2023-10-30 00:00:00 - Joint Committee on Community Development and Small Businesses
2023-10-30 00:00:00 - Joint Committee on Community Development and Small Businesses
SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - The delay, my2 name is Paul McMurtry. We're called to order the joint committee on community development and small business. Our 3rd public hearing today is Monday, October 30, 2023. We welcome you all and apologize for the, technical delay. As we are getting underway here in person, we'll try to connect with those, joining23 us remotely and those testifying remotely. Before I begin, I29 want to just acknowledge, the31 small citizens in the commonwealth who was some, say the lifeblood of our communities. I appreciate the work, especially as we, reemerge from, some challenging times and the effects of the pandemic. Been a small business owner myself for some 30 plus years, and I'm grateful to those, that do business here in the Commonwealth that consider themselves small business and, give back to the communities in so many different ways, charity and jobs and, just, the, as I said, the fabric of the community. We have house members joining us today, some virtually and some in person. Representative James Arena DeRosa, representative Margaret Scarsdale, representative Adam Scanlon, representative Matthew Muratore, and we will, introduce others as they, come through virtually or here90 in person. Gives me great pleasure to introduce my senate cochair, a gentleman that I get, the good96 fortune of working with not only in this committee, but crossing his path toward the Commonwealth as we, participate in events and meetings relative to small businesses and, community development issues. So I would like to turn it over to, senator Payano.
SPEAKER2 - Thank you, mister chair. I, as you, am excited about today, excited about the work that118 we've been doing, promoting small businesses across, the Commonwealth, as you said. Small businesses are a space where, you know, for for every city in town is a majority of the Economic development goes there. The jobs are there. They, their jobs are local, and I'm glad to be a part of an effort to, make them strong. I want to introduce, the senate members of of the committee that will be joining us. They are either Virtually on right now or, potentially might be joining us later. We have our vice chair, Nick Collins, senator, Adam Gomez, senator Liz Miranda, which is joining us online, and senator Patrick M. O'Connor.
SPEAKER1 - Okay. Thank you, center, and welcome to our senate colleagues. I also want to take a moment to acknowledge, the folks that helped, plan and facilitate this meeting for my office personally. Nick was out at the front door, Garrett here to my left, and, Jack, they've helped facilitate these, hearings, and I'm grateful to that. Also, Luke from LIS, we welcome, and we appreciate the fact that We're able to connect virtually. And then, Christina, court officer. Appreciate everyone being here and doing their part, for our public hearing. So our 1st, bill that we're going to hear and call to testify is house number 228. It's an act to promote downtown vitality, something that's near and dear to my heart, filed by representatives of, New Bedford213 and others, and we215 call upon, chair Cabral, to testify. Representative, good morning. Go ahead.
No. Representative, we'll come back to you, I believe on the senate counterpart conversion, senate 130. Senator Joan Lovely, I see that you're on. Senator Lovely, welcome. Good morning, and thank you for your testimony.
Oh, okay. Okay. Well, when we work out these, technical issues, let's go to an in person, individual. So, I want to invite up to testify on house 22, 226, an act relative to encouraging the growth of small business, Kimberly geary, from FedEx Ground Packaging System. No.
SPEAKER3 - Good morning. Can you all hear me?
SPEAKER1 - Yes.
KIMBERLEY GEARY - FEDEX GROUND PACKAGING SYSTEM - HB 226 - SB 135 - Good morning, Chair McMurtry and Chair Payano, distinguished committee members. My name is Kimberley Geary, and I am in house counsel for FedEx Ground Package System Inc, headquartered in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. Thank you very much for a lot of giving me the opportunity to speak with you today. As you know, this proposed legislation received a favorable report from the committee last session, and we are here today to continue our support of House Bill 226 and Senate Bill 135. FedEx supports House Bill 226 because of certainty and accountability for businesses in Massachusetts protects the Commonwealth's interests and would help to avoid costly litigation. The Bills provide certainty366 for the many business owners regarding their status with respect to the other businesses with which they often contract, and the Bills provide accountability to ensure that small businesses are doing what they're supposed to do and fulfilling their responsibilities to the Commonwealth. In382 addition, these Bills protect the Commonwealth's interests by incenting the right behavior by all parties, small and large businesses to these contracting relationships by ensuring citizens are receiving all protections and benefits afforded them under the Massachusetts general laws.
These Bills also provide much needed predictability for small businesses to grow and thrive. The Bill before the committee today would positively impact FedEx and many small and large businesses in the Commonwealth. FedEx Ground contracts with 120 small businesses to deliver packages in Massachusetts. Those businesses employ drivers, managers, helpers, and other staff and transport millions of packages each year in the Commonwealth. These contracted service providers are separate companies that manage and operate their business and hire their own employees as they choose. FedEx Ground431 supports providing these small businesses and all other hardworking entrepreneurs with the clarity and Confidence needed to operate lawfully and believe that House Bill 226 and Senate Bill 135 would provide that needed clarity.
Importantly, these Bills would not inhibit the Commonwealth's ability to enforce existing laws, rather, they would incent proper action and provide certainty to small businesses that are registered and in good standing, reporting compensation earned and paid to the Internal Revenue Service and the Massachusetts Department of Revenue and complying with federal and state tax, unemployment, workers' compensation, and labor deployment law obligations with respect to their employees.
Under this Bill, provided a small business meets these conditions, it can have confidence, a safe harbor, if you will, that it can avoid classification challenges. Also, the Bill would incentivize compliance so that employees in the Commonwealth are receiving all of the protections and benefits afforded them under the Massachusetts General Laws. In addition to providing this clear framework for businesses, the Bill addresses Commonwealth and federal objectives without affecting existing statutory frameworks and still allows the Commonwealth to penalize for misclassification of individuals under existing statutes.502
These Bills are not sector specific, and this type of legislation encourages businesses to take measures to ensure that their vendors comply with wage and hour, workers' compensation, and all other legal obligations. Again, FedEx Ground supports providing all small businesses and entrepreneurs with the clarity and confidence to operate lawfully and believes that House Bill 226 and Senate Bill 135 would provide that hidden clarity. As stated at the outset of my testimony, this committee provided a favorable report in its last session, and we respectfully request again a favorable report from the committee. Thank you once again for allowing FedEx Ground to address the committee on this very important issue today. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you, attorney Gary. Do Any members of the committee have any questions?
Okay. And we also have signed up to, testify virtually on the same bill. Alexandra Roseman? Alexandra, you on? If you are, go ahead Ed to testify on house 226?
Okay. Thank you. The next bill, we will
alright. We wanna, have,588 the panel of, Emily Ruddock from Mass Creative, Ben Foreman of Mass Inc, and Mary Waldron of Old Colony Planning Council, again, to come testify on House 228, an act to promote downtown vitality, and Senate 130, also an act to promote downtown vitality. And while you're taking your seats, I want to welcome, representative Scanlon, in person and representative Randy with Fluke or Oakley, joining us.620 Thank you for being here, and go ahead, panel. Good morning, and thank you for being here to testify. Fine.
SPEAKER4 - Yeah.
BEN FORMAN - MASS INC - HB 228 - SB 130 - Good morning, Chair McMurtry, Chair Payano, members of the committee. I'm Ben Foreman, I'm the research director for Mass Inc. I'm here to testify today in support of the downtown Vitality Act, a simple but essential piece of legislation.643 This just proposes646 to take a small sliver648 of funds generated through the on-site line sales tax652 and return them to our communities to support local retailers. I think there couldn't be really a better time a year to contemplate this Bill and what it means because in the coming days, we're going to see a blizzard of online ads for holiday shopping. Every time we pick up our668 phone, we're going to be tempted to click here.
We'll certainly see lots of Black Friday advertising and promotion for the big box retailers, but our downtown districts, our commercial areas where our local and small businesses operate are going to be drowned out. You know, all their efforts to get people to buy local, to build wealth and family businesses are really struggling against the Goliath, and we know how important it is from a local economic development perspective to have these locally owned businesses occupying our ground floor retail spaces to make our downtown vibrant places for people to live increasingly near transit, as well708 as work. So, this piece of legislation was part of a larger Bill filed before the economic development committee last session, which advanced and we hope that this committee will consider it, a stand alone Bill an report it out favorably.
EMILY RUDDOCK - MASS CREATIVE - HB 228 - SB 130 - Thank you, Ben. Good morning, Chair McMurtry, Chair Payano and committee members.I just736 want to extend a note of gratitude to your staff for putting this hearing together today. On behalf of744 Mass Creative, our 400 member organizations and 15,000 advocates, I want to share our enthusiastic support for the downtown Vitality Act. For us, we look at how arts and culture are bringing people to our downtowns, right? So we know things like in New Bedford, the Aha nights are bringing people down to our downtowns to enjoy art, live music, bring people771 together, celebrate their communities, and shop at local retail and dining. A recent economic report from the Americans for the arts, measured that economic impact at $31 in Springfield, for every person who goes to an arts event in downtown Springfield, they're spending $31 at neighboring retail and local dining.
So for us, we see this Bill as investing in a short batch, right? We know when people come to our downtowns, they spend their807 money and the local economy is supported. But that takes work and that takes coordination, and we know that essential work that is downtown investment and cultural districts. When the cultural districts were signed into law, they were signed into law without any funding,837 they now receive an annual $5,000 grant from the Mass Cultural Council, which is helpful, but that's not843 the kind of resources necessary to make sure that those coordinating efforts are actually scaled up. It requires full time staff, it requires resources to do that advertisement work and coordination work, and it's one of the reasons we strongly support reporting this Bill favorably out of the committee. Thank you so much.
MARY WALDRON - OLD866 COLONY866 PLANNING866 COUNCIL866 -866 HB866 228866 -866 SB866 130866 -866 Good866 morning. I'm going to do a little show and tell, and I'm going to ask you to meet me in downtown, Chairs and members of the committee. My name is Mary Waldron, as was described that my full time job, I'm executive director of the Old Colony Planning Council, but my non paying job volunteer job is the President of the Downtown Brockton Association. So thank you for the opportunity to come and speak with you today. It is great to be in this building, it's where I met my husband, John Waldron, who used to work for Representative then and Senator Tom Kennedy, the late Tom Kennedy, and my late husband brought me to Brockton, I'm a girl from Chicopee.
It's where I still live, it's where my daughter lives, where she has bought her home, and will be starting a family soon. So what I'm going to say today is from my heart, it's all written down here in big print, but it is still from my heart. The old Colony Planning Council, we own 70 School Street in930 downtown Brockton, it is the Thomas Edison work plan. It's where Thomas Edison and his innovation started and so many of our new businesses in downtown Brockton are innovators, they're small businesses. So when I first started this job in 2019 as executive director, Covid hit right after that. I saw firsthand walking around downtown when we were able to get up, see those struggling businesses, the immigrant community who are starting bakeries and sewing shops, they had no place ago.
The former director had stepped aside, had his own business, and needed to take care of that. So about a year and a half ago, Rob May, the city planner of Brockton reached out to Mass975 Development for some funding to help with977 establishing and hiring consultant, Ann Burke, who is exceptional. So we started forming the subcommittee, a steering committee about forming a bid. All great, we had some people interested, what are we getting our current tax base right now? And again, as a nonprofit, we don't pay taxes on our building. But my board fully supported, Old Colony Planning Council supported contributing toward the bid. The struggle is this; we are having our own issues unhoused, we have our encampments right kitty corner, right to where Old Colony Planning Council is. It's not so much like Mass and Cast, but on a very much smaller scale.
So we struggle, and so when I'm looking for funders, we're in the signature stage of the business improvement district, we can't get them because they're saying, why am I going to contribute to a bid when in fact, we're just looking to try to find folks who are just to get them off the street and helping them. So why is it important? It's just really important that as we're bringing as a downtown holiday parade is coming up, that we have only volunteers, no one gets paid from the Downtown Brocton Association. This vitality Bill is critical for us to survive, and I really look forward to a positive and affirmative vote from the committee, and will do everything I can to see its success. So thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you, Mary. Thank you, Ben. And Thank you. Emily, does anyone1066 on the, senator has a question?
SEN PAYANO - Thank you, Mr. Chair. I represent three gateway cities, I've seen the importance of ensuring that we are not only investing in a downtown area, but we are thinking creatively, and we are thinking differently of how we use our downtown spaces, so I think that's super important. I'm wondering if you could go into further details as how the specifics of what you think this fund would support and why exactly that's important? I know that there's several things that it would be support, but maybe if you can talk about one or two of the most vital things about this Bill, I think1114 that would be great.
1116 FORMAN1116 -1116 Thank1116 you, Senator. It's been written with the proposed language to be as flexible as possible. So it could support planning work for long term projects in a downtown, whether it was a park or an art installation, or helping improve retail spaces at the ground floor so they could be occupied. But I think more so, we see it as supporting ongoing programming. So event series, marketing for the district, the kinds of work we see in bids every1149 day to put people on the street, make sure the areas are clean and vibrant. You know, basically, it's been written to be as inclusive as possible, so it would provide matching funds to what communities are doing, they would generate local money through a bid district, but it would make sure that what they generate is matched in a way sufficient to have enough resources to make that operation impactful.
I think in too many of our downtowns today, they're at the point where they just simply can't generate enough money with a big district to staff and and provide enough programming to make that downtown really pop, right? So, we want this to work for communities across the state, so gateway cities that are just on the trajectory to revitalization in downtown areas, the match might be three to one. In other communities that have more wealth, it might be a one to one match. So this wouldn't be restricted only to gateway cities, but it would make sure that we provide resources to meet every community where they are.
WALDRON - If I just weigh in, just from the DBA, Downtown Brockton Association's perspective, so we have a membership. It's $50 or $100. I have seven to eight people who have signed up over the last year, many of them can't even afford that 50 or $100, that's the challenge, right? So then on top of that, in the efforts, like, we're the Brockton is like a wannabe; we want to be a New Bedford, we want to be a Taunton, we want to be a Springfield and have those activities. There's a lot of investments that Mass development, Mass works, that has gone on into gateway cities. But if you're not having activities, and that's what we're seeing in downtown Brockton right now,1248 because the Brockton police department doesn't have enough feet on the ground, the street workers, there's not enough feet on the ground to really deal with some of those ancillary issues that are important to having a quality life, both the unhoused as well as for the workers and the visitors and the residents, that challenge.
So at $1,000 a year that maybe we get a membership, that pays for the website, that's it. That's a challenge. So, me who goes in my free time on my lunch where I go downtown knocking door to door to get people to sign the petition for the business improvement district. Again, there's 400 something, parcels in downtown Brockton, about half, maybe a little bit less than half are city owned and the rest are private property. I have about 25 signatures for the business improvement district, we're only at 25% of the 60% that's needed for the bid, and we've been underway for about a year already. So back to the question in terms of how this could benefit, again, it's me, volunteers, get as many businesses that I can when I can tell them that I'll take them for lunch or coffee to come help going door to door. Having some resources that could be available that could free my time up to then to start telling the good news of why someone should live, work, and play in the downtown, whether it's Brockton or Plymouth or New Bedford. The resources for me, particularly in Brockton, is very limited.
RUDDOCK - Thank you for the question, Chair. I just to add as well, in the language of the Bill, there would be a committee, an advisory committee that would develop the guidelines for this grant program. I think it's really important to note that representatives from cultural districts, from gateway cities, from bids are all included in that committee, and the idea that, this really needs to be up and by and for the folks who are doing the work on the SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
ground level.
Thank you, mister chair.
SPEAKER1 - Alright. Thank you, representative, Irina DeRosa, please.
SPEAKER7 - Yep.
1381 REP1381 ARENA-DEROSA1381 -1381 Thank1381 you. So you started to address my question, but I want to expand a little. First of all, I love the1385 concept, our Downtowns are struggling throughout the Commonwealth, but I look at Section 4, and I don't see a town like Millis. I mean, they're in between, they're not wealthy, these often get left out of these programs, small towns in the middle get squeezed from both ends. How is that going to help them or towns1404 like that?
FORMAN - I mean, the inspiration for this legislation is really the the Main Street, the US Main Streets program, which has been around for 30 years, and I think has helped a lot of communities fight back against the big box era, and now like I said, contending against both online retail and big box retailers. You know, I think the heart and soul of our Commonwealth, like so many other states is our main streets, and we do want this to be something that all communities can see themselves participating in, and we just want to sort of have a formula, that, as I said before, meets each community where they are.
So some places are going to need a larger match than others, and I think it would be incumbent upon the executive office of economic development to figure out what that formula looks like and make sure that it's workable for all communities. If you think about 5% of online retail revenue, it's quite a big number, we don't know exactly what it is, but we think it's sort of a fair revenue sharing proposition and should be sufficient funds to generate something meaningful for all the cities and towns that want to take part.
REP SCARSDALE - Good morning, Mr. Chair, thank you for recognizing me, and good morning to the panel. I think your additional testimony has answered this question, but just to be clear, because I also present a small rural district, very small towns. Is this funding limited to a bid? Because I see in the definitions in one of the first Sections that, it's central business districts, town centers, commercial corridors. So was it restricted just to bids, or could it be any downtown1525 kind of association?
RUDDOCK - Thank you for the question, Representative. I think so it's not just bids, it is cultural districts, it's parking benefit districts. So it's any sort of association that is focused on that main street local economic development. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you. Thank you, representative. And any further questions from members of the committee? To the panel, and those joining us virtually. Thank you so much for advocating for small businesses and for our downtowns across Also, Commonwealth, that that's really, very, comforting to know there's individuals like you out there that are trying to do the best they can with the limited resources. So I'm grateful.1568 I love it.
SPEAKER2 - Thank you, everybody. Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - Next, I would like to invite up, by Karen Finn from the Springfield Cultural Council, who's joined us here today to also testify on host, 228. Miss1585 Penn?
SPEAKER9 - Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - Oh, virtual. Okay. Thank you.
SPEAKER10 - I'm virtual,
SPEAKER11 - But I wish I were there in person. And
KAREN FINN - SPRINGFIELD CULTURAL PARTNERSHIP INCORPORATED - HB 228 - SB 130 - Greetings, Chair Payano, Chair McMurtry, and members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity to support H 228 and S 130, an act to promote downtown vitality. My name is Karen Finn, and I'm the executive director of the Springfield Cultural Partnership, which oversees the Springfield Central Cultural District in our metro center. I'm here to share our 48 plus members' strong support for H 228 and S 130, an act to promote downtown vitality. Empowering arts and culture community is paramount to the strength and resilience of our community. We know that exposure to art can positively affect health outcomes and also help us express and share lived experiences.
First, we must create more systems that support them in their work. Arts and creativity make us stronger as individuals, families, communities, states, and as a country, through the backbone of innovation, prosperity and thriving people in places. Public funding for the arts and creativity is a high return investment that benefits every American. The National Assembly of State Arts Agencies suggest that this Bill would be a civic catalyst to help gateway cities like Springfield to create a welcoming feeling and a desirable quality of life, a cultural, like, legacy preserving the unique culture and character of our cities for future generations and an economic driver that affects people and stimulates business activity.
As Emily alluded to, Springfield's nonprofit arts and culture industry generated $82,400,000 in economic activity during 2022. According to the Arts and Economic Prosperity 6 study that was conducted by Americans for the Arts, that economic activity, $53,300,000 and spending by nonprofit arts and culture organizations and $29,000,000 in event related spending by their audiences, and it supported almost 1500 jobs and generated $15,300,000 in local, state, and federal government revenue. Spending by arts and culture audiences generates valuable commerce to local merchants, a value add that few other industries can compete with.
I did submit written testimony with some quotes by our Springfield residents that also talked to the social impacts of having a downtown that is activated and how that has helped with inspiration and community building, and I'll waive my ability to read that in lieu of time. But my biggest call for support is as a cultural district, we raise money through grants, and those are typically only for the programs that the grant is giving funds to, and we need money so that we can employ people, so that we can have websites and things that programmatic grants do not support. I just want to thank you for inviting me here, my testimony is submitted1809 electronically, and I1811 will reserve, the no time that I have left to others who want to speak. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you, so much, for your generosity to return some of that time.
We, now we appreciate your testimony, and, thank you for being here. There any members of the committee that have a question forum, miss Finn. And, I believe we have been joined by the author of the bill, like to refer to as the representative of the hour. There's so much support for it. So, representative chair Cabraly, you want to, testify on the the bill you filed?
SPEAKER10 - Yes. Yes.
SPEAKER1 - Good morning. Go ahead. The floor is yours. Good morning.
REP CABRAL - HB 228 - SB 130 - Good morning. Mr. Chairman, Senate Chair, members of the committee. Thank you very much for taking me out of order this morning. I'm glad you were able to just hear from my friends, Emily Ruddock of Mass Creative, and I'm sure you've heard, if not yet, you will be hearing from, Ben Forman of Mass Inc the importance of the downtown vitality Bill. As House Chair of the Gateway City's legislative caucus, I am fortunate to work with these partners to fight for this Important Bill that I know will greatly assist the downtown creative economies and gateway cities across the Commonwealth. Much of the creative sector relies on the vibrancy of downtowns, and the broader economy benefits when we invest in arts and culture.
When people attend shows and performances, they also shop, they go to restaurants, and they spend locally, however, cultural districts lack a funding mechanism to promote local creative economies. This Bill will create a funding mechanism to promote our historical areas, urban squares, town centers, and more. By establishing the Downtown Vitality Fund, a fund that would dedicate 5% of revenues from online sales in Massachusetts. This funding will be used in Massachusetts to support staffing and operations of cultural districts, business improvement districts, main street associations, and parking benefit districts, and gateway cities in other low1965 income communities.
Grants would need to be matched by local funding sources. Priority districts would include gateway cities and other low income areas, particularly those municipalities working to expand entrepreneurship opportunities among underrepresented communities, strengthen cultural identity and prevent cultural displacement. The act also establishes a downtown vitality advisory board that will consist of 15 members who will advise the administering agency on the fund and review its activities. Proposed members of the advisory board would include Mass development, Mass cultural council, business improvement district representatives, Cultural district representatives, municipal leaders, and representatives from underrepresented communities.
In closing, walkable, attractive downtowns are good for our communities, and they are especially good for our small businesses. Promoting downtown vitality will make Massachusetts a more desirable place to live and work, people want to live and work and visit places that are accessible, beautiful, and offer diverse attractions. Dedicated resources to cultural districts, business improvement districts, main street associations, and parking benefit districts will help municipalities make their cities and towns more competitive. I hope you will partner with us to support cultivating and sustaining vibrant downtowns across the Commonwealth. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you, mister chair, for your testimony, and, you have been well represented represented here today, both in person and online. There's many individuals and advocates, here to testify, in support of your bill. And, personally, I just wanna Thank you for your leadership on this, important issue. It is, as referenced earlier, you know, our down towns and our small business, the fabric of, communities, and it's collectively the fabric of the commonwealth. So, personally grateful for your leadership on this, and we hope we can continue to move this matter forward. Thank you for your testimony. Any members of the committee have questions for our chief sponsor of this legislation, Jacobo.
Hearing none, we will move on. Again, thank you, representative, for being here. I also want to, tell you that, Ben Foreman did, testify from Mass Inc. I'd like to knowledge in the, audience, 1 of the founders of MASA Inc, or the founder, Joe Kreisberg, who's here joining us. Appreciate it. Joe, was recently honored at, the Mass Growth Capital Corp, annual meeting where senator Paiano and I were there, to see the worthy admission, presented to you. So welcome, Joe, and congratulations again on your deserving honor. Now I believe we have someone in person to testify. I'm hoping that, we're following this. Mister Daniel Keating, junior. Daniel, thank you. Come on up. Daniel, again, is here to testify in house 228. Thank you for being here, and, good morning.
DANIEL KEATING JUNIOR - CONCERNED CITIZEN - SB 130 - HB 228 - Good morning. Hello, members of the committee and people of Massachusetts. For the record, my name is Daniel Keating Junior, I'm a native of Groveland and Haverhill, where I am employed as an academic fellow at Northern Essex Community College in the department of business and professional studies, though I do not speak on their behalf today. Today, I am testifying as an individual citizen with a vested interest in the arts, the economic well-being of our gateway cities and the sense of community one feels when visiting or living in a vibrant downtown.
My expertise as an epidemic is in complex systems, and if I may, I'd like to share with you an interesting fact about cities as complex systems. If you were to take a city and double its population, you wouldn't need to increase its physical structure by 100%, you would only need to increase it by about 85%, that gives you about a 15% savings. And this is what academics or scientists would call sublinear scaling. So you save on the physical infrastructure like pipes for fresh and2227 wastewater, and you save on roads. Now if we look at the social infrastructure and cultural networks, what we find is things like patents and wages don't just double, they increase by about a 115%.
People more creative, there's more chances for smart people to bump into each other, there's a greater sense of community, and this is an example of super linear scaling. As you can see with these two examples, when it comes to cities, you get less costs and more benefits, and these phenomena make cities and density some of the greatest tools that mankind has to mitigate its negative impact on the natural world. The Downtown Vitality Act is a step which will imbue our cities with the cultural capital necessary to make them even more appealing places to work and live and socialize. I see this Bill as a pillar of sustainable community development and one of the many ways we can help make cities better for people, and a piece of what we can do to help our planet. If you are for the downtown vitality act to report social infrastructure bonuses, you're for savings on physical infrastructure, and you are for the health and well-being of the American people. Thank you, and I'm happy to answer any of your questions. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you, mister Keating. Really appreciate you, finding this matter and, not being here personally testify. Do any members of the committee have a question?
REP MCMURTRY - Just repeat for me. You said you're in school now or?
JUNIOR - I graduated from the University of Massachusetts with two bachelor's degrees in 2022, but more importantly before that, I graduated from Northern Essex Community College with an associate's in business transfer in 2019. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Well, a proud product that the public's, education system will come off. Again, thanks for being here. Appreciate the testimony. Thank you all.
Together. Okay. Again, testifying on house 228 down from the city of Attleboro, Catherine Frederick, joining us virtually. Good morning, Catherine.
Captain, you may have to unmute.
Okay. We'll try to circle back while we work out the technical matter, but, we're going to go on again for, doctor Mark Mellinger from2387 the Clock Tower Attis of Pittsfield testifying on the senate version, senate 130. Mark Mullenger, go ahead if you're on.
SPEAKER10 - Yes. I'm on.
MARK MELLINGER - CLOCK TOWER ARTISTS OF PITTSFIELD - HB 228 - SB 130 - Thank you very much for holding this hearing and for considering these very important Bills to improve the culture and the business standing of communities throughout the state. I'm in Pittsfield, Massachusetts on the far Western end of the state, and, I'm glad to be having this opportunity. I don't get to Boston often enough, but I'm working in Pittsfield as a psychologist and, as an artist. I've been in Pittsfield for about 15 years now and, originally a New Yorker. I think Pittsfield in some ways is probably typical of Massachusetts cities around the country.
It's a struggling steady, it keeps trying to get off the ground, it's in the middle of one of the most prosperous and culturally vibrant counties in the country, and yet I've watched with dismay that our main street is struggling that some very creative businesses have opened up here. There was a terrific, bookshop that specialized in the arts that opened on North Street in Pittsfield and struggled to stay open. You know, in part, it wasn't supported sufficiently by2519 city government, they wound up moving to Great Barrington, which seems to have a much better record of fostering businesses. Some of this obviously is administration and some of it is funding. Obviously, the administration part of it can't really be effective unless it's funded.
I'm in a new group, a collective of art studios in Pittsfield called the Clock Tower Artists. There's a dozen artists, warehouse in an industrial building, pretty close to the center of town, it's the building where the Berkshire Eagle Newspaper is, their offices and their printing presses or it's a great old building, and we're beginning to attract some attention. We're getting people not only from Berkshire County, but we're getting people from neighboring counties, neighboring states. I've had people, who've heard about this coming to the studio from as far away as Atlanta and Chicago, and we are trying to promote ourselves.
It's a difficult task and an expensive task, we've gotten some help from Milltown properties who support the arts in our locality, but I think this kind of thing2628 is so important. Retail shopping is changing, and so much more of that is being done online, and, this has been terrible for local businesses, and local businesses can't really compete anymore. Offering the same kinds of goods2657 that people can get just by clicking on a button, the kind of businesses I think that are going to be important are culturally interesting. The handmade kinds of crafts and arts, the theater projects, and those bring opportunity to every other kind of business. So thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak on behalf of S 130. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you, doctor Mullinger. And thank you for what you're doing in the, city of Pittsfield. And, hang in there. And to those hopefully, there's better days ahead for everyone, and, We certainly have some shining examples, and, hopefully, we can have some of that, transcend over to Pittsville. Do any members of the committee have questions?
Hearing none, we would, now move on to thank you for your testimony.
SPEAKER10 - Morning. Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - In person, I believe. Let's see. Heather Mehl from the Greater Boston stage company. Heather, good2725 morning and welcome. Thanks for your patience, and thank you for joining us, and we look forward to your testimony.
SPEAKER14 - Good morning. Thank you all for so kind as to start a session for creatives at 10 AM.
SPEAKER11 - So thoughtful. Yeah.
HEATHER MELL - GREATER BOSTON STAGE COMPANY - HB 228 - SB 130 - Good morning, Chair McMurtry and members of2741 the committee. Many thanks for the consideration2743 of Bill; H 228, S 130 and the opportunity to testify today. My name is Heather Mell, and I am the operations manager for Greater Boston Stage Company, a nonprofit professional theater Stone of Massachusetts. I'm testifying on behalf of GBSC, although I also serve on the board of directors of the Stone Chamber of Commerce and volunteer my time with the Stone Rotary Club. I'm thankful for Representative Cabral's and Senator Cronin's sponsorship of the Downtown Vitality Act, especially in this time of ongoing recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. The creative sector was particularly hard hit by the pandemic2783 and for those organizations who have made it through, survival is success right now. The Commonwealth boasts an incredible diversity of arts and culture organizations, and our downtown and main street districts are essential to supporting and maintaining these organizations even as we work to help our communities.
GBSC is incredibly proud to serve the town of Stoneham as well as the entire Greater Boston area, and the revitalization of Stoneham Square over the past 24 years could not have happened without the town and the theater working together with the small business community. We all rely on the foot traffic and visitors who come to Stoneham to attend our productions, and we all benefit from the increased spending in our communities. This act helps ensure that there will be financial support in place to assist with further recovery. The Commonwealth's investment in the cultural sector will continue to be a boon in attracting more and new visitors and consumers as well as businesses and residents.
Thank you for considering a sustainable revenue source to fund the continued investment in our downtowns, cultural districts and wider communities. The burgeoning E-commerce industry of 20 years ago has had an outsized effect on our small businesses and main streets, and I'm thankful for the creativity in finding a way to alleviate some of these stressors. We strongly encourage the committee to provide a favorable report for H 228 and S 1 30, an act to promote downtown vitality, and we support its passage in this session. Thank you.
MCMURTRY - Thank you for your testimony, Heather. Did I overhear you mention something or reference to rotary?
MELL - Yes.
MCMURTRY - Tell me again.
MELL - I'm on the Stoneham Rotary Club.
MCMURTRY - Big fan of Rotarian myself, and, the fact that you're here advocating for something greater than yourself, Rotary's model, for those who may not be familiar, service above self. So, in fact, I credit that for getting me in my involvement in Rotary, getting me in the legislature. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Oh, that's wonderful. Yeah. So thank you, and thank you for being here. Any members of the committee have, questions for miss Mel? Thank you so much.
SPEAKER14 - Many thanks.
SPEAKER1 - Joining us let's see. Let's see if we can go back to Catherine, Fairwick from the city of Attleboro. Catherine, can, you hear us?
SPEAKER9 - Yes. Okay. Great.
SPEAKER15 - I am on.2934 Yes. I apologize for that.
SPEAKER4 - Too much.
CATHERINE FUREK - CONCERNED CITIZEN - HB 228 - SB 130 - My name is Catherine Furek, I'm from the city of Attleboro. It's a smaller sized gateway city located in the far South of the state. A lot has changed for the better in the five years since I've arrived in Attleboro. We've seen our vacancy rate decrease, we have seen a lot of new businesses that are more focused on experiences, which is what people are looking for enter into our downtown. However, there are still challenges, you know, it's still a city that has some lingering issues and not enough support services for some of our residents. You know, we have the stereotype of overflowing trash cans on occasion or that one storefront that never does anything to clean itself up. District management entities are a really strong way to build the downtown infrastructure to get around some of these problems that don't just affect the business or the location itself, but affect the entire feel of the downtown and keep people from really having a positive experience there.
I'm not going to talk for too long about it because I think that there's a general support from the legislature and everyone else regarding district management in general. But one comment that I'd like to make just from a financing standpoint, it's just how elegant the solution is. You're taking a source that has, for the last several decades really detracted from our downtowns and our main streets, and you're using a source of funding coming from that detrimental impact and you're using it to try to heal some of the wounds. I really look forward to where this legislation ends up because I think it could be real really a model for other states. With that, I will cede to other folks that have a lot more to say, and I thank you all for your consideration. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you, Catherine. Appreciate the, testimony, and joining us virtually. Any members of the committee have questions? Hearing none, We will move on to, Elizabeth, Wurfbane, who's joining us from the Hyannis Main Street improvement district. Elizabeth, are you here virtually?
Okay. Let's see if, Anne Burke, she had to testify on house 228, the downtown district management consultant. Anne, are you on virtually as well?
SPEAKER9 - Yes. I'm here.
SPEAKER1 - Okay. Good morning. Go ahead.
SPEAKER9 - Good
ANNE BURKE - CENTRAL SQUARE BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT - HB 228 - SB 130 - Good morning. Thank you so much for having me and giving me the opportunity to testify on behalf of this Bill under consideration. I have had the pleasure of working with downtown organizations for the last 25 years or so, and also serve currently as a house doctor for Mass development and with the Massachusetts downtown initiative on providing technical assistance, particularly around organizational capacity building, organizational capacity for downtowns. One of the things that's been apparent to me over my career in working with downtowns is that of all sizes, essentially, the downtown organizations play a critical role in helping downtowns provide strategic investments, advocacy, and support for small businesses, for entrepreneurs, and essentially creating a destination where people want to invest, where people want to open a store, where existing businesses can find support, and people and animation of the district so that you're creating a vital district that has a vibe where people frankly want to go.
Downtowns are increasingly seeing, more competition both online and from suburban developments, and they need to provide this kind of strategic support for their businesses, for their residents, for anybody who uses their downtown. So what I have observed over the years in helping downtown organizations rethink their organizational structure or to plan for a new organizational structure that there's frequency of a gap and resources to allow for that startup to happen, but also to allow for the kinds of services that are supplemental to what any community might be able to provide on behalf of their downtowns, but these are the kinds of supplemental services that consumers and residents have come to3221 expect.
So smart downtowns are trying to work together in partnership with cities to provide those kinds of supplemental services and programs that enhance their downtowns. I see, particularly in some of the more challenged communities, there's frequently a delta and a gap in what can be provided with the resources that they have currently on hand, both in partnership with this town, and, also, if they create their own either membership structure or a bid, there's still a gap in what needs to happen. This Bill would provide a sustainable way to help fill that gap in some communities, but also to provide the start up resources that are necessary in other communities to get the ball rolling.
We find that downtown organizations, if they're started, we saw this particular during Covid, where they played a critical role in helping downtowns and businesses survive and respond to Covid, but we also look at how those dollars are leveraged out many time fold, and this provides a sustainable resource that could be tapped by communities of all sizes, large and small, to help achieve those downtown objectives. So I encourage your consideration of this Bill. I think it's an innovative way to look at how the state can partner with the private stakeholders and the nonprofit cultural community to create a more vibrant and thriving downtown. Thank you for the opportunity to testify. I know I was listening Anne and I heard many people parrot some of these comments, and I think that we all are working towards the same goal of creating thriving and, economically vital and socially vital downtowns. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you, Anne, for your testimony. Do any members of the committee have a question board, miss Burke? Hearing none, we're going to move on. Again, thank you for being here, and thank you for, your testimony.
SPEAKER9 - Thank you so much.
SPEAKER1 - We are going to continue on the same bill, house 228. And, joining us virtually should be, Ben Murphy from the Newmarket Business Improvement District. Mister Murphy, are you on?
SPEAKER16 - Yes. Hello. I am on.
SPEAKER1 - Okay. Good morning. Go ahead.
BEN MURPHY - NEWMARKET BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT - HB 228 - SB 130 - Good morning, thank you all for giving me the chance to testify. I'm with the new market business improvement district in Boston. We are a district that straddles the borders of the neighborhoods of the South end in Dorchester and Roxbury and is unfortunately probably best known as being the location of massive cast, the epicenter of the homelessness and addiction epidemics in Boston, in Massachusetts, and really in all of New England. Our organization has an annual budget about a little under $3,000,000, which is all contributed by the businesses, and institutions within our district. In addition to this $3,000,000 a year, there are uncounted millions of other dollars being spent by the businesses and the residents, and there are3416 other organizations within this area in order to improve the quality of life in Newmarket given the expansive and unique issues that are in our neighborhood. This includes tens of millions of dollars spent on private security, spent on street beautification cleaning, spent on all of the associated auxiliary things that are needed in order to maintain the quality3444 of life in our district at such a level that businesses can continue to function, that employees can continue to feel safe coming to and from work given all of the issues that are happening here.
Many of these things that are being performed by these private entities are services that in a perfect world would be performed by the city or other government organizations. However, because of the scale and scope of the challenges, in many cases, it has fallen to the bid and its members to sort of take on and fund these operations for themselves. We are very excited about the Bill that we're all here to testify on today because it's an opportunity for the state to give a little back and take a little bit of3496 the burden off of those organizations and off those businesses that are already doing so much above and beyond what they should be having to do in order to support their community. With that, I will cede the rest of my time. Thank you for the chance to SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
testify.
Thank you, mister Murphy, for joining us today. Do any members of the committee have a question for mister Murphy?
Keep up the good work in, your very challenged district, but, I know you're making an impact. So That's appreciated and not Thank
SPEAKER16 - you very much.
SPEAKER1 - And does not go unnoticed. I also, want to, rep welcome, who have been here, actually, for the onset of the hearing. Representative McGregor of West Roxbury and, representative, bond from random. They've also,3546 have joined us from the beginning, and I apologize for not recognizing those 2,3552 committee members. We're going to go to
someone, I believe, in person, mister Michael Mona time from the Central Square Business Improvement District?
Nope. Not here in person. Okay. And, also, perhaps, in person do from mass creator. Does, Kelsey Roach want to testify? No? Okay. Well, Welcome. And, Hayley Road testify. No. Welcome to you as well. Appreciate you here learning and, witnessing, democracy in action. Let's see if we can go to so is there anyone else that's present or joining us virtually that, wanted to testify on house, 228 or senate 130.
It's really impressive, the incredible amount of support for that really significant legislation. So, and I apologize for let's see. We're going to go back to 2 2 6. Alexander Rosenman, from the Brick Bottom Attitudes Association. You joining us virtually so you can testify on house bill 226.
Okay.
Should we have, any wanna testify in the bills, please indicate, and we will circle back.
Let's see. We will go to, representative Scanlon's bill, house 235, and act to support mask makers. And we have joining us in person, I believe, Kathryn Desmond.
We do not. Catherine, if you're joining us virtually, let us know. So, Let's see. I believe let's just go back up. Anyone else, either virtually or in person here to testify in house 226, enact relative encouraging of growth of small business, the chief sponsor representative, Sierra.
Any further testimony on house 228, an act to promote downtown vitality, filed by representative Antonio Cabral.
Also, being heard today is house 229, enact establishing the mask made program filed by center, Josh
Cutler.
Today's public hearing also includes house 230, enact relative to relative to encouraging the growth of small businesses filed by representative Richard Hagerty.
House bill 234, an act encouraging the growth of small business in house 235,3744 an act to promote mask makers filed by our committee colleague, representative Scanlon. Representative, do you have any comments you would like to make other than your continued support of 2 important bills?
SPEAKER13 - You're doing a great job.
SPEAKER1 - Perhaps the vice chair next session.
Senate 130, an act to promote downtime vitality. We heard many, testimony testimony today on that bill, filed by a senate colleague, John Cronin.
Senate 133 enact establishing an office of Massachusetts main streets filed by senator Jason Lewis.
Is there any testimony for Senate 135, an act encouraging the growth of small businesses
filed by senator John Lovely.
Also being heard today3808 is senate 137. An act limiting time period parking lots remain open, filed by senator Walter Timothy.
And finally, senate 139 9 enact establishing the mask made program filed by senator John Vilas.
And in case we missed anyone who's joined us virtually or anyone present, is there any individual that would like to testify in any of the matters that we hook up for discussion today.
Hearing none, that concludes today's hearing of the joint committee on community development small business. Again, thank you for all of those who joined us, both virtually and in person, and thanks for your continued advocacy, and important work on small3859 businesses across the Commonwealth. Have3861 a good day.
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