0:00

This is the New England Business Report with Joe short Sleeve and Kim Carrigan,

0:04

a weekly round up in discussion of the top business news impacting our New England

0:08

economy. Welcome everyone to this edition of the New England Business Report. It

0:13

is April twenty first Sunday. I'm Kim Carrigan along with Joe short Sleeve.

0:19

Good morning to you, keav Good morning my friend. You know what I

0:22

love. I think mother Nature finally got the memo. Yeah, you know,

0:26

I was in the South End this last week and Joe, it was

0:30

absolutely spectacular looking down the streets, its colors, I mean, the purples,

0:35

yellows, I mean it's just yeah, you sit there and go,

0:38

you forget how beautiful early spring. It's the truth, you really do.

0:41

And I live up on the North Shor as you know, and honestly,

0:44

the North Shore is probably a week and a half, almost two weeks behind

0:49

the city. Yeah, it's a little cooler. Yeah. So I just

0:51

got such a charge. I felt like i'd go, you know, time

0:53

travel. I was thinking about the city too, and I'm sitting here,

0:56

going here. We have this massive playoff weekend in Boston. We just take

1:00

it for granted that, you know, this is just the way things are.

1:03

And I mean, what a tremendous boost for businesses and restaurants and airlines

1:10

and hotels, and it just keeps going. It is a very exciting time

1:15

in Boston. We're going to talk a little bit more about what that means

1:19

to businesses coming up. Let's talk about what's coming up in this half hour.

1:22

We're going to start with Greg Ryan from the Boston Business Journal. He's

1:26

talking about Mayor Wu's proposal to increase taxes on commercial real estate in the city.

1:32

Talk about a thud. Let me Yeah, Greg Ryan's talking about this,

1:36

and so is everybody everybody else. You know, whether it's a big

1:40

business or just small businesses in the city, everybody is on edge when it

1:45

comes to this issue. You kind of scratch your head and you kind of

1:47

go, what what is the mayor thinking? I mean, given how week

1:49

the downtown is at this point, well every other week we're doing stories about

1:55

how do you get people back downtown. This is a way to run people

1:59

out here, right, We're going to have a whole bunch of I mean, the current tax rate now, you know, as it stands right now,

2:05

never mind bumping it up eight percent, I mean, and shifting the

2:07

burden. I don't know. I mean, I don't know. Somebody needs

2:10

to sit her down and say, wait a minute, wait a minute.

2:15

Well, the interesting thing is that Greg Ryan is looking at what city councilors

2:19

are saying about this, and boy, you know, they're very mixed on

2:22

her bringing this up and where they all stand. So Greig Ryan's going to

2:25

join us this morning and we'll hear more about what the council is saying about

2:29

this big proposal from the mayor. And then the president of Leader Bank is

2:32

going to join us, Jay Tooley. He's going to update this mortgage rights.

2:38

Guess which direction they're going? Oh goodness. And you know what, we could have them on. We could have one of these guys on every

2:44

week, three times and the mortgage rates would change before the show came to

2:46

an end. I really do feel that way. And you hear that and

2:50

you go, oh, well, this has got to be terrible for these

2:52

guys. Guess what not. Really things are going very well, and then you have that headline and the Globe this week about here it is greater Boston

3:00

typical home price reaches wait for it, nine hundred thousand dollars. That's your

3:05

average. Yeah, a new March record. Yeah, isn't that crazy?

3:08

I popping number? The Globe says it is. And yet you talk to

3:12

Jay Toullian, Yeah, it's been good, it's been good. It's been

3:14

great for me. Well, I think any kind of relief, even if it's for a week and a half, people are jumping on that. You

3:20

know, something else that Jay Tooley's going to talk to us about that I

3:22

think is really fascinating. It's insurance rates all going up. You know,

3:25

apparently we're running into each other in our very expensive cars. And then on

3:30

top of it, I don't know, I stop doing that, by the way, exactly. My husband really feels strongly about that. Yeah. And

3:37

then you know, the other thing that Jay is talking about is home.

3:39

The insurance rates. Don't talk to me about that either. I have a

3:43

home in the Cape, and I don't even want to know what's going on

3:45

with this is what I live on the water. Yeah, and so, and guess what they just announced. It's going to be one of the worst

3:50

hurricane seasons of the you know, of the decade. Have a good day.

3:54

My insurance company's already calling and it hasn't even hit yet. Yeah,

3:58

you need to start making Caymans. The other thing we're going to talk about

4:01

is dining in the North End. You know, I was in the North

4:03

End for Marathon Sunday as it was called, and boy I was a North

4:09

End teaming. Well, anyway, we reached out to Joan Vinaki the Boston

4:12

Globe because he wrote a column about why there's no outdoor dining in Boston and

4:15

the lawsuit, the civil lawsuit in federal court that twenty one Italian restaurant owners

4:23

have filed against Mayor WU because of the ban on outdoor dining. And you

4:29

know, it's interesting what Joan has to say. She digs in deep as to why why is the mayor doing this? And there's I guess this neighborhood

4:35

group. Isn't that what you just said a minute ago? Yeah? Why,

4:41

I mean really talking about trying to defend the business community. I mean,

4:45

she's really doing that quite well these days. All right, Then we're

4:49

also gonna be talking about Skip Purham, you know, business of sports.

4:54

He of course is the director of Sports Management program there at Suffolk University,

4:59

and well, Skip has a lot to say about what's going on in Boston

5:02

this weekend. I mean these playoff games and they're ringing up the cash registers

5:06

and uh, I guess meet Boston. The folks the hospitality group here talks

5:11

about the financial impact, and I mean these are old numbers, old numbers

5:15

per game in the North End or in the city, five million dollars.

5:19

I'm sure that that number is out of date, but we'll talk to skip

5:21

about that. Yeah. Well, you remember we talked to Martha Sheridan last

5:25

week and she was saying, you know, there's one thing from the winter

5:28

we like to drag into the spring, and that's sports. And our two

5:31

sports teams are doing a great job at just that. You know, they

5:35

are both the Bruins and the Celtics, and they both have home court ice

5:43

advantage, which means, you know, we're we've got lots of games there.

5:46

It's the it's those folks who work at the garden. Think about the

5:48

work those four people are under. It's ice, it's parking. It's ice,

5:53

it's parking, and it didn't get it out. Get it out.

5:57

All right, Let's time to dig a little deeper in this controversial proposal that

6:00

Boston Mayor Michelle Woe is putting forth that basically calls for shifting a larger percentage

6:06

of the property tax burden to the commercial side of the page. You can

6:11

hear the screaming now from the business community. Let's bring in Greg Ryan,

6:15

senior reporter with the Boston Business Journal. Greg, welcome to the program.

6:20

Tell us exactly what's going on here with this home rule petition. So the

6:27

mayor wants to be allowed to put more of the tax burd and noncommercial property

6:31

properties for five years at a time. Because of the crisis that's happening in

6:39

office property values. Values are going down under state law. That means residential

6:44

tax payers will will pay more unless the city steps in and changes the law.

6:50

That legislation would first need to be approved by the city Council. There

6:55

was a hearing this week on that, and then it would need approval at

6:57

the state House. Greg, it feels like by doing this, the mayor

7:04

is sort of counter its counterintuitive in that you know, she's doing everything she

7:10

can to get people to come back into the city, and yet she's raising

7:13

taxes on on uh on business owners like this on commercial real estate. Yeah,

7:18

well, I guess she's faced with a difficult choice, right if she

7:21

if she doesn't do this, she'll either have to cut the budget or residential

7:29

or you know, homeowners in Boston will see a significant increase. Well,

7:31

you know, there's a good chance we'll see a significant increase in their property

7:34

taxes next year. But you're right, and that you know. That's during

7:39

the City Council hearing this week, that's what business leaders were saying, like,

7:43

you know, commercial property owners are really struggling right now. Just look

7:46

at what's happening downtown with office vacancy rates. If you add this, it's

7:50

going to be even harder. The administration is responded to that by saying,

7:54

well, if office values are you know, commercial property values are going down,

7:59

that means they're tax bills will be going down. So if we increase

8:01

the tax rate, you know, yes, you know, it'll be higher

8:05

than they would have paid, but their overall bills are decreasing anyway. That's

8:11

the argument they're making. Greg grind of Boston Business journalis I guess, well,

8:13

maybe that's a good place for us to just sort of backtrack a step

8:16

here, if you could, Greg, let's reset what is exactly going on

8:18

with commercial real estate and downtown Boston. How bad is it? How bad

8:22

are those vacancy rates? Yeah, so vacancy raised in offices than north of

8:28

twenty percent now for you know, a year or two with no signs of

8:31

improving really, And there haven't been many office buildings that have traded downtown,

8:39

but those that have often there they're trading at a significant discount. A few

8:43

weeks ago, one on one Arch, which I'm looking at right now for

8:46

my office, that was the largest office tower to sell in Boston in five

8:50

years. It's sold below its two thousand and five price. So you know,

8:54

twenty years later, the building is worth less. So that gives you

8:58

a sense of just how how much values are falling. So talk, Let's

9:05

go back, if we could for just a moment and talk about what the

9:07

city council is saying about this. Because with a home rule petition like this,

9:11

council would have to pass it legislators. What it would have to be,

9:16

I would have to be passed up up Beacon Hill as well. What

9:20

kind of you know, feedback was coming from the councilors this past week.

9:22

I know they met for like four hours discussing this. Yeah, there was

9:28

there was and I would say, I was surprised by the level of I

9:33

don't know if i'd say pushback, but of you know, skepticism or questioning

9:37

that the you know, administration officials received. You know, there was Ed

9:43

Flynn, the former City council president. He came right out and said he's

9:46

opposed to this. He represents downtown. But you know, even some of

9:50

you know, even some of Wu's allies on the City Council, we're saying,

9:54

you know, you know, we want to see more data about this.

9:58

You know, we're concerned about the impact it could have on you know,

10:01

small business owners, you know, small commercial property owners. You know,

10:05

there was you know, discussion, well, can we find some of

10:09

this money elsewhere? A couple of times counselors brought up the pilot program,

10:15

which is where you know, universities and hospitals, nonprofits, you know,

10:18

the voluntary payments they make in lieu of property taxes. Can we do something

10:22

there? Can we put more pressure on them? So, you know,

10:26

it didn't get you know, it doesn't look like it's going to sail right through the City Council necessarily, although I would not be surprised that ultimately it

10:33

did pass in some form. Yet at the same time, Greg Ryan, you said you were kind of surprised to see this pushback as a veteran reporter

10:39

in this city. I mean, what does that say to you about this

10:43

idea. I mean it seems to be that this is a bad idea at

10:46

a bad time. Yeah. I think I think what it shows is that

10:52

counselors see they have no good options. You know, you know, even

10:56

like I said, counselors that are typically very you know, very supportive of

11:01

the ventures that come from the mayor, they're saying, you know, they

11:05

don't want to raise residential property taxes either. They don't want to cut the

11:09

budget, but you know, something's got to give, and you know,

11:13

the pushback you're seeing on the commercial front, I don't know. Yeah,

11:18

I think I think it shows that you know this, that this is going

11:22

to face opposition that the mayor doesn't typically see. Yeah. You you mentioned

11:28

nobody is interested in cutting the budget. There was no budgetary you know conversation

11:33

because for the lay person out here, I think a lot of people would

11:35

say, how about we do that? Yeah, there was some you know,

11:39

there was some broad discussion of you know, should we be raising commercial

11:45

property taxes without without you know, controlling our own expenses. So far,

11:50

the administration has been very resistant to that. And I don't you know.

11:56

I know, Counselor Murphy a week or two ago before the idea of having

12:01

a hiring freeze, which is something that Governor heally is implementing at least in

12:05

some form in response to physcal pressures, and then quickly she you know,

12:11

she backed away from that. So I don't know. Maybe maybe the discussion

12:15

will get there at some point, but it doesn't seem like they are seriously

12:18

considering that idea right now, Gregor plumb out of time. But when do

12:22

you think the council will vote on this? I would say in the next month or two. The question there is and ask to go to the State

12:28

House, and you're up against the third deadline, So it's unclear whether anything

12:31

will happen this year. All right, Well, mean, as Greg Ryan

12:35

of the Boston Business Journal and certainly Kim, that is a topic that we won't let go of. We will be following that very closely up next well,

12:41

or talk about mortgage rate. Home mortgage rates. Guess which direction they're

12:46

going, Yeah, they're going up, and guess what it's not bad for business. We'll talk with the president of Leader Bank. You are listening to

12:54

the New England Business Report on the Voice of Boston w r KO six.

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Business Report on w RKO is brought to you in part by Leader Bank,

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Modern Banking with a personal touch. Welcome back, everybody you know. We

15:16

talk frequently Joe about mortgage rates and interest rates. Here on the broadcast for

15:20

obvious reasons because we have been haul over the map, i know, and

15:26

they're going up. Yeah, they are, and they're going up from an

15:28

up position. That's what's you know, really interesting joining us to talk a

15:33

little bit more about all of this fluctuation and again mostly higher. He is

15:37

the president of Leader Bank, Jay Tooley. Great to have Jay with us,

15:41

Like always, Jay, let's talk about what's happened just in the last

15:45

you know, week and a half, two weeks. Yeah, absolutely,

15:48

thanks for having me, Kim and Joe. On the interest rate perspective,

15:52

it's been really interesting and it's been like this for a while now. Is

15:56

the market is expecting from ring puts you of a couple of weeks ago.

16:00

Later this year, inflation is proving to be a little more sticky. The

16:07

fetis had to clarify to adjust the optimistic expecting expectations of the market. So

16:14

rates have really popped in the last couple of weeks. So it's it's just

16:18

an interesting time. It's just all this volatility and that makes it pretty hard

16:23

for folks, especially like home buyers trying to plan, you know, how

16:30

much they can afford in buying a new home, you know, Jay,

16:33

and when you think about that logically, Oh okay, well that's that's got

16:37

to be bad for business. But I mean we're looking at your notes here.

16:41

I mean, March and April you say have been very strong. How

16:45

do you explain that? It's it's it's very interesting, right, So March

16:52

and April have been very very strong for home buying. In fact, it's

16:56

been our best you know, hand full of weeks in over a year.

17:03

How to explain it? What I think is going on is there's a lot

17:06

of pressure being built up. You know, a family that needs to buy

17:10

a home because they have young kids or new baby or whatever, move out of that apartment. I mean, you can only wait so long. So

17:15

that's part of it. I think the other part of it is people have

17:18

come to expect, come to just realize like, okay, this is how

17:22

it is. Rates are high, and let's just move on with life.

17:26

So there's some of that. And then the third thing I would say is

17:30

Realsource has done a good job adding inventory to the market for this spring season,

17:33

and it's happened a little bit earlier this year, and the weather's good.

17:37

Right, So all those three things combined we actually seen quite a strong

17:41

home buying season. Right now, let's talk a little bit about the insurance

17:45

business if we could. Jay. You know, this is kind of a

17:48

new area for Leader Bank, and looking over some notes that you sent to

17:52

us, you're saying that the insurance issues could be a problem in the near

17:57

future as well, meaning going up. Yeah, So what's going on with

18:02

insurance is fascinating. Auto insurance inflation is kind of the highest that's been in

18:07

nearly fifty years. So people are seeing when their annual renewals are coming up

18:14

for insurance, huge heights, not only in auto but also in home insurance.

18:18

There's a lot of reasons for that, but I think it's surprising a

18:22

lot of people. And so the first thing is, you know, this

18:26

is just the way it is, and this is what what insurers are doing.

18:30

The next thing is like why are they doing? There's really three reasons

18:33

insurance premiums are going up. The first is just inflation. You know,

18:37

if you think about the value of a home that insurer has to ensure,

18:41

maybe it's worth five hundred thousand dollars five years ago, Well, now it's

18:45

worth eight hundred thousand dollars, right, So the cost to replace and the

18:51

value the home has gone up a lot, So that's a piece of it. The second piece of it on the vehicle side is that cars are just

18:57

more expensive. You know, there was a shortage of cars. With a

19:00

shortage of cars, broad prices high, so that's higher. And I think

19:04

the third is the claims is the severity of claims that's gone up. And

19:11

I don't know why that is. My theory is that there is this period

19:14

of time where people were driving less. There's all these new drivers that are

19:18

coming into the market post pandemic, and there's some more accidents and different things

19:22

happening. So the combination of all of these things has really increased insurance premiums.

19:27

Talking with Jay Tulie, of course the president of a Leader Bank and

19:32

talking a little bit about the insurance side of the page at this point.

19:36

So Jay, what is that doing for you? I mean, it sounds like you're dishing out bad news to the consumer. But how is business at

19:42

Leader Bank? Yeah? So as a relatively new insurance agency, and we

19:48

are an insurance agent, so we work with multiple carriers, so we have

19:52

the benefit when clients come to us what's happening. As clients will come and

19:56

say oh my goodness, my premium went up five hundred dollars. We'll take

20:00

their pulsy and we'll shop them against twelve or fifteen different carriers, and often

20:04

we're able to find them a different carrier that will have a better price or

20:08

better carbadge. So that's been a really great thing. And so you know,

20:12

we're very upfront with people, Hey, let us take a look for

20:15

you. We might be able to find you a better deal. And if

20:18

we can't, totally upfront with them and let them know. But now is

20:22

a time where I think consumers should really be looking at their insurance and shopping

20:26

around a bit. It's something that you know, most Fiel didn't spend a

20:30

lot of time thinking about in the past, but given how much increases are,

20:33

it's a good thing to look at again. All right, So Jay,

20:37

look into that crystal ball and tell us what's coming up when it comes

20:40

to rates, Going back to interest rates, what do you anticipate's going to

20:45

happen as the year continues. The Fed's been all over the market. Yeah,

20:49

it's the billion dollar question, you know. I think when I was

20:52

on this show, you know, about a month ago, we talked about

20:57

how the fed made a state and it looks pretty even keel, but the

21:02

media sort of twisted it to say, oh my god, we're gonna cut

21:06

raids, and I think that caused market expectations to go down. And now

21:11

we're coming back, I would say in the next probably six months. We

21:15

a leader Bank are expecting a lot of volatility. So I don't know which

21:18

way Rach're going to go up or down, but we are expecting a lot

21:22

of volatility because every reading that happens, there's so much that is being taken

21:27

and interpreted, and it's going up and down and up and down. And

21:30

I think we're in a period of time we're going to see mixed signals a

21:33

little bit in inflation and unemployment, some months up, some months down,

21:37

and so it's sort of just bracing for a little bit of a wild ride.

21:41

Ultimately, you know, I think everyone feels like the bed will have

21:45

to come down at some point. The question is just how long is that

21:47

going to take? And we're not sure, but we're being prepared that this

21:52

could take a little while. All right, Jay Tooley, thank you so

21:56

much for being a part of the broadcast this morning, and we'll keep our

22:00

fingers crossed that volatility doesn't always mean up. For some reason that works just

22:04

me. It's going up all right. Coming up next, Boston Globe Associate

22:10

editor and columnist Joan Venaki will join us as our guest. She's weighing in

22:14

on the outdoor dining issues over there at the North End. This is the

22:18

New England Business Report. Kim and Joe will explore more business news that impacts

22:26

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24:48

welcome back to the New England Business Report on this Sunday morning. Joe Shortsleeve

24:52

here with you with Kim Kerrigan. Kim, you know, do you have

24:55

your cup of coffee? You're good to go, right, I listen, I've had three What do you mean my cup of coffee? Yeah? All

25:03

right, So time to talk a little about some of this business stories that

25:06

maybe caught your attention, caught my attention over this past week. And this

25:10

is a story that John Chester wrote in the Boston Globe and it all comes

25:12

back to the same topic of artificial intelligence and our Attorney General Andrew Campbell putting

25:18

the AI world unnoticed that she's going to apply the state's existing consumer protection laws

25:23

to AI. And I was sitting in there thinking about I going, what

25:26

does that mean? Well? And then you go dig a little deeper,

25:30

and it has to do with the whole idea of misrepresentations such as voice cloning

25:34

and deep fakes. I mean, that is a real and you talk about

25:38

these ads where they have people saying things that they're not really saying, and

25:44

I think that's a pretty interesting business story. So let me tell you.

25:48

I don't know if you were following this last week, but Taylor Swift dropping

25:52

her new album on Friday. She did a midnight Thursday night into Friday.

25:56

On Thursday, there was a leak of the album allegedly, but guess what

26:03

the leak was AI really and it was these really you know, sound people

26:08

who put it together and realized that was not really Taylor Swift singing. That

26:14

is frightening if you are anyone you know, and you wonder where has the

26:18

legal world been at this point on this particular topic, and how do you

26:22

chase it? How do you pursue it right? You know, how do

26:25

you exact damages here? But I guess that you know, Andrew Campbell was

26:29

saying here in Massachusetts that this type of stuff could be considered unfair or deceptive

26:33

under the state's Consumer Protection Act. So I don't know, maybe, yeah,

26:37

I'm happy to see people like her doing this. I think it's something's

26:41

got to be done. Yeah, and John Cesto again wrote that in the

26:44

Globe and he says AI systems have already shown to pose serious risks to consumers,

26:48

including bias, lack of transparency and explainability. Anyway, you know,

26:53

a lot more to come there. Another topic that has business owner is quite

26:57

concerned has to do with what's going on in the North End and the lack

27:02

of outdoor dining. Now, Kim Kerrigan and I were doing a program on

27:06

the Bloomberg Network well more than a couple of years ago at this point when

27:08

this whole issue started and outdoor dining went away after COVID and the City Hall

27:15

made it very difficult for the North End to continue with any type of outdoor

27:18

dining, and there were lawsuits and screaming and crying. Well, the losses

27:22

went away, and then they came back and again here we are in the

27:26

season and the city's bustling, and the playoffs are going and guess what,

27:30

there's no outdoor dining in the North End. Now. Somebody who's been looking

27:36

into this as Joan Vanaki the Boston Globe Globe columnists, and Joan joins us

27:40

now her recent editorial North End Restaurants dispute with Mayor Wu is about more than

27:45

outdoor dining. Joan Vanaki joins us. Now, Joan, tell us what's

27:49

going on. Well, nice to be here. Well, you know,

27:55

Joe, politics used to be the art of the possible, and in this

27:59

case it's become the art of the impossible. Just a very long running saga.

28:06

And I guess I'm in favor of just trying to figure out a way

28:10

to look at a compromise. So, Joan, you say that you think

28:14

this is sort of a calculated move on the part of the mayor, sort

28:19

of looking at all of the sides and making a political decision. Right,

28:26

She's got a kind of a loud, noisy group of restaurant donors who there

28:33

seems to be kind of hostility on both sides of, you know, this

28:37

argument. And it seems there are also some residents who are associated with something

28:45

called the what is it called the North End Waterfront Association, who own condos

28:52

more on the waterfront side of North End, and they seem to be a

28:57

driving force behind some of the opposition. So she's picking aside and at the

29:04

moment, it is not the side of the owners of the restaurants. I

29:08

was in the North End for Marathon Sunday, a place was teeming with people.

29:11

And now we've got the playoffs in the city and I know that everybody

29:15

talks about where can you eat outside the North End wall? You can't right

29:17

now. So, Joan, if you could talk to us a little bit

29:19

about this neighborhood group as you called it, the North End Waterfront Residence Association.

29:25

Why do they have so much power and be where are we with this

29:30

federal civil lawsuit? Well, the source of their power, I'm not sure

29:34

I have the complete answer to the question. If you run some of the

29:38

names through the Office of Campaign and Political Finance, you will find out that

29:45

some of them are contributors to Mayor Wu. Now I haven't run the names

29:48

of the restaurant owners through the same thing, so they may be contributors to

29:53

various politicians too. But you know, this Waterfront Association seems to have,

30:02

you know, a power with city Hall, and that's at least what's alleged

30:06

in the lawsuit that you alluded to. The restaurant owners are saying that the

30:11

mayor has gone out of her way to deal with the water, you know,

30:17

with these residents versus with the business people, and it's really just a

30:22

really very ugly kind of battle where you would just think that, you know,

30:27

well, why can't they all sit down and over cappuccino and canoli and

30:32

you know, come to some sort of agreement, But so far they haven't.

30:36

Well in a portion of that joan has been that those opposed say that

30:41

there's just no room, no place for outdoor dining, that it causes them

30:47

too many problems of those who live there. Correct, yes, and I

30:51

mean it is true. It's true. The North End is more densely populated

30:55

than other neighborhoods in the city. There are more restaurants, the sidewalk are

31:00

narrower, so it's not like the argument is without merit. However, why

31:07

not some compromise. I know that a little bit ofitorial today is suggested,

31:11

Well, you close down Hanover Street on the weekends. That's one suggestion that's

31:15

out there. I'm thinking, what about a lottery or something that at least

31:21

gives some restaurant owners a crack at it. What about saying one day of

31:26

the week you could have outdoor dining. What about alternate streets? I mean,

31:30

just something that would be a way to work it out in a friendly

31:34

fashion rather than just have a you know, outright, we're going on here

31:40

oalking with Joan Banaki her column as it relates to outdoor dining in the North

31:45

End or lack thereof. Okay, So what happens now, Joan? I

31:48

mean, in terms of this, this federal civil lawsuit alleging bias, the

31:52

city has filed a motion to dismiss. What is the city saying, Well,

32:00

the city is I think, declining comments beyond you know, beyond what

32:06

they're filed in court. If they're maybe they're talking behind the scenes. If

32:10

they are, I don't know about that, but I think that would be

32:13

a good thing if they could just again, you know, just sort of find some way to work this out. I don't think that the courts are

32:20

a good way to settle a thing like this. I mean, there are neighborhoods. There are always disputes between mayors and neighborhoods. There are always complaints

32:29

about traffic and parking and whose side are you on? But again, I

32:35

mean, can't they all get along? They cannot? Is there any way

32:40

to deny, Joan, that the fact that that this neighborhood is being treated

32:44

differently than other neighborhoods in the city. At the moment, it looks that

32:47

way. Now, if you were to talk to they or Wu, you

32:52

know, she might tell you that. Listen, if if Chinatown, for

32:55

example, wanted to have out your dining, they'd come to the same conclusion

33:00

that there's too much density of restaurants, there's too much traffic, there's too

33:04

much you know, there's not enough parking, and the same rules would apply.

33:07

However, Chinatown does not want to have outdoor dining. So at the

33:13

moment, the North End stands alone and being denied, and these people aren't

33:17

too happy about it, and they've made their unhappiness known to learn. When

33:22

do you anticipate this this case, may you know, in the courts be

33:28

settled it is outdoor dining out for the entire summer. Is there a possibility

33:31

that it could happen before then? You know, I don't know if the

33:36

restaurant owners have filed a response to the motion to dismiss. If their lawsuit

33:43

is dismissed, then I guess may Or Wu can just declare victory and there

33:47

won't be any kind of outdoor dining, and they'll just they'll just have to

33:52

live with it. I mean, as you said, it's not the North

33:55

End is still teaming with people. It's probably I mean the aguments that they're

34:00

losing business. I'm not sure that that really holds up. I mean,

34:04

it's hard to get a reservation on the Saturday if you try. It's not

34:07

like restaurants are empty or you know, people are standing outside it's demanding that

34:14

they be allowed to eat on the sidewalk. But it's just something like it's

34:19

just such a nice ambiyance. It does give it kind of a European feel,

34:22

and it's one of those things like can't the city just be fun?

34:28

Can't the North End always sounds like a column? Sounds like a column,

34:34

Joan. She's Joan Banaki, Boston Globe column. This. We do appreciate

34:37

you taking time and joining us on the New England Business Report. Well,

34:42

Joe, people may not be eating outdoors in the North End, but I

34:45

bet a lot of people were there last night after the Bruins played over at

34:50

the Garden, and they'll be there this afternoon as the Celtics get ready to

34:52

play. I wonder what kind of premium you're getting from parking at this point

35:00

and why don't I own a lot? Yeah? Right. We are joined

35:05

right now by Skipper. He is the sports management program director over at Suffolk

35:12

University. Always great to have Skip with us, and of course Skip,

35:15

you know, the business community in Boston is so happy that it's spring.

35:19

But we do want to hang on to one three things from the winter,

35:22

and that is the Bruins and the Celtics seasons, because boy does that generate

35:29

dollars? Sure sure does. And I think, look, everybody wants a

35:34

long run, right the Bruins were short and two around last year. The

35:37

Celtics maybe didn't get their one round short of where everybody wants to go.

35:42

But you know, if we just talk about what fans spend, and this

35:46

is these are all regular season numbers. It doesn't even cost. It doesn't

35:50

even count the escalation of prices in the playoffs. And as you mentioned sort

35:53

of, you know, parking, it's got to be. I'm sure it's

35:55

higher during the playoffs than it is during the regular season. Maybe more well

36:00

heeled folks go and can afford the ticket prices, But on average, an

36:05

average Celtics fan, you know, pays five hundred and ninety six or spends

36:08

five hundred and almost six hundred dollars to take a family of four to the

36:12

game, and not spending is not only on tickets, but it's on dining,

36:16

it's on beer, and that can be inside the building, outside the

36:19

building. So there's lots of business to be had the longer these teams go.

36:24

Talking to Skip Perham, he of course is the director of Sports management

36:28

program there at Suffolk University. You actually done the numbers, Skip share with

36:32

us. Okay, sixteen Bruin home games, possibility of sixteen Celtics home games.

36:38

Take us through those numbers. Yeah, I mean just based again on

36:43

the Fan Cost Index, which is produced by a group in Chicago called Team

36:46

Marketing report their numbers. They do this every single year. But if you

36:52

the Patriot and at the Patriots says the Celtics and Bruins each played sixteen,

36:57

sixteen home games over four round so that would assume that you know, each

37:01

series is going seven that's sort of the maximum. You know, in total,

37:07

they would bring in about eighty five million dollars in spending. But again

37:10

that's on tickets, that's on blues, that's on food. I mean,

37:15

that's the revenue potential from a long playoff run by the part of both of

37:20

these teams. Wow, that is unbelievable. And I know you made note

37:24

to us that if there was no playoffs at all. Let's say both of

37:28

these teams did not make it to the playoffs, the Garden and the North

37:35

Station area would sit virtually dark for sixty three nights. Got like two concerts

37:40

there right right right, we're talking Kim McGraw on May tenth and Melanie Martinez,

37:46

and I confess I don't even know who Melanie Martinez is, but on

37:51

June seventh, So these you know, the owner of the building near the

37:54

Jacob family who owns the garden, they know very well that they got to

38:00

reserve this time open. Now, could in there, you know, in

38:05

their business planning, could they you know, evaluate the quality of the Ruins

38:08

and Celtics rosters and say, look, neither of these teams are championship contenders.

38:13

Maybe we can fill some dates. I don't know exactly how it works, sure, but you've got two good teams and you've got to keep this

38:19

window open. And I'm sure they're covenants with the leagues, you know,

38:22

guarantee that there is inventory available to schedule these games. So if there's no

38:28

if the teams aren't good and there are no playoffs, the building is dark.

38:31

And then you think about let's talk about West End. Johnny's a bar

38:36

outside of TV gardens. You know, how does he feel? How does

38:40

he fill those dates with business? If there's no gains. You can imagine

38:45

that these bars are heavily dependent on dates inside the building. So it's a

38:50

it's there's a real there's an upside in a downside to being close to a

38:53

facility like this. Skip tell us about someone else is done by Boston.

39:00

We had the president of course meet Boston, Martha Sheridan on the program recently.

39:04

But they did this economic impact analysis of the NBA Finals and Stanley Cup

39:08

final games. Tell us what they found. Yeah, so this again and

39:13

I think the key variable there, as you said, is it relates to

39:15

the finals and the Stanley Cup and the NBA and their key metrics are you

39:22

know, tourism, you know, what are tourists spending on room mentals and

39:28

then inside the community as you know, sort of one time visitors. But

39:31

they find that every single you know, finals match, and I think they

39:37

would apply this to the the the conference finals too, because you're just going

39:40

to get some travelers who come for that. But each game is worth about

39:45

five million dollars to the economy. So again, if you had four home

39:49

games, each of them had four home games in the finals, then you're

39:52

talking what ten dates, that's fifty additional fifty million dollars to the economy.

39:59

Yeah, we forget the fact that not only are just local fans going out

40:04

to the bar maybe after the game or before the game, but you've got

40:07

another team and it's bringing all of those people into fill hotel rooms to maybe

40:13

take it. And a lot of times when people come to do that skip

40:15

they come from maybe two you know, there's somebody who come for two playoff

40:20

games because they've traveled from across the country, so they take in a lot

40:22

of the sights and sounds and whatever. What do you say when Johnny says

40:27

I want that two hundred dollars, Jersey, I mean, you know,

40:30

usually you say yes, suation. Yeah, yeah, Well, I mean

40:36

we started with the nca tournament, and I think again I went back to

40:39

Johnny's on that they pitched themselves to the University of Connecticut to be the home

40:46

headquarters for the alumni, thinking that Yukon was going to be a number one

40:51

seed and then their fans would need a place to go. And I'm sure

40:55

they had a lot of success because Yukon played those two games in Boston and

40:59

they were the headquarters. So you know that you can see the instant effect

41:02

that can have on an establishment that isn't even inside the building. Skip Burham,

41:08

great information and makes all of us say, go Celtics, Go Bruins,

41:13

that's for sure. Thanks so much for being a part of the show

41:15

today. All right, still coming your way up next to the new president

41:17

and CEO of Associated Industries of Massachusetts. Her name is Brooke Thompson and she

41:23

is very concerned about the state of business in Massachusetts. Just gonna tell us

41:29

what she thinks the problems might be when we come back right here on New

41:34

England Business Report. You are listening to the New England Business Report on the

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all wheel drive Subaru of New England dot Com and welcome back to the New

44:30

England Business Support Joe shortly along with Kim Kerrigan. Uh. Next, we're

44:36

going to be talking to a very special guest. She is Brooke at Thompson.

44:38

She is the President and CEO of the Associated Industries of Massachusetts. Now

44:44

that's a position she assumed on January the first. Of course, Kim,

44:46

you remember we always spoke with John Reagan. John stepped down on December thirty

44:51

fourth and Brooke took over on January the first. They have some thirty four

44:55

hundred companies that are members of the Associate and each year the president and CEO

45:02

gives an address on the state of the business community, the business climate,

45:07

so to speak. Brook, I just listened to your address, and it

45:10

looks like there's a lot of room for improvement out there. Yes, Joe,

45:16

thank you to you and Kim for having me. Is there's work to

45:21

be done. What I have been saying regularly as we've turned the corner into

45:27

twenty twenty four is that I think that the overall theme I'm hearing from employers

45:35

is cautious optimism and What that means is that I think there are signs that

45:45

there is a normalization happening or potentially down the road for the economy. But

45:52

I also think there are a fair amount of factors out there that are creating

45:57

uncertainty that certainly have started in earnest with COVID, But as we continue to

46:04

evolve now into our fourth year since COVID, we're seeing a lot of changes.

46:10

Some of that is due to the expiration of some of the COVID era

46:16

policies that are no longer in place, and some of it are related to

46:22

other factors such as interest rates, volatility with respect to supply and trade,

46:29

and just a general increase in competitiveness and cost of living. Well, Brooke,

46:37

I know that business confidence in March was down. Employers were not feeling

46:42

one hundred percent, and we're a bit concerned. And you've laid out a

46:45

few of the things. Let's walk through a few more and dive deeper into

46:49

what specifically you know business owners here in the state of Massachusetts, what they

46:54

are feeling, where they're seeing real bumps in the road. Yes, So

47:00

the real asset that AIM has since July of nineteen ninety one, we have

47:07

conducted our aim Business Confidence in that survey, and so that's a survey of

47:12

employers across the Commonwealth every month to say what are you seeing, where are

47:17

your pain points? Are you optimistic about the climate? Are you pessimistic?

47:22

And if the scale of one hundred points, anything over fifty is optimistic,

47:27

anything under is pessimistic. And as you mentioned, Kim, March's numbers came

47:31

in still above fifty, so in the optimistic territory, but lower than in

47:37

previous months. We lost about two point three points, and this is somewhat

47:44

unusual because the last several months we've been seeing increases in confidence, and so

47:52

again this is sort of indicating that while we're hovering over fifty in that optimistic

47:58

territory's volatility. And I think the positives that I take are that our number

48:06

now is still higher than we were March of last year, but we continue

48:10

to hear things from employers like we're stable but problematic. I think we all

48:16

saw yesterday with the inflation report that came out that sent stocks going downward,

48:24

that prices are continuing to accelerate. Everything that employers are using and their businesses

48:30

cost more, and so what we're seeing is that until we get some sort

48:37

of control over that increased price, that inflation, that we're not going to

48:42

see further reduction in indust rates, and that means everything for employers is more

48:46

expensive. I think if you also take this Kim on the heels of the

48:52

House budget that was released yesterday, you're seeing again volatility with respect to the

48:59

cost in the state as a whole. Right. I think during COVID,

49:04

we saw because there was a lot of additional surplus money in the economy from

49:09

the stimulus, that we saw record high tax returns and that allowed a lot

49:15

of money to flow through the states that allowed that then to go to businesses

49:20

and consumers. But we're starting to see that money dry up. Those programs

49:24

have ended, and I think this is where we're seeing what I call a

49:29

normalization, but a cautious normalization. If you will. Brook Thompson is our

49:35

guest. She's the President's CEO of the Associated Industries of Massachusetts, and Brook,

49:37

as we all know, and you certainly know as your former role as

49:43

leading the government affairs team, Beacon Hill can't solve all of business's problems,

49:46

but they can certainly be helpful and perhaps more helpful than they have been.

49:51

You gave more a heally sort of a pad on my back in your address for some of her tax relief. But what else do you want to see

49:58

from the lawmakers on Beacon Hill. Thank you, Joe. It's a great

50:01

question, and you're right now is the time to act. I think we

50:06

know when we see the dramatic demographic shifts happening where I think it's close to

50:14

thirty five percent of our twenty four to thirty four year olds are leaving Massachusetts

50:20

that if we don't do something drastic now to keep our talent here, to

50:24

make Massachusetts more attractive and more affordable, we are going to be in a

50:30

real economic crisis in the next five to ten years. I am really thrilled

50:39

that you've seen the Administration in a variety of areas put forward legislative proposals that

50:46

try to address this. Certainly, we saw a few weeks ago the administration

50:52

released their Economic Development Bill, the Leads Act, which I'm thrilled to see

50:59

has actual trunks, credits, tax incentives, and for businesses who want to

51:05

come and locate in Massachusetts or to grow and expand. I also am optimistic

51:12

that there has been sitting in the legislature, the affordable home fact, which

51:16

is looking at providing more tools so that we can get browsing built, more

51:23

affordable housing built. Because again, even if we bring employers to Massachusetts or

51:30

we provide them tax incentives to keep them operating, if we don't have a

51:34

workforce to fill positions, then it's not going to be sustainable. So I

51:37

think there are a lot of proposals that are pending. But I think,

51:42

as you know, we round the corner to the end of legislative session coming

51:45

up, or formal session at least in July. I'm hopeful that the legislation

51:52

or the legislature excuse me, takes up some of these proposals and actually gets

51:55

them passed so that we can have these resources available for taxes and housing.

52:01

They're the common thread that run through these It feels like these issues related to

52:07

business in this state. And you've talked about two pieces of legislation that would

52:09

address each one of those issues. Which one will you be pushing for the

52:15

hardest before this session comes to an end. Which one do you think is

52:17

the top priority when it comes to helping business? That is is the hardest

52:22

question. I've been asked in a long time, and I'm going to tell

52:25

you why, because all of it really boils down to workforce. And you

52:30

know, again, there are so many pillars even beyond what we just discussed.

52:35

Right. Certainly, we need tax incentives, We need investment to attract

52:39

businesses to the commonwealth. We need housing that's affordable for workers to locate,

52:45

but we also need transportation that's reliable so they can get to their jobs.

52:49

We also need childcare because we've seen almost a thirty percent shrinking of the available

52:54

options in the marketplace. And if caregivers, whether they're caring for their kids

53:00

of their parents, can't get support, how do they go into the workforce.

53:04

And so it's hard to say that it's just one. The challenging thing

53:09

I think for Massachusetts right now is we can't pick one thing because if we

53:15

don't look at these issues in totality and their impact on our competitiveness, we're

53:22

not going to be able to win. And again, that presents a challenge,

53:27

right particularly when you're coming towards the end of legislative session where there's a

53:30

lot of bills and a lot of things to do. But I feel strongly

53:35

and I know AIM has been advocating that we have to look at all of

53:38

these factors if we are going to put into place the tools we need to

53:44

continue to grow our economy, because otherwise people are going to say I'm going

53:49

to move somewhere else. I'm going to look somewhere else, and we can't

53:52

afford to lose that talent. Brook Domson's our guest president CEO of AIM.

53:58

Obviously, the transportation is important, and you mentioned it. Jim Rooney,

54:01

head of the Chamber here in Greater Boston, is actually sort of suggesting he

54:06

might be behind the idea of well congestion pricing, maybe additional tools, and

54:10

in an article written by Greg Ryan for the Boston Business Journal, he represents

54:15

you as saying your members aren't interested in additional revenue sources. So how do

54:19

we fix this? Brook? It's a challenge for sure. So you know,

54:24

I respect that right now everybody is looking at all available options, right

54:30

and we should. But I think as it relates to transportation, what concerns

54:35

me about one looking at new revenues is it I don't fully have an understanding

54:40

of what revenues we are bringing in at this point and how they are being

54:45

used and until we have that data, it's really hard to then say,

54:49

okay, let's go collect additional revenue. Right the income styre attack that was

54:54

passed on the ballot a few years ago, you know, a percentage of

54:58

that is supposed to be utilized for transportation. We're still trying to assess how

55:02

much of that revenue is coming in and what is being allocated to transportation.

55:07

So I can't say that we need to go again assess another tax or another

55:13

increase on consumers or businesses until we have a good handle on what revenue we

55:17

already have. My concern with congestion pricing is again it's about how behaviors have

55:24

shifted. You know, what are economy, what our travel habits look like

55:30

in twenty nineteen is very different than now. Massachusetts is still one of the

55:35

top states for hybrid or remote work options. And while it is not an

55:39

option for every industry right certainly, if you're in healthcare, if you're at

55:45

doctor or nurse, you have to see patients. If you're a manufacturing company,

55:49

you have to have workers on the plant floor. But for some businesses,

55:52

having that hybrid, remote or even a flexible work schedule has really helped.

55:58

It's helped with respect to cutting congestions as far as traffic congestion, but

56:02

it's also helped on an environmental front. I think we have to be careful

56:07

that if we're going to put in pricing mechanisms that then impact how people are

56:12

traveling into our urban center, we could disrupt that the markets that are already

56:16

kind of fragile. And if you're looking at some of it's not just the

56:22

businesses that people need to get into the city to see, but some of

56:25

my members who are in the trucking industry who have to bring materials into Boston.

56:30

If they're going to be charged more and they're already operating on the margins

56:34

right, that creates even more competition certainly does. Thank you. She's a

56:38

Brook Thompson. She's a president and CEO of AIM, the Associated Industries of

56:43

Massachusetts. Thank you very much for joining us on in the New England Business Report. Well, Joe, it's been a great broadcast this week, and

56:50

there's lots coming up next week here. Yeah, you put a lot in that show next week, Kim New England, you were busy. I've been

56:55

busy. It's going to shoehorning. It all in. I saw a great

57:00

or just recently about the fact that the South Coast Rail seems to finally be

57:04

on track. What a pun, right, But they've been trying to get

57:08

this thing complete for such a long time. It would run from you know,

57:13

Boston down through Taunton, New Bedford, so on and so forth.

57:15

I think when I came to the city in nineteen eighty four and Governor Dukakis

57:21

was talking about South Coast Rail, I mean, it's so what you're saying is, don't hold your breath. No, I know it has been a

57:24

long time coming. Then sounds like it is finally coming down here. Yeah,

57:29

it does. It sounds like this summer if they're finally going to have that first train on that track. We're going to be joined by SHAWNA O'Connell,

57:36

she is the mayor of Taunton. Talked to her a little bit about the impact of what that train finally coming down south and then of course a

57:43

direct line right back up to Boston is going to mean for communities down there.

57:45

So we'll look forward to that. In the meantime, we hope everybody

57:49

has a great week. Go Bruins, Go Celtics. Yeah, the city

57:52

is rocket. You bet we'll talk to you next week and