WGBH Radio; The Callie Crossley Show

I'm Alan Crossley and this is the Calla Crossley Show. The latest wave in the local food movement is on the high seas based on the same principles as community supported farming. There's a revolutionary movement afloat on Cape pan it's called Cape Ann fresh catch a kind of co-op where the daily catch from striper to scallops is delivered to residences and restaurants across the region started last year by the wives of fisherman. It's a program that not only protects against overfishing but protects the families of fishermen by promoting reliable work. This hour we'll talk to the women behind this endeavor. But first it's off to our mass Decision 2010 election coverage with Steve Grossman the Democrat nominee for state treasurer. And we top it off with our regular Monday feature local made good. We'll meet event planner extraordinary the creative force behind Chelsea Clinton's wedding. Up next from Massachusetts politics to matrimonial Productions. First the news. From NPR News in Washington I'm Lakshmi saying the U.S. economic

recession ended in June of last year. That's according to the National Bureau of Economic Research which sets the official dates for the beginning and end of recessions. As NPR's John it's he tells us that makes the recent recession the longest economic downturn since the Great Depression. According to the NBER the recession began in December of 2007 and continued for 18 months. That's two months longer than the recessions of the mid 1970s and early 1980s. The members of the NBER is Business Cycle Dating Committee explained the long delay in calling the end of the slump by saying they wanted to wait for revisions in economic data that came late in July and August. The committee based its conclusions on employment and personal income data as well as gross domestic product a measure of the total output of the economy. Even though the recession officially ended in June of 2009 with unemployment at 9.6 percent it still feels like a recession for millions of Americans. John. NPR News

Washington. The economy is a central issue at a town hall style meeting where President Obama is addressing people's concerns. That meeting is being broadcast on CNBC. A fire sparked a national guard firing range blaze across 10000 acres burning four homes in suburban Salt Lake City. From member station KUAR Jenny Brundin reports from Harriman. With flames shooting as high as 60 feet in the air and winds racing at 50 miles per hour officials thought the damage from the fast moving blaze would be severe. Utah governor Gary Herbert toured the fire zone in a helicopter this morning. When I left last night I I thought we'd probably lose 25 to 100 homes. And I find out today that we've only lost four and we should not lose any more that we can see now. Weather permitting. Just remarkable in fact it's a miracle. Midway through the night winds died down and temperatures dropped. The fire isn't contained yet and officials say winds could kick up again. 5000 people were evacuated from their

homes and won't be allowed back until the blaze is fully contained. For NPR News I'm Jenny Brundin in Harriman Utah. Thick dark smoke is billowing from an area near New York's Harlem River. TV images show pilings on fire beneath the 138 street lift bridge there's been no immediate report of injuries but all Metro North trains in and out of Grand Central Terminal are suspended. A federal advisory panel is deciding whether genetically modified salmon is safe enough to eat. Today the Food and Drug Administration is hearing arguments from both sides of the debate. The FDA has already said it thinks the altered fish which grows twice as fast as conventional salmon is safe to consume. But critics warn of unforseen dangers to humans and the environment. Dow's up more than 100 at ten thousand seven hundred nine. This is NPR. An Afghan election watchdog is alleging fraud during last weekend's parliamentary vote in Afghanistan and is calling for an independent investigation. Not are

not are a chairman of the free and fair elections Foundation which deployed thousands of observers to polling stations on Saturday alleged widespread irregularities. Some will see if one is the ballot stuffing observers of I've observed in Morden in a round two hundred eighty Santas in twenty eight provinces where the ballot stuffing did occur. Observers also say they witnessed under-age voting in people casting ballots more than once but the U.S. and other allies applauded the heavy voter turnout despite election related violence. The French government is raising the level of what it calls a terror threat from possible suicide bombers. Frank Browning has details from Paris. The announcement came this morning from France's embattled interior minister Bree sort of who warned of a possible attack on the nation's transportation system or to who has been in charge of the controversial raids and deportation of Roma people and to intensified internal security campaigns last summer said police are looking for a

woman suspected of involvement in a terror attack cell Paris's Grand Mosque and its moderate rector dallied a bull backer who has often been verbally attacked by hardline Islamist groups has been given extra armed guards or has himself been sharply criticized by human rights groups and as recently as Saturday Prime Minister Francois Fionn distanced himself from some of Horta for his more inflammatory statements. For NPR News I'm Frank Browning in Paris. And I'm Lakshmi saying NPR News in Washington. Support for NPR comes from us on college e united with thirteen hundred oncologists nationwide to help patients fight cancer online at us on college E dot com. Good afternoon I'm Calen Crossley and this is the Calla Crossley Show. Today we continue our mass Decision 2010 election coverage with Steve Grossman. He's the

former chairman of the state and national Democratic parties. He's currently chairman of Grossman marketing group and Somerville and he's a Democratic nominee for state treasurer his Republican opponent is Karen Polito. Steve Grossman welcome. Thanks for having me. OK before you and I speak I'm going to just let our listeners know what the job entails so there's four point one three billion dollars worth of pension funds that you will oversee if you should when four billion dollars in the state lottery. You're the chairperson of the mass school authority which finances possible school construction projects. And as a treasurer do you decide when and how to sell bonds for capital projects and oversee the awarding of contracts. That's a lot going on. Your last video on your Web site says that you bring to the job real world experience and common sense solutions. Why don't you tell our listeners what that means. Well I spent the last 35 years of my life running a fourth generation hundred year old family business. I graduated from Harvard Business School in late one thousand nine hundred

sixty eight. Went to the army was on active duty for a period of time came out and wanted to join my family in our family business and I've had the privilege over the last 35 years of running that business. I took a small business and grew it pretty dramatically. I've had the privilege of creating jobs here in Somerville were where headquarters is in the Worcester area Westfield Brocton. So I've gone to work every day met payrolls manage money created jobs always tried to do with the right values try to take care of the people who work in our company. WOMAN Our company was looking to adopt a child she thought she had to leave because she had to spend several months with her new adopted daughter. She thought she had to leave I said Sheila will take care of you I will cover you because I want you back. Her daughter will graduate from Bennington College. This coming June. Her son just started second adopted child. His career in college this fall. So we try to take care of people we try to run a company with the right values. I try to leave my parents vision and values may never miss a payment

on your bills always pay their bills live within your means don't speculate. Protect your nest egg. And it's that fiscal discipline accountability having built it over 35 years of running a business that I think is absolutely critical. This job of treasure is really a chief financial officer of the state. It requires professional training experience leadership skills. And I think I can show that in business and in politics and in that my philanthropic or charitable work that every organization I've had a chance to lead and be part of was better off when I left than when I got there and that to me is leadership. That's exactly what I want to do as Treasurer leave the state and it's six point six million people better off when I leave this job than when I got there. By all accounts the former church or the current treasurer who is now running for for Governor Tim Cahill did a pretty good job. You yourself have given him a B. How will you kick it up a notch What do you want to do to make this make it better for the people of Massachusetts.

The three key elements are really why I decided to run number one. I think it's important the Treasurer is always focused on protecting the public's money because it's their money not ours. What does that translate into specifics. I want to put the state's checkbook up online. The reality is that states like Texas and Florida have put their checkbooks up online every citizen can go online and see how every dime is spent if any of your listeners want to check that out they should google Texas transparency and they'll see just how it works. Why shouldn't every dime that we spend be online so that every citizen of the state can figure it out. We should be using far more aggressive public bidding on all the services that we use. Whether it's legal services for Bond work you mention Bond work we sell 3 billion dollars of bonds every year to the public marketplace or securities litigation firms that we hire or pension managers in the state of Maryland for example. My friend Peter French oh who's the controller. Open the process up. Invited new firms emerging firms that had a distinguished track record. Women own firms minority owned firms. Today over 2 billion dollars of the pension funds in the

state of Maryland are managed by those women own minority own emerging firms. They've done better for almost five years than the bigger managers have done. So let's open the process up. Protect the public's money. Second create jobs. Three hundred thousand people are out of work as you and I are talking and the Treasurer controls all of the cash. What would I do. I don't know about you Kelly but I'm still pretty angry. And every citizen has a right to be angry at the fact that the biggest banks in America got seven hundred billion dollars of our money in the TARP program to bail out their speculative excesses. They paid it back. How do they return the favor. Are they lending Well they're not they're not lending any money right. And I'm going to move that money out of the big banks into small banks local banks regional banks community banks even some credit unions to help small businesses grow because the backbone of our economy this is the third piece which is revitalizing the small business sector the economy the backbone of our economy the small businesses. I've done round tables. Probably a dozen round tables with small business people all over the state every conceivable

part of the small business community. Over and over again they say two barriers to growth and to hiring people access to capital or the lack of access to capital and also the cost of health care. The Treasurer can play a powerful role in helping to create access to capital for small businesses. I understand that because I'm the only person running for state treasurer whose entire career has been all about running a small business and helping to create jobs. OK. Your Republican opponent Karen police has made pension reform sort of the focus of her think her campaign and saying that there are some real issues there and in fact today I just note that the Boston Globe is doing a sort of roundup of local government and pension salaries and they were for reference. The former police chief Kenneth Cole who stepped down in December in Malden and got an eighty nine thousand dollar pension and he told the Globe that he was he stepped down early because he was afraid that the pensions are going to get cut so she's made that a centerpiece of her campaign is we need to do that now. And

if that's not handle you know all the other things that might happen are not a good thing. She doesn't believe that you're the one to handle this problem let me separate out two issues. Her big issue or big centerpiece of her campaign when she announced in April was a company called no pensions for politicians. She said I don't think state elected officials should get a pension. Now I don't think we should use taxpayers money to fund the pensions of state elected officials. And I won't be taking a pension if I become treasurer. But she also said recently which is a misstatement that state elected officials must be part of the pension system because all state employees have to be part of it. That's not true representative police could have opted out of the pension system 10 years ago. She didn't have to take a pension she didn't have to participate in the public pension system. She chose to opt in. So nine and a half years after she bought into the pension system and joined the pension system as I said it's pretty late in the game to start getting religion. I haven't heard her talk a lot about pension reform if people go to my website. Steve Grossman dot com they will see a whole series of reforms that

I urge ing the legislature to pass and I'll be fighting for up on Beacon Hill next January. When I'm treasurer speaking optimistically and that includes cutting back the maximum pension. This is not for people who are currently in the system. The Supreme Judicial Court in the state said a long time ago in 1973 that we can't mess around with the pensions of people who are already working for the state but for newly hired employees of the state. We should cap pensions at $85000. We should calculate them over a longer period of time. We should eliminate a practice called spiking where people jump up into a job that they're not qualified for in order to get a larger pension which is inappropriate. So the package of pension reforms that I've laid out on my website amounts to two billion dollars over the next 30 years. It's a small amount of money relative to the 22 billion dollars who are underwater but it's a big down payment to the people this commonwealth who simply think that for a former senate president to get one hundred ninety eight thousand dollars a year is just crazy. And it is and we should allow that anymore for new hires and I won't allow it if I'm treasurer.

OK. You've done very well with endorsements from a number of newspapers. This is before the primary of course you got both the busted Globe and The Boston Herald though I point out that the Boston Herald. Then published a piece where they were quite critical of some of the some of your donors saying raising the possibility that perhaps you might be beholden to them because they're large law firms and liquor companies. People that might have a long reach should you get into the office and give you a chance to respond and you will have made it very clear. And again we have taken the issue of disclosure of our donors their occupations their employers to a level that's very very high over 98 percent of our donors about 90 percent of our donors are fully disclosed. I've made it clear to anybody who's made a contribution that no one owns Steve Grossman that we are going to use the power of the Treasury and the full potential the Treasury to aggressively bid out everything we do. That applies to legal services bond services pension Management Services. I'm going to invite new firms in that are talented regardless of whether they ever given a dime before. And anybody who knows me knows that in my own business. Going back to 35 years of leadership that that

is exactly the way I've run my own business. We've watched every dime. We're going to watch every dime of the public's dollars both their pension funds and the state funds that are under my auspices the Treasurer does a whole variety of things and we handle tens of millions of dollars every year of the state's money and people are going to know that. Steve Grossman is treasurer I'm going to use the same standards ethical standards of integrity that I've used throughout my career. I'm proud of the hundred years that we've been in business in this Commonwealth I'm proud of the fact we've done business. I don't remember anybody ever questioning my integrity. Except my opponent of course in this race and I think that the record will show that when I've had a chance to play a leadership role whether it's at the women's lunch place or a project bread or at the Museum of Fine Arts when the Democratic Party or my own business. I've always watched and been a good fiduciary a good trustworthy leader and manager and overseer of those funds. That's what professionalism is all about. That's what leadership is all about and that's what I hope to bring to this job. It's long overdue.

Well here to Kelly Crossley Show we'd like to ask all of the political candidates why you got a good life. This is like a tough job. I have to say looking from the outside I'm thinking to myself wow this guy's got everything going for him and you know lots of support from friends and family and wonderful business and great wife and all that I want this job because I saw a crisis 18 months ago. I heard the Tim Cale was thinking about running for governor. I said I want to look at this job of treasure. I studied it carefully as I always try to study things carefully before I make a decision. When he decided to leave the Democratic Party and run for governor I jumped in because in a crisis that's when leadership is called for. When Bill Clinton asked me to chair the Democratic Party united states back in 1906 the party was a mess he said Steve. I need you to come in and clean up the mess which I was proud to do. So I've always jumped in when there were times of crises. But more to the point my grandfather who came to this country in 1900 hundred and ten years ago never got past the sixth grade second youngest of 13 kids they had no money. He started selling papers and shining shoes. The

last time I saw him alive I was 17 years old. We were having lunch. He said Steve there are only four things I ever wanted to do with my life. I want to have a family. I want to educate my kids. I want to own my own business and I want to give something back to the community and our family has been very much dedicated to giving something back to the community. This is my way after 35 years of leadership in business helping to create jobs to give something back to the community to play a leadership role to be part of a serious debate and discussion both in Beacon Hill and all over the state about how we make this state a better place. I was thrilled that CNBC just recently said Massachusetts was the fifth best state in the country in which to do business. Public education. Technology innovation quality of life. The job of treasure it touches every part of the state including some things that you didn't mention for example there 450000 veterans in the state. We oversee the Welcome Home program. Anybody who's been in Iraq or Afghanistan gets a thousand dollar stipend. Everybody who's not been in harm's way gets $500 treasure overseas and

administers that program. It's our obligation to get that money in the hands of those people who have won the uniform of this country deserve to be treated right deserve to be able to get back on their feet so big big opportunity. I hope I have the leadership skills. I believe I have the professionalism to do this job. I've been trained for it. I've been educated for it. And I hope that this is an opportunity for me to really play a defining leadership role at a time of crisis for all the people of the state. Thank you very much and I'm Kelly Crossley we've been speaking with Steve Grossman the Democratic nominee for state treasurer. Next week we'll be speaking with his opponent Republican nominee Karen Polito. Steve Grossman thank you so much for joining us. Thank you Kelly. Up next it's a look at a sustainable food movement on the high seas. We'll be back after this break stay with us. Support for WGBH comes from you and from the New England mobile book fair in Newton. For 53 years. New England's independent bookstore. The New England

mobile book fair find them online at any book fair dot com. That's an e-book fair dot com. And from Subaru of New England offering the totally redesigned 2010 Subaru Outback with symmetrical all wheel drive. Dealer listing at New England Subaru dot com. And from Concord lamp and shade. Concord lamp and shade has been home to contemporary and traditional lamps and shades for over 30 years. You can visit them at Concord lamp and shade dot com or call 9 7 8 3 6 9 3000. Hi Cathy Fuller here from WGBH. It's all classical station ninety nine point five and I hope you'll join me on Saturday October 23rd for the 12th annual classical cartoon festival at Boston Symphony Hall. An entire day filled with live music and your favorite looney tune classics. Back on the big screen WGBH members you can purchase discounted tickets online at WGBH dot org slash cartoon festival sponsored by Solomon rocks. You fund college investing plan and Massachusetts Teachers Association.

State issues from sales tax to the environment impact the citizens of Massachusetts. Hear what our gubernatorial candidates are saying about these issues and more tomorrow night at 7:00 o'clock when CNN's John King moderates the next debate among Charles Baker Timothy Cahill Governor Deval Patrick and Jill Stein WGBH Emily Rooney and Kelly Crossley then follow up at 8 o'clock with post-debate analysis mass Decision 2010 election coverage tomorrow night at 7:00 o'clock here on eighty nine point seven. WGBH as a public radio and public television station WGBH is New England's most complete source for intelligent news music and entertainment. To the community of individuals who continue to support the ongoing legacy of the station. Thank you. Good afternoon I'm callin Crossley and this is the Calla Crossley Show the latest movement in sustainable food is a supported fishery that helps local fisherman put their sustainably caught fish seafood straight on to people's dinner plates through a direct

distribution model. Joining me to talk about this program are Angela San Filipino president of the Gloucester fishermen's wives association and the story coordinating director of the northwest Atlantic Marine alliance. Welcome to both of you. Thank you. Thank you. I just want to start this way because I think this is one of the most exciting ideas I've heard. You know what I hope and I think our listeners are just going to be delighted to hear this. So Angela let me start with you. How does it work. It works there where people are just like is the same model as the farm program where people buy shares for so many weeks and every week they receive five pounds of local caught the food in. Could be a whole fish could be filet. So it's sort of like a co-op where you put it you know people buy shares in the program and then you know they wait to see with great surprise and delight what fish the fisherman may catch that week because it's all very fresh

and very local. Right. That's right that was the whole idea was to at the issue of seafood to our conversations around local food. We found that much to our surprise when it comes to where our food comes from we've forgotten that it really matters who catches our fish and where our seafood comes from and what. But what brought you to this idea. Well we were trying to solve two problems. You know we identified the global movement of seafood and this so called economies of scale global economies of scale that one of the barriers to fishermen really truly fishing sustainably and at a scale that matches the ecology of the ocean they had to fish harder they had because the price they were paying was was way below their real cost of production and they had to fish for volume instead of for quality and instead of forgetting it paid a fair price. So in a way the market was undermining all of our efforts to try to save the ocean. So we thought where do we start to change that

market. Paradigm if you will. And coming down to the community level working with people who are living closest to the ocean and people particularly who care about where their food comes from is the way to start and so this program really began a couple of years ago with a pilot program in Maine with the Port Clyde community as a way of getting a better price for shrimp. They were getting less than 30 cents a pound for their shrimp and most of the shrimp that we eat in this country is imported comes from farms that are using highly toxic materials and child labor and human rights violations. And you know we have a very sustainable fishery here. And so they were not even getting paid enough to pay their fuel costs. So there was no incentive for them to fish for shrimp. And as a result they had to focus on species that were already problematic and people wanted to take the pressure off of them. So we started community support officialy program up there. It allowed him to get paid three times more over three times more actually almost four times more than they were getting paid in the traditional

market. People began to understand the shrimp fishery better the community got behind them. And one of the things we're finding with fisherman is we've been beating them up for so long we've kind of categorized them as the group of people who are just raping and pillaging the ocean and they've been lacking that sense of support and the community support of fisheries also blowing them up a little bit has given them that love if you will from their community that we do care about your future and we want to be a part of it. Yes let's talk about the response of the people to when you have these local markets how excited are they to be able to get that fresh fish very excited and people are very grateful. You know we get emails to say thank you very much you're the best. You know I didn't know the real thief would taste this good because this is a local fish. Most of the fish comes in within a few hours that has been caught and then gets processed in the fillet or the whole fish and within a few hours would be delivered to a different location in the different communities.

One of the things I think is interesting Angela is that you people don't come and say you know make an order like I want 15 pounds a card what happens is the fishermen go out and fish what's fresh at that moment what's in season as we would do with vegetables. That's what makes it exciting. Yes we have. There's lots of variety out there but it also goes with season. So that is the season where there's more color than that is the season that there is more of that it's more like a red fish a widening take. So people have gotten the really great variety of fish that normally they could go buy in a supermarket or fish market because if there is not enough demand for the type of fish. Not only fisherman don't try to catch it because it doesn't have any market value but also you know it really goes to waste as to say and this way the fishermen know that they could get a better price and

the consumer. I get in these other species that otherwise they wouldn't again. So we're really talking about getting everybody used to a new model so not having everything. Now I have to say I know that cod is just really everybody's excited about caught around these parts. I'm a Southerner so I'm from the catfish country. So Cod does not excite me but I like monkfish and all the rest of the stuff that Pollack everything else that you're pulling out of the ocean in season and they're so tasty they're there and we also you know in the morning we send them an e-mail we say to their you get in. Pollock from such and such vests Oh and here's a recipe fishcake from Paula. So the puffs we can do that because the last fisherman's wife took cookbooks that we put out all about fish and makes it very easy for us to educate people when you know they gave the species that they never got before like functors monkfish month last week of red fish. People I know well what red fish was so we did a little

Virial out to clean it cook it and we put it on a website. And people really have enjoyed a very much I will note to my listeners that I have no cookbook from you Angela but I want to let them remind them who I'm speaking to you. Angela San Felipe president of the Gloucester fishermen's wives association and the story coordinating director of the Northwest Atlantica Marine alliance. And we're talking about Cape Ann fresh catch which is a sustainable fresh fish food movement. As I've noted that it was interesting that you all were talking about the great response of the consumers when you first tried this out but that initially fisherman had to sort of be persuaded that this is going to work. This is a paradigm shift for everybody. You have to understand that fishermen have been fishing in the same spot in the same system for centuries essentially you go catch a fish and you give it to this person who goes and sells it. They make all the money you get what they consider to be a fair price to you which is nowhere near fair. And so for them to change their way of

thinking and to think that there could be another way has been a shift that they've needed to take I was on a panel discussion recently with that one of the farmers who is who has just recently switched to grass fed beef. And he said convincing his fellow farmers that this was going to make your life easier and give you a fair price was the biggest challenge that he had. And it's the same case here is a fisherman have had to make that leap. The consumers have had to make that leap. The other infrastructure operators in a community that's hosting a CSF has had to make that leap. So the community supported. OK. Everybody is making that leap and it's amazing you call that a movement and it's truly becoming a movement there are currently 13 or 14 committees supported fishery program just in the northeast and one in British Columbia just for salmon. And in a couple of weeks I'll be down in the Gulf where there is some interest to try to create community support of fishery programs down there because the fishermen are really at a competitive disadvantage and right now with the BP

disaster and everything else at their heels they really need an outlet where they can make a fair price and not have to rely on the traditional markets. Now I don't want to get down into the nitty gritty weeds about some of these newfangled fisherman rules about fishermen and fishing. Yeah we believe that you know we don't. But suffice it to say that when you have a program like this what you're doing is twofold because you are if the goal is to protect from overfishing this works. It might be you know just because nobody in our program or any of the work that we're advocating for suggests that we should be catching more. We're just saying whatever the science on the fisheries management regulators the regulators say is the sustainable amount to be caught. We want to make sure that whoever is catching it is a local community based fisherman small scale tied to a community where we can identify who they are and we can relate to them and they're getting the best price for whatever amount of fish they're told that they can catch that allows them to stay within that sustainable number and not have to think

volume all the time they can think about this is that I'm getting a fair return. I can't I'm not going to argue about the numbers anymore because what I'm getting is paying for my fuel and my livelihood and my rent and and my crew. Angela I watch a lot of cooking shows and I cook too. And I note that chefs are making a big issue all across the country by using the local vegetables in the local Are you getting some support from chefs in your area who are interested in having that fresh fish. Oh yes and we are getting their support and we're using the local We have a farmer's market in and glossed over there is that we buy a lot of the vegetables there and I know the some of the restaurants do too. And you know the movement is gone and this is been a big dream of ours always to have the local people eat the fish of the boats because there is no comparison in quality between what you can buy at a fish market or at another location and that fish that it's just the same they caught the same date processed

the same day is delivered. It's it's a real dream that we've had that it's getting felt. When I'm going on the show up front if I may there is actually an increased level of interest we've been working with the sustainable business that work in New England sustainable business that work on some of the programs that they have had in place. They have the boss the local food festival coming up on October 2nd where a couple of chefs are going to compete in these programs we have called the seafood throwdown where chef men are fine we haven't actually one happening at the fish level in the New Hampshire fish and lobster festival in Portsmouth on Saturday and another one in New Bedford on Sunday at the working waterfront festival and then the boss the local food festival on October 2nd. And the concept is to local chefs are invited. They bring three of their favorite ingredients. When they get there we surprise them with the locally caught seafood that they're going to be using. And we give them $25 and 15 minutes to shop the farmer's market for the rest of their ingredients and they have an hour to cook. And we've had chefs participating our first seafood throwdown this year was in New York City at the Union Square

farmer's market. And all through in Gloucester and in other communities. And there's a lot of excitement from chefs because not only are they getting are they adding to their menu of local but they get to play with whole fish which is something a lot of cooks like to do. So it's kind of Iron Chef and Top Chef mixed together. Right right. Who won who won the last showdown and there are no winners or losers right. This is a start over and right now this is still a small movement across the country but there are 13 or 14 and and you guys Angela were like third or fourth in the country to do this. Yes we were and last year when we started we had a great number 900 people and this is that was second you know almost a year round and when we started spring season in May we did reach another 950 people. Now we're going to start out the fall season on November 1st and it's going to

be for 14 weeks and we invite people to sign up and they can receive this wonderful seafood. Yeah I wanted to note that you're going to be in Canton Bolton Sharon Lincoln Acton Jamaica Plain M.S. Cambridge Yeah. That's my hometown Lexington Glocester Marblehead Ipswich Beverley Cove community center and so that's a lot of places for people to sort of get to know what this is all about and sample it. We you know they could get all the information in a website. It's Cape Ann fresh catch that org. But this availability I think in in various places word of mouth has got to be spreading hugely. Yes. It's that viral thing that we're definitely counting on and and this is as you said it's a national thing we've been Care we've been paying attention to where our food comes from. And I think if we look back and think this movement is starting where the farmers began after the farm crisis they learned a lot about what it takes to take back control of our food comes from who

grows it and how far it travels to get to us and we're at that point in the fishing business where we're taking that control back and the word of mouth is going to be as the same way as it was for the farmers it's going to be the critical advertising venue as people who really get get it that this is about who fish is who brings us our food and how fresh Our food is and how how much control and what is our food system a sovern safe and secure system. And the only way we can guarantee that is if we have a connection to it and it's coming from a local producer. Now you know I shop at farmer's markets and at my supermarkets I don't think that either of those entities feel threatened. Have you had any pushback from the larger commercial fishing. Yeah no no pushback. You know local fisherman say you know the more knowledge people have about the product the better it is for us. So we have been no problem.

OK. I'm hoping that will change. I know you want to. I'm hoping my only advice that is that people are paying attention to where their seafood is coming from and and these larger than the models that feed the global economies of scale around into a poem called an ocean a tablespoon. They've been advocating for this you know we can fit our tablespoon into our our the ocean into our tablespoon when actually we should be letting the ocean feed us whatever it has we have to let our table spoon be adjusted to what the ocean has as opposed to control it. So I'm hoping at some point the public pressure and the public interest will lead to the point where some of these folks will have to move in this direction as opposed to us having to move in that direction. But I have to say I think your timing on this is perfect because so many people are talking local now. I mean just your average person not not your fancy chefs or even cooks but everybody is really trying to support local institution particularly local food institutions because they want to know where their food is coming from and you're seeing that right Angela.

Yes it was seen there very much and we're very pleased that we've finally fulfilled this dream. And we also encourage people to try to learn medical Kohol fish because you get so much more when you cook a whole fish when you fillet you lose 60 percent of the fish. But when you use the whole fish. You get 90 percent of it as food. So that allows us all feel for heaven it's much 180 because you get more fish when you fillet you lose 60 percent of the you know what it is people don't like that hit on the fish. But you know I you know what I mean that and I know that culture and I know you have patience you know your friends get to know your man or get a cookbook and then you can show him how to we are quits. We've been talking about Cape Ann fresh catch with my guest Angela Sanfilippo sense Filippo president of the Gloucester fishermen wives association and me as dory coordinating director of the northwest Atlanta Marine

alliance. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for. That and to learn more about Cape Ann fresh catch. Visit Cape Ann fresh catch. Dot org. The next big season is November so we'll be looking for that. Up next it's our regular Monday feature local made good. We meet Brian ref NLE the creative force behind top notch events including Chelsea Clinton's wedding. Stay tuned for eighty nine point seven. Support for WGBH comes from you and from the Linux the original boutique hotel celebrating its 100 10th anniversary with major renovations to its restaurants and rooms for reservations including their special anniversary package. You can visit them at Lenox Hotel dot com and from Somerset Subaru here for you here for life and online at Somerset auto group dot com supporting the international news show the world weekdays at 3 and 6 here on eighty nine point seven WGBH

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more. Than the victory by Boston in 2000. The legacy of WGBH radio and television is the legacy of individual support. Thank you. This is eighty nine point seven. WGBH. Boston NPR station and a new choice for New England from the most trusted content source in public broadcasting. We are WGBH. Good afternoon I'm Cally Crossley and this is the Calla Crossley Show. It's time for our regular Monday feature local made good where we celebrate people who bring honor to New England. My guest today is Brian raff NLE. He's a Boston based designer and event planner and owner of reffing deli events. His latest high profile for action was translating the wishes of Chelsea Clinton and Marc Mezvinsky into a stunning wedding. Brian raff in L.A. thank you so much for joining us. Thrilled to be here. I know everybody wants to know how do you get started doing something and how do you get to the point where you're just the guy that everybody calls to do their high profile.

You know I think it's I think it's a great story it's the old fashioned way of stewardship in you know meeting people and meeting people who know other people and just you know having them see you I like to say they're my best customer you sitting in the room. And so over time that's really what happened with Chelsea and Marc. Now I want to go back back back to when you first started doing events period high profile or not. And what really got you on your way was some work charity work you were doing right you know I lost a really dear friend in 1996 of AIDS and spent two weeks out there with his parents and just spending time with him and at that moment this great guy Larry cancer came to me he was the head of AIDS Action at the time and said Why don't you turn your grief into action. So I went to action volunteering and I joined the Special Events Committee. So you know I ended up really cutting my teeth on everything I did registration and silent auction on live auction and rock atonce and dance a thons and radio and every kind of really special event charity special event and then moved on into doing awards dinners and black

tie which actually led me into my career. Now at what point did it click that wow I like this. You know well it was it was much like the Larry Kessler story of people saying to me you know you should do this for a living. And you know my grandmother was a Jew and I used to decorate cakes she'd say oh you should be a baker and I'd arrange flowers she'd say oh you should be a florist. So you know I guess it's a little like that but it was really people noticing my work. And finally that one you know Larry saying to me Brian OK now you've come a volunteer. Now you really need to pay you to do this. So I became a contractor and I was in design school and I was an interior architect so I really wanted to do something with design. But I was also I was a poly so I major in school. So I love to organize. So at the end of the day I brought those two things together in what stands as Rafa no events today. But if somebody had said to you Well maybe what you should do is play you just I'm sure nobody could.

Well you know I don't know if I'm making this up but I think it's true. There were not really event planners you know 100 years ago when I started there was it was public relations. You know whatever that meant. You know a lot of PR firms did the things that we do now. You know they did launch parties and and put charity events together or it was buried inside an advertising agency. But now I hire internes who are special events majors at Emerson and you know Boston University I'm like What are they teaching for. Literally that didn't exist back then. You know when I was really trying to figure out what I should do. Which brings me to this because I can tell you how many people say oh I'm an events planner and I'm looking and I'm going yeah right. So I mean it's for real what separates someone like yourself you know what kind of skills and what kind of attention to detail do you really need to have to be a top level events planner. Well look I think there's two different kinds of event planners I think. You know I look at myself as a producer and designer and it's our point of difference you come to us for both design creativity and to produce the event. But just the production side I mean you just

need to have almost sort of a military background even though I do not have the kind of precision that has to happen because there are just so many moving pieces to this very short experience and if you think about it most events only last for five hours. So in terms of being just absolutely precise down to the minute much like you run this radio show saying what is going to happen every single minute of the guest experience and making sure every experience is precise because that's what really truly makes a great event in the front of the House and in the back of the house. Now you do in a gale or whatever maybe you do it in the next year and the year after that so if you goofed up you can kind of fix this. Sure but I'm just thinking about the pressure of the once in a lifetime event. When you do somebodies wedding I mean that's it for them. It's got to be right on. Yes you're right on point. So let's go to this. This is one of my other business philosophies. If you're a planner you have to plan for every single solitary thing and really plan to get it right. Because if you do that

something inevitably will present itself that isn't quite right. And so you have to be ready for that so even if you know a wedding birthday party the launch of your product I mean you know what look at no one wants to launch a new iPod and have something you know not go the way it's supposed to go but inevitably it's all really saying OK we're going to do everything we can to make this go as perfect as possible so when something goes off a little We're going to be ready for it. Give me as a human example of when you had to punt. I'm just curious why I didn't have those you know I actually was did a Super Bowl party recently where the power went out 20 minutes before you know we had generators and we had a backup generator in the backup generator went off. So what do you do. Well look you know what there is there was power at this house we just happen to be you know using a lot of power in the tent. And so we did it the old fashioned way we plug in extension cords I got on the phone with my generator guy. He got a generator down there in 20 minutes but meanwhile we're running cords 300 feet through the lawn the hourlong an ATV. That's that's what you do you got to

figure it out. I watch all the wedding show just because I'm some kind of sadist or whatever. And I also watch a lot of the design shows and one of the things that the judges always tell those contestants on Project Runway for example is you have to address the client's needs but you have to have your vision. So what is a Brian ref NLE touch at you know any of the weddings or other top knot events that you may be doing. You know that's a good one inevitably I think that I'd like to or I hope for that. When you walk into an event that we've done our wedding especially you don't say oh my god did this wedding and that's not when I'm out for him to say oh you really got down you know this feels so much like Chelsea and Marc this feels like the couple. But inevitably some of these things are very simple you want to inspire people you want to do something and surprise them so you walk into the Four Seasons ballroom and the stage is always on the east wall will put it on the west wall I mean I'm not talking about you know redecorating or re carpeting the whole room

I'm talking about just changing the perspective or the thing that everybody you go to go to a wedding the tables are always round and we started. We used to build square tables you can rent them now. But the idea of putting a square table in a round table in a long table you know you're used to something else was suddenly you see something so simple that you're like wow that's different. Something as simple as flower arrangements instead of having them all the same. Do that do a third in a collection of aces a third in a big flower arrangement a third high. Change the experience of every guest so as they go through the room they experience something different that to me is the very simple things of going inside something and starting off with what you think they're going to expect and just change it a little. All right well speaking of getting Chelsea in. Well I mean yeah I appreciate your keeping a lot of that private as their private thing but one of the things that came out afterwards is it seemed to be a very simple but elegant event. I mean it was obviously you know top notch but it seemed

the simplicity came through as well. You're right in that I always you know the interesting thing about simple and elegant I think my version of that in your version of that might be you know different I mean that's why I have you. Because you said to me I want to have as simple and elegant party and I want to be black and gold and like. But you know in her eyes that was like a simple and elegant. So inevitably with their wedding it's what I was getting out earlier if it was a reflection of them of what they really wanted they wanted a place that was a purposeful place that they knew a place that you know we could put 500 people in comfortably and move in and out again it was that little details or some of them were absolutely beautiful and really interesting but others were very simple and so that combination of those two things I think is what really can make a great design. So bring a little luxury and a little a little simplicity so everything has a nice balance to it.

You're supposed to be the stress reliever. I mean you know once it's turned over to you I should not as a client ever have a sleepless moment right. It's true. That's not supposed to happen. I'm just wondering how do you take that on and because you know I know as a client that I'm not having you know worrying about it. So it's got to be you right. Well look I think inevitably in every relationship because that's what it is you have this experience and so if I freak out or if you can read my face or if I'm really stressed out about something and I show it on the outside then then you're going to feel like that you're going to feel that you know you think about you know a mother and a child they can sort of make that connection so. So my mantra is really to say look if we're really ready for this and you're not going to see it. And when that little thing goes wrong we're going to go about our business and that's going to that's when the adrenaline rush happens and we feel really excited about something but we are here to make you know for sure that we do know what we're doing and we're taking our wealth of experience and our common sense. And we're we're going to take care of this for you. Now I have type a client's classic type-A clients who I can never know.

But at the same time I do think it's important that we just give this you know sort of a sense of it is important we take it very seriously and we're on top of everything so showing all those signs so that you can kind of pull back a little and say OK because at the end of the day in an emotional moment yeah something that's so personal to you whether it's actually a Super Bowl party because you just won the Super Bowl or it's your daughter's wedding it's the best way to experience is to be inside that and not inside are the flowers coming out is the food warm is the timing right is the band too loud is the room too cold you know. That's just it that's crazy that's our job that's what we should be doing for you. Is there any event that you've seen out there in the world that you wish you could have gotten your hands on. Well you know I have a little list no question about that. Look I think any planner designer like me would love to do one of the after parties after the Oscars or I'd love to get my hands on I was nominated.

Brian so you put it to me. No thank you I'll go knowing people I'd love to go to Washington to do a state dinner. You know I crave I have this little addiction for new experiences. You know the first company to put a tent down Commonwealth Avenue in the first company to do a party out in the outfield the Fenway Park on the 50 yard line at Gillette Stadium or Chelsea Clinton. Yeah. You know those are extraordinary experiences and I love that of looking at something and saying I want to I want to do a party there. And right in the middle of something extraordinary that no one's ever done before. It's now that you're where you're at which is way up there in terms of event planners to the stars. Can a little person get to you. I mean is there something that you I mean aside from the money I mean. Well you know I say you know I do 65 to 100 events a year it's completely based on what comes to me in the size of the projects. But there's no question about that I mean I like any company I think whether you can walk into The Gap or walk into Chanel or walk into Armani or

whatever it may be there's probably some obstacles. But at the end of the day I have a very very strong business from parties for 40 people to see dinners for a thousand. So absolutely and I know I want that. I want that breath. You know I don't want just all the high high high experiences because the other expenditures are just as interesting and credibly challenging as well. OK so I would be remiss if I didn't risk some tips out of you. Those of us who are not coming to the grim finale but are good with having a small dinner party or a little party. But what would you say is something that we look at if we're just getting if we're going to go into your house so you know I have sort of some basic things that do reflect the bigger things of saying you know what service is really important. So that doesn't necessarily mean hiring staff when I do a dinner party at my house for 12 people I don't bring staff in. But it's really being ready and being on time and being welcoming and warm those are all actually things you know a caterer a good staff at a hotel that's what they provide for you when you walk through the door they say hello or those things I

think are something that sometimes we can forget about when we're planning a party at our house because we're so frantic to get it ready and you know we come up with our hair a little way but then work screw you know my oh my Italian so used to you know. Probably 10 days before a holiday they would set everything up so you know you'd walk through the dining room and all the plates and the forks and then the shaking to show everything. And they were prepared so that when we came into that house you know they they were ready for us. And I think that's one of the biggest tips I could get so if somebody at home to say be ready for that and don't take anything on that is really going to throw you off. You know and not that I don't think you should experiment a little with food or wine or flowers or lighting or candles or whatever it may be but don't let that overpower the general experience of just being together and being present. So that's being prepared. To me that that's really the key to that. Can anybody do an event for you do a party for you. I mean is that just a little weird. Yeah.

Yeah. I used to think so. I have to say there's no question about it that it's hard for me to go to a celebration that I haven't produced which in fact I love to do I love to go to all sorts of other charity events and things like that but look I you know I do what I do I can't help myself but notice things but hopefully most of the time I'm noticing things that are intriguing to me that I hadn't thought of or what about this or what about that. So yes I mean I'm a little curious about I'm turning 50 in a couple of years and I keep thinking oh my god somebody is going to should I do this. Start getting ready. I just ask that because I remember Martha Stewart not that she's the warmest and fuzziest person but she said nobody ever invited her to dinner because they were all like well I'd be freaked out. I can't have her there. That is I was a little bit of a challenge. You know people always get worried oh you know what I'm going to think you know which is I guess I understand it's sort of flattering but on the other hand you know I want to participate like everybody else.

Where do you see your business evolving to. There's all kinds of event now when we say special events I mean it does mean just so many things so many different kinds of events. Is there a direction you'd like to go you have. Well there's actually a direction that we're going and that and it lives inside the creative side of the concept of our projects who are in our nonprofit product. It's actually branding helping brand the experience and sometimes that brand actually just gets carried on and it's not event related. It's really saying well how can we engage people so it's becomes a little bit more like a communications company. And we've done that quite successfully on capital campaigns and with non profit events which is extremely exciting. And I guess in other worlds and private parties or corporate Look I think I am a little curious is there something that I could provide that whether it's a material thing that would make your life easier would make the experience better. Is it something that we already do. I haven't nailed that yet but I'm very curious about that.

OK I have to ask you about the cupcake trend and whether you're into that. I mean you're the top guy I got to know so well. Clearing my god heads no I mean no no no I love love love love sweets I love sweet. So I'm not giving up on the cupcake but I don't know if you've seen the million different if you sing those like me who was in the cake you know cakes for weddings That's right as I did last year. Look I think the trend will drift away but I you know I mean I love cupcakes so I don't think I'm ever going to give up on them completely but I think there are other things you know you could do a part pied bar you could do a brownie bar you know find another suite. Let's celebrate that for a little bit. Ryan remember Nelly if ever I should marry OK. Sounds like you got know what to do. With the Oscars. Yeah definitely. Well I've been speaking with Brian raff anally the Boston based designer and event planner and owner of Raffa Nellie events.

And Brian we are so delighted that we had you for our local May good EDITION this week. Thank you so much for joining Thank you. Today Show was engineered by Alan Mathis and produced by Chelsea murders and a white knuckle bee and Abbie Ruzicka. This is the Kelly Crossley Show where production of WGBH radio Boston NPR station for news and culture.