ARLINGTON—Never mind Obama-Romney: "Following a citizen's petition, Arlington Selectmen Monday scheduled a Special Town Meeting next month to reconsider a ban of gas-powered leaf blowers approved in May." [Boston.com]
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SOUTH END—Affordable-housing tenants are pushing back against rent hikes, and they may not be alone: "Rutland Housing is just one of more than 900 such privately owned, low-income developments across Massachusetts, incorporated in the '70s and '80s as a short-term, cost-effective solution for public housing. Today, they are ticking time bombs in gentrifying neighborhoods like the South End, as the low-income contracts run out one by one." [Phoenix]