{"id":376150,"date":"2026-07-16T23:34:26","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T23:34:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/376150\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T23:34:26","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T23:34:26","slug":"chelsea-wants-to-bring-residents-behind-the-scenes-at-city-hall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/376150\/","title":{"rendered":"Chelsea wants to bring residents behind the scenes at City Hall"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor’s Note: This is an excerpt from WBUR’s daily morning newsletter, WBUR Today. If you like what you read and want it in your inbox, sign up here<\/a>. <\/p>\n

There’s still an air quality alert<\/a> in place through today due to the smoky skies. High levels of pollution can impact older people, children and those with lung or respiratory issues, so think about staying indoors or at least limiting strenuous outdoor activities. You can check out photos of yesterday’s dystopian-looking sky here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Let’s breeze by the news:<\/p>\n

Cue the “Schoolhouse Rock!” Have you ever wondered how your city or town chooses which roads to pave? Or what goes into assessing the value of a home? The city of Chelsea wants its residents to know all that and more, which is why it’s offering its first Civic Leadership Academy. It’s kind of like a citizens police academy, except for all those municipal functions that you never really think about, like\u00a0budgeting and human resources. Devon Fields, Chelsea’s deputy city manager of operations, told WBUR’s Dan Guzman that they want to demystify how government works. “In a time where trust in government is maybe at an all-time low, it makes even more sense for us to double down and really invest the time and resources in this,” she told Dan. Applications<\/a> for the free 11-week session this fall are due Aug. 14, and\u00a0any Chelsea resident over 16 can apply. Only 20 people will be selected for this session.<\/p>\n

\tFields said there are some other not-so-secret motivations for\u00a0the academy: getting more people volunteering for boards and committees \u2014 and maybe even running for public office. \tThe city also wants to arm residents with knowledge they can’t get in their local Facebook group. And Fields hopes academy graduates will pass on what they learn \u2014 both in person and in those Facebook comment threads. “\u200aI’m really seeing this as something that will pay us dividends moving forward because we will hopefully have not only a more engaged resident population, but they’ll be telling their friends,” she said. \tChelsea isn’t the first city to offer something like this. Other civics academies have been held in communities like Amherst<\/a>, Watertown<\/a>, Lexington<\/a>, Danvers<\/a> and Barnstable<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Parasite watch:\u00a0Cyclosporiasis cases<\/a> are exploding across the country, especially in Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky. That’s leading to lots of extra produce washing<\/a> for prevention or \u2014 if you’re unlucky and catch it \u2014 diarrhea. (The parasite spreads through fecal matter on fresh fruits and veggies.) So far, though, there isn’t any evidence of clusters of cases here in Mass., health officials say. It’s still worth watching out for.<\/p>\n

\tDarin Detwiler, a food safety expert and Northeastern University professor, told WBUR’s Amy Sokolow that some people are more vulnerable than others to the intestinal infection. “The very young, the elderly, those who are pregnant, those with a compromised immune system,” he said. “These are the ones who are most likely to seek medical attention, to be hospitalized.” Detwiler added that symptoms don’t appear until about a week after exposure, making the source hard to track. The infection can usually be treated with antibiotics.<\/p>\n

Rent’s due: Well, this is good news. Rents are down across Greater Boston. New data from Realtor.com<\/a> show that rents dropped around 4% in June, compared to the same time last year. WBUR’s Zeninjor Enwemeka reports the drop is attributed to higher vacancies, which may be caused by a drop in international students due to stricter visa policies<\/a>. Jiayi Xu, an economist with Realtor.com, told Zeninjor the slight dip in rent ($124 on average) probably doesn’t feel like much of a relief. “Boston is still very expensive,” she said. “So more constructions are needed for the renters in this market.”<\/p>\n

\tXu specifically highlighted how permitting for multifamily homes has declined over the last few years \u2014 think the iconic New England triple deckers. More of those types of homes would help make living here more affordable. \tBut, Zeninjor reports, local codes disincentivize smaller buildings, particularly those between three and 24 units. A recent Boston Foundation report found that smaller buildings are subject to the same rules as bigger buildings, making small multifamily homes unattractive for developers to build.<\/p>\n

P.S. \u2014 The men’s World Cup final is set, after defending champ Argentina scored two late goals to best England yesterday<\/a>. Lionel Messi and the Argentina national team will take on Spain for the championship Sunday at 3 p.m. Wondering where to catch the match? Check out our Weekender newsletter (hitting inboxes Saturday morning) for all your watch party planning. And if you’re not already signed up, you can do that here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Editor’s Note: This is an excerpt from WBUR’s daily morning newsletter, WBUR Today. If you like what you…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":376151,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[168,170,169],"class_list":["post-376150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lubbock","tag-lubbock","tag-lubbock-headlines","tag-lubbock-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=376150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/376151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}