Davis eyes security deals with Sox, Globe

Former Boston Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis is in talks with Red Sox principal owner John Henry to provide security for the Boston Red Sox and the Boston Globe, a spokeswoman confirmed.

Henry and Davis have not yet hammered out a final deal, said Henry spokeswoman Zineb Curran, but discussions are ongoing.

"There have been talks with Ed Davis and his security firm about providing security consulting services for the Red Sox and Fenway Park, however, no formal agreement has been reached at this time," she said in a statement.

Similar discussions are ongoing with the Boston Globe, Curran said.

Henry would not confirm a price for providing the security services.

The deal is on top of Davis' recent other work that includes acting as a security commentator for a local news outlet, as well as a consulting business for national and international police departments.

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Going the preowned route a smart move

Americans typically buy about 15 million to 16 million new cars each year. But it's only a fraction of the nation's used-car sales, which, save for a few down years after the 2008 recession, usually surpass 40 million annually.

"If you think about it," said Philip Reed, senior consumer advice editor at Edmunds.com, "we all drive used cars. The second we drive a new car off the lot, we're driving a used car."

The reasons to get, as Bruce Springsteen said, a "brand new used car" are many. Chief among them: cost. According to auto resource Kelley Blue Book, the median sales price of a new car is $32,342. Most of that cost will often be financed, and loan terms are becoming longer and longer.

The median used-car price is a little more than $18,000.

"People have a restricted budget," Reed said. "A lot of people either can't qualify or don't want to take on a loan, especially younger people who haven't established credit yet. That makes used cars a great option."

Here are some pros and cons of going the preowned route:

PROS

• Price. Monthly payments are much more affordable to buyers on a budget.

• Many preowned vehicles still carry factory warranty coverage.

• Reliability issues aren't what they once were. There are millions of great used-vehicle choices available to the patient, informed buyer.

• Certification programs. As long as these are manufacturer-sponsored programs, these allow consumers to buy with confidence.

CONS

• Are you "buying someone else's trouble," asked Reed. "Has a seller disguised something wrong with a car?"

• Used cars won't have the latest technological innovations. Accident-prevention systems top this list.

• A used car may not have the desired prestige for image-conscious owners.

• The average age of cars on the road is about 11 years old, according to AAA. Older cars usually require more repairs.

"The days of buying a used car carrying a stigma are over," said Michelle Krebs of AutoTrader.com. "In fact, quite the contrary. Buying used is seen as the smart money move by many."

A quick and easy way to determine the viability of a used-car purchase is to use Edmunds.com's "Affordability Calculator." Plug in a few numbers and targets, and the tool quickly spits out a shopping price range. Advanced shoppers can go to their lender beforehand and prequalify for a loan; at that point, the process turns to hitting dealerships, finding the right vehicle and negotiating the price.

Before buying, it's a good idea to check out the vehicle's history. Once that hurdle is cleared, take a test drive and arrange a pre-purchase inspection.

It's a bit of a grind, but worth it when committing thousands of dollars. Probably the most important consideration for shoppers: Be patient.

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BRA blasted for failing to collect rents

The BRA and one of its affiliates — owed a combined $5.6 million in outstanding rent as of April, according to a recent audit — were criticized yesterday as lenient landlords that are far too "cozy" with the businesses that lease space from the agencies.

But several tenants defended the Boston Redevelopment Authority and its offshoot, the Economic Development Industrial Corp., saying their mission is to promote business growth.

Former state Inspector General Gregory W. Sullivan, a longtime BRA critic, said the agency has an obligation to Boston taxpayers to manage its assets and collect the money due.

"The BRA has a dismal record of collecting the full amount due from its licensees and grantees," said Sullivan, now the research director at the Pioneer Institute. "What we have been seeing is that the BRA is way too cozy with business owners, and they cut them slack and coddle them and do everything but what they are supposed to be doing, which is to get value for the taxpayers... It's an outrage."

But Michael Labadie, president of National Color, a printing company that is behind on its rent for space in the EDIC-controlled Boston Marine Industrial Park, said carping on unpaid rent misses the point.

"It's tough to be a manufacturing company in Boston right now," Labadie said. "I think people do get behind in their rent, and they do try to work with people. The whole program was instituted to keep manufacturing jobs in Boston."

According to the KMPG audit of the BRA released Wednesday, National Color owed the EDIC $93,118 as of April, but the BRA said yesterday the amount in back rent now stands at $24,874.

The audit also contended that as of April, Geekhouse Bike owed the EDIC $86,162, of which $62,704 was 90 days past due. The BRA said yesterday the rent that is three months past due has climbed to $86,162.

Geekhouse owner Marty Walsh said the debt applies to a separate company he owns, Headquarters Boston, that rents EDIC space on Channel Street.

"We're on the right track now ... but we got behind, and now we're trying to fix it," he said. "The BRA is working with us. They want us to stay here and do well."

The two companies are among more than a dozen the audit highlighted for owing the BRA and EDIC large amounts. Copy Cop, a print shop, as of April owed $213,859, of which $197,658 is now 90 days past due; while Pappas Enterprises, a real estate developer, owes $295,908, all of it 90 days past due. Neither company returned messages.

The auditors criticized the BRA for lacking a policy to deal with delinquent tenants and a process to evict them.

"We are trying to support businesses and don't want to force anyone out before negotiating an agreement (on back rent)," said BRA spokesman Nicholas Martin. "But at the same time it's clear there was a lack of a standardized protocol on what do to in these situations where the rent goes unpaid for so long."

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Cutting-edge condos dock in Eastie

An unlikely team of a developer and a contractor from Revere and a Harvard-trained architect is bringing cutting-edge lofts to the East Boston waterfront.

The Marginal Street Lofts, which are adjacent to the Boston Harbor Shipyard & Marina in Jeffries Point, are the first new Eastie water­front condos in decades.

The contemporary design by Elizabeth Whittaker of Boston's Merge Architects has an unexpected exterior — black corrugated metal, red cedar planks and steel-boxed exterior frames with sides wrapped in stainless-steel mesh. Large front windows maximize un­obstructed views of Boston Harbor from all units.

The nine one-bedroom condos, which are 1,126 to 1,191 square feet, cost $549,000 to $679,000. The higher-priced, upper-floor units have private roof decks with harbor views. Each unit comes with a garage space under the building.

"We're hoping this captures the demographic of Boston buyers who don't want to pay $1 million for a condo with the same square footage as our units, but without views and without parking," Whittaker said.

Revere contractor Anthony DelVecchio, who built some commercial work that Whittaker designed, recommended her to Revere developer Michele Catalano of Tay's Realty LLC.

"I was a little gun-shy about the design, but now that it's done I think it's beautiful," Catalano said.

Realtor Paul Campano brought Catalano the three-lot site, where the developer could have built a row of three-families. But Campano, whose niche is unique properties, prevailed on her to be open-minded about a more contemporary design.

"High design and high quality sell," said Campano of Keller Williams.

Trying to put nine units on a tight site required building up and over central corridors to access rear-facing bedrooms.

"It was a challenge to build, something completely out of the box compared to the work we normally do," said DelVecchio. "It takes more time and it's more expensive."

Units have different configurations. Unit 3, on the market for $599,000, has a kitchen/dining area that steps up to a living room with harbor views. Another half flight up leads to a loft-style bedroom.

Unit 9 has a large open kitchen/living/dining area overlooking the harbor and a rear-facing bedroom. This unit and three others have 500-square-foot private roof decks.

Kitchens have quartz or honed-granite countertops, KraftMaid or Ikea cabinets, GE Cafe stainless-steel appliances and Grohe faucets. Living rooms have built-in gas fireplaces. Bathrooms have porcelain tile floors and white tiled tub and showers. There are white oak floors throughout.

Whittaker, who also teaches­ at Harvard's Graduate School of Design, said the Jeffries Point neighborhood and the Boston Re­development Authority were supportive of her design, and she hopes the project will lead to more contemporary design and perhaps a future brand for Catalano's projects.

"I'm a hands-on devel­oper, on site every day," said Catalano. "It's taken a lot of work to get this done but it's come out looking just like the renderings."

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Sepia in on ground floor of red-hot condo market

With 60 percent of its condos sold before shovels hit the ground yesterday, the 83-unit Sepia at Ink Block project on the former site of the Boston Herald has timed the city's hot real estate market well.

"When we decided to build 83 luxury condos there, everyone was asking why we would do that in this part of the South End," said Ted Tye, managing partner of Newton-based developer National Development, at Sepia's groundbreaking yesterday. "Now they're asking us to build more condos."

There are still two more sites on the 6.2-acre property and Tye said he is considering building more condos in the rapidly changing area.

The Ink Block complex already has three luxury apartment buildings with 392 units under construction, along with a ground-floor 50,000-square-foot Whole Foods Market that will open early next year. Sepia's one- to three-bedroom condos, ranging from 510 to 2,000 square feet, are slated to open in the late fall of 2015.

Sue Hawkes, president of The Collaborative Cos., which is handling the sales and marketing for Sepia, said a lot of buyers are South End residents moving up from older properties as well as empty nesters from the suburbs.

"We are averaging about $1,000 a square foot, which is pulling up pricing in the entire neighborhood," Hawkes said.

The eight-story building designed by Boston Elkus Manfredi Architects has a jewel-box look with its projecting balconies and terraces. Amenities include a common rooftop deck, garage parking, a clubroom with kitchen, fitness facility and access to the Ink Block's outdoor pool. Sepia also will have ground-floor retail and restaurant space.

Boston Herald Publisher Patrick J. Purcell, who sold the site to National Development, is a minority investor. Tye said the former Herald outdoor sign will be incorporated into the Ink Block.

The Herald moved to new office space in the Seaport District.

The South End neighborhood was torn down in the 1950s as Boston's first urban renewal project and industrial companies relocated there. "This was once a vibrant neighborhood and we are bringing that back," said Tye.

The district revival also includes the 378-unit Troy Boston apartment project as well as about 600 apartments planned for the former Graybar Electric Co. property.

"This area had become something of a no man's land," said Mayor Martin J. Walsh. "Now its transformation is happening quickly. It's having a new chapter with new residents and new businesses."

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Dow hits 2nd record close in July

The Dow Jones industrial average surged to its second record close this month as major stock indexes rebounded yesterday.

The Dow added 77.52 points to close at 17,138.20. Its previous record high was 17,068.65, set July 3.

Investors had lots of market-moving news to consider, but trading appeared to get the biggest jolt from the latest batch of corporate deal news.

Investors drove Time Warner's stock up 17 percent on news that Twenty-First Century Fox made a takeover bid for the media giant. Other deals involving Apple and IBM as well as slot machine maker International Game Technology also helped lift the market.

"It's a continuation of what we've really been seeing this year, and it's almost a record amount of (mergers and acquisitions) going on," said David 
Chalupnik, head of equities at Nuveen Asset Management.

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US preparing unilateral sanctions on Russia

WASHINGTON — The United States is considering imposing unilateral sanctions on Russia over its threatening moves in Ukraine, a shift in strategy that reflects the Obama administration's frustration with Europe's reluctance to take tougher action against Moscow, according to U.S. and European officials.

Until now, the U.S. has insisted on hitting Russia with penalties in concert with Europe in order to maximize the impact and present a united Western front. The European Union has a far stronger economic relationship with Russia, making the 28-nation bloc's participation key to ensuring sanctions packages have enough teeth to deter Russia.

But those same economic ties have made Europe fearful that tougher penalties against Russia could boomerang and hurt their own economies. After weeks of inaction, the officials say the U.S. is now prepared to move forward alone if EU officials fail to enact strong sanctions during a meeting Wednesday in Brussels.

The U.S. official cautioned that no final decisions would be made until after the European meeting. The officials insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly by name.

The White House's willingness to punish Russia without European backing comes as the Obama administration faces criticism that its repeated warnings about tougher sanctions are little more than empty threats.

"Sometimes I'm embarrassed for you, as you constantly talk about sanctions and yet, candidly, we never see them put in place," Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said during a Senate hearing on Ukraine with administration officials last week.

The U.S. and Europe have levied coordinated sanctions on Russian individuals and companies connected to Moscow's alleged destabilization in Ukraine. Obama administration officials argue that those penalties have had an impact on Russia's economy, citing International Monetary Fund statistics showing a downgrade in Russia's growth this year.

However, officials have acknowledged that the sanctions have not have an impact on Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision-making in Ukraine.

State Department spokesman Jen Psaki said Tuesday that if Putin "cares deeply about his people, about the economy, his own country" the sanctions would shift his calculus.

Obama and European counterparts have vowed to take even broader sanctions targeting Russia's lucrative energy and defense sectors, as well as access to financial markets, if Moscow failed to quell tensions with Ukraine. But it is unclear what the new package of U.S. sanctions would include.

During a Group of Seven meeting in Brussels in early June, Western leaders warned Russian President Vladimir Putin those penalties could be levied within a month if Russia did not meet specific conditions, including recognizing the results of Ukraine's May 25 election and start a dialogue with President Petro Poroshenko, ending support for the pro-Russian insurgency in eastern Ukraine and stopping the flow of arms across the Russian border.

The end-of-June deadline the West outlined for Putin came and went with little follow-through from Russia, yet no penalties were levied by the U.S. and Europe.

Heather Conley, director of the Europe program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the West's failure to follow through on its threat of sector sanctions has raised a "credibility question" for the Obama administration.

"I think the bluff has now been fully called," Conley said.

If Obama moves forward with unilateral sanctions, he'll face opposition from the private sector. U.S. businesses have been pressing the administration to hold off on sanctions that could put them at a disadvantage in the global economy.

"It's not clear to us that breaking commercial ties with the Russia partners, consumers gets anyone to where they want to be," said Gary Litman, vice president for international strategic initiatives at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

___

Associated Press writers Matthew Lee in Washington and John-Thor Dahlburg in Brussels contributed to this report.

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Naver says Line messenger app mulls IPO

SEOUL, South Korea — Naver Corp. said its subsidiary Line Corp. that operates a popular mobile messaging app is considering listing its shares in Tokyo or New York.

Naver, South Korea's largest Internet company, said Wednesday that Line could sell shares in an initial public offering in both Japan and the U.S.

The statement was made in regulatory filing after earlier media reports that Line had submitted an IPO application to the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Naver confirmed the report but added the IPO decision was not final. The app is also called Line.

The move highlights the growth of Asian mobile messaging apps, driven in large part by the popularity of smartphones and connecting to the Internet through mobile devices. The apps have been a threat to longer-established Internet companies, which have responded by taking a stake in the upstart industry through acquisitions.

As of last month, Line had more than 450 million users. It has tens of millions of users in Japan, Thailand, Indonesia and Spain.

If listed, Line's market capitalization will be at least 23 trillion won ($22.2 billion), according to Lee Chang-young, an analyst at Tongyang Securities Co. That would be the same level as the market cap of Twitter Inc.

Lee said the number of monthly average users at Line is growing faster than that of Facebook or Twitter.

Other mobile messaging apps have also been involved in big deals. Facebook Inc. paid $19 billion to acquire WhatsApp and Viber Media was bought by Japan's Rakuten Inc. for $900 million.

For Internet companies that started when PCs were the predominant gateway to the Internet, messaging apps have provided a way to expand their reach to mobile phone users.

Naver owns South Korea's most-visited online search portal but is little known abroad. It reversed its fading fortunes with Line.

As the messaging app became a household name in many Asian countries, its revenues from sales of big emoticons known as stickers surged. It has diversified its revenue by courting advertisers and offering games.

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Harvard professors, religious leaders to back anti-casino effort

A group of Harvard University professors and religious leaders are slated to join forces with casino opponents today in a united push behind the November gaming repeal referendum.

"I haven't heard anybody saying they're praying for a casino. I've heard a bunch of people saying they're praying against a casino," said Sunha Kim, a co-founder of Stand For Democracy, a group that's emerged from Neighbors of East Boston, an organization of neighborhood religious leaders that helped defeat the proposed Suffolk Downs casino last November.

"The religious component of the anti-casino campaign has never disappeared," Kim said. 
"It's always been at work since the victory in East Boston, and it's going to be strong going into this November."

Stand For Democracy scheduled a press conference for this morning at Harvard. Kim has developed a network of nearly 500 churches across the state as well as several Harvard professors, including Harvey Cox, David Carrasco, David Holland, Richard Parker and Marshall Ganz, a key grass-roots organizer of President Obama's 2008 presidential campaign.

The Chelsea Collaborative, a group of community organizers, is the fiscal sponsor for Stand For Democracy, lending its legal and tax-exempt status to the group, Kim said.

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Mohegan Sun could ‘reopen’ Boston deal

The fine print in Mayor Martin J. Walsh's deal with Mohegan Sun contains a so-called reopener clause that allows the casino company to lower its promised payouts of tens of millions of dollars if a future agreement with Wynn Resorts pays the city less.

The clause, tucked in the final pages of the agreement announced last week, says Mohegan will pay "comparable provisions" if a Wynn deal provides less than the pledged $30 million upfront and minimum $18 million annually for a gaming resort on the Revere side of Suffolk Downs.

Celeste Myers of the group No Eastie Casino called the clause "insanity."

"They should be making arrangements based solely on the merit of their development plan and strategy," Myers said of Mohegan. "They're putting themselves out there as the most equitable, the most desirable partner, but they're only going to be as desirable as they have to be."

Mohegan would adjust the deal only if Boston "voluntarily executes a Surrounding Community Agreement with another applicant." But Walsh has opted not to enter arbitration with Wynn and asked the state Gaming Commission to decide what the Las Vegas mogul would have to pay Boston for a casino on the Everett side of the Charlestown border.

The commission, which declined to comment, will discuss how to proceed at its meeting today.

State Rep. Carlo Basile of East Boston, which voted down a casino at Mohegan's Suffolk Downs site, said he's concerned the commission's decision on a Wynn package for Boston could legally be considered a voluntary agreement on Boston's part.

"I thought what the deal was, the deal was, and I don't want them to be able to give us less than what the deal is," Basile said of Mohegan.

Mohegan said in a statement it is "prepared to abide by every clause that the agreement dictates." Wynn spokesman Michael Weaver said the clause "appears to be an effort to stifle competition and inhibit a fair and honest negotiation process."

By law, Boston must have agreements in place with Mohegan and Wynn before the panel decides who gets the sole Boston-area license.

Walsh spokeswoman Kate Norton said "reopener language along these lines is not uncommon or unique," and was included because Boston did not want to make "any party less likely to negotiate with us in good faith."

"Without the reopener language, any party could use a good-faith agreement as a template to create a 'better' agreement and undermine the competing party's work," Norton said in a statement. "From a practical standpoint, the reopener language no longer applies because the city of Boston is no longer engaged in arbitration."

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Apps aim to keep Amazon out of your fridge

Interested in a brand-new way to help those last remaining mom-and-pop shops? Order from a same-day delivery service that has a chance at a worldwide Amazon.com takeover.

Luckily for locals, there are many options as Boston becomes Ground Zero for the on-demand delivery wars. In just the past two weeks, a new app called Postmates and another dubbed Favor have expanded to the Hub, promising to deliver whatever you want from wherever you want it — all in under an hour.

Beloved by Austin residents, Favor is focusing on the Boston University and Northeastern University areas. Its "runners" can be spotted wearing blue tuxedo T-shirts and driving cars adorned with giant bow ties.

Days after Favor debuted in Boston, the new Postmates app expanded to Boston and Cambridge. San Francisco-based Postmates — which launched with $1.2 million in seed money and 12 employees two years ago — is much larger than Favor, and it became a serious hit when investors realized the average user generated $116 in revenues per month, paving the way for $23 million in angel and venture capital funding from some of the most established VC firms in Silicon Valley.

Such support has allowed Postmates to expand to cities including Seattle, New York, Washington, D.C., Chicago and Los Angeles. Clearly hoping to lock down entire cities before Amazon fully scales its same-day delivery services, Postmates is waiving its $5 delivery fee in Boston until July 20.

Postmates and Favor join an increasingly crowded battle to become a local version of FedEx. Instacart already offers same-day grocery delivery. A good chunk of the Boston region can receive on-demand booze deliveries via an app called Drizly. (Another notable, though far-flung, contender is Zookal, which is trying to beat Amazon to the punch with same-day delivery of textbooks via unmanned drones — unfortunately not here, but in Australia.) Much like Uber — which has also dipped its toe in the courier pool — these apps charge credit cards in the background and buyers need not worry about tips, which are included in a frictionless process that consumers universally dig.

You probably know that Amazon aims to own the mean streets of same-day delivery. The big difference between Amazon and the apps I've mentioned is that Amazon has its own warehouses filled with goods. It isn't going to pick up the dinner ingredients you forgot from your local grocer. It's going to BE your local grocer. And I don't know about you, but I'm not too keen on that idea.

Consumers now want what they want, when they want it. Convenience stores are seen as inconvenient. And mom-and pop shops are the David to Amazon's Goliath. So give Amazon a run for its money: Download a same-day delivery app, and consider whether a $5 delivery fee might be worth making it a little harder for the worldwide retail market to be fully owned and operated by one corporation.

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Asian stocks rebound after Portuguese bank scare

BEIJING — Asian stocks rebounded Monday from jitters about a struggling Portuguese bank as investors looked ahead to a busy week of data releases in the U.S., China and Europe.

Oil edged up to stay above $100 after tumbling more than $2 last week amid expectations more Libyan crude will soon hit markets.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 gained 0.4 percent to 15,219.59 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.4 percent to 23,326.78. Seoul, Taiwan and Sydney also rose.

Traders regained confidence following concern about the soundness of Portugal's Espirito Santo International, which reportedly missed a debt payment last week, echoing issues that spawned Europe's debt crisis. Investors appeared to have been reassured any problems would be contained.

"Concerns about a widespread spill-over across Europe eased," said Mizuho Bank in a report. "Sentiment improved across the board."

China's Shanghai Composite Index was flat at 2,047.98.

Investors were looking ahead to announcements Tuesday about monetary policy in Australia and Japan and European inflation. U.S. Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen is due to testify before a congressional committee.

On Wednesday, China is due to report quarterly economic growth. The country's top economic official, Premier Li Keqiang, said last week performance improved compared with the first quarter, when growth tumbled to 7.4 percent, but gave no details.

Seoul's Kospi gained 0.5 percent to 1,998.32 and Taiwan's Taiex added 0.5 percent to 9,545.99. Sydney's S&P ASX 200 rose 0.4 percent to 5,511.70. New Zealand also gained.

Last week, Germany's DAX and Britain's FTSE 100 ended 0.1 percent higher while France's CAC-40 gained 0.4 percent.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average and the broader Standard & Poor's 500 both gained 0.2 percent. The Nasdaq composite was up 0.4 percent.

Benchmark U.S. crude for August delivery gained 1 cent to $100.84 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract plunged $2.10 to close at $100.83 in the previous session on expectations of higher supplies and muted global demand.

In currency markets, the dollar rose to 101.37 yen from 101.32 yen late Friday. The euro fell to $1.3603 from $1.3608.

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Quincy lures tech firms

Quincy is throwing its hat into the Massachusetts technology ring, trying to lure growing high tech and life sciences companies — and the coveted jobs they bring with them — to the City of Presidents.

"We've really been working hard to put the pieces together to make Quincy more attractive for investment," said Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch.

Koch said Quincy can be a good fit for companies that need a bit more space than Boston offers, particularly for light manufacturing.

Recently, Quincy sent two economic development officials to a global biotechnology conference in San Diego to pitch Quincy as a good home, and joined the newly created Life Sciences Corridor, a joint effort with Cambridge, Boston, Somerville and Braintree to market the region to companies.

Medical device company RasLabs, a former MassChallenge finalist, unveiled its new office and lab space in Quincy Thursday.

It is moving from Boston's Innovation District.

"This is a magnificent spot," RasLabs CEO Eric Sandberg said, referring to the new office. "It was everything we were looking for, there's room to expand."

RasLabs had been working out of MassChallenge and looked for office space in the Innovation District, but did not find a good fit.

RasLabs, which makes synthetic muscles, joins Boston Scientific and Bluefin Labs, makers of underwater drones, in Quincy.

Bluefin, which came into the spotlight when its underwater drones were used in the search for the missing Malaysian airliner, was offered tax incentives to move to Quincy, Koch said.

Bluefin CEO and president David Kelly said the company chose Quincy because of a supportive Quincy government as well as "the Fore River Shipyard, which offers water access and ample factory space."

Similar tax incentives could be used in the future to draw new companies to the city.

"We use any tool or resource we can to help...the economy of our city," Koch said.

Quincy, where the unemployment rate is just 4.8 percent, according to the state, is still trying to expand its economy.

"For Quincy, or any community, it's important to do as much as you can to diversify your economy and your commercial base so you're not relying on one industry sector," said Dean Rizzo, president of the Quincy Chamber of Commerce.

Still, growing companies need more than just cheaper office space.

Part of Quincy's effort is creating an attractive ecosystem for companies, as well as a pipeline for future talent.

Quincy College has a new 1,600 square foot biotech lab, funded by the U.S. Department of Labor and the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center.

Koch added: "It's been a real concerted effort to open our world a little bit."

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Voltage to the starter is key to non-starting Focus

I found a 2003 Ford Focus with 30,000 miles for my daughter's transportation needs for a few years. After driving to a destination, the engine refuses to turn over unless you wait 20-30 minutes. This only happens in summertime and it simply "clicks" like a battery problem. I've had it analyzed on the computer and got no hits. My mechanic, to his credit, doesn't want to just guess at the problem until he's more sure of the source. Can you help?

Anytime there's an intermittent no-crank issue, the question is whether or not battery voltage is reaching the starter motor. A volt meter across the battery terminals as you attempt to crank the engine will tell you the answer. If voltage immediately drops into the 10- to 12-volt range as you turn the key, current is reaching the starter motor and it is trying to crank the engine. If you can, tap the starter or solenoid with a baseball bat while attempting to crank the engine — with all due caution and safety, of course. If the engine suddenly cranks, it is likely a faulty starter motor or starter solenoid.

If, on the other hand, the volt meter shows no significant change in battery voltage as you attempt to crank the engine, no current is reaching the starter motor. There is likely a poor-quality connection or ground somewhere in the starting circuit.

In either case I'd suggest disconnecting the battery and disassembling/cleaning/resecuring every electrical and ground connection in the starting circuit.

The clutch pedal in my 1988 Dodge Ram 50 was hard to depress after 30,000 km on a replaced clutch kit. I installed a new disc, pressure plate and throw-out bearing. I examined the cable for binding and kinks but found nothing — the cable was smooth in the casing. It is still really hard to depress. I've correctly adjusted the cable free play. I even took off the cable from the transmission and manually swung the clutch fork that moves the throw-out bearing. It is smooth and easy until it contacts the pressure plate, then super resistance. When I had the transmission out I saw no binding of the throw-out bearing sliding on the spindle. Help!

I'll assume you installed a stock replacement clutch assembly — not a heavy-duty clutch that might inherently require more pedal effort to disengage. Dodge recommends lightly lubricating the input shaft splines with wheel bearing grease and the pilot bushing in the rear of the crankshaft with a multi-purpose grease to prevent the clutch disc splines from binding on the shaft.

Years ago I stumbled across an unusual cause for a very stiff clutch pedal. The bushing in the clutch pedal was binding on the shaft the clutch pedal pivots on under the dash. I discovered this only when I accidentally pushed the clutch pedal with the cable disconnected from the pedal assembly. I ended up disassembling, lightly honing, lubricating and reassembling the pedal assembly – problem solved.

Even though the cable isn't binding as you move it by hand, it could have worn a groove in its casing/housing, which may cause binding under the stress of disengaging the clutch.

If I do a fast takeoff from a stop, the transmission on my '05 Buick LeSabre clunks hard shifting through all gears. If I stop and shut the car off it is fine and won't do it again until I have to do a quick takeoff. What do you think?

When this occurs, does the SES (Service Engine Soon) lamp illuminate? Your first step is to have a scan tool check for DTC fault codes. The transmission may be dropping into "limp mode" and operating with higher hydraulic pressure to protect itself. A simple DIY approach is to add half a can of SeaFoam Trans-Tune to the transmission to clean the valve body and hydraulic components.

Paul Brand, author of "How to Repair Your Car," is an automotive troubleshooter, driving instructor and former race-car driver. Readers may write to him at: Star Tribune, 425 Portland Ave. S., Minneapolis, Minn., 55488 or via email at paulbrand@startribune.com. Please explain the problem in detail and include a daytime phone number. Because of the volume of mail, we cannot provide personal replies.

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