Opinion Archives - Page 16 of 24

Opinion

By BusinessWest Staff December 17, 2013

By BusinessWest Staff November 19, 2013

Opinion

Can Springfield Learn from Cleveland?

Opinion

The Tech Tax, from a Tech Firm’s Angle

By DELCIE BEAN

In July, Massachusetts imposed a 6.25% sales tax on ‘computer system design services,’ which means this state now has the highest tax on computer and software services in the country.
Large and small tech firms across the state are dismayed at the new tax’s potential effect on our businesses. We are confused by the vagueness of the tax — it’s unclear in many cases what services are to be taxed and what aren’t. The state Department of Revenue originally promised a clearer definition of what was and wasn’t taxable by October; however, it now appears to be backing off even that date.
Meanwhile, the tax still must be collected, all the way back to July 31, one day after the DOR first offered a definition of the tax. We feel ambushed by the 11th-hour manner in which it was pushed through, just before legislators’ summer break, with no allowance for consumer or business input.
One of the particular challenges of this law is that the staff of my company, Paragus Strategic IT, collectively records approximately 500 unique billable events each day and would therefore need to train its entire staff on how to make very complex assessments of whether each of the individual tasks they performed was taxable or not — using a definition so complex that the state can’t even define it.
Couple this with the fact that Paragus, like most IT companies, uses a ticketing system to keep track of the billable work it does for its clients, and that these systems were not designed to allow technicians to mark work as taxable or non-taxable. In order to properly manage these changes without compromising profitability and efficiency, six to 12 months would have been required. Instead, Paragus is faced with having an administrator spend 20 to 30 hours a month going through the billable work of all technical employees and identifying which work is taxable or not.
We are not alone. As reported in the Boston Globe, Springfield attorney Scott Foster, a partner with the law firm Bulkley, Richardson and Gelinas, LLP, has announced plans to challenge the tax in court, declaring it unconstitutional. This announcement resulted in Gov. Deval Patrick officially going on the record as saying he was concerned about the impact on the state’s efforts to expand its technology industry.
I started the company that became Paragus Strategic IT when I was 13 years old. What was once a one-man operation has turned into a company with 31 full-time employees and clients all over New England. For the past two years, we were named in the top third of Inc. magazine’s annual ranking of the 5,000 fastest-growing businesses. In 2012 we were named the second-fastest-growing outsourced IT firm in all of New England. Our growth has allowed us to add a staff member approximately every six weeks.
Like other local tech companies, we are doing what we can to bring jobs and economic vitality to the Pioneer Valley. This new tax isn’t making our job any easier.
In the near term, I am worried about how our clients will react to the new charges and how we will possibly become compliant in the very short period of time allotted. In the long term, I am concerned about the tax’s effect on one of the state’s major growth industries. This new tax is one more sign that Massachusetts might not truly be vested in the long-term best interests of the technology sector, making it harder to attract the biggest employers.
A 2014 ballot initiative is being filed to repeal the tax. Until then, we are doing what we can to operate under this new tax, to the best of our understanding, with as minimal impact to our clients as possible. We do encourage people to take a look at the tax and to think about the role of the tech industry in the Pioneer Valley, both now and in the years to come — and to think about whether there might be a smarter way to raise the extra revenue.

Delcie Bean is founder and president of Paragus Strategic IT.

Editorial

By BusinessWest Staff August 27, 2013

Opinion

At Westfield State, a Large Case of Excess

There is little doubt that, since he arrived at the then Westfield State College campus in 2007, Evan Dobelle has done a number of things to raise the school’s profile and create a much stronger town-gown relationship.

For starters, he’s changed the school’s name to Westfield State University, something many institutions have done in recent years to make them themselves more marketable in foreign countries where the word ‘college’ simply doesn’t convey size or quality. He’s also undertaken a program to convert an old school building downtown into a dormitory, a move designed to make the school more visible and also a greater force in the local economy, while also building an elaborate new dorm on campus, one that comes with a $55 million price tag, part of an overall $170 million building program.

Such steps have earned him praise from many city and state officials, and Dobelle, never shy to tout his own accomplishments, recently told the Boston Globe that he’s made Westfield State the “hottest college in New England.”

Unfortunately for him, and the school, that quote appeared in a lengthy front-page Sunday Globe story that bore the headline “Where spending limits are purely academic.”

The piece chronicles years of lavish spending by Dobelle, including $8,000 for a four-night stay at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Bangkok (the bill amassed by a group that traveled there to promote the school and recruit Asian students), $10,000 for tickets to shows at Tanglewood, $4,000 for limousine rides, and much more, with many of these bills charged to the Westfield State Foundation.

That group essentially gave him a blank check to carry out his quest to remake the former teachers college into an educational powerhouse — and now it certainly has large amounts of regret; the foundation closed Dobelle’s credit card several years ago.

And it should have.

While Dobelle can seemingly defend any and all of his lavish spending — he said he put up a commencement speaker (and old friend) in a luxurious Lenox hotel because he wanted to build the school’s reputation — those at the foundation and many others at the school and on Beacon Hill now recognize that Dobelle has a real problem when it comes to spending other people’s money.

Actually, he’s had it throughout his career, as excessive spending was one of the reasons why he was fired by the University of Hawaii, although that school eventually rescinded the dismissal when Dobelle threatened to sue.

Westfield State probably doesn’t have to fire Dobelle, but it does have to take real steps to make sure this reckless pattern of spending is halted and that there is full disclosure about Dobelle’s travel records and his claims to have repaid the university for any and all personal expenses that were billed to the school.

Dobelle says he can justify all the expensive hotel rooms, travel, limo rides, and Tanglewood tickets as simply part of the enormous cost of taking this school to a much higher level. But no one can fully justify such excess when the school in question is a public university in a state with budget woes and many students who rely on aid and scholarships.

As we said at the top, Dobelle has done many good things at Westfield State, and has, indeed, raised the school’s profile. But the end doesn’t justify the means, and through his irresponsible spending, Dobelle has people talking about WSU again, but for all the wrong reasons.

He can change that conversation, but he needs to move quickly and decisively to restore trust.

Editorial Two

By BusinessWest Staff August 27, 2013

Opinion

‘Tech Tax’ Imperils State’s Growth

The prevailing opinion is that Florida Gov. Rick Scott didn’t do Massachusetts any favors recently when he sent out letters to 100 Bay State companies essentially inviting them to explore the Sunshine State and discover why it makes sense to move operations there.

Actually, however, he did the state a huge favor.

He reminded everyone on Beacon Hill of something they probably knew — although they don’t act like it: that business owners have options when it comes to choosing where to locate or launch, and Massachusetts is increasingly looking like a less-attractive option.

The timing of Scott’s letter coincides with implementation of the Bay State’s so-called ‘tech tax,’ or software tax, a levy on ‘computer software design services,’ a controversial measure that is being fought by business owners, economic-development groups, legislators, and other constituencies that understand that it is arbitrary, confusing, and threatens to stifle one of the strongest pillars of the state economy.

But the tech tax is just part of the story. The larger piece is that this state continues to believe that it can tax and spend without consequence. The truth is that it can’t, and Rick Scott’s aggressive actions simply provide more proof of that.

But let’s back up a minute.

Massachusetts is still an attractive state in which to live, work, and do business. There is an enviable quality of life here, dozens of fine colleges and universities, a host of cities and towns that could — and often do — make those ‘best places to live’ lists, and a strong, educated workforce.

Maintaining all this takes resources, and for the past several decades, elected officials have essentially said that the only way they want to amass these resources is through new and different ways to tax individuals and businesses.

Indeed, in addition to the tech tax, the state recently implemented higher levies on cigarettes and gasoline. You can go to those wells only so often (although, in this state, we do so frequently), so to fund needed infrastructure and transportation programs, the state looked in a different direction — its burgeoning tech sector and the services it provides.

This new levy might truly be a lucrative source of tax revenue (that’s might; no one really seems to know how much it will generate), but its implementation shows — again — that legislative leaders are shortsighted and unable to grasp the big picture.

Forty-six states don’t have tech taxes, and for one big reason: they’re trying to grow that sector, which is one of a few with vast potential for creating new jobs in the years and decades to come. Massachusetts leaders know this well — they’ve seen it first-hand — but they’re acting as if they’re taking this sector for granted and that they don’t take people like Rick Scott seriously.

They should.

And they can show that they mean business — in both a literal and figurative sense — by taking steps to indicate that they know and care about the fact that business owners really do have options. The place to start is with a move to repeal the tech tax, which threatens everything from the growth of existing companies to the prospects for new tech startups.

And from there, the legislature can take additional steps to counter what is perhaps the strongest line in Scott’s letter: “it’s bound to get worse in Massachusetts.”

Like we said, Scott did the state a favor. Let’s see if Massachusetts is smart enough to take advantage of that.

Opinion

By BusinessWest Staff August 13, 2013

Opinion

Building a Diverse Nursing Workforce

By CHERYL A. SHEILS

Healthcare reform presents new challenges and opportunities for the nursing profession, in both academic and practice settings. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) recently released its report, “The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health,” which included among its recommendations raising the education level of the nursing workforce.

The IOM recommends doubling the number of nurses with doctorates, and increasing the baccalaureate-prepared RN population to 80% from its present level of 50% by 2020.

The mandate for healthcare reform comes at a time of shifting population demographics. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Latinos now account for nearly 10% of the Massachusetts population. Furthermore, the increase in the Latino population alone accounted for more than 60% of the state’s total growth between 2000 and 2009. Currently, nearly 21% of Hampden County is Latino.

Nursing’s leaders recognize a strong connection between a culturally diverse nursing workforce and the ability to provide quality, culturally competent healthcare to an increasingly diverse population. Unfortunately, national enrollment in baccalaureate nursing-education programs is not keeping up with the changes in population demographics. The American Assoc. of Colleges of Nursing’s 2011 annual report notes that Latinos account for just 6.8% of total baccalaureate enrollments. While these numbers reflect improvement over previous years, diversity of the RN workforce remains far less than that of the general U.S. population, and Latino RNs remain the most underrepresented minority group.

A main route to upward mobility and equality of opportunity for minorities in the healthcare industry is equity of access and success in achieving the baccalaureate nursing degree. A number of studies have shown that inadequate academic preparation and financial barriers are significant for Latino nursing students.

Here, taken from the higher-education literature as well as interviews with Latina nursing students, are recommendations for practitioners working in the field of higher education and, in particular, baccalaureate nursing-education programs.

• Establish seminars conducted by college financial-aid officers for low-income Latino families and students to provide them with information on how to finance a college education, including eligibility for Pell grants and assistance with the grant application process;

• Provide specific information to first-generation Latino students in secondary-education settings about how to set realistic goals for college, including what colleges and what careers to consider;

• Develop outreach programs with high schools in which student-affairs officers and college-student ambassadors help familiarize Latino high-school students and families with the various aspects of the college experience, with the added benefit of creating linkages between high-school and college students;

• Create credit-bearing college-transition programs that could be offered in 12th grade or during the summer before college to get Latino students ready for college-level work;

• Establish core groups of student advocates whose purpose it is to reach out to Latino students and help them connect with available resources on campus;

• Adopt proactive academic-advising systems that reach out to Latino students rather than waiting for a student to ask for help, and have bilingual staff available in academic-advising and resource centers;

• Establish connections with Latino nurses in the practice environment and with the local chapter of the National Assoc. of Hispanic Nurses for the purpose of developing a cadre of career mentors and professional role models;

• Create programs in which nursing graduate students advise and mentor undergraduate Latino students on earning credit toward their graduate degree;

• Provide professional-development programs that help nursing faculty examine their own attitudes regarding teaching diverse students and assist them in creating relevant cultural-competence curricula; and

• Place students in cohorts that follow the same course and clinical schedules throughout the nursing curriculum to facilitate the establishment of strong Latino nursing-student peer and study groups.

Cheryl A. Sheils, is a registered nurse and associate professor of Nursing at Elms College; [email protected]

Editorial

By BusinessWest Staff August 13, 2013

Opinion

An Opportunity for Springfield

Administrators with the University of Massachusetts made it official last week: they’re taking a serious look at broadening their presence in downtown Springfield with what is being called a possible ‘satellite center.’

The university issued a request for proposals, one that states that it is seeking 25,000 square feet of space suitable for classrooms, faculty offices, and other uses, with the option of doubling that space at a later date. Proposals are due Sept. 3, and it’s safe to say there will be quite a few of them to consider.

That’s because there are a number of potential landing spots for such a facility, ranging from Tower Square to Union Station; from 1350 Main St. to the properties in Court Square — and all of them could use the boost that a UMass presence would provide.

There has been speculation building about UMass doing ‘something’ in downtown Springfield for years now, and a few months ago we warned that such a facility, like a casino in some respects, would not magically transform the city or even its downtown, and that expectations for how a satellite center might change the landscape needed to be kept in perspective.

That said, a UMass satellite center could be one of many momentum generators in the city’s central business district, even if the university takes just 25,000 square feet, which amounts to one or two floors in most of the office buildings and facilities mentioned above.

For starters, creation of such a facility will require a substantial build-out, which will mean construction jobs. It could also change the complexion of some of those office buildings and landmarks. For example, it would provide a major boost for a Union Station project that is progressing, but still needs a spark to generate interest from more retailers. A facility in Tower Square, meanwhile, would generate some needed foot traffic and generate some life in a landmark that is still a shell of its former self and is dominated by vacant storefronts, although the presence of Cambridge College has provided a lift. For 1350 Main St., UMass might help turn on the lights in some floors that have been dark for the better part of a decade, while at Court Square, a center could provide a solid foundation for future development.

And there are many other sites that could come into the picture, with similar opportunities for progress.

Beyond the benefits to the real-estate market, a UMass satellite would generate other benefits. It would bring young people, many of them with money to spend, into downtown Springfield, and it would introduce them to a city they might otherwise not experience.

Depending on what types of programs and classes are offered downtown, there might be more and better opportunities for students to undertake internships with Springfield-based businesses and establish relationships that could last for years or decades.

Also, a UMass presence might even bolster efforts on the part of city officials to inspire market-rate housing projects in the downtown that would provide a balance for the subsidized units that still dominate the landscape in that part of the city.

All this is speculation, and a downtown Springfield UMass facility is likely years from opening its doors. But speculation is good, as long as people keep those expectations in check.

A UMass satellite center is certainly not going to be a game changer, to borrow the phrase that so many elected officials and economic-development leaders like to use these days.

But it would help Springfield ultimately win what isn’t a game, but a very important and very necessary endeavor to change the complexion of its central business district.

Editorial

By BusinessWest Staff July 30, 2013

Opinion

Lessons from Detroit — and Springfield

The numbers are exponentially greater — well, more than exponentially: $19 billion as opposed to several hundred million — but there are a great many similarities between what happened in Detroit earlier this month and what occurred in Springfield nearly a decade ago.

Putting it simply, both cities just bottomed out. Like the elderly woman in that famous TV commercial, they had fallen, and they couldn’t get up, at least not without extraordinary measures — a union-crunching control board in Springfield and a record-setting bankruptcy in the Motor City. And neither development came about overnight; they were both a long time in coming.

Indeed, there are many reasons why these great cities wound up in those somewhat similar situations. Start with mismanagement — Detroit built what amounted to a monorail to nowhere and made promises to unions it knew it couldn’t keep, and Springfield simply spent far more money than it had for way too long. But there was also white flight and the demise of the middle class in both communities, rampant crime, and serious declines in tax revenue as both residents and businesses moved elsewhere.

But maybe the biggest reason why both communities hit bottom with such loud thuds was that what had been entrepreneurial cities — perhaps two of the most entrepreneurial cities in the nation’s history — more or less stopped being entrepreneurial. And this is a lesson that must be learned by communities across the country.

Detroit started with carriages and engines for boats, and eventually, people like Henry Ford started putting engines in carriages, and the fortunes of that city dramatically changed. By the 1950s, nearly 2 million people were calling Detroit home (the population is now down to 700,000) and the city was among the most prosperous in the country.

Springfield started with the Armory, and the spirit of innovation soon spread throughout the city. Entrepreneurs started businesses that made everything from revolvers to toys; ice skates to trolley cars; monkey wrenches to parking meters.

Only a few of those items are still made here, because much of the manufacturing in the Northeast went to southern states or overseas. And the jobs that went with those companies simply haven’t been replaced.

Why? There are many reasons, but a big one is that this region, and Springfield in particular, has put too much emphasis on trying to bring businesses here rather than build businesses here.

It all comes back to being entrepreneurial, a character trait that Springfield, Detroit, and many other struggling cities have lost. And that’s the lesson other former manufacturing centers, including some of the Gateway cities in this region, must learn.

One source of inspiration could be Holyoke, a city that suffered from many of the same problems as Springfield and Detroit, although it has avoided full economic collapse.

There, the city is using the new Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center and an emerging cultural community to begin the process of filling millions of square feet of old mill space with small, often technology-related businesses, related service businesses, apartments, and condos. It will be a slow process, but the outlook is quite promising.

Springfield will have to do something similar, even if an $800 million casino emerges in the tornado-ravaged South End, as MGM hopes it will. That’s because a casino won’t change the city’s fortunes — it will only help change its fortunes.

As for Detroit … well, bankruptcy will offer the opportunity to start over. What the city does with that opportunity remains to be seen, but whatever happens will certainly take decades to emerge.

That’s OK, because it took decades for Detroit, Springfield, and other old industrial cities to complete their fall and hit bottom.

That’s what happens when entrepreneurial cities stop being entrepreneurial.

Opinion

By BusinessWest Staff July 30, 2013

Opinion

Gateway Cities Don’t Need Silver Bullet

By ALAN MALLACH and LAVEA BRACHMAN

They have been called shrinking cities and gateway cities. But by any label — our preferred term is ‘legacy cities’ — medium-sized metropolitan areas struggling with manufacturing decline and population loss are a never-ending project in many parts of the country, including Massachusetts.

Almost every year, some silver bullet — a sports arena, a casino, a conference center — promises salvation and rebirth for Brockton, Lawrence, New Bedford, Springfield, or Pittsfield. Avoiding the fate of Detroit, which just filed for bankruptcy, only adds to the pressure for a big solution.

The truth is, the silver-bullet syndrome can inhibit revitalization. A megaproject can become an important asset, but it is not a strategy for change in itself, unless it is integrated into larger schemes to make a meaningful contribution to the city’s future. A more incremental approach built on collaboration and partnerships holds more promise for rebuilding.

The way forward may look more like silver buckshot — with a focus on these key areas:

• Have faith in downtowns. The physical fabric of the central core, with density, a walkable urban texture, and proximity to major institutions and employers, is a powerful attraction for young single people and couples, and a strong basis for residential redevelopment. Set a friendly regulatory environment for infill redevelopment, reinvent public spaces, and encourage private market reuse of older buildings.

• Sustain viable neighborhoods. In these targeted areas, build partnerships with neighborhood associations and community-development corporations to implement multifaceted neighborhood strategies that draw demand, rebuild housing markets, and address destabilizing elements such as crime, foreclosure, and property abandonment.

• Don’t be afraid to demolish. Repurposing large inventories of vacant land strategically is a major springboard for change in heavily disinvested areas. Cities should explore large-scale reconfiguration of land uses, including the use of vacant land properties for public open space, urban agriculture, or stormwater management.

• Reinvent the economic base. Not every city can become the next biotech capital. But an honest assessment of local assets and regional competitive advantages can help build new export-oriented economies. Partner with local educational institutions and major employers to build an educational and workforce-development plan and a competitive regional labor market.

• Build new partnerships. In almost every city, universities and medical centers — ‘eds and meds’ — are bedrock institutions, part of a foundational network of public, nonprofit, and private collaboration. Similarly, state and federal governments must rethink their roles, becoming more nimble, more effective, and less biased toward suburban areas.

• Make sure all city residents benefit from change. Many cities are fractured, with large and growing economic and racial disparities. Engaging residents, and providing the educational and workforce-development systems they need to become competitive, can build a stronger city for everyone.

By Tom Birmingham
If you had told me on that hot day in Malden 20 years ago when Gov. Bill Weld signed the Education Reform Act that over 90% of Massachusetts students would pass MCAS, or that the Commonwealth’s SAT scores would rise for 13 consecutive years, or that our students would become the first in every category in every grade on national testing known as “the Nation’s Report Card,” or that Massachusetts would rank at or near the top in international science tests, I would have thought you wildly optimistic.
Massachusetts public schools have achieved all these results and more since 1993, but there is still more to do. I am troubled, for instance, by race- and class-based achievement gaps. Nonetheless, two decades after the passage of education reform, we have much to celebrate.
Hardworking students and committed teachers deserve the lion’s share of credit for our success, but policy makers established a structure that enabled educational progress. The Education Reform Act is a complicated piece of legislation containing many innovative initiatives, including the creation of charter schools.
But for all its complexity, the Education Reform Act can be reduced, in essence, to two propositions: We will make a massive infusion of progressively distributed dollars into our public schools, and in return, we demand high standards and accountability from all education stakeholders. This grand bargain is the cornerstone of education reform.
Our fidelity to these two core principles helps explain our extraordinary achievements. Throughout the 1990s and in the first years of this century, support for public education was the top priority of state government, and our budgets reflected this. From 1993 to 2002, state spending on public schools increased 8% per year, for a total of more than $2 billion. Our success correlated with the adoption and application of the criterion-based MCAS testing, with state leaders (notably including Paul Cellucci) united in support despite repeated requests to retreat.
Today, I fear we may be veering away from the act’s two core values — adequate funding and rigorous standards. If we abandon the bedrock principles that have proven to be historically successful, we imperil the progress we have made. In the last decade, support for public schools lost its primacy on Beacon Hill and state budgets reflect that. Today our inflation-adjusted education appropriation is the same as it was in 2002.
In contrast to the generous expansion of the 1990s, education funding for the last decade has remained flat. As a result, according to the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, many (mostly low-income) school districts simply do not have the resources needed to provide the caliber of education envisioned in the reform act’s foundation budget.
I also fear that universal high standards and objective assessments are being jettisoned in favor of a return to vague expectations and fuzzy standards. The Patrick administration’s embrace of so-called “21st-century skills” elevates concepts like “global awareness” and “systems thinking” to new prominence in the public-school curriculum. I’m all for higher-order thinking, but students must accumulate the background knowledge that gives them something to think about.
As education theorist E.D. Hirsch Jr. has demonstrated, achievement gaps are really knowledge gaps. Poor kids tend to have access to less background knowledge outside school than privileged kids. Unless poor kids are exposed to the same academically rich content in school that more affluent kids can get at home, we consign these students to second-class citizenship.
I’m also troubled by the Commonwealth’s willingness to replace our tried-and-true standards and MCAS with totally unproven national standards and testing. This conversion will come at an estimated cost of $360 million for new textbooks, professional development, and technology, according to the Pioneer Institute.
I am not suggesting that we adorn our public schools with “Mission Accomplished” banners. Indeed, we must always strive to improve K-12 public education. But education reform has worked far better than we could have reasonably hoped. Given our incontrovertible educational successes, those seeking changes should bear in mind the admonition of the Hippocratic oath: “First, do no harm.”

Tom Birmingham, former president of the Massachusetts Senate, is senior counsel at Edwards Wildman Palmer LLP. He coauthored the Massachusetts Education Reform Act of 1993.

Editorial

By BusinessWest Staff June 18, 2013

Opinion

Turning Good Science into Good Jobs

So, just what does $100 million buy today?
Many business owners and economic development leaders are asking that question, following the announcement earlier this month that the state, through the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, has funneled $95 million in grants to the Life Sciences Laboratory at UMass Amherst and another $5.5 million to the Pioneer Valley Life Sciences Institute in Springfield, with the broad goal of leveraging that investment to spur economic development and jobs (see story, page 9).
In this case, $100 million would appear to buy opportunity — in many forms, but especially an opportunity to further diversify this region’s economy, something that desperately needs to be done — while bolstering a still-vital precision-manufacturing sector, making this region a much bigger part of this state’s rise to the top when it comes to generating business in the life sciences, and propelling the university to a higher level in terms of research and prestige.
Will $100 million buy all that? Probably not, but it will certainly generate some momentum that might make all those things possible.
That’s what state leaders, including Gov. Patrick, university administrators, and elected officials were saying at an elaborate press event on June 6 to announce the grants, and they may well be right. These investments — that’s the best word to describe what the state is doing — are designed to stimulate what Susan Windham-Bannister and others call “innovation-driven economic development,” which would be something new to this region, but also something actually quite old.
Indeed, in recent years, the main thrust of economic development, not just here but elsewhere, has been to attract large employers to vast expanses in industrial parks. We’ve had some success with that approach in the Pioneer Valley, but other regions have enjoyed much more.
Innovation-driven development is different. It starts with the development of materials, products, processes, and expertise, and uses all of the above to stimulate startup companies, bring opportunities to existing ventures, and draw companies from other areas who want to take advantage of all this.
We saw this happen with the Springfield Armory, which wasn’t exactly a startup operation (although, in some respects, it fits that description), but was the birthplace of a great deal of innovation, which eventually led to a number of businesses started by people who worked at the Armory, and, eventually, to the birth of a thriving precision-manufacturing sector. The same can also be said, in many respects, for the gunmaking industry that developed in Western Mass. and Connecticut, which was truly innovation-driven.
Fast-forward more than 200 years, and this region now has an opportunity for different kinds of innovation, from the development of personalized health-monitoring devices using nanotechnology, to discovery and application of new compounds to fight infection, to translating basic protein research into new therapeutic treatments for Alzheimer’s, cancer, and other infectious diseases.
These are the types of research-and-development opportunities that will be taking place at three research centers to be constructed and equipped through that $95 million grant to the university. Meanwhile, at PVLSI, the $5.5 million grant will support the development of a new Center of Innovation in Health Informatics and Technology, designed to spur progress in such areas as population health management and healthcare quality.
In Cambridge and Worcester, similar investments, both public and private, have led to the formation of dozens of companies and the creation of thousands of jobs in the broad life-sciences sector, and Windham-Bannister believes that model could be replicated in Western Mass.
Time will tell if she’s right and if this region can, indeed, translate good science into good business and good jobs, but this region has been handed what appears to be a golden opportunity.
The challenge now is to take full advantage of it.

Opinion

By BusinessWest Staff June 18, 2013

Opinion

UMass Needs More Public Dollars

In the coming days, the Massachusetts Legislature will make an important decision about funding for the University of Massachusetts and, in so doing, will play a significant role in determining what kind of university UMass will be as it enters the next phase in its history.
On a literal level, the Legislature will decide whether UMass will receive the $479 million in funding for the upcoming fiscal year proposed by Gov. Patrick and approved by the House or the $455 million advanced by the Senate. The higher level of funding is important because it would arrest a long-term budget slide, make the state-student funding split more equitable, and provide students with an overdue tuition and fee freeze.
But the commitment we are asking the state to make is actually part of a much larger effort we are shaping to dramatically strengthen UMass and make sure it always will be the kind of public university that Massachusetts, with its innovation and intellectual horsepower, needs.
As we ask the Commonwealth to do more, UMass is also gearing up to do significantly more to provide the financial foundation a university needs to be great. And while it isn’t just about the money, dollars matter when it comes to attracting and retaining top professors, providing aid for students who need and deserve it, and ensuring that our facilities match up with our academic and research ambitions.
With that in mind, UMass this fall will launch its first system-wide capital campaign with the goal of dramatically increasing the private funds flowing into the university. These dollars will sustain a community of excellence — a reinforcing circle of top students, professors, and facilities.
Taken in tandem, a major infusion of public and private funds will give UMass the financial muscle it needs as it completes its first 150 years of service and prepares to make an even more profound contribution to the people of the Commonwealth.
UMass is the third university I have had the honor to lead. As I complete my second year as president, I am struck by one thing above all else — how much our five campuses have done with such limited resources.
Over the past 15 years, while state funding has remained flat, UMass has added 13,000 students (most of whom come from and will remain in Massachusetts), has seen student achievement rise to the point where its flagship campus in Amherst is now a top producer of Fulbright scholars, has won a Nobel Prize, has seen research expenditures reach $600 million a year, has become a national leader in income derived from faculty inventions, and consistently places in the upper reaches of the World University Rankings.
All of which prompts two questions: Shouldn’t we protect the great asset we have developed? And how much more could we do with a little more public and a lot more private support?
While we seek to gather the resources we need to make this a truly transformational moment, I realize that we need to keep front and center a value that is so much a part of our New England heritage — and that is frugality. Respect for a dollar is something I learned growing up in a Maine town where people eked out a living in mills and on fishing boats, and where scrimping and saving was an essential way of life.
Over the past five years, UMass has saved $68 million through efficiency steps, including consolidating administrative functions previously performed on each of the campuses. We expect to save another $123 million over the next five years by reducing energy expenditures, improving our purchasing practices, and streamlining information-technology operations.
Our commitment to transparency mirrors our commitment to efficiency, and, to make it easier to gauge our performance in key areas, we will release an annual performance report giving donors, public officials, and the public at large a better sense of how we are doing and what their dollars are helping to build.
UMass marks its 150th anniversary this year, so it’s a time to celebrate the past — and to build for a brighter and loftier future. With that future in mind, we are asking the state to join with us to create a truly historic moment. We have a chance to place UMass on a course that will allow it to soar — and this is an opportunity we have to seize.

Robert L. Caret is the president of the University of Massachusetts.

Editorial

By BusinessWest Staff June 4, 2013

Opinion

A Winning Proposition

• Springfield: $95,000
• Hartford, Conn.: $146,779
• Providence, R.I.: $131,000
• New Haven, Conn.: $127,070
• Stamford, Conn.: $150,000

There will be those who will look at a salary figure and equate it to a particular mayor, past or present, and judge this proposal upon whether he or she was or is worth the figure. That not only misses the point, but is also shortsighted in determining what is best for this city moving forward. The salary is a reflection of the job. The mayor oversees a city with 6,000 employees and a budget in excess of $550 million.
At present, 113 city employees earn more than the mayor, who is on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week to not only plan and oversee operations, but to be able to react to all that can and does go wrong in major urban areas. The mayor makes countless decisions, oftentimes difficult and unpopular. A mayor is also in the best position to develop a strategic vision for our city and lead the effort to fulfill that vision.
Let’s try to put politics aside for this vote and set the salary for the position of mayor of Springfield at a level that reflects the duties of the job and encourages those with the skills necessary to run for the position.

Jeffrey Ciuffreda is executive director of the Affiliated Chambers of Commerce of Greater Springfield.

Editorial

By BusinessWest Staff May 7, 2013

Opinion

Springfield Makes Smart Choice with MGM

Endeavors to place a casino in downtown Springfield have a long way to go — the process is really only in stage one — but the city is off to what would have to be considered a very solid start.
Indeed, it chose the right development to take to the next stage — MGM’s proposal for the South End — and it negotiated smartly, securing a host-community agreement that benefits the city and region in a number of ways, but without putting too great a financial burden on the company.
That agreement includes everything from annual payments to the city totaling $25 million to improvements for Riverfront Park; from support for local entertainment venues, including the MassMutual Center, Symphony Hall, and CityStage, to so-called community-impact payments that have the potential to greatly improve overall public safety downtown. There’s even a provision for MGM to finance construction of a pavilion at Franconia Golf Course, one that will, in theory, enable the course to host more events and the city to net more revenue.
The challenge now is to continue working with MGM to shape a project that will not only win the favor of voters in the city and then the Gaming Commission — although both of those are critical — but also succeed in the broad and complex goal of transforming the South End neighborhood.
And it is that piece that ultimately makes this project the far better option for Springfield than Penn National’s proposal to build in the city’s North End.
That plan, which did have some merit, would have relocated two large businesses — Peter Pan and the Republican — thus creating what the developers called a ripple effect that would boost downtown (the Republican would have relocated there), Union Station (Peter Pan would have moved there), and an East Springfield industrial park (the newspaper’s printing operations would have gone there).
But those developments cannot be considered game-changing in stature. Those involving the city’s South End neighborhood are definitely worthy of that descriptive phrase, although it must be said that the game can be changed in many ways, and the jury is still very much out on whether a casino can positively transform a severely challenged urban area.
For now, though, this is clearly the right pick for Springfield.
The MGM plan could take a neighborhood that has, for the most part, been down and virtually out since the construction of I-91 fractured it, and give it the catalyst for progress that has been missing for four decades.
The MGM proposal, focused more on entertainment than it is on pure gaming, would bring people to the South End who would ordinarily avoid that part of town. And while doing so, it brings the promise of deeper change — new businesses, market-rate housing, momentum, and a real sense of hope.
When BusinessWest traveled with the City 2 City contingent to Bethlehem, Pa. last November, we heard from officials there who were determined not to simply put a casino within the city where it made sense from a traffic and parking perspective — although those matters figured into the equation. Instead, they focused on locating the casino where it would make a real difference — in that case, the site of the former steel mill that once gave the city its identity but then sat lifeless for years.
Today, there is plenty of life on that site, from new arts venues to fledgling businesses to new work/live projects that are bringing young people to Bethlehem and hope for the future. And little, if any, of it would have happened without the casino.
Springfield needs — and deserves — a project that can do the same thing. The MGM proposal has the vast potential for being the catalyst this city desires, and we’re encouraged by the fact that it is the last Springfield proposal standing.
As we said, there is a long way to go in this process, but the city is, to borrow a phrase from the industry, riding the right horse.
Now it has to get it to the finish line.

Opinion

By BusinessWest Staff May 7, 2013

Opinion

Public Debt and Economic Growth

By Robert Reich

In the election of 1952, my father voted for Dwight Eisenhower. When I asked him why, he explained that ‘FDR’s debt’ was still burdening the economy — and that I and my children and my grandchildren would be paying it down for as long as we lived.
I was only 6 years old and had no idea what a ‘debt’ was, let alone FDR’s. But I had nightmares about it for weeks.
Yet, as the years went by my father stopped talking about FDR’s debt, and since I was old enough to know something about economics, I never worried about it. My children have never once mentioned FDR’s debt. My 4-year-old grandchild hasn’t uttered a single word about it.
By the end of World War II, the national debt was 120% of the entire economy. But by the mid-1950s, it was half that.
Why did it shrink? Not because the nation stopped spending. We had a Korean War, a Cold War, we rebuilt Germany and Japan, sent our GI’s to college and helped them buy homes, expanded education at all levels, and began constructing the largest public-works program in the nation’s history — the interstate highway system.
FDR’s debt shrank in proportion to the national economy because the national economy grew so fast.
I was reminded of this by the recent commotion over an error in a research paper by Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff.
The two Harvard economists had analyzed a huge amount of data from the U.S. and other advanced economies linking levels of public debt to economic growth. They concluded that growth turns negative (that is, economies tend to collapse into recession) when public debt rises above 90% of GDP.
That finding, in turn, fueled austerics, who insisted that the budget deficit (and debt) had to be cut in order to revive economic growth.
But Reinhart and Rogoff’s computations were wrong, and average GDP growth in very high-debt nations is around 2.2% rather than a negative 0.1%.
Recently, the two offered a defense in an op-ed in the New York Times, asserting “very small actual differences” between their critics’ results and their own.
Regardless, Reinhart and Rogoff seem to be correct in one basic respect: economic growth does seem to be lower in very high-debt countries. But the entire debate over their paper’s flaws begs the central question of cause and effect.
Is growth lower because of the high debt? That would still make the austerics’ case, even without the magic 90% tipping point. Or does cause and effect work the other way around? Maybe slow growth makes debt burdens larger. There’s evidence to suggest this is the case.
If so, government should be fueling growth through, say, spending more — at least in the short run. As we should have learned from what happened to ‘FDR’s debt,’ growth is the key.

Robert Reich is co-founder of the American Prospect.

Guest Perspective

By BusinessWest Staff April 23, 2013

Opinion

What Would Horace Moses Do?

At one time, Horace Moses may have been best known as the president of the Strathmore Paper Co. in West Springfield, but his legacy is much bigger than that.
In 1919, Moses founded Junior Achievement, the worldwide financial training program for young people. Growing up on his family’s farm, Moses acquired the habits of fiscal responsibility and entrepreneurship. He not only worked the fields, but networked with a variety of business owners to sell the farm’s products.
Moses was quick to learn that through hard work, determination, and ambition, one can achieve the American Dream. His philosophy wasn’t limited to personal gain, however. Moses donated his time and wealth to a variety of worthwhile causes. One initiative close to his heart was ensuring that children develop the skills to secure their own economic success. It was this goal that led Moses and Theodore Vail, president of American Telephone & Telegraph to found Junior Achievement right here in Western Massachusetts.
Today, JA is the world’s largest organization dedicated to educating students about workforce readiness, entrepreneurship, and financial literacy through experiential, hands-on programs. Although born of humble beginnings on the Big E fairgrounds, JA reaches more than 4 million students each year across the United States, and another 6 million in countries around the world. JA’s volunteer-delivered K-12 programs help prepare students for the real world by showing them how to effectively manage their finances, generate wealth, and help build robust communities.
Moses and Vail realized the importance of teaching young people that thrift, economy, and industry are necessary to sustain the American vision. Almost 100 years later, nothing has changed.
Each year, roughly 1.3 million students drop out of school. Each dropout costs society approximately $200,000 in lost tax revenue and government expenditures over his or her lifetime. The personal cost of dropping out of school isn’t just economic — there’s a psychological price, as well. As someone who’s gone from high school dropout to college graduate, I can tell you that being a dropout can be debilitating. The lack of skills eventually damages your self-confidence, resulting in a social paralysis. You feel trapped in your situation. You want to work, to achieve, but lack the foundation and support system to overcome your circumstance.
Horace Moses knew that it doesn’t have to be that way, and that by investing in our children we could help them become productive participants in our national economy.
Addressing the dropout population is only part of the solution. Approxinately 45% of today’s college graduates don’t have the skills to advance past an entry-level job. Managers at more than 53% of large companies and 67% of small companies say it’s difficult to recruit employees with the skills, training, and education their companies require. In time, this skills gap will invariably weaken our ability to compete in the global marketplace. Helping our children aspire to succeed is not only imperative to their own well-being, but to our own economic and entrepreneurial survival.
What would Horace Moses do in the face of today’s problems? He would commit his resources to find a solution. That’s why he co-founded Junior Achievement. JA supports youth development by fostering the spirit of entrepreneurship, and by instilling and modeling key business and work-readiness concepts such as leadership, teamwork, and critical thinking.
I encourage you to join me in following his example by making an investment in the youth of Western Mass. We don’t need to dedicate the time or resources Moses had at his disposal. We already have a structure, it just needs caring professionals, community leaders, and supporters. Find out how you can empower students to stay in school, develop the skills necessary for economic success, and live the life each of us hopes for for our own children.
Get involved with Junior Achievement of Western Mass., your local school system, or other worthwhile cause. You can change the direction of a generation. That’s what Horace Moses would do.

Thom Fox is the community outreach director at Cambridge Credit Counseling and vice chairman of Junior Achievement of Western Massachusetts. He also serves as a start-up mentor at Valley Venture Mentors, member of the National Academy Foundation STEM-21 Advisory Board at Sci-Tech, and member of the Financial Stability Network of Hampden County; (413) 330-5254; [email protected].

Editorial

By BusinessWest Staff April 23, 2013

Editor's Corner Opinion

40 More Reasons to Feel Positive

BusinessWest launched its 40 Under Forty program in 2007 with a number of goals in mind. Identifying young leaders was the primary mission, and we have certainly done that, especially with the Class of 2013, which we introduce in this issue.
But through their stories, we wanted to inspire others to become leaders themselves, and in the process, show that, contrary to what might be popular belief, young people don’t have to leave this market to enjoy success in business, find fulfillment in their work, and make their mark in the community.
Like the six groups that came before, the Class of 2013 provides plenty of examples of people who are not only excelling in their fields, but also giving back to the cities and towns in this region, often with work that involves the young people who will shape this region’s future. Here are just a few examples:
• Tim Allen, the principal of the new South End Middle School in Springfield. Under his leadership, this facility, which serves lower-income children, many of whom are English Language Learners, has recorded more improvement on the English portion of the MCAS tests in its first year than any of the other six neighborhood middle schools in the city. Allen also does a considerable amount of mentoring, and gives time and energy to Big Brothers Big Sisters;
• Adrian Bailey Dion has developed imaginative — and entrepreneurial — strategies to enable the Grinspoon Foundation, which she serves as COO, to dramatically increase the number of books it distributes through its PJ Library, which supports literacy and values development in children ages 1-8 through the purchase and delivery of age-appropriate Jewish books. She also supports area food pantries and kitchens in their work to feed area residents in need;
• Melyssa Brown, an accountant with Meyers Brothers Kalicka in Holyoke, has made her mark professionally, as the youngest manager in the firm’s Audit & Accounting Division. But it’s her work in the community that is really adding up (figuratively speaking). She’s one of the prime movers with a new Girls Inc. initiative called Eureka, in which girls ages 12-15 spend four weeks each summer on a college campus to learn about math, science, computers, sports, and both personal and career development;
• Kam Capoccia is a pharmacist who is changing the way people might think about those in that profession. While she still dispenses pills during weekend shifts at a local Walgreens, she spends much of her time dispensing information, as an associate professor of Pharmacy at Western New England University, but especially as the director of the Consultation and Wellness Center at the Big Y on Cooley Street in Springfield. There, she’s assisted countless individuals with issues ranging from Type 2 diabetes to high blood pressure to problems with obesity;
• Walt Tomala Jr. knows what it’s like to triumph over adversity. He suffered third-degree burns over 60% of his body in a flash explosion that occurred when a sanding machine malfunctioned while he was remodeling a bowling center. He spent a year in recovery and rehab, and eventually started his own construction company, one that has played a lead role in helping others achieve a higher quality of life, through work on everything from blitz-build projects for Habitat for Humanity to construction of homes for severely wounded veterans. He’s also been a steady supporter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Space doesn’t permit us to tell all 40 stories here, but these five serve as effective examples of how this entire class is the embodiment of professional excellence, community activism, and true leadership.
Their stories begin on page A6. Read, enjoy, and become inspired.

Opinion

By BusinessWest Staff April 9, 2013

Opinion

Career Readiness Critical for Young People

School to Career Connecting Activities, a collaborative effort between public and private partnerships, is led by 16 local workforce-investment boards in Massachusetts, including the Regional Employment Board of Hampden County (REB). The initiative provides high-school students with paid internship opportunities in a wide array of occupations and industries, from which students gain exposure to real-world work opportunities and learn professionalism, responsibility, and job-readiness skills that help them become attached to the workforce in the future.

Recent national surveys of employers and human-resource managers have found increasing concerns with the employability and skill deficiencies of young workers.

In 2007, connecting activities leveraged more than $45 million in employer wages, putting more than 17,500 students in internships at 6,500 employer sites. In 2012 alone, with funding at only $2.75 million, more than 9,800 students were placed in internships at 3,500 employer sites. With funding in the state budget for fiscal year 2013 at only $750,000, the program is facing extreme challenges.

In Hampden County, we were able to put 658 students into internships with 258 area employers in various industries, including WGBY, Big Y, Baystate Medical Center, Mercy Medical Center, Giggle Gardens, Holyoke Health Center, Polish National Credit Union, and many more.

The need for increased employment for the state’s teens is greater than in many years. According to a recent study by Northeastern University’s Center for Labor Market Studies, “in 2012, only 26% of the state’s teens found themselves able to obtain employment during an average month.” This was the lowest state teen-employment rate recorded over the past 50 years for which such data exists. Fewer than one of seven low-income teens in high school in 2011 worked in Massachusetts.

The Center for Labor Market Studies has documented that those students who work during their senior year or in multiple summer jobs over their high-school years are more likely to transition into college or the labor market after graduation. The habits learned in the workplace, such as productivity, teamwork, collaboration, problem solving, management, and initiative, are paramount for the Commonwealth’s youth.

In Hampden County, the REB is working with 18 different schools through four lead school-to-career connecting-activities coordinators, who assist students and the school’s career facilitators to secure employment and optimize learning through internship opportunities. With the decreases in funding since 2007, we unfortunately cannot serve all the students who could benefit from an internship.

Student experiences speak for themselves. At Minnechaug Regional High School in Wilbraham, two youths who participated in the School to Career Connecting Activities Program had plenty to say about their experiences.

A senior named Hannah, who placed at the town’s Engineering Department, said, “I loved my experience. It was a great way to learn about your intended college major [Civil Engineering]. I learned what was like to work in an office and how to use office equipment. I gained a lot of skills working on the computers with different programs. I learned how to interact with customers and employees. I learned how to be more observant and make certain connections. I learned that it is OK to take risks and be wrong and how to voice my opinion and not hide my ideas.

Meanwhile, a senior named Matthew, who placed at FloDesign, an innovative business incubator that specializes in contract engineering and technology commercialization, noted that “my goal of learning about the field and solidifying my decision on becoming an engineer has been met. By working on various projects and doing things actual engineers do, I have learned more than enough to be sure that this is the type of career I am looking for. ”

School to Career Connecting Activities staff are dedicated to providing opportunities for youth to develop their career skills while in school. The investment by the state Legislature in expanding these career-building tools and experience for its youth will help strengthen future employment opportunities for the young people of Massachusetts. This is not only an investment in the students themselves, but also in the Commonwealth’s future workforce and its economic growth potential.

For more information, contact Bill Ward, REB president and CEO, at (413) 787-1547.

Joseph Peters is chair of the Regional Employment Board of Hampden County. Andrew Sum is director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University.

Editorial

By BusinessWest Staff April 9, 2013

Opinion

Some Bright Spots for the Region

There is quite a bit to like about the story surrounding the startup company SolaBlock, profiled on page 30 of this issue.

For starters, this is a venture involving renewable energy, one of the more potential-laden growth areas for this region, and one where some of that potential is starting to be realized. Specifically, this initiative involves a new take on solar energy; instead of installing panels on rooftops, this company, founded by Patrick Quinlan, will build them right into cinderblocks, and then, hopefully, into walls of all kinds — for commercial and residential buildings, gardens, and even those built to block noise from highways. (There’s considerable potential there, because such walls are not usually obstructed by trees.)

The concept will be put to the test this summer — thanks to a $40,000 state grant — at a small building in the Technology Park at Springfield Technical Community College, just a stone’s throw (literally) from the Scibelli Enterprise Center, where SolaBlock is now a tenant.

And that’s the other aspect of this story that bodes well for this region.

Opened more than dozen years ago now, the Enterprise Center was launched by then-STCC President Andrew Scibelli with the hope that it would eventually become home to hundreds of startups that would generate commerce and, more importantly, create jobs across the region.

But while the center has played host to some success stories — in realms ranging from website design to a cross-border (Connecticut and Massachusetts) phone book that was eventually acquired by one of the larger players in that now-declining market — it has not lived up to its own vast potential.

However, it is enjoying what could be described as a renaissance under director Marla Michel, an executive STCC shares with UMass Amherst. Helped financially by another new tenant (Square One) that doesn’t exactly fit the startup description but needed accessible space after the June 2011 tornado leveled its headquarters building, the center is slowly building the tenant base in its business incubator.

Indeed, it now hosts ventures involved with everything from development of sporting goods to group sales for a wide range of shows and events.

But the center’s mission is obviously to offer much more than square footage to be leased. It also provides a wide range of support services and counseling designed to help fledging operations get off the ground and to that next level.

The center still has a ways to go to become the force within the local economy that its creators had in mind when the facility opened its doors in 2000. But it is certainly moving in the right direction after years of struggle following the Great Recession.

And this bodes well for Western Mass. because, as we’ve said many times, real growth and prosperity in this region is not going to come from a casino or through efforts to attract large employers. It will happen organically, through the development of new concepts and new companies that will create jobs and, hopefully, stay in this region and grow.

It’s too early to say how the SolaBlock concept will fare long-term — this summer’s testing of the product might yield some indication of its potential within the building industry. But at the moment, it’s an intriguing story in its own right, and part of another, more far-reaching story as well.

And they both involve building blocks that may yet change the landscape in Western Mass.

Opinion

By BusinessWest Staff March 26, 2013

Opinion

Another Tax Hike Is the Wrong Course

T here they go again, the hordes of tax-hike advocates, spreading out across the Commonwealth to urge support for Gov. Deval Patrick’s $1.9 billion tax package.

I’ve met these kinds of advocates on the tax trail before, beginning in 1980 with their opposition to property tax limits in Proposition 2½. Now, though, I offer institutional memory on just the income tax.

In 1989, Gov. Michael Dukakis returned from the presidential campaign trail and demanded tax hikes to fund a billion-dollar budget increase; supporters rallied at the State House, some of them dressed as giant crayons, to protest potential cuts to the arts. The legislative leadership was able to get the votes for the tax package only after promising that the new income tax rate, increased from 5% to 5.75%, would be temporary. The Legislature raised the rate again the next year, ‘temporarily,’ to 6.25%.

In 1990, a coalition calling itself the Tax Equity Alliance for Massachusetts defeated a ballot question to repeal the Dukakis tax hikes. However, Bill Weld, who supported it, was elected governor and oversaw a reduction in the rate to 5.95% in 1992.

In 1998, despite opposition from a group now called the Campaign for Massachusetts’ Future, voters approved a reduction of the investment-income rate to the same rate as wage income, and in 2000 they approved a rollback of the income tax rate to 5% over three years. Two years later, the Legislature ‘temporarily’ froze rollback and investment rates at 5.3% after heavy lobbying by pro-tax groups. Then the Campaign for Our Communities was formed, calling for a return to the 5.95% income-tax rate.

Instead, in 2011 a formula created in 2002 dropped the rate to 5.25%, where it remains — 24 years after the first ‘temporary’ increase, and 12 years after the voters demanded a rollback to 5%.

Now Gov. Patrick is proposing to increase the income tax rate to 6.25% again, as part of a $1.9 billion tax package. The Campaign for Our Communities has been fanning out across the state in support, and held a huge rally this week at the State House.

Who are these teams and campaigns for equity, our future, and communities? The list is long, made up of the many public-employee unions, both national and statewide with their local affiliates; various human service providers; individual Democratic town committees; and city councils. For them, it seems, taxes will never be high enough.

Patrick’s offset offer of a reduction in the sales-tax rate is hard to credit from the governor who raised that rate from 5% to 6.25% just two years ago. Come the next fiscal crisis, the sales tax will likely be hiked again.

Personal exemptions have been increased in the past to sell a rate increase, only to disappear at the next fiscal crisis. Deductions come and go, depending on what special-interest lobbyists are doing on Beacon Hill.

The Massachusetts tax burden is the fourth-highest in the nation per capita, and the eighth-highest relative to personal income. The state is not suffering from a lack of taxes; it is suffering from a lack of accountability for the taxes already paid. The ongoing scandal over electronic-benefits cards is a maddening example of this.

With cuts coming from our dysfunctional federal government, there will be many pleas for revenue increases to address not only transportation but the operating budget and local aid. Eventually the easy ‘new revenue solution’ will be exhausted, and a better-managed state will be essential. Why not do the better management now?

Tax advocates carry signs saying ‘invest’ to hearings on new taxes. First we need to invest in respect for voters and taxpayers, who have been awaiting the return of the 5% income tax rate they were promised in 1989 and voted for in 2000. If they ever find reason to respect their government again, we as a Commonwealth will benefit.

Barbara Anderson is executive director of Citizens for Limited Taxation.

Editorial

By BusinessWest Staff March 26, 2013

Opinion

UMass Is Merely One Part of the Answer

You don’t have to read between the lines to get the gist of the message that UMass Amherst Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy left during a lengthy interview with BusinessWest (see story, page 6).

What’s on those lines makes his sentiments clear enough.

Indeed, when you slice through his comments on everything from the university’s involvement in economic-development efforts to the ongoing project that has become known as the ‘Springfield Initiative,’ it’s clear that he believes people in this region have to manage their expectations when it comes to what the flagship campus can accomplish — especially given the current fiscal challenges the school is facing.

“We’re only one element in bringing about systemic change,” the chancellor told this magazine. “The local government, local business, the state government, and the private sector — they all have a role to play in this. We’re ready, and we have a track record of getting involved with social change and economic development, but we can’t do it without resources.”

There are two messages there, obviously. The first is that UMass can’t be expected to be the solution to this region’s still-sluggish economy, one that continually lags behind the rest of the Commonwealth when it comes to jobs and overall vibrancy. And the second is … well, give the university more resources.

And the chancellor is right in both respects.

First, the funding part. Public higher education in this state, and that includes the many campuses of the state university, have been woefully underfunded throughout most of their history. Maybe it’s the bevy of elite private institutions that we have in the Commonwealth that has created this attitude, and maybe there are other factors, but public colleges and universities have simply not been a priority in this state. But they must become one, because, while those private schools cater to students from around the globe, the community colleges, state colleges (they now like to be called universities), and UMass focus on people from around the corner, and these are individuals who will ultimately turn our economy around.

As for UMass Amherst and the matter of expectations, the chancellor is correct. In many ways, expectations for what the university can do and should do are not realistic, or in keeping with the current fiscal realities. There is a tendency in this region — and this magazine has been as guilty as anyone — to look at the Amherst campus not as a partner, but more as a cure-all when it comes to what’s ailing Western Mass. and its economy.

Nowhere is this more true than in Springfield, where talk of a UMass campus in the central business district has been described a potential catalyst for a revitalization in that area. This talk comes without any real verification of need — although it likely exists — and no real thought about the competitive balance in higher education in the city; there are already seven colleges within 10 miles of downtown Springfield (some only a mile or two away) that offer many of the same programs as UMass. And there is little thought about the school’s ability to fund something like this when it can’t even properly maintain the aging buildings on the Amherst campus.

But the thinking is typical of what we see in this region: ‘downtown Springfield needs a spark? Have UMass put a satellite campus there.’

Moving forward, it would seem that the region doesn’t need a huge attitude adjustment when it comes to the state university. Just a small one. The school has been and always will be a tremendous resource, an educational pillar for the entire state, and an economic engine that is not only one of the region’s largest employers, but a force in many areas of economic development, from research that can translate into jobs to assistance provided to area manufacturers that will help them be more competitive globally.

But it is not the answer. It is simply a big part of the answer.

Editorial

By BusinessWest Staff March 12, 2013

Opinion

Let’s Not Forget What’s Really Important

The formal program for the Affiliated Chambers’ Outlook Luncheon was only a few minutes old when Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno stepped to the microphone.

He started with some humor — a joke about how Big E President Eugene Cassidy had said the mayor was there that day to formally endorse the Hard Rock casino proposed for the Big E grounds — and then snuck in a little poignancy.

It was rather innocuous, something about how the casino issue was “sucking all the life out of the room.”

He moved on quickly, but the point was made — casinos are, in fact, sucking the life out of the room, and they’re drawing needed attention and energy away from other things. That’s not exactly a news flash, but it is relevant and certainly worth remembering.

The casino is a huge, 800-pound, $800 million gorilla or elephant in the room (take your pick), and the identification of the winner of the Western Mass. casino license will be the biggest news story in decades; it’s been that long since the Republican has used 120-point type on a page 1 headline, but the paper might just put it to use in this case.

But while that story plays out, we can’t forget everything else that’s happening in this region from an economic-development perspective. That’s because it will take four years for a casino to open its doors, and when it does open, it will not magically transform this region or even the host city into a thriving center for business.

This issue of BusinessWest provides some timely and pertinent matters that this region can’t forget about while the casino sweepstakes plays itself out.

For starters, there’s the University of Massachusetts Donahue Institute (page 6) and, more importantly, some of the work it’s doing — to gauge the need for and the benefits to be derived from enhanced passenger rail service; to identify strategies for expanding the manufacturing sector in the Berkshires; and to chart the needs of small and mid-sized businesses across the region and suggest ways of meeting them, among many other initiatives.

There’s also the work taking place in the city of Holyoke (page 13) to reinvent that community and diversify its economy — through the arts, technology, and other sectors — without a casino within its boundaries. There are other stories involving this region’s two largest sectors — education (page 27) and healthcare (page 44) — which emphasize the need to focus on ways to keep these industry groups vibrant and growing.

And then’s there’s Delcie Bean.

The 26-year-old serial entrepreneur, and now owner of one of the fastest-growing private companies in the country, is one of the rising stars in the region’s business galaxy, and a prime example of where this region really needs to focus its efforts.

Success in stimulating the creation and growth of more small businesses like Bean’s Paragus Strategic IT will ultimately be more important to the long-term vibrancy of this region’s economy than the casino that will eventually open its doors somewhere within the 413 area code. That’s because a gaming complex won’t change the complexion of dozens of cities and towns in the four western counties nearly as much as jobs like the 27 (and counting) that Bean has created.

We can easily understand why casinos are sucking the life out of the room, as Sarno mentioned. This development is exciting — several companies want to spend $800 million in Western Massachusetts! — and there are countless parties that have huge stakes in the outcome of that competition.

But we can’t wait until that contest is over, and we certainly can’t wait until the casino opens its doors, to save most of our attention for those matters that will ultimately have a much greater impact on the long-term health of this region.

Opinion

Deliberation Needed on Minimum Wage

Opportunity for UMass and Tower Square

Casino Saga Ends Badly in Palmer

Life in a Changed Casino Landscape

Can Springfield Learn from Cleveland?

A Step Forward for Springfield

Some Lessons from Worcester

The Mandate for Medical Marijuana

A Good First Step at Westfield State

Time for Decisive Action at WSU

Physician Labor Markets Remain Tight

And Then, There Were Two

The Creative Economy Drives Growth

Bradley Can Be an Economic Driver

The Tech Tax, from a Tech Firm’s Angle

At Westfield State, a Large Case of Excess

‘Tech Tax’ Imperils State’s Growth

Building a Diverse Nursing Workforce

An Opportunity for Springfield

Lessons from Detroit — and Springfield

Gateway Cities Don’t Need Silver Bullet

The Power of Summer Jobs

A Critical Vote for Springfield

Why Springfield Should Vote ‘Yes’

Education Reform at 20; There’s Work to Do

Turning Good Science into Good Jobs

UMass Needs More Public Dollars

A Winning Proposition

Drivers Should Pay for the Roads They Use

Investments in the Future

It’s Time to Raise the Mayor’s Salary

Springfield Makes Smart Choice with MGM

Public Debt and Economic Growth

What Would Horace Moses Do?

40 More Reasons to Feel Positive

Career Readiness Critical for Young People

Some Bright Spots for the Region

Another Tax Hike Is the Wrong Course

UMass Is Merely One Part of the Answer

Let’s Not Forget What’s Really Important

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