Metrowest Chamber of Commerce

Governor Patrick told a roundtable of Chamber Directors on April 10th, meeting at Middlesex Savings Bank Corporate Center in Westborough, that the problems he heard expressed most by businesses concerned access to capital and health care costs (as reported by Scott O'Connor in the MetroWest Daily News, 4/10/10.) But roundtable participants added other concerns, especially the difficulties posed by the permitting process, certain state mandates, and the failures of the state to restore business funding.
Chamber Board member Robert Fields (Commonwealth Creative Associates) told the governor: "A lot of small businesses don't know how to access the educational system to help our employees." The governor replied that several community colleges already offer job training, although the system needs to be unified and expanded throughout the state.  Housing Secretary Greg Bialecki, who accompanied the governor, answered the slow-permitting complaint of Chamber Director Donna Kelleher (Next generation Children's Centers) by pointing out that the state had recently made progress in many areas of the Commonwealth by encouraging the adoption of the 43D expedited permitting process as a way to streamline how businesses obtain permits.
Former Chamber Chair Michelle Drolet (Towereall, Inc.), speaking of government "restraints" on business, said: "I think getting out of the way is the best way to allow businesses to thrive." But the governor responded that he wasn't "a market fundamentalist. I don't think the market always gets it right. In the public sphere, there are multiple bottom lines.  The issue is how we strike the balance."