Good morning,

Last week’s blizzard and this unforgiving winter remind us that there are things we take for granted that we shouldn't.

Like flipping a switch and expecting the lights to turn on.

But even when the power stays on, there's a growing concern about being able to afford the energy we use. And Massachusetts residents are increasingly feeling that pressure.

A new Suffolk University poll commissioned by the Massachusetts Chambers Policy Network — a coalition of 10 regional chambers, including ours — finds that energy affordability has emerged as the leading household concern statewide. Utility costs now outrank healthcare, groceries, housing and transportation.

Most residents support clean energy and climate goals — but only if utility bill increases are minimal.

Nearly three in ten say they won't support climate goals if it means higher energy costs. Perhaps most surprisingly, even Democrats and self-described liberals are nearly evenly split between an "all of the above" energy strategy and a clean-energy-only approach.

The survey was conducted Jan. 31- Feb. 5, before the Iran War (or even the War on Dunkin’) and the latest spike in fuel prices.

Download the full polling data here and learn more about the survey.

Now our chambers want to hear about your business

We've launched a brief survey asking employers to share their experiences with energy costs, utility bills and regional energy and climate priorities.

Your responses will help shape our advocacy and policy work.

GLP-1s, delivery fees and fewer drinks hurting restaurants

Global tariffs were set to rise from 10% to 15% this week — just as a new report shows independent restaurants may have hit a pricing ceiling.

Restaurants that raised prices more than 10% in 2025 were most likely to report lower profits — down from a 15% threshold in last year’s report,  according to the James Beard Foundation’s annual industry report

Diners are skipping second drinks, sharing desserts and trimming add-ons to manage the final check, Axios notes.

Delivery app fees, takeout packaging costs, the GLP-1 trend and declining alcohol consumption are also squeezing already thin margins.

Related: Where did all the cheap restaurants go?

Watertown medical building changes hands

Boylston Properties has sold a two-story medical building adjacent to Arsenal Yards for $32 million to JLL Income Property Trust.

The 53,000 SF building at 485 Arsenal St has been home to Atrius Health which just signed a new 15-year extension.

Boylston and Wilder Cos. purchased the property in 2013, when it acquired what was then known as Arsenal Mall, according to Grant Welker at the BBJ.

Friday grab bag

• A federal trade-court judge on Wednesday ordered the Trump administration to start refunding the more than $130 billion it collected in the global tariffs invalidated by the Supreme Court last month. (WSJ)
  
  
• And there’s now a new multi-state tariff lawsuit, too.
  
  
• Same as it ever was: Incumbents Beth Sullivan Woods and Tom Ulfelder won re-election to Wellesley's Select Board, defeating challenger Marc Charney. Charney retains his seat on the Planning Board.  He’ll be joined by Ed Chazen — a Boston College real estate professor and former Planning Board member — who ran unopposed for an open seat. (Swellelsey Report)
  
  
• Discounted ticket packs for Spring Seasoning: A Taste of Our Towns on April 13 are now available for members only.
  
  
• All the best to Boston Showcase Co. owner and former president Alan Starr, who is joining his brother, Jack, in retiring from the family-run business. We’re grateful to  Alan for years of great customer service to our restaurant community and support of the chamber.
  
  
• Brookline may be asking voters for the largest override request in state history.
  
  
• By early summer, Needham will have upgraded its parking meters to include the option to pay with a smartphone app, text message, credit card and, yes, coin. (Needham Observer)
  
  
• A group of medical marijuana patients is asking state lawmakers to allow all dispensaries to sell medical cannabis. (Axios Boston)
  
  
• Robin Cautin will become the 11th president of Regis College in Weston in July. (BBJ)
  
  
• Our condolences to family, friends, employee and customers Gerald “Gerry” Finnegan, the longtime owner of the Washington Square Tavern in Brookline and Beaver Brook Bottles in Waltham.  (Brookline News)
  
  
• In a GBH interview, MIT economics professor Jonathan Gruber explains how rent control benefits the rich, not the poor.
  
  
• Next Tuesday’s Charting Watertown’s Life Science Future event is sold out. We’ve started a wait list.  Same story with our Nonprofit Networking Lunch.

Town elections ramp up in Needham

Five-term Needham Select Board member Marianne Cooley and Planning Board Chair Natasha Espada are not seeking reelection this spring, setting the stage for two high-stakes contests in the April 14 town election.

Select Board Vice Chair Cathy Dowd, former state rep candidate Bill Dermody and private equity exec Richard Adduci will compete for two seats.  They’ve all agreed to participate in a virtual chamber debate on March 17 at 10 a.m. (RSVP).

Oscar Mertz, Gary Lesanto and Ken Buckley are vying for the one Planning Board seat.  We’ve invited them to debate, too. So far, Mertz has said yes. Lesanto is thinking about it. We’ve yet to hear from Buckley (he declined to join our debate when he ran last year). If you see him, feel free to nudge him.

The kids are alright (with the plaza in the parking lot)

Are you happy — or fuming — that the Newton City Council has decided to keep the Newton Centre Plaza up through at least October?

Credit — or blame — kids.

Fifteen councilors voted Monday to retain the plaza. Nine backed a motion to rip it apart before the summer season and toss some of the fixtures onto the adjacent green.

Some of the yes voters cited a surprising lobby: their children.

That included Councilor David Micley, who said he didn’t understand the plaza’s appeal at first.  But his kids did.

“I don’t know if it was games or the tables or maybe they just love concrete, but they just want to go there,” Mickey said. “And I see other kids also want to go there. It’s a space where we hang out every time we can when the weather is good… I honestly don’t understand why they enjoy it, but they enjoy it, so I will take them.”

Councilors Becky Grossman, Brittany Hume Charm and Martha Bixby also said their young’uns enjoy the space right where it is. Grossman noted she’s “seeing groups of young people congregate” there this winter, even though it hasn’t been shoveled.

That’s an argument we might not have heard a few years ago. But several longtime councilors retired recently and the body is noticeably younger. In a council that’s long been divided over housing, could we be seeing the emergence of a “family caucus”?

Also: Contrary to repeated assertions made by Councilor Tarik Lucas on Monday, Newton Centre businesses are divided on the plaza taking up a corner of the triangle parking lot:

Some businesses hate it, as Lucas maintained. Others love it. Many are indifferent.

But in a letter to councilors, the Laredo administration urged them to keep the plaza for now. Councilors Baker, Block, Gordon, Irish, Lucas, Malakie, Silber, Wright and Oliver (all generally viewed as aligned with Laredo) voted against the mayor’s wishes, as well as, it seems, the wishes of future Newton voters.

Tell me what you think.

That’s what you need to know for today — Welcome Back Jayson Tatum Day — unless you want to help migrating fish navigate a Dutch canal from the comfort of your laptop. (For real.)

Make it a good one!

Greg Reibman (he, him)

President & CEO

Charles River Regional Chamber

617.244.1688

P.S. Please don’t forget to take our survey asking employers to share their experiences with energy costs, utility bills and regional energy and climate priorities.

Max Woolf contributed to today’s newsletter.