Good morning and happy Saint Patrick's Day!

In December, I received an unexpected call from my counterpart at the Brookline Chamber of Commerce.

He asked if we’d consider bringing our two organizations together.

I’ve long felt there was a natural synergy between Brookline and the Charles River Chamber communities. We share a border, the Route 9 corridor and Chestnut Hill, the Green Line and much of the Boston Marathon route. We have great restaurants, independent retailers, entrepreneurs and privately held small businesses, colleges and medical facilities.  

In many ways, we’re already closely connected.

More importantly, our challenges are similar: We’re built out but lack the housing diversity to meet the needs of a modern workforce.  We have enviable demographics but astronomical commercial rents, taxes, utility, insurance and childcare costs, along with inadequate public transportation.  

I’ve also believed our employers would benefit from more opportunities to network, form partnerships, swap ideas and do business with each other.

That initial call led to several months of productive conversations between our two chambers.

On Friday, the Brookline Chamber’s Board of Directors voted to cease operations as a standalone organization and transition its members and programs to the Charles River Regional Chamber, effective April 1.

Pending final ratification by their members, active Brookline Chamber members will automatically become Charles River Chamber members on March 31.  We’ve also committed to maintaining Brookline’s presence, programming and legacy events. And Brookline’s executive director, Chris Mutty, will be joining our team for the transition.

I have tremendous respect for the generations of business leaders who devoted time, energy and resources to running their chamber for more than a century. I’m grateful to the Brookline board for its confidence in our organization.

But I’m also confident the result will be a larger, more connected network of businesses working together to strengthen our local economies and our collective voice on Beacon Hill and across the region.  

And when more businesses and community leaders are in the same room, good ideas, partnerships and progress usually follow.

Learn more: Brookline.news.

I welcome your feedback.

But wait, before you send THAT email

Yes, we realize that Brookline doesn’t actually abut the Charles River.

But the Muddy River does. It’s a tributary of the Charles, which makes Brookline very much part of the same watershed.

It's also part of the same regional ecosystem of communities, businesses and shared economic interests that the Charles River Regional Chamber serves. 

State launches site to report alleged ICE 'misconduct'

Massachusetts officials have launched an online portal to report potentially unlawful activity or misconduct by ICE and other federal agents enforcing immigration laws in Massachusetts.

Submissions may help the governor’s office and/or attorney general identify patterns of potential misconduct by federal agents, inform possible legal action or policy recommendations, and support affected residents, officials say

Tuesday grab bag

• The restaurant lineup for Spring Seasoning: A Taste of Our Towns, on April 13, drops tomorrow.  It might be our best ever.
  
  
• Props to Newton Mayor Marc Laredo for finding a creative and workable resolution to the controversy over the painted lines in Nonantum.  
  
  
• Watertown robotics company Tutor has moved from a basement office on Coolidge Hill Road to a 35,000 SF facility at Riverworks.  Founded in 2021 out of MIT, the company has grown to a team of 80, with robot workers deployed coast-to-coast.
  
  
• Our virtual Needham Select Board debate between incumbent Cathy Dowd and challengers Rich Adduci and Bill Dermody is this morning (Tues) at 10 a.m.
  
  
• In interviews with Needham Local,  Dowd says she supports four lanes for Great Plain Ave.  Demondy supports keeping “it the way it is.”  Adduci said he would consider dropping doing any work on the street.
  
  
• A 16-year-old Newton resident has designed an award-winning app to manage Type 1 Diabetes (BC Heights)
  
  
• Actors’ Shakespeare Project will produce two shows this season at the Mosesian Center in Watertown. (Watertown News)
  
  
• The Mass. Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities has issued draft regulations for Surplus Real Property and is taking public comment. The final regulations will establish a framework to guide in the development of surplus state property, including the MassBay Community College site in Wellesley.
  
  
• Once again, we’re publishing a list of Boston Marathon runners who are supporting chamber nonprofits through participation and fundraising efforts. If your nonprofit has a runner participating on its behalf, complete this form before March 25.

A small-lot idea with big housing potential

From left, the chamber’s Max Woolf, Sherri Kassier from Building A Better Wellesley, Jesse Kanson-Benanav from Abundant Housing MA and Andrew Mikula of the Starter Home campaign testify Monday on Beacon Hill.

Lawmakers heard testimony yesterday on a ballot petition that could unlock opportunities to build new, smaller single-family homes across Massachusetts.

Backers of the Legalize Starter Homes Campaign were invited to make their case directly to legislators, who now must decide whether to pass the proposal themselves or allow it to advance toward the ballot.

Our own Public Policy Manager, Max Woolf, testified in support, arguing that the initiative — which would cap minimum lot sizes at 5,000 SF — could curb McMansion construction while unlocking new housing growth.

"In our communities, minimum lot sizes are often triple what this initiative would allow, effectively guaranteeing that when a property turns over, the result is one large, expensive home rather than several attainable ones,"  Woolf said.

The Mass Municipal Association was the only group to testify against the idea, arguing for local control and placing its faith in town meetings to solve the housing crisis — despite ample evidence to the contrary.

While Beacon Hill rarely passes initiative petitions to keep them off the ballot, several lawmakers on the committee showed interest in exploring a compromise. Campaign lead Andrew Mikula said he’s open to that process, depending on the specifics.

The Legislature has until May 5 to decide whether to take up the petition.

State House News has more.

That’s what you need to know for today, unless you need to know why CEOs and powerful people love sending short, typo-ridden emails.

Be back Friday.

Greg Reibman (he, him)

President & CEO

Charles River Regional Chamber

617.244.1688

I value your feedback

Max Woolf contributed to today’s newsletter.