Councilors push for business manager to sell city as commercial center
City councilors want to hire a business manager to bring more companies to Waltham.
Ward 3 Councilor Bill Hanley on Monday introduced a resolution to create the position. He said it could help attract new business to the city, which is having trouble maintaining its commercial tax base.
“We’re at kind of a crossroads in Waltham where our commercial property is taking a nosedive,” Hanley said.
Ward 8 Councilor Cathyann Harris supported the resolution, saying that a business manager could make a case to businesses for moving to or expanding in Waltham.
“Our sister cities that are around us actually have business development managers who are actively seeking business,” she said. “I think it’s critical that we do that outreach in order to be competitive.”
Councilor-at-Large Colleen Bradley-MacArthur linked this to the plan to close Moody Street permanently to car traffic, saying she had advocated for hiring a similar position back in 2023 when she proposed the street’s pedestrianization to the Traffic Commission.
She said there was precedent for hiring a business manager: The city had employed a marketing director in 1986 to help Moody Street recover from the heavy transfer of retail business to malls and in the ’90s had convened a Downtown Revitalization Committee to propose new ventures for the downtown.
Ward 7 Councilor Paul S. Katz also voiced support for the position, saying a business manager could help companies see Waltham’s strengths.
“One of Waltham’s biggest challenges is a perception problem. People just don’t always see the extraordinary opportunities that exist here,” he said. “Waltham has tremendous assets: our location, our workforce, our commercial districts. But rather than waiting for business to come to us and knock on our door, we should be proactive in promoting what our city has to offer.”
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“Sell” City as Commercial Center?
What the heck does that mean?
Talk to me like I’m 2.
I wholeheartedly support the proposal to hire a business development manager for Waltham. As Councilor Hanley rightly noted, our commercial property values are declining, and the time to act is now — not reactively, but with a clear and deliberate long-term strategy.
Councilor Harris made an important point: our neighboring cities already have business development managers actively recruiting companies. We are falling behind not because Waltham lacks assets, but because we haven’t been telling our story. As my Councilor Katz said, we have a perception problem — and perception problems don’t fix themselves.
That said, hiring a business manager should be the start of a broader strategic conversation. Who are we trying to attract? How does this connect to Moody Street, our housing needs, and our infrastructure? My understanding is that Waltham has done this before — with a marketing director in 1986 and a Downtown Revitalization Committee in the ’90s — what can we learn from those attempts and how can we build on those lessons today?
A business development manager is a great idea. Let’s make sure they have a real strategy behind them, one that positions Waltham as the premier MetroWest community for the long haul.