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A familiar player brings amenity back to Wells Ave

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A familiar player brings amenity back to Wells Ave

Could the days of applicants scheduling job interviews just to qualify for unemployment benefits be behind us?
 
In order to qualify for UI in Massachusetts, applicants are required to schedule interviews with prospective employers and report their interviews weekly to the state.
 
But they're not required to show up for the interview.
 
That would change under a proposed bill that would disqualify no-show applicants from benefits. It would also create an on line portal for businesses to report 'no-shows' for scheduled interviews, reports Christian M. Wade at Salem News.
 
Sen. Diana DiZoglio, a Democratic candidate for state auditor, filed the bill saying businesses have a legitimate gripe that enforcement of the state's work search requirements needs to be strengthened.
 
Massachusetts offers the most generous jobless benefits in the nation, Wade notes. The Washington, D.C.-based Tax Foundation ranked Massachusetts' unemployment insurance tax system the "worst in the nation" in a recent business climate report.
 
The chances of the late-filed bill passing this session is uncertain. 
 
YMCA bringing missed amenity back to Wells Ave.
 
The long-closed Boston Sports Club on Wells Ave. in Newton will soon become a second branch of the West Suburban YMCA.
 
The Newton Y purchased the property for a reported $12.8 million, thanks in large part to an anonymous $3 million donation, the largest in the non-profit’s history.
The 135 Wells Ave. property includes a nearly 61,000-square-foot building that is already equipped with a four-lane swimming pool, fitness area, indoor track and a multipurpose field house for sports and activities.
 
The YMCA will also continue operations out of its current Newton Corner facility at 276 Church St., where the Y has been located since 1914. Members will be able to use both facilities.
 
The new location is scheduled to open in the fall once renovations are complete.
 
The sale ends years of speculation surrounding the location. Real estate broker Jeremy Freid, at 128 CRE fielded some 360 proposals since his firm began marketing the site in 2019, according to the Real Reporter.
 
The property has been envisioned for projects that could have yielded a bigger return, Freid said, for everything from life sciences and inner suburban office buildings to a 334-unit housing project rejected by the city council.
 
Not out of the COVID woods
 
China is facing its biggest COVID 19 outbreak since the start of the pandemic two years ago. Factories are closed in some areas. Buses and subways have shut down.
 
Not only is that an obvious concern for hopes that the pandemic is in the rear view mirror, but shut downs and new restrictions will create new supply chain disruptions, particularly for Toyota, Apple and other tech giants, reports Fortune.
 
Parts of Europe are seeing an uptick too.
 
And then there’s those reports from the World Health Organization, confirming the emergence of a new COVID-19 variant dubbed, you guessed it, deltacron — a hybrid strain that combines both the delta and omicron variants. (Still better than naming it after a bird.)
 
But experts say it's too early to be concerned about deltacron because of its low case count so far.
 
Veteran economic development director to retire
 
Our congratulations and thanks to Devra Bailin, Newton’s Economic Development Director, who will be retiring next month after three years in her position.
 
Bailin came to Newton in 2019 after serving in the same position in Needham for nine years.
 
Devra Bailin
The Wellesley College and Harvard Law School graduate was also a member of our chamber’s Board of Directors for nine years and has been active with a number of chamber committees over the years, including the group that oversaw the creation of our N-Squared economic development plan and a number of our Shop Local initiatives.
 
Bailin brought tenacity and passion to her work and, in spite of an often-challenging environment, somehow always managed to answer her phone with a smile.
 
We’re grateful for her service. 
 
St. Paddy's political roast returns Saturday
 
After two years of COVID cancellations, the annual St Paddy’s Day Newton Political Breakfast is happening once again at Dunn-Gaherin’s Food & Spirits this Saturday (March 19) at 11 a.m.
 
The locally themed roast will feature monologues and shenanigans from local officials, activists and candidates for state wide political office. It's free and everyone is invited.
 
After the event, head outside to the parking lot for the Pop Up Market and sample all sorts of wares from local small businesses, followed by lunch at Dunn-Gaherin's starting at 1 p.m.
 
Needham Business Awards nominations due today
 
Nominations close today for our annual Needham Business Awards. The awards recognize Needham-based businesses and individuals who've had a special impact in town.
 
Another restaurant sues insurance provider
 
Davio’s Northern Italian Steakhouse has become the latest business to sue it's insurance company for not covering pandemic business losses, Greg Ryan at the BBJ reports.
 
Liquor retail cap change proposed
 
The Massachusetts Package Stores Association has proposed a change to state liquor licensing laws to double the number of allowable licenses any one retailer can hold to 18 by 2031, but to reduce the cap on licenses for the sale of all alcoholic beverages - beer, wine and liquor - from nine to seven, according to State House News’ Matt Murphy.
 
The proposal wending its way toward the November ballot would also put new rules in place prohibiting self-checkout of alcoholic beverages and allowing retailers to accept out-of-state IDs.
 
The initiative is opposed by supermarket and convivence store groups, including Cumberland Farms, Whole Foods and the Retailers Association of Massachusetts.
 
Charlie on the MTA would have had an even longer journey
 
Imagine being able to take the Green Line from Needham Center (or even Birds Hill) to Woburn.
 
MBTA 1940s map
That was the vision back in the 1940s, when regional planers envisioned a low fair subway system that would have not only extended the Green Line through Needham but also the ability to ride away to Lynn (without falling in) as well as Lexington, Dedham and Winchester.
 
Alas, it did not come to pass, writes Emily Sweeney at the Globe, who also shares a map showing the routes (dotted lines were proposed, the solid lines existed at the time).
 
And what problem were planners trying to address back then?
 
Traffic, of course.
 
“A modern system of rapid transit such as we have recommended will go to the root of the problem and provide transportation in the metropolitan area at reasonable rates as well as solve the traffic problem,” they wrote in their 1947 report.
 
 “People living in the suburbs of Boston would find that rapid transit would give them faster, cheaper and more comfortable service than they can expect to get from their automobiles or from buses. They will, therefore, patronize the system in increasing numbers, and therein lies the solution of the matter of deficits.”
 
 
 
That’s Need to Knows for today -- the Ides of March -- unless you want to know about an idea being tested at Walgreens and other retailers that shoppers really seem to hate (summed up in this profanity-laced Tic Tok here).
 
Greg Reibman (he, him)
President
Charles River Regional Chamber
617.244.1688
 
 
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