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MINUTES OF THE NEWMARKET BUSINESS ASSOCIATION |
Membership Meeting held on March 9th, 2005
Opening Remarks: 1st Vice President Brian Maloney of Middlesex Truck & Coach stood in for President John Marston and called the meeting to session shortly after 8:00AM at the Victoria Diner.
Committee Reports:
Mason School – Chairman Joe Cefalo spoke for the Mason school update. The logistics for the “Tot Lot” are being worked out. Expansion of the existing facility is needed.
Budget & Finance – Treasurer James Stauffer gave some insight to the association’s current financial situation, with $2,500 in our Main account, $2,500 in the Mason School Account, and $ 5,400 in the Contribution account to date.
Safety – Sue Sullivan, our Executive Director, discussed the plans for a future safety committee meeting on March 15th to go over various safety issues, including increased traffic and drug activity in the area surrounding Newmarket.
Contributions – Brian Maloney spoke of the need for a successful evening at
Fenway Park on March 30th for the association’s 6th Annual
Charity Fundraiser. With a line up of great offerings for the auctions from
local business donations, a great venue in Fenway Park, and the Massachusetts
Speaker Of The House, Salvatore Dimasi to be in attendance, the charity is sure
to be a success for the association.
Issues – Joe Cefalo spoke of the first of several meetings being
held later in the evening for the 1,400 car parking garage being constructed at
the BU Medical Center. Joe also spoke of the possible logistical issues with the
Greater Boston Food Bank expansion plans of a 100,000 square foot building that
is in the preliminary phases. Sue Sullivan spoke on the ongoing traffic issues
due to the closing of the Route 93 Albany Street ramp. A task force has been
formed with numerous members, as this issue has become an economic problem for
many businesses in the area.
Special Guests:
Captain ______ - Spoke of the areas declining instances of robberies and crimes. The Captain spoke highly of fellow police officers and remained cautiously optimistic on being able to make continued progress on cleaning up the surrounding areas of the city.
Philip Tucker – The General Manager of the Hampton Inn Suites in Boston, Philip gave a great deal of praise to Boston Connects, a local company that has successfully helped Hampton Inn with a variety of staffing needs in Boston. In 2004, Boston Connects, who helps 300-500 companies with employee recruitment, placed over 1,500 people into jobs. The employees Philip hired were mostly local, all around professionals who tended to have better retention thanks to Boston Connects providing assistance to the company and employee even after the hire. Boston Connects also pre-screens and pre-qualifies candidates in addition to giving help in human resources to the companies the organization works with.
The Meeting was Adjourned by Brian Maloney @ 9:15 AM
Membership
Meeting held on February 9th, 2005
The membership meeting was in the New Market Meeting Room at the Hampton Inn at
Crosstown. A delicious variety of breakfast food was served the hotel.
Meeting was called to order shortly after 8AM by president John Marston as
members and attendees introduced themselves.
The first
two speakers were Dr. Thomas Moore and Kevin Twomey of Boston University Medical
Center:
Summary Of Speech: Dr. Thomas Moore came to the association’s
meeting to discuss the prevention methods that have been, and are continuing to
be put into place in order to safe guard both the employees of Boston University
Medical Center as well as the greater public from an incident which occurred
last year from happening again. First he summed up the incidences of last year,
where Type A Touremea bacteria infected three of the researchers of the center
who thought they were working with a different strain of the virus while doing
research sponsored by the National Institute of Health. Touremea effects about
13-14 people in the state per year, mostly through tick bites. This virus is
also called “rabbit fever”, and is not transmitted from person to person. The
people infected with the virus experience flu like symptoms. All three people
who were infected with the virus are back to work. Both Dr. Moore and Mr. Twomey
spoke of the many changes that have taken place due to this instance. Boston
University has increased safety precautions and training, in addition to
conducting more unannounced laboratory inspections. At the onset of the incident
last year the proper authorities were called including the Center for Disease
Control (CDC), and the Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC). The speakers then
answered questions from NBA members concerned about the instance. Future options
such as checking every sample on arrival to the center and changing different
policies on reporting were addressed.
Role call was then made showing a large amount of members in attendance.
At this point the committee report on the 6th Annual Charity Fundraiser was made. The fundraiser, to be held on Wednesday, March 30th from 5:30PM to 8:30PM at Fenway Park is sure to be a success. All members were encouraged to come to the event and send in advance to the NBA items to be auctioned off for the charity event.
Second speaker was the Construction Manager of Wendy’s International who gave an update on the stage of development from site of Shirley Street and Mass Ave.:
Summary of Speech: Wendy’s International is awaiting approval to begin construction of the site from the Boston Transportation Department. The site is located across from Victoria’s Diner on the corner of Mass Ave. and Shirley Street. Parking and increased traffic issues were discussed, as well as the addition of a stop light on the corner of Shirley Street and Mass Ave.. Sue Sullivan brought up the need for additional parking spaces to be made available by the BTD. Many members were in agreement over the need to construct a new parking garage close to 1010 Mass Ave..
Third Speaker was David Yee, owner/operator of the McDonalds on the Corner of Mass Ave.:
David Yee is looking to expand the hours of operation for the drive through window of the McDonald’s from 6AM to Midnight, to a 24 hour a day operation. A member of Newmarket, David spoke on the importance of providing the community with a restaurant able to serve a hot and affordable meal. President Marston asked what stage Mr. Yee was at with this plan, and he is currently awaiting approval from the Com. Licensing Board. Mr. Yee answered questions on security and is willing to have private security available when needed. Vice-president Brian Maloney put this plan to a vote on the expansion of drive through hours to the NBA members and the association voted in favor of supporting Mr. Yee’s efforts.
Mason School Update: Is continuing to do well and getting good reviews, said Tony Ashton, who is a new teacher at the school.
Fourth Speaker was Bill Moy, the Community Liaison for the Central Artery/Tunnel Project who answered questions on the increased traffic in the Newmarket area due to recent changes in the Southbound Expressway ramps between South Station and South Bay Mall.
Summary Of Speech: Many members have been negatively impacted due to increased traffic on and around the ramps by the South Bay Mall and were eager to discuss this with Mr. Moy Mr. Moy spoke of the inevitability of adding a 4th lane to 93 South per the Federal Highway Administration, which in ten years has reduced the number of ramps to Route 93 in the city area from 27 to 15, creating more congestion at points of entrance and egress to the highway. State Police have been monitoring the traffic during the day when needed in an effort to keep traffic congestion down as much as possible. President Marston spoke of the need of the Newmarket Business Association working together with the Boston Transportation Department to solve this issue.
The Meeting was adjourned at 10:00AM
Membership Meeting held on January 12th, 2005
The meeting was called to order at 8:00 am by President John Marston. He welcomed everyone. Members present introduced themselves. Representatives from standing committees gave their reports.
Mason School:
The Mason School Principal, Janet Palmer-Owens, met with the Issues Committee to
discuss issues the school is facing. The Boston School Department has decided
that the programs should be kindergarten through eighth grade rather than
kindergarten through fifth grade. In order to offer three additional grades,
the Mason School will require more space for classrooms. The Issues Committee
discussed several possible options for gaining this additional space, including
building more stories onto the existing school structure and creating classrooms
on nearby land parcels. This issue will require further input, guidance and
support from the Boston School Department. The Mason School will be
distributing copies of the “wish list” of supply items needed by the school such
as maps and books for classrooms, reams of paper, pencils, etc. Janet
Palmer-Owens explained that she spends her limited funds on trying to retain the
staff and there is nothing left for school supplies. In the past, Newmarket
Business Association members have donated virtually everything on the school’s
wish list. The City of Boston has not provided a much-requested traffic signal
for students to cross Norfolk Street safely to get to the playground. Newmarket
members will follow up with the City officials to try to expedite this traffic
signal. For the youngest children, Principal Janet Palmer-Owens would like to
create a safe, small play area on the grounds of the school. There was some
discussion of earmarking the March fundraiser to assist the Mason School as it
prepares to celebrate its 100th birthday.
Thank you very much to many volunteers from Slade Gorton company for the Santa and holiday party for the Mason students. The swimming pool is completed and reopened. Newmarket Business Association members are always welcome to visit the Mason School.
Two Newmarket Business Association members have offered a challenge to match contributions to the School up to $500. Donate now and double your money!
Budget &
Finance:
2005 dues notices will be mailed soon. Please send in your dues promptly. The
accounts were $6,332.99 for the Association general fund and $2,734.96 for the
designated Mason School fund and $9,530.04 in the contributions account.
Contributions:
The contributions committee has sent checks on behalf of the Newmarket Business
Association to fifteen area organizations. The committee is still accepting
requests for contributions from qualified organizations that submit a detailed
letter with a specific program. The contributions committee urges all members
to plan to attend the upcoming fundraiser and to be as generous as possible in
donating items for the auction. This event provides all the funds used to
support area charities through the rest of the year. Thank you for all of your
support!
Safety:
Gerard Horgan of the Suffolk County Sheriff’s office has volunteered to chair
the Safety Committee. If there is any problem to report of incidents in the
neighborhood, please notify Gerard Horgan or Susan Sullivan.
Website:
New items are being added to the website this week. Please take a few minutes
to check it out at
www.newmarketboston.org.
Public Affairs:
The Public Affairs committee is planning the spring fundraiser event. An
invitation will be sent to all members as soon as the date for the venue is
certain. Please plan to attend this great event with your co-workers, family
and friends, and donate generously to the live auction.
Issues:
In addition to meeting with Principal Janet Palmer-Owens of the Mason School,
the Issues Committee met with Oliver Bouchier to hear preliminary ideas for the
Anytime Disposal Site. The 21E tests are currently being done on that site to
see if it is feasible to build a new shop and additional space on the land.
More information will be brought to the Issues Committee after the testing is
completed.
The Incinerator Site Request For Proposals (RFP) did not generate the expected response due to a fatal flaw in the bidding procedure: a hard deposit was required of applicants before they had approvals to go forward with development. Newmarket Representatives met with all of the government officials to review the status of the Incinerator Site RFP and they reached agreement that the RFP will be reissued with new rules and that if no acceptable proposal comes out of the second RFP, then the land will be landbanked for a few years.
The Board of Directors of the Boston Redevelopment Authority approved the funding for the Newmarket sign program submitted by the City of Boston. There is a maintenance agreement currently being reviewed by Joseph Cefalo, John Marston and Charles Levin.
The Biosquare Phase II master plan was approved by the Board of Directors of the Boston Redevelopment Authority. This master plan includes the Level 4 Biosafety laboratory, a parking garage, and an additional laboratory building G. The site is adjacent to the Boston Flower Exchange and is controlled by University Associates (BU & Boston Medical Center).
The Allied Bolt Building condominium proposal was approved by the Board of Directors of the Boston Redevelopment Authority with no regard to the input of area businesses or the Newmarket Business Association. Representatives from the Newmarket Business Association will be following up with the BRA and the Mayor to try to mitigate the effects of this dense housing development (117 units) on area businesses.
New Business:
The Newmarket Business Association unanimously voted to accept the membership
application of Mount Washington Bank.
The Newmarket Business Association offers condolences to the family and friends of Ed Rothschild, a founding member of the Association, who died of ALS on January 3rd. The Newmarket Business Association offers condolences to John Kinneally on the death of his father.
The meeting adjourned at 9:00am.