Mayor Menino's Address to the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce

The following is Boston Mayor Thomas Menino's address to the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce on Dec. 6, 2011:

It is always a pleasure to be with the chamber. It is a special pleasure to be in this building. Just over two years ago, I spoke here on election night about the history we could make in a fifth term. Some people wondered what a fifth term would be like. You saw some of it in the opening video. Let me tell you a bit more.

We launched an innovation strategy for the South Boston waterfront, and made it a hub for new jobs and new products and services. More than 90 new companies have located there, bringing 2,800 jobs. It's also home to the largest privately-financed construction project in the country – the new home for Vertex.

Progress is underway across our city, including new housing in Chinatown, Allston, and the South End, a new Mass Eye and Ear Facility in Mission Hill, and Spaulding Rehab’s new building in Charlestown – to name a few. And just last week, we broke ground on a new $100-million facility at Berklee College of Music.

We became one of the most bike-friendly, green, and tech-savvy cities in the country...not to mention well fed, thanks to our food trucks and many great restaurants.

We experimented with farming, bike sharing, energy retrofits, and smart phone apps. And two of our “New Urban Mechanics,” Chris Osgood and Nigel Jacob, last month were recognized as public officials of the year by Governing Magazine. These awards are like the Academy Awards for government, so we are proud that Boston’s people-focused approach continues to attract national acclaim.

We pushed past false starts with a $115-million dollar investment in Dudley Square that will break ground in three months. When we meet next year, steel, glass, concrete, and people will be rebuilding the Ferdinand. This follows our construction of a new police station and precedes the development of several key parcels. Today, Dudley Square is on the right path to economic success.

We fought for reform in our schools.  In one short year, some schools saw double-digit MCAS gains. They really put the “turnaround” in turnaround schools. Our new in-district charter schools, which we advocated so strongly for as part of Ed reform, are up and running. Flexibility in time and staffing is driving learning and graduation rates in these schools and many others.

Parents helped secure reform. Principals and teachers are driving reform. Now, the Boston Teachers Union must become a full partner in reform. If we give school leaders the ability to add time where they need it and assign teachers where they are valued most, the kids are going to learn. And the parents and teachers are going to be proud.

Also driving student achievement is our strong partnership with the business community. For example, Fidelity has worked in so many ways with the Dearborn Middle School in Roxbury. From painting the hallways and classrooms to providing gift cards for more school supplies to creating a program on Saturdays for extra learning time. Thanks to this teamwork, the terrific faculty and staff, and the GBIO, the Dearborn has met or surpassed every goal the state set for its turnaround! Join me in recognizing Principal Jose Duarte and our friends from Fidelity.

Also joining us today are eight BPS Students who are leaving for China tomorrow as part of a unique student exchange program. Let's give them a hand.

In Boston, we shut the door on complacency, but laid out the welcome mat for new businesses, new jobs, new housing, and tourists from all over the world.
Boston’s economy grew faster than any metro area in the country last year.

• Our city’s job growth of 2.1 percent is outpacing the state's and almost doubling the nation’s.
• Last year, $1.5 billion worth of construction projects broke ground in our city. This year, I’m proud to say we beat that mark.....by a billion dollars, $2.4 billion worth of development in all.
• Our city added 1.2 million square feet of office occupancy over the first three quarters of the year.
• And, hotel revenues are up 5.3 percent compared to last year.

With unemployment and inequality at historic levels across the country, we must continue to work hard to bring opportunity to all of our people in Boston. If we continue to push at the boundaries of the possible, Boston will continue to grow and thrive, even in difficult times.

Our efforts to re-invent take us today to another boundary, the line that separates the land from the sea. I want to talk about Boston’s many waterfronts, and our plans to make them an engine of continued job creation and economic growth for our city.

Our waterfronts – all of them – have enchanted Bostonians since the city’s earliest days. If you include the harbor, our rivers, and Jamaica Pond, we have 163 miles of shoreline. You could run the Boston Marathon six times, and still not have covered that distance.

The history of these miles is the history of our reinvention. Our city has changed the harbor and the harbor has changed us. The first settlers were drawn to our coastline. Immigrants came to America through East Boston’s immigration station. Landfill gave us new neighborhoods. Fishermen and shipbuilders made a living off the water. Developers like Norman Leventhal helped reunite our city with the harbor. And now, innovative companies are opening up on our shore.

The wonder and the promise that brought the first Bostonians to the water centuries ago bring us back today.

Let me start with one particular waterfront. It has millions of dollars of development potential. It is minutes from the airport and downtown. It’s near a Greenway. It’s close to major roadways and the T. Sound familiar? Of course, I’m talking about... East Boston. From here you get perhaps the best view of Boston, and the best view of Boston’s future.

Right now, there are five large parcels that remain full of untapped potential along the East Boston Waterfront. There are nine pending projects in total that could provide new jobs, new housing, and new vibrancy to one of Boston’s great neighborhoods. Portside. Clippership. Hodge Boiler. New Street. Boston East. And several others. Together, these projects represent 2.5 million square feet. More than 1,800 housing units. 1,400 construction jobs and 300 permanent jobs. All told, these projects represent more than half a billion dollars of development.

Economic uncertainty has stalled progress here. But I believe focus, collective action, and investment by the city can jump-start it. I have asked the BRA to begin the process of creating an East Boston Waterfront Development District. This will allow the City to use an array of tools, including our first District Improvement Financing, to spark progress for the neighborhood.

As another sign of the City’s commitment, we will also finance a new marine terminal in East Boston. It will enhance harbor connections between East Boston and other neighborhoods. It will also create a substantial water transit node near the T's new Maverick square head house, where use is on the rise. There is significant infrastructure in place already. The city can finance the terminal and recoup our investment as the developers finish their projects.

The city stands ready to invest to create jobs and new opportunity in East Boston. But we need our partners to dig deep, too. I will be pulling together the developers, the unions, and community stakeholders over the next 90 days to put this plan in action. We all must have a sense of urgency because the people of East Boston deserve it.

If you stand at Piers Park in East Boston and look across the harbor to downtown you see a hub of commerce and activity. Together, we’ll make sure people standing downtown, looking across the harbor at East Boston, no longer see just potential, but progress. A bustling waterfront welcome to all people, an extended East Boston Greenway, a new library, a true gateway for Boston once more.

Across the harbor, we turn our attention to the Black Falcon Cruise Terminal. We need to rethink the terminal and how the Bronstein Center next door can help create a retail and cultural entry point into Boston. Today, the terminal is busier than ever. But passengers don’t get a Boston experience when they arrive. Our port right now doesn’t offer the best of the city to the 300,000 people that come through it by cruise annually. But it should. I will ask the new Massport CEO to make Black Falcon’s next steps one of his or her earliest priorities. We stand ready and eager to work together to make it a world class cruise terminal and portal to Boston.

While we're making the Harbor work better for people coming to Boston, we should make it work better for people moving in Boston. Whether it's from Charlestown to South Boston or East Boston out to Dorchester, the Harbor should provide convenient and reliable transportation.

I propose today $1 million annual support for harbor transportation, backed by a small additional cruise passenger fee. The harbor and its beautiful islands have tremendous cultural and economic potential. More water-based transportation will encourage continued growth in their use and help make sure visitors and Bostonians alike have more access to all of what Boston has to offer.

We know that investment in harbor infrastructure drives more use. Thanks in part to the new Harbor Island Pavilion on the Rose Kennedy Greenway, 150,000 people visited the islands this year, a 20 percent increase over 2009. These people walked along the beaches and trails of Spectacle Island and visited a Civil War fort on George’s Island. I encourage you to join them and check out the 100,000 clams we seeded off of Thompson Island. Maybe, I will even show you my chicken farm on Long Island!

All this harbor progress will be backed by new planning. We will develop a New Municipal Harbor Plan. It would propose specific changes for waterfront development in order to reflect local conditions in Boston. It would build on the progress made since the last harbor plan was approved twenty years ago. That plan paved the way for transformation in our city – for the Big Dig, the Rose Kennedy Greenway, the Harbor cleanup, water transit from Long and Central Wharves, the Aquarium expansion, the Harborwalk improvements, and more.    Working with our harbor partners, we can, and should, lead a new wave of progress.

Being close to the sea heightens our sense of possibility. We look out at the ocean, awed, and are reminded that our activity on land must reflect it. We too, must be in a constant state of renewal, wave after wave.

That’s what our work has been about these last two years. Re-invention. Shared innovation. We’ve put Boston on top during very difficult times.

Let me say this before wrapping up. This is the season when all of us must go the extra mile to help those in need. Boston Can Share is celebrating its 25th anniversary fighting hunger in our neighborhoods.

This year, we set two ambitious goals: Collect 100,000 pounds of food for our food pantries and $100,000 for our Bounty Bucks program. This initiative puts fresh fruit and vegetables on the tables of low income families and supports area farmers. As you leave, please stop by our Can Share table and sign up to collect food at your business or institution. If you're already taking part – and companies like FedEx, Ben and Jerry's, Shaw's and the Boston Bruins have signed up as sponsors – thank you for your help.

I wish all of you and your families a happy and healthy holiday season.