September 26, 2024 By Carol Britton Meyer
Welcome to “Five Minutes With” – Anchor’s new feature to help us get to know our neighbors. Everyone has a unique story to tell, so let’s get to know each other a bit more! Have someone you’d love to spend five minutes getting to know? Email us at info@hinghamanchor.com. First up, Carol Britton Meyer connected with Marco Boer, chair of the Harbor Development Committee – you can learn a little bit more about Marco, the many hats he wears in town as well as hidden talents and favorite local spots!
Marco wears many hats, from owning a boutique consulting company to chairing the very busy Harbor Development Committee. In his rare spare time, he enjoys biking, sailing, and spending time with family and friends.
Your business/role in community: I’m the owner of a boutique consulting company helping manufacturers like HP develop their next generation industrial printing systems that print books, flexible packaging, apparel, signage, 3D printing, etc. — in addition to chairing the HDC.
What your work for the town and the community involves: The Harbor Development Committee is a volunteer advisory committee advising the town’s Select Board on how the town can best benefit from this amazing natural resource. The Committee is in midst of developing a master plan specific to Hingham Harbor, which includes advising the Select Board on a vision on how to make the harbor more accessible (working in conjunction with the Route 3A Task Force), raising our crumbling wharves to address safety and resiliency issues, how to improve the harbor’s maintenance and expand programming during the summer months, and advising the board on the best short- and long-term use of the property the town recently acquired at 30 Summer St. (the former Gallery 360 real estate office) to gain control over the multi-use shared path that will help to extend the harbor walk from the gazebo area to Barnes Wharf.
What spurred you to get involved with town government, especially everything harbor-related: We’ve been very privileged to raise our family in Hingham during the last 25 years. We became passionately involved in Hingham High School rowing when our oldest of four girls joined the rowing team. It’s an amazing team sport that pulls in almost everyone who gets involved in it. Rowing is the second largest sport at the high school without a proper long-term home, which is critical to its long-term success and the town’s ability to be seen as a desirable place to raise children without having to send them to private school. I’d love to help develop a proper boat house for all of our young and mature citizens alike who row and sail.
Other positions you’ve held in town: I served as Hingham’s representative to the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (which is responsible for transportation infrastructure planning, helping towns to prepare for demographic shifts, etc.) and the town’s representative to the MBTA for more than eight years. I’m also involved in the Hingham Downtown Association’s committee on making the downtown a more vibrant area to visit.
What you hope to accomplish: My double secret plan is to make the vision of a boat house in Hingham a reality. Nothing in this town happens quickly, but my fervent wish is for all the various town committees to come together to make this a reality during my lifetime.
What you enjoy most about living in Hingham: The life that we’ve been able to build with friends and neighbors having become extended family that would be difficult to replicate in less suburban areas.
What makes this community special: Some would say history, but what really attracted us was sidewalks and access to the water. We wanted our children to be able to walk around town and to be able to go out on a boat and enjoy the water without sitting in traffic for hours. Also the ability to get to the airport quickly, as I used to travel 100-plus days a year before COVID.
What do you enjoy most doing in your spare time? I wish I had spare time — work really gets in the way. A top-10 day would involve a 30-mile early morning bike ride, a sail in the afternoon, picking up some cheese at the Bloomy Rind, and enjoying a few glasses of wine looking out at a brilliant sunset.
Favorite restaurant and meal: We’ve been going to Tosca’s for over 30 years — we used to come down from Boston even before we moved here. The food is always amazing, and Brian makes the best martinis!
Favorite local spot: Having friends over for dinner at home. There is nothing better than sharing food, drinks, and laughs with close friends and family. The joyful noise created by our kids and their friends is priceless.
Favorite vacation destination: I don’t think we’ve found it. My wife, Laura, would say Cape Cod as she loves nothing better than to sit in the sun on a beach, but I love to explore, learn, and meet new friends.
Do you have a hidden talent? I don’t have an innate gift for art or music, but perhaps my hidden talent is to connect people, to bring them together to make a stronger community.
Interesting fact about yourself that others may not know about: Courtesy of my father, I held a Dutch diplomatic passport until I became 21.