Good morning friends!

Gov. Maura Healey pledged to cut the cost of doing business in Massachusetts, during her State of Commonwealth address last night,

“I want it cheaper and faster for you to do business in Massachusetts,” Healey said.

“When we back our businesses, they grow and thrive.”

Healey said she will direct state officials to review all business and licensing regulations during the first three months of 2025, reports Greg Ryan at the BBJ.

Fuller looking to create Newton Centre public plaza

Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller announced plans last night to create a new “public plaza” in Newton Centre.

The project would carve out a portion of the Langley Parking Lot (aka the “Triangle Lot”) that abuts the Newton Centre Green, for a one year pilot.

“We’re envisioning seating for outdoor dining, play spaces for youngsters and families, and space for art, community and culture. More broadly, we see a safe and fun place to meet and hang-out,” she said.

It’s an intriguing concept; an idea that could bring new energy, restaurant goers and shoppers to Newton Centre. 

But the project will also require sacrificing 51 parking spaces.

Fuller says her team has identified 67 new spaces that can be added in and around Newton Centre to offset the loss.  

However, these spots won’t be as convenient, or visible, as those removed and it remains to be seen how accepting local businesses or customers will be losing the parking.

Fuller expects the plaza to open this summer.

Watertown unveils BERDO proposal  

Watertown is looking to join Boston, Cambridge, Lexington and, most recently, Newton by adopting an ordinance that seeks to regulate building emissions.

But unlike the Building Emission Reduction and Disclosure Ordinance (BERDO) ordinance passed last month in Newton,  Watertown’s proposed BERDO rules would require owners of both commercial and residential properties of at least 20,000 SF to report and eventually reduce fossil fuel use, or be subject to fines. (In Newton, residential owners must report only.)

Unlike Newton’s ordinance, Watertown would also require large property owners to purchase electricity from a renewable source or buy costly renewable energy credits.

The proposed ordinance is aimed at about 150 of the city’s largest buildings, including 22 city properties.  The proposal is now before the City Council’s Committee on Rules and Ordinances.

Watertown News has more

If you are a large property owner in Watertown, please contact Max Woolf on the chamber team to discuss.

MLK Day events in our chamber communities

All events are on Monday Jan. 20

• The Watertown Unity Breakfast begins at 8:30 a.m. at the Hellenic Cultural Center. Music, roundtable conversations, student essays, and the presentation of the Unity Award will follow a hot breakfast. RSVP.
  
  
• Newton's celebration starts at 9 a.m. at the First Unitarian Universalist Society, featuring music, student voices, a keynote by Reverend Brandon Crowley, and a reception. Support the annual food drive by donating nonperishables at participating locations. Details
  
  
• Needham Diversity Initiative will host its celebration at the Needham High School Auditorium at 10 am, featuring presentations, music, and dance. Learn more Details.
  
  
• The World of Wellesley’s program and lunch at Tishman Commons in Wellesley College begins at noon. The event will host Dr. Kellie Carter Jackson, Chair of Africana Studies at Wellesley College and author of Force & Freedom and We Refuse.  RSVP.
  
  

Now onto the next zoning fight; this one in Wellesley

After a disappointing Special Town Meeting last fall in Wellesley — when two modest housing projects in Lower Falls both failed — a new citizens petition might further undercut any more such attempts.

Developer Joe Hassell’s projects at 6 Washington Court and Walnut Park were proposed under the town’s RIO bylaw, which allows properties close to public transport and commercial districts to be rezoned for new multifamily or assisted living development.

RIO didn’t help Hassell advance his two projects (or a project at Cliff Road) but the bylaw has been responsible for projects such as The Bristol, Terrazza, and Waterstone Senior Living.

However, this spring Wellesley Town Meeting members will be asked to consider a new citizen petition that would gut the RIO bylaw.

The petition would decrease the allowable land for RIOS by 97%, leaving 134 acres (down from 5,248 acres) in which RIOs could potentially occur, housing policy analyst Andrew Mikula warned the Planning Board.

As for Hassell’s two projects? He tells us 6 Washington Court is likely never to return and the fate of Walnut Park is unclear.

The Swellesley Report has more.

Friday grab bag

• Please join us via Zoom on Tuesday (Jan. 21) at noon for Building a Supportive Workplace Against Domestic Violence, presented by REACH Beyond Domestic Violence.
  
  
• Pathways for Immigrant Workers, offers pro-bono legal services to employers who are providing jobs but cannot afford green card sponsorship. Contact: Leslie Ditrani, Executive Director, leslie@myimmigrantpathway.org
  
  
• The Tripadvisor Foundation is matching areas impacted by natural disasters, including the California Wildfire Relief Fund. Your contribution supports immediate relief for survivors and ongoing recovery efforts through 2025. Donate at GlobalGiving.org
  
  
• Oath Pizza Wellesley is donating 10% of sales through Jan. 19 to the American Red Cross for California wildfire relief. Also get a free fountain drink with every pizza ordered by mentioning the Red Cross.
  
  
• Monsoon Indian Kitchen is now open at 324 Chestnut Street, Needham.
  
  
• Lisa Dunn of Mass Bay Community College created an ASL t-shirt to promote inclusion for the Deaf community, which earned a Gold Medallion Award in 2024. Details
  
  
• Congressman Jake Auchincloss will host a virtual town hall Jan. 29 at 10 a.m. for the new YIMBY Caucus, which he helped launch late last year.  RSVP.
• Get Konnected! is hosting its Cultural Harmony Celebration, Feb. 4 at State Street Financial Center in Boston, honoring Black History Month and Lunar New Year. The event features a fireside chat, awards and recognition of impactful nonprofits.
  
  
• A Mass CEC program can provide $4,320 per intern hosted at verified clean tech companies. If your company is interested in hosting an intern, connect with MassCEC
  
  
• Wellesley’s Freedom Team is looking for businesses willing to post this flyer in their window. The Wellelsey Freedom team is a community-based organization made of volunteers who are available to support individuals feeling victimized by incidents of racism and bias that occur in the town. It was established in 2021 in response to reports of increasing incidents of anti-Asian hate and bias.
  
  

It’s NO for Needham

Finally today, here are 177 municipalities covered under the MBTA Communities law.

Among those, few are as well-positioned to add transit-oriented housing than Needham, a town that’s fortunate to have four commuter rail stations, including three in walking distance of two underdeveloped commercial corridors.

Needham is also a community where one-in-four residents will be 65-plus by 2030, with few options to downsize.

It’s a town where a median home price of about $1.5 million has put this traditionally family-focused community out of reach for most families and young adults.

And Needham is recognized state-wide for being well-managed, fiscally sound, fiscally conservative and data driven — qualities one might expect would engender residents’ confidence and trust in town leaders.

Here at the chamber, we also hoped voters would be persuaded by their hospital president, child care and senior care providers, tech companies that contribute handsomely to local taxes, and especially by independent restaurant and shop owners who’ve said additional housing is critical their ability to “best serve our customers and to be successful.”

That’s not what happened Tuesday

On Tuesday voters rejected, by an whopping 18-point margin, a Town Meeting passed compliance plan that would have made Needham a leader in creating new opportunities for middle market housing.

No doubt, voters had an array of reasons for voting no. Yet from the discussions leading up to the repeal referendum, there were some common themes:

• Unhappiness about a plan that sought to do more than required.
  
  
• A desire to do a little now, then “wait and see.”
  
  
• A bewildering refusal to believe the economic theory that maintains increasing the supply of housing lowers the price of housing.
  
  
• And most surprising to me: Distrust in long-considered trustworthy town leaders who repeatedly said the plan was revenue positive and that the town had the capacity to support new growth.  

Now it’s back to the drawing board.

Needham must begin anew, creating a compliance plan by a new July 14 deadline.

A vote at Town Meeting in May is considered likely, reports the Needham Observer. Planning and Select Board meetings and public hearings must happen before that.

Fasten your seatbelts.

And that’s what you need to know for today,  unless you need to know if you get wetter if you walk, or run, when its raining.

I’m grateful to everyone who emailed me this week. No matter your point of view, it was appreciated.

No newsletter Tuesday.  See you later in the week.

Greg Reibman (he, him)

President & CEO

Charles River Regional Chamber

617.244.1688

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