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Springfield College, STCC Sign Articulation Agreement for IT Students

SPRINGFIELD — Springfield Technical Community College (STCC) and Springfield College recently signed an articulation agreement allowing students at Springfield College to take Information Technology classes at STCC, recognizing the high quality of the Computer and IT Security program offered at STCC. Additionally, the agreement allows STCC students completing an associate’s degree in Computer Information Technologies to transfer to Springfield College as juniors in their Computer and Information Sciences major. “The agreement between STCC and Springfield College is historic because it gives bilateral pathways for STCC students to continue their education by earning a bachelor’s degree at Springfield College and it allows Springfield College students to gain access to the computer networking and security curriculum and expertise offered at STCC,” said Brian Candido, STCC Computer Information Technologies program chairman and associate professor. “It is a true win-win scenario for all students and faculty at both institutions.” Candido said the two colleges have been working together in this capacity since 2008 through the Cooperative Colleges of Greater Springfield (CCGS). The formal signing of this articulation agreement not only creates an opportunity for STCC students to transfer to Springfield College as juniors, but also allows STCC students to become eligible for school-based scholarships based on their grade-point averages. For Springfield College student Karon Perkins, the partnership between STCC and Springfield College gives him access to a top-notch IT program as well as a chance to experience campus life at another college besides his own. “STCC offers a good selection of programs not offered at Springfield College,” said Perkins. “And having the opportunity to come to STCC gives me a taste of a different college — what it’s like to be on a different campus — and I’ve learned a lot.” Leona Ittleman, dean of STCC’s School of Business and Information Technologies, credits both STCC and Springfield College faculty for the work they have done to make this agreement between the campuses a reality. “Some of our best students transfer to Springfield College and receive the benefits of our colleagues’ experience and dedication to student learning,” she noted. The Computer and Information Sciences major at Springfield College is a professional program that offers a solid core of theoretical and applied computer-science courses and provides students with the choice of one of four required concentrations: Information Systems, Software Development, Game Programming, or Internet and Network Security.

 

Big Y Raises $194,000 to Fight Breast Cancer

SPRINGFIELD — In order to raise awareness and funds to fight breast cancer, all Big Y Supermarkets donated proceeds from the company’s October initiative “Partners of Hope” to 17 breast-cancer support groups throughout Massachusetts and Connecticut. This month-long program reflects the partnership, commitment, and support of breast-cancer awareness and research that are so vital for many. In October,  Big Y raised $194,000, which was donated to nearly two dozen organizations. Locally, these included the Women’s Imaging Center at Berkshire Medical Center, Rays of Hope, and the Mercy Breast Care Center. “Big Y is committed to promoting breast-cancer awareness to our community,” said Big Y CEO Donald D’Amour. “Over the past five years, we’ve made tremendous progress thanks to our customers, vendors, and employees. In addition, these funds benefit local programs throughout our region. It is truly a collaborative effort.” Since 2007, the chain has raised more than $863,000 for this cause. During the entire month of October, specially marked ‘pink’ products and promotions involved almost every department in the store. Big Y donated a portion of the proceeds from several departments, including floral and produce. Many other items with pink packaging were available, and their manufacturers also made a donation of a portion of their proceeds for breast-cancer research as well. Big Y’s pink, reusable, earth-friendly shopping bag highlighting the breast-cancer awareness campaign were available, and every store promoted Partners of Hope pink ribbons for $1 as a way of generating additional proceeds for breast-cancer organizations throughout Massachusetts and Connecticut.

 

Cooley Dickinson Named a Leapfrog Top Hospital

NORTHAMPTON — Cooley Dickinson Hospital is one of 92 hospitals nationwide and eight in Massachusetts named to the Leapfrog Group’s annual list of Top Hospitals, which was announced on Dec. 4 at Leapfrog’s annual meeting. “It is because our doctors, nurses, allied-health professionals, and staff take the steps necessary to ensure that our patients receive safe, high-quality care that Cooley Dickinson achieved this recognition,” said Craig Melin, president and CEO. “Being named a Top Hospital is validation from an independent authority that our staff is continuously focused on delivering a high quality of care. Ultimately, our patients benefit most from our efforts, because they are less likely to experience quality or safety events at Cooley Dickinson.” Leah Binder, president and CEO of the Leapfrog Group, said the Top Hospital distinction “is by far the most competitive award a hospital can receive. Leapfrog holds hospitals to the highest standards on behalf of our purchaser members and their employees. By achieving the Top Hospital accolade, Cooley Dickinson has demonstrated exemplary performance across all areas of quality and patient safety that are analyzed on the Leapfrog Hospital Survey.” Besides announcing this year’s Top Hospitals, the Leapfrog Group focused on transparency as the key to improved hospital safety at its annual meeting. Cooley Dickinson was selected as a Top Hospital out of nearly 1,200 hospitals participating in the Leapfrog Group’s annual survey. Hospitals reaching this achievement include academic medical centers, teaching hospitals, children’s hospitals, and community hospitals in rural, suburban, and urban settings.

Top Hospital selections are based on the results of the Leapfrog Group’s annual hospital survey, which measures hospitals’ performance on patient safety and quality, focusing on three critical areas of hospital care: how patients fare, resource use, and management structures in place to prevent errors. The results of the survey are posted at www.leapfroggroup.org/cp.

Briefcase Departments

PVPC Issues Top 10 ‘Resolves’ for 2013

SPRINGFIELD — The Pioneer Valley Planning Commission has released its top 10 ‘resolves’ for 2014. In condensed form, these include commitments to: (1) work in concert with a broad array of partnering organizations to support, guide, and complete a regionwide economic-growth study targeted at 500 small and mid-sized Pioneer Valley firms demonstrating significant growth and job-expansion potential; (2) participate in and contribute to a statewide transportation-funding advocacy campaign and strive to ensure that the priority transportation needs and projects of the Pioneer Valley are addressed in an effective, timely, and equitable manner; (3) organize and undertake a regional effort designed to coordinate as well as provide technical assistance to potential
casino host and surrounding communities that are located within the Pioneer Valley region, working with the Mass. Gaming Commission, affected municipalities, casino developers, and other interested parties; (4) organize and launch the PVPC’s scheduled 10-year review and overhaul of the Pioneer Valley Plan for Progress; (5) continue with support provided by the Commonwealth’s District Local Technical Assistance Program to pursue
a variety of municipal shared-service initiatives and planning projects based on a regionwide solicitation process; (6) assist and support the Mass. Department of Transportation and the federal Railroad Administration as these agencies jointly launch the long-awaited ‘Inland Route’ rail-passenger-service feasibility analysis, and help to focus this study on the Boston-Worcester-Springfield east-west rail corridor and its potential to connect these cities and their surrounding areas with New York City and Montreal; (7) prepare, refine, and issue the draft and final versions of seven distinct element plans (e.g., food security, housing, climate change, etc.) which have been developed by the PVPC staff in tandem with work groups that were convened to provide advice, expertise, and feedback; (8) initiate, with 10 project partners, a two-year, $1.9 million Centers for Disease Control-funded Community Transformation Project aimed at improving the health of Springfield residents adversely affected by chronic diseases through healthy food and nutrition programs, physical activities, public-health interventions and infrastructure improvement projects, among others; (9) continue efforts undertaken over the past two years to assist PVPC communities to recover from the June 2011 tornado and pursue measures that could strengthen the level of community resilience to better address and respond to future natural and man-made disasters; and (10) work with state lawmakers and Massachusetts legislators in Washington to shape and advance policy and legislative initiatives at both the federal and state level that support and benefit
the Pioneer Valley and its member communities and residents. The complete list of resolves is available at www.pvpc.org/resources/2013%20resolves.pdf.

 

Construction Industry Loses Jobs in November

WASHINGTON, D.C. — National construction-industry employment fell by 20,000 jobs in November, pushing the sector’s unemployment rate to 12.2%, up from 11.4% the previous month, according to the Dec. 7 employment report by the U.S. Department of Labor. Year over year, construction employment is down by 6,000 jobs, or 0.1%. The non-residential building construction sector lost 4,300 jobs in November. The residential building construction sector lost 6,800 jobs for the month and has lost 15,700 jobs, or 2.8%, since November 2011. Non-residential specialty trade contractors lost 7,400 jobs for the month and have lost 16,000 jobs, or 0.8%, year over year. In contrast, residential specialty trade contractors added 3,200 jobs in November and have added 20,700 jobs, or 1.4%, compared to the same time last year. Heavy and civil-engineering construction sector employment decreased by 3,800 jobs in November, but has increased by 5,900 jobs, or 0.7%, during the past 12 months. Across all industries, the nation added 146,000 jobs as the private sector expanded by 147,000 jobs and the public sector shrunk by 1,000 jobs. The national unemployment rate decreased to 7.7% in November from 7.9% in October. “If there was any question that the construction industry continues to struggle in this economy, [this] Labor Department employment report provided the answer,” said Associated Builders and Contractors Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “In November, the economy essentially wiped out the previous gains that had been registered in the construction industry.” The other major sector to lose jobs in November was manufacturing. The fact that construction and manufacturing both lost jobs is not coincidental, Basu said, as many economic decision makers have adopted a wait-and-see attitude due to the nation’s fiscal cliff and other sources of uncertainty, including geopolitical uncertainty. “While many businesses maintain their standard daily operations, and some even add jobs in the process, larger decisions and investments are put on hold. These decisions often revolve around major investments in plants and equipment. When these types of expenditures are postponed, related industries like manufacturing and construction suffer.”

Departments Incorporations

The following business incorporations were recorded in Hampden, Hampshire, and Franklin counties and are the latest available. They are listed by community.

 

AGAWAM

 

Anderson Cleaning Inc., 295 Silver St., Unit A, Agawam, MA 01001. Trina Gomes, same. Providing cleaning and related services to all entities, private individuals, businesses, and governmental agencies.

 

Ansh Arya Inc., 36 Yarmouth Dr., Agawam, MA 01001. Dinesh Patel, same. Purchase, lease, acquire, own, operate maintain, mortgage, and sell retail stores or departments.

 

BELCHERTOWN

 

J & D of B-Town Inc., 6 Park St., Belchertown, MA 01007. Andre Dupont, 53 Meadow Pond Road, Belchertwon, MA 01007. Pizza shop.

 

CHESTER

 

Chester Costume Company Inc., 10 Middlefield Road, Chester, MA 01011. William Ivey Long, same. Costume designer.

 

FEEDING HILLS

 

All I want for Christmas Inc., 778 Springfield St., Feeding Hills, MA 01030. Jo-Anne Ryan, same. Nonprofit organization established to collect and distribute food, clothing, household items, and toys to indigent families.

 

FLORENCE

 

Gleason Johndrow Landscaping Inc., 383 Westhampton Road, Florence MA 01062. Anthony Gleason II, 20 Florence Road, Apt. 1, Easthampton, MA 01027. Landscaping services.

 

HOLYOKE

 

George G. Clarke Post 801 Veterans of Foreign Wars Inc., 310 Appleton St., Holyoke, MA 01040. Peter Thorpe, 281 Chauncey Walker St., Lot 505 Belchertown, MA 01007. Fraternal, patriotic, historical, and educational organization dedicated to preserve and strengthen comradeship among its members: to assist worthy comrades, to perpetuate the memory and history of our dead, and to assist their widows and orphans to maintain true allegiance to the government of the United States of America.

 

Golden Chopsticks Wang Inc., 1735 Northampton St., Holyoke, MA 01040. Meng Shou Wang, 271 West Franklin St., Holyoke, MA 01040. Restaurant.

 

Iglesia Misionera El Buen Ca Mino Inc., 141 High St., Holyoke, MA 01040. Jose Oyola, 53 North Bridge St., Holyoke, MA 01040. Church.

 

NORTH ADAMS

 

Greylock Bowl and Golf Inc., 41 Roberts Dr., North Adams, MA 01247. James Shaker, 103 Notch Road, North Adams, MA 01247. Bar and restaurant.

 

Kidspace Inc., 1040 Mass Moca Way, North Adams, MA 01247. Christina Olsen, 340 Pine Cobble Road, Williamstown, MA 01267. To foster the inclusion of art in education and promote the understanding and teaching of art by and through learning opportunities designed for elementary and middle school students, teachers, and families.

 

SPRINGFIELD

 

Celebration of Hope of W. MA., Inc., 185 Belmont Ave., Springfield, MA 01108. Barbara Turcotte, 80 Lehigh St., Springfield, MA 01104. Nonprofit organization designed to: (a) raise awareness of and providing education on cancer, regardless of type, including information on its causes, its known risk factors, it’s devastating effects on sufferers and their families, as well as providing education on practices that may mitigate the onset of cancer; (b) support pediatric and adult cancer cures and cancer research; (c) undertake all other lawful activities calculated to effect its stated corporate purposes provided however that these further activities will not otherwise adversely affect its charitable, literary, educational, and scientific purposes/activities.

 

Duval Acquisition Inc., 1776 Main St., Springfield, MA 01103. Peter Picknelly, 330 Park Dr., Springfield, MA 01106. Precision grinding machine shop.

 

WEST SPRINGFIELD

 

Grinspoon Management Services Inc., 380 Union St., West Springfield, MA 01089. Steven Grinspoon, same. Management of property interests.

 

WESTFIELD

 

Citizens Helping Citizens Inc., Southwick Road, Apt. B8, Westfield, MA 01085. Andrew Hiserodt, same. To provide food and water to individuals affected by natural disasters throughout the USA.

 

Direct Auto Promotions Auburn Inc., 300 East Main St., Westfield, MA 01085. David Dicienzo, same. The purchases, sales, maintenance leasing, and financing of automobiles and trucks.

 

Direct Auto Realty Auburn Inc., 300 East Main St., Westfield, MA 0108. David Dicienzo, same. The purchase, sale, and maintenance of real property.

 

WILBRAHAM

 

G2G Racing Inc., 21 Oakland St., Wilbraham, MA 01095. Mary McGrath, same. Auto racing simulation.

DBA Certificates Departments

The following Business Certificates and Trade Names were issued or renewed during the month of December 2012.

 

AGAWAM

 

Creative Cousins

23 Halladay Dr.

Tina Wetmore

 

Nails 2000

1325 Springfield St.

Duong B. Duong

 

AMHERST

 

Epic Filmmakers

4 Charles Lane

David Long

 

Moriarty Woodworking

145 Glendale Road

Mark Moriarty

 

O’Carroll Associates International Consulting

1000 Bay Road

Ide B. O’Carroll

 

CHICOPEE

 

Hebert Creatives

47 Lester St.

Kenneth Hebert

 

Jewelry by Kat

75 Sheridan St.

Karen Tillman

 

Profiles Hair & Nail Salon

12 Sheridan St.

Dawn B. Ortiz

 

The Open Door Resolution

142 Skeele St.

Angela Breault-Klusman

 

HADLEY

 

Barbara’s Bella Message

187 Russell St.

Santa B. Pabon

 

BioMat Clinic

245 Russell St.

Judy M. Lacroix

 

Chili’s Bar and Grill

426 Russell St.

Pepper Dining, Inc.

 

Chipotle Mexican Grill

334 Russell St.

Chipotle of Colorado

 

Megan’s Treasures

367 Russell St.

Nancy Oles

 

Quarters

8 Railroad St.

Greg Stutsman

 

HOLYOKE

 

Good Fellas Barbershop

665 High St.

Jason Alicea

 

The Body Shop

50 Holyoke St.

Robert D. Smith

 

NORTHAMPTON

 

7 Eleven

60 King St.

Richard Blau

 

Deep River Valley Construction, LLC

113 Market St.

Sky Agnitti

 

Exito Clothing Company

384 Spring St.

Andrew Gilbert

 

Hampshire Ear, Nose, and Throat

61 Locust St.

Bethany J. King

 

Jim’s Variety

15 West Farms Road

Tahir Humayun

 

Lafleur Consulting Services, LLC

244 South St.

Daryl Lafleur

 

Northampton Naturopathic Associates, LLC

30 North King St.

Chris M. Deszynski

 

Trailer Tech USA

50 Hatfield St.

Billy J. Davis Jr.

 

SOUTHWICK

 

All the Small Things Handyman Service

4 North Longyard Road

Zachary Colson

 

L & B Workshop

1 Lauren Lane

Laura Brannen

 

Misty Valley Farm

18 Curtis Road

Violet Hall

 

The Log and Country Home Couter, LLC

61 Granville Road

James Ayotte Jr.

 

 

 

SPRINGFIELD

 

Able Cleaning Company

68 Harrison Ave.

Wendy Mota

 

Afterlife Tattoo Studio

378 Dwight St.

David Bissaillon

 

Alli Educational Enterprises

352 Cooley St.

Deborah Y. Alli

 

Cali Nail Care

2460 Main St.

Kelly Huang

 

Castellano Restaurant

2895 Main St.

Hector L. Ortiz

 

City of Homes General Construction

41 Audubon St.

Arelis Agron

 

Cordero Enterprise

546 Worthington St.

Angel Cordero

 

Every Day Healthy Food

70 Chestnut St.

Luz S. Ramirez

 

Fighting Arts Academy

190 Verge St.

Jeremy Libiszewski

 

Grow & Improve

54 Kittrell St.

Latoya Antoinette

 

Ho Home Improvement

341 Oakland St.

Nghe V. Ho

 

Imperial Super Grocery

1072 State St.

Jose M. Rijo

 

John-Son Home Consultants

197 Commonwealth Ave.

John Lawrence

 

Joseph Mini Mart

135 Dwight St.

Hamidah Imran

 

Koshar, LLC

121 Spring St.

Aamir Wani

 

Lucky Nails, LLC

415 Cooley St.

Chau K. Tu

 

Marcella’s Family Kitchen

137 State St.

Marcella Spruell

 

WESTFIELD

 

A & M Small Engine

36 Mechanic St.

Richard Paquette

 

Bertera Dodge

167 Springfield Road

Aldo M. Bertera

 

SEI MA 2, LLC

330 Main St.

Ray Simmons

 

Sisboom Ba Custom Sewing

24 Elm St.

Kelly B. Houlihan

 

Studio 1 Workshop

80 West Silver St.

Marie Matthews

 

WEST SPRINGFIELD

 

Mass Gardener

916 Piper Road

Pavel Zhuk

 

Pro Tool and Machine

349 Cold Spring Ave.

Miroslaw Guzek

 

The UPS Store

900 Riverdale St.

Joseph A. Martin

 

Victory International Store Inc.

573 Union St.

Andrey Kolesnichenko

Bankruptcies Departments

The following bankruptcy petitions were recently filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Readers should confirm all information with the court.

 

Ahmed, Yusuf I.

124 Russell St.

Sunderland, MA 01375

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/28/12

 

Allen, Andrea L.

27 Meadowbrook Lane

Palmer, MA 01069

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/21/12

 

Armour, Carol Ann

111 Valentine St.

Agawam, MA 01001

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/28/12

 

Balbony, Laura A.

52 North Blvd.

West Springfield, MA 01089

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/29/12

 

Batistelli, Tara

58 Briarwood Ave.

Springfield, MA 01118

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/29/12

 

Brenes, Carlos L.

83 St. James Ave.

Springfield, MA 01109

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/20/12

 

Bruce, Timothy B.

Bruce, Kelly M.

19 Calkins Ave.

East Longmeadow, MA 01028

Chapter: 13

Filing Date: 11/19/12

 

Censabella, Michael R.

Censabella, Kimberly

5 Birch Glen Road

Springfield, MA 01119

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/29/12

 

Cerrone, Joan J.

630 Chicopee St.

Chicopee, MA 01013

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/30/12

 

Christian, Adolphus P.

P.O. Box 80653

Springfield, MA 01138

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/16/12

 

Ciccone, Carole J.

361 Main St.

Barre, MA 01005

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/30/12

 

Clark, David Kenneth

192 Old Belchertown Road

Ware, MA 01082

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/29/12

 

Conant, Sharon

109 Joseph Dr.

Pittsfield, MA 01201

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/23/12

 

Dellapenna, Karen I.

a/k/a Bedard, Karen I.

265 S. Main St.

Orange, MA 01364

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/30/12

 

Didierjean, Cheryl A.

a/k/a Long, Cheryl A.

735 Memorial Dr., #103

Chicopee, MA 01020

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/30/12

 

Donahue, Cindy Lee

44 Laro Road

Westfield, MA 01085

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/28/12

 

Dones, Emilia

17 Atwood Place

Springfield, MA 01105

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/28/12

 

Dumas, Jane E.

25 Circle Dr.

West Springfield, MA 01089

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/19/12

 

Emerson, Phillip A.

180 Beauchamp Terrace

Chicopee, MA 01020

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/20/12

 

Fitzpatrick, Robert Alan

Fitzpatrick, Barbara Evelyn

25 Hill Crest Place

Amherst, MA 01002

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/17/12

 

Ford, Wayne R.

Ford, Frances M.

164 Old Lyman Road

Chicopee, MA 01020

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/30/12

 

Fortin, Derek J.

316 West Pomeroy Lane

Amherst, MA 01002

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/28/12

 

Goodfield, William Granger

PO Box 271

Hardwick, MA 01037

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/27/12

 

Gordon, Gary L.

204 Elm Street

Agawam, MA 01001

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/26/12

 

Hale, Lakisha

154 Jewett St.

Springfield, MA 01129

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/21/12

 

Hess, Stephanie Barbara

554 Broadway St.

Chicopee, MA 01020

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/27/12

 

Hitchcock, Emily

3339 Boston Road

Wilbraham, MA 01095

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/21/12

 

Jodoin, Christopher

Jodoin, Lueen

1736 Main St.

Agawam, MA 01001

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/21/12

 

JSH Enterprises, LLC

490 Pittsfield Road

Lenox, MA 01240

Chapter: 11

Filing Date: 11/16/12

 

Katz, Darren P.

Katz, Amy T.

3 Dehon Road

Great Barrington, MA 01230

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/23/12

 

Larabee, Dean R.

Larabee, Marigrace A.

72 Cooley Ave.

East Longmeadow, MA 01028

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/21/12

 

Lugo, Jessica L.

94 Saint Lawrence Ave.

Springfield, MA 01104

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/30/12

 

Madden, Kelly Ann

15 Beacon Ave.

Pittsfield, MA 01201

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/27/12

 

McCarroll, Sandra

64 Bay St.

Springfield, MA 01109

Chapter: 13

Filing Date: 11/19/12

 

Medina, Maria Christina

413 Pleasant St. #4B

Holyoke, MA 01040

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/29/12

 

Melendez, Jose L.

Melendez, Olga E.

47 Marquette St.

Springfield, MA 01104

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/21/12

 

Montuori, Elaine M.

281 Cooley St.

Springfield, MA 01128

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/29/12

 

Navroski, Jacob L.

Providence Court

379 East St., #403

Pittsfield, MA 01201

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/21/12

 

O’Brien, Maryann G.

One Second Ave.

Westfield, MA 01085

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/29/12

 

Old & New Remodeling

Dobrski, Przemyslaw S.

271 Linden St.

Holyoke, MA 01040

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/21/12

 

Olds, Joseph E.

390 Chapel St.

Lee, MA 01238

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/28/12

 

Orr, Charlene R.

60 Briggs St.

Indian Orchard, MA 01151

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/30/12

 

Oslizlo, Rita N.

50 Oak Hill Road

Pittsfield, MA 01201

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/28/12

 

Ovitt, Wayne B.

Ovitt, Felicia A.

69 Daytona Ave.

Pittsfield, MA 01201

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/28/12

 

Perez, Maggie

114 Arthur Ave.

Athol, MA 01331

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/30/12

 

Popowski, Kimberly R.

a/k/a Pompa, Kimberly R.

P.O. Box 1074

Westfield, MA 01085

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/30/12

 

Pratt, Sally J.

a/k/a Fahey, Sally J.

a/k/a Card, Sally J.

61 Smith St.

Athol, MA 01331

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/30/12

 

Reddin, Gail Ann

6 Treehouse Circle #2

Easthampton, MA 01027

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/19/12

 

Reid, Robert S.

19 Highland Ave.

Greenfield, MA 01301

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/16/12

 

Robertson, Steven Ray

Robertson, Dwanna Lynn

615 Main St., Apt. 36

Amherst, MA 01002

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/17/12

 

Roissing, Andrew J.

322 Somers Road

Hampden, MA 01036

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/20/12

 

Rosado, Manuel

487 Newbury St.

Springfield, MA 01104

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/29/12

 

Ryznic, Charles Robert

97 Locust St.

Northampton, MA 01060

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/21/12

 

Sady, Jeanne Marsha

a/k/a Bolduc-Sady, Jeanne M.

45 Robin Dr.

Ludlow, MA 01056

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/26/12

 

Santiago, Waleska

216 Pearl St., Apt. 4R

Springfield, MA 01105

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/19/12

 

Sliech, Dorothy A.

52 Edgewater Road

Agawam, MA 01001

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/26/12

 

Snape, Diana J.

PO Box 179

Southampton, MA 01073

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/26/12

 

Steiger, Barbara F.

515 Canon Circle

Springfield, MA 01118

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/30/12

 

Strange, Polly

47 Washington Ave., Apt. 2E

North Adams, MA 01247

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/28/12

 

Swiercz, Elzbieta A.

PO Box 341

Enfield, CT 06083

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/30/12

 

Sylvester, Lawrence E.

175B Mormon Hollow Road

Millers Falls, MA 01349

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/30/12

 

Tirado, Betsy E.

188 Lucerne Road

Springfield, MA 01119

Chapter: 13

Filing Date: 11/19/12

 

Tweedie, Jeffrey M.

Tweedie, Kimberly J.

16 Laurel Dr.

Ware, MA 01082

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/29/12

 

Urgin, Andrei

23 Pennsylvania Ave.

Chicopee, MA 01013

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/21/12

 

Vallecillo, Carmen M.

170 Cambria St.

Springfield, MA 01118

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/28/12

 

Veremchuck, Natalya S.

44 Sprague St.

West Springfield, MA 01089

Chapter: 13

Filing Date: 11/30/12

 

Verrocchi, Pamela D.

13 Pinnacle Road

Monson, MA 01057

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/27/12

 

 

Walker, Liselot Y.

65A Bear Hole Road

West Springfield, MA 01089

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/29/12

 

Wentz, Stewart E.

68 Lombard Ave.

P O Box 136

Athol, MA 01331

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/30/12

 

Whalley, Kyle J.

377 Granville Road

Southwick, MA 01077

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/21/12

 

Williams, Lula L.

52 Savoy Ave.

Springfield, MA 01104-2008

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/30/12

 

Woike, Timothy R.

1707 North Main St.

Palmer, MA 01069

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/28/12

 

Woods, Emily J.

7 White Birch Ave.

Chicopee, MA 01020

Chapter: 7

Filing Date: 11/29/12

Commercial Real Estate Sections
High-profile Ludlow Mills Project Takes Big Steps Forward

Westmass President Kenn Delude

Westmass President Kenn Delude

Kenn Delude hadn’t seen — or heard — anything quite like it, and he had been in the industrial-park development business for more than 30 years by then.

It was the time just before, during, and since the Great Recession of 2008, and in some respects, it’s still ongoing.

“It was painfully slow,” Delude, president of Westmass Area Development Corp., recalled, looking back (although he alternated between the past and present tenses) on that time when the phone literally didn’t ring for weeks and sales of industrial-park parcels were extremely few and very far between. “I’ve seen many downturns in the economy, but nothing as broad-based as that, nothing that severe.”

But it was at the height of this development drought that Westmass started putting together the most ambitious project in its 52-year existence — redevelopment of the sprawling Ludlow Mills complex in the center of that community. And despite the hardships and the realization that the slump would continue into 2014 and probably beyond, the Westmass board never wavered in its pursuit of the mill property, said Delude, and for two very good reasons.

The first was the realization that, eventually, the development climate would change and there would once again be demand for land and space in which companies could expand, he said, noting that, while Westmass and Westover Metropolitan Development Corp. have adequate supplies of property at the moment, both organizations must think decades out. The second reason was that the mills provided a unique opportunity for Westmass to do something groundbreaking — in both a literal and figurative sense.

“Strategically, this was a decision made by the board to take on a brownfield project, to get involved in a community, and obviously get involved and deal with the issues concerning preservation,” he explained during an interview in the Westmass office within the complex. “Overall, we wanted to create a model for property like this that could be used elsewhere or inspire other parties such as municipalities to take on something like this.

“We have countless mills throughout our region, and they’re located, like this one, by beautiful rivers,” he continued. “They have prime locations from many perspectives, but they’re underutilized, or they’ve fallen into disrepair.”

Westmass is roughly 18 months into what will probably be at least a 20-year endeavor to redevelop the mills and fill the adjoining 170 acres of greenfield property. But already there is a good deal of momentum, despite the still-sluggish economy.

Indeed, the steel is due to be delivered within days for the next phase of construction of a new, $27 million HealthSouth rehabilitation hospital on a parcel in the center of the mill complex. And in conjunction with that project, plans are being developed for the first stage of a riverwalk that will connect the site with the nearby Chicopee River in ways that could promote further development. Meanwhile, plans are moving forward for a senior-housing complex to be created in what’s known as Mill 10.

At the same time, the phone has actually started to ring again in the Westmass office, said Delude, noting that there has been interest expressed in some of the larger green parcels within the mill complex.

And in another development that is expected to create still more momentum, the project was recently included in the third round of funding for the state’s Brownfield Support Team (BST) initiative. Launched in 2008 by Lt. Gov. Tim Murray, the BST brings together local, state, and federal agencies to help advance and accelerate redevelopment efforts involving brownfield sites.

Such designation has triggered progress at both the former Uniroyal site in Chicopee and the former Chapman Valve complex in Indian Orchard, said Delude, adding that BST involvement will bring needed resources and expertise to the matter of readying sites for future new construction or reuse.

“This gives us access to a team that can help us understand and perhaps deal with some of the challenges a developer and a community face when trying to redevelop property like this,” he said. “You have very stringent energy codes and greenhouse-gas analyses, and goals you’re trying to achieve, and, at the same time, you’ve got historic-preservation regulations to contend with. There are a number of issues to address, and these consultants can help us find answers.”

For this issue and its focus on commercial real estate, BusinessWest takes an in-depth look at the Ludlow Mills project and how a picture is starting to develop across the vast, blank canvas it represents.

 

Milling About

As he talked with BusinessWest about the mill project — something he’s done on several occasions since it was first put on the drawing board in 2009 — Delude said it does many things for Westmass.

For starters, it gives the agency an immediate, and always welcome, revenue source.

Indeed, the agency is now a landlord and property manager, collecting rent from nearly three dozen tenants. This additional income, especially at a time when the many business owners are still hesitant about taking on new construction and the cost of such work is considerably more than retrofitting existing space, provides the agency with needed stability.

Meanwhile, it also provides much greater diversity, he said, noting that, in addition to developable, often shovel-ready land that is currently not in high demand, Westmass now has former mill property in its portfolio, and it comes in many shapes and sizes, and with myriad potential uses. The development corporation also gains needed acreage for larger-scale projects, and even 6,000-square-foot stockhouses — dozens of them were used to store raw materials at the jute-manufacturing complex — that could serve effectively as incubator facilities for startups and next-stage companies.

HealthSouth facility

An architect’s rendering of the new HealthSouth facility now starting to take shape at the Ludlow Mills complex.

“That’s an interesting market because it’s very expensive to build a 6,000-square-foot facility — there are no scales of economy working for you, and it’s often difficult for a developer to create a parcel and dedicate the needed frontage for a 6,000-square-foot building,” he explained. “So this gives us the mechanism to attract and capture businesses that need such a facility and help them grow.

“The perfect scenario would be to have someone as a lease tenant,” he continued, “and as they became successful and grew, they would be able to build new at Ludlow Mills on another location. There would be a natural continuity there, and people wouldn’t have to leave the area, or even the community, to grow.”

All this, or at least much of it, was envisioned by Delude and the Westmass board as the Ludlow Mills acquisition started to take shape in the midst of that deep downturn that Delude described.

Retelling the story of how this project came to be, Delude said the nearly 1.5 million-square-foot mill complex was once the very heart of Ludlow’s economy — so much so that the clock tower at the corner of one of the mills has become the unofficial symbol of Ludlow, used on the town seal as well as the masthead of the weekly Ludlow Register.

After the mill operations shut down, the complex became home to a host to a number of businesses across several sectors, including manufacturing and distribution. The maze of buildings and adjacent undeveloped land, totaling more than 1,000 acres, caught the attention of Westmass officials as they scouted opportunities to expand the agency’s reach, portfolio of developable land, and roster of business opportunities.

Delude acknowledged that the project is seemingly far removed from the agency’s primary business model — creating, marketing, and, eventually, filling business parks (it now has five across Hampden and Hampshire counties) — but is firmly in keeping with the Westmass mission of creating opportunities for economic development in the region.

 

Building Momentum

The vast potential of the Ludlow Mills for creating different kinds of development opportunities is driven home by the first two announced projects for the site.

One is a $20 million plan forwarded by WinnDevelopment to build 83 units of senior housing on four floors of what’s known as Mill 10, built in 1907. It represents one of many forms of possible reuse of an existing structure, said Delude, adding that this proposal also meets a recognized need for such a facility in Ludlow, and thus presents an opportunity for many long-time residents to continue living in that community.

The second project, the new HealthSouth rehabilitation hospital, is new construction, and represents an opportunity for Westmass and the mill complex to enable a business to expand and stay within the region or, in this case, in the town of Ludlow itself.

“We wanted to stay in Ludlow, but at the same time we knew we couldn’t stay here,” said HealthSouth president Scott Keen, referring to the old Ludlow Hospital, which currently houses his facility and is only a few hundred yards from the mill complex. “From a business perspective, if you’re in a town that’s supported you for many years, and the community supports you, and you’ve had a successful business, it makes no sense to do anything but try to find a way to stay, and that the mill gave us an opportunity to do.”

Elaborating, he said the complex provided the acreage and the location the growing venture needed to take an operation inconveniently spaced over five floors of the old community hospital and move it to a facility with nearly 20,000 additional square feet all on one floor.

Moving forward, Westmass wants to create more of both types of development opportunities, said Delude, adding that the mill complex offers the size, flexibility, and existing facilities to meet almost any need.

To prove it, he went to a large, aerial photo of the complex, complete with blocks of yellow designed to show what could potentially be built in certain areas of the parcel.

For example, the area around the site of the new HealthSouth facility is suitable for buildings 10,000 to 40,000 square feet in size, while the greenfield further to the east is suitable for buildings of 60,000 to 150,000 square feet. Meanwhile, those aforementioned stockhouses can accommodate smaller ventures, and the existing mill structures can house a wide range of business and residential ventures.

“The broad goal for us is to be as flexible to the market-driven demand as possible,” said Delude.

And this is where the potential to create a working model for other communities and development agencies to emulate comes into focus, he continued, adding that there are similar mill complexes (although not as large) across the state that present the same set of challenges and potential opportunities.

“When we met with legislators on Beacon Hill to discuss funding for this project, there were a number who identified with this project and the challenges and were encouraging us to forward, because they had their own mill experiences,” said Delude, referring to officials from Haverhill, Lawrence, and other former manufacturing centers.

This connection, coupled with the large scale of the project, were certainly factors that led the Ludlow initiative to be chosen for assistance from the Brownfield Support Team, he went on, adding that the technical support from the BST will help facilitate and accelerate efforts to make the site ready for the various kinds of development it can support.

Meetings with the team will commence later this month, he went on, adding that the expertise provided by team members may help remove some of the potential roadblocks to the development, specifically the need to balance historic-preservation efforts with increasing demands — both at the legislative level and within the business community — for buildings that are energy-efficient.

“These buildings were built in the early 1900s — they’re energy-inefficient by nature,” said Delude. “For the first time, the Department of Energy Resources will be on a round of Brownfield Support Team intiative projects, and they’re interested in use of renewable energies and sustainability, and that hits the sweet spot with us and these older buildings.”

 

Progress in Site

Delude said the high-profile nature of the Ludlow Mills project brings with it a certain amount of pressure to succeed, but overall, the fact that high-ranking state officials, including Gov. Deval Patrick, are watching this project is a very positive thing.

“They want us to succeed, and they’re giving us the tools to succeed,” he said of state officials. “If there is any pressure, it’s internal to ourselves; we want to succeed, and we want to do it as quickly as possible, but there is a natural process that has to take place, and it starts with infrastructure, and it starts with preparing for the development that we’ve modeled and that we hope to achieve.

“We have a lot of people behind this project and enthusiastically supporting this project,” he went on, adding quickly, “it would nice if the economy would support it as well.”

It will — eventually — but even now, the sluggish times are not enough to dampen enthusiasm for a project that promises to be historic on a number of levels.

 

George O’Brien can be reached at [email protected]

Banking and Financial Services Sections
Berkshire Bank Continues Its Dramatic Growth Pattern

Sheryl McQuade

Sheryl McQuade calls Berkshire Bank’s blend of financial clout and personal service “thinking big and acting small.”

It’s certainly a season of change for Berkshire Bank, which is making news on Wall Street, a splash in Connecticut, and big changes in its branches, in its core Massachusetts market, and beyond.

The Wall Street development is the bank’s recent move from NASDAQ to the New York Stock Exchange, which became official in November, around the same time that eight former Connecticut Bank and Trust (CBT) branches — which Berkshire acquired earlier in 2012 — officially converted to their new name, Berkshire Bank — CBT Region.

“Connecticut is a new market for us. We made an investment in Connecticut by way of our acquisition of CBT, and we did so because the Connecticut market offers significant opportunities for commercial and retail banking,” said Sheryl McQuade, senior vice president and regional commercial leader for the Greater Hartford market.

“We believe Berkshire Bank has a unique value proposition,” said McQuade, who admitted that any expansion into Connecticut is fraught with challenge, because the region is arguably as overbanked as Western Mass. “It’s not like we’re the first game in town there, but we believe, because of our size — which is about $5.5 billion now — matched with our product capabilities and diverse business lines, we can offer everything a large, regional bank can, but so do in a more nimble fashion.”

The Connecticut acquisition ostensibly benefits former CBT customers due to the banks’ comparative size; CBT had assets of about $280 million, and commercial loan limits of around $3 million, while Berkshire Bank can conduct deals in the $15 million range. McQuade also touted the bank’s growing suite of products in retail and business banking, insurance, and wealth management.

None of which, she said, will matter if Berkshire Bank doesn’t effectively integrate itself into the culture of its new communities, and that takes more than size. It’s a strategy that McQuade calls “thinking big and acting small,” and for this month’s focus on banking and finance, she and other bank leaders explained to BusinessWest exactly what that entails.

 

Growing Footprint

Berkshire Bank is no stranger to growth, having taken an aggressive approach to geographic expansion in recent years.

In the summer of 2011, the bank acquired Legacy Bancorp of Pittsfield, bringing 15 branches under its umbrella in Western Mass. and New York. That move came on the heels of other, smaller acquisitions, including New York-based Rome Bancorp earlier in 2011 — a series of moves that, including the CBT merger, has seen Berkshire expand its footprint from 43 to 75 branches in less than 20 months.

Last year, Sean Gray, executive vice president of Retail Banking, told BusinessWest that Berkshire Bank looks to organic growth first — as he put it, “getting the most out of our existing footprint.”

But the past decade has seen this Pittsfield-based institution make headway in New York, Vermont, Central Mass., and now Connecticut. Gray said Berkshire looks for banks that share a similar culture when seeking consolidation opportunities, but the leaders of its Springfield and Hartford markets say they’ve launched an ambitious strategy to introduce a unique, customer-focused culture in new branches.

For example, “we’re launching a new program called MyBanker,” said Lori Gazzillo, assistant vice president of Community Relations. “When we talk about relationship banking, we’re talking about personal bankers who work with individuals who have various financial needs, whether it’s loans or insurance or deposits. They can go to this one person for all their banking needs — somebody they can call about anything, who can connect them with the services they need.”

Branch design is also being overhauled to reflect a more personal, less institutional touch, McQuade said. The bank’s Springfield headquarters, where she and Chamberlain sat down with BusinessWest, is a good example, with its coffee station at the entrance, and where customers are invited to sit down with tellers, no longer separated by an impersonal counter.

“This will be the design going forward in our new branches,” Gazzillo said, adding that older branches will be renovated to match. “This new design enhances teller technology, and it’s a more personalized situation; it’s also more efficient as transactions go, and it’s more inviting, with a café and comfortable chairs and a common room.”

That common room is another way Berkshire is trying to connect with its communities. Each branch will offer local nonprofits and other organizations a space, equipped with multi-media, wi-fi, and videoconferencing equipment, to hold meetings. “It’s a way to offer something back to the communities we’re operating in,” McQuade said, “versus a lot of banks pushing people away from bricks and mortar and toward online banking.”

That’s a constant concern for banks these days, which are trying to serve two distinct constituencies — the traditional, older-skewing customer who prefers face-to-face transactions, and the younger, more mobile crowd that has embraced banking on computers, smartphones, and tablets.

“Berkshire Bank has really invested in a lot of products and technological capabilities,” McQuade said. “On the commercial side, we’re not dependent on branches to serve our customers; we have remote deposit and other tools that a large, regional bank would have.”

However, Gazzillo said, “we think it needs to be both. People are becoming more high-tech, relying on their phones and iPads, and we’re working on rolling out a mobile-banking platform. But customers still want to see someone on a personal level. It’s important to keep up with both, and we’re large enough to do that.”

Sue Chamberlain

Sue Chamberlain says it’s important to cater effectively to both the high-tech, mobile crowd and those who want face-to-face interaction.

Susan Chamberlain, first vice president of Retail Banking in the Springfield/Hartford region, agreed. “More and more people are now doing their banking online and on their phones, but we’re seeing our bricks-and-mortar side growing for sure. You can’t ignore the customers who like to come in and have face-to-face contact, for mortgages, home-equity loans, or if they just need some information.”

 

Culture Change

Gazzillo knows that Berkshire — which dubs itself “America’s most exciting bank” in its marketing materials — has bitten off quite a bit with its recent acquisitions, but she feels the institution has the right strategy to thrive in a highly competitive financial-services landscape.

“We’re succeeding at a time, and in a banking environment, where it’s difficult for banks to succeed,” she said. “We have been expanding, and we’ve acquired a number of banks, but it’s a careful process of looking at the culture and philosophy of a bank and making sure it fits within our own banking culture.

“We’re doing it the right way,” she said, “by providing customers with the tools and resources they need, and a level of personal service that they want. I’m proud of that, and happy with what we’re doing.”

Reflecting that emphasis, Berkshire Bank delayed the changeover of CBT branches by about six months because the company was going through a major upgrade to its operating system across all branches, and didn’t want to put the new, Connecticut-based customers through two separate conversions.

Meanwhile, Berkshire is trying to ease the transition for Nutmeg Staters in other ways. “Part of that is by hiring capable, talented people who are seasoned and experienced in their own communities,” McQuade said. “I’ve hired several people in Connecticut who have a history and relationships in their markets.”

The bank remains committed, Gazzillo said, to meeting community needs as well, across its entire four-state footprint.

“We have a foundation, and as far as financial contributions go, we give $1.5 million,” she said, but added that money is just one element of community involvement; others include a volunteer culture and a benefit that offers employees paid time off to volunteer at nonprofits in their communities. “That’s a big component of who we are, of being a community partner.”

McQuade credited bank President and CEO Michael Daly, who recently added chairman of the board to his business card, for setting the institution — which originally focused mostly on commercial banking — on a path to strong growth across many niches.

“He had the vision to grow the bank’s commercial business, but in a relationship-banking fashion, principally because, in addition to all our capabilities in commercial banking, we have wealth management, an insurance group — a lot of things that can be leveraged as part of a deliberate, relationship-banking strategy,” she explained — one that attempts to draw in young customers and meet their needs for life.

And, now, aims to bring a little excitement to Connecticut, too.

 

Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]

Agenda Departments

Building Your Future

Jan. 8: MassMutual and Western New England University are teaming up to present the MassMutual Building Your Future Conference from 8 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. at WNEU. More than 400 Springfield public- and private-school students in grades 10 through 12 are scheduled to attend.

The free conference is designed to give students the tools and knowledge to construct a blueprint for their education and careers. Workshops will touch on college and career planning, problem solving, and time- and money-management skills. MassMutual Academic Achievers earn an invitation to the conference by maintaining a B average or better for four consecutive marking periods during grades 10 through 12.

“Choosing the right career path is imperative to a successful future, but many of our young people aren’t aware of local career opportunities,” said Nick Fyntrilakis, vice president for Community Responsibility at MassMutual, adding that the conference “exposes students to career opportunities that are available in financial services at MassMutual and beyond. Our programs encourage students to excel academically and gain valuable exposure to rewarding careers.”

This year’s conference will offer students a variety of hands-on activities in various fields, including financial services, business, information technology, broadcast communications, criminal justice, medicine, and the sciences. Workshops will also address the college admissions process, paying for college, making a good first impression, and preparing for life’s curveballs. The keynote speaker will be Terrell Hill, principal at High School Inc., a four-year, college-preparatory school for students in grades 9 through 12 who are interested in pursuing careers in the insurance and financial-services industries. Other highlights of the conference include a video contest and a raffle featuring a laptop computer, flatscreen televisions, iPods, and other prizes. The snow date for the conference is Jan. 11. To register, visit www1.wne.edu/massmutual/byf.

 

Essence Editor to Speak

Feb. 5: Susan Taylor of Essence magazine will speak at Springfield Technical Community College at 11 a.m. in the Scibelli Hall gym as part of the STCC Diversity Council Event Series. The presentation, which coincides with Black History Month, is free and open to the public. Taylor’s name is synonymous with Essence magazine, the brand she built as the magazine’s fashion and beauty editor, editor in chief, and editorial director. For nearly three decades, Taylor has been the driving force behind one of the most celebrated black-owned businesses of our time and a legend in the magazine-publishing world. For 27 years, Taylor authored one of the magazine’s most popular columns, “In the Spirit.” She is the only African-American woman to be recognized by the Magazine Publishers of America with the Henry Johnson Fisher Award, the industry’s highest honor, and the first to be inducted into the American Society of Magazine Editors Hall of Fame. Taylor also is the recipient of the NAACP President’s Award for visionary leadership and has honorary degrees from more than a dozen colleges and universities.
A fourth-generation entrepreneur and the author of four books, she supports a host of organizations dedicated to moving the black community forward, but her passion and focus today is with the National Cares Mentoring Movement, a call to action which she founded in 2006 as Essence Cares. The National Cares Mentoring Movement (www.caresmentoring.org) is a massive campaign to recruit 1 million able adults to help secure children who are in peril and losing ground. Taylor’s presentation is sponsored by PeoplesBank, Hampden Bank, the STCC Diversity Council, the Springfield Department of Health and Human Services, Baystate Health, Health New England, MassMutual, and the United Way of Pioneer Valley.

 

40 Under Forty Reunion

Feb. 7: BusinessWest will stage a reunion featuring the first six classes of its 40 Under Forty program at the Log Cabin Banquet & Meeting House in Holyoke. The event, open only to 40 Under Forty winners, event judges, and sponsors, will begin at 5:30 p.m. and feature a talk from Peter Straley, president of Health New England, about leadership and community involvement. For more information on the event, call (413) 781-8600 or e-mail [email protected].

 

Charlotte’s Web Exhibit

Through April 22: The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst is offering a rare opportunity for guests to see selections from the 20th-century classic Charlotte’s Web, written by E.B. White and illustrated by Garth Williams. “Some Book! Some Art! Selected Drawings by Garth Williams for Charlotte’s Web” will be on exhibit through April 22, and celebrates Williams’s 100th birthday and the 60th anniversary of the book. For more information, visit, www.carle museum.org.

 

Difference Makers 2013

March 21: The annual Difference Makers award program, staged by BusinessWest, will be held at the Log Cabin Banquet & Meeting House, starting at 5 p.m. Details on the event will be published in upcoming issues of the magazine. Difference Makers is a program, launched in 2009, that recognizes groups and individuals that are, as the name suggests, making a difference in this region. Several dozen nominations for the award have been received, and are now being reviewed. The winners will be announced in the magazine’s Feb. 11 issue. For more information, call (413) 781-8600.

Chamber Corners Departments

AMHERST AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

www.amherstarea.com

(413) 253-0700

 

• Jan. 9: Chamber Annual Meeting Luncheon, noon to 1:30 p.m. Location to be announced. Cost: $25 fior members, $30 for non-members. For more information, visit www.amherstarea.com.

• Jan. 23: Chamber After Five, 5-7 p.m. Location to be announced. Tickets: $5 for members, $10 for non-members. For more information, visit www.amherstarea.com.

 

GREATER EASTHAMPTON CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

www.easthamptonchamber.org

(413) 527-9414

 

• Jan. 24: Chamber Annual Meeting and Annual Awards Dinner to Celebrate Member Milestones, 5 p.m., Southampton Country Club, 329 College Highway, Southampton. Review of a successful 2012, annual awards presentation for business, business person, and community-service members of the year, and to honor members’ business milestones. Event sponsor: Easthampton Savings Bank. Cost: $30 per person, inclusive. For more information, visit [email protected].

 

GREATER HOLYOKE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

www.holycham.com

(413) 534-3376

 

• Jan. 9: Winners Circle, 5-7 p.m., Yankee Pedlar, 1866 Northampton St., Holyoke. Sponsored by Dowd Insurance Agency, Holyoke Community College, Holyoke Medical Center, PeoplesBank, and Resnic, Beauregard, Waite & Driscoll. Cost: $25. Call the chamber at (413) 534-3376 to register or sign up at holyokechamber.com.

• Jan. 16: Chamber Business Networking, 5-7 p.m., Homewood Suites, 375 Whitney Ave., Holyoke. Sponsored by CareerPoint. Cost: $10 for members, $15 cash for non-members. If you are a member of the hospitality industry or a small retailer, please attend as the chamber’s guest at no charge. Call the chamber at (413) 534-3376 to register or sign up at holyokechamber.com.

• Jan. 17: The Greater Holyoke Chamber of Commerce and the Holyoke Police Department are teaming up to co-host the chamber’s open house and a ribbon cutting at the grand oppening of the HPD’s ‘Hub’ office. The events will take place at 176 and 177 High St., 4-7 p.m. Both events are free and open to the public.

• Jan. 28: Basics of Marketing Seminar, 8:30-10 a.m. Learn some free and low-cost ideas on marketing your business. Cost: $10 for members, $20 for non-members. A continental breakfast is included in the price. Call the chamber at (413) 534-3376 to register or sign up at holyokechamber.com.

 

GREATER WESTFIELD CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

www.westfieldbiz.org

(413) 568-1618

 

• Jan. 9: WestNet. 5-7 p.m., at the Westwood Restaurant and Pub, 94 North Elm St., Westfield. Sponsored by For K9s and Felines. Guest speaker: Ray Maagero, Liberty Tax. Tickets: $10 cash for members, $15 cash for non-members. Your first WestNet is always free. Hors d’oeuvres and cocktails, door prizes, great networking opportunity. Bring your business cards. To register, contact Pam Bussell at the chamber office, (413) 568-1618, or by e-mail at [email protected].

Features
Group Wants to Emphasize That It Goes Well Beyond Networking

Chris Thomson and Pam Thornton

Chris Thomson and Pam Thornton say the primary challenge for YPS is to effectively communicate that it is much more than a networking organization.

Chris Thompson isn’t a young accountant — his business card declares that he is vice president of Business Development for the Springfield Falcons hockey club — but he put himself in the shoes of such an individual to help explain what the Young Professional Society of Greater Springfield (YPS) has accomplished in its first five years, and where the group intends to go in the future.

“Can you imagine being a 22-year-old accounting graduate from UMass who has a chance to meet with Mark O’Connell?” asked Thompson rhetorically, referring to the recently named president and CEO of Wolf & Co., P.C., who was the featured business executive at a recent YPS CEO Luncheon. “You can’t put a price tag on having a face-to-face with a decision maker like that. ”

Indeed, in addition to valuable insight about the accounting industry and business in general, O’Connell provided his luncheon guests with indisputable evidence that one doesn’t haven’t to leave Western Mass. to script a success story. O’Connell, a long-time partner with the firm, has long worked out of the Springfield office rather than the firm’s headquarters facility in Boston, and he made a conscious decision to keep that business mailing address when he was chosen this past summer to lead the company.

Those career decisions enable YPS’s marketing slogan — ‘Live, Work, Play, and Stay’ — to resonate, said Thompson, a long-time YPS member, adding that exposing the group’s membership to more of these stories is one of many formal and informal goals moving forward for the organization, which recently turned five, and marked that milestone by completing a new, three-year strategic plan.

That document, which calls for hiring a full-time executive director, among other steps, addresses goals and aspirations, but also perceptions about the group and apparent misperceptions as well, said Pam Thornton, business-development director for United Personnel and current president of the organization.

Elaborating, she said YPS is perceived by many as simply a networking group, a view facilitated by the group’s popular and highly visible Third Thursday gatherings.

Those get-togethers will continue, she went on, adding that networking remains a high priority for the organization. But there are other missions, ranging from educating members about issues and the region in general to helping members get involved in the community, to, overall, providing motivation for young people to stay in this area.

“YPS is all about graduating youth into the business world, and I see it as a foundation, a funnel, a vehicle for all of the things this area is concerned about in retaining talent,” said Thornton, adding that the new strategic plan emphasizes this mindset.

Summing up the plan and what its architects hope it will accomplish, Thompson said it was crafted with the broad goal of greatly reducing the volume of questions relative to why the organization exists, what it does, and how it carries out its mission.

“There was no blueprint back then,” he explained, referring to the group’s early days, while noting that, with a firm plan in place, YPS can better articulate its charge — and carry it out.

For this issue, BusinessWest talked with several YPS members about the state of their organization at this important stage of its development, and where it can, and should, go from here.

 

Young Ideas

If success can be measured in numbers, such as those related to membership, then YPS can certainly claim a number of victories since its formation in the summer of 2007.

It now boasts more than 500 individual members and 50 corporate members. Meanwhile, its e-mail list has grown to more than 2,000. And there have been other forms of validation: BusinessWest chose the group as one of the first recipients of its Difference Makers award in 2009, and state Sen. James Welch (D-West Springfield) is sponsoring legislation to develop a ‘Young Professional Commission,’ which would give the 11 YP organizations across the Commonwealth a voice on Beacon Hill.

“What makes YPS important is that many of the decision makers, not only in our region, but everywhere, tend to be further along in their careers,” said Welch. “YPS represents those that are a little earlier in their careers and gives them a bit more of a voice when it comes to decision making and influencing policy and the direction the region wants to go in.”

The commission would also be a key element in ongoing efforts across the Commonwealth to keep young professionals — what Welch and others call “intellectual capital” — in the Bay State, thus making it a more attractive state in which to do business.

Yet, despite these triumphs, there is still an apparent lack of awareness, even among some YPS members, about the group’s official mission and the work it does within the community and for its members.

These were revealed at a series of focus groups staged last summer and facilitated by Ronn Johnson, president of R.D. Johnson Consulting.

Among the findings was that nagging perception of the group as simply a networking organization, a view that is somewhat troubling, but perhaps understandable. That’s because, from the start, YPS has stressed the importance of networking and building relationships, both from a business perspective and a community-involvement standpoint.

“That’s where the disconnect has been; we were a young, social business group that built strong foundations through networking,” said Thornton. “When you look at the chamber, that’s what they do, too … it’s called building relationships; you aren’t going to do business with someone you don’t like.”

The group’s networking activities, especially its Third Thursdays, will continue, said those we spoke with, because they remain one of the few — and most effective — vehicles for young people to build those relationships. But YPS will emphasize other aspects of its charge, and more forcefully articulate them.

The need to do so was made clear at the focus groups, said Kishore Parmar, vice president of the Pioneer Valley Hotel Group, who was asked to be an observer and administrator at two of the sessions, which solicited feedback from area business and nonprofit leaders.

He noted that many of these participants were aware of YPS, but opined that its mission was not clearly stated.

“That’s the biggest issue with them,” he told BusinessWest. “They wanted to know what our end goal was, to see it written down, and to see it formally introduced.”

 

Youth Is Served

To do all this, and create that more solid blueprint that Thompson described, the group’s strategic plan sets a number of goals and methods for realizing them.

One of the key provisions is hiring an executive director, a step necessitated by the group’s profound growth, and a measure that will give YPS a face and a voice in the community and an important layer of management.

“There are many nonprofits out there that function quite well without an executive director, but they really only get legs when they have someone who can manage the organization on a full-time basis,” Thornton told BusinessWest. “So we will be approaching key stakeholders in the community to invest in YPS.”

The strategic plan also calls for a sustainable organizational structure that will explore more funding opportunities through grant and fee-based programs; a task force to oversee a fund-development plan; the possibility of a conversion from a 501(c)(6) to a 501(c)(3), allowing a charitable arm of YPS; and strengthening community, key-stakeholder, and political partnerships.

Other facets of the plan include additional focus on fostering “an inclusive, culturally competent, and community-relevant organization in the eyes of its members and the broader community.” Thornton said YPS is already taking a number of steps in the realm of diversity, “but we can always do better.”

She noted that the 16 members of the board of directors will be attending a diversity-education seminar in January, bringing what they learn back to members.

Another component of the strategic initiative focuses on what the group calls work/life development opportunities.

“When we look to the future, we want people to view us as what they asked us to be,” Thornton explained. “The feedback that we got was about professional-development programming, education reform, real-estate concerns, casinos and a forum about that issue — and they really want to be connected in the community through volunteerism, but they want someone to show them how to do that.”

Part of this assignment will involve simply making young people aware of the many kinds of professional-development opportunities that exist in this region, said Thompson, noting that several colleges and workforce-development agencies provide workshops and other programs, many of them free of charge, but young professionals often don’t know about them.

Welch agrees. “Young professionals know from experience that, when they were first starting out in their careers, they didn’t necessarily know what resources were out there and available to them.”

And while many in the business community are focused on what YPS can do for them and their employees, Thornton believes these same people have to ask what they can do to help YPS.

“Maybe employers need to take a step back and see how they can become involved; young people need the elder community to be mentors, and those employers have a role in YPS,” she explained. “And the only way to do that is to engage young people, mentor them, give credence and value to the things that they’re interested in … and that’s how to keep young professionals in the area.”

Still another stated goal within the strategic plan is to create vehicles through which the board can more effectively communicate with current and potential members, partners, and the general public through the YPS website and other marketing strategies. Such efforts are expected to help increase membership, facilitate recruitment of sponsors, and solidify efforts to retain young talent across the region.

“When the question is asked, ‘what does YPS do?’ we’ll be able to answer that though our website, e-mails, and a consistent brand,” said Thornton. “These are big goals, and we’ll need time to realize them.”

 

Goal Keepers

Summing up what he saw and heard at the last summer’s focus groups, Parmar said there is a perception among many that YPS is “finding its way” and evolving into a viable organization that is promoting intelligent discussions and generating tangible results.

“There are more doers, and they’re rising up,” he said, adding that, moving forward, the group’s basic challenge is to encourage more area business leaders to voice such opinions, and eventually prompt use of the word ‘found’ rather than ‘finding.’

Generating such dialogue — and changes in perception — will take some time, but with a new strategic plan in place, those within the organization believe YPS has a blueprint in place for building on what has already become a success story.

 

Elizabeth Taras can be reached at [email protected]

Features Getting Down to Business
Casinos Add to Full Slate for Springfield Chamber

Springfield Chamber leaders (from left) Jeff Ciuffreda, Jeff Fialky, and Patrick Leary

Springfield Chamber leaders (from left) Jeff Ciuffreda, Jeff Fialky, and Patrick Leary all say that casinos are just one of many issues on the agency’s crowded plate.

Patrick Leary acknowledged that much of the current discussion involving casinos in Springfield is centered on where and who — meaning the location and the chosen operator.

But the Springfield Chamber of Commerce isn’t focusing on those specific matters, and it probably won’t, said Leary, a partner with the Springfield-based accounting firm Moriarty & Primack and current president of the chamber’s board. But that doesn’t mean the organization isn’t getting involved in what would be the largest development project in the city’s history if it comes to fruition.

Instead, the chamber is taking a more global view, one that can best be described as providing a voice for its membership on this all-important issue, said Leary.

“North End, South End … regardless of who it is and where it is, we’re more concerned that the chamber’s members aren’t forgotten in this whole process,” he told BusinessWest. “It would be very easy to have a casino move into the North End or South End and start siphoning business away from the central business district and pulling employees away from our membership; we need to look at all those issues that are going to affect our membership.”

Jeffrey Ciuffreda, executive director of the 550-member Springfield Chamber, as well as the larger Affiliated Chambers of Commerce of Greater Springfield, agreed.

He said the chamber has thus far decided, as an organization, to endorse the concept of a Springfield-based casino — with some stated suggestions, or requests, designed to protect the interests of existing businesses in the city.

These include:

• “A preferential procurement program for gods and services from Springfield businesses with measurable goals”;

• “Employing those unemployed and underemployed,” with an emphasis on those residing in Springfield now or in the future in market rate housing; and

• “Enhancement of downtown Springfield and the city as a whole,” among others.

The wording on the chamber’s measure sums up the charge for the group during the casino fight. The organization voted to “support a Springfield-based casino development that adequately addresses the issues and concerns of the membership of the Springfield Chamber of Commerce.”

So, in many respects, the chamber is taking the same approach with casinos that it does with other issues impacting the local business community, said Ciuffreda, listing everything from tax classification and efforts to lower the commercial rate to zoning policy and matters involving the compensation and term length of Springfield’s mayor.

The common denominator, he said, is creating an environment in which the city and its business community can succeed.

“We have a very large and diverse membership base in Springfield,” said Ciuffreda. “Our mission is to effectively represent these businesses, advocate for them, and, in general, create a business-friendly environment in the city.”

For this issue, BusinessWest concludes its Getting Down to Business series with an in-depth look at the Springfield Chamber, which finds itself in the middle of a hotly contested battle for the Western Mass. casino license, but also has a number of other matters on its plate.

 

Playing Their Cards

When asked about the chamber’s role with casinos moving forward, Ciuffreda said the time for debate about whether expanded gaming is something the state wants or needs is over — legislation passed just over a year ago allows up to three casinos and a slots parlor — and the chamber’s current assignment reflects this.

“Now, the issue of ‘do you want a casino?’ is off the table,” he said, while acknowledging that city residents must still approve a referendum on a casino plan or plans. “The issue now is ‘how does this benefit Springfield?’”

Elaborating, he said the chamber’s official role is to communicate the desires and concerns of its membership and the business community as a whole, and to secure itself a seat at the table in discussions with casino operators — both literally and figuratively.

Concerning the former, Kate Kane, managing director of the Springfield office of Northwestern Mutual Financial/the Zuzdo Group, and a former Springfield Chamber board member, has been appointed to an ad-hoc committee appointed by mayor Domenic Sarno to review competing casino proposals; she will, in essence, represent the chamber and its membership on the panel. As for the latter, the chamber intends to be quite visible and vocal as negotiations continue with casino operators, said both Leary and Ciuffreda.

And to carry out that assignment, the chamber has appointed its own casino subcommittee, one that has met several times and thoroughly researched other urban centers with casinos, including Detroit, Kansas City, Mo., and Biloxi, Miss.

“We discussed the good and the bad of having a casino, how they [operators] negotiated, and whether they even negotiated,” said Leary, “and the board voted to endorse the Springfield-based casino with the provision that we’re going to have certain items that we need to have addressed before we’ll fully endorse and advocate for casinos.”

Both Ciuffreda and Leary said they’re impressed with the plans of both casino operators (MGM and Penn National) proposing facilities in Springfield, just as they were with Ameristar’s concept for the former Westinghouse site before that company withdrew from the competition. But both also added that some of the promises to hire minorities and women are already part of the state’s gaming legislation.

While other chambers had to reach out and call for the casino developers to do something specific on that front, “it’s already built into ours,” Ciuffreda said.

“Not taking anything away from MGM or Penn National; there’s a minimum standard [through the legislation], and they’ve exceeded those standards,” he continued. “But it’s a compliment to Gov. Patrick and the Legislature for writing a very solid measure that protects what we have right now and adds to it.”

 

East Meets West

Yet, as the pitched casino battle plays itself out, the Springfield chamber will have other matters to address, which collectively fall under the category of giving its membership a strong, clear, united voice in both Springfield City Hall and Beacon Hill.

Indeed, advocacy is one of the most visible and impactful ways that the chamber brings value to its members through the long reach of the ACCGS, said Ciuffreda, adding that there are many ways in which this aspect of the group’s mission is carried out.

For starters, there’s the ACCGS’s annual bus trip to the State House every April, a program that brings 65 area business and nonprofit leaders to Boston to meet with delegation members, gain insight into pressing issues impacting the business community, and express their view on such issues.

“Boston just doesn’t see that many people in that building at one time from Western Mass.,” said Leary. “And that translates to 65 business leaders who represent literally thousands of people.”

And while the chamber brings its members to Boston, it has also succeeded in bringing Boston-based elected officials to Springfield. Indeed, Ciuffreda secured Jay Gonzalez, secretary of the Executive Office of Administration and Finance, as a speaker for a recent luncheon program, and has consistently brought top officials within the Patrick administration — and the governor himself — for area events.

“I see it as a win-win situation,” he said of such high-profile speaking engagements. “Area business owners and managers get to hear directly from these officials, and we can provide a large audience for them.”

Chamber visibility in Springfield City Hall is far more constant, obviously, said Ciuffreda, adding that the chamber has been, and continues to be, vocal on issues ranging from tax classification to city-wide zoning policy; from tornado recovery to the mayor’s salary.

That last item is still a matter to be settled, he continued, adding that it is one of many action items to result from the 2007 Urban Land Institute study on Springfield, which took place as the city was struggling to fight its way out of receivership and blueprint an economic-development strategy for the years ahead.

The report’s recommendations for City Hall included lengthening the mayor’s term in office from two to four years, adding a chief financial officer (those steps have already been taken), and raising the mayor’s salary above its current $95,000, in an effort to consistently attract top talent to that position.

“It’s a sensitive issue when you talk about a pay increase for a mayor,” said Jeffrey Fialky, a partner with the law firm Bacon Wilson and chamber board member, as he talked about why the chamber is involved in such matters. “But it’s such an important part of the ability to retain strong serving mayors as well as the ability to attract new mayoral candidates.”

Tim Murphy, a partner with the law firm Skoler, Abbott, & Presser, P.C., represented the chamber on the compensation committee, and explained its recommendations. “The pay has been $95,000 since 1997,” he explained. “What the committee was able to agree on was immediately increasing the mayor’s pay to $110,000 and having an annual cost-of-living increase of 2.5% going forward.”

Ciuffreda said the pay issue is slated to be resurrected in 2013, and is an important consideration for the city as it looks to ensure strong leadership in the corner office in the years and decades to come.

Education is another matter the chamber, and the ACCGS as a whole, is addressing in many ways and on many levels, said Ciuffreda, adding that it is involved in everything from early education to efforts to reduce the city’s disturbingly high dropout rates, to initiatives involving training and retaining key members of the workforce.

One stated goal is supporting efforts to close the so-called skills gap in the region, a factor contributing to difficulties for many companies with filling open positions, even at a time of high unemployment, and stifling growth efforts for some ventures.

One such initiative is the Precision Manufacturing Training Program (PMTP), a pilot program aimed at providing individuals with the skills needed to succeed in today’s technology-oriented precision-manufacturing sector.

“There’s a big emphasis on the veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan,” said Ciuffreda, adding that the state is looking to expand the program based on the success of an initial thrust involving more than 130 participants.

The PMTP is funded by a $750,000 grant from the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development through the work of the chamber, the Regional Employment Board of Hampden County, and the Economic Development Council of Western Mass., and will take place at Springfield Technical Community College and Westfield Vocational Technical High School.

 

Odds Are

Ciuffreda said a series of circumstances — from geography to what is perceived to be a more open competitive landscape in the Western Mass. region — has made Springfield ground zero in the casino fight.

This development has added new challenges and more layers of involvement to the Springfield chamber’s itinerary. But casinos are just one of many issues that will compete for the group’s energy and attention.

The bigger assignment is to keep providing that aforementioned voice for its members, something it has done for more than a century now, and will keep doing long after the casino is built — wherever it winds up.

 

Elizabeth Taras can be reached at [email protected]

Opinion
Some Other Things to Watch for in 2013

The Western Mass. casino license now up for grabs is not the proverbial elephant in the room.

Rather, it’s a herd of elephants in a very small room.

As we’ve said on more than a few occasions, this will be the largest development project in this region’s history — roughly three times the size, cost-wise, of Baystate Health’s massive ‘Hospital of the Future’ project, and perhaps four or five times the size of any new project over the past few decades in terms of new jobs.

So the heated competition to secure that coveted license will certainly be the story of 2013. But it won’t be the only one. Here are a few others that may compete for headlines as the year progresses.

 

Holyoke

Mayor Alex Morse has become the subject of discussion, conjecture, and more than a few jokes since he reversed field on casinos in late November, and then reversed it again a few weeks later. It now seems certain that Holyoke will continue to go about economic development the way the young mayor said it should — by cultivating and attracting small businesses, creating vibrancy in the downtown, promoting innovation, and, overall, convincing people who 10, 20, or 30 years ago wouldn’t have considered Holyoke a place to live or start a business, to look at it in a new light.

Several weeks ago, BusinessWest related the stories of several business owners who had either found or rediscovered the city and made it their company mailing address, and in some cases, their residential address as well. With the casino issue now apparently in the city’s rearview mirror, it will be interesting to see if Morse and his administration can continue to build momentum and generate vibrancy the old-fashioned way, meaning without 3,000 slot machines and a 300-room hotel.

 

The High Performance Computing Center

This is part of the Holyoke equation, and a big part, but also a slightly different story. Since the plans for the computing center were put on the table, city officials and area economic-development leaders have worn out the word ‘leverage’ when talking about the center, which changes the landscape in the center of Holyoke, but only brings a few dozen full-time jobs.

Just how Holyoke and the region as a whole goes about this leveraging process will be one of the stories that will start to unfold in 2013.

 

Ludlow Mills

As the story on page 36 relates, this is a very visible, potential-laden project that bears watching. This is the largest brownfield mill redevelopment project in New England, and it has enormous potential to bring jobs and vibrancy to the region. Already there is some momentum at the site — two projects have been announced, including a new, $27 million HealthSouth rehabilitation hospital, and the project was recently included in the third round of funding for the state’s Brownfield Support Team initiative — although the economy is still not cooperating with any redevelopment project.

Ludlow Mills will be a 20- or even 30-year initiative, but 2013 could be an important year in terms of laying the groundwork for future success.

 

Union Station

Whether a casino goes in Springfield’s North End or South End, or in Palmer, plans to revitalize Union Station will finally come off the drawing board in 2013 after more than four decades of talk, speculation, and pulling together the needed funding.

Soon, a portion of the site, the old baggage building, will be razed, and restoration work and construction of a new intermodal transportation center will commence. What will become of Union Station depends in some part on where the casino is built and how much involvement the eventual winner of that sweepstakes has in this initiative. But perhaps the bigger question is whether city officials can succeed with efforts to enable the station to gain and keep the attention of the business community. It will be interesting to see how things unfold.

Opinion
An Achievement of Note in Springfield

Last Spring, Gary Bernice raced into a banquet hall, leapt on top of a chair, and led 100 young jazz musicians in a full-blown, off-the-charts performance at the NEPR Arts & Humanities Award. I knew I had to meet him.

The Springfield High School of Science and Technology (Sci-Tech) welcomed Bernice as its new band director in 2007. Initially comprised of only 20 students, the band has grown 15-fold under Bernice’s direction.

So why is this important to the region’s business community?

Today, just as in 2007, the vast majority of students have never picked up an instrument before meeting Bernice. In fact, an entire generation of students within the Springfield public schools has had little to no exposure to the visual and performing arts.

There are 2,076 teachers in the district; only 70 are visual- and performing-arts teachers. Currently, 11 elementary schools have no designated art teacher; many schools have a part-time instructor. In that case, students receive only 24 hours of instruction during the entire course of the school year. What’s more, it’s up to each school principal to determine whether or not to offer visual and performing arts as part of the school’s curriculum.

With a student population of 25,000 and so few arts educators, you can see why some kids get little or no art, music, theater, or dance.

I recently spoke with Carol Hausamann, a retired Springfield public-school drama teacher. She said it was a sad day in 1992 when the decision was made to cut visual and performing arts from the district’s curriculum.

Wayne Abercrombie, director of the Children’s Chorus of Springfield, recently told me about the physical effect of not having vocal music in the schools. “Kids come to our choir without developed vocal muscles,” he said. “The good news is, we can do something about it.”

I’m not saying that the Springfield public schools have no visual and performing arts. I’m saying there aren’t nearly enough — especially when you consider the positive impact they have on students’ academic performance.

A recent longitudinal study among at-risk youth found that 75% of eighth-graders from poor households showed significantly higher scores in science and reading when involved in the arts from kindergarten through elementary school. With 80% of students within the district coming from low-income households, Springfield should take this study to heart.

Just under 84% of Sci-Tech students are from low-income households and are already proving that such a relationship with the arts can be extremely beneficial. According to Bernice, students who were enrolled in band for more than one year have a graduation rate of 80%. Students who stayed in band for two or more years have a dropout rate of 0%.

Keep in mind: the band is a pretty significant proportion of Sci-Tech’s students. This fall, Bernice had 588 students — nearly half the school — trying to get into the band. He could take only 300.

Without diving too deep into the data, it seems pretty clear that art, music, theater, and dance are more than extracurricular activities. And with a decreasing district graduation rate of 52.1% (down from 53% in 2010), the Springfield public schools could use some more of Bernice’s graduation magic.

In a perfect world, every Springfield school would have a Gary Bernice engaging his students and making music. That’s not possible, but with compelling data about the efficacy of programs like the Sci-Tech jazz band and an annual district budget of more than $410 million, it’s clear that we could be doing better.

The Springfield public schools’ number-one core value is: “our students will always come first.” Given this, I trust we’ll see the return of visual and performing arts to the curriculum in every classroom, and in every school, in the district.

 

Nancy Urbschat is president of Springfield-based TSM Design.

Banking and Financial Services Sections
My Holiday Wish List for Your 401(k) Plan in 2013

Charlie Epstein

Charlie Epstein

Here are eight action items for you to put in your Christmas stocking or under your menorah to create successful retirement-plan outcomes for you and your employees in 2013.

• Create or review the investment policy statement (IPS). If your 401(k) plan was audited by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), which is a greater possibility now that the DOL has hired an additional 300 auditors, one of the first documents they will ask for is your plan’s IPS. The ideal IPS gives clear guidelines, creates a reasonable process, provides a roadmap for making sound, long-term-oriented investment decisions, and even outlines criteria for keeping the investment committee, or a solo-business-owner plan sponsor, on track.

• Benchmark plan fees and services. You should review your plan fees and services on an annual basis and, at least every three to five years, perform a full RFP (request for proposal) and benchmark your plan’s fees and services to determine the ‘reasonableness’ of the fees you are paying and the level and quality of the services you receive from all your service providers.

The onus is on you, the plan fiduciary, to benchmark the fee and service data you now possess. This can be a detailed and lengthy process, requiring considerable expertise. This is where the services of an advisor with the knowledge and expertise of the retirement-plan industry can be an invaluable asset.

• Perform investment due diligence. You should review your plan’s investment options and benchmark the performance and fees on a regular basis — either quarterly, semiannually, or annually — to insure your participants are receiving ‘best in class.’

• Assess the plan’s investment menu. In the current, dynamic investment environment, you should perform investment-structure evaluation as part of your regular due-diligence process. Some things to consider:

— Is your money market the most appropriate ‘cash’ account for your plan?  Most are paying 0% after expenses today.

— Should you streamline the investment-fund lineup? Less is more. As a rule of thumb, 16 to 18 fund choices should be enough.

— Are diversification funds, such as real estate, natural resources, emerging markets, and inflation-protected bond funds appropriate options to add?

— Should you add low-cost index or ETF fund options to mitigate costs?

— If your qualified deferred investment account is a money-market or guaranteed account, you should consider changing to a target date, lifestyle, or age-based managed account for greater fiduciary protection.

• Examine your plan’s target-date fund. After the passage of the Pension Protection Act in 2006, plan sponsors rushed to add target-date funds as their qualified default investment alternative (QDIA), and many settled on their record keeper’s target-date fund. At least 50 to 60 new target-date fund options have been launched since 2006.

What seemed like a good fit six years ago might not be so today. You should consider re-evaluating your target-date fund for a number of reasons: performance, fees, and glide path — is your QDIA a glide-to or glide-through retirement glide path, and which do you deem appropriate for your employees? Actively managed target-date funds and funds with tactical and asset-protection strategies have entered the market. You should evaluate your target-date fund’s appropriateness at least once a year.

• Revisit auto features. I wrote an article titled “Bold and Scold” some time back. In it, I encouraged you and your plan advisor to consider adding auto features to increase the chances of your employees achieving greater success at retirement. You should add all auto features that the Pension Protection Act offers, not only because you are protected as a plan fiduciary, but because these feature automatic enrollment, automatic increase of employee contribution by at least 1% a year, and auto-default into your plan’s target-date fund; all have been proven to increase an employee’s chances of retiring with more money in their plan and thus more income at retirement.

• Increase employee education and communication. Your employees need help and encouragement to save an ever-increasing amount throughout their working years. Your 401(k) plan is the single greatest mechanism they have to achieve a successful retirement with what I call a ‘paycheck for life.’ In addition, the two largest assets your employees will own in their lifetime are their home and their 401(k) account balances.

They treat their home with respect. By this I mean they would never go to Foxwoods or Mohegan Sun and bet their home on ‘red 7.’ Yet, every day, they treat the 401(k) like a casino, because the average employee does not have the time, tenacity, or expertise to pick investments. They need help, and they need it on an ongoing basis. At a minimum, you should have your plan’s advisor available twice a year to provide group education and meet once a year, one-on-one, with all employees to assist them in making more informed and more appropriate saving and investment decisions designed specifically for their personal financial situation.

• Document, document, document. The DOL has essentially stated in numerous retirement-plan litigation cases that, if it wasn’t documented, it never happened. Make sure you document everything you do related to your company’s 401(k) plan. Record all investment due-diligence meetings and fee-benchmarking and RFP analysis. Record all education meetings and plan communications. Keep a plan file with all plan documents and reports. Be prepared for a DOL audit in advance.

I hope you will unwrap all eight of these plan recommendations and put them into action in 2013 and beyond. You will sleep easier, and your employees will be more successful in creating paychecks for life.

 

Charles D. Epstein is the author of Paychecks for Life: How to Turn Your 401(k) into a Paycheck Manufacturing Company. As the 401(k) Coach, he has been nominated one of the top 100 most influential individuals in the 401(k) industry by 401kWire; (413) 478-8580; www.paychecksforlife.org

Columns Sections
Optimizing Performance: Is It Art or Science?

Jim Mumm

Jim Mumm

Is helping people perform to their full potential an art or a science? Do the best leaders use their natural-born leadership abilities, or do successful managers have a well-thought-out, scientific plan?  Surprisingly, very few leaders have developed a well- thought-out formula for finding, developing, and retaining top performers.

Not surprisingly, many of these same leaders say, “most of our employees aren’t top performers, and most don’t care.” Let’s take a closer look and see what’s going on.

The success of an employee is no accident; success is a function of how well a leader understands, teaches, and executes the four roles of leadership: supervisor, coach, trainer, and mentor. But does a good leader just have natural talent, or is he great at creating and following a well-thought-out, repeatable, and therefore scientific plan?

In the supervisor role, the manager has the primary responsibility for monitoring, interpreting, and responding to the day-to-day activities of the employee to keep them individually and collectively working toward individual, departmental, and company goals. The supervisor’s role is to have ‘super’ vision; he or she must know what’s going on and act upon this information.

Identifying the activities that need to be tracked is only half of the performance-monitoring formula. Identifying the amount and frequency of activity is the other half.

 

The Supervisor

Each employee must be monitored to ensure that he or she is performing the right activity, the right amount and frequency, and at a specified and minimum level of quality.  Determining what and how much should be done, evaluating the performance of those tasks, and facilitating changes in performance when necessary are the most essential functions the manager performs. All other management roles — training, coaching, and mentoring — evolve out of this interaction. As you can see, the metrics of what, how much, and at what quality level are all measurable and trainable. Therefore, the supervisory role is definitely science.

 

The Coach

The coach’s primary role is to be supportive and motivational, focusing on the participant’s application of skills toward maximum performance in the team environment.

Think back to a time when you had a really good coach who helped you perform as an athlete, business leader, speaker or salesperson. Although I think we’d all agree that these memorable coaches are special people, everything they do can be duplicated and learned. Therefore, even this inspirational and seemingly difficult role is based on science.

My guess is that, if you asked great coaches how to develop hyper-performing people and teams, they would give you a well-thought-out formula that they use again and again to turn out consistent winners. The results seem so magical that they appear to be out of our reach as mere mortals — but they’re not.

 

The Trainer

The role of the trainer is primarily concerned with the development of competence in the trainee. The same argument applies to trainers. Yes, there is a continuum of poor to great trainers, but great training technique can be learned, duplicated, and documented. Therefore it, too, is science.

 

The Mentor

Finally, the mentor typically socializes the mentee by example into the nuances of the norms and values of both the role and the company. Once again, this is a learnable, repeatable, and therefore scientific role.

It is pretty obvious that the skills necessary to be a good leader can be learned.  One doesn’t need to be, and typically isn’t, born with sufficient natural leadership abilities. All these skills can be trained and developed. Therefore, getting the most out of your people has to be mostly science, with a nod to those special, highly gifted and talented coaches, mentors, and trainers we’ve all had the privilege to know. The good news is that leaders can — and must — continuously improve their skills.

Jim Mumm is CEO of Sandler Training, serving Western Mass., as well as an award-winning trainer, author, speaker, and entrepreneur; (646) 330-5217; www.jimmumm.sandler.com

Features
Penn National Likes Its Odds of Winning the Casino Contest

Penn National’s proposed Hollywood Casino Springfield

A view from the north of Penn National’s proposed Hollywood Casino Springfield.

Editor’s Note: This is the latest in a series of articles detailing the players and issues involved in the competition to place a resort casino in Western Mass. This segment focuses on Penn National Gaming Corp. and its plans for a casino in Springfield’s North End.

 

Tim Wilmott says that, if a company was going to build a casino in Springfield, it probably couldn’t pick a more challenging site for such a project than the one Penn National has chosen in Springfield’s North End.

After all, the $800 million proposal, to be called Hollywood Casino Springfield, involves relocating two of the city’s largest businesses — the Republican, its 330 employees, and its massive press operation, as well as Peter Pan Bus Lines and its more than 250 local employees — and then remediating those properties and making them ready for construction. Those moves come complete with myriad headaches and a very large price tag.

But this high degree of difficulty and the benefits to be derived from such an aggressive course are big parts of what makes this site so attractive to the Wyomissing, Pa.-based company, said Wilmott, its president.

Indeed, it is his belief that, by taking on a location that has, in addition to these stern logistical challenges, vast potential for further economic development, or what Penn National officials call a “ripple effect,” the casino operator has gained an edge in what all are expecting to be a spirited and expensive competition to win the license to operate in Western Mass.

“We took a look a lot of Western Mass. communities as we were deciding where to focus our efforts in this state,” he explained. “Clearly, we thought the Western Mass. region gave us the greatest chance of victory, and as we looked at the various locations in that zone, we felt that, to win the overall bid, we had to have the greatest community impact — and this site provides that.”

The relocation of the Republican and the creation of Republican Village Square

The relocation of the Republican and the creation of Republican Village Square in the heart of downtown are part of what Penn National officials call the “ripple effect.”

Detailing this potential impact during a wide-ranging interview with BusinessWest, Wilmott and others with the company said the printing operation at the Republican will obviously have to be relocated, probably to one of the business parks in the northeast corner of Springfield — Memorial II, near Smith & Wesson, or the Chicopee River Industrial Park that straddles the border with Chicopee. Also, the other units of the business — editorial, advertising, distribution, and more — would be relocated as well, probably to one of the downtown office buildings, providing a boost to the central business district.

Meanwhile, Peter Pan’s various business operations would also be relocated, Wilmott continued, with transportation-related units going across Main Street to a revitalized Union Station, and others (administrative personnel, for example) moving to Union Station or the center of the downtown.

“Given the energy that our development would have in that part of downtown Springfield, with the relocation of the Republican, the relocation of Peter Pan Bus Lines, and the revitalization of Union Station and the Paramount Theater,” said Wilmott, “we thought that all of these things give us a lot of credibility, both at the city level and at the state level. We think it gives us the best chance to win the bid.”

This potential ripple effect prompted Wilmott to draw comparisons between the Springfield initiative and a casino Penn National opened just over two months ago in Columbus, Ohio.

There, at the behest of city officials, the company essentially put aside a proposal to locate a casino in the arena district of the city, and instead blueprinted plans to place one on the site of a former Delphi Auto Parts manufacturing facility in a neighborhood plagued by poverty and crime.

“It was listed as one of the poorest communities, not only in Ohio but in all of the Midwest — their dubious distinction was to be listed as the ‘loneliest town in America’ at one point by one of the travel magazines,” said Eric Schippers, Penn National’s vice president of Public Affairs.

He told BusinessWest that the ripple effect in that community is still in its infancy stage, but there is evidence that the casino is becoming a catalyst for growth (much more on that later).

For this issue, BusinessWest continues its series of stories on the battle for the Western Mass. casino license with an in-depth look at Penn National’s plans for the North Side of Springfield, and how company officials believe it will more than stand up to the competition.

 

Roll of the Dice

Penn National staged an elaborate unveiling of its plans for the North End on Dec. 20 at the refurbished Paramount Theater.

The red carpet, with a decidedly Las Vegas-like look and feel, drew more than 200 people, and allowed Wilmott and other officials with the company to present long-awaited details on the Hollywood casino. Specific aspects of the plan had been kept under wraps, by and large, while the company hammered out an agreement to acquire an option on the Republican’s properties from the paper’s parent company, Advance Publications Inc., he said, according to an agreement was reached just days before the unveiling.

Penn National, an operator of casinos and racetracks that currently has 26 facilities in 18 states, is proposing a 300,000-square-foot casino-resort complex, including a 250-room hotel, 100,000 square feet of gaming space, 2,000 square feet of retail, and extensive renovations to the nearby Paramount. Company officials project roughly 2,500 construction jobs and 1,500 permanent jobs.

Plans call for what Jay Snowden, Penn National’s senior vice president, dubbed a “regionally focused” mix of restaurants and clubs, including a sports bar that would become former Boston College and New England Patriots star Doug Flutie’s first foray into the hospitality business.

Other planned restaurants include Davio’s, a chain of steakhouses owned by Springfield native Steve Difillippo; Ole Mexican, a Boston-based chain; b.good, a high-end burger chain; and a deli to be operated by the Scherff family, owners of the downtown Springfield landmark the Student Prince.

The broad plan has been formalized over the past several months, said Schippers, but in reality, it has been perhaps 20 years in the making.

Indeed, the proposal unveiled at the Paramount is similar in a great many ways to a concept first proposed by the late Peter L. Picknelly, then-president of Peter Pan Bus Lines, noted Schippers, adding that it made a good deal of sense in the early ’90s, and still does today.

That’s because it involves minimum disruption of residential neighborhoods; makes effective use of nearby highways, especially Routes 91 and 291, to create easy access; and creates economic-development opportunities in a low-income neighborhood — the North End.

“I don’t think he [the elder Picknelly] was envisioning some of the significant additional ripple effect that we’re going to bring about,” said Shippers. “But certainly his vision for revitalizing the North End and making it a gateway to the downtown is consistent with what we’re proposing.”

Wilmott agreed, and told BusinessWest that Picknelly’s two-decade-old vision eventually became the focus of the company’s efforts once it decided to enter the Massachusetts casino contest.

Elaborating, and echoing officials with other casino operators focusing on this market, Wilmott said Western Mass. (and, more specifically, Springfield) offers perhaps the clearest path to a casino license in the Bay State — most believe Suffolk Downs is a virtual lock for the Boston-area license, and the Southeastern Mass. license fight is complicated by possible participation by the Wampanoag tribe — and also the best geography.

And by that, he meant access to lucrative markets to the west, south, and east of the city, a location that makes entry into the Massachusetts market well worth the expense, and the risks, involved with such a gambit.

“As we look at every market, we look at the location and the proximity of customers to that specific location,” Wilmott explained. “As we look at the demographics of the Springfield MSA [metropolitan statistical area] with its location to Hartford, with its location to the west and Albany, and also to the east, we like what we see. When we look at all of these studies, proximity always wins the battle in terms of where customers want to visit a casino.

He said he sees little chance that three casinos in Massachusetts will saturate the regional market, because there remains limited competition from the two Connecticut casinos, which, while they are down somewhat from pre-recession days in terms of overall revenue, are still two of the largest casino operations in the country.

“There is always the risk that, over time, the state of Massachusetts, after its gets this initial lot of licenses, will fall in love with the revenue and say, ‘let’s open this to further expansion,’” he continued. “We run that risk in every jurisdiction we operate in, and it’s up to the lawmakers in that state to determine how far they want to go with this. It’s always a risk we run when we make investments in new jurisdictions.”

Penn National now finds itself in a two-way fight to get on a referendum ballot in Springfield — although there is a good chance that both its plan and another submitted by MGM Resorts International for the South End wind up before voters — and, for the moment, anyway, a three-way contest for the Western Mass. license, with Mohegan Sun’s proposal for Palmer still very much in the mix.

 

Headline News

As he gauged the fight ahead — without commenting on rival MGM’s plans (something both camps have been asked to refrain from by Springfield officials) — Wilmott said he liked his company’s chances moving forward.

The ripple effect is a big part of the reason why, he noted, but there are others as well, starting with access and traffic flow.

Snowden told BusinessWest that, beyond the additional development opportunities, the North End site offered perhaps the best scenario when it came to getting traffic in and out of a Springfield-based casino.

“The more time we spent in Springfield understanding the traffic-congestion problems that exist, we felt that the location in the North End offered the best solution,” he said. “That’s because, regardless of whether you’re coming from the north via 91 or 90, or from the south along 91, or from the east of 291, we have three separate ramping-system solutions. We really felt that this provided us the best point of access from any direction, and would help to mitigate the traffic concerns in Springfield.”

But what separates Penn National’s plans from others, Wilmott believes, is its ability to create new jobs and help spark economic-development activity in those areas of the city to which dislocated businesses and employees are moved.

In the case of the Republican and its non-printing operations, he noted that, while dozens of employees will be moved only a few blocks, the impact will be significant on retailers in the central business district and perhaps on the commercial real-estate market as a whole.

Meanwhile, he continued, relocation of the printing facilities and employees will help fill some industrial-park space in the northeast corner of the city.

George Arwady, publisher of the Republican, summed things up simply by saying, “we’re in the way here,” meaning the newspaper’s 180,000-square-foot facility, including the massive press, happens to be where the casino wants to go.

Getting out of the way will be a two-part process that will require some logistical maneuvering, he told BusinessWest, adding that a second, currently unused printing press owned by Advance Publications and currently warehoused in Michigan would be brought to Springfield to enable the company to continue printing its own newspaper, as well as several others it now prints in a growing business venture, while the current press is dismantled and moved.

“It’s a very unusual situation … we’re not a partner in this project, we’re not an investor, we’re not in the casino business — we’re just selling our property,” he explained, adding that, as the process advances, there could be triggers that would actually result in the start of construction of a new printing facility before a casino license is granted.

As for the non-printing operations and personnel, Arwady said the company is seeking to lease class A office space “in the heart of downtown.” He wasn’t more specific, and didn’t say how much space would be needed, but the Dec. 20 unveiling included some details of a facility to be known as “Republican Village Square.”

“The newspaper is actively seeking vacant Class A office space and public gathering space, and we already have had design firms looking at options,” said Arwady. “The Republican plans to use the power of its affiliated website, MassLive.com, to create an interactive, 21st-century village square to bring large numbers of people together for a wide range of fun and community-building activities; at lunchtime, after work, on the evenings and weekends, this aspect of the project will bring new energy and life to the very center of the city.

“Although the details are still under development, we plan to use our combined media strength in English and Spanish to make this new site the place to be in the entire region,” he continued. “Not just for browsing the web and enjoying a cup of coffee, but also for public meetings, blood drives, the creation of video on MassLive and YouTube, singing groups, art shows, and a thousand other purposes. … The goal would be to create a beehive of activity in the heart of downtown 24-7, instead of only during the workday. This would be good for our business, and also very, very good for the heart of our city.”

Meanwhile, Peter A. Picknelly, CEO of Peter Pan Bus Lines and a 50% partner with Penn National in the Hollwood Casino Springfield project, told BusinessWest that his company was always supportive of the city’s efforts to revitalize Union Station, and was asked on several occasions to be a tenant in that facility. The big problem with that equation, he went on, was redevelopment of the existing bus terminal and related facilities — or, to be more precise, lack of viable opportunities to do so.

“We’re in a building across the street [from Union Station], it works for us, we pay ourselves rent, we have vendors that pay us money,” he explained. “We’ve told the city that, while we support Union Station, we simply can’t leave this property abandoned and go next door and pay rent. That’s illogical, and no business person would do that.”

The proposed Hollywood casino effectively solves that problem, he went on, adding that the Penn National plan creates ripples by bolstering the Union Station initiative and requiring Peter Plan to relocate other departments in other parts of the city.

Elaborating, he said there are three business operations that would be moved: the bus-company operation would be moved into Union Station, while administration and support personnel would move to either Union Station or 31 Elm St., currently being developed by the Picknelly-owned company Opal Management, depending on space availability and lease structure in the station, among other conditions. The third facet of the business, maintenance, would be relocated to a new facility, he went on, adding that the company is currently looking at property on Tapley Street and other sites for new construction.

“This proposal is what I view as true urban renewal,” said Picknelly. “And that’s why we picked Penn National as a partner; they embraced this concept. We didn’t just want to build a casino in Springfield; we want to use a casino to help revitalize the city.”

 

Placing their Bets

This notion of urban renewal is the point that Penn National officials will be stressing as the process moves forward, said Wilmott, adding that the next stage involves finalizing proposals for review by both the city and the state.

Final bids are due by Jan. 3, he continued, adding that Springfield officials are looking for specific details on everything from revenue projections to traffic plans to human resources. The city will then decide if it wants to enter into negotiations with one or both operators on what’s known as local-impact fee. Ballot questions on one or both plans would come much later in the year.

Assessing the landscape, Penn National says the Springfield competition will be highly competitive, and one they believe could ultimately be decided — if other considerations, ranging from finances to impact on public safety to traffic, are relatively equal — by that community impact, or ripple effect, that Wilmott described.

And with that, he, Snowden, and Schippers returned to Columbus, Ohio and the company’s project there.

The casino opened just a few weeks ago, they stressed, but work that began well before the ceremonial ribbon was cut has created a growing sense of momentum in that neighborhood.

“We’ve worked with a coalition of business owners in West Columbus to talk about how we can be a catalyst for other positive development in that area,” said Schippers, “so there’s a new spring in the step of the business community there.

“Like in Springfield, we believe there is going to be a very positive ripple effect there after we’re underway and in a fully stable environment,” he continued, adding that among the developments are a new restaurant in the area near the casino, movement to redevelop an all-but-abandoned car lot, and action among elected officials to make investments in the infrastructure there.

“There have been road improvements, transportation studies have been conducted, and now it appears that the state will be investing more in getting better access and better roads to that area,” said Schippers. “Other businesses have announced plans to add shifts or make new investments, and people are exploring the addition of another hotel, which would create even more of a catalytic effect.”

The same types of things will likely take place in Springfield, said Snowden, starting with the activity to result from the need to relocate the two impacted businesses along Main Street.

“There won’t be just one construction project taking place in Springfield,” he noted. “You’re going to have the elements of the Republican relocation and the same with Peter Pan. It’s not just the breaking of ground in a single phase for the casino, hotel, parking, and restaurants, but also the ripple effect taking place at the same time.”

Wilmott agreed.

“That’s why we liked this site in the first place,” he said. “All things being equal — if we’re matching MGM in terms of impact fees to the community, for example — we think the site is more valuable to the long-term economic development of Springfield than other sites. And that’s why we believe that site should win out.”

 

Trump Card?

Time will tell if those at Penn National are right in their assessment of this contest and their proposal. For now, they are guardedly optimistic about their chances in this high-stakes competition, primarily because they like the hand they’re playing.

There are many aspects to their plan, but they’re betting that the ripple effect to be created by their $800 million facility will be the deciding factor — and ultimately enough to claim the prize in the middle of the table.

 

George O’Brien can be reached at [email protected]