The North End Chamber of Commerce held their monthly meeting on December 3, 2013 at the St. Leonard Church Hall in Boston’s North End. A meeting summary and video timeline is shown below so you can skip to topics of interest.
00:00 Welcome and Introductions – VP Toni Gilardi
09:00 North End Holiday Shopping Stroll & Event Announcements – Tara Shea
13:00 Frank O’Brien from the Department of Public Works
- DPW is asking businesses not to use the street light poles for holiday decorations because it is straining their system. DPW will be disconnecting any connections to their electrical grid.
18:50 John Romano, Municipal Liaison MassDot, and Neil Boudreau, State Traffic Engineer, spoke about the implications of the Callahan Tunnel Rehabilitation Project.
- The Callahan Tunnel will be closed for 2 1/2 months from December 27, 2013 to March 12, 2014 to replace the deck and curb. A second phase, through August 2014, will replace the side panels with night closures from 11pm-5am. See the project website for fact sheets and detour maps.
- 39:00 Adding North End signage in the tunnel was discussed.
45:30 Proposed Wynn Casino in Everett – Steve Tocco
- North End residents, Steve Tocco and his son, presented Steve Wynn’s vision for an urban casino and how it can work with local businesses. The project will not have as extensive a retail component as that proposed at Suffolk Downs. There will be 500 suites as part of the resort. A $40 million cleanup of the polluted waterfront is also planned including a water transportation system that will connect to downtown Boston. Wynn currently has four casino resorts in Las Vegas and Macau, China. They also noted that 53% of Wynn’s clientele is internationally based. Mr. Tocco noted that travel time to the proposed casino site is only 6 minutes from the North End. More images can be seen at WynnInEverett.com.
Please view the video above for more details on these and other topics covered at the meeting. See NorthEndChamberofCommerce.com for more information on the NECC.
