Dear Innovator,
Are you feeling the love?
This week marks the kick-off of "
Boston Together Again", free weekday cultural, food and wellness events in the downtown Boston business districts. The city is looking to hire a "Late-Night Czar" to help with the planning our late night social calendar too.
Many businesses are doing what they can to encourage their people to come back to the office. I've friends who are getting free lunches, hearing through the grapevine that onsite childcare or gyms are in the offing, and that special live, in-person events are taking place. Still, for many, it is hard to go back to commuting.
Speaking of commuting, transportation is still an issue...the T is kind of a mess and it started out as inadequate.
Meanwhile, lots of planning and development is happening as people adjust to the new situation. (I refuse to say the "new normal".) Our old office was razed and rebuilt as lab space (still in demand) and a big parking garage (always in demand). I'm hearing about big mall stores (the Burlington Mall's Lord & Taylor for example) being turned into life sciences space.
Last week, Mayor Wu and the Boston Planning & Development Agency (BPDA) announced the appointment of Diana Fernandez Bibeau as the new Deputy Chief of Urban Design. According to Chief Planner Arthur Jemison, a big part of this role will be "...building a vision for how the city and our public realm are designed that will improve resiliency and promote equity moving forward.” We'll see what this brings.
"The Office" can be just about anything these days: a "real" office, an apartment or house, or a co-working space. But we have to each remember that our experiences may be different from those around us. While I may have an in-home office space, someone else may be making do with a cardboard box and a kitchen chair. My team may have tools to work remotely while others need to be in-person to get their work done.
Keep an open mind, folks.
Bobbie & the MIN Team
