Your favorite chamber has been awarded a grant from the state to promote our four chamber communities to visitors this spring and summer.
We’ll be using our $35,000 tourism grant to create a multi-media campaign we’re calling “Love Local: Take a trip up the Charles.”
Using video, social media, print, and an online directory, our project will highlight scenic, historic, recreational, lodging, dining and retail destinations that make Newton, Needham, Watertown and Wellesley unique.
The grant is part of a $4 million state-wide effort by Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development and the Massachusetts Office of Travel & Tourism. It's designed help the tourism business in general but dining and shopping locally too.
We're having a blast planning this project. I look forward to sharing more soon.
Wellesley to consider allowing accessory apartments
Wellesley had 3.6% fewer total homes (owner-occupied and rentals) in 2020 than in 2010.
Over the same decade, the median home price for owner occupied homes rose nearly 36%, according to the Globe.
Both statistics could begin inching in a better direction if Town Meeting approves a proposed zoning amendment on Monday.
Article 39, would allow single family home owners to create accessory apartments -- sometimes referred to in-law apartments -- on their properties.
ADUs can play an important role in helping address our housing shortage. They can help employers who are struggling to fill jobs. They can help communities become more diverse and inclusive. And they can help address climate goals, while reducing suburban sprawl. Learn more here.
When 1,200 workers were asked recently what benefits they want most, compensation was still king.
But remote-work has gained royalty status too, according to a new Flex Jobs survey.
Asked to choose what benefits were most important to them (and they could choose more than one) 83% of workers said salary, while 77% said remote work was important, writes Andy Medici at the Business Journals.
Flexible schedule options tied with health insurance each came in at 63%, followed closely by vacation time.
Half of those surveyed said retirement and 401(k) benefits were important.
Restaurant relief passes in U.S. House
The U.S. House voted yesterday to replenish the federal Restaurant Revitalization Fund, which quickly ran out of money last year before more than 2/3 rds of the restaurants that applied could be helped, according to the L.A. Times.
The bill would replenish the RRF with $42 billion and provide another $13 billion to other businesses still struggling to recover from the COVID-19 crisis.
But prospects for the legislation passing in the Senate, where it will need 60 votes, are uncertain.
Restaurant industry sales nationwide are reportedly down $65 billion from 2019’s pre-pandemic levels and 90,000 restaurants nationwide are temporarily or permanently closed.
Other need to knows
The Baker administration is hosting a series of 10 regional employer road shows from late April to May, with the goal of connecting employers to new and existing workforce programs. The closest event to us takes place Monday, April 25, 4:30 p.m. at Joseph P. Keefe Technical High School in Framingham. Register.
Next Tuesday is the Needham’s town election. You can see the full ballot here and the League of Women Voters of Needham’s guide is here.
Newton School Superintendent David Fleishman is stepping down to take a job running Jewish Vocational Service in Boston, one of the biggest workforce training nonprofits in the Northeast. (Boston Globe).
Celebrate Spring at Linden Square in Wellesley Sunday (April 10) from 11-1pm. Fair in the Square will feature costumed characters, tattoo artists and ice cream.
MassBio has created a guide aimed at municipal leaders who want to better the life sciences industry, how biotech facilities operate, and how communities can best position themselves for successful biotech development.
Senate to consider Newton's request to restrict fossil fuels
Efforts by the Newton City Council to ban (except as an emergency backup) the use of fossil fuels in all new and “substantially renovated” homes and non-residential buildings under 20,000 square feet appears to be gaining some traction on Beacon Hill.
The Senate is expected to take up electrification home rule petitions from Newton and a handful of other municipalities as part of a larger package of climate change bills next week.
The bill also includes rebates for zero emission vehicles and funds for charging stations, among many other items. Bruce Mohl at CommonWealth has a summary.
I love my neighbors 'but I can talk to them myself'
The Needham Chronicle and Wellesley Advertiser (at the time, Wellesley was still part of Needham) was first published November 28, 1874, Greis notes.
She then goes on the document (with some interesting photos too) the various mergers and acquisitions that lead us to where we are today.
?Then Greis concludes:
“Taken together, the papers assembled the necessary information about town government, social and civic organizations, school sports, events, celebrations, and all of the other information that makes a town work. After the papers merged and the national syndicates took over, those functions and the amount of locally-produced content began to slide rapidly.
“Now, instead of Local News, Gannett [says it] will give us ‘Community Engagement,’ which focuses ‘not on talking to officials or attending meetings, not on budgets and reports, but on talking to the actual people in our neighborhoods.’
“I love the people in my neighborhood, but I can talk to them myself. What I need from the news is to know what the Select Board or the School Committee or Town Meeting is doing, and how it will affect my taxes, my schools, and my property.”
Couldn't have said it better myself
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Meet our new besties!
Finally, this morning, please join me in welcoming these 35 businesses and nonprofits who recently joined (or returned after a long absence) the chamber.
