All,
Below is the first edition of our new monthly Newsletter for the members of the Kendall Square Association. You will find in it a greeting from our President, updates on planned activities and events in and around Kendall Square, announcements from members, and some acknowledgments of the contributions of many who have brought our new organization to this point.
Yours,
Fintan Steele
The Broad Institute
(Volunteer KSA Newsletter Editor)
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Kendall Square Association Newsletter V1. n1.
A Note from the KSA President
Hello Kendall Square! It is just over two months since our February 24th inaugural KSA organizational meeting, yet it feels a lot longer – in a good sense!
In this short time it seems that thousands of flowers are blooming – literally in Kendall Square and figuratively in the Association. If you want to participate more in KSA, simply update your member record on the KSA website (www.kendallsq.org) and tick off the ‘Groups’ that you want to be part of. This will ensure you get invites to the activities you are interested in.
I would like to highlight just a few of the many efforts that are under way in order to give you a flavor of what is going on:
- Jim Kappel at the Marriott, has organized the Kendall Square Klean Up THIS COMING MAY 15th at 3:00PM! Read down for details. Please RSVP at www.kendallsq.org/events. The group will gather in the Marriott Plaza. He is hoping for 100 people. Please share this within your organization
- Skip Hartwell at Akamai has convened a WIFI subgroup including people from Google, Microsoft, MIT, Akamai, and CIC. We are looking at ways to bring free public WIFI throughout Kendall Square. If you would like your organization to participate in this, please contact Skip Hartwell at Akamai (hartwell@Akamai.com).
- Michele McCauley at Fitcorp is looking to create a Kendall Square Softball League. Interested? Contact Michele at mmccauley@Fitcorp.com.
Kudos to Fintan Steele at the Broad Institute for taking on the task of compiling this newsletter. This will become an important tool for bringing us together and creating community in Kendall Square. Please send him any information you want included in future newsletters (fsteele@broadinstitute.org). Our goal is to release this monthly for now.
Finally, I want to close by thanking the many individuals and organizations that helped us get the KSA off the ground. While it is a risky endeavor, I have made an attempt at thanking many of those people by name later in this newsletter.
Warmest regards,
Tim Rowe
Cambridge Innovation Center
(President, Kendall Square Association)
Board of Directors Update:
The Board of Directors continues to meet monthly, excited -– and perhaps a bit overwhelmed –- at the incredible opportunities KSA presents.
Just a few highlights of the April 15, 2009, meeting include:
The legal firm of Morse, Barnes-Brown and Pendleton has offered to attend Board meetings to participate as recorder and to provide pro bono services. The Board happily and gratefully approved their offer. Thanks Jon Gworek!
Committees
As anyone who has worked with a non-profit association knows already, the real work gets done at the committee and sub-committee level. Brief updates from the KSA Committees included:
Long term Vision group (Skip Hartwell and Sam DeLiddo)
Created four subgroups and goals for each: Development, Infrastructure, Transportation, Technology.
Marketing and Promotion (Sarah Gallop)
Created three tracks: website development, branding, and a membership survey (and announced that an external firm -- Hammond Hill in Acton, MA --has agreed to provide marketing expertise pro bono). Hammond Hill will develop a marketing plan for Kendall Square.
Retail, Residential, Hospitality & Entertainment (Eric Quadrino)
The Sloan School "Market Lab" agreed to do a retail study on the Kendall Square area, on behalf of the KSA, and will present its results on May 8. The goal is to determine retail gaps (e.g. lack of a pharmacy) and opportunities in Kendall Square.
Networking & Social Activities (Sara Spalding)
Two types of networking events are in planning: the first includes two informal, casual KSA events this spring/summer, the second involves role-based events (e.g., for administrative assistants). Keep checking the KSA web site for details.
You will hear a lot more about all of these efforts over the next several months.
Several policy items were also discussed, from small to large. The large items were postponed to the next Board meeting on May 15, and next month’s newsletter will include more information.
Events in and near the KS ‘hood
Keep it “Klean”
Kendall Square Klean-up!
May 15, 2009
3:00pm - 5:00pm
Plaza outside the Cambridge Center Marriott Hotel
Stop by the Plaza outside the Cambridge Center Marriott Hotel, pick up your plastic bag and help us GREEN UP the Main Street/Kendall Square area. This is a great opportunity to meet other KSA members and even do a bit of team building in your own organization.
Group Photos will be available, so wear your logo t-shirts.
Complimentary food and beverages will be available on the Plaza beginning at 5 pm (but, in keeping with the mission of the event, please make sure you clean up after yourself!).
You can sign up at www.kendallsq.org/events. For more information, contact KSA Board Member Jim Kappel, General Manager at the Cambridge Center Marriott at jim.kappel@marriott.com.
Take a Bite out of Cambridge
The 7th Annual Taste of Cambridge
June 18th, 2009
5:30pm-8pm
The Charles Hotel
www.tasteofcambridge.com
The “Taste of Cambridge” is the ONLY annual sampling event featuring the diverse, delicious, and world-renowned restaurants of Cambridge, including several from the Kendall Square area.
The Taste of Cambridge expects to host over 2000 attendees at the annual event to sample Cambridge’s finest restaurants. Ticket purchasers range in age from 18 to 55. Many of these attendees are students and employees of our local universities and businesses; others are residents of Cambridge, Boston and the surrounding suburbs who are devoted patrons of our restaurants. And then there are those new groups of people buying tickets each year who come looking for what’s new and exciting.
Profits from the 2009 Taste of Cambridge will benefit Youth on Fire and Passim’s Culture for Kids / Music Matters.
Finally, although we totally understand that you may not want to ever leave Kendall Square/Cambridge, if you purchase your tickets before May 31, 2009, you will be entered to win round-trip Virgin America tickets to Los Angeles.
Tickets can be purchased online at www.tasteofcambridge.com
Taste of Cambridge is organized and run by the Cambridge License Advisory Board.
KSA Member Forum Roundup
The Kendall Square Association Website (www.kendallsq.org) includes a Members’ Forum where any member can post information they would like to share with the group as a whole. Our plan is to summarize those postings here in the monthly newsletter. This is your opportunity to reach your fellow KSA members. What follows are postings on that forum.
From the Ambit Press: “Space Constraints?”
Due to a relocation of our printing production operations, the Ambit Press team would like to make the members of the Kendall Square Association aware of a tremendous sublease opportunity at 5 Cambridge Center in Cambridge. We are pleased to offer 6,600 square feet of class A office space and look forward to working with all interested parties. As many of you are aware, 5 Cambridge Center is one of Kendall Square’s premier office buildings and features numerous onsite amenities including the Red Line T station and Legal Seafood.
Please e-mail or call with any questions or to schedule a brief tour of our space. We appreciate your consideration of our sublease and look forward to meeting up shortly.
Ambit Press will be maintaining a design and project management show room space in Kendall Square.
Peter Reed, preed@ambitpress.com or 617-876-3688.
From Mexicali Burrito: “Cinco de Mayo and Beyond”
MexiCali Burrito Co. is glad to announce a 10% discount on all regular and breakfast catering orders for K.S.A. members for the month of May. You can find our catering menu at www.mexicaliburrito.com.
We look forward to working with you,
Eric and David
From Cambridge Athletic Club: “Prepping for the beach”
It is our pleasure to invite all KSA member organizations to a free one-week membership at the Cambridge Athletic Club! We will also be providing a special membership rate, exclusively for KSA member organizations! Please check out our website, http://www.cambridgefitness.com
For info please contact: Lisa Vitale, Corporate Sales Manager, Cambridge Athletic Club, (617) 491-8989, lisa@cambridgefitness.com
Thanks and Recognition!
(By Tim Rowe) The Kendall Square Association is a new organization. Yet Kendall Square is not new, and there are many individuals and groups that have actively worked on behalf of Kendall Square and its environs for years. It seems appropriate for the first edition of the new Kendall Square Newsletter to acknowledge and thank these people and groups for their contributions.
Although its mission is Cambridge-wide, the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce (CCC) has ably supported Kendall Square since the 1920s. It has grown and thrived over the years, particularly under Kelly Thompson-Clark’s leadership as Executive Director. Kelly is also the Chair of the statewide association of Chambers of Commerce, and the CCC is seen as a model Chamber. Also central to the work of the Chamber is Terry Smith, who runs the CCC’s government affairs activities. It is unusual for a chamber of commerce to have someone of Terry’s caliber. Observers of public forums in Cambridge have become accustomed to Terry’s professional and articulate representation of business interests across Cambridge, including those in Kendall Square. While the KSA and CCC are separate organizations, if you look behind the scenes you will find that many of those active in the KSA are also active in the Chamber, and I’m pleased to say that the two are collaborating closely.
Many of you may also be aware of the group known as the Kendall Community Group, which has been active in Kendall Square for many years. The KCG has a charitable function, bringing together several of the larger businesses in Kendall Square to support three important local social-service organizations: The Margaret Fuller House, Tutoring Plus, and the Cambridge Arts Center. Again, many of the same people are active in both organizations. If you are interested in charitable activities in Kendall Square, you may wish to contact Robert Hurlbut (cambridgecf@igc.org) at the KCG.
In addition, I want to recognize the Cambridge Redevelopment Authority. The CRA is an independent governmental body, based in Kendall Square, that was created several decades ago to undertake urban renewal projects. One such project involved the massive job of transforming the once derelict industrial areas to the north of MIT into a booming mixed-use development. I have seen many governmental bodies over the years tasked with creating a booming metropolis in one or another place, and few can claim to have actually done it. The CRA has been ably managed by Joe Tulimieri for most of its history, and Joe and his many relationships have been instrumental in helping form the KSA. In addition, Joe is participating and has been kind enough to lend the support of his staff to assist the KSA, notably Tracy Mercer, who has been acting as the de-facto administrator of the KSA, and Maura Ryan who handles the KSA’s finances.
There are a large number of individuals who have been very active in growing and nurturing the KSA over the past months. Steve Vinter from Google and Sara Spalding at Microsoft are notable in that they are the local heads of their respective companies’ offices here in Cambridge, managing large organizations, and yet they have found the time to dig in personally to a substantial degree. Steve, along with Kevin Sheehan at Boston Properties, drafted the Bylaws for the KSA, and has taken on the role as the new organization’s Secretary, and Sara has taken the helm of the Networking & Social Activities working group, which I believe is the largest working group in the organization, and is looking to put together events, mixers, and online mechanisms for all of us to get to know one another better.
One of the prime movers behind the idea for the KSA is Jim Kappel, General Manager of the Cambridge Marriott. Jim has a well-developed sense of community, and has been active source of encouragement for all of us to get together and act to form a local association. He is behind the forthcoming Kendall Square Kleanup, as well.
Leading local figures in the real estate development community, notably Bryan Koop and Mike Cantalupa from Boston Properties, Tom Andrews and Joe Maguire from Alexandria, Bill Gartner and Sam DeLiddo from Biomed, and Brian Dacey from Twining, have all made significant contributions, particularly on the Long Term Vision Committee.
Brian Dacey, in particular, leveraging his experience as the former Chairman of Morgan-Memorial Goodwill, took on the onerous task of putting together the slate of candidates for the Board and Officers, and is currently chairing the Membership sub-group of the board, working on such tough issues as coming up with a reasonable dues structure.
The aforementioned Sam DeLiddo has co-led the Long Term Vision working group, along with Skip Hartwell from Akamai. Also contributing in this group and on the Board is Mike Owu from MIT’s Investment Management Company, which manages much of MIT’s real estate portfolio in Kendall Square. Mike can be credited with first proposing that a key goal for the KSA be developing a “20-year plan” for the area.
Others from MIT have been very active as well. Sarah Gallop, who also serves as Clerk of the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce, has been good enough to take on the leadership of the Marketing & Promotion working group, which has the goal of telling the world in no uncertain terms just how awesome Kendall Square is. There are a myriad of opportunities to do this, from launching the first website dedicated to representing the Kendall Square area, to small but important details, such as ensuring for visitors to the area that there are maps at the exits of the MBTA station that show the significant local destinations and how to get there.
Working with Sarah at MIT is Kelley Brown, MIT’s Senior Project Manager, who is working with the KSA and the City to identify areas where the infrastructure needs maintenance, such as burned out streetlights.
A strong contributor has emerged in David Gowel, CEO of Clearly Creative. A former Captain and Ranger in the US Army, Dave has brought his strengths to bear to coordinate efforts to improve the branding and web presence for the organization.
On the Board, and having worked as Planning Director at MIT for decades is Bob Simha. Presently, Bob represents the 303 Third Street residential development, and has the distinction of being the only person who is both on the board of the KSA today, and who was on the founding Board of the Kendall Square Business Association, a predecessor organization formed in 1974. Bob has a wealth of area history and knowledge that rivals that of Joe Tulimieri.
The life sciences community is extensively represented on the KSA Board by Ann Stanesa from Genzyme, Dr. Fintan Steele from the Broad Institute, Martin Mullins from the Whitehead Institute, Tim Hunt from BiogenIdec, and Jeff Lockwood from Novartis. You couldn’t ask for a more esteemed group. Again, thank you very much to Fintan for volunteering to take the lead with the monthly KSA newsletter.
Eric Quadrino, co-owner of Mexicali Burrito, perhaps unsuspectingly, kindly took on the rather large job of coordinating the Retail, Restaurants, Residential, Hotels & Entertainment working group. He is working with others to gather studies that have been done in the past in this area, with the goal of making the area more attractive to these types of organizations. Having a balanced mix of office, lab, retail, restaurants, residences, hotels, and entertainment organizations is part of the key to creating a vibrant, healthy neighborhood.
The City of Cambridge has not stood idly by while this organization came into being. As you will recall, Mayor E. Denise Simmons and City Manager Robert W. Healy both set aside time to kindly come and speak to our assembled members at our inaugural general meeting, and they were joined by Councilors Craig Kelley, Sam Seidel and Tim Toomey. All of the City Councilors have been very supportive. In addition, Estella Johnson and Pardis Saffari from the Community Development Department have engaged actively, particularly in the area of Marketing & Promotion.
Many others -- too many to name, really -- have jumped in across the board to help, encourage, and support what proves to be an exciting community endeavor. I would like to extend a big thank you to everyone who is supporting this effort.