Chamber Leadership, Legal Rulings, and Community Initiatives: Insights from Local Experts

On today’s program, we talk with Tim Cahill the new executive Director of the South Shore Chamber of Commerce. We’re also joined my Don Seiffert managing editor the Boston Business Journal to talk about the recent ruling by the SJC and the MBTA communities act. Rob Collins of the American Heritage Museum in Hudson Massachusetts will join us. Maura Sullivan the CEO of the Arc of Massachusetts will talk about legislative priorities. And finally Mike Omenazu of Bos Nation of the national women’s  soccer team will talk about the renovation of White Stadium.   

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the New England Business Report with Joe short
Sleeve and Kim Carrigan, a weekly round up and discussion
of the top business news impacting our New England economy.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
And Good Morning. Good Sunday morning, January the twelfth, Welcome
to the New England Business Report. Joe short Sleeve here,
bright and early with the Smiley, Kim Kerrigan, Kim, Good
morning to you.

Speaker 3 (00:20):
Good morning to you, Joe. All right, so it's the
twelfth of January. Quick question, how's your resolutions going good?

Speaker 2 (00:28):
I'm doing dry January?

Speaker 3 (00:31):
Me too, I always do.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
Yeah, doing dry. And you know, the darn of it
all is how good you feel. You know, It's like,
why do I feel so darned good?

Speaker 1 (00:42):
You know, It's like, oh, but now, yeah doing that.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
And I noticed that we're out to dinner a couple
times recently, and I noticed how quiet the bar situations
were at many of these establishments.

Speaker 3 (00:52):
Yeah, I mean, this really is a regular thing for
a lot of people, and I do think it affects businesses.
I mean, obviously January is a slow month for a
lot of places anyway, but I do think the alcohol
issue affects a lot of places. But congratulations to you,
you've made it twelve days, not that that would be
a big issue for you by any means. And I
have done the same, and you know, we've got a

(01:16):
few more to go. Then I do date what I
call damp February. You know I can't go, so I
ease back in.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
Well, my daughter is a health writer and she has
been writing pieces and sharing them with me about this
whole new you know idea that alcohol gives people cancer
and there should be warning labels on all alcohol botteles.
So she has been sharing those with me, and that,
you know, that's enough to scay a little bit and

(01:42):
make you rethink you know your your plans on Saturday night.
But anyway, okay, let's talk about today's program. Guess who's
on the program today. Well, he is the former state Treasurer,
Tim mckayhill. And Tim has been heading up the Quinsy
Chamber of Commerce, but today he is the new executive
director of the South Shore Chamber of Commerce. Of course

(02:03):
we all remember Tim. He was the state treasurer. I
believe what was those years. Anyway, it was two thousand
and three to twenty eleven, and of course he ran
for governor as an independent something I learned that you
can't do in this state. But anyway, we'll be talking
about Kim, of course, so he replaces a Peter Foreman,
good guy down there in the South Shore as well,

(02:25):
and then we'll bring in Don Seifert, managing editor of
the Boston Business Journal, and that well, we were all
waiting for that ruling from the Supreme Judicial Court as
it relates to the MBTA Communities Act, and communities are saying,
guess what, We're not going to build multiple multi level
housing in these condensed areas around MBTA stations like the

(02:45):
state's telling us to do. And the SJAC said, oh,
yes you will. So Milton came out on the shore
end there.

Speaker 3 (02:52):
Kim, Yeah, I certainly did. And there's more to come
with that though, because the SJC did say that this
needs to be a little clearer the laws, so we'll
see how that is rewritten. But we're going to chat
a little bit more about the impact that that ruling
is going to have coming up on the second half
of the show. Joe looking forward to this. This is
a lot of fun. Rob Collings is the president the

(03:13):
American Heritage Museum. It's located in Stowe, Massachusetts. And if
you're a history history buff, and even if you're not
a history buff, this is an incredible place to visit
and the story behind it is so interesting. Mister Collings
actually has a foundation, and his foundation was gifted some

(03:33):
tanks and some war artifacts, right, and then you know,
when you're gifted this, you guests have to get it
out of your backyard at a certain point. I have
a feeling the neighbors don't love it, and so it
has to go somewhere. And so they started this wonderful
museum so that these artifacts can be shared with others.
So he will be joining us in the second half hour. Also,

(03:53):
we are joined by the new president of the ARKHA Massachusetts,
mar Sullivan. She's going to be here. You know, she
just took over a short time ago, and Joe, she's
shaken things up.

Speaker 2 (04:03):
Yeah she is. And you know they restarted business up
there on Beacon Hill and she's already in their face.
And good for her, you know, right, absolutely, I think
they want for the disability population in this state.

Speaker 4 (04:14):
Kim.

Speaker 3 (04:15):
Yeah, So we're going to get an update from her.
And finally, speaking of shaking it up, Mike Omanazu he's
the director of Community Engagement for Boss Nation FC. That's,
of course, the new professional women's soccer club coming to Boston.
He's going to give us an update on this continuing
lawsuit that the organization is facing. It's concerning the restoration
of White Stadium. That has really turned into a controversy,

(04:39):
no two ways about it. So he's going to join
us give us an update on that, and we'll ask
him a little bit about the new name as well
as some other things that are happening related to that
soccer team. Well, Joe, our first guest today, certainly no
stranger to Bay State residents. As you mentioned earlier in
the show, he was the state treasurer of Massachusetts from
two thousand and three to twenty eleven. He has had

(05:00):
a lengthy political career. He's a resident of Quincy and
most recently served as the Quincy Chamber of Commerce president.
But as of January first, our next guest, Tim k Hill,
has a new job. He's President and CEO of the
South Shore Chamber of Commerce, which is that region's largest chamber,

(05:21):
and he joins us this morning. Great to have you.
Congratulations on the new job.

Speaker 5 (05:26):
Thank you, thank you.

Speaker 6 (05:27):
Nice to be back.

Speaker 7 (05:28):
Thank you, back with you too.

Speaker 3 (05:29):
Yeah, it's been a long time, Tim, It's great to
hear your voice. So let's back up just a bit.
What brought about this opportunity with the south Shore Chamber?

Speaker 7 (05:38):
ID to say, I mean, obviously, I had heard that
Peter Foreman, who had been here for twenty years, was retiring,
and I thought about it for a long time. I
talked to a few folks from the south Shore well
members of with the members of the board and been
actively involved, and some of them also actively involved in

(05:59):
the Quincy Chamber, and I just decided to go for it.
And I wanted to keep challenging myself a sort of
a bigger sandbox, I guess, more responsibility, more communities. And
I mean, I loved Quincy and it's been great to me.
It's always been great to me. But it was kind

(06:20):
of similar to how I felt when I was a
city councilor in Quincy. I loved it.

Speaker 5 (06:24):
I learned a.

Speaker 7 (06:25):
Lot, and then I wanted to take that knowledge to
a bigger playing field, which started the whole climb from
Norfolk County Treasure or State treasure and everything. And I
love the chamber business model. You get to do politics,
you get to do business, and those are my two
favorite subjects in life. So I went for it, and

(06:50):
luckily enough and fortunately I got it, and and I'm
now settling in the one week anniversary of my first day.

Speaker 5 (06:58):
So great.

Speaker 2 (07:00):
It's a familiar voice, folks. His name is you know,
I'm Tim Cahill. He was our state treasurer from two
thousand and three to two thousand and eleven. I also
ran for governors as an independent. And so now you're
with the South Shore Chamber there, Tim, congratulations on that.
As Kim already said, I'm looking here at the Globe article.
It says that the South Short Chamber is twice the

(07:20):
size of the Quincy Chamber, eleven hundred members and span
some two dozen communities south of Boston. Are the what
are the big business issues on the South Shore that
you're going to be addressing, Well, probably a.

Speaker 7 (07:35):
Lot of the similar issues that we dealt with in Quincy.
Maybe some of it maybe at the same pace, sort
of at the same stage, some of it at the
earlier stage. It's economic development and how to best sort
of serve the business community, but also the residents who
tend to work in the business community. So you know,

(07:58):
finding transferation is obviously the key. A lot of people
in the South Shore work in Boston and have to
drive in or take the train in and take the
boat in and so finding you know, sort of dealing
with that transportation is so I've I've been spoiled by
living in Quinsey close to Boston. You know, you get

(08:19):
to avoid a lot of the extra traffic that you
don't get to avoid if you're in Hingham or you're
in a situator, you're in waym and so, you know,
and making sure there's plenty of economic opportunities to work
in the region, so people might not have to travel
as so I think we all got spoiled during COVID

(08:41):
when we didn't have to travel. That was the only
probably good thing that came about, was you know, we
didn't have to commute. But now we're back to where
we were, and it's a challenge and so creating the
opportunities for people to work and to live obviously, and
those challenges are probably similar across the entire state of Massachusetts.

(09:06):
I mean, you know, the business environment is not at
its best. I think right now I'm struggling. We're trying
to keep our residents. We all know about the exodus
of Massachusetts residents being more you know, more leaving than coming,
and so we need to deal with that because people

(09:27):
vote with defeat and we've seen that over the last decade.
We're seeing it locally. You know, if the community you
live in is not sort of serving you, you leave,
you move out. And now we're seeing it. We've been
seeing it in the last decade in sort of by states,
people leading states that aren't where they can't get you know,

(09:48):
the cost depositing is too high, they can't get a job.
Maybe the pace of life is better, the weather might
be better. There's a whole host of reasons, but I
think a lot of it has to do with whether
or not you can find a place to live and
a place to work. And that's our job. Here's the
great housing all up and down the coast, opportunities for

(10:10):
people to live, and the best job environment and the
best opportunity to work that we can.

Speaker 3 (10:16):
So, Tim, you've kind of hit on what my next
question was. I'm assuming that you would believe that one
of the biggest things that impacts the business community is
the lack of housing. And I think you've stated that
now this past week the SJAC passing or at least
saying that the Heally administration is constitutionally sound with the

(10:37):
Communities Act. Talk to us a little bit about how
that may impact some of your communities. In what you
think about it.

Speaker 7 (10:44):
It probably will impact the vast majority because most of
us have contact with either the communit rail system or
the Redline or the boats. So I think it will
impact the vast majority of or quite a few of them,

(11:04):
of the communities. And so yeah, it's a controversial law.
Not has not has not been that controversial in Quincy
because Quincy has already made a commitment to housing over
the last decade and that's why we've grown. But for
some of the smaller communities, or some of the communities

(11:25):
that aren't either used to or accustomed to or want
multi family housing, I think that's a bigger challenge. And
as an elected official for so many years, I certainly
believe and support the idea of local control and local
rule gets to determine the rules in your community. So

(11:46):
they've been pushed back. It's been pushed back, and obviously
nothing is the test case, but there's probably going to
be a lot of pushback in other communities that you know,
the old adage cam is, you know, when you leave
the city, it's to get away from the city, to
get away from the congestion. It's it's to be an
or maybe single family environment. And there's a lot of

(12:08):
folks that just want to keep that. So I so
we're kind of straddling to areas as a as a chamber,
as the overseer of the chamber. You know, economic development
is portant, and the housing is vital, it absolutely is vital.
At the same time, we've got to be respectful of
the local control. My Mayor Tom Coch made a suggestion

(12:32):
and instead of sort of punishing communities that don't tow
the line, is would be better to to incentivize and
to reward communities that actually do it with more, you know,
revenue or grants or opportunities like that. So, you know,

(12:53):
so I want to work with the administration. At the
same time, I want to be protective of our community.
So I think, you know, the old adage of sort
of enticing communities to do something as opposed to punishing
them is a better model, and maybe that can be
incorporated into the current model. Because I don't like when
the state you know, comes down with the heavy hands

(13:16):
as you must do this, and in Milton's case, they
have like one little key stop so and I you know,
like I said, it's not the simple cut and dried
issue and communities should be able to, you know, to
make that decision. Having said that, communities have to grow,
you know, township.

Speaker 5 (13:36):
Have to grow.

Speaker 7 (13:37):
They have to increase their revenue because the communities that
are not doing it are facing crisis, financial crisis. They
can't pay for the school systems that have made them
so desirable. So they need to be a middle ground.
And that's posh you for Garrett at the start of
Short Chambers. Finding that middle ground where communities want to
do it as opposed to are forced.

Speaker 5 (13:57):
To do it.

Speaker 3 (13:58):
Well, Tim, listen, we wish you the best of luck
in this new endeavor twenty twenty five starting off with
a bang for you, certainly, and we thank you so
much for being a part of the New England Business Report.
All right, folks, coming up, we are going to talk
a little bit more about the SJC ruling the Communities
Act this week. They did make the determination the SJC

(14:20):
that it is constitutional, but what will that mean for
communities and there's a little more work for the Healley
Administration to do. You're listening to the New England Business Report.

Speaker 1 (14:36):
You are listening to the New England Business Report on
the Voice of Boston WRKO six 't eighty. Joe and
Kim will be right back.

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Speaker 2 (16:50):
And welcome back to the New England Business Report on
this Sunday morning, Joe Shortsley with Kim Kerrigan and well,
you know, last week, I think it was or last Wednesday,
the SJAC, the Supreme Judicial Court, came down with the
ruling as it relates to this whole question of the
MBTA Communities Act. Now, this all has to do with,

(17:14):
you know, dense housing around MBTA stations and communities must
build additional housing around these MBTA stations. And a lot
and well, there one hundred and seventy seven towns in
the state, and you know, thirty one of them saying hey, wait,
not so fast. And anyway, Milton was one of them.
And anyway, the SJAC said to Milton middle of the
last week saying, guess what, you have to follow this law.

(17:37):
And so a lot of things going on there. Let's
string it. Bring in the managing editor of the Boston
Business Journal, Don Seifert. Don, thanks for joining us. So
tell us about this ruling.

Speaker 5 (17:50):
Well, as you.

Speaker 6 (17:51):
Said, it was on Wednesday, and this was pretty long awaited.
A lot of these, as he said, there's thirty one towns.
I think there's twenty eight that had not complied with
the law, and then there's three that were challenging them,
or that there are facing referendum votes. But a lot
of towns of those one hundred and seventy seven towns

(18:11):
were waiting on this ruling in order to decide whether
or not to go forward with these zoning plans. And
so now this ruling finally came, and it was overwhelmingly
a win for the state, for Governor Healey and for
the Attorney General. There was a very narrow win for Milton,

(18:34):
but it doesn't seem like it's anything that is insurmountable
by the state by any means. What the ruling. The
challenge was that the that people thought that it was
unconstitutional for the state to mandate zoning that would enable
housing around BTA stations and then in community is adjacent

(18:56):
to those. What the s JC said is that that
is constant usual and that furthermore, the Attorney General does
have a right to enforce them. The only way that
the only sense in which Milton won anything in this
ruling is that STAC did agree that the state failed
to take certain steps when it was rolling out these

(19:17):
guidelines and it violated something called the Administrative Procedure Act,
which makes them in effective. But it seems though it's
a pretty easy fix for the state to update it,
and they are in the process of doing that.

Speaker 3 (19:31):
So when you say, can you explain to us what
that act is? I mean, my understanding is that they
didn't hold enough hearings and they didn't let the public
and get involved enough. Is that pretty much what happened.

Speaker 5 (19:42):
I don't know if I.

Speaker 6 (19:43):
Don't know if it has to do with hearing so much.
I mean, I don't know the details of what of
what exactly they did wrong. I think that they they
classify these as guidelines and s JC says, no, they
are officially regulation. You know. The state's argument, w that
has guidelines, that we didn't have to follow all of
these rules, but you know, but the s JAC said, no,

(20:05):
they are. They fit the definition of regulations. But it
seems like it's a fairly at least the state at
least fairly easy fixed to just update and and go
forward with it, and more or less the law remains unchanged.

Speaker 2 (20:20):
Don Zeiffert is our guest. He's the managing out of
the Boston Business Journal. Okay, so the long and short
of it is what happens now, I mean with with
the one hundred and seventy seven communities across the state
and the thirty one who are objecting.

Speaker 6 (20:31):
Yeah, so I mean in the short term, I mean
probably the biggest thing is this Tuesday, the town of
Needham is having a referendum where they are looking to
you to repeal their zoning law that was passed that
complies the NBTA. This referendum was brought by a number

(20:51):
of residents to you know, who disagreed. They didn't want this,
this is zoning to create you know, that would create
more housing in their town. And you know there and
there's two other towns that are also helding reference Gloucester
and Shrewsbury. But the thing is, one of the big
arguments for these referendums has been like, why don't we

(21:12):
wait until the STAC rules on Milton in order to
you know, before we decide to go forward with his
zoning plan. Well, now that argument has been taken away
because she s JAC has.

Speaker 5 (21:24):
Ruled in Milton. People know the outcome.

Speaker 6 (21:27):
So I think the you know, there is there is
less of an argument to repeal these zoning and in
all the other towns, the twenty eight towns that haven't
even passed yet. I think that you know, now voters
can say, Okay, well it doesn't look like we're going
to get any relief from this Milton ruling. So you know,
do we want to risk, you know, some other legal

(21:47):
action with the state or are we just going to
go ahead and comply.

Speaker 3 (21:51):
So, Donnie, assuming that these communities say, well, I think
we're going to have to go ahead and comply because
the s JAC has ruled this way, what what are
the steps that what does this you know, mandate them?
I know it's zoning, but how quickly did they have
to start to build on this property and put these
buildings up?

Speaker 6 (22:12):
Well, I mean, I don't think if there's any there's
no mandate as far as when the construction actually has
to happen. Only mandate is they have to zone it
so that this this housing, multi family housing can can
occur by right, that just takes away these towns.

Speaker 4 (22:28):
You know, the the need to get.

Speaker 6 (22:29):
A special permit. A special permit is what allows residents
to say, you know, I don't want this in my
backyard because this is too big and I don't want
more people in the town. Like, if you can build
by right, then that means that you you know, as
long as it complies with all of the all of
the other zoning regulations in the town, then then you know,

(22:50):
the contractors can builders don't need to get any kind
of a special permit for it. So these twenty eight
towns that haven't passed zoning while they are already out
of compliance. So they need to do it quickly. I mean,
you know, the the deadline was the end of last year,
so so they need to come up with these zoning

(23:12):
plans as soon as possible. I mean, it's you know,
we'll see how the Attorney General, you know, decides if
they want to actually you know, what steps they want
to take to enforce this if any of them drag
their feet. But but you know, they're already technically out
of compliance. You know, the towns that have made this
zoning already, uh you know, Lexington is probably the farthest along.

(23:35):
They came up with zoning over a year ago, and
they have more than a thousand a thousand new housing
units already planned for the town. So you know, it
kind of shows that this does actually have an effect.
It is going to probably create more housing everywhere.

Speaker 2 (23:53):
Sure, he's Don Zeifert. He's the manager of the Boston
Business Journal. Yeah, no doubt about that. I mean, the
Haley administration is holding this up as an example of
exactly what this state needs when it comes to additional housing.
I mean, this is a big deal for the Governor's
office up there on Beacon Hill.

Speaker 1 (24:12):
All right.

Speaker 2 (24:12):
Coming up next, we're going to be talking with Rob Collins.
He's the CEO of the American Heritage Wartime Museum in Stowe, Massachusetts.

Speaker 1 (24:23):
Kim and Joe will explore more business news that impacts
our New England economy when they return.

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Speaker 2 (26:36):
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Speaker 3 (27:02):
Welcome back, everybody to the New England Business Report to
have you on this Sunday morning. Quick reminder that we're
gonna have the latest on the redevelopment of White Stadium
in just a few minutes. Here in this half hour, Joe,
this is the time when we'd like to take a
look at some of those headlines it maybe folks missed.
And I actually found two headlines that I feel are
sort of the one is the result of the other,

(27:24):
or certainly a factor. The first one was in the
Boston Globe. Actually they're both in the Globe this past week.
Massachusetts a top state for departures. Two new moving reports
show so you Haul Growth Index says that the base
date is a forty ninth out of fifty for growth
for a second year in a row. They said fifty

(27:45):
two percent of the one way you haul rentals involving
Massachusetts residents, they are only one way. They do not
come back into the state. All right, So a lot
of people moving out and what might be the reasoning
for that? Well maybe it's the second headline. Boston traffic
ranks fourth worst in the US, but there are a

(28:06):
few small victories, very small bid the victories.

Speaker 1 (28:10):
Can you share Sharley's victory?

Speaker 3 (28:12):
Let me share this with you. So, first off, the
worst place for traffic is still in ninety three when
they're heading south shocking. Yes, absolutely, And the average motors,
if you can believe this, was in the car seventy
nine hours stuck in traffic in twenty twenty four. Now
that is according to a new study That same analytics

(28:35):
company says that in twenty three, the average driver sat
in traffic for eighty eight hours. So, oh, well, we can.

Speaker 2 (28:44):
Feel better about that. There you go. I no idea
it was getting better on the South East Expressway.

Speaker 3 (28:49):
I want to say something. I am happy that I'm
not one of those drivers any or who is sitting
in that traffic. Our next guest is the president and
chief financial director of the American Heritage Museum. It's located
in Stowe, mass And this is an historic gem that
maybe you're not aware of. We want to welcome Rob Collins.
Great to have you this morning.

Speaker 5 (29:10):
Thank you very much for having me. It's a pleasure
to be on now.

Speaker 3 (29:14):
I was absolutely fascinated when I learned about how the
museum came about. Rom I understand that you have a
family foundation and it was gifted a number of these artifacts.
Tell us a little bit more about that.

Speaker 5 (29:28):
The Colleens Foundation goes back to nineteen seventy nine preserving
living history events, and we've had aircraft that have flown
around the country and done historic events going back to
the beginning of ice cutting to show people what life
was like in days gone by. But in twenty nineteen
we had a chance to open up this museum here,

(29:50):
which is focused around the Jacques little Field collection. And
Jacques was the world's largest tank collector. He had almost
two hundred and forty vehicles at peak, and the Collins
Foundation was selected to transition that private collection into a
public facing museum, and we had to focus on what
the core elements were to tell a story, and our

(30:12):
story is what is important for American history. We're covering
World War One, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Gulf War, Iraq, Afghanistan,
and showcasing these eras through these vehicles, these tanks from
a nineteen seventeen World War One American tank all the
way up to an m A one Abrams tank. But

(30:35):
it's not only about American vehicles. We also have the
German vehicles that we were opposing in World War Two,
Russian Allied vehicles during the war and post War One
they were the Evil Empire of Soviet Union, British, Japanese,
and other vehicles that tell a holistic story of these
different conflicts.

Speaker 2 (30:55):
Talking with the Rob Collins, the CEO of the American
Heritage Museum, located to headquarters are in Stow, Massachusetts. We're
a business program, Rob, you know that give us the
business of a museum like this? I mean, who are
your clients? How does the museum support itself?

Speaker 5 (31:15):
The support of the museum really comes from the public.
We're not a government funded museum, so it's the folks
coming through the door that keep us going every day
in the financial sense, and also our motivation for what
we're doing and what we're seeing today is it's mostly families.
We see a lot of strollers coming through, especially during
school vacation times, but we're really a family driven museum

(31:39):
because it's different from the traditional museums of the past.
And I think that is a shift in the industry,
in the museum industry that's gone on from having a
row of vehicles, whether they're tanks or airplanes or artifacts
that are dusty with signs in front of them, to
a much more immersive experience. So when people will come through,

(32:01):
you'll go into a World War One trench, You'll have
these completely immersive audio visual experiences as you're going through,
telling a human story as well. Who are the people
attached to it? And I think that speaks to a
much wider range of audience than more of the old
fashion type museums.

Speaker 3 (32:22):
So when I think about and I apologize rang because
I have not been to the museum, So I apologize,
but I certainly will make a trip to Stowe. But
kind of a number of questions here. Number one, why Stowe.
And number two, with what you've just described, you must
be in a very large facility.

Speaker 5 (32:40):
We are, yes, and why Stowe. This is where the
foundation started. So and actually the entrances in Hudson, Massachusetts
at five sixty eight Main Street in Hudson. But the
majority of the land is in the town of Stowe.
It's one hundred and thirteen acres in total. And we're
not able to do what we can do here. If

(33:02):
we were in the center of Boston, we could have
a great, very static museum there. But here it's not
only about the sixty seven thousand square foot of the
museum display space. But in the summer months, once a
month we have a different event going on, whether it's
a tank demo, wee can where you can see these
vehicles out running around, even drive one for yourself or

(33:27):
go for a ride.

Speaker 2 (33:28):
You get to drive a tank, rob.

Speaker 5 (33:30):
That you get you can drive tanks here, you.

Speaker 1 (33:33):
Can drive right.

Speaker 2 (33:34):
That's it, I'm there.

Speaker 5 (33:36):
Everyone should be right and that you drive was one
that was used in a lot of very famous movies.
It was driven by James Garner in the movie Tank
and it was even used in the Blues Brothers movies.
So you can be right where James Garner was. These
are the experiential events that we like to have. We
also have a private landing area, so we have aviation activities.

(33:58):
We have World War Two re enactments. They go on here.
So a lot of what we do is not just
inside the building, but also outside the building, making it
very immersive for people. Where you can smell the vehicles,
you can feel the rumble of a tank go by.
It puts you in a very different scenario than just

(34:19):
strictly speaking, a museum where things are static.

Speaker 2 (34:22):
How unique is this to the country at this point?
I mean, are there other museums like yourself scattered around
the country or are you one and only?

Speaker 5 (34:32):
We're very unique in this regard. There's not a lot
of There is no national armor museum in the United States.
So if you go to England or France, or Russia, Sweden, wherever,
they all have a state run armor museum. So we
are kind of a de facto armor museum. There is

(34:54):
another really large one out in Wyoming, not as convenient
for people in the Boston metropolitan to get to. Excellent nonetheless,
but the fact that we have these vehicles running and
driving is very different and also a different approach we
have is we're integrating other artifacts into it, so it's
not just a tank museum. We have aircraft, we have

(35:17):
small personal items from some of the people who served
on these and we really want to tell the story
several stories that we're trying to convey to the public
as they go through geopolitically, where did these fit in?
And how does World War One lead to World War Two?
And how did World War two lead to Korea and Vietnam,
So we can learn about these mistakes quite frankly, that

(35:40):
we're made, and how we can hopefully as a country,
not make them again and have more war. The technology
of these vehicles and how rapidly it was evolving, But
most of all, it is those personal stories. And probably
to me, the most touching personal story is right at
the end of the museum and we have a M

(36:02):
one A one Abrams tank and this is current generation
tank that's still in use and we're fortunate enough to
have it on loan from the United States Marine Corps.
But this vehicle has a very poignant story because in
two thousand and six it was in Iraq and in
between Fallujah and Ramadi. It hit an ied and the
commander of this tank was killed. He was Sergeant George Iola,

(36:27):
a twenty three year old man from Austin, Texas with
a wife and three kids. We can really relate to
Sergeant Eola. It's nothing esoteric. It's not eighty years ago.
It's very recent. And there's a film there with his
widow and with the crew members of the tank talking

(36:48):
about that day. And this really goes to the cost
of war, of how horrific it was. We don't want
to have future conflicts. How do we avoid that because
here is the the impact. It's not a number, it's
an individual you can relate to.

Speaker 3 (37:05):
Well, Rob the museum sounds like it's fascinating for those
of you listening. It's the American Heritage Museum. It's located
in Stowe, Massachusetts. We hope that every one has an
opportunity to go out and to visit. We thank you
for being a part of the show today, Joe.

Speaker 2 (37:21):
You know Kim On the program last week we were
talking with the folks up at the State House News Service.
Colin young In particularly talked about all the lawmakers are
back to work up there. Well, that means that a
lot of folks are watching.

Speaker 3 (37:32):
They really, Joe, that's true.

Speaker 2 (37:35):
We assume they're back to work very quiet up there
as far as we know right anyway, there are a
number of priorities that they're going to have to deal
with them. More of Sullivan is our next guest. She
is the CEO of the ARC of Massachusetts. They lobby
on behalf of the two hundred thousand people in the
state with disabilities. They have a whole legislative agenda obviously
that they're paying attention to. We wanted to bring more

(37:57):
into the conversation to find out a little bit about
what's next. Mora, Welcome to the program. You know, as
the new CEO of the ARC, you took over in November.
I think it's a little bit of careful what you
wish for, because what you're dealing with at this point
is no easy task. Never mind your normal legislative load
that you deal with, but then you add to it

(38:19):
the change an administration down on Washington, d C. And how
that may or may not impact exactly what's going on
with your nonprofit up here in Massachusetts. But if you
could talk to us about this new legislation and legislative
session and what your goals are Thank you so much, so.

Speaker 12 (38:35):
And Kim, and thanks for acknowledging that it has been
I will emit a bit of a deep on ramp
in my new role, just with all of the impacts
of the new presidential administration coming in and a brand
new legislative session and some of the challenges we based
at the end of this session just trying to get

(38:57):
things through the legislature. But that said, we are really
revved up and ready to go for this session. We
feel that there's some really good communication opening up between
the Hilly administration and the Arc of Massachusetts and our community,
and we have a really aggressive platform around the workforce

(39:22):
issues that we're facing in human services and family support
that is so gravely needed for the families across Massachusetts.
And we have also really the priorities this year to
work closer with the administration to protect our community from

(39:45):
any of the federal threats that might come in through
the new administration. So we know, you know from some
of the campaign promises of Donald Trump that there may
be some issues that that really come up hard against
our community. And it's great to have opened the lines

(40:05):
of communication with the legislature and with the administration.

Speaker 3 (40:10):
On this so more because finding may be a little
more difficult to obtain as a result of maybe a
change in the administration. Talk to us about your number
one priority. I know you've named a few things, but
what's going to be your number one priority? Because no
doubt you're going to have to prioritize absolutely.

Speaker 12 (40:28):
And we're really going to lean into the state legislature here.
We've been working on the workforce crisis for many years
as a priority. It will continue to be a priority
until we can turn the tide and actually see that
the thousands of adults that are still out there and
not served, we'll get back to some real meaningful support

(40:53):
in their lives. So in that case, we're working on
with the governor now, and then we be ledgislature to
increase Chapter two fifty seven, which is the rate reserve
for human services, and we want to see that rate
continue to grow. We've had some good some good years
with Governor Healey where she's really made some significant investments,

(41:17):
but those need to continue. The cost of living continues
to rise, and these workers deserve to be treated equitably
and actually have this position be you know, valued by
our state and that means not only a fair rate,
but benefits and good training. We need to think about

(41:40):
this as more of a career path for people. So
our messaging is really going to be about how do
we rise up the workforce and in doing that, we're
we're helping our community to get back to services and support.

Speaker 2 (41:54):
Yeah, we're talking with more Sullivan, the CEO of the Arka, Massachusetts,
and we tried recently a more You mentioned to me
that one thing that's on parents' minds out there is
they're raising children and making these various discoveries of their
own children has to do with profound autism and the
rise in the number of cases. What exactly is going

(42:15):
on there?

Speaker 12 (42:17):
Yeah, thanks for asking that, Joe. We're really concerned about
those individuals with profound autism. And you know, when you
think about the autism spectrum, it's really broad, right, go
from folks who need twenty four to seven care, who
have really complex, challenging behaviors, who are nonverbal, all the
way to people who can be working right alongside you know,

(42:40):
all of us in different businesses, organizations, and other places
in the community. So it's a broad range. But we
are specifically super concerned about those individuals with profound autism.
It's usually somewhere around twenty to thirty percent of the spectrum,
and they take quite a bit of one to one care.

(43:03):
So when you think about the workforce crisis and how
difficult it is to get staffing in these places, you
realize when you need a one to one person for
those with profound afts, and it's even harder to serve
those individuals. So we're really seeing a lot of people
who should have more services in place because they actually

(43:27):
have the most significant needs really suffering. But to address
what you said, we do see some climb in the
numbers here, and we know that as we see the
numbers of people with autism double in our state over
the last just five years, that a good percentage of

(43:48):
those people, probably close to a third, need really significant supports.
And our goal at the ARC is to really do
a better job now educating our life legislature, and the
governor and her administration on the needs of these individuals.
So we are pulling together a legislative briefing on this topic.

(44:10):
We'll have some experts come in, some providers who are
doing their best to serve these individuals, and some parents
and family members to talk about what it's like to
try to get the appropriate supports for their loved ones.

Speaker 2 (44:25):
All right, she's mar Sullivan and she is the CEO
of the Ark of Massachusetts, and we do appreciate you
more of taking time in joining us on this Sunday
morning here on the New England Business Report. Up next,
we're going to be talking with Michael Manazu of Boss
Nation that of course is the women's national soccer team

(44:47):
and of course their plans to come to Boston.

Speaker 1 (44:55):
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Speaker 3 (47:09):
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Speaker 3 (47:49):
Well, Joe, we've been reporting here on the New England
Business Report about Boston welcoming another new professional women's soccer team.
Very exciting fascination, making a big splash as they get
ready to open up later in the year. Our next
guest is Mike Amanazu. He is the director of Community
Development and Mike, it is so great to have you

(48:11):
with us. The first thing we're going to start with, though,
and we want to talk to you about a whole
lot of things going on. But what's the reaction from
fans when you get out there and you talk to
everybody about the fact that a women's professional soccer team
is coming to town.

Speaker 4 (48:26):
Yeah, thanks so much for having me. May share the
same excitement that you all just shared and communicated. There's
a appable buzz and passed in the area right now
for a city that is rich with the sports history
and to add to build the shared legacy specifically through
the sport in the growing game of soccer, the global
game that has a really strong following in base here,

(48:48):
particularly in Boston, and another opportunity for this tremendous city
to have a.

Speaker 2 (48:53):
Team to root for all right right now, Mike, the
plan is to have this national women's soccer team in place.
What is it for the fall of twenty twenty six?

Speaker 4 (49:03):
For the spring of twenty twenty six market.

Speaker 2 (49:05):
So, so the spring of twenty twenty six, okay, and
the idea is hopefully by then to play the games
at White Stadium, correct, correct? Okay, So let's bring us
up to speed. I mean, on, let's talk about the
name first of all, because I know that the name
Boss Nation is new, but I've also heard rumblings that

(49:25):
you might be rethinking the name.

Speaker 3 (49:27):
Can you can you talk us through them?

Speaker 5 (49:29):
Yeah? Over the past few weeks, we've made significant.

Speaker 4 (49:31):
Progress and listening, learning and collaborating with our fans, supporters
and partners, and we've been transparent about that process and
what that has looked like as it relates to the
name and for us, that has resulted in receiving over
one thousand responses to our fans Debate Feedback survey, and
that's where we receive insights and stories and suggestions that

(49:52):
have been invaluable as well as we were able to
connect virtually with our fans who completed that survey and
meet with them more death to get their ideas and
what they want to see from the club and understand
their vision. So many folks spoke to the importance aligning
to our team identity with inclusivity and community focused that
really threw them to the club, and White Stadium is

(50:13):
a critical component of that as well.

Speaker 3 (50:16):
So are there any suggestions about a name? Yeah?

Speaker 5 (50:19):
Right now?

Speaker 4 (50:20):
You know, I think it's clear what the vision or
the values are that we're hearing from our bands that
relates to that passion that we talked about earlier. They
want to make sure there's something they're really passionate about
being able to root for and the team in general.

Speaker 2 (50:32):
So you don't have any names off the top of
your head you can share with us.

Speaker 4 (50:36):
You know, we're considering a few or we received through
this process, and you're sure you can imagine a thousand
surveys quite a different number and riot range of the names.
But we want to make sure we complete this process
for we share any of that, and we are making
sure that we're providing updates and remaining transparent by providing
updates on how we're building the club for fans to

(50:57):
be able to track along that process.

Speaker 2 (50:58):
All right, But do you think bossas going away and
it will be eventually replaced by something else.

Speaker 4 (51:03):
I think the process that we just describe of hearing
from our fans well as our supporters. Also speaking to
local professional team has made it clear that we need
to revisit that through this process. That's what we're going
to understand and see what is the best solution. They
thought the direction of the feedback that.

Speaker 3 (51:20):
We're seeing to do this process, well, for the record,
I kind of like Boss Nations, So I'm just going
to throw that out there, but apparently I may be
in the minority. All right, So let's talk a little
bit about White Stadium. Obviously, we know there's been a
lawsuit that's been brought by the folks in that neighborhood.
They're not thrilled with the idea of the new soccer stadium,

(51:42):
and so talk us through. I know it's going to
court in March. Talk us through where we are right
now and what the complaints are about the the renovation
of that stadium.

Speaker 4 (51:54):
We have a number of folks who are incredibly excited
about this transformative opportunity and as sure we can imagine
through a process like that also differing opinions. Actually, my
background as a resident in the neighborhood around Franklin Park
and the stadium that brought me to the team and
being able to amplify the voices of other residents and
neighbors like myself. We're really excited for what this can

(52:14):
bring as long as it's done in a very intentional way,
and that's why we've been committed to the process of
hearing from stakeholder's community residents to make sure that we're
building this in unison with them, and in those different opinions,
we've been able to incorporate and strengthen the proposal that
we brought as a result of this public private partnership
with the city and have tremendous excitement enthusiasm from neighbors

(52:38):
who are really passionate about that start in March twenty
twenty six.

Speaker 2 (52:42):
You know, Mike, personally, I don't understand the opposition.

Speaker 3 (52:45):
I really don't.

Speaker 2 (52:46):
I mean, it sounds like a great deal for everybody
involved here. But if you could maybe perhaps you know,
share with our listeners here what are some of the
objections that are out there at this point, because I,
like I said, I'm really curious.

Speaker 4 (53:00):
Yeah, I think a lot of folks are passionate about
the park and be as a tremendous resource for the
entire city, which is something that we share as well,
and that folks who are really as a unifying thread
across the war, for folks who are incredibly passionate, supportive,
as well as folks who are coming along in this process.

(53:20):
And for us, that's why it's really critical that we
are able to talk to those folks and care for them.
And what we've heard is again and they want to
make sure that folks are able to access the park
and that is the public resource, and for us, we
recognize that as well and are really proud of us
the benefits we're able to bring, specifically as we're able
to increase access for community members as well as for
BPS students as well. So we hear that concerned loud

(53:43):
and clear, and they have made it central and integral
to our partnership ensuring that VPS student as both community
members will be able to access this tremendous resource, both
the stadium as well as the entirety of Franklin Park
and which is fit and that's really important to everyone
who's involved in this process, especially our team.

Speaker 3 (54:00):
So, Mike, I'm going to ask you something that might
be just off the wall, but I've had discussions with
others about this. You know, there's talk that Bobcraft is
going to build a soccer stadium in Everett, and now
you guys are working with some pushback to renovate this stadium.

(54:20):
Why does there have to be two soccer stadiums in
the city of Boston or in this community. Why would
there not be collaboration between the two.

Speaker 4 (54:28):
Yeah, for us, we're really fascinated and about this intention
of investing in this community. As I mentioned earlier, I'm
a proud rock Very resident, and we recognize the unique
nature of this opportunity in Pacifically. White Stadium has a
resource of the community over the years that's fall into
disrepair and still has maintained a high standing among the community.

(54:50):
And we could this as a transformative opportunity to be
able to invest and already established infrastructive that's there and
to revitalize the community asset. For us, really it's the
innovative of that's going to address a key a net
priority for GPS neighbors in community for several decades. So
for us, we hear the interest in being efficient of
our resources and am of that duels our plan around

(55:12):
reactivating and revitalizing this gem and within the Crown Jewel,
within the emerald necklace.

Speaker 2 (55:19):
Mike, I understand that the club is also willing to
provide a five hundred thousand dollars annual fund to be
distributed to organizations. How's that work.

Speaker 4 (55:28):
Yeah, the annual fund that you just mentioned, that five
hundred thousand dollars is one of the many unique and
distinct transformative benefits for the community that we're very intentional
about aligned to that vision of White Stadium and the
communities that's around it. So as part of the project,
will provide that five hundred thousand dollars to be distributed
to organizations initiatives dedicated to the four pillars of investments

(55:49):
in Franklin Park in the Franklin Park Action Plan U,
Sports and Development, helping wellness of black and brown community,
as well as local business development. And in addition to
that five hundred thousand dollars annual fund, other benefits also
include the generation of five hundred jobs during renovation in
construction as well as three hundred plus a new permanent
job at all economic levels. We intentionally again want to

(56:10):
make sure communities around the stadium and the parks benefit
and access these resources. So we're thinking innovatively about opportunities
for local restaurants and other vendors to apply concessis services,
and that will generate revenues for the local economy, cross
promotional opportunities for local businesses, as well as internship programs
for students. Those are a number of the different benefits
in addition to that five hundred thousand dollary no fund

(56:32):
that really distinguished this unique and transformative opportunity.

Speaker 3 (56:36):
Well, Mike, I have to tell you your enthusiasm for
it is infectious and I think a lot of people
are very excited about this concept and this idea. So
we wish you the best of luck as you move
forward with this big project. Joe, I don't understand, I,
like you, why people are posed to this in Franklin Park.
I think it just sounds like a real positive.

Speaker 2 (56:56):
It certainly sounds like a win win for everybody involved.
So yeah, I am a perplexed by that. All Right, Kim,
the time has come to talk about next Sunday morning
here on the New England Business Report. And this gentleman
was actually Kim a guest when we hosted Bloomberg Radio.
His name is Tom Furrier, and what does he do well?

(57:17):
He has a typewriter shop, in Cambridge, and there's very
few of these left in the world, and I'll understand why.
But nonetheless, there are people out there to collect typewriters,
and you Tom Hanks, I think, actually donated one here. Anyway,
he's closing up, sorry to last one.

Speaker 3 (57:34):
In the state. My understanding.

Speaker 2 (57:35):
Yeah, I mean, like record players, they sort of made
a comeback, you know, But anyway, typewriters seems to be
going bye bye. But we'll be talking with Tom Furrier
next week on the New Engo Business Report, of course,
right here on w RKO, the Voice of Boston AM
six eighty