Here's Friday's Need to Knows
Here's Friday's Need to Knows
Every state in the nation is seeing a spike in COVID cases.
Gov. Charlie Baker said yesterday that he thinks Massachusetts' recent uptick is likely a result of Fourth of July gatherings.
He urged residents to continue wearing masks in certain indoor situations and to get vaccinated if they haven't done so.
Baker declined to identify a specific infection threshold where he would become more concerned, saying that the health outlook is based on "a combination of factors," writes Chris Lisinski at State House News.
SBA to applicants: You're dead to us
“I hope this message finds you well,” read a letter from the SBA to a distillery owner (and grant applicant) named Tim Russell.
“Per our records, Timothy Russell is deceased. Therefore, your loan application has been withdrawn.”
The SBA asked Russell to provide evidence that he was, in fact, alive, as well as a written explanation as to why he might be dead, writes Andy Medici for the BBJ.
“I was kind of shocked, and I was pretty angry because I knew this was not going to be an easy thing to fix,” Russell said.
Russell isn't alone. Medici speaks to other several applicants who were rejected for being deceased.
This New York Times article documents many living Shuttered Venue Grant applicants who were turned down the same reason.
Here’s a similar report from a TV station in Charlotte too.
Commercial real estate; not dead yet either
Speaking of premature deaths, Tamara Small of NAIOP Massachusetts is challenging part of that new Baker administration commissioned report on the Future of Work.
Writing in a BBJ op-ed, Small says consultant McKinsey & Co. used out-of-date data to forecast the demise of the commercial real estate market.
“…McKinsey’s topline conclusion that the demand for office real estate may fall as workers spend more time in residential areas due to hybrid work, uses employer and employee data from before vaccines were available to everyone, and conflates a hybrid work-schedule with the need for less physical space,” Small writes.
Small's op-ed points to examples indicating that office demand is on the rebound.
Despite the dated data, Small says NAIOP supports many of the report’s policy priorities, including “the desperate need for more housing and expanded childcare, an updated transportation system and the need for an equity lens in all policy implementation.”
Here's another reason to wonder if it's premature to predict the demise of urban centers: Like Boston, there's been speculation that San Francisco (another city with an astronomical cost of living) might suffer if tech workers were freed of their offices. That's not happening.
My two-cents on the McKinsey report is here.
Everything else is on-demand, is pay next?
Here’s an interesting way some employers are competing for talent.
They’re letting workers choose when they get paid.
On-demand pay allows workers to receive payment after a shift ends, or on a selected day, instead of waiting for a predetermined payday, according to Ty West for the BBJ.
The practice is primarily prevalent in industries where it’s hard for employers to differentiate themselves on pay or benefits — such as home health care, fast-food restaurants and hotels. National employers who’ve experimented with the practice include Kroger, McDonald’s, Dollar Tree, Berkshire Hathaway and HCA Healthcare.
Wellesley to discuss outdoor dining, gun bans, accessory apartments
Wellesley will hold a remote public hearing on Monday (July 19) at 6:30 p.m. to discuss zoning articles that will be considered at the October 2021 Special Town Meeting, including: by-right outdoor dining in commercial districts; accessory dwelling units; and banning or regulating gun shops. Details.
City ponders dedicated employee parking in Newton Centre
The Newton City Council will consider a proposal next Thursday (July 22) to convert 43 existing metered parking spaces in Newton Centre to “Employee Parking Only” areas.
The dedicated spaces will be located in the Cypress Parking Lot (ten spaces), the Pleasant Street Lot (28 spaces) and Langley lot (five spaces).
These metered parking areas would be changed to “Parking by Permit Only 8 a.m. - 6 p.m., except Sundays and Holidays.” Newton Centre employers would be entitled to receive free parking permits, which would allow a vehicle to be parked at any of the reserved metered spaces at a designated rate (currently 50-cents an hour).
Transportation dollars approved for local projects
More money should be headed to our communities for roads and bridge repair, bus and bike lanes, electric vehicles and other municipal transportation projects, as part of a $350 million state transportation funding bill passed this week.
The bill still needs the governor's signature. (State House News)
Comings and goings
- Newton’s second marijuana retail shop, Redi, opened last week with a promise to “elevate the adult-use dispensary experience in Massachusetts” through an emphasis on customer service; charity drives; and even arts exhibits in their lobby. Redi (a chamber member) is located on the corner of Route 9 and Elliot Street, at the site of the former Green Tea restaurant.
- Cookie Monstah, which specializes in "fresh baked cookies smothered in ice cream," is now open on Highland Ave in Needham. It’s located at the former Stacy’s Juice Bar, just down the street from Needham High (not that high schoolers are likely to be interested in "fresh baked cookies smothered in ice cream," right?). Here’s how Cookie Monstah got started.
- Chef Ronsky's, run by a James Beard Award winner Ron Suhanosky, has closed at the Street in Chestnut Hill.
Busy this weekend?
I had a blast (and, of course, a DePasquale's sausage sub) Wednesday at opening night of the Mary St. Carmen Festival in Nonantum, which continues through Sunday.
To experience the festival at its best, go Sunday night and join the 10 p.m. procession to Our Lady's Church and the Flight of the Angel. Schedule here.
Also this weekend, Wellesley Square will be the site of a scaled back July Jubilation, Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (rain date July 24) featuring live music, a DJ and many of Wellesley's best merchants.
Guv sees ‘urgent’ need for home ownership help
Gov. Charlie Baker wants to spend $300 million in federal relief funds to convert tens of thousands of renters into homeowners.
The down payment assistance program aims to help renters from being priced out of their communities amid skyrocketing housing prices.
It also seeks to partially remedy generations-old racial inequities that left people of color unable to reap the same aid as white residents, according to Chris Lisinski at State House News.
"This country created the equivalent of down payment assistance for people for decades, especially in the post-World War II world, where in many cases through zoning and other issues, people of color simply couldn't qualify for that opportunity," Baker said yesterday.
The Legislature will hold a hearing next week on this and other parts of Baker’s plan for $2.9 billion of American Rescue Plan Act funding.
"If we can convince our colleagues in the Legislature to move on this, we're not talking a few thousand homeowners, we're talking tens of thousands of homeowners," Baker said.
This departure hurts
Finally this morning, a sad farewell and a great deal of gratitude to journalist Jenna Fisher, who covered Newton, Brookline and Waltham for Patch for the past four years and worked as a reporter at Wicked Local for three years before that.
Our communities, and communities nationwide, have suffered significantly from a dearth of local news. Fisher valiantly tried to fill a void, single-handedly covering three busy communities with great curiosity, speed, accuracy and passion.
She's moving on to teach journalism at a small liberal arts college outside of Saint Lewis.
The world needs journalists. Let’s hope Professor Fisher trains and inspires some really good ones and sends them in our direction.
And welcome to Annie Sandoli who has been tapped to fill Fisher’s very colorful sneakers.
That’s today’s Need to Knows, unless you need to know why you should take down your bird feeder.
Enjoy the weekend. Be back Tuesday.
Onward!
President, Newton-Needham Regional Chamber
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