Victorian features tasteful updates

This 1895 country Queen Anne Victorian in West Concord has a lot of its original charm, but has been updated with an expanded kitchen, master bedroom suite and bedroom/office addition.

The four-bedroom house at 1394 Main St. sits on a 16,000-square-foot lot that includes a large backyard and a two-car garage that opens onto a side street. One of the current owners, an interior designer, has restored the home to its Victorian glory while adding a high-end kitchen in a 1998 bumpout addition, turning the master bedroom into a suite and expanding another bedroom with a home office addition in 2004. The house, with new windows and an updated furnace, is on the market for $925,000.

The home's exterior is white clapboard and aluminum with black shutters and an octagonal turret with 
diagonally set windows. A flagstone walk flanked by hedges leads up to a large covered front porch.

The front door opens into a foyer with restored oak floors. To the right of the foyer is a sitting room with crown molding. To the left is a large Victorian living room with five windows, including a three-bay bumpout addition, crown molding and restored oak floors as well as a brick woodburning fireplace with a white wood mantel.

The expanded kitchen off this room features white cabinets, including a large pantry, and two cabinets with leaded-glass fronts and brown granite countertops. There's a wood-topped 
peninsula, a beautiful tin ceiling with recessed lighting and white beadboard backsplashes. High-end stainless steel appliances include a Jenn-Air electric burner/oven, refrigerator and dishwasher as well as a second oven, an Electrolux. There's a large eat-in area in a bumpout addition with a chandelier.

Off the kitchen is a wallpapered half-bath — redone in 1998 — with a white marble floor, beadboard walls and an antique vanity topped with black granite.

On the far right end of the kitchen sits a formal Victorian dining room with a glass chandelier hanging from a plaster medallion and chair rail wainscoting.

At the other end of the kitchen, a mud room leads out to a rear porch and a large backyard. At the end of the yard sits the garage and a driveway that holds three more vehicles.

Back inside, the house's four bedrooms are on the second floor, up a carpeted staircase with a stained-glass window on the landing.

The redone master bedroom suite retains its original wide-pine floors. An en-suite bathroom, added in 2004, has a green granite vanity with double sinks and a glass-enclosed steam shower with white subway tile walls and a green granite bench. There are also two walk-in closets, and right outside the bedroom are original built-in linen closets.

The large second bedroom was expanded with a connected home office with new pine floors and a wall-length built-in desk.

The third and fourth bedrooms are on the small side, but have restored oak floors and good-sized closets.

There is a second full bathroom on this floor, with beige ceramic tile floors, a pedestal sink and an off-white tiled tub and shower.

A stairway to the third floor leads to a heated attic home office. The rest of the attic space is unfinished, providing lots of storage space.

The home's basement holds a laundry room with a full-size Kenmore washer and dryer and a slop sink. The rest of the basement is unfinished with lots of storage space. It also holds the house's water heater and a 10-year-old furnace for an oil heating system fed through original radiators. There are two zones of central air conditioning in the home.

• Address: 1394 Main St., Concord
• Bedrooms: Four
• Bathrooms: Two full, one half
• List price: $925,000
• Square feet: 3,160
• Price per square foot: $293
• Annual taxes: $10,116
• Features: Original woodwork throughout including hardwood floors and moldings; expanded redone kitchen with tin ceiling, high-end appliances and large eat-in area; formal Victorian-style living, dining and sitting rooms; master bedroom turned into suite with granite bathroom in 2004; home office addition with built-in desk added to second bedroom; third-floor home office; updated oil heating and central air systems; basement laundry room; large backyard; two-car garage.
• Location: Three-tenths of a mile from shops and restaurants in West Concord center and the West Concord MBTA commuter rail station.
• Built in: 1895; kitchen expanded and redone in 1998; master bedroom suite and bedroom/office addition done in 2004
• Broker: William Raveis Real Estate agents Marjorie Gold at 617-549-0181 and Shari Jacobson at 617-512-5169.

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Coin mimics your credit cards

I'm not one to pre-order a product before I've seen it in person. But yesterday I took the unusual step of paying $55 for a new form of digital payment technology called Coin that I won't even get my hands on until the summer.

Unlike so many mainstays of the trendy digital payment revolution, Coin (onlycoin.com) doesn't require retailers to do anything. They needn't install a new point-of-sale system, one of those little smartphone scanners or make any investment of time or money at all.

Unfortunately, retailer adoption has been the impediment to digital wallet technology exploding. It's up to consumers alone to make the leap.

And unlike so many newfangled digital payment services and methods, Coin solves a real problem that I actually have: the annoyance of having to carry all those darn pieces of plastic in my wallet. Coin is a card that acts like all of your current credit cards in one, and it's the only one you need to carry around.

No more fumbling through your wallet for the Visa or MasterCard because a particular merchant doesn't take American Express. Simply press a tiny button on the Coin to select which card to use. It's like smart plastic. Setting it up involves swiping your credit cards through a reader that Coin sends you along with the card.

Even cooler: Coin has a little Bluetooth signal that links it to your phone. If you happen to leave it at the store, your phone will notify you that your Coin is out of range.

It was striking to see how the future of digital payment technology played out at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week — the idea apparently being to make this more complex, not less. The conference featured several digital payment startups pitching biometric point-of-sale scanners.

In other words, you'd scan a fingerprint or your iris to confirm your identity when using a credit card, supposedly making data theft less likely. But I'm not sure biometric scans solve the underlying problem: data is vulnerable, whether it's a fingerprint or a credit card number.

Coin doesn't solve the problem of identity theft either. But I'm holding out hope that it will make one small aspect of my life just a bit easier, which is precisely what technology is supposed to do.

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More towns eye casino $

The state Gaming Commission is bracing for a rush of petitions from cities and towns that believe casino developers have wrongly denied them surrounding community status, which entitles them to payments to make up for the stress casinos would put on their roads and infrastructure.

Malden and Somerville have filed petitions for surrounding community status to Mohegan Sun's casino in Revere, and Northampton has filed for MGM's Springfield project. Chelsea is expected to file for Wynn Resorts' Everett project before Monday's deadline.

Mohegan reps met for the first time Tuesday with Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh, who's said he may insist on host community status for both the Revere and Everett proposals, which would require a filing with the gaming panel and voter approval before either casino could be licensed.

The Gaming Commission plans to decide Feb. 6 who is and isn't a surrounding community. If communities disagree, they can seek arbitration.

"We look at the facts and we make a decision," Gaming Commission Chairman Stephen Crosby said. "If we decide they're not a surrounding community, because essentially there's no material adverse impact in our judgment, then it's over."

Mohegan has designated Boston, Winthrop and Chelsea surrounding communities to its project at Suffolk Downs in Revere, and has offered a separate joint agreement to Malden, Saugus, Lynn, Salem, and Medford. Still, Malden has petitioned the commission for surrounding community status.

"Malden shares its entire easterly border with the city of Revere, and it is reasonably foreseeable that Mohegan's proposed development will impact Malden's infrastructure," city solicitor Kathryn Fallon wrote in a memo dated Tuesday, which was obtained by the Herald.

Mohegan and Suffolk Downs spokesman Chip Tuttle said a joint agreement was presented because impacts were all transportation-related, and the deal aims to "create a way for all of them to share in a resource that would help with regional transportation issues."

Tuttle said Mohegan had a "great initial meeting" with Walsh and members of his staff Tuesday. Walsh's office did not comment on the meeting.

Chelsea city manager Jay Ash said Wynn Resorts — which designated only Boston and Medford as surrounding communities — abruptly stopped negotiations six weeks ago.

"I was befuddled and incensed," Ash said. "It's kind of preposterous to think that communities that are within a mile of a gaming establishment would not be considered surrounding communities."

Wynn spokesman Michael Weaver said, "We determined that Chelsea would not be negatively impacted by our project and consequently would not be designated a surrounding community."

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Micro-units perfect fit for young pros

Micro-apartments aren't for everyone, but for young professionals starting out who embrace a leaner and more collegial lifestyle, it doesn't seem that it's that much of a compromise.

A recent tour of Factory 63 on Melcher Street in South Boston's Fort Point neighborhood, which has 23 "innovation micro-apartments," dispelled some misconceptions about a living experiment seen as a way to keep young professional people in the city. Factory 63's units are all rented and there's a waiting list. And, there are hundreds more of these units set to be built in an area dubbed the Innovation District.

"The idea here is to engage the community, especially the artists who live here, in a way that adds value for the residents," said Factory 63 property manager Jessica Ryan, pointing to Fort Point artists' work hanging on the walls and revolving exhibits by Design Museum Boston, which occupies a gallery in the common space. "We want to respect and hold on to what is already here in the neighborhood."

The common space is open to the public during business hours, and there are five artist live/work spaces in the building.

At rents ranging from $1,699 for a 374-square-foot unit to $2,450 for 597 square feet, the market-rate micro-apartments at Factory 63 are expensive, though the rent does include heat and central air conditioning, with only a $30-a-month electric bill. But residents feel the expense is worth it.

When Ross Chanowski moved into his 447-square-foot micro-unit last March, he was working in a big local ad agency that had just moved to the Seaport District. He said he could have rented a regular-sized apartment, but chose the micro-apartment instead because of the character of the building, a former shoe factory, and the focus on integrating living and working.

"I didn't just want an apartment, but a place to live, work, play, innovate and create," the 25-year-old Newton native said. "It's in a great neighborhood near downtown and I've gotten to know most of the people in the building, made friends and business connections. You don't just shut your door."

Phoebe K. Flemming is living in only 337 square feet, with her two dogs, in a unit at Factory 63 she won through a city lottery system, paying about $1,200 a month. She said initially she was skeptical about the smaller space because her Southie apartment had 700 square feet.

"This place has more of a neighborhood feel than I thought it would, and I liked the common space," said Flemming, a 31-year-old dietician consultant and executive director of the nonprofit South Boston Grows.

Developer Gerding Edlen's support of sustainability also appealed to her. The building is LEED Gold certified, with energy-efficient heating and cooling, appliances and fixtures.

"I like the idea of lean and green," Flemming said.

The Wi-Fi-enabled common space on the first floor has free coffee and tea, benches to work on, couches to sit on and long tables, and a conference room to hold business meetings. There is no charge to use the space.

The units at Factory 63 have wood floors and exposed brick, 13-foot wood-beam ceilings and two tall windows, which makes the spaces feel larger and less cramped. The galley kitchens have white Corian counters, a few cabinets and full-size stainless steel appliances. Walls divide the kitchen from the combination living/dining area and bedroom area, which has enough space for a queen-size bed. The bathroom is surprisingly roomy, with a space-saving stacked washer and dryer.

Living in such small quarters requires residents to be neat and orderly.

"You can't have a lot of stuff," Flemming said " I've spent the past few years decluttering my life."

Each resident does get an extra 9-square-foot storage cube on the bottom floor.

Flemming, whose living/bedroom area is smaller than Chanowski's, built a loft bed, which gives her more living space in the main room.

"I have two couches in there and friends come over all the time," Flemming said. "My place is kind of a focal point. But it is small and you have to adapt to that."

Chanowski said he does not feel that his place is too small to live and work in, or have a few people over.

"It's not just that I have to live my life lean here, I want to live my life lean," Chanowski said. "My idea is to live small and think big."

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Keolis to run commuter rail

The French company that will run Massachusetts' commuter rail system starting July 1 will face much higher penalties than the previous operator if trains don't run on time.

The state Department of Transportation's board of directors yesterday voted unanimously to award Keolis Commuter Services an eight-year, $2.69 billion contract, with the potential for two, two-year extensions that would bring the total to $4.28 billion.

"The new contract sets a 'no excuses' expectation that the operator will run the trains on time," MBTA General Manager Beverly A. Scott told the board. "In a major change, the new commuter rail contract does not include any incentive payments and, if performance standards are not met, imposes financial disincentives."

Keolis will be subject to penalties capped at more than $12 million per year for subpar performance such as late or dirty trains or trains without proper heating or air conditioning.

Under the current contract with the Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad Co., which has run the rail system since 2003, financial penalties are limited to $3 million per year and are offset by incentive payments.

The MBCR contract also automatically grants the company relief from on-time performance requirements if there is overcrowding on the platforms, disabled freight trains or slippery rail conditions caused by falling leaves.

The contract with Keolis will do away with this list of acceptable excuses for lateness and require the operator to provide supporting documentation if it believes an event is beyond its control, Scott said.

For the first time, 50 percent of the amount of financial disincentives will be tied to elements of customer satisfaction, such as cleanliness, heating and air conditioning, maintenance of staff levels and customer communications, she said.

The contract also will require Keolis to adhere to a strict maintenance schedule, increase daily inspection requirements and allow the MBTA to require the company to implement a remedial action plan if its performance fails to meet expectations, Scott said.

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The Ticker

Internet experts pull out of security conference

At least eight researchers or policy experts have withdrawn from an Internet security conference after the sponsor, Bedford-based RSA Security, reportedly used flawed encryption technology deliberately in commercial software to allow the National Security Agency to spy more easily on computer users.

RSA Security, owned by data storage giant EMC Corp., has disputed claims it intentionally introduced the flawed encryption algorithm, but otherwise has declined to discuss what a published report last month described as a $10 million government contract.

Akamai will stream Winter Games

Cambridge-based Akamai Technologies has been selected to stream the Winter Olympics by NBC, the companies announced yesterday.

All 98 events in the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, next month will be streamed online and on mobile devices for the first time.

Macy's chopping 2,500 jobs

Macy's Inc. is cutting 2,500 jobs as part of a reorganization to sustain its profitability.

Shares rose 5.5 percent in after-hours trading yesterday.

The announcement comes on the heels of a strong holiday shopping season for the department store chain, which also runs the higher-end Bloomingdale's chain.

Macy's said the moves will save it $100 million per year and predicted a profit this year above Wall Street forecasts.

TODAY

 Labor Department releases weekly jobless claims.

 Freddie Mac, the mortgage company, releases weekly mortgage rates.

 Selected chain retailers release December sales comparisons.

TOMORROW

 Labor Department releases employment data for December.

  Commerce Department releases wholesale trade inventories for November.

THE SHUFFLE

H. J. Knight International Insurance Agency has named Chris Petrie, left, of Milton to the position of account executive. Petrie will specialize in commercial property and casualty insurance.

 451 Marketing announced that Melissa Sciorra has joined its search marketing team as SEO account manager. Sciorra will focus on strategy development and execution of SEO accounts for 451 Marketing's growing list of consumer clients.

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Japanese fashion giant eyes Boston

Japanese casual clothing retailer Uniqlo yesterday confirmed plans to enter the Hub market in the fall.

But the company, which planted a U.S. foothold in New York in 2006, wouldn't disclose when and where.

"We plan to open a couple of stores in the Boston market in the fall, and the specific opening dates or where … is still being determined," said Larry Meyer, CEO of Uniqlo USA and senior vice president of Japanese parent company Fast Retailing. "It's a great city. I think there's an appreciation for our fashion."

The Herald reported last month that plans submitted to the city by Faneuil Hall Marketplace operator Ashkenazy Acquisition included Uniqlo as a tenant for one of two new two-story tenant spaces in a proposed redesign of Quincy Market.

Meyer declined comment on whether Uniqlo had a deal with Ashkenazy. "We're in talks with quite a few landlords in the Boston area," he said. "It's not unusual for landlords to put our name on various lease plans."

Billed as the world's fourth largest clothing retailer, Uniqlo has 1,300-plus stores in 14 markets worldwide, including 17 in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and California. Yesterday, it said it would open five more U.S. stores this spring and enter the Philadelphia and Los Angeles markets, in addition to Boston, in the fall.

The company typically first opens a flagship store in a new market and then expands in close proximity, to area malls, for example.

"We're very pleased with the performance of all (U.S.) stores," Meyer said. "There is enough interchange between New York — Manhattan, particularly — and Boston, that my sense is people from Boston know our stores and products."

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State unveils new health email system

The state today is launching a secure email system that will allow health care facilities to share patient records — but only after patients give consent.

The goal of the Mass 
HIway Health Information Exchange is to prevent errors, reduce unnecessary tests and trim costs, for example, by helping emergency physicians learn about patients' allergies before treating them.

"This will enable physicians to have a clearer picture about what's going on in a patient's health," said Dr. Michael A. Lee, director of clinical informatics at Atrius Health.

More than 50 health care providers have joined the Mass HIway exchange, which went live in 2012 but until now didn't have a mechanism for requesting patient records.

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3 challenges awaiting Yellen as next Fed chairman

Janet Yellen, confirmed Monday evening to succeed Ben Bernanke as chairman of the Federal Reserve, will confront numerous challenges when she begins the job Feb. 1. Here is a look at three of them.

BOND PURCHASES

The Fed announced in December that the job market had strengthened enough for the central bank to reduce the extraordinary stimulus it's given the economy since the Great Recession. The Fed said it would trim its bond purchases from $85 billion a month to $75 billion starting in January. The bond purchases have been intended to keep long-term borrowing costs low to stimulate borrowing and spending.

Economists expect further modest reductions of around $10 billion a month. The bond purchases could be phased out altogether by year's end if the economy keeps improving.

Despite paring its new purchases, the Fed said in December that it would keep reinvesting its bond holdings. The bond purchases have raised its investment portfolio above $4 trillion — four times its size before the financial crisis.

The Fed will need to be careful in navigating the wind-down of its bond purchases. If it moves too fast, it could spook financial markets, sending stock prices plunging and interest rates rising. If it acts too slowly, it could run the risk of creating asset bubbles in areas of the economy from stocks to real estate.

GUIDANCE ON SHORT-TERM RATES

Investors will carefully watch Yellen for any signal that the Fed is preparing to raise its key short-term interest rate, which affects many consumer loans.

The rate has been near zero since December 2008. Last month, the Fed revised its guidance to say it plans to keep that rate ultra-low "well past" the time when the unemployment rate hits 6.5 percent. The rate reached a five-year low of 7 percent in November.

The Fed foresees unemployment falling as low as 6.3 percent this year. Many economists think the first increase in the Fed's short-term rate won't occur before late 2015. But if unemployment falls faster or more slowly than that, Yellen might feel the need to modify the Fed's guidance.

FED INDEPENDENCE

The Fed's efforts to rescue the U.S. economy from the recession and financial crisis have made it a target for criticism. Some Republicans argue that the central bank isn't accountable enough to Congress.

Jeb Hensarling, the Republican chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, plans to examine whether changes should be made to the Fed's operations. Fed supporters worry that Congress could end up weakening the Fed's independence. They argue that its independence is critical to assuring markets that the Fed's actions aren't being swayed by political interests.

Last week, Bernanke criticized legislation that would give the Government Accountability Office the power to expand its audits of the Fed to review decisions on interest rates. The GAO, the auditing arm of Congress, can currently conduct audits of the Fed. But it's barred from investigating interest rate decisions.

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China caution, US data subdue Asian stocks

Caution about China's economic prospects kept Asian stock markets subdued Tuesday.

Investors are also awaiting economic events in the U.S. with Federal Reserve minutes due Wednesday and a monthly jobs report on Friday.

Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.7 percent to 15,795.32 while Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.3 percent to 22,762.29. China's Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.2 percent to 2,048.74. Australia's S&P/ASX shed 0.1 percent to 5,317.40 and Southeast Asian markets were mixed.

Confidence was weakened by lackluster services industry activity in the U.S., Wall Street's fall and recent signs of renewed weakness in China's manufacturing.

"China is defiantly in play right now," said Chris Weston, chief market strategist at IG in Melbourne, Australia. "We certainly aren't seeing the sort of flows that suggest the Chinese and Hong Kong markets are going to see double-digit appreciation this year."

On Wall Street, the Standard & Poor's 500 notched its worst start to a year in almost a decade Monday, closing lower for the third straight trading day.

It fell 4.60 points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,826.77. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 0.3 percent to 16,425.10. The Nasdaq composite fell 0.4 percent to 4,113.68. Although the declines for stocks in the New Year have been modest, the direction has been consistently down.

On Monday, data showed U.S. service companies grew at a steady but slightly slower pace in December. Sales dipped and new orders dropped to a four-year low, according to a report from the Institute for Supply Management. It suggests growth may remain modest in the coming months.

The most closely watched economic report of the week will come on Friday, when the Labor Department is scheduled to release its jobs survey for December. That's going to influence the Fed's decision on how fast to reduce its bond purchases in the coming months. The Fed has been buying $85 billion worth of bonds each month to keep long-term interest rates low to boost borrowing and spending.

In currencies, the euro dropped to $1.3625 from S1.3634 late Monday in New York. The dollar rose to 104.56 yen from 104.20 yen.

Benchmark oil for February delivery was up 21 cents a barrel to $93.64 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 53 cents to close at $93.43 on Monday.

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Sloan ‘Tech Trek’ students hit road

Dozens of MIT Sloan School of Management MBA students will test the job market waters this week when they visit some of the nation's top companies on their annual job-hunting, network-building 
"Tech Treks."

This year's treks will include stops in Seattle and San Francisco to visit tech titans such as Microsoft, Apple, Facebook and Google, as well as Los Angeles and Las Vegas to visit media and entertainment companies such as Sony, Warner Brothers and MGM — the company that wants to build a resort casino in Springfield.

"It's one thing when they come to campus and talk in the abstract about the kind of company they are; it's quite another to be able to go to their headquarters and see how everyone interacts," Zachary Freeman, 27, of Swampscott said. "You get a much more up-close and intimate understanding of those companies, which will help us get a better idea of what we want to do in that space."

Freeman, one of three students who organized the trips to Seattle and San Francisco, said it's a testament to Massachusetts Institute of Technology's brand and alumni base that they were able to set up meetings with executives at so many top-tier companies.

"I'm cautiously optimistic that I'll be able to find a job that gets me started on the road toward being able to design my own product, something that's based on a community," he said. "Mobile web applications are allowing communities to be formed in ways that weren't possible previously. But it's pretty clear there's still a lot of unemployment. So just because I'm in a particular program like MBA, or just because I'm interested in technology, it seems naive to assume I'll be able to find a job. I don't expect it to be handed to me. I have to earn it."

Unlike Freeman, Michael DiBenigno, 26, of Atlanta hopes to have his own startup or work for one in the entertainment or media industry after he graduates next year.

A startup's chance of success today might be better than it was at the height of the recession, he said, "but it might be harder to attract talent if that talent is being recruited by larger, more established organizations."

That's good news for other MBAs such as Jarek Langer who aren't looking to start their own companies straight out of school.

"The opportunities are out there," Langer, 29, said. "Companies are recruiting heavily. They're looking for people to have this kind of MBA and the knowledge that comes with that."

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Inauguration brings pressure

Days before Martin J. Walsh's inauguration, organizers drove across the state, hand-delivering about 100 credentials and parking passes to performers because FedEx could not guarantee delivery because of last week's storm.

For more than a month, a team of event organizers, politicians and administration officials have been making plans, fixing problems and averting crises.

"It's so many different organizations and parties and considerations," said Denise Kirk, head of Brattle Entertainment in Cambridge, a co-producer of the events. "There's so much detail it's unbelievable."

Inaugurations come with extra complications, Kirk said. By law, Walsh must be officially sworn in by noon.

To go with the expected details are surprises, good and bad.

Bryan Rafanelli, head of Rafanelli Events, spent part of Friday night trying to find a place for thousands of balloons that had been unexpectedly donated.

"We're scrambling," Rafanelli said Friday. "We are right now going through all of that ... how can we work with this donation and make this look awesome and cool?"

For Kirk, the snow threw a wrench into the plans to mail credentials and parking passes to musicians and performers for the Boston College event.

"A whole group of us have formed a convoy and we're going to spend the weekend hand-delivering them to everyone," Kirk said late last week. "It's all over the South Shore, west of the city, north of the city."

Rafanelli, who is helping to put on the celebration that includes Blue Man Group, the Dropkick Murphys and others, managed to skirt any snow complications.

"We moved in all of our sound and lighting equipment and actually gave it to First Night," Rafanelli said. "All our lights were hung, our backdrop is up. We outsmarted the storm."

Kirk, Rafanelli and their partner Live Nation all are veterans of political event planning — Rafanelli put on many of Mayor Thomas M. Menino's inaugurations — but they say inaugurations take something special.

"Every single person working on this has worked eight to 12 hours every single day, including Christmas Eve, the day after Christmas, New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, Saturdays, Sunday," Kirk said. She said there is "absolutely" more pressure to get things right.

This is all while preparing to host several high-profile politicians and dignitaries, including Cardinal Sean O'Malley.

Walsh's inaugural committee has been co-chaired by a range of politicians and community representatives, including U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch and Felix D. Arroyo, the father of former mayoral candidate Felix G. Arroyo, co-chairman of Walsh's transition team and his newly appointed health and human services chief.

"He made it very clear to us at the outset that it was very important to him that this event be one Boston. It was very important to him that we don't lose sight of that," Kirk said.

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