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We're third in the nation -- but that's not a good thing

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We're third in the nation -- but that's not a good thing

Burrrrrr.
 
Frigid days like today are inconvenient for most of us.
 
But they can be dangerous, and deadly even, for others.
 
Throughout February close to 30 chamber member restaurants across our four communities are collecting new sweatshirts, sweatpants, t-shirts, and other items to be distributed by Circle of Hope to homeless children, women, and men at 25 local shelters and health clinics.
 
Child care in our communities is among the nation's costliest
 
Parents in Middlesex (that includes Newton and Watertown) and Norfolk (Needham and Wellesley) counties pay the third highest childcare prices in the nation, according to new data from the Department of Labor.
 
Infant center-based child care in both counties was more than $26,000, eating up nearly 20 percent of median family budgets, reports Christina Prignano in the Globe.
 
"Driven largely by a shrinking number of open child care slots and shortages of staff who are often paid very low wages, findings from the Labor Department suggest that the costs are exacerbating the worker shortage," Prignano writes.
 
"In counties with high child care costs, there were fewer women in the workforce, the report found, even when accounting for the higher wages typical of places with a steep cost of living."
 
Only families in Arlington County in Virginia and San Francisco County in California pay more than our parents here.
 
So why is Needham blocking a childcare center?
 
In the midst of a childcare shortage, why did the Needham Planning Board appear to do everything it could to stop a 40-year-old daycare business from moving into a new facility?
 
It’s hard to interpret the three-year battle by Needham Children’s Center and developer Needham Enterprises, LCC to build a new facility at 1688 Central Ave. as anything more than an effort by the board to side with NIMBY neighbors.
 
That includes, it turns out, two of the planning board’s five members. (One member recused herself. The other didn't, reportedly with the consent of town counsel because the law requires four votes, and that would only leave only three board members to deliberate.)
 
Beyond that, it’s not clear why the board became involved to the extent it did anyway. First, there's the state’s Dover Amendment which exempts daycare facilities from certain zoning restrictions. Plus there's the fact that the project fell under the size of a special project review, or that the use is allowed "by right" in the town’s zoning anyway.
 
Nevertheless, they persisted.
 
The Needham Children's Center proposal was originally submitted in the spring of 2020. After two years of questionable postponements and other delays, Needham Enterprises finally received “approval” last March.
 
But the approval includes a laundry list of requirements that appear designed to make the project unworkable.
 
Adding to the intrigue Needham Enterprises is the business belonging to Needham Select Board member Matt Borrelli (who after 12 years is not seeking reelection this spring).
 
The select board member is now taking the planning board members to land court, leaving the town's taxpayers to foot the bill to defend a conflict-laden planning board ...in the middle of a childcare crisis.
 
If you’re looking for some fascinating reading while waiting out this artic air, you can read the complaint here.
 
New publication honors region’s AAPI leaders
AAPI list
Colette Phillips has done it again.
 
The creator of a series of specialized lists that celebrate, document, and showcase the contributions of people of color has just published the inaugural list of the Most Influential Asian American Pacific Islanders in Greater Boston.
 
Phillips' latest list recognizes nearly 100 people who are leaders, legends, or rising stars across the academic, business, civic, media, and political circles in the AAPI community writes the Globe’s, Shirley Leung.
 
So, you may be wondering, “What’s Phillips’ next project?”
 
I'm glad you asked.
 
That, of course, would be our chamber’s partnership with Phillips on a list of the 50 Most Influential Business Leaders of Color in Greater Boston’s Western Suburbs and a second list of the Emerging Leaders of Color. 
 
Nominate a business leader here. But, hurry, the deadline is Monday (Feb. 6. )
NOMINATION FORM
 
Might Watertown lose Athenahealth?
 
Athenahealth, the Watertown health IT business, is cutting its global workforce by less than 3%, eliminating 178 jobs and “exploring moving to new, leased office spaces” because of persistent low office attendance reports the Globe's, Dana Gerber.
 
Athenahealth once owned its entire 29-acre Arsenal Street campus. It sold the 11-building complex for $525.5 million to Alexandria Real Estate Equities in 2019 and signed a lease for about half the space from Alexandria through 2034.
 
Gerber quotes an email from Chairman and CEO Bob Segert saying the company is now "looking for new, innovative spaces with smaller footprints that support flexible work and better align our financial investment in office space to our current hybrid work environment.”
 
The company is the third largest software developer in the state, according to BBJ rankings.
 
Many more need to knows
 
  • Registration is now open for the 24th Annual Earth Day Charles River Cleanup on April 21-22, Each year, the cleanup brings together over 3,500 volunteers to improve the parks, forests, playgrounds, and paths and keep the Charles River clean, safe, and beautiful for all. 
 
 
  • Eversource will be installing conduit for electrical wires under parts of North Beacon, Main, and Pleasant Streets in Watertown, a project that could take two to three months to complete. (Watertown News)
 
  • Unemployed and underemployed students will have the opportunity to take free computer and technology courses at MassBay, thanks to a three-year, $300,000 state grant secured by Sen. Cindy Creem. The program aims to provide unemployed and underemployed workers with education and training in the area of computers and technology. (Framingham Source)
 
  • State Rep. Denise Garlick will deliver her annual report to the community on Feb. 13 at 7 p.m. at Needham Town Hall. The presentation will also be available virtually. Details
 
  • Interested in learning about The Newton Beacon, a nonprofit news site staffed by paid professional journalists? Listen to this podcast by former Globe editor Ellen Clegg and Northeastern’s Dan Kennedy.
 
  • Learn about updated incentives at the state and federal level for electric cars and bikes at a Green Energy Consumers Alliance webinar Thu. Feb. 9, 12 p.m. Register 
 
Specialized Stretch Code on Newton, Wellesley dockets
 
Watertown, Brookline, and Cambridge recently became the first municipalities to opt-in to the states’ new Specialized Stretch Code.
 
Wellesley is expected to bring adopting the measure before Town Meeting in March. 
 
And Newton’s City Council will hold a public hearing on Feb. 15 at 7 p.m. exploring adoption too. The meeting will include a presentation by the Mass Department of Energy Resources.
 
Needham’s Select Board isn't slated to begin discussing whether or not to opt in until this summer.  
 
Massachusetts's new Specialized Stretch Code requires new construction to be fully wired and insulated as a net-zero building but does not ban fossil-fuel installations.
 
Beloved Wellesley ice cream shop expands, adds caffeine
 
Local favorite Truly’s in Wellesley Square is using the coldest day of the year to celebrate a grand reopening and expansion today.
 
But that may not seem like such a bad idea since Truly's now serves Peets coffee beverages, which have been missing from the square since the Central Street Peets made its last latte in 2021 after a 20 year run.
 
Proprietor Steve Marcus is taking over the next-door space on Grove Street. In addition to offering coffee, shakes, sundaes, 40 flavors of ice cream and hot chocolate, he's adding baked goods from two local bakeries. 
 
On Tuesday, Marcus will reappear before the select board to request an extension of hours, following a somewhat disjointed meeting last month.
 
That's when some abutters (who bought their downtown condominiums knowing there was a well-established, frozen dessert business at street level) aired some, um, interesting objections (watch starting at 1:20:32), which we hope have thawed out.

That’s your Need to Knows for today -- Truck Day -- unless you need to know how to make an insta-cloud with a cup or pot of hot water if it actually gets down to -10 F. tomorrow. (h/t Universal Hub)
 
 
Stay warm. And order takeout from one of these restaurants.
 
Greg Reibman (he, him)
President
617.244.1688
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