Business

The same day the state announced no change in our unemployment rate, the Venture Development Center at the University of Massachusetts Boston tweeted:

Dear Boston, you are creating way too many tech jobs. Please slow down while your universities catch up preparing workers. Thanks.

The "Dear tech workers, please go to California," was, of course, too long to fit.

High-tech marketer John Cass found the statement disconcerting:

Would zero jobs open mean everything is okay? I think that's rather an indication of the strength of the MA economy.

The center replied:

Mass last year created 3,550 new inno economy jobs. But are they filled? 3,772 tech jobs open according to Dice. 3,772 tech jobs open in Boston Metro Area, +10% over last year. Shocking failure to prepare workers for innovation economy jobs. Mismatch of jobs and qualifications undermines innovation economy.

Of course, where some people see an exciting way for Boston to cycle into the 21st century, lawyers see the potential for new business:

Boston's Hubway bike-share system will undoubtedly lead to an increase in the number of cyclists sharing the road with automobiles. Unfortunately, this increase in the volume of cyclists on the road will likely also lead to an increase of bicycle accidents in the City of Boston.

If you or a loved one has been injured in a bike accident, please contact the law firm of Altman & Altman, LLP to schedule a Free Initial Consultation with one of our skillful Greater Boston bike accident lawyers. Our phones are answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In addition to being available around the clock, all emails sent to the law firm of Altman & Altman receive an immediate response.

H/t Adam Castiglioni.

The Boston Business Journal reports that Secretary of State Bill Galvin will ask for legislation requiring state agencies to withdraw all their money from banks that continue to try to find new ways to charge residents for access to their own money, such, as oh, Bank of America.

Wicked Local Brookline reports Kupel's faces disciplinary action after a February inspection found mouse droppings - "too many to count" - on raw dough in a refrigerator. Owner says he was shocked and fixed the problem.

The Globe reports Walgreens is turning the former bookstore into an "emporium" with "a European boutique feel" that goes way beyond traditional pharmacy offerings to include everything from a sushi bar to a hair salon.

A similar Walgreens mega-store in New York is open 24 hours. The Chicago outlet is only open until midnight but has a wine store and "a Coca-Cola Freestyle machine dispensing 130 varieties of Coca Cola fountain drinks." The chain has yet to say what hours it would try for in our sleepy burg.

Xconomy reports a Chinese company is making the investment in Greatpoint Energy, as part of a $1.2-billion project to extract natural gas from Chinese coal.

Our own Ron Newman reports the Pier One in Porter Square is being replaced by a Walgreens, right across the street from a CVS.

A federal appeals court ruled yesterday that Peoples Federal Savings Bank has no grounds to immediately bar the Connecticut-based People's United Bank from opening branches in the Boston area under that name.

Settlement with large national banks; Attorney General Martha Coakley said she will continue to purse a separate lawsuit against lenders.

Xconomy reports Adam House, 33, is leaving Boston to become a player on the Rochester Razorsharks, a team in the Premier Basketball League.

Wicked Local Cambridge reports a Roslindale couple is working to re-open the shuttered kids' bookstore in the heart of the square. Reopening is sometime this spring.

Dedham Patch reports on one Dedham mother's efforts to get the clothing store to put the sexy books (yes, of course Urban Outfitters carries books about sex) in an "adult" section where the teenlets who flock there from as far away as West Roxbury can't have their impressionable minds sullied by titles such as Sex Tips for Girls by Guys and Get Laid.

She has, of course, set up a Facebook page.

A federal appeals court today tossed a lawsuit by two people working for a Fidelity subscontractor who alleged they were fired for bringing up possible accounting irregularities, because a federal law intended to protect the public from securities fraud is limited to employees of companies that are publicly traded.

Street Fight interviews Mike Conley, director of marketing at Sebastians Cafe, which now has 2,200 people signed up for its phone-based payment and loyalty programs - customers use their phones rather than old-fashioned cash or credit cards to pay for lunch. Naturally, the chain started with its Kendall Square location first.

It's just an easier, great way to pay. I forgot my wallet one day, going into a meeting, and I was like: "Oh, crap. I can't pay for food. Oh, wait a minute. I have my phone. I have LevelUp." It's interesting that everyone is starting to realize how this is a very usable tool for payments.

Some educational publishing startup in the South Station area is looking for people who can hire and supervise writers and take charge of the company's content in their subject areas. You know, content leaders. Also, among the job requirements:

Incredible work output, like a force of nature, or like The Beast from X-Men.

Xconomy provides the roundup.

Brad Feld, managing director at the venture-capital firm Foundry Group, says it's past time for Cambridge tech types to embrace their inner Cambridgeness (or maybe even their inner Kendallness) and stop using "Boston" to refer to themselves:

In my world view, the entrepreneurs drive the startup community. Focus on entrepreneurial population density and entrepreneurial density – and make sure your geographic region is small. Over time, linking the critical mass together in a larger region (e.g. Silicon Valley or Boston) is fine, but the real power comes from the startup communities with the largest [entrepreneurial density] in small physical regions which are big enough to have critical mass.

Ed. note: He lost me a bit when, after making his Cambridge argument, he wrote that the 128 and 495 tech belts are part of Boston. Um, what?

Paul Levy, who complained loudly about Partners Healthcare when he was CEO of Beth Israel, marvels at what he says is the spin on its recently announced contracts with Tufts and Blue Cross, that what the hospital holding company says is a willingness to rein in costs only perpetuates a system in which consumers and employers pay more than they should.

Looking back over the past decade, it is not unreasonable to posit that this system has added in the range of two billion dollars to the health care costs paid by the state's businesses and individuals. The newly announced deals change little in that regard, extending that hidden tax for years to come.

Jeff Mayersohn, owner of the iconic Harvard Square shop, sent e-mail to fans:

As Rachel noted in a recent newsletter, we just completed our best holiday season in quite some time. The volume of business happily surprised us after years of challenge. Despite this unanticipated demand, our amazing staff rose to the occasion, the publishers supplied us with the books we needed, and our customers showered us with much appreciated holiday cheer. We are very thankful as we head into 2012. ... It is clear that the rumors of the demise of independent bookstores have been greatly exaggerated. Entrepreneurs continue to enter the industry, reimagining how the printed word is distributed to passionate readers. It has been an exciting year, but we promise you that the coming year will be even more exciting.

Via Danielle Dreilinger.

The Boston Business Journal catches up with Harold Brown, who worries that if landlords take advantage of a tight rental market in Boston and jack rents up too much, they could see a serious effort to bring back rent control.

Candelaria Silva worries what will happen to the Ashmont Market and Liquor Store now that the Georgeoulopoulos brothers have sold it:

Realization: I am assuming that the change in ownership would be a change for the worse; it could be a change for the better.

Decision: I'll be optimistic. I mean it would only be in the new owner's best interest to keep/maintain what has made the store work for the neighborhood.

Seems the Beyoncelet shares a name with a Boston event-planning firm, which is now getting flooded with calls from the sort of people who Google phrases and then instantly call whatever numbers they see associated with them in the hopes of, what, an autographed photo? Money? A chance to shriek "Beyonce, is that really YOU?!?!?"

Ross Levanto explains the growing outrage on Beacon Hill over Capital One's plans to turn the Charles Street Market into Yet Another Bank:

One neighbor noted how the market is the only place on the street she can visit late at night when she feels threatened. Another talked about the over saturation of banks on Charles Street.

Capital One goes before the Zoning Board of Appeals on Feb. 28 for permission to financialize the corner market.

Mike the Mad Biologist notes the annoying irony of giant publisher Reed Elsevier posting an extract of something he wrote and then slapping a copyright notice on it - an explanation of why he thinks Reed Elsevier sucks.

The Boston Business Journal reports on the latest refugees from the increasingly empty Rte. 9 mall.