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Last minute lawmakers (again)

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Last minute lawmakers (again)

Beacon Hill lawmakers finally agreed yesterday to allow municipalities to continue holding remote public meetings and offer an expedited outdoor dining permit process.
 
They also agreed (on the eve of National Cocktail Day, turns out) to allow restaurants to continue offering mixed drinks, beer, and wine for both take-out and delivery meals.
 
All three provisions were set to expire one week from today.
 
Pending Gov. Maura Healey’s expected signature, al fresco dining, and take-out drinks will be extended until April 1, 2024, and remote meetings for two more years.
 
I'll bet you a Cloud Candy to-go that means our cities, towns, and restaurants will have to wait with white knuckles until the rules are thisclose to expiring again before there's yet another extension for provisions that should be permanent by now.
 
Seriously. I get that some folks have concerns about alcohol abuse or underage drinking. Others don't like outdoor dining because it takes up parking spaces, generates noise, or enables people other than them to have fun.
 
But what possible reason can there be for not making remote meetings permanent? And why does everything on Beacon Hill have to be resolved at the last minute?
 
Yesterday's actions were part of a larger -- and more significant -- $389 million spending bill that supports emergency shelters, grants for child care, food aid, and funding for the MassWorks Infrastructure Program, the Massachusetts Clean Water Trust.
 
 
Meals for those in need and support for independent restaurants
 
The third- round of your chamber's Nourishing Wellesley food assistance program in partnership with the Town of Wellesley is underway.
 
Weekly deliveries of 100-plus hot meals from local restaurants will support local families struggling with food insecurity.
 
Fiorella’s Express, Juniper, Captain Marden’s Table, and the Linden Store are among 15-plus Wellesley independent restaurants participating in the program, funded by a state earmark secured by Sen. Cindy Creem.
 
In Newton, our Nourishing Newton program concluded last Friday with deliveries to the Centre Street Food Pantry.
 
Since the start of the year, the program has supplied Newton food pantries, senior centers, and other sites with over 3,000 meals and allocated $65,000 in funding to independent restaurants within the city.
 
Yes, you read that right: More than 3,000 meals were bought from local restaurants and served locally to those in need.
 
We're really proud of that.
 
Our thanks to Alie Maher, Keilly Cutler, Liz Tavares, and all of our partners at the Rotary Club of Newton for helping to execute this initiative.
 
Somebody needs to explain this D Line slow down
 
The Riverside Green Line was shut down for multiple weeks last fall so that more than 6,000 feet of track could be replaced and a half-dozen station crossings updated.
 
So why is that, not even six months later, the MBTA’s new speed restrictions dashboard that went live yesterday shows that virtually every stop that was part of that work is under some sort of limit?
 
Wells Ave practice involved in Alzheimer's study
 
A Newton memory care center has been playing an important role in investigating a novel treatment for Alzheimer’s disease.
 
The Boston Center for Memory on Wells Ave. was part of a small study accessing an experimental device built by Cambridge biotech Cognito Therapeutics using gamma wave therapy, the Globe’s Ryan Cross reports.
 
The startup announced this week that it’s raised $73 million to fund the clinical study of the product which will include patients from the Newton facility and 49 other sites around the country.
 
Needham election updates
 
Needham voters head to the polls on April 11 and the Needham Channel has done its usual quality job presenting interviews with the three candidates running for two seats on the select board: Marianne Cooley, Cathy Dowd, and Joshua Levy.
 
On Monday (March 27) at 7:30 p.m. the League of Women Voters of Needham will host the select board candidates as well as the candidates in the high-stakes planning board contest between Adam Block and Robert Dangle (five-year terms are ridiculous). It'll be at the Broadmeadow School, also on Zoom. Details.
 
Meanwhile, the Needham Board of Health has come out in opposition to Ballot Question 2 which would allow the town to license one additional full-service liquor shop and five additional beer and wine licenses.
 
“We believe that the select board should not issue additional alcohol licenses, nor expand the hours for alcohol sales, until the regular and reliable compliance of existing licensees is assured,” the board of health wrote in a letter.
 
One last nudge for your favorite teen procrastinator
 
If there are any graduating high school seniors in your pod let them know that the deadline for the chamber’s scholarship program is one week from today: March 31. To qualify students must either live in Needham, Newton, Watertown, or Wellesley or attend school in our four communities. Details.
 
Other need to knows
 
 
  • The MetroWest Regional Transit Authority just received a $1 million federal grant to help the authority with its goal to have an electrified fleet. (Framingham Source)
 
  • Two years ago this month the Newton Food Pantry launched the Newton Community freedge. On average 15 shoppers per hour visit the freedge for supplemental food and personal care items. Sometimes within five minutes of restocking the freedge is empty. Please consider making a donation.
 
  • Arsenal Street in Watertown will undergo significant construction later this year and continue through mid-2024. Stay up to date on the Mount Auburn Street Project by signing up for email updates
 
  • The deadline for Newton Community Pride's micro-grant program in support of arts and culture, public art, service, and beautification projects in Newton is April 1. Details.
 
  • Don’t tell anyone because it’s supposed to be a secret but tickets for our inaugural chamber pickleball tournament go on sale Monday.
 
  • The Massachusetts Small Business Development Center provides free, confidential, one-to-one business assistance and free and low-cost training to prospective and existing small businesses. Details
 
  • The Newton Beacon wrapped up its special coverage of the override this week with a story looking at what happens now that voters rejected one of the three ballot questions.
 
Cannabis workers victimized by a data breach
 
Thousands of Massachusetts cannabis industry employees have been victimized by a major data breach. 
 
The name, home, and email address, phone number, and date of birth of every cannabis worker in the state (former employees too) were made public in an “inadvertent release” by the state’s Cannabis Control Commission, reports GBH’s Tori Bedford.
 
Cannabis workers worry about what the breach means for their safety amidst an investigation into a Russian oligarch and a Belmont-based blogger now hiding in a safe house, Bedford adds.
 
Why Brian McGrory is my hero this week
 
One year ago last week we learned that the Newton Tab, Needham Times, and Watertown Tab & Press would stop publishing.
 
I’m not sure if the Globe’s Brian McGrory was aware of that when wrote this. But his column was spot-on.
 
Watertown's economic future ....in sixty minutes
 
Finally this week, my thanks to Watertown Senior Planner Larry Field for joining us at our virtual Watertown Business Community Town Hall for a presentation explaining the city's draft Comprehensive Plan (as well as his unsolicited “PSA” about this newsletter).
 
No idea what a Comprehensive Plan is?
 
Or, wondering if it will just end up on a bookshelf collecting dust like so many other government reports?
 
Field answers both those questions as well as what it means for Watertown’s economic and cultural vitality.
 
After you watch the video go to the right side of this page to participate in a survey (the deadline is today) to provide your input. 
Watertown Business Community Town Hall YouTube Thumbnail
 
That’s your need to knows for today, unless you’re a conspiracy theorist looking for a date.
 
Have a great weekend. Shop and dine local...but you knew that.
 
 
Greg Reibman (he, him)
President
617.244.1688
 
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