Boston, MA
Gaskin: Life science jobs could elevate Boston’s future

I was excited to learn of Mayor Michelle Wu’s $4.7 million in funding to help Boston’s life science workforce and Governor Maura Healey’s $1 billion Mass Leads Act request to support the life science and climate tech industries. I was especially interested in larger funding rounds for biomanufacturing, early-stage drug and device makers, and increased workforce training and internships to bring more blue-collar workers and students without college degrees into the life science workforce.
Trinh Nguyen, Wu’s Chief of Worker Empowerment, is leading the effort to ensure these are effective public, private partnership that create jobs for those living in the Roxbury and Dorchester area. These are often six-figure jobs that could bring real economic development and wealth creation to the area.
I have been a strong supporter of advanced manufacturing in urban areas for years, even though experts told me it is impossible because Massachusetts is a high-cost manufacturing state and thus not competitive with low-cost manufacturing states. They didn’t understand advanced manufacturing and the price elasticity of biomanufacturing or building robotics and clean-tech products.
I was equally excited when Housing and Economic Development Secretary Mike Kennealy and Wu announced a MassWorks award for Nubian Square Ascends, a $111 million project to build a 200,000 sq. ft. development in Roxbury. Nubian Square Ascends is expected to create or sustain approximately 900 jobs and will include contracting opportunities for minority-owned and women-owned businesses during all phases of construction. My City at Peace and HYM Investment Group proposes to build 700,000 square feet of life science space on Parcel 3 in Roxbury.
This is all good news considering urban manufacturing’s demonstrated impact in other cities across the country. Richard Taylor, the developer of Nubian Ascends once said that you can’t create wealth when everyone is running around with an EBT card. That hit me. Grove Hall is one of the poorest sections of Boston based on census track data. The business mix includes non-profits, storefront churches, bodegas, convenience stores, barber shops, beauty salons, and quick service restaurants. These businesses have not provided a clear path to the middle class for many owners or employees.
Nubian Square Ascends, and the new Benjamin Franklin Cummings Institute of Technology (BFCIT) campus being built adjacent to it are joining forces to establish the Nubian Ascends Life Science Job Training Center, which will house the college’s Biotech Manufacturing Training labs. The Training Center will provide new pathways for economic development in the heart of Boston. This job training hub could also anchor an ecosystem for advanced manufacturing, with a special emphasis on the biotech and clean tech sectors — two of the state’s high-growth areas. The advanced manufacturing program will run out of BFCIT and a co-location facility at the Dearborn STEM high school and could service students attending other high schools in the area or Roxbury Community College. Currently, Boston is the only region in the state that does not have a well-funded, state-supported advanced manufacturing program.
This will change because manufacturing jobs do not require an expensive or extensive post-secondary education. These jobs exist in Boston’s core and provide a clear path to the middle class for those unemployed, underemployed workers, veterans, and or union workers looking to upgrade their skills, and those with employment challenges such as CORIs. These two Nubian Square developments and their job training focus areas could change that.
There is a need to tighten the linkage between white-collar innovation jobs and blue-collar manufacturing jobs. There is no reason for us to continue to export jobs to other states and lose the jobs, revenue, and corresponding taxes. But according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, that is what we are doing. As pharma companies increase their R&D investment in the state, we continue to lose the corresponding pharmaceutical manufacturing jobs.
According to MassBio, there has been a record-setting flow of investment into Massachusetts, and now, there’s demand for new factories to make those medicines — and the workforce to go with them.
Leveraging the Nubian Ascends and BFCIT partnership could play a central role in Greater Boston’s workforce development strategy, complementing the existing strategy to place workers in culinary, hospitality, and healthcare jobs.
The state leads in biotech, but not in biomanufacturing. The six largest employer states in the drugs and pharmaceuticals manufacturing segment are California, New Jersey, North Carolina, Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, and Indiana. Some argue that Massachusetts cannot be a leader in manufacturing because of high energy, labor, and real estate costs. But California, New York, and New Jersey are not known for being low-cost manufacturing states.
Advanced manufacturing uses knowledge workers more than traditional “laborers.” Those involved in precision manufacturing should be thought of as artisans, making value-added parts that have high margins and are price-inelastic. Manufacturers of these parts can absorb Massachusetts’ higher manufacturing costs while remaining competitive, profitable, and growing. In addition, these jobs can’t easily be offshored.
Based on advanced manufacturing concepts, biomanufacturing includes “bio-ink” 3-D bioprinting and Biofabrication. The clinical biomanufacturing applications market is segmented into skin printing, bone and cartilage printing, blood vessel printing, and other clinical applications. Other applications include the printing of organs. A bladder was 3D printed and successfully transplanted into a human. The potential positive impact of 3D-printed organs is the ability to customize organs for the recipient. This capability would complement the state’s healthcare leadership e.g. the Longwood Medical area. Young Black and brown students, as well as adults from Roxbury and Dorchester, could be learning biomanufacturing skills. We would expect such a training facility to draw students from both the North and South shores, as well as west of the city.
It is estimated that $100 billion in capital expenditure investments will be required to bring approximately 45 gigawatts of offshore wind online in New England by 2050.
The amount that is forecast to be spent on climate change will create significant opportunities in clean tech and workers for those opportunities could be trained in this new development.
Now is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and we need to take advantage of it. We need to embrace the advanced manufacturing industry, tighten the relationships between white-collar and blue-collar industry workers, and open up a pathway to the middle-class.
Ed Gaskin is Executive Director of Greater Grove Hall Main Streets and founder of Sunday Celebrations.

Boston, MA
Receiver of troubled Boston nursing home defends hire of disgraced ex-senator Dianne Wilkerson

A court-appointed receiver of a financially-strapped Boston nursing home defended his hire of disgraced ex-senator Dianne Wilkerson, after “allegations of nepotism and self-dealing” were lodged against her in Superior Court last month.
In a post-hearing order, Suffolk Superior Court Judge Christopher Belezos, who is overseeing hearings regarding the receivership of Roxbury’s Edgar P. Benjamin Healthcare Center, raised “significant concerns” about the considerable pay Wilkerson testified that she was making at a facility on the brink of bankruptcy.
“On April 16, the court heard testimony from several witnesses regarding allegations of nepotism and self-dealing by a member of the receivership’s team,” Belezos wrote in the April 22 order. “The subject of such allegations, Ms. Wilkerson offered, under pains of penalties of perjury, testimony that she is an employee of the EPBHC, receiving full benefits, being paid at a rate of $82 per hour, working an average of 90 hours per week.
“If such testimony is accurate, it raises significant concerns as to the rate of remuneration being paid to Ms. Wilkerson by an institution in receivership with a projected 2025 loss in the area of $4.4 million,” the judge added.
Wilkerson, an ex-state senator whose political career ended after she was busted by the feds for taking a bribe, is executive assistant to Joseph Feaster, the court-appointed receiver of the troubled nursing home.
She was present for a hearing held Thursday in Superior Court, but didn’t take part in the day’s proceedings, and deferred comment to Feaster.
Speaking with reporters after a roughly half-hour hearing, Feaster defended his decision to hire Wilkerson and her compensation, in the wake of last month’s mismanagement allegations. He described Wilkerson as “talented” and said she was thoroughly vetted before being added to the facility’s receivership team.
“Donald Trump has a past, and he’s president of the United States,” Feaster said when asked about Wilkerson’s checkered past. “She served her time. She doesn’t have a CORI. She has nothing which would preclude her from working, and so that has to be the determinant.
“So that was looked at, because I certainly am not going to have any situation which would be problematic for the organization or for me,” he said. “She’s employable and she’s talented.”
Wilkerson resigned from the state Senate in 2008 and spent more than two years in jail after agreeing to plead guilty to charges tied to a federal corruption bust. She was infamously shown stuffing $1,000 in cash bribes into her bra in a photo that was released by the feds.
Feaster said Wilkerson didn’t perjure herself on the stand last month, when she testified about her compensation. He said there was a “misinterpretation” about his assistant’s testimony, when she said she works 90 hours a week, when in fact, she gets paid on a bi-weekly basis for a total of 80 hours.
“I think that she was saying I work more hours than what I get paid for, and what we wanted to confirm is that … she only gets paid for bi-weekly, 80 hours,” Feaster said.
Wilkerson told the Herald last month that it’s true that she makes $82 an hour and works 90 hours a week, but “no one asked me a third question.”
“How many hours do I actually get paid for? And the answer to that question is 40. That’s all,” she said at the time.
Feaster also said he saw Wilkerson’s hourly rate as reasonable, given that he makes $450 an hour as the facility’s receiver.
Benjamin Healthcare, which has roughly 80 patients, was placed into receivership last April to avoid the facility’s closure and allow it to begin a financial turnaround. Wilkerson was hired as Feaster’s executive assistant upon his appointment as receiver at that time.
This week’s hearing centered around the facility’s finances, whether receivership should be continued and what the court-appointed team’s contingency plan was if a buyer doesn’t materialize from the bid process.
In a May 14 court filing from Feaster, the “receiver informed the court” at the April 16 hearing “that the most viable path forward for the facility to continue operating would be through soliciting proposals for third party owner/operator.”
Belezos, the judge, pressed for a breakdown of the facility’s financial information from the receivership team, and set a deadline for May 29.
A lawyer for Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s office, which represents state agencies like the Department of Health, said the state wants to keep the Roxbury facility open, rather than move forward with a closure and transfer of patients.
To try to recover funds, Feaster is pursuing a civil lawsuit that has been filed against the facility’s former administrator, Tony Francis, who ran the Benjamin before he was appointed as receiver, Commonwealth Beacon reported.
The lawsuit alleges that Francis “siphoned” more than $3 million in funds from the facility, per a prior court filing from Feaster.
The matter returns to court on June 28.
Boston, MA
Defiant Knicks fans brush off Game 5 blowout, blast ‘cocky’ Celtics supporters in Boston: ‘Worst city in America’

Knicks fans brushed off their team’s blowout loss to the Boston Celtics in Game 5 — and still talked trash to their rival’s fanbase outside TD Garden Wednesday night.
“F–k Boston,” said Brooklyn resident Rick Haddad, 18, outside the Beantown venue. “It’s the worst city in America. Worst people, worst culture, worst sports team.”
His buddy Edward Dweck then took a shot at the Celtics’ home arena.
“This is a fake garden. This is a p—y-ass garden,” the 18-year-old Brooklynite yapped. “I’ve never heard of TD Garden, only Madison [Square] Garden and the Botanical [Garden].”
The Brooklyn pals were among scores of fans who were still defiant after New York lost 127-102, which will stretch the series to at least six games.
The Knickerbockers are still up 3-2.
“You ain’t been paying attention,” Kevin Shah huffed.
“You don’t see patterns. Game f–king 6 at home. It’s gotta be.”
“The formula is you go all do your thing and you get cocky, and we punch you in the mouth without knowing it,” said Shah, a Bronxville native who now lives in Ohio.
“The whole time it’s been the formula, dog,” he continued to rant. “Every time they got full of themselves, they got met with a reality check, bitch.”
Even Mayor Eric Adams got involved with a two-word response to the disappointing loss.
“BUCK FOSTON,” Hizzoner tweeted.
Another fan outside TD Garden, David G., shouted “Knicks in six” for several minutes as fans left the venue.
“It’s OK. We are good, buddy,” he said. “Knicks in six. We are good.”
“I’m getting a lot of f–k yous, but I don’t care,” he added as a pair of Boston fans told him to pipe down.
“We just kicked your ass! Jesus. Shut the f–k up!” an angry Celtics fan shouted at him while another screamed, “You smell like s–t.”
A group of girls decked out in Knicks jerseys also felt the wrath of some insufferable Boston fans who shouted, “Keep walking! Go home! Go back to New York!”
Back in the Empire State outside MSG, fans were clamoring for another shot at the Celtics.
“Jaylen Brown thinks he’s all hot s–t. He f–king sucks, bro,” Nia Newkirk, 25, said of the Boston guard.
“He is not the best driver in the NBA. He’s not the best driver on his team, bro. You needed [Boston forward] Jayson Tatum. Y’all got f–king lucky tonight. Knicks in six.”
The series heads back to the Big Apple for Game 6 Friday night, where the Knicks will have another shot to close out the Celtics and advance to the Eastern Conference Finals.
“I don’t care about Boston. Boston’s a bitch,” said Bronx resident Damion Jones, 30. “They, they always be a bitch … Oh, man, f–k Boston. We lost because of us. Yes, we lost because of us.”
Hoboken resident Liam Walker, who rooted for the Knicks inside the watch party inside the world’s most famous arena, predicted beldam if New York took Game 5 or wins Friday.
“I mean, there’s like way more people here [inside the Garden on Friday], they’ll be like hundreds of people outside, like it would be people going like crazy,” he said.
“It would just be like a riot in the streets. It would be awesome.”
Boston, MA
Boston City Council to debate removal of Tania Fernandes Anderson

The Boston City Council is expected to discuss removing Tania Fernandes Anderson today after she pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges.
The city’s own lawyers have explained that councilors cannot remove Fernandes Anderson from office before she is sentenced in her case, but that doesn’t stop the council from adding to the growing calls urging the disgraced councilwoman to resign.
It also doesn’t stop them from taking action to formally address the situation.
We know Fernandes Anderson has already pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges. Her decision to conceive a kickback scheme involving a family member who she hired to her staff isn’t up for debate. She admitted giving them a large bonus and then pocketing $7,000 — thus her federal convictions and upcoming sentencing in July.
Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson did not show up for the body’s first meeting since pleading guilty to federal corruption charges.
But until then, the councilor is allowed to maintain her seat. The council, however, also has some options.
They’ve already removed Fernandes Anderson from her city council committee positions, and an existing rule mandates that if a council member is convicted of a felony, the president — in this case Ruthzee Louijeune — has to refer the matter to council for a two thirds majority vote.
In 2010, the council voted and removed one of their own who was convicted, but the supreme judicial court overturned that and ruled the council didn’t have the authority.
Today’s formal proceeding at noon to address Fernandes Anderson’s conduct and conviction may demonstrate to the public that the council is working to restore public trust and add pressure to Fernandes Anderson to resign — but ultimately their hands may be tied until she is sentenced this summer.
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