May 27, 2025 • 38 mins
We kicked off the program with four news stories and different guests on the stories we think you need to know about!
How much you have to make to rent comfortably in Boston? Mike Deehan – Axios Boston Reporter checked in with Dan.
New Adventure Park called Urban Air Opens In Brockton! Cheryl Ng – Owner of Urban Air Brockton stopped by.
General manager Don Sweeney got more time to fix the Bruins. Will he make good with it? Kevin Paul Dupont – Boston Globe Sportswriter and Columnist discussed it with Dan.
Do you get paid overtime or tips? Here's how the GOP tax bill could impact your money. Sherif Mityas - CEO of BRIX Holdings, a multi-brand franchising company specializing in food service chains explained it to Dan.
Listen to WBZ NewsRadio on the NEW iHeart Radio app and be sure to set WBZ NewsRadio as your #1 preset!
How much you have to make to rent comfortably in Boston? Mike Deehan – Axios Boston Reporter checked in with Dan.
New Adventure Park called Urban Air Opens In Brockton! Cheryl Ng – Owner of Urban Air Brockton stopped by.
General manager Don Sweeney got more time to fix the Bruins. Will he make good with it? Kevin Paul Dupont – Boston Globe Sportswriter and Columnist discussed it with Dan.
Do you get paid overtime or tips? Here's how the GOP tax bill could impact your money. Sherif Mityas - CEO of BRIX Holdings, a multi-brand franchising company specializing in food service chains explained it to Dan.
Listen to WBZ NewsRadio on the NEW iHeart Radio app and be sure to set WBZ NewsRadio as your #1 preset!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's nice eyes, Dan Ray, I'm telling you crazy Boston's
news radio.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Thank you very much, Emma. Great to hear your voice
working the newscasts here at night. Thanks so much for
checking us out and also introducing us to the audience.
My name's Dan Ray. I'm the host of Nightside. My
partner Rob Brooks is behind us, back in the control room.
Actually he's quite a distance from us. I'm broadcasting remotely,
(00:27):
as I think most of you know, and Rob is
back at the iHeart headquarters in beautiful Medford, Massachusetts. But
you won't have to call Rob until after nine o'clock.
In the first four hours, we do what's called the
night Side News Update. Every night we talk to four
interesting people about different topics. So tonight we're going to
(00:48):
talk about the cost to rent here in Boston, which
is prohibitive, talking about a new adventure park in Brockton
called Urban Air that opens up in Brockton. We're going
to talk with Kevin Paul DuPont. He is the Boston
Globe sportswriter and he knows everything about the Bruins. We're
going to talk about how to get the Bruins fixed
(01:10):
for next year, and then we'll talk about if you
get if you paid overtime or tips, you're possibly not
going to have to pay taxes on your overtime of tips.
And that's some good news out of Washington for those
of those of you who work overtime and earn tips.
I work overtime, but it's all part of my what
(01:30):
we call a personal services contract, and everything gets taxed.
We're going to start it off tonight, first and foremost
with Mike Dian. Mike is an Axios Boston reporter. We've
had Mike on before. Welcome back, Mike. I'm looking at
this article and my head is spinning. How are you tonight?
Speaker 3 (01:49):
I'm good. Actually, unfortunately, I'm a renter Dan, so I'm
not feeling as great as I could be given the topic.
We're about to discuss some of the cost of renting
in the city.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Well, the headline on this story is you have to
rent one hundred and twenty seven thousand dollars to rent
comfortably in Boston. That follows New York City by eighteen
thousand dollars in San Jose, California. I guess my question is,
how do you define renting comfortably? I mean, I think
(02:22):
most people could find a nice one bedroom apartment even
in downtown Boston for that.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
Well, so it comes down to what I like about
this survey from Zillow that kind of did crunch all
these numbers is that it's basing it on thirty two
point five percent of household income. And that's kind of
the old fashioned, you know, advice that you always got
to spend about a quarter to thirty percent of your
income on housing, on rent or mortgage something like that.
(02:53):
So it's that kind of old fashioned advice, and that's
what Zillo used to then base out the map the
rest of.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
All mat So let's work.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Let's work at one hundred.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Yeah, let's work enough so you got to earn one
hundred and twenty seven. Will round that. Let's say to oh,
I don't Let's say one hundred and twenty five just
for the fun of it. And if we say to ourselves, okay,
what is a third of one hundred and twenty five,
that's about what forty two thousand dollars something like that roughly.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
So yeah, so that'll be forty two thousand annually.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Annually divided by twelve, right, that would mean you would
have to be paying three thousand plus thirty five.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Hundred thirty five hundred yep.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Okay, so if you have a roommate to rent the
two bedroom, you have to find a roommate who's in
the same you know, income bracket if you will. But
there are no decent single apartments in Boston that you
can get as a single person for thirty five hundred bucks.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Really thirty five No, I think you could. I mean,
I think that's That's what this study is kind of showing,
is that it would cost around that to get the
market rate. And I can tell you because I've looked.
I'm good where I am right now, but whenever I
look on Zillo or look for different apartments to rent,
it really is about that much. Okay, don't tell you,
don't tell me a little bit.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Left, don't tell me where you live. Okay, that's not
But assuming that the state House is ground zero, yeah,
how many miles do you live away from ground zero?
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Only a couple time. I'm in Dorchester, okay, the wide one. Yeah, No,
it's good. I'm happy, But I mean, so this study also,
the average observed rent in Boston is thirty one hundred
and seventy five, So that kind of gives you an
idea of the baseline rent here. Oh yeah, we were
doing it. Well, yeah, so that kind of So when
(04:50):
you take numbers like that, you know, you do the math.
You multiplied by twelve months. That's how you arrive at
one hundred and twenty seven thousand annual, which is a
bit of an eye popping a moun. I think, you know,
a lot of people probably don't earn that much household income.
It's a little bit easier to do that. But yeah,
I mean this, like you said before, we're the third
priceiest market in the United States.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
You know, when I got out of law school in
the nineteen seventies, I had a really neat one bedroom
apartment at do you know where Longfellow Place is in
downtown Boston. It's yeah, right, it's beautiful. It was brand new,
it's brand new. I was on the twenty third floor,
(05:33):
had a great view of water, just wonderful. I paid
five hundred dollars a month.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Yeah, it's probably over five grand now, but.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Well maybe maybe, but I'm trying to remember what I
was making, and it probably was in line with that.
I don't know, it's crazy, it's just crazy. So the
question then is if you're someone who's starting out in Boston,
maybe you just say, hey, I can't live in the
city of Boston. I got to find something in one
(06:08):
of the inner suburbs, Revere or or or Watertown on
the other side of the city. Or maybe maybe that's
the reality. I got to find something out in Newton.
There there are some really nice apartments that I'm aware
of because one of my children a few years ago
rented in one of these apartments right on the MBTA line.
(06:30):
So is this this look we're the highest in the
country I'm looking at. I'm looking at places like, well,
San Diego was pretty close. San Francisco is close. Uh.
To get to the lowest cities Louisville, Oklahoma City, Buffalo,
Saint Louis, Birmingham, Alabama. You know obviously the rents in
(06:56):
those places, it's kind of what the what what the
market will beer? How do we resolve this? Yes, yes,
well I think for the renter.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
For the consumer, you're absolutely right is to look for
deals and bargains, look for you know, neighborhoods or towns
and cities outside of downtown. Definitely. You know you mentioned Revere.
I put Chelsea on that list. I think a lot
of good stuff happening in Quinsy, but also there's also
a lot of new building which we need to do
housing construction, but all the stuff that's coming online brand
(07:26):
new is not going to be that affordable for folks. So,
you know, it really is just a big problem. You
can look at it from a housing standpoint, build build, build,
but that brings you know, non affordable housing online, or
improve transportation traffic congestion if you drive. Obviously, that's going
to be a pain for anybody who's living, you know,
(07:47):
a half hour hour away from work if they work downtown.
And we know about the travails of the MBTA, certainly
reliability is still a question. So there isn't a lot
of good answers, but I think there are still some
bargains to be found here and there. If you're crawling
on Zillow and looking for a place where you can
actually get to work from.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Yeah, I wonder if the fact that we're a university
town in many respects, between b C and b U
and Tufts and Harvard and m I T and Northeastern
and Emerson, I wonder if the rents in Boston are
impacted adversely. So you have kids coming in town. In
(08:30):
some cases, I'm hearing that wealthy parents buy condos. They
all the kids going to be here for four years,
you know, the the increase in the value of the condominium,
we'll more than offset. I mean, there's different Now. Not
every kid has parents who can who could purchase a
condo for them.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
But just yeah, I know I knew quite a few
of those, those those students, and they were living pretty
comfortably a couple of years after graduation too. But you're right,
you know, you see the the way the market is,
it's a good investment if you can afford it. And
if you can afford to send your kid to you know,
a bu or a tough sor a Harvard paying full freight,
(09:11):
then you can maybe also afford a condo close to campus.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
You know. It's I just think it's it's a more
complicated issue, uh than we than we realize. And I'll
also say that some of these other cities they talk about,
Oklahoma City, Louisville, Kentucky. I've men to those two cities.
They're pretty nice cities. Uh, they have a lot God
for them. Everybody can't live in Boston unfortunately, I guess,
(09:36):
and everybody can't live in New York. I don't understand
why San Jose is the second most expensive city according
to Zillo New York. Well, yeah, that's the answer, right, Yeah,
So you get all these people who come out there
who make a lot of money and they'll pay whatever
the market will be. That's that's exactly the situation. Look,
(09:56):
I love the stuff you guys do at Axios. Mike,
thanks much for being available as often as you are.
We really do appreciate here on Nightside. It gives gives
my listeners something to think about, and they really can
think about this this report, uh that you've written. Uh
and and and my question is, how can folks subscribe
to Axios? What what can we do to help generate
(10:19):
some interest in Axios?
Speaker 3 (10:21):
Yeah, I'd love that they can go to axios dot com,
slash local, slash Boston, or just google Axios Boston and
then any of our stories, our homepage will pop up
and there's a sign up right there. You can pop
in your email address and then you'll hear from me
every weekday morning.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
And my understanding is that that's a.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
Free Oh yeah, absolutely, Well, I think let's step there.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Let's look. Hey, thanks man, I look forward to meeting
you someday.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
Thank you, mich my pleasure.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
So again, Axios Boston dot com. Another sort of information
for a nightside listeners, Go and take quick break when
we come back. Right after this quick break, we're going
to be talking about a new adventure park don in
Brockton called Urban Air, and we will talk with the
owner of Urban Air Brockton right after the break.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
It's Nightside with Dan Ray on w Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Well, there's a new adventure park called Urban Ear opening
up in Brockton, and the owner of Urban Air Brockton
is Cheryl Ing. Cheryl, Welcome to Nightside. How are you?
Speaker 4 (11:29):
I'm great. How are you doing tonight?
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Doing great? So is this part of this is not
a standalone business? It looks to me as if there's
a bunch of these around the country. Is that true?
Speaker 4 (11:43):
That is true. We are part of a franchise from
Unleashed Brands, and we are excited and extremely happy to
be bringing Urban Air to the town of Brockton, Massachusetts,
to all the kids and family. Is there to start
creating some fun and memory.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Okay, So, now are you from Brockden. I'm just curious.
I don't know much about you, but are you from
Brockton yourself, or if you're running it, do you have
a presence on the ground here or are you working
out of some national area office.
Speaker 4 (12:21):
I'm physically not in Brockton, but I'm pretty close by myself.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
So you're in the Massachusetts area. That's what I'm I'm
taking from that.
Speaker 4 (12:33):
I'm not I am from another I am from out
of state, but we do have a combination of tons
of friends and family there as well as our trusted
scheme that is there, and I've been there myself the
last few months on a daily weekly basis.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Is the park now open or is it going to open?
Speaker 4 (13:00):
We are physically open today, but we are actually having
our grand opening opening celebration on this coming Saturday, on
May thirty first, and we're having a huge promotion. So
the first two hundred people in line this Saturday that
purchases the Ultimate Day Pass, we'll be able to jump
for free for a year with a basic pass as
(13:24):
well as we have tons of different attractions and kind
of events that we have lined up for all of
our friends and family this coming weekend.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Okay, so it is truly brand new for Brockton. Where
about you in Brockton.
Speaker 4 (13:40):
And you're located, We are on four to thirty five
Westgate Drive, in that Westgate Drive mall area. You'll see
our sign right off the highway.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
And is it is it now? It's called Urban Air.
Is it an indoor facility? It looks to me from
the pictures I've seen it looks as if it's an
indoor facility.
Speaker 4 (14:01):
It is an indoor facility, it's not, and it is.
We call ourselves a trampoline and a venture park, and
it is because we're not just only about trampoline but
also about all the different attractions. So we have our
most famous skyrider, which is like an indoor ziplining attraction,
as well as our Ninja Warrior course, our rock climbing attractions,
(14:26):
our soft play area, you know, et cetera, et cetera.
So we have over like twenty different types of attractions
for kids to really truly enjoy themselves and have a
great time while they're there.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
Now, this is obviously your business, so it looks to me,
And again I'm looking at the website here and trying
to ask realistic questions. It looks as if you sell memberships.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
Correct, Yes, there is. We have our memberships where it's
a great deal for them to be able to have
unlimited play at seventeen ninety nine per month and it
does not limit the number of times that you come
up come to our park to play, and you could
come as many times as you want every single day
(15:17):
for thirty days and enjoy the park with a once
one time, once a month's one time a month membership.
See that's ser child.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Okay. So when you when you say seventeen ninety nine,
that's seventeen dollars in ninety nine.
Speaker 4 (15:33):
Cents, That is correct.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Okay, So that so that's per Probably it can't be
for a family membership. That would be per.
Speaker 5 (15:42):
Child per child yep.
Speaker 4 (15:45):
And all you have to do is really go on
the site and sign up for it.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Okay. And what is the how old can can be?
Speaker 1 (15:54):
That?
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Can kids be there? I see some of them very young?
Is there an age restrict meaning like it's some of
the theme parks around the country, the child in order
to participate has to be so tall? Is this an
age Can kids as young as three have a membership?
And how old can they be? What's the age. I'm
(16:15):
sure that it's not highly limited. What what can you
be thirty and be a kid there?
Speaker 4 (16:24):
One hundred percent. So it's really for kids of all ages,
including my husband and my grown adult, my teenage daughter
who's sixteen, who enjoys the facility as much as my
nine year old, as well as any of the three
year olds we see. So there's no age restriction. Some restriction, yeah,
(16:51):
we do like restriction in terms of some of the
some of the areas to play with for safety reasons.
But we also have a high chart at the very
front of our facility so that our staff is able
to measure you to make sure that you're hitting all
hip restrictions.
Speaker 6 (17:07):
But well, our.
Speaker 4 (17:08):
Staff also lets you know if you do not meet
hike restrictions to actually play in the amusement park.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
How how long has this company been in business around
the country. I've never heard of it before. I'm sure
it's very great for kids. But how long is Urban
Ear Adventure Parks been around the country.
Speaker 4 (17:31):
Yeah, so it's been around for over you know, ten
plus years, if not more.
Speaker 5 (17:38):
So.
Speaker 4 (17:38):
This would be the first park in the Brockton area
for us.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Other parks in New England that are urban air parks.
I'm just curious if this is the first in New England,
because this the first up one I've I have ever
heard of.
Speaker 4 (17:56):
There is a one, there is another additional park in
the Belling area, because this would be the second park
in the Massachusetts area, and in the process of building
additional parks and other areas as well.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Okay, Well, folks can find it. I guess they just
go to urbanear dot com and they'll get all the
information they need. Best of luck. I hope that it's
a good effort, good venture on your behalf, and I
hope that it also is great for kids in the
greater Brockton area who'll be taking advantage of urban air.
Thank you very much, Cheryl, appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (18:33):
Thank you so much. Sam, have a good day.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
You too. Good night. Here comes the news at the
bottom of the hour, and on the other side of
the news, we're going to talk a little hockey with
Kevin Paul DuPont of the Boston Globe. He knows more
about hockey and the NHL than anyone I know, and
we got to figure out how we're going to get
the Bruins back on track. In twenty five twenty six.
We've got to come up with the slogan too. We'll
(18:56):
be back right after the news at the bottom of
the hour.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Night with Dan Ray on Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Welcome back. Everybody with us is Kevin Paul DuPont. The
Bruins season has been over now for what's it four weeks, Kevin?
Or five weeks? When does training camp start?
Speaker 5 (19:18):
Hi, Kevin Hawiya, I'm doing I'm doing well, Dan, thank you,
great to be with you. And actually it's closer to
seven weeks at this point.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Hard to believe, unbelievable. It's going to be the long summer.
Everybody should commit to camp in pretty good shape. This
This year turned out to be a disastrous year for
the Bruins at so many levels. Not making the playoffs,
uh one is one of the factors. But let's start
at the top. Don Sweeney has been renewed for a
couple of seasons. That were you surprised at that?
Speaker 5 (19:49):
I know, given the fact that they made the announcement.
They decided in mid April on what I always call
autopsy day, two or three days after this he's and
ended the annual presser at the end and they said
that he would be back. So if he's going to
be back, and they've entrusted him with the as they
have with the quick makeover of this team to try
(20:11):
to get back into the playoffs and and be Cup
viable if you will, well you know you can't leave
him on an expiring contract to be ridiculous on many levels.
First of all, they've got to hire a coach, and
they've got to encourage free agents to come here. If
the general managers on an expiring deal that doesn't, that
doesn't pass much confidence through the organization.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
Yeah, and Swayne, he's been a loyal employee and a
Harvard guy. You know, played many years for the Bruins
as a as a defenseman, so he knows, he knows
the system. But it just seemed to fall apart in
so many ways. A year ago. Uh, Swayman didn't have
a good year. But I don't know, as a guy
who played a little bit of goal in high school
in college, if it was his fault or if it
(20:56):
was his defense's fault. He had a pretty good international series.
They just won this international series. I don't know how
significant is significant that is. And I guess he had
a shutout in the final game. My guess is he'll
come back. I hope he's not blame Locker.
Speaker 5 (21:17):
You know, I don't think he is that. I do
think I felt a year ago. I felt for the
last year and a half two years. He's a franchise goalie,
So I do think he'll And again I can be wrong,
A lot of people can be wrong with that, yes,
but I think you know, he's athletic, he's big, he's
got the mentality and all of that is true. And
(21:39):
it's equally true that he had a horrendous year last year.
But I feel there's a number of factors in that.
And they lost Hampus Lindome, they lost McAvoy late, the
team was not entertaining. You could just see the It
just wasn't there. And then, of course, on March seventh,
in the days leading up to my art Sun, they
(22:00):
decided to cash out a lot of these players, including
captain Brad Marshan. So I think he comes back. That said, Dan,
they've got to play better in front of him than
they did last year.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Yeah, no question. Yeah. I was disappointed to see them
trade Coil a whole bunch of the players that to me,
it looked like a fire sale? Am I looking at any?
I mean almost like that. And of course they had
the fire sale and then they won a couple of games,
and everybody's saying, hey, what's going on here? They had
(22:34):
who the players were that I guess that that could happen,
but they small sample size, they come back to where
they were. What are they going to do for a
second goaltender? I mean, are they just going to rely
on Swaymen every year for you know, sixty games.
Speaker 5 (22:50):
I think they're okay on the second goaltender. They've got
a UNIONUS corporate salo. He's fine for that role. It
wouldn't surprise me if they moved him because he's a
bit pricey and went with one of their kids. I
really think overall, goaltending's not it. I think more than anything,
they've got to get legitimate scoring power up front. Easier
said than done. And frankly, Dan, the hardest position of
(23:12):
all is, by my eye, they don't have a number
one center. Hard to compete in today's game if you
don't have that guy. They think it's Elias Lindholm. Maybe
it is. He wasn't last year. They gave him a
whole whack of money he's on there for another six years,
so they have to hope he comes around. But I
think that remains the priority. I know Sweeney's talking about
(23:34):
priority being a scoring on the wing. They need that too,
but more than anything, as you well know, you've got
to have the guy in the mid middle who can
pace the offense.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
Well. The thing about the Bruins that struck me as
the season went on, and I was stunned when I
looked at it, was that the goal's four goals against differential.
I mean, I've never seen a Brews team even when
things were really bad back in the sixties, when the
disparity between goal scoring they were losing some they might
have been winning some two one games. If they were
(24:05):
losing game seven eight to.
Speaker 5 (24:06):
One, I mean yeah, And you know, to me, it
wasn't so much. Yeah, the math of that is hard
on the eyes, but the kind of the underlying truth
was it wasn't entertaining Dan And as we know, there's
been there have been many good teams here, but there's
(24:26):
been some bad teams too. But even when they were bad,
they were entertaining. And it's a different league. I mean
entertaining in the sixties and seventies, even in the eighties
was Okay, they stink, but they're out there fighting and
there's some fun to that. Or you stink, but you
can be you can play like hell, and you can
play fast and play aggressively. They didn't do that. It
(24:50):
was just this sort of dead on arrival product and
it remained that, and that's to me, that's what led
to as you call it, the fire sale. Well if
it if they're going to lack any sort of hutspa
or any sort of character, then it becomes easy to
get rid of guys and they've got to try to recreate.
Easier said than done. But what we saw here for years,
(25:13):
in more recent years was a real spine of the
team with Chara Rask, especially with Chara bergeron Kretchy. Of
course Marshant. All that's gone. Now Dan, they've got to
come up with some any chance comes back, there's a chance,
(25:33):
but I think it's very small. I think if he
comes back, it means the market isn't there for him.
The way he believes they tried to sign him. He
believed it was worth more money. The agents have a
real keen eye on that, which which is another way
of saying, yes, there is collusion these guys, these guys,
(25:54):
these guys, the agents go find out what the market
is for these guys. So I'm guessing that someone has
told the agent or you know, wink wink, nod nod,
that there's there's a deal out there for three years,
around five and a half or six million, and.
Speaker 6 (26:12):
Why not take it?
Speaker 2 (26:13):
Right?
Speaker 5 (26:14):
Well, always been here forever.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
The only thought that I had was that Sweety kind
of did him a favor. He was an exile to
you know, some of the places other and some of
the other players were exiled to, although they all end
up with pretty good teams. I mean, yes, you know,
I mean Colorado was in it, but he he may
win a ring with the Panthers, you know.
Speaker 5 (26:40):
That's absolutely absolutely And if you remember twenty five years
ago when it was Ray Bork was was he had
his time in the barrel, if you will, with this,
Uh finally asked to go wanted to go to Philadelphia,
and there was a deal on the table from Philadelphia.
Harry Sindon was a general manager and took what he
(27:01):
felt was a better deal, and it was a very
good deal with Colorado, and Ray didn't get what he wanted.
But he did get the cup, he got the.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
Ring, he got the ring. I remember being a little
good airploy with him and Steve Fryer that day. Steve
and I have very close friends, and as he got
on the plane to head out of town. It's sad
to see guys like that. I was disappointed in Charlie
Coyle being traded because I know I think he's thirty three,
if I'm not mistaken, so maybe a little long in
(27:29):
the tooth there, But I thought he was one of
the better players consistently for the last two or three
years on this team after his time with other organizations.
Speaker 5 (27:39):
Yeah, and did it with all the jobs of a
smile on his face. I'll say that for Charlie. You
know I say this about virtually everybody on every team,
which is you'd like to see some more offense, more
consistent offense. But of course he moved up in the lineup.
She's an Bergier on and Kretzy retired. He did a
good job this year. It wasn't there. He bounced around
(28:01):
from wing to center, high up in the lineup. What
I think he's best at Dan is he's an excellent
number three center, and that that's that's a if you
if you will, in some sense, that's a luxury. They
didn't they needed, they needed him higher in the order.
It didn't. It didn't work for him this year like
(28:23):
it did last. So again give him where they were.
And also we haven't addressed this there there's they've been
so in need of building up with draft picks, good
draft picks, prospects that you know they saw, they saw
the chance to bring in middle stat for center. We'll
(28:43):
see what he has.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
Is a young guy on young quantity. Look, I think
the only guy who exceeded expectations last year was Pasternak.
Who else would you put in that category who exceeded expectations?
I thought it was an underperforming team across the board.
Speaker 5 (29:02):
Yeah, you know he delivered. And again he's your point
is a good one, which is so few guys above
the line. But I think Geeky was there and now
he's a restricted free agent. He should make some real
money and good for him. Uh, straight line player, no nonsense.
(29:25):
But yeah, other than those two got a scrape to
come up.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
I'll give McAvoy a pass because McAvoy got hurt. Uh yeah,
god knows how if when he got hurt, and we
know we really got hurt. But uh, he's the sort
of guy who could have played hurt all year and
not you know, not tipped it off to anybody. They
make the playoffs next year, How big a climb is that?
Speaker 5 (29:48):
In your opinion, Kevin, Uh, it's not that big to
think that they could be in the wild card mix?
Speaker 3 (29:57):
Is not that?
Speaker 5 (29:58):
Not that big a lift because they do have the
franchise goaltender. Now, if I'm wrong about that, and I
wouldn't be one wrong, I think a lot of people
think Jeremy Swayman is that good. So if you've got
the goaltender, you're in it. You need a lot more.
But if they didn't have Swaymen, if they didn't have
(30:18):
Pastanak McAvoy is legit. So they've got some good pieces here.
The question is can they find the right people to
fill this out? Can they make up that void at
number one Center? And as I'm watching it, you and
I are talking, I'm watching Dallas and Edmonton's it's sort
of a different sport. Uh, And I say that for
(30:39):
the speedy it's two good teams. And okay, yeah, they're
they're the semi finalists. They should be good teams. But
we've said this wild about the Bruins. Their speed isn't there,
their aggressiveness isn't there. They've got to they've got to
up those factors again. That that that's a lift.
Speaker 2 (30:58):
What was interesting to see teams like the Capitals who
played so well Winnipeg all knocked out and knocked out early.
I have no idea who's going to win the Cup.
I'm hoping for Florida for Martian's sake, but I don't
what's your what's your best guess at this point?
Speaker 5 (31:18):
Oh, my best guess is going to end up right
where it was last year with Florida and Edmonton. Uh,
there's there's a there's a ton I like about both
of them. I would think if it, if it does
end up that, I think it's going to be Edmonton
this time. I really do. They've got they've just got
such speed, they've got such great firepower with Drisidl and
(31:43):
oh god, all right, yeah, I think it's their year.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
All right? Well, that that, Joey is the way it
seems to work out in hockey. There's very few, very
few repeats, that's for sure. Since the days of the
Islanders and the old oilers and the Canadians before that. Kevin,
thanks so much, great to talk with you really enjoyed it.
Maybe we can hit it one more time once the
free agency market opens up.
Speaker 5 (32:05):
Okay, I hope so great.
Speaker 3 (32:08):
Go to be with you.
Speaker 5 (32:08):
Dan.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Right back at you, Kevin, Thank you so much, Ladies
and gentlemen, Kevin Paul DuPont. He is a sage, a
hockey sage. It's as simple as that. When we get back,
we will wrap up this hour. One more guest coming up,
and we're going to talk about if you make overtime,
if you make tips, you may not you may pay
substantially less in taxes in upcoming years. We'll explain back
(32:31):
after this.
Speaker 1 (32:31):
On Nightside, you're on Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ,
Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
Roy Joining us is Sharif Midyest. Sarif, welcome back to Nightside.
How are you.
Speaker 6 (32:46):
I'm doing great, Dan, Thanks for having me back.
Speaker 2 (32:48):
Right this I think is your third third time with us.
You're the CEO of Bricks Holdings, a multi brand franchising
company specializing in food service chains. So a lot of
the people who work in food service change do work
over time and do rely on tips, and there's some
good news for them in this so called big, beautiful
(33:09):
bill that the Republicans are trying to shoehorn through Congress.
Speaker 6 (33:14):
That's right, it.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
Looks like it's going to be a tight fit. They
only pass by one vote in the House and the Senate.
There's a lot of rumblings amongst the senators different interests.
Assuming this bill passes, what's it going to mean for
people who rely on overtime and tips? Kind of good news.
Speaker 6 (33:33):
It's a big deal. I mean, to have all of
those wages that you get in tips and overtime to
be tax free is a significant, you know, impact to
folks that you know that are in the food service
restaurant industry and rely on that to pay their bills. Right,
that's a it's a huge benefit if this gets through.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
Now, if my memory is accurate, and it's a pretty
good memory, it was President Trump than candidate Trump, well,
former President Trump who advocated this on the campaign trail,
and eventually Vice President Harris echoed the position that the
candidate Trump had taken. So it seems like there should
(34:15):
be support for this portion this aspect of the bill
on both sides of the aisle.
Speaker 6 (34:21):
There should be, and because it helps solve a couple
of things. Right, So everyone's talking about, you know, can
these folks make a livable wage? Well, it's really hard
to continue to pay more and more on an hourly
rate as a restaurant owner because restaurant margins are slim.
But if you can take the tips that folks get
from their consumers, from their guests, and you cannot tax that,
(34:45):
it goes right into their pocket. That solves both problems.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
Right.
Speaker 6 (34:49):
The restauranteurs are not paying more so to speak, but
their team members, their servers, their back of house staff,
their hostess and hostesses are making more money and being
able to sustain a livable wage.
Speaker 2 (35:03):
So without bringing the politics into it, it's interesting to me,
at least when I grew up back in the sixties
and seventies, the party of the working person was the
Democrats and the Republicans were the country club party, and
often they owned the businesses and the Democrats worked in
the businesses. It seems that at least on this initiative
(35:26):
from Trump, he's kind of flipped the traditional roles of
the two parties on their heads.
Speaker 6 (35:32):
It seems like that, but at the end of the day,
it's also really good for business, and I think that's
the key here. It's helping the individuals, helping the restaurant
team members, but it's also helping the restaurant industry. I mean,
you have to remember they were battered during COVID and
many of them shut down. Inflation continues to raise costs,
(35:55):
and so this gives everyone a little bit of a
breath relief and will help possibly draw more people into
the restaurant sector. Right, more people that want to take
advantage of this tax free opportunity may want to come
in and fill those those gaps, right, fill those open
(36:16):
positions in the restaurant side.
Speaker 2 (36:18):
Well, I know that in some parts of the country
at different times during the year, and the ski resorts
in the wintertime and the beach beach restaurants in the summertime,
they have they sometimes have trouble hiring enough weight staff.
So that is a something that that I know from
my experience on Cape Cod here in Massachusetts, a lot
(36:39):
of the restaurant owners say they can't get people to work.
It's I don't know why, but but this certainly I
think would would would increase I mean, normally you think
about high school kids and college kids home for the summer.
But a lot of restaurant owners have told me that
they they just can't, you know, increase their their over
the over the counter ways is enough to induce people
(37:02):
to come and work. And so maybe this is maybe
this is the boost that the tourist towns in America
in the summer, in the beach towns and in the
winter the ski towns need. I assume you would look
at that also as a positive for the industry.
Speaker 6 (37:20):
A huge positive. And to your point, you know, restaurants
since the pandemic have been losing folks to retail. So
retail has higher margins, right, Those those clothing stores, those
shoes stores, they operate on higher margins so they can
pay their team members more. And so when you're a
college kid, even in you know those summer jobs that
you mentioned, Am I going to go work somewhere I
(37:41):
can get twenty dollars an hour or seven dollars an hour, right,
and they're going to retail. But now if this starts,
you know, you can start making twenty dollars an hour.
We're in tips and have a tax free right, think
about that inducement. Now that restaurants can use to bring
those folks back into restaurants versus going to their local
retail shops.
Speaker 2 (38:02):
Makes a lot of sense, doesn't Let's only hope that
the members of Congress can come together on this at least,
if nothing else, that's for sure. Shreif Mityes. Thank you
so much. See old Bricks Holdings. If folks want to
get in touch with you, the best way to do that.
Speaker 6 (38:16):
Is www dot Bricksbrix Holdings dot com.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
Sounds great. Thanks you, Rey, appreciate talking to you once again.
We'll talk again. Thank you very much. All Right, we
get back. We're going to talk as we intended to
do last night, about President Trump's relentless battle against Harvard University.
Harvard has made concessions. The President does not seem to
(38:43):
want to declear victory. I don't understand that. Maybe some
of you do. We'll be back right after the nine
o'clock news and we'll break it down
It's nice eyes, Dan Ray, I'm telling you crazy Boston's
news radio.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Thank you very much, Emma. Great to hear your voice
working the newscasts here at night. Thanks so much for
checking us out and also introducing us to the audience.
My name's Dan Ray. I'm the host of Nightside. My
partner Rob Brooks is behind us, back in the control room.
Actually he's quite a distance from us. I'm broadcasting remotely,
(00:27):
as I think most of you know, and Rob is
back at the iHeart headquarters in beautiful Medford, Massachusetts. But
you won't have to call Rob until after nine o'clock.
In the first four hours, we do what's called the
night Side News Update. Every night we talk to four
interesting people about different topics. So tonight we're going to
(00:48):
talk about the cost to rent here in Boston, which
is prohibitive, talking about a new adventure park in Brockton
called Urban Air that opens up in Brockton. We're going
to talk with Kevin Paul DuPont. He is the Boston
Globe sportswriter and he knows everything about the Bruins. We're
going to talk about how to get the Bruins fixed
(01:10):
for next year, and then we'll talk about if you
get if you paid overtime or tips, you're possibly not
going to have to pay taxes on your overtime of tips.
And that's some good news out of Washington for those
of those of you who work overtime and earn tips.
I work overtime, but it's all part of my what
(01:30):
we call a personal services contract, and everything gets taxed.
We're going to start it off tonight, first and foremost
with Mike Dian. Mike is an Axios Boston reporter. We've
had Mike on before. Welcome back, Mike. I'm looking at
this article and my head is spinning. How are you tonight?
Speaker 3 (01:49):
I'm good. Actually, unfortunately, I'm a renter Dan, so I'm
not feeling as great as I could be given the topic.
We're about to discuss some of the cost of renting
in the city.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Well, the headline on this story is you have to
rent one hundred and twenty seven thousand dollars to rent
comfortably in Boston. That follows New York City by eighteen
thousand dollars in San Jose, California. I guess my question is,
how do you define renting comfortably? I mean, I think
(02:22):
most people could find a nice one bedroom apartment even
in downtown Boston for that.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
Well, so it comes down to what I like about
this survey from Zillow that kind of did crunch all
these numbers is that it's basing it on thirty two
point five percent of household income. And that's kind of
the old fashioned, you know, advice that you always got
to spend about a quarter to thirty percent of your
income on housing, on rent or mortgage something like that.
(02:53):
So it's that kind of old fashioned advice, and that's
what Zillo used to then base out the map the
rest of.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
All mat So let's work.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Let's work at one hundred.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Yeah, let's work enough so you got to earn one
hundred and twenty seven. Will round that. Let's say to oh,
I don't Let's say one hundred and twenty five just
for the fun of it. And if we say to ourselves, okay,
what is a third of one hundred and twenty five,
that's about what forty two thousand dollars something like that roughly.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
So yeah, so that'll be forty two thousand annually.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Annually divided by twelve, right, that would mean you would
have to be paying three thousand plus thirty five.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Hundred thirty five hundred yep.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Okay, so if you have a roommate to rent the
two bedroom, you have to find a roommate who's in
the same you know, income bracket if you will. But
there are no decent single apartments in Boston that you
can get as a single person for thirty five hundred bucks.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Really thirty five No, I think you could. I mean,
I think that's That's what this study is kind of showing,
is that it would cost around that to get the
market rate. And I can tell you because I've looked.
I'm good where I am right now, but whenever I
look on Zillo or look for different apartments to rent,
it really is about that much. Okay, don't tell you,
don't tell me a little bit.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Left, don't tell me where you live. Okay, that's not
But assuming that the state House is ground zero, yeah,
how many miles do you live away from ground zero?
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Only a couple time. I'm in Dorchester, okay, the wide one. Yeah, No,
it's good. I'm happy, But I mean, so this study also,
the average observed rent in Boston is thirty one hundred
and seventy five, So that kind of gives you an
idea of the baseline rent here. Oh yeah, we were
doing it. Well, yeah, so that kind of So when
(04:50):
you take numbers like that, you know, you do the math.
You multiplied by twelve months. That's how you arrive at
one hundred and twenty seven thousand annual, which is a
bit of an eye popping a moun. I think, you know,
a lot of people probably don't earn that much household income.
It's a little bit easier to do that. But yeah,
I mean this, like you said before, we're the third
priceiest market in the United States.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
You know, when I got out of law school in
the nineteen seventies, I had a really neat one bedroom
apartment at do you know where Longfellow Place is in
downtown Boston. It's yeah, right, it's beautiful. It was brand new,
it's brand new. I was on the twenty third floor,
(05:33):
had a great view of water, just wonderful. I paid
five hundred dollars a month.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Yeah, it's probably over five grand now, but.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Well maybe maybe, but I'm trying to remember what I
was making, and it probably was in line with that.
I don't know, it's crazy, it's just crazy. So the
question then is if you're someone who's starting out in Boston,
maybe you just say, hey, I can't live in the
city of Boston. I got to find something in one
(06:08):
of the inner suburbs, Revere or or or Watertown on
the other side of the city. Or maybe maybe that's
the reality. I got to find something out in Newton.
There there are some really nice apartments that I'm aware
of because one of my children a few years ago
rented in one of these apartments right on the MBTA line.
(06:30):
So is this this look we're the highest in the
country I'm looking at. I'm looking at places like, well,
San Diego was pretty close. San Francisco is close. Uh.
To get to the lowest cities Louisville, Oklahoma City, Buffalo,
Saint Louis, Birmingham, Alabama. You know obviously the rents in
(06:56):
those places, it's kind of what the what what the
market will beer? How do we resolve this? Yes, yes,
well I think for the renter.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
For the consumer, you're absolutely right is to look for
deals and bargains, look for you know, neighborhoods or towns
and cities outside of downtown. Definitely. You know you mentioned Revere.
I put Chelsea on that list. I think a lot
of good stuff happening in Quinsy, but also there's also
a lot of new building which we need to do
housing construction, but all the stuff that's coming online brand
(07:26):
new is not going to be that affordable for folks. So,
you know, it really is just a big problem. You
can look at it from a housing standpoint, build build, build,
but that brings you know, non affordable housing online, or
improve transportation traffic congestion if you drive. Obviously, that's going
to be a pain for anybody who's living, you know,
(07:47):
a half hour hour away from work if they work downtown.
And we know about the travails of the MBTA, certainly
reliability is still a question. So there isn't a lot
of good answers, but I think there are still some
bargains to be found here and there. If you're crawling
on Zillow and looking for a place where you can
actually get to work from.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Yeah, I wonder if the fact that we're a university
town in many respects, between b C and b U
and Tufts and Harvard and m I T and Northeastern
and Emerson, I wonder if the rents in Boston are
impacted adversely. So you have kids coming in town. In
(08:30):
some cases, I'm hearing that wealthy parents buy condos. They
all the kids going to be here for four years,
you know, the the increase in the value of the condominium,
we'll more than offset. I mean, there's different Now. Not
every kid has parents who can who could purchase a
condo for them.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
But just yeah, I know I knew quite a few
of those, those those students, and they were living pretty
comfortably a couple of years after graduation too. But you're right,
you know, you see the the way the market is,
it's a good investment if you can afford it. And
if you can afford to send your kid to you know,
a bu or a tough sor a Harvard paying full freight,
(09:11):
then you can maybe also afford a condo close to campus.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
You know. It's I just think it's it's a more
complicated issue, uh than we than we realize. And I'll
also say that some of these other cities they talk about,
Oklahoma City, Louisville, Kentucky. I've men to those two cities.
They're pretty nice cities. Uh, they have a lot God
for them. Everybody can't live in Boston unfortunately, I guess,
(09:36):
and everybody can't live in New York. I don't understand
why San Jose is the second most expensive city according
to Zillo New York. Well, yeah, that's the answer, right, Yeah,
So you get all these people who come out there
who make a lot of money and they'll pay whatever
the market will be. That's that's exactly the situation. Look,
(09:56):
I love the stuff you guys do at Axios. Mike,
thanks much for being available as often as you are.
We really do appreciate here on Nightside. It gives gives
my listeners something to think about, and they really can
think about this this report, uh that you've written. Uh
and and and my question is, how can folks subscribe
to Axios? What what can we do to help generate
(10:19):
some interest in Axios?
Speaker 3 (10:21):
Yeah, I'd love that they can go to axios dot com,
slash local, slash Boston, or just google Axios Boston and
then any of our stories, our homepage will pop up
and there's a sign up right there. You can pop
in your email address and then you'll hear from me
every weekday morning.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
And my understanding is that that's a.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
Free Oh yeah, absolutely, Well, I think let's step there.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Let's look. Hey, thanks man, I look forward to meeting
you someday.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
Thank you, mich my pleasure.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
So again, Axios Boston dot com. Another sort of information
for a nightside listeners, Go and take quick break when
we come back. Right after this quick break, we're going
to be talking about a new adventure park don in
Brockton called Urban Air, and we will talk with the
owner of Urban Air Brockton right after the break.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
It's Nightside with Dan Ray on w Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Well, there's a new adventure park called Urban Ear opening
up in Brockton, and the owner of Urban Air Brockton
is Cheryl Ing. Cheryl, Welcome to Nightside. How are you?
Speaker 4 (11:29):
I'm great. How are you doing tonight?
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Doing great? So is this part of this is not
a standalone business? It looks to me as if there's
a bunch of these around the country. Is that true?
Speaker 4 (11:43):
That is true. We are part of a franchise from
Unleashed Brands, and we are excited and extremely happy to
be bringing Urban Air to the town of Brockton, Massachusetts,
to all the kids and family. Is there to start
creating some fun and memory.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Okay, So, now are you from Brockden. I'm just curious.
I don't know much about you, but are you from
Brockton yourself, or if you're running it, do you have
a presence on the ground here or are you working
out of some national area office.
Speaker 4 (12:21):
I'm physically not in Brockton, but I'm pretty close by myself.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
So you're in the Massachusetts area. That's what I'm I'm
taking from that.
Speaker 4 (12:33):
I'm not I am from another I am from out
of state, but we do have a combination of tons
of friends and family there as well as our trusted
scheme that is there, and I've been there myself the
last few months on a daily weekly basis.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Is the park now open or is it going to open?
Speaker 4 (13:00):
We are physically open today, but we are actually having
our grand opening opening celebration on this coming Saturday, on
May thirty first, and we're having a huge promotion. So
the first two hundred people in line this Saturday that
purchases the Ultimate Day Pass, we'll be able to jump
for free for a year with a basic pass as
(13:24):
well as we have tons of different attractions and kind
of events that we have lined up for all of
our friends and family this coming weekend.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Okay, so it is truly brand new for Brockton. Where
about you in Brockton.
Speaker 4 (13:40):
And you're located, We are on four to thirty five
Westgate Drive, in that Westgate Drive mall area. You'll see
our sign right off the highway.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
And is it is it now? It's called Urban Air.
Is it an indoor facility? It looks to me from
the pictures I've seen it looks as if it's an
indoor facility.
Speaker 4 (14:01):
It is an indoor facility, it's not, and it is.
We call ourselves a trampoline and a venture park, and
it is because we're not just only about trampoline but
also about all the different attractions. So we have our
most famous skyrider, which is like an indoor ziplining attraction,
as well as our Ninja Warrior course, our rock climbing attractions,
(14:26):
our soft play area, you know, et cetera, et cetera.
So we have over like twenty different types of attractions
for kids to really truly enjoy themselves and have a
great time while they're there.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
Now, this is obviously your business, so it looks to me,
And again I'm looking at the website here and trying
to ask realistic questions. It looks as if you sell memberships.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
Correct, Yes, there is. We have our memberships where it's
a great deal for them to be able to have
unlimited play at seventeen ninety nine per month and it
does not limit the number of times that you come
up come to our park to play, and you could
come as many times as you want every single day
(15:17):
for thirty days and enjoy the park with a once
one time, once a month's one time a month membership.
See that's ser child.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Okay. So when you when you say seventeen ninety nine,
that's seventeen dollars in ninety nine.
Speaker 4 (15:33):
Cents, That is correct.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Okay, So that so that's per Probably it can't be
for a family membership. That would be per.
Speaker 5 (15:42):
Child per child yep.
Speaker 4 (15:45):
And all you have to do is really go on
the site and sign up for it.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Okay. And what is the how old can can be?
Speaker 1 (15:54):
That?
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Can kids be there? I see some of them very young?
Is there an age restrict meaning like it's some of
the theme parks around the country, the child in order
to participate has to be so tall? Is this an
age Can kids as young as three have a membership?
And how old can they be? What's the age. I'm
(16:15):
sure that it's not highly limited. What what can you
be thirty and be a kid there?
Speaker 4 (16:24):
One hundred percent. So it's really for kids of all ages,
including my husband and my grown adult, my teenage daughter
who's sixteen, who enjoys the facility as much as my
nine year old, as well as any of the three
year olds we see. So there's no age restriction. Some restriction, yeah,
(16:51):
we do like restriction in terms of some of the
some of the areas to play with for safety reasons.
But we also have a high chart at the very
front of our facility so that our staff is able
to measure you to make sure that you're hitting all
hip restrictions.
Speaker 6 (17:07):
But well, our.
Speaker 4 (17:08):
Staff also lets you know if you do not meet
hike restrictions to actually play in the amusement park.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
How how long has this company been in business around
the country. I've never heard of it before. I'm sure
it's very great for kids. But how long is Urban
Ear Adventure Parks been around the country.
Speaker 4 (17:31):
Yeah, so it's been around for over you know, ten
plus years, if not more.
Speaker 5 (17:38):
So.
Speaker 4 (17:38):
This would be the first park in the Brockton area
for us.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Other parks in New England that are urban air parks.
I'm just curious if this is the first in New England,
because this the first up one I've I have ever
heard of.
Speaker 4 (17:56):
There is a one, there is another additional park in
the Belling area, because this would be the second park
in the Massachusetts area, and in the process of building
additional parks and other areas as well.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Okay, Well, folks can find it. I guess they just
go to urbanear dot com and they'll get all the
information they need. Best of luck. I hope that it's
a good effort, good venture on your behalf, and I
hope that it also is great for kids in the
greater Brockton area who'll be taking advantage of urban air.
Thank you very much, Cheryl, appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (18:33):
Thank you so much. Sam, have a good day.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
You too. Good night. Here comes the news at the
bottom of the hour, and on the other side of
the news, we're going to talk a little hockey with
Kevin Paul DuPont of the Boston Globe. He knows more
about hockey and the NHL than anyone I know, and
we got to figure out how we're going to get
the Bruins back on track. In twenty five twenty six.
We've got to come up with the slogan too. We'll
(18:56):
be back right after the news at the bottom of
the hour.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Night with Dan Ray on Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Welcome back. Everybody with us is Kevin Paul DuPont. The
Bruins season has been over now for what's it four weeks, Kevin?
Or five weeks? When does training camp start?
Speaker 5 (19:18):
Hi, Kevin Hawiya, I'm doing I'm doing well, Dan, thank you,
great to be with you. And actually it's closer to
seven weeks at this point.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Hard to believe, unbelievable. It's going to be the long summer.
Everybody should commit to camp in pretty good shape. This
This year turned out to be a disastrous year for
the Bruins at so many levels. Not making the playoffs,
uh one is one of the factors. But let's start
at the top. Don Sweeney has been renewed for a
couple of seasons. That were you surprised at that?
Speaker 5 (19:49):
I know, given the fact that they made the announcement.
They decided in mid April on what I always call
autopsy day, two or three days after this he's and
ended the annual presser at the end and they said
that he would be back. So if he's going to
be back, and they've entrusted him with the as they
have with the quick makeover of this team to try
(20:11):
to get back into the playoffs and and be Cup
viable if you will, well you know you can't leave
him on an expiring contract to be ridiculous on many levels.
First of all, they've got to hire a coach, and
they've got to encourage free agents to come here. If
the general managers on an expiring deal that doesn't, that
doesn't pass much confidence through the organization.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
Yeah, and Swayne, he's been a loyal employee and a
Harvard guy. You know, played many years for the Bruins
as a as a defenseman, so he knows, he knows
the system. But it just seemed to fall apart in
so many ways. A year ago. Uh, Swayman didn't have
a good year. But I don't know, as a guy
who played a little bit of goal in high school
in college, if it was his fault or if it
(20:56):
was his defense's fault. He had a pretty good international series.
They just won this international series. I don't know how
significant is significant that is. And I guess he had
a shutout in the final game. My guess is he'll
come back. I hope he's not blame Locker.
Speaker 5 (21:17):
You know, I don't think he is that. I do
think I felt a year ago. I felt for the
last year and a half two years. He's a franchise goalie,
So I do think he'll And again I can be wrong,
A lot of people can be wrong with that, yes,
but I think you know, he's athletic, he's big, he's
got the mentality and all of that is true. And
(21:39):
it's equally true that he had a horrendous year last year.
But I feel there's a number of factors in that.
And they lost Hampus Lindome, they lost McAvoy late, the
team was not entertaining. You could just see the It
just wasn't there. And then, of course, on March seventh,
in the days leading up to my art Sun, they
(22:00):
decided to cash out a lot of these players, including
captain Brad Marshan. So I think he comes back. That said, Dan,
they've got to play better in front of him than
they did last year.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Yeah, no question. Yeah. I was disappointed to see them
trade Coil a whole bunch of the players that to me,
it looked like a fire sale? Am I looking at any?
I mean almost like that. And of course they had
the fire sale and then they won a couple of games,
and everybody's saying, hey, what's going on here? They had
(22:34):
who the players were that I guess that that could happen,
but they small sample size, they come back to where
they were. What are they going to do for a
second goaltender? I mean, are they just going to rely
on Swaymen every year for you know, sixty games.
Speaker 5 (22:50):
I think they're okay on the second goaltender. They've got
a UNIONUS corporate salo. He's fine for that role. It
wouldn't surprise me if they moved him because he's a
bit pricey and went with one of their kids. I
really think overall, goaltending's not it. I think more than anything,
they've got to get legitimate scoring power up front. Easier
said than done. And frankly, Dan, the hardest position of
(23:12):
all is, by my eye, they don't have a number
one center. Hard to compete in today's game if you
don't have that guy. They think it's Elias Lindholm. Maybe
it is. He wasn't last year. They gave him a
whole whack of money he's on there for another six years,
so they have to hope he comes around. But I
think that remains the priority. I know Sweeney's talking about
(23:34):
priority being a scoring on the wing. They need that too,
but more than anything, as you well know, you've got
to have the guy in the mid middle who can
pace the offense.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
Well. The thing about the Bruins that struck me as
the season went on, and I was stunned when I
looked at it, was that the goal's four goals against differential.
I mean, I've never seen a Brews team even when
things were really bad back in the sixties, when the
disparity between goal scoring they were losing some they might
have been winning some two one games. If they were
(24:05):
losing game seven eight to.
Speaker 5 (24:06):
One, I mean yeah, And you know, to me, it
wasn't so much. Yeah, the math of that is hard
on the eyes, but the kind of the underlying truth
was it wasn't entertaining Dan And as we know, there's
been there have been many good teams here, but there's
(24:26):
been some bad teams too. But even when they were bad,
they were entertaining. And it's a different league. I mean
entertaining in the sixties and seventies, even in the eighties
was Okay, they stink, but they're out there fighting and
there's some fun to that. Or you stink, but you
can be you can play like hell, and you can
play fast and play aggressively. They didn't do that. It
(24:50):
was just this sort of dead on arrival product and
it remained that, and that's to me, that's what led
to as you call it, the fire sale. Well if
it if they're going to lack any sort of hutspa
or any sort of character, then it becomes easy to
get rid of guys and they've got to try to recreate.
Easier said than done. But what we saw here for years,
(25:13):
in more recent years was a real spine of the
team with Chara Rask, especially with Chara bergeron Kretchy. Of
course Marshant. All that's gone. Now Dan, they've got to
come up with some any chance comes back, there's a chance,
(25:33):
but I think it's very small. I think if he
comes back, it means the market isn't there for him.
The way he believes they tried to sign him. He
believed it was worth more money. The agents have a
real keen eye on that, which which is another way
of saying, yes, there is collusion these guys, these guys,
(25:54):
these guys, the agents go find out what the market
is for these guys. So I'm guessing that someone has
told the agent or you know, wink wink, nod nod,
that there's there's a deal out there for three years,
around five and a half or six million, and.
Speaker 6 (26:12):
Why not take it?
Speaker 2 (26:13):
Right?
Speaker 5 (26:14):
Well, always been here forever.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
The only thought that I had was that Sweety kind
of did him a favor. He was an exile to
you know, some of the places other and some of
the other players were exiled to, although they all end
up with pretty good teams. I mean, yes, you know,
I mean Colorado was in it, but he he may
win a ring with the Panthers, you know.
Speaker 5 (26:40):
That's absolutely absolutely And if you remember twenty five years
ago when it was Ray Bork was was he had
his time in the barrel, if you will, with this,
Uh finally asked to go wanted to go to Philadelphia,
and there was a deal on the table from Philadelphia.
Harry Sindon was a general manager and took what he
(27:01):
felt was a better deal, and it was a very
good deal with Colorado, and Ray didn't get what he wanted.
But he did get the cup, he got the.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
Ring, he got the ring. I remember being a little
good airploy with him and Steve Fryer that day. Steve
and I have very close friends, and as he got
on the plane to head out of town. It's sad
to see guys like that. I was disappointed in Charlie
Coyle being traded because I know I think he's thirty three,
if I'm not mistaken, so maybe a little long in
(27:29):
the tooth there, But I thought he was one of
the better players consistently for the last two or three
years on this team after his time with other organizations.
Speaker 5 (27:39):
Yeah, and did it with all the jobs of a
smile on his face. I'll say that for Charlie. You
know I say this about virtually everybody on every team,
which is you'd like to see some more offense, more
consistent offense. But of course he moved up in the lineup.
She's an Bergier on and Kretzy retired. He did a
good job this year. It wasn't there. He bounced around
(28:01):
from wing to center, high up in the lineup. What
I think he's best at Dan is he's an excellent
number three center, and that that's that's a if you
if you will, in some sense, that's a luxury. They
didn't they needed, they needed him higher in the order.
It didn't. It didn't work for him this year like
(28:23):
it did last. So again give him where they were.
And also we haven't addressed this there there's they've been
so in need of building up with draft picks, good
draft picks, prospects that you know they saw, they saw
the chance to bring in middle stat for center. We'll
(28:43):
see what he has.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
Is a young guy on young quantity. Look, I think
the only guy who exceeded expectations last year was Pasternak.
Who else would you put in that category who exceeded expectations?
I thought it was an underperforming team across the board.
Speaker 5 (29:02):
Yeah, you know he delivered. And again he's your point
is a good one, which is so few guys above
the line. But I think Geeky was there and now
he's a restricted free agent. He should make some real
money and good for him. Uh, straight line player, no nonsense.
(29:25):
But yeah, other than those two got a scrape to
come up.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
I'll give McAvoy a pass because McAvoy got hurt. Uh yeah,
god knows how if when he got hurt, and we
know we really got hurt. But uh, he's the sort
of guy who could have played hurt all year and
not you know, not tipped it off to anybody. They
make the playoffs next year, How big a climb is that?
Speaker 5 (29:48):
In your opinion, Kevin, Uh, it's not that big to
think that they could be in the wild card mix?
Speaker 3 (29:57):
Is not that?
Speaker 5 (29:58):
Not that big a lift because they do have the
franchise goaltender. Now, if I'm wrong about that, and I
wouldn't be one wrong, I think a lot of people
think Jeremy Swayman is that good. So if you've got
the goaltender, you're in it. You need a lot more.
But if they didn't have Swaymen, if they didn't have
(30:18):
Pastanak McAvoy is legit. So they've got some good pieces here.
The question is can they find the right people to
fill this out? Can they make up that void at
number one Center? And as I'm watching it, you and
I are talking, I'm watching Dallas and Edmonton's it's sort
of a different sport. Uh, And I say that for
(30:39):
the speedy it's two good teams. And okay, yeah, they're
they're the semi finalists. They should be good teams. But
we've said this wild about the Bruins. Their speed isn't there,
their aggressiveness isn't there. They've got to they've got to
up those factors again. That that that's a lift.
Speaker 2 (30:58):
What was interesting to see teams like the Capitals who
played so well Winnipeg all knocked out and knocked out early.
I have no idea who's going to win the Cup.
I'm hoping for Florida for Martian's sake, but I don't
what's your what's your best guess at this point?
Speaker 5 (31:18):
Oh, my best guess is going to end up right
where it was last year with Florida and Edmonton. Uh,
there's there's a there's a ton I like about both
of them. I would think if it, if it does
end up that, I think it's going to be Edmonton
this time. I really do. They've got they've just got
such speed, they've got such great firepower with Drisidl and
(31:43):
oh god, all right, yeah, I think it's their year.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
All right? Well, that that, Joey is the way it
seems to work out in hockey. There's very few, very
few repeats, that's for sure. Since the days of the
Islanders and the old oilers and the Canadians before that. Kevin,
thanks so much, great to talk with you really enjoyed it.
Maybe we can hit it one more time once the
free agency market opens up.
Speaker 5 (32:05):
Okay, I hope so great.
Speaker 3 (32:08):
Go to be with you.
Speaker 5 (32:08):
Dan.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Right back at you, Kevin, Thank you so much, Ladies
and gentlemen, Kevin Paul DuPont. He is a sage, a
hockey sage. It's as simple as that. When we get back,
we will wrap up this hour. One more guest coming up,
and we're going to talk about if you make overtime,
if you make tips, you may not you may pay
substantially less in taxes in upcoming years. We'll explain back
(32:31):
after this.
Speaker 1 (32:31):
On Nightside, you're on Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ,
Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
Roy Joining us is Sharif Midyest. Sarif, welcome back to Nightside.
How are you.
Speaker 6 (32:46):
I'm doing great, Dan, Thanks for having me back.
Speaker 2 (32:48):
Right this I think is your third third time with us.
You're the CEO of Bricks Holdings, a multi brand franchising
company specializing in food service chains. So a lot of
the people who work in food service change do work
over time and do rely on tips, and there's some
good news for them in this so called big, beautiful
(33:09):
bill that the Republicans are trying to shoehorn through Congress.
Speaker 6 (33:14):
That's right, it.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
Looks like it's going to be a tight fit. They
only pass by one vote in the House and the Senate.
There's a lot of rumblings amongst the senators different interests.
Assuming this bill passes, what's it going to mean for
people who rely on overtime and tips? Kind of good news.
Speaker 6 (33:33):
It's a big deal. I mean, to have all of
those wages that you get in tips and overtime to
be tax free is a significant, you know, impact to
folks that you know that are in the food service
restaurant industry and rely on that to pay their bills. Right,
that's a it's a huge benefit if this gets through.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
Now, if my memory is accurate, and it's a pretty
good memory, it was President Trump than candidate Trump, well,
former President Trump who advocated this on the campaign trail,
and eventually Vice President Harris echoed the position that the
candidate Trump had taken. So it seems like there should
(34:15):
be support for this portion this aspect of the bill
on both sides of the aisle.
Speaker 6 (34:21):
There should be, and because it helps solve a couple
of things. Right, So everyone's talking about, you know, can
these folks make a livable wage? Well, it's really hard
to continue to pay more and more on an hourly
rate as a restaurant owner because restaurant margins are slim.
But if you can take the tips that folks get
from their consumers, from their guests, and you cannot tax that,
(34:45):
it goes right into their pocket. That solves both problems.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
Right.
Speaker 6 (34:49):
The restauranteurs are not paying more so to speak, but
their team members, their servers, their back of house staff,
their hostess and hostesses are making more money and being
able to sustain a livable wage.
Speaker 2 (35:03):
So without bringing the politics into it, it's interesting to me,
at least when I grew up back in the sixties
and seventies, the party of the working person was the
Democrats and the Republicans were the country club party, and
often they owned the businesses and the Democrats worked in
the businesses. It seems that at least on this initiative
(35:26):
from Trump, he's kind of flipped the traditional roles of
the two parties on their heads.
Speaker 6 (35:32):
It seems like that, but at the end of the day,
it's also really good for business, and I think that's
the key here. It's helping the individuals, helping the restaurant
team members, but it's also helping the restaurant industry. I mean,
you have to remember they were battered during COVID and
many of them shut down. Inflation continues to raise costs,
(35:55):
and so this gives everyone a little bit of a
breath relief and will help possibly draw more people into
the restaurant sector. Right, more people that want to take
advantage of this tax free opportunity may want to come
in and fill those those gaps, right, fill those open
(36:16):
positions in the restaurant side.
Speaker 2 (36:18):
Well, I know that in some parts of the country
at different times during the year, and the ski resorts
in the wintertime and the beach beach restaurants in the summertime,
they have they sometimes have trouble hiring enough weight staff.
So that is a something that that I know from
my experience on Cape Cod here in Massachusetts, a lot
(36:39):
of the restaurant owners say they can't get people to work.
It's I don't know why, but but this certainly I
think would would would increase I mean, normally you think
about high school kids and college kids home for the summer.
But a lot of restaurant owners have told me that
they they just can't, you know, increase their their over
the over the counter ways is enough to induce people
(37:02):
to come and work. And so maybe this is maybe
this is the boost that the tourist towns in America
in the summer, in the beach towns and in the
winter the ski towns need. I assume you would look
at that also as a positive for the industry.
Speaker 6 (37:20):
A huge positive. And to your point, you know, restaurants
since the pandemic have been losing folks to retail. So
retail has higher margins, right, Those those clothing stores, those
shoes stores, they operate on higher margins so they can
pay their team members more. And so when you're a
college kid, even in you know those summer jobs that
you mentioned, Am I going to go work somewhere I
(37:41):
can get twenty dollars an hour or seven dollars an hour, right,
and they're going to retail. But now if this starts,
you know, you can start making twenty dollars an hour.
We're in tips and have a tax free right, think
about that inducement. Now that restaurants can use to bring
those folks back into restaurants versus going to their local
retail shops.
Speaker 2 (38:02):
Makes a lot of sense, doesn't Let's only hope that
the members of Congress can come together on this at least,
if nothing else, that's for sure. Shreif Mityes. Thank you
so much. See old Bricks Holdings. If folks want to
get in touch with you, the best way to do that.
Speaker 6 (38:16):
Is www dot Bricksbrix Holdings dot com.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
Sounds great. Thanks you, Rey, appreciate talking to you once again.
We'll talk again. Thank you very much. All Right, we
get back. We're going to talk as we intended to
do last night, about President Trump's relentless battle against Harvard University.
Harvard has made concessions. The President does not seem to
(38:43):
want to declear victory. I don't understand that. Maybe some
of you do. We'll be back right after the nine
o'clock news and we'll break it down
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