Civic

On behalf of NAIOP, I organized and moderated a panel on “Health Care: Growth and Development in Boston and the Suburbs,” that helped explain this growth in terms of patient needs and cost efficiencies, instead of expansion and cost increases, as had been recently reported in the press. The panel included Walter Armstrong, BIDMC; Paula Quan, Children’s Hospital Boston; Gene Wallace, Harvard Vanguard Associates; and Kathy West, Partners. 400 people from the real estate community attended.

At the Boston Marathon Brunch sponsored by John Hancock in the Boston Public Library, I spoke with Mayor Menino about MASCO’s upcoming meeting with him and the COF Presidents to launch the COF Community Impact Report developed by MASCO with the COF members.

The Commonwealth

MBTA
Sarah Hamilton reviewed results of our commuter rail platform study at Ruggles Station, which document both the ridership demand and cost-effectiveness of constructing a third platform, with MBTA director of planning, Joe Cosgrove and deputy director of railroad operations, Steve Jones. The MBTA will assist us in trying to get this project onto the Program for Mass Transit (PMT) capital planning document.

Open Space
Jan Henderson, Senior Planner, is a member of the Muddy River Oversight Committee (MMOC), appointed by the Secretary of Environmental Affairs, to guide the Muddy River Restoration project, which will result in daylighting of the river and reconstruction of the Sears Rotary beginning in the spring of 2009. This group meets monthly, and most recently heard a presentation from EOT about the Urban Ring project.

Urban Ring
We continue to work with the State and the LMA community to reach consensus on alternatives to be studied and included in the State’s upcoming draft environmental impact report filings and on strategies for fi nancing, participating in April meetings convened by Wendy Stern, Massachusetts Undersecretary for Transportation and A Better City’s Institutional and Business Committee as well as leading behind-the-scenes leadership meetings on technical and financial aspects of the project.

Sarah Hamilton attended the Chamber of Commerce Transportation Subcommittee meeting, at which Senator Baddour, co-chairman of the Joint Committee on Transportation spoke about recent reforms and the Transportation Bond Bill. Sarah highlighted the LMA community’s continued job growth and reliance on public transportation from the suburbs and the inner city as well as the need for the State’s support to retire the MBTA’s debt burden to make way for new transit and parking infrastructure projects.

David Eppstein obtained letters from Representative Sanchez’s and Councilor Ross’s offices to support a Homeland Security Grant application on behalf of Brigham and Women’s.

The City

To support Mayor Menino’s ParkARTs summer programs, I served on the “Rose Garden Party” committee chaired by Angela Menino and attended the committee luncheon, where I sat with Parks Commissioner Antonia Pollack.

I met with Jansi Chandler, BRA Director of Economic Development to discuss planning and transportation issues.

We convened our Strategic Planning Committee of members, to discuss with Boston Transportation Department’s Director of Planning, Vineet Gupta, early findings on parking ratios and pedestrian and circulation improvements from the Fenway/Kenmore/Longwood Transportation Study, funded by the $55 million in economic stimulus bill monies MASCO worked with others to get in 2007.

The BRA Board hearings for Joslin/National Development project and Children’s Hospital’s Master Plan were testified at by Sarah Hamilton.

At the request of members of the Boston Fire Department, Tucker Husband made a presentation to the Boston Local Emergency Preparedness Committee hosted at Harvard Public Health.

Tucker Husband coordinated with the COF to develop and hold a Tabletop emergency preparedness drill, “Active Shooter”, at Emmanuel College. Participants included individuals from the Boston Police Department, Boston EMS, the Mayor’s Office of Homeland Security, and the State Police.

Matt Grymek, CommuteWorks Coordinator, met with Nicole Freedman, Boston’s Director of Bicycle Programs, in a new partnership with all TMAs to coordinate the Boston area Bike to Work week.

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