A miracle in Needham; the Grinch in Newton
If there was a 10-acre contaminated asphalt heat island in your community you’d think the local planning board would want to move quickly to replace it with something much better -- especially if doing so came with millions of dollars in local benefits and good-paying jobs. Finally, yesterday (nearly two years after the property was rezoned and after many, many, long, late, agonizing meetings) the Needham Planning Board unanimously approved Bulfinch Company’s proposal for the old Muzi Motors site along I-95
Greg Reibman
Our municipalities could be in for a revenue shock
The Wall Street Journal is warning that a “decline in office building values is likely to become a growing problem for the budgets of cities, schools and other jurisdictions that depend heavily on property taxes from these building owners.” And yet a majority of Newton’s City Councilors were more than a little cavalier this month when they overwhelmingly (21-2) rebuffed a proposal by Mayor Ruthanne Fuller to give commercial property owners a bit of a break on property taxes, with several councilors
Greg Reibman
Mayor Wu just did the burbs a favor
Wells Ave welcomes the WSYMCA; linkage fees playing a big role in site selection for future projects; the Newton tax override; and a hugely successful toy drive.
Greg Reibman
Another reason to be nice to store clerks and bartenders
We've received a third round of funding for the program we’ve been running in Newton and Wellesley since the darkest day of the pandemic; don't lose sight of the societal contributions of life science companies; updates on the West Newton project and catalytic converter law; and why not everyone loves that holiday music playing in stores.
Greg Reibman
Catching up on the latest need to knows
Employers are using all sorts of approaches to attract top talent: Generous comp packages. Remote work opportunities. Flexible schedules. And, no doubt, some of the items on this 11 Terrible Job Perks Nobody Really Cares About list. But Harvard Business School research suggests that many companies fail to promote a key draw for many prospective employees today, particularly young people: the diverse, inclusive workplaces they’ve worked hard to develop.
Greg Reibman
Turns out we celebrated too soon.
Knowing a federal match was critical to fully funding the stations, Baker stressed the urgency of approving his $85 million request in a letter to the Legislature. "We cannot lose additional time by waiting to appropriate funds for these projects,” Baker warned. Want to guess what our lawmakers did?
Greg Reibman
Auchincloss Frustrated Over Newton Stations Project
Colin A. Young, State House News Service
Riverside delayed, but for how long?
Economic headwinds – most notably rising construction and finance costs -- are indeed delaying Mark Development’s efforts to transform the Riverside MBTA station into a vibrant mixed-use development, the developer confirmed yesterday. As I wrote last week, this project was originally conceived more than a decade ago and revived in 2018.
Greg Reibman
Give business a break? City Council votes no
Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller tried to give Newton’s commercial property owners a bit of a break on property taxes last week. But Newton’s City Council overwhelmingly turned Fuller -- and our businesses -- down.
Greg Reibman
Inactions have consequences
It’s safe to say that were it not for the slow-turning wheels of government, that transformative project to create a mixed-use, transit-oriented development at Riverside Station would be well underway by now. The project dates back at least to 2011. It was approved in 2013 but only after it was scaled back to appease neighbors so far that it proved unviable financially.
Greg Reibman
