Good morning,

Want to put your business in front of a fall crowd? Vendor and booth registration is open for these upcoming events. Admission is free at all of them:

• Watertown’s Faire on the Square, Sept. 19 (registration closes today, Aug. 28)
• Brookline Day, Sept. 27
• Multi-Chamber Expo, Waltham, Oct. 1
• Needham’s Harvest Fair, Oct. 5

BID Needham's next chapter takes shape

Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital–Needham President John Fogarty is retiring in January.

But before he goes, the hospital's longtime leader hopes to set the stage for a major campus expansion.

At this week's Needham Planning Board meeting, Fogarty outlined early plans amid the hospital's rapid growth.

"In my 15 years, [we’ve] been through substantial change and become an incredibly high-growth hospital," he said, pointing to a chart showing sharp increases across nearly every hospital metric, including an emergency room that's almost doubled in volume and an employment base up 68%.

The proposed building, located right across Chestnut St., could house surgery, primary care, women's health, digestive health and behavioral health — all areas seeing rising demand.

Specific building designs are still a ways off.  Fogarty plans to begin community outreach soon, with the goal of bringing zoning changes to Town Meeting next spring.

Under Fogarty, the hospital expanded clinical services, including breast screening, outpatient and surgical programs, hand surgery and wound care and built a comprehensive Cancer Center, Surgical Pavilion and a new outpatient clinic.

Another big Brookline move for City Realty

City Realty — the same company that secured Brookline Town Meeting approval to build a major mixed-use development along Route 9 — has now acquired a six-property Coolidge Corner portfolio for $23 million, reports Bisnow.

The sale includes 49 residential units and three commercial spaces across 65,000 SF. The portfolio is 96% occupied.

The properties are at 223 and 229-231 St. Paul St., 26-28 Browne St., 395-397 Harvard St., 7 Naples Road and, in photo, 1343 Beacon St.

A chance to weigh in on swipe fees

If you're a small business owner frustrated by those bottom-line-busting high credit card processing fees, here's a chance to do something about it.

A federal judge in June gave preliminary approval to a multibillion-dollar settlement between Visa, Mastercard and the merchants who sued them over interchange fees.

Sounds like a win. But it's not much of one, according to the Retailers Association of Mass and other business groups we look to for guidance on this issue.

The deal trims interchange rates by just 0.1 percentage points for five years, caps standard consumer card rates at 1.25% for eight years and loosens a few surcharging rules. In exchange, merchants give up the right to challenge these fees again, ever. Networks stay free to raise other fees to make up the difference.

The court has questioned whether merchant objections represent 12 million businesses or just a handful of big chains complaining.

That's where the voice of small businesses matters.

Want this settlement rejected and a real deal negotiated? Add your name to the objection letter by Sept. 1. Sign the letter here.

Want the backstory? NerdWallet has a rundown.

Friday grab bag

• Greater Boston was ranked the No. 1 best metro area for work in the inaugural Best Cities for Work index by Indeed Hiring Lab.
  
  
• Watertown’s cable access station,WCA-TV’s Maya Shwayder recorded excellent separate interviews with Sen. Will Brownsberger and challenger Daniel Lander.
  
  
• And here’s the video of the chamber’s business-focused debate between Brownsberger and Lander, as well as our video from the state rep contest between incumbent Rep. John Lawn and challenger Newton City Councilor Alison Leary.
  
  
• Now that Jay Spencer has sold the beloved French Press Bakery & Cafe, Kay Matipa at the Needham Observer introduces us to Arthur Davtian, the new owner and Spencer’s long-time pastry chef.
  
  
• One of Brookline’s best butchers is a vegan. (Brookline.news)
  
  
• After years of planning and a $200+ million investment of community resources, Watertown celebrates the grand opening of its state-of-the-art new high school on Wednesday (Sept. 2) from 3-8 p.m.  I’ll look for you at the open house.
  
  
• Newton has added a new page to its city website explaining immigrant and bystander rights amid ongoing ICE activity.
  
  
• The SBA is offering low-interest federal disaster loans for eligible small businesses and private nonprofit organizations impacted by drought beginning May 12. Eligible counties include Middlesex and Norfolk. Applicants may call the SBA Customer Service Center with questions at (800) 659-2955 or email disastercustomerservice@sba.gov.
  
  
• A reminder: It’s not how you start a race; it’s how you finish.
  
  
• The Wellesley Health Department is offering grants for programs supporting Wellesley residents and businesses focused on prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery from substance use disorder. Details.
  
  
• Rep. Jake Auchincloss resigned from the Congressional Dads Caucus, after its chair, California Rep. Jimmy Gomez, became the subject of a sexual misconduct investigation. (Notus)
  
  
• What’s the fastest way to get from one end of Beacon Street in Brookline to the other — car, bike or Green Line? Brookline.News put all three to the test. I’d like to see a rematch once schools are back in session and fewer people are on vacation.
  
  
• The Economic Development Bill, currently being negotiated on Beacon Hill, includes three major housing reforms that we support: YIGBY, duplexes by-right, and site plan review. Our friends at CHAPA have created this page to make it easy to contact legislators.

Newton climate team reshuffle: Reorg or retreat?

Newton Mayor Marc Laredo has reorganized the city's approach to sustainability and dismissed Ann Berwick after a decade as the city's co-director of climate and sustainability. Berwick previously served as the state's undersecretary for energy and chair of the Department of Public Utilities.

That’s led Jordan Wolman at CommonWealth Beacon to ask if the move represents a municipal reorganization, as Laredo portrays it, or is “a sign of retreat” for one of “the state’s most climate-forward communities.”

Read what Laredo, City Councilor Susan Albright and Berwick have to say.

Also from Jordan: Melissa Hoffer is leaving her cabinet post as the nation’s first state-level climate chief.

What’s on business leaders’ minds? Clark heard plenty

On Tuesday, a group of chamber member executives sat down in Watertown with Congresswoman and House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark.

It was a chance to hear Clark's priorities — but more importantly, a chance for members of our recently formed President’s Circle to share concerns.

And there was plenty: tariffs, federal research cuts, changes at the FDA, commercial and residential housing, the construction business, pressure on the health care system, workforce attraction and retention, immigration, AI and, yes, the November midterms.

Thanks to Phil Borden and Labshares for hosting and inviting several biotech startup leaders into the conversation.  And, of course, to Clark (her district includes Watertown and part of Wellesley) for making the time.

If you’re a C-suite executive and would like to learn more about the group, contact Lise Elcock.

That’s what you need to know for today, unless you need to know about the obnoxious, unsolicited offer (besides selling Greenland) that Denmark’s prime minister keeps rejecting.

Celebrate these final days of summer by dining locally this weekend.

Greg Reibman (he, him)

President & CEO

Charles River Regional Chamber

617.244.1688

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Max Woolf contributed to today’s newsletter.