.

"Other retailers may have no other choice but to follow," he said. "The pool of available labor is starting to shrink, and it will take more than a store discount to attract the best of available candidates."

The wage increases will result in a short-term hit to earnings, said TJX, which reported fourth-quarter sales jumped 6 percent to $8.3 billion, and net income rose 15 percent to $648 million.

Herald wires services contributed to this report.

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High-tech council creates data dashboard to keep state on right road

A top tech industry group unveiled a new tool to compare Massachusetts to other states yesterday as Gov. Charlie Baker said the state needs to solidify its position as a high tech leader by working harder to be more competitive and lowering the cost to do business.

"The goal here is to strengthen the areas we have a national lead in, and rectify or improve the areas we can now see a disadvantage," said Chris Anderson, president of the Massachusetts High Technology Council. "This is actually going to be very helpful for not only keeping track of what our peer states are doing, but informing our decisions."

The Massachusetts' Technology, Talent and Economic Reporting System is a dashboard that can compare states by a number of metrics, including hiring difficulty for employers and workforce information. The information is focused on understanding the workforce and potential talent in the state.

"It's talent that's going to drive where we go, and it's going to determine which countries, which states, which towns, prosper and which don't," said Gary Beach who presented MATTERS at the council's annual meeting.

Baker, who gave the keynote address at the meeting, said Massachusetts cannot be complacent.

"It's pretty clear to us that we're going to have to work a lot harder to be competitive," he said. "We need to do a better job of lowering our cost of pretty much everything."

The event was a homecoming of sorts for Baker, who began his career at Mass High Tech. Organizers displayed a 30-year-old picture of a young Baker in front of a long-obsolete computer before the governor gave his address.

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Blizzard of app use in Boston during snowstorms

Snowbound Bostonians turned to their mobile devices to get through the recent run of storms, sending app usage up as much as 30 percent when local colleges canceled classes or the MBTA halted service.

App usage increased between 17 percent and 29 percent during five snow days from Jan. 27 to Feb. 15, according to Localytics, a Boston application marketing and analytics company.

"The biggest thing that surprised me was just how much higher the app usage was," Localytics business analyst Dave Hoch said. "We looked at devices in Boston, which is a pretty big sample, and to see something up 30 percent higher on given days is a very big jump."

Localytics used a 30-day baseline average from Jan. 15 to Feb. 15 to make the comparison and based its analysis on its clients' approximately 28,000 apps.

The highest increases were on days when colleges closed down: 24 percent on Jan. 27, 29 percent on Feb. 2 and 27 percent on Feb. 9.

Not surprisingly, weather was the top app category, seeing increased usage of 46 percent. Retail therapy also apparently helped people cope with the snowiest month on record: Shopping app usage increased 37 percent on the snow days.

"One of the big takeaways to that is just because your brick-and-mortar store is closed, as long as you have a good mobile presence like an app, you don't have to lose all that valuable business," Hoch said.

Photography apps also saw a big bump in use — a 37 percent increase — as Hub residents documented the snowfall and crazy snow antics to share on social media and elsewhere. Books and news apps saw 30 percent and 25 percent increases, respectively, while gaming app usage jumped 23 percent.

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Eatery hit by marathon bomb to close doors

Forum, the Boylston Street bar and restaurant at ground zero of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, will close March 1 due to a large rent increase, according to owner Boston Nightlife Ventures.

"Unfortunately, the current real estate climate on Boylston Street has motivated Forum's landlord to raise rent this year by nearly three times our current rate," president Euz Azevedo said in a statement yesterday. "This rent increase makes it financially impossible for Boston Nightlife Ventures to operate and sustain a business at a location that means so much to us and to our city."

The second bomb exploded outside of Forum on April 15, 2013, while it was hosting a Joe Andruzzi Foundation fundraiser. The former New England Patriot was on-site and sprang into action along with staff and other party-goers to aid victims injured by the blast.

The restaurant, which suffered significant damage, reopened that August after reconstruction.

"With insurance claims still backed up by bureaucracy, our road to financial recovery was knowingly long," Azevedo said. "Boston Nightlife Ventures would like to offer our sincere gratitude to Forum's incredible staff and to each and every one of our patrons, from our regulars to those who came in after the marathon to show their support. We cried together, we smiled together — none of these times will be forgotten."

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Bay State sued over
 campaign finance law

A conservative Arizona think-tank and two Bay State businesses filed suit yesterday to change a state campaign finance law that allows unions to contribute up to $15,000, but blocks businesses from doing the same.

"I don't have the same voice, the same horse in the race, as my friends in the unions," said Michael Kane, who owns 126 Self Storage in Ashland and is a director of the conservative Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance. "It's really about fairness and equity. We're not asking for anything more."

The Arizona-based Goldwater Institute filed suit in Suffolk Superior Court on behalf of 126 Self Storage and 1A Auto in Pepperell.

"There is no legitimate justification for allowing unions to contribute thousands of dollars to candidates, parties and political committees, while completely banning any contributions from businesses," the lawsuit says. "This lopsided ban on political contributions violates Plaintiffs' rights of equal protection, free speech, and free association protected by the Massachusetts and United States constitutions."

State law allows certain groups that do not have any corporate money, including unions, to donate up to $15,000 to candidates, but corporations are banned from making any campaign contributions.

Jason Tait, a spokesman for the Office of Campaign and Political Finance, declined to comment on pending litigation.

Steven Tolman, president of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, said businesses already have enough power and influence.

"It's shocking that a right-wing funded group would want to come up in Massachusetts and challenge or try to make an argument that corporations don't have enough political juice," Tolman said. "It's absolutely outrageous."

Massachusetts is one of seven states that allow union donations, but bar business contributions, Goldwater attorney James Manley said.

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Massachusetts may cut coastal building

Massachusetts is considering limiting development in "high-hazard" coastal areas after decades of vicious, costly storms and predictions of many more in years to come, according to a state commission's draft report.

The report by the Massachusetts Coastal Erosion Commission, created by the Legislature in 2013, says one way to reduce the impact of erosion and flooding on property, infrastructure and natural resources is by siting new development and substantial redevelopment away from such areas.

"The recommendation was to evaluate potential setback approaches," said Bruce K. Carlisle, a commission member and director of the state Office of Coastal Zone Management. "It stopped short of recommending a setback approach."

The report calls for, among other things, adopting the 2015 International Building Codes for structures in floodplains and assessing the impact of rising sea levels during regulatory review of coastal projects.

The report also recommends a voluntary program to buy back high-hazard or storm-damaged properties after cost/benefit analyses.

"This is a provision of the environmental bond bill ... that did pass the state Legislature last July, so that's the authorization, but it has to be appropriated," Carlisle said. "The secretary (of energy and environmental affairs' office) is looking at that provision, but that's really all we can say at this time."

Massachusetts is a state where people have long treasured their beachfront homes, but taxpayers and insurance rate payers have borne the brunt of the high cost of bailing out storm-ravaged homes.

Since 1978, Federal Emergency Management Agency payments for Massachusetts storms with coastal impacts such as flooding and erosion have totaled more than $600 million. Over the past 30 years, the average erosion rates range from 8.70 feet per year in Yarmouth on Cape Cod to 0.99 feet per year in West Tisbury on Martha's Vineyard.

"We as human beings want to live as close to the water as we can, but we have to realize we're not in control of everything," said Paul Schrader, a commission member who has lived in Sandwich for 18 years. "Climate change is causing more violent storms. If we don't take a cautious approach, then we suffer very sad consequences."

After a series of public hearings next month, the commission will issue a final report to the Legislature in the spring or summer, Carlisle said.

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Business Protocol: Use LinkedIn to stand out

LinkedIn, with 300 million users worldwide, takes networking to the stratosphere.

Forget Facebook, that's for connecting with friends. Twitter is too cryptic. Instagram, too visual.

LinkedIn is a perfect online portal to share your professional accomplishments and career ambitions. But don't treat it too casually.

When posting to Linked-

In, remember to use a professional writing style, post a professional headshot and be more selective in sharing news. You want to be tactical and strategic to stand out with recruiters.

As for your LinkedIn profile, craft a professional headline and summary which says you are ready for prime time. Your employment history should be accurate and cover 10 years — list more only if your background is particularly impressive or relevant.

Dates and information should be accurate; inconsistencies will be exposed and can kill your professional reputation.

When it comes to sharing profiles, promote those you believe would be a good fit. Forward job listings to others, where appropriate, and pave the way for introductions to others. ("Be a friend to get a friend.")

When it comes to adding photos, avoid you at the beach, partying, or looking provocative. They're all a turn-off for recruiters.

As for updates, maintain balance in your update frequency. Frequent updates on Twitter are acceptable, if not required, to show you get it.

On LinkedIn, keep your update topics professional. Post creative information and links; establish yourself as a resource.

When it comes to the all-important recommendations, follow these quick tips:

• Select a few (raving fans!) who can articulate how you distinguish yourself; let others speak on your behalf.

• Request recommendations from colleagues after you have worked for or with them for at least six months. Offer to provide talking points.

• Be careful of pressuring anyone to write a reference and give more than you receive.

When mulling a connection request, try calling the person first. You'll increase your chances of being successful. When accepting requests to connect, be discerning and personalize the message once you do welcome someone onboard.

But, remember no app or website will ever replace the impact of a one-on-one personal connection.

Judith Bowman is the president and founder of Protocol Consultants International and author of "Don't Take the Last Donut: New Rules of Business Etiquette" and "How to Stand Apart @ Work … Transforming Fine to Fabulous!" Email: Judith@ProtocolConsultants.com.

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The Ticker

Fed: Student loan 
deliquencies soar

Student loans had a higher delinquency rate than credit cards, auto loans and home mortgages over the past three years, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported recently.

Outstanding student loans in the country have reached $1.16 trillion, an increase of $77 billion from a year ago. About 11.3 percent were in default — more than 90 days delinquent — in the last quarter of 2014, compared with 11.1 percent in the previous quarter.

By comparison, 3.5 percent of car loans were past due, as were just 3.1 percent of mortgage loans.

"Although we've seen an overall improvement in delinquency rates since the Great Recession, the increasing trend in student loan balances and delinquencies is concerning," Donghoon Lee, research officer at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, said in a statement.

But even as borrowers struggle to make payments, more continue to jump into the loan pool to help finance their schooling. Moreover, the age of student-loan borrowers is creeping upward. More than a third are older than 40, according to the New York Fed's Liberty Street Economics blog.

Vermont defends Gruber contract

A top aide to Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin is defending the administration's handling of a contract with Massachusetts Institute of Technology health economist Jonathan Gruber, after criticisms were lodged by the state auditor.

Administration Secretary Justin Johnson made public his reply to Vermont Auditor Doug Hoffer, in which Johnson says officials in the state office of health care reform kept a close eye on work done by Gruber.

Hoffer says the evidence suggests that Gruber overstated the hours worked by a $100-per-hour research assistant, and that top state health care officials ignored the obvious signs that something was amiss.

The state rewrote its contract with Gruber after he generated national headlines when videos were released of him talking about the "stupidity of the American voter."

Today

 Standard & Poor's releases S&P/Case-Shiller index of home prices for December and the fourth quarter.

 The Conference Board releases the Consumer Confidence Index for February.

TOMORROW

 Commerce Department releases new home sales for January.

THE SHUFFLE

CBRE Group Inc. announced that Todd Trehubenko has joined CBRE Capital Markets' debt & structured finance team as senior vice president. Based in Boston, he will originate multifamily loans with a particular focus on FHA-insured debt. Trehubenko previously worked at Walker & Dunlop, and also served as CEO of Recap Real Estate Advisors in Boston.

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Boston.com hires two editors

Boston Globe affiliate website Boston.com yesterday announced the hiring of two new editors to "strengthen a website beset by controversy."

Editor Tim Molloy and Deputy Editor Kaitlyn Johnston will begin March 16.

"Bringing in two great, experienced journalists with sound judgment and strong experience can only improve our process for telling great stories," Corey Gottlieb, Boston.com's general manager, told the Herald. Molloy was the digital editor for the PBS news magazine "Frontline." Johnston was digital editor at Boston magazine.

Boston.com was stung when a former deputy editor hawked T-shirts poking fun of a Harvard professor embroiled in a $4 flap with a Chinese restaurant owner — a story she reported on — and posted an article accusing the professor of sending a racist email. Another editor was fired for making light of death threats to U.S. House Speaker John Boehner.

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IUDs, hormone implants growing more popular among US women

CHICAGO — Long-acting but reversible methods of birth control are becoming increasingly popular among U.S. women, with IUDs redesigned after safety scares and the development of under-the-skin hormone implants, a government report shows.

Birth control pills remain the most popular contraceptive method nationwide, but intrauterine devices and implants are more effective at preventing pregnancy and they last for several years.

Highlights of the new report, released Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

RISING USE

National surveys show 7 percent of U.S. reproductive-aged women used long-acting contraceptives in 2011-13, up from less than 2 percent in 2002. The most popular are IUDs, T-shaped devices containing hormones or copper that are inserted into the womb. They can work for up to about 10 years. Implants are matchstick-size plastic rods containing hormones that are inserted beneath the skin of the upper arm. They last about three years. Both types can cost hundreds of dollars but should be covered with no co-pays by most insurance plans under contraception mandates of the Affordable Care Act.

Long-acting contraceptives were used most by women in their mid-20s and 30s — 11 percent or more than double the rate in younger or older women. They were also more popular with women who had at least one child, versus those who'd never given birth. Use increased among whites, blacks and Hispanics from 2006-2013.

HISTORY

IUD use dropped sharply nationwide after serious complications linked with a now-defunct brand in the 1970s, but other brands have been redesigned. Hormonal implants using several small rods were introduced in the United States in the 1990s; single-rod implants became available about 10 years later.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommended IUDs and implants as the most effective forms of reversible birth control in 2011 and called them safe for most women. Both long-acting methods are nearly 100 percent effective, with lower failure rates than birth control pills, patches and injections.

The brief report suggests newer IUD designs and availability of implants that last as long as some IUDs may make these methods appealing for more women, though it doesn't include specific reasons for the rise in popularity. 

OTHER METHODS

Among the nearly 61 million U.S. women aged 15-44, almost two-thirds used some form of contraception in 2011-13, an earlier CDC report found. Pills were the most common, used by 16 percent. About 15 percent chose sterilization but its popularity declined during those years. About 9 percent chose male condoms, which unlike pills and long-acting forms, protect against sexually transmitted diseases.

___

Online:

CDC: http://tinyurl.com/86pez7a

___

AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/LindseyTanner

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Anti-vaccine mothers discuss their thinking amid backlash

LAKE OSWEGO, Ore.  — One is a businesswoman and an MBA graduate. Another is a corporate vice president. The third is a registered nurse.

These three mothers — all of them educated, middle-class professionals — are among the vaccine skeptics who have been widely ridiculed since more than 100 people fell ill in a measles outbreak traced to Disneyland. Critics question their intelligence, their parenting, even their sanity. Some have been called criminals for foregoing shots for their children that are overwhelmingly shown to be safe and effective.

"Contrary to the common sentiment, we are not anti-science," said Michelle Moore, a businesswoman who lives in the affluent Portland suburb of Lake Oswego with her 2½-year-old twin girls. "I'm not opposed to medicine, and I think vaccines have a place. We think it's a medical choice, and it should be researched carefully."

The backlash, much of it from people who fear unvaccinated children could infect their own kids, has been so severe that dozens of anti-vaccine parents contacted by The Associated Press were afraid to speak out. But a handful of mothers agreed to discuss their thinking.

Moore, an MBA graduate who runs an agriculture-related business, traces her feelings to the time she took Lariam, a supposedly safe anti-malaria medication. Instead, she said, the drug saddled her with multiple health complications. She questions whether the government knew about the risks at the time. Health officials now acknowledge Lariam can cause severe side effects, some of which can be permanent.

That experience broke Moore's trust in the medical establishment and launched her on years of research into how vaccines can affect people's health. When she got pregnant, Moore and her husband delayed immunization for Sierra and Savannah.

"It was not an easy decision," she said. "The thought of something happening to them because we chose not to vaccinate is terrifying. But I have so many questions, and I do think it's the right decision for our family."

Nancy Babcock of Spokane, Washington, says people who share her opinions "are being vilified and ostracized." Babcock, a vice president at a bank, told her daughter about her doubts. Then her daughter and her husband looked into the issue, and they decided not to immunize their two children.

"In a community with many young people, those who don't vaccinate are feeling a lot of pressure," she said.

Nationwide, parents who seek an exemption from vaccine requirements are still in a tiny minority. The median total exemption rate for kindergartners during the 2013-14 school year was just 1.8 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But some individual schools or communities have higher exemption rates, at times approaching 60 percent or more.

The parents who spoke to AP recounted spending hundreds of hours reviewing medical studies, books and news stories and networking on social media. They cited cases of children who were supposedly hurt by vaccines and the existence of a government-run vaccine injury-compensation program. And they worried about the oversight of pharmaceutical companies that reap profits from vaccines and are shielded from liability when a vaccine causes harm.

Moore said she read a 1998 study published in The Lancet journal by Dr. Andrew Wakefield, who raised the possibility of a link between the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine, bowel disease and autism. She said she knows the study was later discredited and retracted. She believes the research was inconclusive.

Moore concedes that the vast majority of studies show vaccines are safe, but she says some research points to inconsistencies, unknowns or negative effects that deserve further investigation.

And while autism is still a concern, Moore and others also worry about how exposure to chemicals, bad nutrition and stress can affect genes and health. They say large doses of synthetic additives found in vaccines, including aluminum and mercury, can harm the immune and digestive systems and brain.

The CDC has phased out a mercury-containing preservative in vaccines as a precautionary measure, and the agency says vaccines containing aluminum pose extremely low risk to infants.

These parents say they should be able to decide whether their child undergoes a medical procedure — a decision, they say, that goes to the core of what it means to have freedom of choice.

"I have the right to decide what to put into my child's body," said Heather Dillard, a mom in Springfield, Missouri, who is also a registered nurse. "Nobody has the right to put toxic chemicals into my son's bloodstream. That's taking my rights away, and it's very scary to me."

Dillard said she decided against vaccinating because her first child was born a preemie and has autism. Dillard does not believe vaccines caused the autism, but the disease led her to do a lot of research about health. She says she now chooses to build her son's immunity naturally, through diet, while avoiding shots or other medication.

Moore said she does worry about affecting children who are immune-compromised and cannot be vaccinated. Before visiting friends with babies or young children, she said, she always informs them her twins are not vaccinated "so they have the power to make a choice." She also keeps the girls home at any sign of sickness.

If Oregon were to take away the right to a vaccine exemption, Moore said, she would likely home-school her twins. She's keeping an open mind about vaccinating as her children get older, but hopes more studies on the long-term effects of vaccines can help dispel her doubts.

"I worry about living in a society that's progressively more intolerant toward any dissent," Moore said. "All scientific advances have come from questioning the status quo."

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Booting Up: Laptop security hole puts buyers at risk, damages trust in company

When the government issues a warning about someone else's potential electronic spying, you're bound to feel as if we're teetering on the edge of a 1984 dystopia.

But that's exactly what happened on Friday, when the Department of Homeland Security warned that Lenovo — a highly regarded manufacturer of computers — had "spyware" 
preinstalled on consumer laptops that could expose secure communications to hackers.

Companies pay big bucks to pre-load their insidious programs on computers. In this case, the controversial software came from a Silicon Valley startup called Superfish, which has pioneered visual recognition technology. Its software captures images of products that users view online and then shows them ads for similar products. Security experts say Superfish also installs its own fake certification on computers to trick Internet browsers into giving it access to secure connections.

Even worse, the Superfish software on certain Lenovo laptops also allows hackers access to those connections. The software has security holes that enable hackers to spoof secure websites and steal critical data. So when users visit secured or encrypted websites such as banks and credit card companies, their information can be easily stolen, according to security experts and the government.

"This means websites, such as banking and email, can be spoofed without a warning from the browser," wrote the cybersecurity division of Homeland Security in a statement, calling the Superfish program a "critical vulnerability" that could 
allow a remote attacker "to read all encrypted web browser traffic, successfully impersonate (spoof) any website, or perform other attacks on the affected system."

For its part, Superfish has said the vulnerability was "introduced unintentionally by a third party." Lenovo has apologized to customers and released a software tool on Friday allowing customers to remove the Superfish code from their laptops.

Both Superfish and Lenovo are in damage-control mode. And neither has adequately taken responsibility for the spyware scandal. The truth is there's no reason any non-critical software should be bundled with laptops to begin with. At best, this scandal exposes a chilling lack of oversight on what gets installed on machines. At worst, it exposes something nefarious. Either way, Lenovo has sold out its customers.

This controversy couldn't come at a worse time for Lenovo as the company faces growing competition from Microsoft's Surface line of PCs. Those computers, by the way, do not come with adware whatsoever.

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Startups innovate to attract young talent

Constrained by limits on time, staff and money, many Bay State startups are relying on small meet-and-greet events to find top talent from Boston-area schools — students who might 
otherwise be lured away by larger companies here, in New York or in Silicon 
Valley.

"These small enterprises are heads down, working on their startups," said Pat Larkin, director of the Innovation Institute at the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, or MassTech, a public agency working to support the state's economy. "They don't have the resources to send teams of recruiters to college campuses. So these events are a godsend to them."

Last Thursday, MassTech, the nonprofit hack/reduce and the New England Venture Capital Association hosted the first "Start It Up: Company Showcase for Students" at hack/reduce's Cambridge headquarters to help connect students with some of the Boston area's hottest tech startups.

"We're casting a wide net to find the best and the brightest, people who are high-energy, hardworking and creative," said Adam Fuchs, chief technology officer at SQRRL, a Cambridge software company that does data analytics for cybersecurity. "Going to a headhunter is our worst possible fallback. They find good people, but they're expensive. An event like this allows us to contact students directly, which helps you find better people."

Venues like "Start It Up" also help get the word out about new companies that are based on new ideas.

"We ourselves have a large education gap to attack," said Jay Greenberg, co-founder and CEO of Boston's LexShares, which crowdfunds commercial litigation. "When I tell someone what we do, they look at me like I have three heads. An event like this increases our exposure to students and students' exposure to us. So it's mutually beneficial."

LexShares, SQRRL and the other startups offered crash courses in their companies, and students have time afterward to meet the executives.

Shshank Chawathay, 25, of Waltham is a graduate student in marketing 
analytics at Bentley University who's shopping for an internship.

"My ideal company is one that's open to new ideas; you should be able to approach any manager without any restrictions," he said, "And when you go to work, you should learn something 
every day."

Chawathay prefers venues like "Start It Up" to recruiting events on campus, where company executives sometimes meet hundreds of students in one day "and are less likely to remember you."

"In a small setting like this," he said, "you can interact with people and make more of an impression."

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Plugged-in blower is no ordinary Joe

Snow Joe SJ623E Ultra Electric Snow Thrower (SnowJoe.com, $249.99)

This review was done under duress, following the untimely demise of a lesser snowblower that was no match for the unprecedented snow accumulations in my Charlestown patio and driveway.

I had this electric snowblower overnighted in a panic last week.

With an 18-inch clearing width, 20-watt halogen light, 15 amp motor and strong metal blades, this little guy arrived just in time for yet more snow.

The good: Unlike a battery-powered snowblower that might last 45 minutes, this machine plugs into an outlet.

With less maintenance than gas-powered blowers require, the Snow Joe is light, powerful, and blows snow more than a hundred feet away.

The bad: The power cord has to be purchased separately.

The bottom line: Need to clear a foot or more of snow in a pinch? Look no further than this quality device from Snow Joe.

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Getting homes shown this winter ‘daunting’

More than 8 feet of snow has put a damper on a Boston-area real estate market already constrained by limited inventory — creating logistical issues for home-sellers, buyers and real estate agents — but opportunity awaits for those undaunted by the weather.

"It's really light these past four or five weeks because people won't put their house on the market," said broker Glenna M. Gelineau, owner of Gelineau & Associates RE in Waltham. "Not to mention people don't want to come out in this weather."

Streets are hard to navigate, snow mounds are so high that for sale signs are buried, and buyers can't identify homes that are on the market.

"It's just daunting," Gelineau said. "It's dangerous. There's no parking. People have ice dams. They don't want snow trucked through their house. They have their own problems. It's just one whole layer to life that, unless people are absolutely under the gun, they'll say, 'I'll (list) it when the snow dissipates.'"

Home inspections can't be completed because homes and their foundations are covered in snow.

"(An) issue right now being presented by the ice dams is potential damage being done to a listing and the fact that either renovations or other temporary measures have to be taken before the property can be shown," said John Dul-
czewski, executive director of the Greater Boston Association of Realtors.

There also are liability issues for homeowners if buyers slip or fall on their property, said Michael Carucci, president of Group Boston Real Estate.

"Then, of course, we have the issue of no school and a bunch of kids at home," he said. "We typically don't like to show property when the owner is actually home. Where are they going to go in this weather — outside for three hours?"

Carucci has in excess of $10 million in inventory that won't hit the market until spring because of the weather. But there is a bright side, he said.

"My view is anybody out there in weather like this is seriously qualified," he said. "I don't think you're going to have tire-kickers out there."

And inventory is so light — a pre-existing issue exacerbated by the snow — that people are jumping at available opportunities.

Linda Burnett, a Realtor at Keller Williams Realty Boston-Metro, listed a four-bedroom West Roxbury colonial for $699,000 on Feb. 9, in the midst of another snowstorm, and had it under agreement the next Monday.

With more snow in the forecast, she shortened the normal open house schedule to that Saturday for 2.5 hours and asked real estate agents to show up in one car with their clients because of parking constraints. She brought in "staging" furniture for the house in between storms, along with shoe covers and extra boot trays.

"We had over 30 parties visiting the open house," Burnett said. "That's like an open house on a perfect day in June. If anybody is considering putting their house on the market during this horrible weather, I recommend doing that because there's no inventory. People who are motivated will really do well."

Eight offers were submitted for the West Roxbury home, and it sold for significantly more than the asking price, Burnett said.

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Machinima cuts staff, shuts some channels after new financing

Just because Machinima secured $24 million in new funding doesn't make it immune to some belt-tightening.

The digital content network laid off 13 of its 90 employees Friday, according to sources, as well as a few part-time staffers. The eliminated positions were all production jobs tied to programming being discontinued at Machinima.

Machinima Respawn, a gaming-themed YouTube channel that was once one of Machinima's most popular and longest-running attractions, is being canceled, as are some of the programs on another of its YouTube channels, Machinima Live. Also axed was a Machinima series titled "Ten FTW."

Staff assembled at Machinima headquarters Friday were told that the cuts were necessary due to the declining popularity of the programming with users and advertisers.

A spokeswoman for the company confirmed the cuts, and issued a statement on behalf of the company.

"As Machinima positions itself for the future, we must focus resources toward high-growth opportunities. Toward that end, today Machinima released 13 production staff associated with Respawn, TFTW and certain shows on Machinima LIVE as this content was simply not delivering the monetization that supports our path to profitability. Machinima is in development on its expanded 2015-16 original programming slate, details of which will be unveiled at its Newfront presentation on May 4. Separately, the company also has 15 open positions associated with programming, talent development, business intelligence, sales, marketing, product development and engineering."

The layoffs were the first round of cuts at Machinima since CEO Chad Gutstein came in nearly one year ago. Prior to his hire, the struggling company withstood several rounds of layoffs. Machinima was once one of the most popular multichannel networks on the Internet, but languished for years until recovering some momentum in 2014.

Warner Bros., which took an $18 million stake in Machinima last year, led a new round of financing Thursday that also included investments from Redpoint Venture, MK Capital, Coffin Capital and Allen DeBevoise.

© 2015 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

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Montreal knows where to stick snow

After roughly 8 feet of snow in three weeks, mammoth snowbanks everywhere and a problem-plagued public transit system, many Bostonians are thinking there's got to be a better way to deal with snow.

In Montreal, which has been pounded by about 8 feet of snow this winter, once precipitation starts, crews go to work, spreading salt on sidewalks and streets. Once the snow reaches an inch, the city deploys 1,000 pieces of equipment manned by as many workers to begin clearing both sidewalks and streets.

"Our citizens don't have to shovel sidewalks," in contrast to Boston, Jacques Lacavallee, a city spokesman, said.

By the time the snow reaches 6 inches, Montreal deploys 2,200 pieces of equipment and 3,000 workers.

"It's literally an army that takes over the city," Lacavallee said. "This is part of our daily life, unlike you guys, who have been caught by surprise."

Small plows tackle the sidewalks, while two trucks working side by side clear the roads. One is essentially a huge blower that eats up the snow and then spits it out through a tube on top into an adjacent dump truck.

The trucks carts the snow away to one of 12 city-owned lots, or to one of 16 chutes connected to a water-
treatment unit, where salt, dirt and other impurities are removed.

The end result? Fresh water.

Unlike Boston's 118-year-old subway system — America's oldest — Montreal's is only 49 years old and, as far as Lacavallee can remember, has shut down only once — in 1972.

Bonnie McGilpin, a spokeswoman for Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh, said the mayor's Office of New Urban Mechanics has reached out to companies and professors from local universities, searching for innovative ways to deal with the record snow.

"One thing to keep in mind about Montreal," McGilpin said, is that its snow removal budget is $153 million, or 3.2 percent of its total budget, whereas Boston's is $18.5 million, or 0.7 percent of total spending.

Boston's streets also are not wide enough to accommodate the kind of large snowblowers and dump trucks that make their way, side by side, down Montreal's roads, she said.

Boston's Public Works Department uses more than 600 pieces of equipment during the height of storms to clear the streets. The snow is then brought to as many as 10 snow farms throughout the city, McGilpin said.

Since the first winter storm at the end of January, McGilpin said, the department has removed nearly 22,000 truckloads of snow, plowed 287,743 miles of roadway, put down more than 76,152 tons of salt and plowed for 180,314 hours.

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Lenders easing requirements for mortgages

WASHINGTON — A closely watched index that tracks mortgage credit availability — lender requirements on credit scores, down payments and other key loan terms — has some good news for potential homebuyers: Things are finally loosening up.

After years of progressively tighter rules on borrower eligibility in the wake of the housing bust, banks and mortgage companies have begun modestly easing their requirements and even expanding the types of mortgages they offer. The Mortgage Bankers Association's latest credit availability index reported improvements in all four of its loan categories during January. The improvements mainly reflect positive lender responses to government efforts to ease regulations and improve affordability in the housing market — all of which means an improved environment for mortgage shoppers.

Among the initiatives: Giant investor Fannie Mae's allowing of purchases of conventional mortgages with as little as 3 percent down. Freddie Mac, another major investor, is planning to begin similar 3 percent down loan purchases for mortgages closed on or after March 23. According to Mike Fratantoni, chief economist for the mortgage banker's group, "roughly 40 percent of investors" already have begun offering the Fannie 3 percent down program. The guidelines for the Freddie Mac program are in lenders' hands and there's likely to be a strong rollout for it.

Also contributing to better affordability: the Federal Housing Administration's reduction late last month of its costly upfront mortgage insurance premiums, a move that could expand eligibility for home purchases to thousands of buyers, according to industry estimates. Virtually all lenders who work with the FHA program began offering the lower mortgage insurance premiums when the reduction took effect in late January. FHA insures loans with down payments as low as 3.5 percent.

Brad Blackwell, executive vice president of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, the country's largest-volume mortgage originator, is certain about what's underway in the market: "Things are looking better for homebuyers and refinancers" ­— not only in terms of underwriting requirements, but in the cost of credit as well.

Wells Fargo has been "gradually opening up the credit box," Blackwell told me in an interview, in part because of helpful policy clarifications and changes at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Those changes give lenders greater confidence in lending to a broader spectrum of borrowers, including those who don't have high credit scores and ready cash for big down payments. For example, he said, though the bank previously had a credit score minimum — 660 FICO on conventional loan applications — now it requires no hard and fast minimum. Instead, if Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's automated underwriting systems accept the application — say you've got a relatively low credit score, but strong compensating factors such as solid income, ample reserves and a large-enough down payment — the bank won't say no to you solely because of the low score. This could be especially important to people who had tough economic experiences during the recession that damaged their credit, but who are now excellent candidates for a loan. On FHA applications, the bank will now accept FICO scores as low as 600, down from its previous 640 standard.

Wells Fargo also has relaxed its policy on gifts to borrowers by relatives and friends to defray part of the down payment and closing costs. On conventional loans with 5 percent or lower down payments, Wells Fargo previously required borrowers to contribute at least 5 percent of the total costs from their own financial resources. Now that's been cut to 3 percent, which allows for more generous gift assistance.

Some major real estate firms confirm that they are seeing the first signs of credit easing by mortgage lenders, but that most potential first time and move-up borrowers are not yet aware of the changes.

Bottom line: If you've been stuck on the home buying sidelines, check out what's going on. Talk to lenders and mortgage brokers. Who knows? Maybe the opening of the credit box, even if it's just a crack, might be enough to help you buy a house at today's near-historic low rates.

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