Jacobson Out
One of Boston‘s most-beloved daughters seems to have moved on again. Natalie Jacobson, the longtime news anchor at WCVB-TV Channel 5 who signed off for good in July 2007, has sold her South End condo at 505 Tremont St.
Jacobson bought the two-bedroom condo in 2004 for $1.56 million, and it fetched $2.05 million this time around, according to The Warren Group, The Teller’s publisher and commander.
Who was Jacobson’s buyer? Glen Davis. But not Glen "Big Baby" Davis, the Boston Celtics’ forward; instead a Glen F. Davis, who the Teller doesn’t think is in the NBA (well, maybe for the Memphis Grizzlies). Big Baby’s actual name is Ronald Glen Davis. Who knew?
Anyway, according to a somewhat fawning feature on Jacobson in The Boston Globe in November 2008, when the former newsie isn’t sailing around the world or flying a plane (seriously), she is working on a social networking Web site for baby boomers called MyNextBigThing.com. Apparently retirement is so awesome, retirees need help figuring out just what to do with all their free time.
It was nice to hear Jacobson’s clear, straightforward cadence again in the site’s welcoming video, but The Teller’s visit to MyNextBigThing.com left us saying … huh? Maybe The Teller is still looking for our first big thing.
Finally Ready for Readiness
What do Boston, Harvard University, and Six Flags: New England have in common? (How about that set up? The Teller was going to go with something about employing clowns, but…) They have all been certified by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) as StormReady.
On May 20, Boston became one of 1,462 StormReady sites across the U.S., Puerto Rico and Guam, although there are only seven other communities in Massachusetts that have qualified (way to go, Carver!).
Boston upgraded communications and weather monitoring systems, created a weather emergency operations center, and updated emergency plans for warning and evacuating schools and businesses in the city.
The city will also have to send emergency managers to National Weather Service training seminars, and is on the hook to host such a seminar in the near future.
By becoming a StormReady community, the city also becomes eligible for discounts on the National Flood Insurance Program.
It seems Boston residents won’t have to worry about the Mass Pike being backed up for six hours during routine snowstorms anymore – just whenever toll workers call in sick on holidays.
Foreclosure Prevention: Who Needs It?
You have to hand it to our state senators and representatives, because clearly they do their research. They must have advance scouts and assistants poring over public documents, quickly compiling and collating foreclosure data.
Because last week when The Warren Group announced recorded foreclosure deeds were down 43.8 percent in April year-over-year, and petitions to foreclosure dropped 39.5 percent of the same period, both the House and Senate had already removed funding for foreclosure prevention program grants from their budgets.
These competitive grants were administered by the Division of Banks (DOB) and paid for by mortgage loan originator licensing fees. They funded first-time homebuyer foreclosure prevention seminars held by 22 nonprofits across the state. In 2007, $2 million was earmarked for the programs; in 2008, that was reduced to $1 million.
This year, the language authorizing the DOB to give these grants was removed from both the Senate’s and House’s budgets, although it remained on Gov. Deval Patrick‘s slate.
The folks at the Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association (CHAPA) aren’t so sure it’s the right time to send first-time homebuyers out on their own, however. They successfully spearheaded a budget amendment in the House, and a corresponding amendment is pending in the Senate, to again add the grants’ authorizing language, pulling them back from the brink.
