July 3, 2008

News in brief
By Hippo Staff news@hippopress.com

Sounds like Shmole Shmoods?
According to Rick Sawyer, director of planning for Bedford, New England Development has presented the town with a redevelopment plan for the Macy’s-Wayfarer Inn location on South River Road that includes a 45,000-square-foot grocery store. Sawyer says that the developers are hush on who the tenant will be. Robin Rehfield, a representative from Whole Foods, would neither confirm nor deny, saying that the company announces new store openings four times a year. Whole Foods is set to open a Nashua location at NashuaLanding off DW Highway. That project is also being developed by New England Development, and has been tabled for now due to the sluggish economy, but Rehfiled says Whole Foods is still on board. New England Development is scheduled to be back in front of the Bedford planning department in August for design review. —Susan Ware Flower

Will they walk to work?
Cities looking to cut fuel costs
By Susan Ware Flower news@hippopress.com

In light of the rising cost of fuel, cities and towns are looking for ways to cut usage and reduce fraud. On June 24 Nashua mayor Donnalee Lozeau requested that the city’s aldermen approve the purchase of a $130,000 fuel monitoring system for the city’s fleet. After much discussion, the aldermen approved the measure to purchase a system that costs roughly a third of what the city spends on fuel each year for its fleet.