Compiled by Susanna Baird and Andrew Rapp
The Newmarket Business District reaches from the South End to South Bay.
The area, just off I-93, is one of Boston's largest industrial
districts, covering nearly 800 acres, housing nearly 1,500 businesses
that employ more than 15,000 people, and posting a combined $4 billion
in annual revenues.
Newmarket has changed over the last several decades. Business owners
have strengthened ties through the Newmarket Business Association (NBA),
founded in 1977 and comprising nearly 200 member businesses. As the
nearby South End continues to experience a high-end housing boom, its
residential life threatens to spill over into the nearby industrial
sector. And while some businesses have fled out to the 128 or 495
beltways and beyond, in search of more space at less cost, many
Newmarket businesses have explored means of staying put while remaining
viable.
Last week, the South End News hosted a roundtable with five members of
the NBA, invited to weigh in on these issues: Joseph Cefalo, president
of the Newmarket Business Association and treasurer and director of
development of the Boston Flower Exchange on Albany Street; Brenda
Colgan, vice president of Waldo Bros., a Southhampton Street company
specializing in brick, concrete and other building materials; Carl Lizio,
partner, Betterway Boston, a South End-based construction concern, and
chair of the NBA board; Brian Maloney of Gerard Street's Middlesex Truck
and Coach and NBA vice president; and Carol Tienken, chief operating
officer, Greater Boston Food Bank, Atkinson Street.
Newmarket is one of the city's largest light industrial districts. Why
is light industrial important to the city's overall economic health?
Carol Tienken, Greater Boston Food Bank: "Being from the nonprofit side,
I think that the light industrial side always gets the short shrift. It
may not be the largest employer, it may not be the largest tax base, but
it ends up being the heart of all the industries. If it weren't for the
light industrial side then you start talking about the bigger
organizations which Boston doesn't really have, but we do have the
important sort of business bases that are going to continue our business
opportunities, and business bases that keep the city moving. This isn't
the South Side of Chicago. This isn't New Jersey. We haven't got that
much industrial today. This is clearly an area that is understated."
Joseph Cefalo, Boston Flower Exchange: "We're working with the Boston
Redevelopment Authority (BRA) and the Economic Development and
Industrial Corporation of Boston (EDIC) to designate this area as an
industrial area. It's a divergent mix of individuals and businesses, but
we're all basically the same type of wholesale operating business.
Everyone understands trucking. Everyone understands long hours. Everyone
understands the nuances that are involved and so we get along very well.
Why do we safeguard this so diligently? Because that synergy gets
disrupted."
I presume that the proximity to Boston's other residential and
commercial areas is important, that most of the businesses in this area
would be at a disadvantage if they had to operate out in Framinham or
Natick.
Brenda Colgan, Waldo Bros.: "Why is our business any different than our
competitor? It's because we're in Boston. Everybody else is out on 128.
We're in proximity to people. They need a truck full of cement, they
don't have guys sitting on site for two days waiting for it to be
delivered from outside of Boston. They can get it from us in a half an
hour if we have the availibility. It makes a big difference from an
economic perspective that small businesses within Boston have resources
within Boston, and the big guys can come to the small businesses within
Boston, too, to get what they need."
Brian Maloney, Middlesex Truck and Coach: "In the early '80s the whole
industrial area had fallen into decay. Taking over a small area of this
industrial area, creating jobs for Boston residents is so important.
Blue-collar people need jobs to get ahead. These people are trying to
get by without the encroachment of residential areas. The need for
housing is terrific, but the need for people to create their own
economic future and go to work is essential to even begin thinking of
that."
What do you feel that the city can do going forward to help your
business association meet its goals of developing jobs and fostering the
businesses in this area?
Carl Lizio, Betterway Boston: "We have a commitment from the mayor based
on his own experience years ago clearing Faneuil Hall Market and moving
those businesses out of the city. His commitment to us is that it'll
never happen here. We rely on that.
"What we have here is walk-to jobs. You can't take these jobs out of the
city and accomplish the employment levels for city people. They just
can't get there. The Newmarket jobs are the jobs that pay the mortgages
on the three-deckers in the city. Whereas the downtown skyscrapers are
the Lipizzaners, the fancy show horses, we're the plow horse that gets
up every morning and tills the field.
"We may not be pretty, but you can't have a successful city without a
Newmarket. If you knock off an industrial building here and knock off
another one somewhere else, it's almost like the guy that killed the
last of an endangered species. He always figured that there was another
one over the horizon or on another island someplace, and then one day
there weren't any. We can't be in that position."
We've done quite a bit of coverage of the Roxbury Strategic Master Plan
(RSMP). From what you've seen of it so far, do you feel like it's
consistent with what you hope for the areas that are covered by it?
Joseph Cefalo, Boston Flower Exchange: "I've been appointed to the [RSMP]
Oversight Committee as a representative of Newmarket. We did have some
concerns during the drafting of the document because there were
proposals to create buffer zones.The problem with that is, there's
creeping jurisdiction. Once a buffer zone is established, then several
years later it's moved as you have changes in use. We specifically
addressed that issue with the BRA. Also we had the issue of governance.
Both of those issues have been very well addressed by the BRA. I think
that the organization and Newmarket can work with each other.
"There are going to be areas where the residents should have 100 percent
say; it's their neighborhood, it's their backyard, it's their
playground. But when it comes to the area that's questionable, where you
have pockets of commercial industrial development, that's when the two
players sit down and come to a compromise and understand the needs of
both sides and work it out."
The development of the Southeast Expressway and completion of the Big
Dig: Now that it's to some degree finalized, do you feel like it's going
to meet the needs of the Newmarket Business District, or is that an
ongoing process?
Joseph Cefalo, Boston Flower Exchange: "We had to do it the hard way at
first to impress upon the Central Artery that we didn't want any
surprises. We wanted to be informed in advance of all the changes that
were taking place so we could get that information out to our members.They didn't believe us. We jumped up and down, yelled and
screamed, and we made our point known to them. Eventually they came
around."
Brian Maloney, Middlesex Truck and Coach: "I'd like to go back in time
to the rezoning that went on to identify districts. For example, no one
likes trucks, no one wants trucks going in front of their house every
day. Trucks, however, are a necessary part of our lives. How do we best
handle these trucks? Working with the neighborhood back then, we were
able to work with Public Works and the BRA and the truck department. We
designed an access and an egress point in and out with the neighborhood.
"Trucks have to be here. Where are they going to go? Where will they be
supplied from? Where will the jobs go without us? It's a great idea to
social revolutionaries sitting up on the 50th floor of an office and
deciding what an area would look like. But they have to get down on the
street to realize what they're really talking about."
Brenda Colgan, Waldo Bros.: "The Back Streets program hit at a perfect
time when Newmarket was coming into its own. Now when we're at a
meeting, and we say how vital it is to the support, when Lara's in the
meeting with us, she takes that action right there. It's not 'Maybe if I
have time tomorrow to make that phone call to the mayor that maybe he
doesn't have time to talk to me.' She's making that call and it really
has been working. At a minimum, we will be heard by the right people.
There's an accountability; I think it works beautiful with businesses."
You mentioned that a lot of the jobs are walk-to jobs from the
surrounding neighborhoods. How do you feel the condition is right now in
terms of facilitating that, and what do you see in terms of improvements
so that folks that live nearby can access the jobs in the area?
Joseph Cefalo, Boston Flower Exchange: "We've been trying to work with
the MBTA to adjust some of the bus schedules. Use the Flower Excange: We
open for business at 5 in the morning. You have to get here at 3:30.
There's no public transportation that runs at those hours. People can
get to Andrews Square [in South Boston] but then they have to walk from
Andrews Square to Newmarket. People complain, especially in the
wintertime. The same if they're coming to Newmarket from the opposite
direction. You can get to Dudley Square [in Roxbury], but they have to
walk from there to work. I don't know that there's ever going to be an
absolute resolution of the issue, but in order to have Boston residents
avail themselves of Boston jobs, you need the transportation
infrastructure."
Are there future goals of your partnership with the Mason School? What
do you feel has made that so successful?
Joseph Cefalo, Boston Flower Exchange: "This is such a success and so
easy and so simple. Every business organization in the city of Boston,
in the commonwealth of Massachusetts, in the United States should be
doing this.
"It's not a financial burden. It's the time, the effort, just enjoying
the kids and also, I don't know whether this is true or not, but having
the business association as a role model for these kids. We're very
diverse. We're not a bunch of gray-haired white men at business
meetings. There are women who run businesses, minorities who run
businesses; all cultural aspects and we all work together."
Are there other neighborhoods in Boston or in other cities where you've
said 'this is the type of neighborhood Newmarket could be?'
Carol Tienken, Greater Boston Food Bank: "Unfortunately, there are too
many people that we need to feed and we've run out of space. We have the
option of staying in the city and paying a premium, or going out to 128
or 495 and finding something much bigger and much cheaper. We are
committed to staying not just in Boston but in Newmarket.
"I thing part of the reason has to do with location, absolutely. I think
the other part of it are our neighbors in the Newmarket Association. We
know that if something happens, we know we can go to our neighbors and
say we need this, or can you help us with that, or can you give us some
advice on something or other, or would you support me on something or
other. I find that very unique."
Carl Lizio, Betterway Boston: "Newmarket has always had the reputation
for knowing what's going on. There's a quiet information network that
takes place within the organization because people know each other. That
way no business is likely to get blind-sided by something happening."
Brenda Colgan, Waldo Bros.: "I don't know of another neighborhood like
this. When you're a business trying to survive in this economy, to be
able to turn to an organization, or your neighbor, and say I need help
... . I never felt alone as a small business trying to survive in
Boston."
