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Fuller goes downtown to support downtowns

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Fuller goes downtown to support downtowns

Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller was on Beacon Hill yesterday, urging lawmakers to adopt Gov. Charlie Baker’s $3.5 billion economic development bill.
 
And it’s easy to see why Fuller and other municipal officials support Baker's bill.
 
In particular, they like the bill's emphasis on providing funds to revitalize local downtown commercial districts.
 
"I love what the governor did," said Fuller, who is also president of the Massachusetts Municipal Association, according to State House News’ Katie Lannan.
 
"He included every single city and town in this. That's why we're all excited. This is an inclusive proposal. It's going to touch every single resident across the state."
 
Under the bill, Newton would receive $3.1 to upgrade Pettee Square in Newton Upper Falls, similar in scope to work that's revitalized the streetscapes in West Newton and Newtonville.
 
Our three other chamber communities would get smaller grants for unspecified downtown projects: Needham would get $627,760; Wellesley, $573,400; and Watertown, $378,780.
 
Baker hopes those and similar earmarks statewide will entice lawmakers to sign-off on ARPA-funded projects before the federal funds expire.
 
"If we don't get those dollars into the hands of cities and towns across the state now so that they can begin the process associated with planning, designing and reimagining and jump-starting their local economies and their downtowns, we'll continue to see empty storefronts and quiet main streets for years to come," Baker said.
 
There’s also fear that supply chain constraints, labor shortages and inflation could constrain projects and timelines. For example, the Pettee Square project has been fully designed and priced at $3.1 million. But delays could push the price higher.
 
“We know from all our contractors they’re facing real material supply chain disruptions, and all sorts of weird workforce shortages. One subcontractor will be ready to go, another subcontractor won’t,” Fuller said.
 
The Economic Development Bill also allocates $270 million supporting housing production, $750 million in clean energy investments and $300 million to the Unemployment Trust Fund.
 
Wellesley's legendary department store sold
 
E.A. Davis & Company, the 118-year-old department store in Wellesley’s Church Square has been sold, according to the Swellesley Report.
 
The new owners, Brian and Becky Voelkel, have been shopping at Davis since they were kids. They've doing business for a decade with the current owners, the Skolnick family, as vendors through their Mahi Gold clothing line (with stores in Hingham, Chatham and Edgartown).
 
They will take over E.A. Davis in July.
 
“The Skolnick family has had E.A. Davis as part of their lives for nearly half a century, and have always been of the belief that we are merely the custodians of a legacy,” reads a statement on Facebook.
 
Green Line shuts downs ahead
 
Every branch of the Green Line is scheduled for full closures in the coming weeks and months, including three successive nine-day closures (yes, again) of the D branch starting in September.
 
It's all part of the T's plans to accelerate the installation of equipment
designed to avoid train-on-train collisions and add speed enforcement and red-light signal protection.
 
Meanwhile, the Globe is reporting this morning that the Federal Transit Administration said it is “extremely concerned with the ongoing safety issues” at the T and will take on an “increased safety oversight role” of the transit system.
 
We’ve just added one more panelist
 
We’ve just add Hilina Ajakaiye, executive VP at the Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau to our annual Spring Business Symposium, happening virtually, one week from this morning (May 17) at 9 a.m.
 
Ajakaiye will join Bob Rivers (Eastern Bank) Catherine Peterson (ArtsBoston) and Jon Hurst (Retailers Association of Mass.) for a discussion focused on what business and nonprofits need to make the remainder of 2022 a success. RSVP here.
 
Salaries spike is fastest in 16-years
 
Wages and salaries in the Boston area rose at their fastest yearly clip since 2006, growing 6.1 percent for the 12-month period ending in March, the federal government reported Monday.
Wages and salaries nationwide increased 5 percent in the same period. The largest increase in wages and salaries, at 6.4 percent, was in the Phoenix area. (State House News)
 
Other Need to Knows
 
  • Needham merchants, the town and chamber are collaborating this Saturday (Rain date May 21) on the inaugural Needham Sidewalk Stroll, a shop, dine and play local celebration in Needham's shopping areas.
   
  • The Watertown City Council has approved an zoning change that would make it possible for businesses to offer curbside pickup. (Watertown News)
 
  • 3,000 Massachusetts workers who repaid what were deemed “overpayments” for pandemic unemployment benefits could soon be seeing the money again, with Department of Unemployment Assistance saying it's ready to refund at least $15.3 million after a federal waiver was granted. (Gloucester Times)
 
 
 
Nourishing meals serves in Watertown and Needham
 
Diner 11 North Beacon
Last week, we officially launched our Nourishing program in Watertown, delivering meals from the Diner at 11 North Beacon (that’s the Diner’s Lisa McKeen in the photo) to the newly located Watertown Community Fridge.
 
Over the past two years our Nourishing program has purchased more than 15,000 meals from independent restaurants in Newton, Wellesley, Needham and, now Watertown, and delivered them to families and individuals in need.
 
Through the same initiative, seniors in Needham recently enjoyed meal boxes prepared by Gari Fusion Japanese Cuisine as part of a quarterly lunch program at the Center at the Heights.
 
Both programs are funded TripAdvisor and individual donations.
 
?Learn more about this initiative, or how you can support it, here.
 
‘If the office didn't exist, would we invent it?’
 
Last week Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky announced that employees can work from home forever, without losing pay.
 
"If the office didn't exist, I like to ask, would we invent it?" he said. "And if we invented it, what would it be invented for?"
 
Meanwhile a study out of Texas A&M University’s School of Public Health found that remote work does not negatively impact productivity.
 
But what about you and your office?
 
And what exactly is happening to the commercial real estate office market in Newton, Needham, Wellesley, Waltham and other communities in the Central 128?
 
Join us tomorrow (Weds) 10 a.m. for a virtual discussion about the current state of the hard to predict suburban office market.
 
We’ll discuss what local owners and brokers are seeing for activity, trends in the market and their forecast for the future.
 
Our panelists -- Torie Paolino, leasing director at Boston Properties, Elizabeth Holmes, director of corporate services at RW Holmes, and Matt Malatesta, managing director at Newmark -- will also explore the impact of the life science market, the lasting impact of COVID on leasing and the rise of green buildings. 
 
Register.
 
That’s Need to Knows for today, unless you need to know what the Podokesaurus holyokensis has in common with baked beans, lady bugs, Boston cream donuts and Arlo Guthrie.
 
Let's do this again later this week, ok?
 
Greg Reibman (he, him)
President
Charles River Regional Chamber
617.244.1688
 
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