We think we’ve found the right person for this moment
We think we’ve found the right person for this moment
Good morning friends,
Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital–Needham just received the largest donation in the hospital’s history.
The $20 million gift from grateful patient Valerie Trotman and family will serve as the catalyst for “Transforming Health Care Here” a comprehensive $40 million campaign to support BID Needham’s mission of providing extraordinary care in the community.
“This generous gift will be used to meet the rising demand for patient-centered care in the community with both urgency and creativity,” said John Fogarty, president, BID Needham.
We think we’ve found the right person for this moment
We struggled finding exactly the right speaker for this year’s Fall Business Breakfast, happening Nov. 1 at the Newton Marriott.
Why? We realized this year’s event was happening five days before the election.
Many of us will have already voted. Many of us will be sick of the negative ads, lies and fear mongering.
And many of us will be stressed and on-edge — fearing not only who will be elected but what might happen if he isn’t.
We think we’ve found just the right guy.
Steve Gross is a Needham native and a Newton resident who runs the Life is Good Playmaker Project. He’s an internationally renown speaker who has earned rave reviews addressing top corporations, business associations and nonprofits.
Gross’ has a unique way of helping bringing out the best in people and organizations — especially in challenging, change-filled times.
We believe it will be a special, dare I say, optimism-fueled, morning.
I hope you’ll join us. Reserve your seat here.
Wellesley Select Board sides with multi-family projects
The Wellesley Select Board voted 3-1 Tuesday to support two Town Meeting articles that would facilitate multifamily developments at Washington Court and on Walnut Street in Wellesley Lower Falls.
Last-minute abutter opposition forced an unfavorable Advisory Committee vote on one of the projects two weeks ago. That lead developer Joe Hassell and the Planning Board to seek support from the Select Board to strengthen the proposals’ standing and motivate Advisory to reconsider.
Only Select Board member Beth Sullivan Woods opposed the articles, suggesting that adding housing at the proposed locations would disrupt medical and business activity, not far from Newton-Wellesley Hospital.
Given the staffing shortages in the medical field, we suggest adding housing there is exactly the Rx the medical sector and adjacent businesses need.
Fortunately, three of Sullivan Woods’ colleagues (Tom Ulfelder was absent) share our view and support Articles 16 and 17.
Chair Colette Aufranc noted that the zoning changes align with the town’s goals and objectives and said adding housing in village centers keeps them robust and vibrant.
Both items head to Special Town Meeting Oct .21.
Updates on our remaining MBTA Communities
- Needham based businesses and nonprofits who’d like to lend their voice to efforts to create more diverse housing in Needham should email the chamber’s Max Woolf today to learn one simple way you can help a lot.
- Need to know more about Needham’s housing plan? Participate in person or via zoom for a discussion and Q&A next Thursday (Oct 17), 7 p.m. at the Needham Public Library on the latest refinements to the MBTA Zoning Plans in advance of the Oct. 21 Town Meeting.
- There’s great information on the Needham Housing Coalition’s new website too.
- The Watertown City Council and Planning Board will have a public hearing on zoning amendments for the Watertown Square Area Plan, which would also allow the city to comply with MBTA Communities Law, Weds (Oct.16) 6:30 p.m. Watertown Library and remote. Details.
- Mass Housing Partnership has created this useful regional MBTA Communities Resource Guide.
Generational tobacco ban likely in Needham
The Needham Board of Health is likely to pass a regulation next month that would ban the sale of tobacco and vapor products to anyone born on or after Jan. 1, 2004, adding to the growing list of Massachusetts’ communities to institute a generational tobacco ban, reports the Needham Observer.
That would mean anyone born after Jan. 1, 2004 would never be able to buy tobacco products in Needham no matter how long they live, which presumably will be longer if they don’t smoke but about the same if they take their tobacco shopping elsewhere.
There are six retailers in Needham, all convenience stores or gas stations, that would be affected by the regulation.
Friday grab bag
- The Globe’s editorial board is urging a “No” vote on the ballot question that would remove MCAS as a graduation requirement without replacing it with something else. “Schools in Massachusetts are the envy of the nation,” they write. “But Question 2 threatens one of the foundations of the state’s success.”
- BBJ Editors are also a “no”: “Now is not the time to send the signal that Massachusetts is lowering our educational standards. We simply can’t afford to do that.”
- Here’s how the Chamber’s Board of Directors feel about Question 2
- The Needham Human Rights Committee and Needham Diversity Initiative are hosting the annual Needham Multicultural Festival, Oct. 20 at Needham High School from 1 to 5 p.m. More than 20 countries will be represented with information tables, food, and live performances. It’s free and there’s still time to host a culture table or perform
- The annual annual Indigenous Peoples Day Newton Ceremonial Celebration returns to Albemarle Field Monday (Oct. 14) from 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
- Win gift cards from over 40 Wellesley restaurants through Wellesley Rotary Club’s “Dinner On Us” sweepstakes.
- Join REACH for a corporate lunch on Oct 22 at noon at the Hilton Garden Inn in Waltham to learn how local businesses can support survivors of domestic violence in the workplace. For questions, contact Casey Tobin.
- Olin College President Gilda A. Barabino has been awarded the 2024 Dickson Prize in Science from Carnegie Mellon University.
- It's sort of safe to fall into the Charles River past the Longfellow Bridge again. (Universal Hub)
- The Mass. Department of Revenue will administer a tax amnesty from Nov. 1, through Dec.30, 2024. DOR will waive most penalties for eligible taxpayers who submit an online request for amnesty, file outstanding returns, and pay tax and interest owed. Details.
Board leadership change at The Village Bank
After a decade as board chair of The Village Bank, good chamber friend Ken Brennan is retiring from that role.
Brennan spent 23 years as The Village Bank’s president and CEO. Before that, he was president and CEO of the Auburndale Cooperative Bank. Brennan will continue as a board member. In addition to many other roles he’s also a former chair and director for our chamber.
Tom Keery, who has been on the bank’s board since 2016, will become chair starting in January.
Keery owned and operated Frost Motors for 30 years and has also served on our chamber’s board, in addition to many other civic roles.
We’d cross that bridge if they ever get to it
Finally, could this little-used railway and bridge that crosses the Charles in Allston alter the generally dreadful experience of traveling from our west suburban communities to Cambridge, particularly MIT and Kendall Square?
Sure if you’re a fan of (long) books on tape, you can get to Kendall now by taking the Green Line or commuter rail to downtown Boston, then transferring to the Red Line.
Or — again if you’re not in a rush — you can experience the joy of Exit 131 on the Mass Pike.
But a new study from the Cambridge Redevelopment Authority digs deeps into an idea that’s been bandied about for some time, reports Bruce Mohl at CommonWealth Beacon
The Grand Junction Feasibility study looks at what it would take to convert the old rail line (currently used only occasionally by the MBTA and Amtrak to transfer commuter rail trains) and replacing it with passenger service to six stations.
Trains would run from the proposed new MBTA station at Harvard University’s emerging research-oriented neighborhood in Allston to MIT/Kendall Square and onto North Station.
Yes, it’s expensive. Yes, there’s logistical challenges. And yes, there are a lot of conflicting needs out there, as Mohl explains.
But for our communities and everyone west of us, it would be a game changer.
And that’s what you need to know for today, unless you need to know what the CDC says is the world’s healthiest vegetable.
RIP Ethel Kennedy and El Tiante.
Enjoy the long weekend.
President & CEO
Charles River Regional Chamber
617.244.1688