News

The Newmarket Planning Study is Approved!

The Boston Planning & Development Agency (BPDA) approved the PLAN: Newmarket at their most recent meeting on January 10th, the result of more than five years of hard work between the BPDA and Newmarket Business Improvement District. The plan will create a “Newmarket 21st Century Industrial District” that preserves the legacy of industrial innovation and promotes the emerging creative industries in the area. Newmarket will serve as a key center of thriving industrial activity, employment for Boston residents, and destination for unique cultural experiences.

Click to see the full plan – PLAN: Newmarket

The plan lays out a vision and the tools for Newmarket to serve as a key center of industrial activity and employment for Boston residents and an area primed to attract the industries of tomorrow. Overlapping the neighborhoods of Dorchester, Roxbury, South Boston, and the South End, the Newmarket industrial zone acts as an economic engine for the City of Boston, and this plan supports the enhancement of that role.

“I’d rather be without a job if we can end addiction, and I’ll find another career.”

Mario Chaparro is the program director of the Engagement Center on Atkinson St. We work with him constantly, from donating supplies for the Engagement Center to operate since it opened in 2018 to working with him to develop our pilot program to employ the homeless under his care. Check out this four minute interview with the City of Boston to hear what he has to say about what he does at Mass and Cass.

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CTSc0LNsD5S/?utm_medium=share_sheet

Cleanup Efforts Underway on Atkinson Street

As we’re sure everybody is well aware, Atkinson Street has been a near-constant mess for years, and only gotten worse over time. In this past year, the condition of the street deteriorated faster than ever, until it finally reached a breaking point. Since July 15, the City has begun making a more concentrated effort to maintain the cleanliness of Atkinson Street. They performed a major cleanup of the street (Before, During, and After pics below) which was sorely needed and made a transformative impact to its condition. However, the improvement was short-lived. Atkinson Street quickly returned to the same state it was in before.

Since then, the City has been conducting cleanup sweeps on the street three times each week, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Although the street always returns to how it was before, we’re very grateful that the effort is being made and that attention is being paid to improving the quality of life in Newmarket.

Newmarket Mayoral Forum Brings Our Neighborhood Into Focus

All six mayoral candidates joined us in Newmarket on June 29 for a forum to present their plans and answer our questions about the issues important to business in our area. With our partner organizations in the South End Forum, McCormack Civic Association, Andrew Square Civic Association, Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative, and Pine Street Inn, we asked the candidates about how they intend to handle the problems of addiction, homeless, and development in their vision for the future of Newmarket and the rest of Boston.

Hosted by Suffolk Construction in their Allerton Street headquarters, our forum was one of the first in-person events of the mayoral race, and it was a wonderful success! If you missed the event, you can watch our full recording of the event! Or you can read the Dorchester Reporter’s article for more detail about the questions we asked and how each candidate responded.

Newmarket’s Annual Meeting and Fundraiser a Huge Success!

Watch the recording of the 2020 Annual Meeting here!

Over 200 members and friends of the Newmarket Business Association joined us on November 19th to celebrate our biggest event of the year, the 42nd annual Newmarket Meeting and Charitable Fundraiser!

In a strange and difficult year for everybody, we were nevertheless able to hold our annual meeting virtually for the first time! And despite our disappointment at not being able to gather together as usual, the event was still an enormous success!

Making the occasion even more momentous, this year we were pleased to welcome Mayor Martin Walsh as our keynote speaker! Throughout his time in office, Mayor Walsh has been a steadfast and valued supporter of Newmarket, and he came to answer questions from our members about everything from the the process of recovering and reopening from COVID-19 to future of development in Boston and his support for the Newmarket Business Improvement District.

And despite the hardships of the past year, 2020’s Annual Meeting did not lag behind the successes of our past few fundraisers, and this year we nearly met the record we set in 2019, raising almost one hundred thousand dollars towards our charitable and economic growth activities!

We’re looking forward to another busy year in Newmarket. With all of your support, we hope to keep making Newmarket a better place for all of us to live and work!