The Boston Chapter of IREM held their legislative meeting on March 16th at the Neighborhood Club in Quincy. Senator Brian Joyce was the guest speaker at our meeting. Senator Joyce is serving his eighth term in the Massachusetts senate where he is chair of the senate committee on bonding, capital expenditures and state assets. In the legislature, senator Joyce has a well-deserved reputation for working hard on behalf of the communities he represents and focuses much of his time on housing, job creation, education and fiscal discipline issues. A graduate of The Boston College School of Management and of Suffolk University Law School where he was an editor of Law Review, senator Joyce is a practicing attorney who has taught at both the graduate and undergraduate levels.
Senator Joyce is also involved in a number of charitable and civic associations and the recipient of numerous awards for his legislative initiatives including the Eva B. Hester award, given by the Secretary of Elder Affairs, the 2005 Neponset Valley Chamber of Commerce Government Partnership Award because of his extraordinary work in the area of regional economic development, and the 2001 Legislator of the Year by the Massachusetts Police Association. In 2002, senator Joyce was one of only 38 Americans selected for a prestigious Marshall Memorial Fellowship and in 2003 was selected for an eight member delegation to travel to China by the American Council of Young Political Leaders.
His discussion focused on economic conditions of the State as well as the approach that government is taking towards conducting business in a highly competitive environment. Consolidation of departments to eliminate costs, such as the merger of Mass Highway Department, Mass Turnpike Authority and Mass Port Authority into one entity resulting in savings for the state. He also discussed the fact that Massachusetts was considered fiscally sound in comparison to other states due to the fact that Mass. has been saving money into a "rainy day account" to cover short falls in the budget.
Unemployment rates have decreased recently in Massachusetts and are around 8.4%. Mass has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation. One of the incentives that senator Joyce mentioned in his discussion was tax incentives to current businesses that stay in the commonwealth and continue to prosper and increase jobs. The overall discussion was very interesting and it was a pleasure having Senator Brian Joyce as our guest speaker.
New Accredited Residential Manager (ARM) was sworn in during our March luncheon. Congratulations to Sarah Beaulieu, Nordblom Management; Hillary Behrens, HallKeen Management AMO; Robert Cost, Mayo Group; and Nick Reynolds from Samuels Associates for their achievements and we look forward to your continued involvement with the chapter!
Jeanmarie O'Brien, CPM, is IREM Boston chapter president, Boston, Mass.