The Governor's Roundtable with local business leaders in Fall River, Massachusetts, held on April 25, 2023, brought together Governor Healey, Lieutenant Governor Driscoll, and various local entrepreneurs to discuss ways the state could improve services and promote business. Jim McKaig, South Coast cluster lead for the Transformative Development Initiative, facilitated the discussion, which focused on business experiences, challenges, and state support needs. A recurring theme was the critical importance of the Housing Development Incentive Program (HDIP), with developers like Frank Martini, Alan Mac, and others advocating for increased funding, noting the Governor's proposal for a five-fold increase in the state budget. Michael Lund and Frank Martini also highlighted the symbolic importance of fully lighting the Fall River bridge as a sign of the city's renaissance. Jennifer Pozo and James Primo of Primo Hospitality Solutions addressed challenges in the hospitality sector, including staffing and management, and requested more support for culinary and mixology training programs. Becca Collins from Collins Construction asked for an increase in Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) funding for the vocational school project, from $360 to $393 per square foot, which would provide an additional $13 million. Patrick Norton of the Narrows Art Center, along with Michael Sullivan of the One South Coast Chamber and Ashley from the Fall River Arts and Culture Coalition, emphasized the need for broader state tourism promotion for Southeastern Massachusetts and continued support for the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Sarah Page of the Fall River Development Authority discussed the need for more funding tools and flexibility in the One-Stop program for downtown revitalization and urban renewal efforts. Governor Healey and Lieutenant Governor Driscoll affirmed their commitment to Fall River, recognizing its momentum and pledging to work on increasing HDIP funding, appointing a housing secretary, and leveraging federal resources through public-private partnerships.
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in the industrial park down to Alexander's on Main Street and they wanted to have some local business people about how they could improve services from the state or what they what you need from them to try to help promote business here and they're both tremendous fans and supporters of Fall River and they've been on the go all day so they've heard enough from me and other people would like to have the
0:37opportunity to talk
0:47obviously because the number of people if you could try to keep your remarks around two or three minutes that would be very fair to everyone here because then it gives everybody the opportunity to talk and if get another round we'll go back again but if we just don't want or anyone else but not realizing the conversation so they can have an opportunity to hear from everybody and
1:05we just asking that very respectfully so thank you thank you um so yeah there's a lot of us here today I don't know everybody around the table but I'm Jim mckaig I'm the South Coast cluster league for the transformative development initiative and past development um and uh and we would love to hear from from all of the businesses uh you know today on the round table um you know doing business in Fall River
1:29I I think the best use of our time is go around the table uh and start with an introduction uh you know where you're from why doing business in in Fall River has worked for you and and you know what you um you know what you you like about it and I think um you know going into a little discussion on um you know some of the challenges that that you're facing right now as a small
1:54business here um and and how the state can can help so um I think we'll start over over here with you well not with you sir I'm sorry yeah my name is Frank Martini I'm with cattle rule of Development I've been in the city for 25 years I grew up in in East Boston I came here 25 years ago I had the Honeydew donut franchises I had other several retail and Commercial properties that I developed
2:27the reason I'm here still here in the Fall River it is a great place to do business the administration especially in today's Administration is tell us what you need it can be done we'll get out and give you away and do what you have to do um all right ladies thank you madam the governor Lieutenant got first of all thank you for coming here today Paul thank you again this uh together um I need to uh
3:01address the agency program I think that is a very very important program relative to uh to to develop and as you know but more importantly I think it's duly more important that we're outside of 495 everyone today has high building costs labor costs and what have you but we're coupled with also lower lower rents so if whatever you need to do help us get some more funding for that program
3:33that would be very very beneficial for the area I know obviously in the world as well some of their editors are you know screwing the other way that we're taking tax money that should go to let's say subsidized housing but that that is really not true because as we develop the housing stock here from what I've seen in the last 10 15 years we're making people more afford and Transforming Our housing stock into
4:06something that that quite frankly is rivaling anything inside 495 had lunch the other day with uh with an individual hessing on four or five restaurants in the North End and I've been kidding me for years I'll turn around it is down again a couple months ago and he was absolutely amazing I'll probably so that's my two minutes and most importantly thank you so much I know what it means to uh to make time for the
4:36schedule for these types of things and I lived a long time ago a working table it was only as good as is around that table and uh we've got some news here today so Mr Mayor thank you for getting this together thank you so much and also we should introduce a really important person our under Secretary of Economic Development Ashley still the familiar to many of you really is the
5:04engine making a lot of this go working with folks like Jim as well and folks on the ground and of course Dan Rivera had a mass development so we're delighted to be down here at the international oh my gosh I wanted everybody else to make sure you know we knew and both the LG and I are big time supporters of hdf it's why we made the five-fold proposal in our budget and we're going to continue to
5:28work with our legislative friends on that my name is Michael one I want to thank you for coming down here I have the uh unfortunate opportunity probably 35 yeah 35 years ago I came home from an interim shift from college with uh and my father looked at me and said we're not going to make it till spring quit college and I went to work for my father and uh that's when I first met Kenny Viola
6:00didn't even have five grand to get a piece of equipment and he ruined it on the character loan uh 35 years ago and uh today we're one of the largest family owned operating marinas in the entire East Coast never mind just Commonwealth Mass that's privately owned that's not a corporate identity I mean we're a hub with commercial property for 12 other businesses we employ a summer a hundred
6:27people and collectively our businesses that are in our properties I can't complain about the other 250 300 people that only happens with the cooperation of good government having made the mistake of running for our office once myself and then having the unfortunate thing to actually get elected and conservative I know how hard and I think if you can take anything and I'm probably going to tell you something
6:58New York figured out in a very short period of time but uh I have been fortunate of serving the chamber and I serve on Lost economic development but just how I now I call my good friend Ken viola but his leadership and fight for the consistency of getting some of these long-term projects actually coming to fruition and what's important for you to know is to know that the team with himself and mayor Coogan are Beyond
7:30reproach and you truly have people that bleed the red and black of Fall River and if they say they're going to do something and they advocate for a project and they tell you what's important it is made with the best of intentions of the citizens of the city and having experienced the alternate I cannot stress to you how important that is a as a taxpayer investment in the city but to know where your future is
7:58going uh and we are definitely a different animal in Boston but give us a little credit and there's nothing when we go to the state and we need your help we don't need you to tell us what to do we need your help on how to get it done and because they're a testament and I think what's happening now and I would only leave you lastly is I do believe we're experiencing a little
8:29bit of a Renaissance and the former Administration recognized it and I just want to know that it's still going in the right direction you want to tell the world that this city is no longer a dark Old Mill Town with uh then you illuminate our Bridge and let the people know when they drive into our city that we are lit up that we are alive and we are something different and all the
8:52gentlemen and ladies in this room have all contributed to that and I think that's a vital project to show the rest of the Commonwealth that we are something new and we are something that's on the up and coming thank you but thank you thanks Mike thank you enough to come back another time for more beer I really liked it this is Gary Walker he is the our SVP of real estate
9:21um and uh and this is Alan Mac number two yeah governor of the secretary thank you for coming uh to this build integrative class I'm actually the developer mainstream projects and um Frank highlighted the each step program the leadership program was instrumental in getting this project power and uh we also have an affordable component in this particular project it's 20 affordable 80 Market rating and
9:52um I look at the map and I see you know I could get close to three hundred thousand dollars of subsidized the affordable component and then I got thirty thousand dollars to subsidize the market rate and I I get it that it looks like private developers are on the Dole from the state but so certainly not the case because it's you just can't have tons of projects otherwise I have two other projects that
10:20I'd like to move forward with but I'm kind of like slow dragging my heels waiting to see what happens with the age tip program the city of Fall River has come a long way my partner Tony and I were the first or the second project in Fall River in the state of Massachusetts that actually used the HP program data Commonwealth landing and um back then we we said wow this was amazing like it made us
10:50put 100 apartments in Fall River Market rate and at the time that was the first market rate project in Fall River in a generation so now that was what 10 years ago and it's such a huge success now it's exploded in demand across sustaining and um you know I just look at a subsidy of three hundred thousand dollars to put up someone in the home for thirty thousand dollars to me it's the cost benefit is
11:19tremendous and um with that I'll pass my time to everyone else and thank you for coming to create the class and thank you um my name is Jennifer Pozo this is James Primo the third so uh Primo has been I guess my life partner since 17 we're not married but we say we are um but we own Prima Hospitality Solutions uh we are whole food and alcohol catering we also own Primo bartending school
11:50um I've been in the fields probably a little over 20 years I convinced Primo he was running um the Bradley hospital for a while and I convinced him to take a break he was burnt out and he decided to bartend so um our goal is to just help out the hospitality field there is a Revolt happening right there's um a lot of distance between management ownership and the back of the house so
12:18when I was managing restaurants a while ago um it might go on and a few other people here that owned businesses locally it was challenging with the back of the house and right now Hospitality restaurants are having huge problems holding staff and so if that continues to happen then there's not going to be any restaurants opening which is not going to bring people into Fall River
12:40right people like to come in here to eat right and some people are going over the bridge to go to Providence you want to keep them here you want to keep them active and keep the area alive so we're going to try to bridge that gap between management and employees thinking of new ways to to innovate right different teachings and different mechanics and just everything that has to happen with the hospitality
13:11field people can't work 16 hours a day with behind in the back of the house without a break there needs to be different advances they need some different management strategies so we're hoping this can inspire you know restaurants and businesses all over the place and our teachings can be something that will start nation and kind of change the way people think so that people are more welcoming to join
13:34culinary we have GCC in Fall River and there's still a lack of employment what's not working what's not working is that real world experience they're not staying because of nothing's progressing nothing's changing so where we work with jobs for progress and what we're asking for is a little more support on that part so I think if there are programs in place for people that are in high school
13:59or in college for culinary or we've actually partnered with PCC for their Mixology but any aspect of that pot that can help people um you know introduce themselves into this career so they're not scared they're not timid it can be a bit of Misfits at times um and challenging people are wearing many hats many managements you know pulling their hair out every day there's a lot of things going on but
14:27you just feel that you know more I guess how on that part would be great I know jobs progress is sending us people all the time and that's been working out well but it's not a lot of people that are actually cooking so that can help
14:52said we have a great um room in here like people in this room I sit on a Redevelopment Authority for Fall River and I like to consider myself a Fall River although I'm moving from New Bedford but I I came here 15 years old I seen the opportunity of the City ad because um I know there's there's voids and in all areas that needs to be filled so when I left that kid went to the
15:17military I came back at uh 22 years old I opened a barber shop that's still going today I had three shops 18 Barbers a couple hair stylists um 24 years going on with that business then we opened uh we opened a healthy restaurant because there was another void in the city so they need healthy food and that business is taken off I've got seven years running successfully and I think that um so being back off she
15:44said this city has a lot of opportunity but we need to make sure we keep the people on this side of the bridge we need to keep people going out and spending their money in the city and showing the surrounding areas how much of a beautiful city we have we're on the water we have a lot of opportunity and um it's just takes some creative thinking for a lot of us to uh come
16:06together and help each other grow as a businessman and business woman and feed each other because in every successful City you see I'm an avid traveler if anyone knows me um you see businesses feeding off each other so what we need is we need our partners to the left and right of us and across the street to all be successful so we can come up together because nobody's going to go visit a location if
16:31it's the only place in that area so if we have other businesses to feed off each other and help each other grow and create a good Community like that I think that uh sky is the limit do you want to intro
16:56lieutenant governor thank you for allowing me the opportunity to be here my daughter sends a crush to you you met her at Michael lunchtime Melanie so she's a big fan of yours that's Coldplay too I am a product and father of all my life you get this beautiful city when I was four oh yeah I was educated in the system came back and been buying property since I was 23. with the belief
17:26that everyone here has that location location the work ethic that I knew in time to prove us right and I think we're right there I think today you see the train actually rolling in you see Route 79 coming down I know Ken and I and the officer economic develop more than the other project we had that Boulevard I see tremendous opportunity and I'm already in the system but what I love
17:53the most is I thought 15 18 years ago when Alan and I bought uh you know the old Quaker fabric headquarters that was in this rag that we put in 33 million dollars back then I thought we were nuts Governor um I know I sat on the board a local bank and they were not loaning money to a mill that magnitude that we made it happen and Asia was a huge Factor
18:16so I know everyone's talked about it I know you lieutenant governor I think I read your column that said that you believe in that you use it in your city and I will tell you it's actually happening so one of the things that I love the most is I have five projects keyed out I've done five it'll be my fifth historical Tax Strategies tax structured business with age different versions with the office in Canton and
18:41the mayor has been truly honorable I have five projects with over 60 million but none of it honestly will stop without age dip it's just it's just Alan mentioned thirty thousand he's a mathematician I'm not but thirty thousand versus 300 I'm chasing market rate I'm trying to blend market rate with what we have in housing if you study the history of the city should hold 138 000 people we're only 94 but
19:07that's not what we're looking for and today if I can share with you from our management team Hall team people that are moving into our city are empty nesters Young professionals from out of state and people within the city that are coming back to the city and want the new amenities so that will force the other housing to do one of two things nothing indoor step up so we all win
19:32one of the biggest things that I see is honestly if I could be so blunt with you is that we need to keep our talent in the city both my girls were educated but I was lucky enough to have them come back I don't know why they came back and they were to me so 14 years ago I thought I was going to be tired in Naples and then my girls
19:52decided to come join me so now we've literally so the key of projects for them but for also the benefit of the city this is a beautiful city we're not asking for any handouts mind you when we ask for each tip it's not like you can advance our Easter what you're doing is allow us to be able to chase the issue and try to qualify our projects like anybody else in the combo
20:17so I thank you for allowing and the pride of this and telling us for allow my daughters to stay in the game I'm now teaching them how to hunt fish and I love it so thank you now we love that and we love your daughters are here and we are such strong proponents of each step again that's why we proposed a five-fold increase over current funding levels we've got to do our work in the
20:41legislature which I'm confident we can get there but it may be helpful in time in the next couple weeks to turn on some of you to turn to some of you to help share the stories with with Mayors across the Commonwealth because we just we just got to get that done and we know how important it is so thank you for that I mean just on the technical side like we put 50 million dollars in our
21:02tax package and it's not anywhere in the House's package we're hoping to stay in Senate package and then there might be an opportunity to you know have some back and forth so it's definitely we don't need to be convinced yeah we know it works and we want to use it and to build more help if you need to hear about everywhere and we appreciate the point about market rate especially in
21:21places like Fall River so know that we understand that we also have the first time a housing secretary soon to be named whose sole responsibility is to drive production across the state so appreciate all the comments that you're making big time and I'm so glad you stay I know thank you so much
21:52uh Becca Collins with Collins construction uh we're a local contractor in the city I will not talk about age dip I promise um we I'm a fourth generation contractor first female to have the opportunity to even work in the business never mind have the opportunity to run it so um I'm here because this community treated my family very very well so now it's our turn to pay it forward we're
22:15working very hard on trying to train quality people so we can put up quality projects um speaking of quality projects Mike ask of you guys would be in reference to the msba we fund I believe a cent of every dollar for our sales tax goes to it I think even if we took a look at that and granted forward I'm almost done building schools but you know the state of Massachusetts still has the opportunity
22:42so if there's an opportunity to maybe grab another half a cent in that sales tax to keep msba fully funded that would be fantastic we currently have a project in the queue for our vocational school and um we were funded under the last funding agreement of 360 a square foot we would love the opportunity to be looked at for the 393 that would be a probably about a 13 million dollar opportunity that um
23:10Diamond would have to turn that into capital for working students so thank you very much for coming down we do appreciate it and just so real quickly on the opportunity to speak earlier today but um just a couple more points here first of all the representation in this room today is very impressive and you have True Believers in the city representing millions of dollars in private
23:33investment and belief in the city just a couple things that I forgot to mention earlier but I'll take this stuff until you do so sorry follow up to Mike Lund's question weed there's actually I think there's a bid opening if it hasn't already occurred it's about to recruit with mass start out of sections five six with time with that dance five to finish off the lighting of the bridge we have the
23:57bridge partially lit but there is uh the bid opening should be taken place if it has all right I understand that wasn't just a metaphor yeah so you'd like to because that that's really important tool it's right to really like that bridge up and uh you know just secondly I'd just like to uh thank you you got the Primos here and Shannon and they just bought a restaurant for 1.2 million
24:18dollars okay so they're putting their money because they believe in the city and these are people that have been in the industry working different grounds up so things deserve a lot of credit for their belief in the city and try to make it work thank you and thank you all for your investment hi I'm Patrick Norton with the Narrows Art Center we've been doing this for about 22 years in Fall River and we've
24:39had a lot of success over the last 20 years of attracting people from outside of Florida to our venue really our success we saw about 35 000 concert tickets a year and 80 percent of the people who come to our venue come from outside a 20-mile radius so we're on the waterfront four of a not far from Michael Lund we're kind of building a little Synergy I take my ask of you guys
24:59and we've had some success recently with some Arts related tours and pieces to see the state of Massachusetts really go out on a a television commercial for tourism through Southeastern Massachusetts I've seen a lot of Massachusetts ads featuring Boston and Cape Cod we could really use to go National with this stuff I think it's really helpful to Spotlight even if it's from Williamstown through New Bedford
25:24through Fall River right on that line there's a lot of communities between Arts related and biotourism and a lot of things that are different from the big city in Cape Cod and I think what Fall River really offers a real affordable and authentic experience and we need to kind of ferret that out a little bit more and if anything you can do to help along those lines I will say the Massachusetts cultural council is a
25:46fabulous organization they've been super good to us very merit-based and I think that whatever you can do to help them would be great but I do think Massachusetts is kind of missing the missing a piece as far as promoting things I know we're always beating up on Boston and Cape Cod but they've got plenty of tourists and I think four of us offers an opportunity for the annual Bedford together or offers that that's
26:06spilled over where people are looking to spend some extra time and they can spend in Fall River and some of the tourism studies that myself and Kenny of other people and I think Frank we're on it we realize that in Fall River can't grow with just the people in Florida supporting our businesses the only way we grow more restaurants and continue to move the Route 79 project forward with
26:25restaurants is to track people from outside of the area and it doesn't have to be from New York City it can be within a 45 mile radius thank you so that's my little Spiel on that we have five minutes left so we're gonna we're gonna go through and we proposed uh we really proposed funding for both Mass cultural Council but also we and the Elgin do this in Salem we are big time
26:47Believers in arts culture tourism and think that we could do a much better job in Massachusetts it's an amazing place regionally you go across the regions and so much to commend the South Coast so we want to work with you once again thank you all for inviting me my name is George Palmer with FC construction we're a small subcontractor to hire 67 employees we've been in Florida for 40 years now
27:11and it doesn't put a city Fall River we're going to be here today with the supply of the workforce that we got from Florida I don't think we could have made it and the only ask us to have is like the previous administration keep District 5 busy with the Construction Products down in the area
27:30thank you Michael Sullivan One South Coast chamber with the second largest chamber in the state of Massachusetts not uh not based on dollars but based on numbers uh we're larger than Boston in terms of numbers of members actually um I can really second a lot of the things that everybody said at the table today but what I really liked what you just said is Arts culture and tourism because
28:00those are three areas that we've been working on tremendously over the last four years to really build those categories of business because Fall River was um or just needed you know they needed to get rid of the silos and do a really good job in all of those particular areas and we're working really hard through some of the dollars that the mayor that the mayor put forth to you know to really build the tourism
28:30so really exciting about that and I need the arts and culture stuff to actually but we uh you know we're working hard and we're really proud of everything here and the last thing I'll say is that for the last four years we have been the um the Fiscal Agent sponsor for Mass development and TDI and we're really proud that a lot of the great stuff that happened that is happening sort of
28:54bubbled up from that okay thank you sir Sarah page from the Fall River Development Authority and I'm going to talk about downtowns we're been working with the TBI partnership in downtown Fall River and we're now doing an urban renewal plan and revitalization plan for the Flint neighborhood and it's helpfully funded with assistance from The Hub program through Mass Housing and it's very clear that there aren't enough
29:28tools for us to use to really Revitalize our downtown areas and right after the pandemic we were part of the Statewide program that was a rapid breed housing program where I mean I'm sorry yeah rapid recovery after him and um the rapid recovery program had us develop goal all kinds of goals and there really aren't funds to go after to address those goals for example the state has a storefront program in
30:03Economic Development Area but it's difficult again it's not greatly funded and so I think that it would be great I'm not going to be going to lots of detail I could but there's a real need to look at the funding and tools for downtowns because when you go into the One-Stop program if you're going in the planning category you can only the city can only put in one proposal Redevelopment Authority can put in one
30:37and we really want to put in eight and you know it's um so I would just hope that you will take a look at that and I'd love to talk with you about it thank you all right I'll close this out I guess so Ashley okay now I represent the fracking what is it it's the Fall River arts and culture Coalition so we are actually a chamber Committee of the one South Coast chamber
31:01as Mike mentioned so we drive Economic Development forms of arts and culture and so perhaps you saw some of the murals on the buildings that you came into the city um and so thank you Mass development they have been a wonderful partner um in helping us realize our vision our Coalition is made up of over almost 200 folks um from business to the creative sector um and I really am just here to to
31:26represent all of them and thank you mayor as well um as we use Arts to really as we said lighting the bridge all of these elements that we've talked about all involve the creative sector and so we drive it forward and I thank you for your partnership with correspass cultural Council great well we really we really appreciate the opportunity to see some familiar faces meet new folks as well and to hear most
31:51importantly about what you need we're down here because we care we've been back uh several times we'll continue to come back and be present in a bunch of different ways I think it's um you know hearing it's super exciting what is already happening here and also the potential the potential and I think you know we both were committed to this because we've lived in our entire Commonwealth particularly outside of
32:15greater Boston and I think that Fall River represents you know the very best of the opportunities that's out there for the state we're not going to get there unless we work together public private you know those of us in government working alongside all of you in industry and having us help these Service Partners to what you need to do right now um and I apologize I'm gonna have to go
32:35but I cared a lot about this that I am really really late for a college with the White House which I I need to go
33:12thank you thank you you said that at the last meeting too yeah the real to us is that um you know we're really leaning into uh what's to Washington DC the availability of funds and the governor has taken out like a front seat in it and we're lucky to have her there because she's got just Superstar power and opportunities to bring more resources back here at a time when we probably haven't spent as much
33:48time in DC as we as we need to in terms of making sure they're aware of our challenges and what we need to do so um really it was a 2 30 call so um uh looked really grateful to be with all of you I feel like an affinity to Fall River not just because Paul and I were colleagues but um being the mayor of Salem for 17 years of historic Coastal Community that's
34:08also a Gateway City like I know how hard the work is on the ground and many of the same strategies that you're deploying here you know we we work to deploy as well whether it was the creative economy tourism and Hospitality uh revitalizing the downtown by having people actually live there making sure that we were supporting the folks on the ground and creating a culture that people want to invest in and there's
34:31some something special about momentum I really feel like Fall River has momentum and that for me is something that we need to you know really strengthen our Partnerships any way we can momentum is contagious and it creates more private investment which creates more opportunities for jobs and growing a strong local economy and we certainly want to be here to be you know not just
34:50a partner but like a co-conspirator what are the things that you're doing before we have programs that might actually fit the you know fit exactly what what your needs are and how can we break down those barriers I know like we needed more liquor licenses you know I could go on on some of the things that might be uh you know problematic that we want to try and work with you and better
35:11address but just know like we're we're here for you we want to make sure that the challenges that you are aware of are like shared challenges and shared opportunities to work on them together so please you know I got to thank him also because you know I had a good relationship with the last Administration but I called her it's eight o'clock and she doesn't answer the phone I get a
35:36call by 8 30 or so text me get back to you soon I always get a response she's definitely engage in the Fall River she wants to know what's going on and I think a listening tool like this to hear what the people saying on the ground is very very important and Ashley's been a big help too she's a hold of the old Administration so I have to make fun of her okay
35:59she said she said goodbye three times and I said Ashley will see you soon and I was all excited to see her again because she's also a good partner on the ground and she knows how things work but again I want to thank all the guys that offered up their time today to come out and talk it's very important to get a diverse set of opinions about what's going on in the city from the people
36:25that are making it go and that I really appreciate you all offering up the time to talk to the governor super helpful as we head back you know your voices and the people behind the work that we're doing or what arrives us every day so um appreciate that and they keep up the great work we really do want to particular ways that can only amplify your efforts thanks thank you thanks everybody