By Matt Murphy
State House News Service

More people moved out of Massachusetts than relocated to the Bay State in 2020, with retirees and people seeking a change in lifestyle driving the overall migration out of the state, according to a recent study by a national moving company.

United Van Lines found Massachusetts to be one of the the top 10 states in the country that people were moving from as the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated people’s decisions to relocate and the years-long trend of people moving south and west continued.

Idaho topped United’s survey for inbound moves, followed by South Carolina, Oregon, South Dakota and Arizona as popular destinations.

New Jersey, New York, Illinois, Connecticut and California saw the greatest percentage of movers leaving, with Massachusetts ranking eighth.

“United Van Lines’ data makes it clear that migration to western and southern states, a prevalent pattern for the past several years, persisted in 2020,” said Michael Stoll, an economist and University of California, Los Angeles professor, in a statement released by the company.

“However, we’re seeing that the COVID-19 pandemic has without a doubt accelerated broader moving trends, including retirement driving top inbound regions as the Baby Boomer generation continues to reach that next phase of life,” Stoll said.

United reported that 56.6 percent of its Massachusetts business was from customers leaving the state, while 43.4 percent of moves were people and family relocating here, primarily for work or family. The company tracked 3,355 moves in and out of Massachusetts in 2020.

The Boston metro area did not make United’s list of Top 25 urban areas for inbound or outbound migration, but the Worcester-Fitchburg-Leomister area ranked 18th on the outbound list with 64 percent of movers leaving the region on a United van.

Customers cited work as the most common reason for moving to Massachusetts, with 40.4 percent of inbound moves related to a job, followed by family at 30.6 percent, retirement at 12 percent and lifestyle at 10.4 percent.

However, the survey doesn’t necessarily reflect overall population trends.

With the 2020 Census concluded, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated in December that as of July 1 the state’s population had held steady in 2020 at close to 6.9 million residents, down by about 1,300 people from its 2019 estimate. The full decennial Census count will not be available until later in 2021.

Of those leaving Massachusetts, 35.2 percent of United customers surveyed said it was because of work, while equal numbers of people (24.2 percent) said they were leaving to retire or for family. Another nearly 20 percent said they left for a change in lifestyle.

Retirees moved in the biggest volume to Delaware, according to the United Vans survey, followed by Florida and South Carolina.

Minnesota was the most popular destination for people moving for family, and movers decided Wyoming offered the best change of pace for their lifestyle. Nebraska boasted the highest percent of people moving in for jobs.

In New England, states saw different moving patterns over the past year.

Vermont, Maine, Rhode Island and New Hampshire all witnessed more moves into the state than out, with the numbers almost split in New Hampshire, while the two higher-cost states – Massachusetts and Connecticut – experienced the reverse.

PREIT has executed a lease with Aldi for a 21,000 square foot grocery store, further delivering on its promise to solidify the region’s retail node and diversify the mall’s retail offering. This new-to-portfolio grocer will open in fourth quarter of 2021, joining Burlington who opened in the first quarter of 2020 in the space formerly occupied by Sears that had been proactively recaptured by PREIT.

Dartmouth Mall is the dominant enclosed retail destination within a 30-mile radius in Southeast Massachusetts – well-located near popular vacation destinations of Cape Code, MA and Newport, RI.

Aldi joins a dynamic roster of tenants including Burlington, Old Navy, Hollister, H&M, Five Below, Carter’s and Francesca’s.

PREIT is focused on reinventing its platform by creating distinctive multi-use destinations, marked by a healthy mix of multifamily housing, hotels, entertainment, dining, health/wellness, green space, working space, and local small business retail, capitalizing on bullseye locations to produce a broader consumer base, create stronger business models and provide greater market flexibility.

Over the course of the past decade, as an initial step in this transformation, PREIT has reinvented its properties through the introduction of a variety of uses including entertainment venues, extensive dining programs, off-price and value purveyors, fitness centers and others. The addition of Aldi marks the third grocer addition to PREITs portfolio.

“The addition of Aldi to Dartmouth epitomizes PREIT’s go-forward strategy to redefine our assets to serve a multitude of purposes,” said Joseph F. Coradino, CEO of PREIT. “As part of this strategic approach to strengthen its region-leading asset pool, PREIT intends to complement Dartmouth Mall’s strong tenant performance with the addition of best in class tenants to satisfy our customers from day to night.”

“Congratulations to Lieutenant Kyle Canastra who retired from the New Bedford Fire Department this past weekend.

On behalf of the administration and his brothers and sisters, we would like to thank him for his dedication and commitment to the City of New Bedford for the past 30 years and wishing him a happy and healthy retirement!”

New Bedford Fire Department photo.

“The traditional ‘last day’ ceremonies honoring Chief Timothy Francis have been radically altered due to Covid-19 restrictions.

However, we would be remiss if we did not honor his 42 years of service to our town. Therefore, members of the Fairhaven Fire/EMS department, along with other agencies, will be conducting a parade to take the Chief home for his final ride as Department Chief.

Please do not be alarmed if you hear a lot of sirens and see many emergency vehicles with their lights on between 1 PM and 2 PM on Friday, January 8th.

The parade will begin at the Fairhaven Fire Station and turn right onto Washington st. From there it will tour the center of town. There will be a brief ceremony at the town hall, practicing socially distant measures. From there, the parade will proceed towards north Fairhaven, where the Chief will be delivered to his drop off point.”

Colin A. Young
State House News Service

Sports betting was not the only gambling-related matter left on the cutting room floor when the final economic development bill emerged from five months of negotiations early Wednesday morning. Negotiators also scrapped plans to have the Gaming Commission take a serious look at the circumstances around the one casino license left unissued.

The state’s 2011 expanded gaming law gave the Gaming Commission the power to grant up to three resort casino licenses. So far, two have been awarded — to MGM Springfield and Encore Boston Harbor in Everett. Region C — the commission’s name for Bristol, Plymouth, Barnstable, Dukes and Nantucket counties — has been an unsettled matter for the commission for years. Ever since the Gaming Commission rejected a commercial casino proposal in Brockton in 2016, questions have lingered over whether a developer would put up the minimum $500 million for a casino that would face competition from the three gaming facilities already open here and nearby casinos in other states. Adding to the complexity of the situation is the possibility that the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe could revive its plan for a $1 billion casino in Taunton regardless of whether the Gaming Commission decides to reopen the process to license a third resort casino in Massachusetts.

Rep. Carol Doherty, a Taunton Democrat, co-sponsored language that was included in the House’s economic development bill in July that would have required the Gaming Commission to produce “an evaluation of economic conditions within region C and surrounding areas with respect to the region’s ability to sustain” a resort casino and an evaluation of the likelihood that a resort casino applicant could submit an application that would provide value to the region before 2024.

The Gaming Commission has addressed Region C in fits and starts in recent years, but in early 2020 sought answers to specific and business-related questions around a potential market analysis of Region C through a formal request for information. The pandemic upended the commission’s plans to review the feedback it received, but the commission has said it still intends to delve more deeply into the matter.

The former bookkeeper of a New Bedford-based seafood company has been charged and has agreed to plead guilty in connection with embezzling nearly $600,000 from her employer.

Kara Howland, 37, of New Bedford, was charged with bank fraud and filing a false tax return. Under the terms of the plea agreement, the parties have agreed to a sentence, subject to the Court’s approval, of 18 to 36 months in prison, a fine and restitution. A plea hearing has not yet been scheduled by the Court.

According to court documents, between January 2016 and December 2019, Howland embezzled $598,241 from her employer by writing checks from her employer’s bank accounts to pay her credit card bills. Howland altered the company’s internal accounting records to make it appear that the checks were paid to legitimate vendors. Additionally, Howland did not report or include the funds that she embezzled on her federal income tax filings, resulting in a tax loss of $180,863.

The charge of bank fraud provides a sentence of up to 30 years in prison, five years of supervised release and a fine of up to $1 million or twice the gross gain or loss. The charge of filing a false tax return provides for a sentence of up to three years in prison, one year of supervised release and a fine of $100,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling; Joleen D. Simpson, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigations in Boston; and Craig A. Marech, Resident Agent in Charge of the Providence Office of the U.S. Secret Service, made the announcement today. The New Bedford Police Department also provided assistance. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristen A. Kearney of Lelling’s Securities, Financial & Cyber Fraud Unit is prosecuting the case.

With the start of 2021, Mayor Jon Mitchell and the City of New Bedford have formally launched NB Resilient, the City’s strategic climate action plan aimed at climate adaptation and mitigation.

The plan sets ambitious but achievable goals to help New Bedford achieve its vision – “a thriving, self-sustaining city that is culturally and historically secure, and ready to implement innovative approaches to prepare for tomorrow’s possibilities.”

The full NB Resilient plan and a dashboard marking its progress have officially launched at nbresilient.com.

Under the leadership of Mayor Mitchell and led by the Department of Resilience and Environmental Stewardship, New Bedford created a climate action steering committee to support and develop a plan around six focus areas – climate and energy; economy and jobs; infrastructure, utilities and waste; natural resources; public health and safety; and transportation and land use – designed to cover all aspects of the city.

These goals address climate adaptation and resilience, and are geared toward enabling all residents of New Bedford to thrive, including:

• 100% of waste diverted from landfills by 2050

• Protecting the Port of New Bedford from sea level rise through infrastructure and resilience investments

• Offsetting the city’s carbon footprint through the planting of thousands of trees in New Bedford

• Committing to green building practices in new facility investments

• Improving food security and healthy living for New Bedford residents

“In the midst of the pandemic, we in New Bedford know that the world goes on. There are other challenges we face, there are other opportunities we must seize – and top among all of them are the threats and opportunities presented by climate change,” Mayor Mitchell said in the official launch video for the plan. “We know that our climate adaptation and mitigation efforts have to keep up with the times. That’s why we went about the work of developing a strategic plan: to reset our efforts, employ the data we track, and stay ahead of the challenges that climate change poses.”

“New Bedford will continue to be a leader when it comes to renewable energy, we will continue to be a leader in energy conservation, and when it comes to climate adaptations and protections, we’ll continue to lead there, too,” Mayor Mitchell said. “Years from now, people will say that this was a moment when we had to step up. Let them say that we made the right choices so that they could lead healthier, more fulfilling lives.”

While the plan itself is complete, the work to move toward a more resilient New Bedford is just beginning. New Bedford’s greatest asset is its people, and the climate action and resilience plan will have the greatest impact with more residents involved.

“NB Resilient is already leading to progress,” said Michele Paul, Director of Resilience and Environmental Stewardship for the City of New Bedford. “The nbresilient.com dashboard is tracking the important steps we’ve already taken, and will continue to be updated so that everyone – businesses, neighborhoods, individuals – can be a part of building a healthier, safer, and more resilient city.”

NB Resilient is a roadmap for everyone in the city to take action, and it includes short- and long-term goals for a safe, thriving city – from reducing greenhouse gas emissions, to ensuring the waterfront and port are protected from the climate change the world is experiencing.

NB Resilient’s inclusive plan is possible thanks to the partnership of the New Bedford City Council, the city’s neighborhood associations, Coastline Elderly Services, the Community Economic Development Center, Love The Ave, Groundwork Southcoast, Preservation of Affordable Housing, and organizations and residents who participated in the climate action plan steering committee and community meetings.

More about New Bedford’s leadership in Solar & Wind Energy and Green Innovation

Solar Leadership:

• Under Mayor Jon Mitchell the City of New Bedford installed more solar capacity on a per capita basis than any other city in the continental United States besides San Diego. The City’s leadership was profiled in the Wall Street Journal in 2014.

• Ten major solar installations totaling more than $60 million in privately financed construction will save city taxpayers nearly $1 million this year by cutting the utility bills of city departments. Over 20 years the solar projects are projected to save city government $22 million.

Offshore Wind Energy Development:

• New Bedford is the closest industrial port to the largest wind energy reserves in the United States, areas of open ocean south of Martha’s Vineyard off the Massachusetts coast.

• With the state and federal government now moving to develop these waters for large offshore wind turbine farms, major industry players, including Vineyard Wind and Mayflower Wind, have committed to using the city’s port to stage their projects.

• A key advantage of New Bedford’s port is a $100 million marine terminal built specifically to handle the heavy loads of turbine components. Unique in North American, the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal, was financed and constructed by the Commonwealth’s Clean Energy Center with support from the City.

Green Municipal Innovation:

• The City of New Bedford boasts one of the largest municipal electric car fleets in Massachusetts. The vehicles, in use by Health Department inspectors in city neighborhoods, and other departments, are leased for just $70 per month per vehicle as the result of attractive financing and incentives.

• The City of New Bedford’s municipal landfill hosts two separate waste-to-energy projects which convert landfill gases and biogas into 3.4 megawatts of electricity annually.

• The City recently completed one of the largest performance-contracting initiatives anywhere in the Northeast. The long-term partnership with Siemens Corporation has retrofitted the City’s stock of nearly 100 municipal buildings with energy efficiency measures, including heating and cooling systems and climate controls.

ABC Disposal will collect real Christmas trees from Monday, January 11 through Friday, January 15.

During this week only, residents may place trees at the curb by 7:00 a.m. the weekday after their usual trash and recycling collection. For residents whose trash collection is on Fridays, Christmas trees will only be collected on Monday, January 11.

If a resident’s trash is collected on Mondays, Christmas trees will be collected on Tuesday, January 12, and so on.

Christmas trees will not be collected curbside at any other time. Please remove all ornaments, stands, lights, and tinsel. Do not place trees in plastic bags.

Christmas trees can also be dropped off at the East Beach parking lot on East Rodney French Boulevard between Hudson Street and Seymour Street until January 15; or Brooklawn Park by the Pony League Field (enter at Irvington Street) until January 15.

The Shawmut Avenue Transfer Station at 1103 Shawmut Avenue is also open Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 12 Noon to 5:00 p.m., and Saturday from 7:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

According to Dartmouth Police, on Wednesday, January 6, at approximately 6:00 a.m., members of both the Dartmouth Police Department and the Massachusetts State Police Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section, arrested Justin Camara, 25, homeless, on a warrant associated with an alleged rape which occurred in Dartmouth on New Year’s Eve.

The investigation was conducted by Officer Cristina Brum, along with the assistance of Detective Kyle Costa and Dartmouth Crime Analyst Keri LEBEAU.

According to Chief Brian P. Levesque, “Our commitment to both the victim and the members of this community was unwavering when it came to swiftly bringing this violent criminal to justice”.

After he was booked, Camara was transported to New Bedford District Court to be arraigned.

The SouthCoast Community Foundation announced it is awarding over $600K of Stabilization Grants from its SouthCoast Emergency Response Fund to 60 nonprofits from the Southeastern, Massachusetts region. The selected group of 501(c)3 organizations clearly demonstrated a financial need due to COVID-19 and cover a range of areas of need including arts and culture, education, and economic opportunity.

The recipients also actively serve vulnerable populations, are dedicated to a re-envisioned organization of adaptability and innovation, and have demonstrated a commitment toward racially diverse leadership within the nonprofit.

“Although we have seen amazing resilience from community-grounded nonprofits they are still struggling due to the relentless impact of COVID-19,” said, John Vasconcellos, President of SouthCoast Community Foundation. “We are exceedingly grateful that our Emergency Response Fund has been able to provide them critical support thanks to the outpouring of philanthropic partnerships we’ve found with so many local individuals, families, businesses, and other foundations. This is our tenth round of grant-making from the Fund. Given the state of the pandemic and its continuing impact to our most vulnerable, we look forward to continuing to raise and grant these important funds well into 2021.”

Grants ranging from $2,500 to $25,000 are being issued to the following grantees:

Arts & Culture Focus
• AHA!
• Attleboro Arts Museum
• Cape Verdean Association in New Bedford, Inc.
• Dartmouth Cultural Center
• Dream Out Loud Center
• Fall River Symphony Orchestra
• Mass Music & Arts Society
• Massachusetts Design Art & Technology Institute
• Narrows Center for the Arts
• New Bedford Art Museum/ArtWorks!
• New Bedford Festival Theatre
• New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center
• New Bedford Historical Society
• Old Dartmouth Historical Society
• On Stage Theatrical Productions, Inc.
• Plymouth Guild, Inc.
• Seaglass Theater Company
• YEAH! Corps
• Your Theatre, Inc.
• Zeiterion Theatre, Inc.

Economic Opportunity Focus
• Catholic Social Services
• Community Action for Better Housing, Inc.
• Community Economic Development Center
• Coastal Foodshed, Inc.
• Father Bill’s & MainSpring
• Gleason Family YMCA
• Habitat for Humanity of Greater Plymouth
• Haven’s Healing Hands
• Health Imperatives, Inc.
• House of Possibilities
• Joe Andruzzi Foundation
• Kennedy-Donovan Center, Inc.
• Marion Institute
• PACE, Inc.
• Plymouth Task Force to End Homelessness
• Round the Bend Farm
• SouthCoast LGBTQ Network, Inc.
• Southeastern Massachusetts Veterans Housing Program, Inc.
• St. Peter’s Episcopal Church
• St. Vincent de Paul Society/Sacred Heart Food Pantry
• The Arc of Bristol County
• The Arc of Plymouth and Upper Cape Cod
• The Literacy Center
• The Salvation Army – Brockton
• The Salvation Army – New Bedford
• The Women’s Center
• United Way of Greater New Bedford

Education Focus
• Attleboro YMCA
• Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro South
• Boys and Girls Club of Fall River
• Brockton Day Nursery, Inc
• Coaching4Change
• Dennison Memorial Community Center
• Hockomock Area YMCA
• NorthStar Learning Centers
• Our Sisters’ School
• People Incorporated
• Schwartz Center for Children
• Youth Opportunities Unlimited, Inc.
• YWCA of Southeastern, MA

The SouthCoast Community Foundation established the SouthCoast Emergency Response Fund in partnership with local funders, in March of 2020. The Fund provides flexible resources to organizations that work with those most vulnerable due to the COVID-19 virus and the most impacted by inequity. To date, it has raised nearly

$6 million and granted over $5.4 million to 120 nonprofits. Donations to the SouthCoast Emergency Fund can be made online. For general inquiries about the Fund please direct inquiries to emergencyfund@southcoastcf.org.

The Foundation is a public charity serving thousands of people throughout Southeastern Massachusetts who share a common goal of improving the quality of life through philanthropy. Since 1995, the Community Foundation has distributed over $39 million from more than 200 funds to humanitarian, educational, and cultural organizations in the region. To learn more about the Community Foundation, visit www.southcoastcf.org.