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Stern Challenges Await Area’s New Mayors

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Opinion
Stern Challenges Await Area’s New Mayors

This fall’s elections brought changes at the top for many area communities. Indeed, there will be many new mayors settling into office in January, and many will face immediate — and stern — challenges.

We wish them the best because, while Springfield is the unofficial capital of the Pioneer Valley and the focus of much attention in light of its recent struggles, the continued health and well-being of other large communities is a key factor in the overall success of this region.

The challenges facing the new mayors vary, but the common denominator is that the communities need strong leadership, and they need it now.

Let’s start in Agawam, where the survivor (that’s the best word for it) in this fall’s election is Richard Cohen, the former mayor and now mayor-elect. His immediate challenge is to restore a sense of honor and pride in this community. The off-duty exploits of outgoing Mayor Susan Dawson and the recent mayoral election — which included no less than seven candidates, more than half of whom had absolutely no business seeking this seat — has made Agawam the butt of seemingly unending jokes.

The embarrassing election is over, and it’s now incumbent upon Cohen to make people sit up and take notice of Agawam for other reasons, particularly economic development. There hasn’t been much of this lately, due largely to a lack of a clear vision about what this community wants to be and how it needs to get there.

Cohen’s first priority is to assemble some land on which businesses can locate, and then drive new development. All eyes have been focused on the so-called FoodMart Plaza, now known as Agawan Town Center, which was vacant for years and is now vacant again after the Steve & Barry’s fiasco, but there are other problems as well. There is no retail, and a crippling lack of commercially zoned property. Cohen can start with the town’s PR crisis, but his bigger assignment is growing the tax base.

Westfield has done well in that regard in recent years, and it is incumbent upon incoming Mayor Dan Knapik to continue to create opportunities for growth. While Agawam is land-poor, Westfield has plenty, and it has a turnpike exit and a municipal airport as attractive assets.

The biggest challenge for Knapik and his community is downtown, which has struggled for decades now. Outgoing Mayor Michael Boulanger and Westfield State College President Evan Dobelle have made some significant strides over the past few years in taking an overlooked and underappreciated asset (the college) and making it into a force for economic development.

Knapik has a lot on his plate, but building on the momentum gained with regard to WSC is priority one. Westfield will never be a true college town, like Amherst or Northampton, but it can be more of a college town, and it must become one.

While Agawam and Westfield confront challenge and opportunity, perhaps no city in the region is at more of a critical crossroad than Holyoke, and this is the situation facing Mayor-elect Elaine Pluta.

For starters, the city will soon be hiring a new police chief and a new school superintendent, meaning that there will be key leadership changes across the board, which are always daunting. But the elephant in the room is the planned high-performance computing center being developed by UMass, MIT, Harvard, and a host of other players.

The center will almost certainly become reality, though the facility itself will not generate tax revenue and will only create a few dozen jobs to start. What isn’t known is what kind of economic development can follow in the wake of such a facility. There is speculation (see story, page 6) that such a center can eventually attract government agencies conducting specific research initiatives, institutions of higher learning, private businesses that want or need to be near such a facility, and support businesses ranging from restaurants to copying centers.

Holyoke should strive for all of the above, and to do this, it must be bold and imaginative in the creation of incentives that will bring businesses and institutions to the city. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for this former mill city to reinvent itself as a city defined by innovation.

Politics has a way of getting in the way of progress in Holyoke. Pluta, a veteran city councilor, can’t let that happen. She must forge the partnerships needed to enable this once-proud city to take full advantage of the opportunity that is presenting itself.

OPINION

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Opinion
Keep the Engine of Small Business Humming

In 1982 as an MBA student at The Ohio State University, I read Dr. Michael Porter’s book Competitive Strategies. Fast-forward to the mid-1990s when I attended Porter’s presentation in Springfield about the importance of businesses locating in the urban core. My then-business partner and I took the bait. Within a year, TSM Design was located in the heart of downtown on Bridge Street, where we remain today.

Recently I received an e-mail from Porter’s brainchild, the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City. The ICIC’s mission is “to promote economic prosperity in America’s inner cities through private-sector engagement that leads to jobs, income, and wealth creation for local residents.” Given my long history with Porter, I decided to attend the ICIC summit in Washington, D.C. titled “Growing Businesses in the Inner City: Building Capacity and Creating Impact.”

Featured at the two-day event was Porter’s presentation of 10 years of data collected among 600 successful urban enterprises. He focused on the following factors influencing the growth of inner-city firms: financing, the inner-city business environment, company revenue sources, and leadership and human capital.

Some of Porter’s findings are as you might expect. Inner-city firms generally use personal assets for startup funds and bank loans for growth. The vast majority (76%) indicate limited access to growth capital. Yet these financing statistics yield an interestingly low failure rate among the studied inner-city businesses.

Among the sectors represented, 3% of distributors, 3% of manufacturers, and 4% of service businesses have closed their doors during the 10-year study. None of the retailers have gone out of business.

Included in the summit were presentations from Karen Mills, the administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration, speaking about national policy and the Obama administration’s commitment to growing the small business sector, and Rob Walsh, commissioner of the NYC Department of Small Business Services, who spoke in detail about best practices of a business-friendly city government.

Of particular interest to me was a panel discussion on how large companies use their procurement dollars to grow the inner-city economy, and a case study involving New England Blue Cross Blue Shield and one its small local vendors. BCBS and the vendor split the cost of hiring NextStreet Financial to mentor and grow the vendor into a more robust supplier. The vendor happens to be a communications firm specializing in diverse audiences. The net result is a vendor with increased capacity with more opportunities — both within BCBS as well as other companies.

All in all, this summit was personally affirming to me as a small-business owner in Springfield. Intuitively I’ve known we made the right decision 14 years ago to move the business out of the suburbs and into the center of the city. There are some discernable fringe benefits. For one, a downtown address has considerably more gravitas than a suburban one. Visibility is another factor. I can walk down the street and see dozens of current or potential clients and colleagues. Also, most of my civic involvements are within walking distance from my office. Lunchtime also yields far more interesting menu options.

The conference raised the bar for my expectations of the opportunities for my business and those of my peers. My eyes were opened to what other cities are doing to increase opportunities for small businesses. Even more importantly, I now know there are large corporations that both walk the walk as well as talk the economic-development talk. They make a point of doing business with local small businesses.

One eye-opening fact presented during the conference: 70% of all U.S. workers either work for or own a small business. The SBA definition of a small business is fewer than 500 employees. In Springfield, there are only 35 employers with more than 500 employees. So the thousands of businesses that comprise this city’s economy are small, like mine. If Springfield is going to regain its economic health, it’s time we develop a comprehensive strategy to keep this dynamic little engine going.

Nancy Urbchat is owner of Springfield-based TSM Design; (413) 731-7600.

Pieces Starting to Fall in Place for Downtown

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Opinion
Pieces Starting to Fall in Place for Downtown

UMass Amherst officials announced recently that they will be locating one of the university’s programs — an urban design center — in one of the buildings in Springfield’s Court Square early next year.

That was the good news.

The even better news is that UMass officials who discussed the venture said, in different ways and with different terms, that the university was really just getting started in its efforts to help stimulate economic development in the region’s largest city, located a good 20 miles from the Amherst campus.

They hinted strongly that there will be more initiatives in the future, including other potential developments in the long-vacant six-story office complex at 13-31 Elm Street, which has been identified as one of the most important, if not the most important, building blocks to a more-vibrant downtown Springfield.

The initial UMass move is not large in scope — it involves the small, three-story building at 3-7 Elm St., and will not include large numbers of staff, students, and faculty to start. But it could be the beginning of an initiative that will have huge implications for downtown, which, as we’ve said for some time, is in need of a spark, or several sparks — and this could be one of them.

And while we’ve said on many occasions that what downtown really needs is private-sector development efforts, sometimes a push from the public sector will get the ball rolling. Let’s hope that’s the case here.

Taking a step back and looking at the broad picture downtown, it appears that several pieces to what has been a frustrating puzzle are starting to fall into place. Beyond the UMass project, there’s movement at the old federal building in the heart of downtown. When federal court employees and other government offices moved into the new federal courthouse on State Street, the city was faced with the prospect of something it really can’t afford — to have a large, prominent building on Main Street go dark for an extended period of time.

Instead, a mix of public and private investment will keep the lights on at what is now known colloquially as 1550 Main St. Indeed, the city of Springfield will move its School Department offices into the building, while Baystate Health will move several offices there, and the General Services Administration will occupy some square footage. The sum of these moves will put hundreds of additional workers downtown, providing a potential — that’s potential — boost for current and future retail operations, support businesses, restaurants, and other hospitality-related ventures.

Meanwhile, a new restaurant, Hot Table, has located in the former Gus & Paul’s location in Tower Square, bringing a much-needed dose of vibrancy to Tower Square and supplying another reason for workers downtown to get out of their offices and venture out to Main Street.

In another development, an NBA Development League, or ‘D League,’ team, the Springfield Armor (see story, page 6), will start playing games at the MassMutual Center, providing, along with the AHL’s Falcons and other shows at the complex, more reasons to visit Springfield at night and on weekends.

And now, UMass will establish a small presence — again, to start — in the central business district. The Urban Design Center, which will provide a variety of programs in architecture, landscape architecture, conservation, and regional planning, will being more bodies downtown and is expected to become a resource for the city as it continues to reinvent itself.

Put all this together, and it adds up to a few big steps forward in the ongoing efforts to revitalize downtown. There is a long way to go — Tower Square remains a shell of the vibrant retail center it once was, and there remains a distinct lack of market-rate housing that everyone knows is needed to lure professionals into the CBD — but there are signs of progress.

Full recovery won’t come overnight or even in several years, but it will happen if city and economic-development leaders take it one piece at a time, and manage to have some of those pieces fall into place.

Springfield’s Question 1 Is All About Continuity

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Opinion

Question 1 on the election ballot in Springfield this fall asks voters if they want to lengthen the term of the mayor from two to four years. That’s the official wording, more or less.

But the question could very easily be phrased in other ways. Such as ‘do you want to bring more continuity to the management of the largest community in Western Mass.?’ or ‘do you want to facilitate economic-development efforts in the city?’ or ‘do you want to make it easier to recruit top talent to important positions in city government?’

The answer to all those questions is ‘yes, obviously.’ And that should be how people respond to Question 1 as well.

This ballot initiative, which would take effect beginning with the 2011 regular city election, is essentially a no-brainer, and we urge voters to strongly support it. It is simply hard to find a downside to giving future mayors a four-year term in office. In fact, we hope that other communities across the region that have mayors will look to do the same, and soon.

Why? There are several reasons, starting with the fact that cities like Springfield can’t afford to have their mayors running for office every two years. Such frequency means that corner-office holders spend one year governing the city and the next year running for re-election and raising money. It’s hard to govern and run an election campaign at the same time.

In fact, it would be fair to say that two-year office holders are constantly running for re-election, and this certainly impacts the way they govern. If an individual is always staring at another election, he or she is almost certain to be far less willing to take the kinds of risks that are often necessary to achieve real progress, especially in a city like Springfield, an older industrial city that must in many ways reinvent itself.

As for newly elected mayors, two years is simply not enough time to put together an agenda and even begin the process of carrying it out. Before an individual has had a chance to do much of anything regarding economic development, schools, public safety, and other matters, he or she must go back to the stump and get re-elected.

There are other reasons to support Question 1, including the broad subject of continuity when it comes to how a community is governed. Developers look for it when they consider where and what to build, and it’s hard to achieve continuity when mayors — and the professionals they choose to help manage their communities — are constantly changing.

There is also the simple matter of recruitment. Many top office holders in a city, including the director of economic development and, to a lesser extent, the school superintendent, serve at the whim of the mayor. Would talented individuals want to put themselves in the position of taking a job they might be able to keep for only two years? Probably not.

Recognizing all of this, many cities in the Bay State have lengthened the mayor’s term in office from two to four years. That list includes Boston, Lawrence, Lynn, Newton, Malden, Melrose, and others, and Springfield should join it, as soon as possible.

This ballot question isn’t about the current mayor, or who might be mayor in January 2012. Instead, it’s about all future mayors and giving them more of a chance to govern the city effectively. It’s about continuity and stability and time to get things done and done the right way.

Question 1 makes good sense for Springfield, and voters should give it their support.

OPINION

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Opinion
It’s Time for the State to Fund All Hospitals Equitably

There has been a great deal of national debate about health care lately. Here in Massachusetts, many of our hospitals are facing a crisis that is every bit as critical.

Holyoke Medical Center is one of the hospitals that is most affected.

Though Holyoke Medical Center, formerly Holyoke Hospital, has been a vital component in taking care of the region’s most needy patients ever since it opened in 1893, we are witnessing an unparalleled crisis in state funding. For many years millions of dollars in state funding have flowed to facilities such as Boston Medical Center because, like us, they take care of the poor. There is no doubt that they do. And there is also no doubt that, thanks to state funding, Boston Medical Center, a fellow nonprofit facility, finished fiscal year 2008 with a profit of nearly $55 million. During the same period, Holyoke Medical Center, which also treats tens of thousands of poor people each year, lost $951,000. Something is not right with the system.

There are 14 community hospitals in Massachusetts designated as ‘disproportionate-share hospitals,’ each of which serves a large population of the poor and medically needy. A hospital is designated as a disproportionate-share hospital if more than 63% of the care it provides is reimbursable by public payers — Medicaid, Medicare, and Commonwealth Care. It is not just the poor who are served by such hospitals, but also people at risk of being underserved due to age, culture, or disability, or who lack the resources, insurance, education, or ability to travel for care. These hospitals — including Holyoke Medical Center — serve the most needy and vulnerable populations in cities that are struggling to provide services. Others are located in rural areas with challenged economies like the Berkshires and Cape Cod.

Each year, Holyoke Medical Center treats more than 40,000 patients in its Emergency Department alone. Additional services extend its reach to hundreds of thousands of patients. But many of the patients who come to the ER seeking care cannot afford to pay. We’ve never turned anyone away based on their income level, nor would we. The fact that we take care of this population is just one reason we are essential to this community and to this state.

And all we ask is that we are compensated fairly for this invaluable service, on par with hospitals in the Boston area.

It’s quite likely you know someone, a friend or a family member, who works at Holyoke Medical Center. HMC and its affiliates employ more than 1,800 people, and as the largest non-public employer in Holyoke,we pump more than $300 million in direct and indirect spending back into the local economy each year.

Our nurses and other professionals deserve to be compensated on par with those in Boston. Our patients deserve access to the same state-of-the-art medical equipment that Boston patients can access because their hospitals are adequately reimbursed for caring for the poor. The issues facing our hospital are no less pressing than the issues facing Boston Medical Center or Cambridge.

Western Mass. patients deserve better. You deserve better.

There is a growing gap between critical health care dollars being spent in Boston and elsewhere in Massachusetts. Hospitals such as Holyoke Medical Center are severely underfunded, and if the budget shortfalls continue, then the caring that has gone on at this facility and others for generations will be in severe jeopardy.

Supporting our community safety-net hospitals is critical to the health and strength of the towns and cities that depend on them for jobs, to stimulate the economy, and to care for the residents of our communities, including those most in need. In the end, what we ask for is fair and equitable support to fulfill this mission.

Please express your concerns on this issue to the Commonwealth’s administration and legislators.

Hank Porten is president of Holyoke Medical Center.

Drawing Inspiration from the Past

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Opinion

History museums have many functions, from educating visitors to holding up a mirror to society. But mostly, they explain to us how things once were.

The new Museum of Springfield History does just that, but we hope that it can also inspire us with regard to the way things can be — again.

The new facility, which opened its doors this past weekend, is a real gem. It is a sparkling addition to the collection of museums and attractions at the Quadrangle, and it holds considerable promise as a drawing card for visitors from across the region and perhaps well beyond.

But the museum, with its collections of Indian Motocycles, two Rolls Royces built right here in Springfield, Gee-Bee airplanes (one real, one a replica), and countless other symbols of the region’s proud industrial past, can potentially do much more than be a mere tourist attraction.

Indeed, the displays on the walls and in the cases reflect a time when Springfield was thriving, when its streets were teeming with activity, when its factories were employing tens of thousands, and when the community was known across the country as a center of innovation.

It can be all of that again. At least, that’s what we hope visitors come away thinking.

There is much to inspire people at the new history museum, starting with the products that were once produced here. The list includes automobiles, motorcycles (or motocycles, as they were then called), trolley cars, guns (starting at the Springfield Armory and then at Smith & Wesson and other shops), wrenches, toys, and the first practical ice skate, among many others.

With each display of a product there is usually a corresponding photo of the plant at which it was produced. There’s Everett Barney’s ice-skate-making facility in Springfield’s South End, the massive Indian Motocycle plant in what is now Mason Square, and a complex of buildings along the river in the North End where trolley cars were made and shipped to every corner of the country.

But what might also inspire people are some of the other pictures on the walls. Two, for example, show a similar scene — the corner of Main and Bridge streets in Springfield — a quarter-century apart, 1916 and 1940.

They show changed styles in clothing and hats, dramatic evolution in both the automobile and the trolley, and brave police officers directing traffic from the middle of a busy intersection. But they show something else: sidewalks clogged with pedestrians, more women than men, making their way to and from a collection of fine department stores, theaters, restaurants, and other destinations.

If one didn’t know this was Springfield, they might have guessed it was a section of New York City.

It would easy to say that things can never again be the way they were in these photos, because that is the logical way of looking at the short- and long-term future not only in Springfield but in other former industrial centers.

The manufacturing sector in this region will likely never thrive as it did 100 or 200 years ago. Competition is now global, and it simply doesn’t make much economic sense to build large plants in the Northeast sector of the U.S. Meanwhile, retail remains sparse in the nation’s urban centers, having moved years or decades ago to suburban malls, located right off the highways, where parking is plentiful. Now, the sidewalks of Springfield are all but empty. Downtown just isn’t the place to be anymore.

We can’t turn back the clock and make Springfield and other area cities thrive as they did a century or more ago. But we can, and must, gain inspiration from the past and work to make Springfield and this region more like it was then.

Downtown in the City of Homes will never look like it did in 1916, but it can, once again, be a place for more people to live, work, and play. As for industry, well, the landscape won’t look like it did in those pictures, but this can once again be a center for innovation in everything from renewable energy to medical device making.

As we said, the new history museum will likely provide a real spark for the region’s tourism business. But it can, and hopefully will, do much more.

It could inspire progress for the future with a stunning look at the past.

OPINION

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Opinion
How We Can Fix Beacon Hill

In the past several months Massachusetts citizens have witnessed the indictment of their third consecutive speaker of the House, learned of decades of pension system abuse, observed numerous lobbying scandals, and watched a senator allegedly stuff a bribe into her bra. It doesn’t take much digging to discover that issues such as these are not unique to this legislative session, but are merely symptoms of the broader disease — the absence of deliberative, representative democracy in the Legislature.

How did it get this way? Sixty years of single-party domination has allowed a slow, steady, incremental accumulation of power within the office of the House speaker and Senate president. Today, these two people control all leadership and committee chair appointments, thereby controlling the extra pay these positions receive.

They also control all committee appointments, drafting of their chamber’s rules, the daily schedule, when (and if) bills come out of committee, and whether a bill ever sees a vote on the floor. When a bill does make it to the floor for a vote, it often happens within hours after it is reported out of committee.

As a result, no legislators, regardless of their work ethic or staff size, can possibly review what’s in the legislation upon which they are being asked to vote.

As if all this were not enough, the speaker and president control members’ office assignments, budgets and staff size, where members sit in the chamber, where they park, how much party PAC money they receive, and so on. If legislators do not ‘go along to get along,’ they find themselves, quite literally, in the basement, enduring the retribution that comes with failing to follow their chamber’s leader.

Over the past five decades there have been several attempts to change the way the Legislature operates, including the efforts of Gov. Dukakis and Rep. Barney Frank in the 1960s, and Rep. George Kevarian’s floor revolt in 1983 when Speaker Tom McGee was overthrown. These efforts had a minor impact for a short period. Ultimately, though, the Legislature writes its rules, waives them as it sees fit, and exempts itself from the laws that would make members act otherwise.

So how do we restore the Legislature to the deliberative, representative, democratic institution that the framers of the world’s oldest continuously functioning constitution intended?

Last month, a citizen-driven petition for a constitutional amendment was certified by the Massachusetts attorney general, and a gras-roots signature drive, organized by FixBeaconHill.com, is now underway.

The proposed amendment seeks to reform the Legislature by requiring the speaker of the House and Senate president to be elected by secret ballot, just as all legislators are elected by us; allowing the speaker and the Senate president to each appoint four leadership positions; requiring both bodies to elect, by secret ballot, a Committee on Committees, which serves to assign committee membership, establish rules for the chamber, establish a consistent formula for members’ budgets, and assign members’ offices; requiring all committees to elect their own chairman, keep minutes, record all votes, and make such records available to the public; precluding the Legislature from exempting itself from the Massachusetts Open Meeting Laws; and requiring the House and Senate to produce and publish line-item budgets for the operation of their respective chambers.

Too often, hardworking and committed lawmakers are unable to effect change because of the concentration of power at the top. This amendment would allow all 200 legislators to speak their minds in the best interest of their constituents and the entire Commonwealth, without fear of retribution.

Isn’t it time to fix Beacon Hill?

Chris McKeown is founder ofFixBeaconHill.com

Putting a Plug in the Brain Drain

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Opinion

It’s encouraging to see the state and this region taking such a keen interest in young people these days. Among the many other pressing matters at hand, elected officials and economic-development leaders have made the younger populations — and the challenge of keeping them within the confines of the Bay State — a top priority.

Which is good, because as we’ve said many times, they are one of the keys to the relative health and well-being of both Western Mass. and the state as a whole.

The focus on young people has manifested itself in a numbers of ways — from a video produced earlier this year to promote this region (it touts everything from the low cost of living to a high quality of life), to a new Web site— www.massitsallhere — that trumpets the Commonwealth and all it offers, to a series of forums designed to pick the brains of young people to find out what they like and don’t like about this state.

The first of these forums was staged in Springfield last week, and a small group of area young people turned out to listen and offer some feedback.

All this, as we said, is well and good, but the efforts to date seem to be focusing almost exclusively on marketing — putting a good face on both this region and state and reminding everyone of all the good things we have in Massachusetts, from fine colleges and culture to mountains and the seashore, separated by only a few hours.

Marketing is important, but from our perspective, the way to plug or at least control the brain drain in this state comes down to one simple thing: jobs.

It’s a fact that people don’t stay where they grew up like they did a generation or two ago, but the reason for this isn’t necessarily the cost of living or the quality of life (although those certainly play a role), Rather, it comes down mostly to job opportunities.

People don’t flock to North Carolina for the weather or the school systems or the golf courses or the beaches or the health care facilities. They go there because that’s currently where the jobs are. People aren’t leaving places like Boston or Buffalo, or many other older industrial cities (yes, like Springfield and Holyoke) because they don’t like it there. They’re leaving because there are fewer opportunities.

This is the message that people in government and economic development need to hear, and they’re not going to hear it from people who have decided to stay. That’s why they need to talk to the people who are leaving, as well.

And they need to borrow a page or two from the script followed by North Carolina and other states that are seeing their populations increase, not decrease. They need to find ways to make this state and this region more business-friendly and create more opportunities.

There are some opportunities in several fields, from health care to the biosciences, from education to sustainable energy, but simply not enough of them, and not across the broad spectrum of education and training levels.

The proposed high-performance computer center, a decision on which is due from state and Holyoke officials in a few weeks, is an example of the type of job-creation work that the state needs to see more of in the years to come if it is keep more of its vital resource — young talent — within the Commonwealth.

In the final analysis, marketing is good, and it’s no doubt a necessary part of this equation, but marketing won’t keep young people here or attract them to the Bay State from other regions.

Only good, solid job opportunities can do that.

OPINION

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Opinion
A Step to Manage Health Costs

Massachusetts’ managed care organizations lead the nation in quality of care and consumer satisfaction. So it is no surprise that the percentage of people in the Commonwealth’s private health insurance market who use managed care is the highest in the nation.

But 325,000 of the 750,000 Massachusetts residents receiving full benefits under the federal Medicaid program are not enrolled in managed care plans. These individuals are enrolled in a fee-for-service plan, called the Primary Care Clinician plan. Moving enrollees from the Primary Care Clinician plan into managed care plans would achieve two important outcomes: improve their care and, according to three recent studies, save the Commonwealth anywhere from $600 million to $1 billion over five years, easing the fiscal pressures of paying for health care reform.

Medicaid will cost the Commonwealth $8.6 billion this year, and the costs are increasing much faster than either economic or overall budget growth. Between 2001 and 2006, costs grew at an average of 8 percent annually. The result was that 35 cents of every new tax dollar went to pay for Medicaid. Clearly, the status quo is unsustainable.

With a deep recession making new revenue a pipe dream, Massachusetts faces a clear choice. We must either find a way to make Medicaid more efficient, or choose from among a slate of unappealing options like eliminating coverage for some, limiting services or cutting provider reimbursements.

Under the Commonwealth’s landmark 2006 health care reform law, almost 240,000 formerly uninsured residents have signed up for state-subsidized health insurance, either through Medicaid or the Commonwealth Care program. Finding a way to pay for that coverage makes the need to improve the efficiency of Medicaid service delivery even more urgent.

Managed care provides efficient, high-quality care by aligning financial incentives with clinical outcomes. It combines prevention and wellness services with programs to help individuals address specific conditions like obesity, diabetes, asthma and smoking that drive up health care costs. Patient outcomes are carefully tracked.

Massachusetts organizations have proven adept at combining access to quality care and cost control. Their quality outcomes are among the best in the nation as measured by prevention data, patient satisfaction and outcomes. In 2007 and 2008, Fallon Community Health Plan was rated the country’s top Medicaid health plan by the National Committee for Quality Assurance.

Despite high quality and the overall acceptance of managed care, Massachusetts has lower managed care penetration among Medicaid recipients than most other states do.

Eliminating the Medicaid PCC plan would yield an additional $40 million in savings over two years by foregoing the cost of infrastructure and program enhancements needed to bring the plan up to par with existing managed care programs. It suffers from limited accountability and lacks a reliable mechanism for ensuring coordination among various providers. It also would appear to support the efforts of the Commonwealth’s Payment Reform Commission to move away from fee-for-service reimbursement arrangements.

Savings wouldn’t come at the cost of patient care, as the Commonwealth’s Medicaid Managed Care providers consistently outperform the fee for service plan on many quality of care measures.

Massachusetts’ goal of universal coverage requires that we maximize the efficiency of services offered under Medicaid. Dismantling the Commonwealth’s fee-for-service Primary Care Clinician plan and moving all recipients of full Medicaid benefits to a managed care model would do just that. Even more importantly, it would improve the quality of care for some of our most vulnerable citizens.

Eric Schultz is president and chief executive officer of Fallon Community Health Plan. Jim Stergios is executive director of Pioneer Institute.

Making Things Happen in the ‘Green’ Industry

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Opinion

It was Kermit the Frog who immortalized the words “it’s not easy bein’ green.”

There are some entrepreneurs who can relate, and perhaps alter the lyrics slightly and offer that it’s not that easy being in the ‘green’ business world.

There are opportunities in that sector, certainly, but, as the stories in this issue’s focus on green energy will attest, there are some serious challenges as well. Many are common to those in practically every business sector — such as the hurdles being faced by George Huber as he attempts to raise capital and complete the other steps necessary to take what looks like a dramatic breakthrough — a development some call ‘grassoline’ — from the laboratory to the marketplace (see story, page 21).

But there are other challenges that would have to be considered unique, or at least unique to this sector. Specifically, there’s the inconsistent nature of this broad industry and the nagging reality that, while people often want to do the right thing when it comes to their carbon footprint, they often need to have some real incentive. For some businesses and instituitions, such as colleges and universities, public relations is enough of an incentive. But for most, it comes down to dollars and cents.

Consider the case of Justin Carven, the young entrepreneur who has made the term Greasecar a household name — sort of. Actually, it’s a household name among those who read Car & Driver and the New York Times. These are just a few of the dozens of regional and national publications that have chronicled his success in developing technology that will enable diesel-powered vehicles to also operate on common kitchen grease — hence the name.

The technology works extremely well, but that’s not the big concern anymore. At issue is the nerve-wracking manner in which consumers respond to the technology. In short, when diesel prices go through the roof, Carven can’t keep up with orders. When they fall or stabilize, he’s challenged to keep his people busy. Such fluctuations make it nearly impossible to plan long-term or even short-term and to even remotely gauge cash flow.

This would be enough to drive any business owner crazy, and Carven is at that juncture.

Consider also the plight of solar-array installers and others in this sector. Given all the attention solar is getting, the economic advantages, and the growing tendency to ‘go green,’ one could say that these business owners are in the right place at the right time.

But for some, it’s taken many years to get to this point, because it’s taken awhile for many individuals and businesses to warm to the notion of solar power. And now that more of them have, the economy has softened to the point where interest is cooling off, making the ‘right time’ portion of this equation a moving target.

But it appears that it will come, and perhaps quite soon. As for Carven, well, he recognizes that such wild swings on the ledger sheet can’t continue. The good months and years have been really good, but the inability to know if and when they will come again has prompted Carven to revisit his business plan with the goal of fine-tuning it to gain much-needed measures of consistency and control over his own destiny.

In the end, there appear to be better days ahead for those in this sector, and some very good days for this region and the country if ‘grassoline’ and the so-called Q microbe, being developed by another area firm called Qteros, become reality.

It may not be easy to thrive in the green sector, but we’re certainly happy that dozens of entrepreneurs are persevering. Their determination is not simply creating jobs and the potential for many more of them, but it is fueling the imagination of others — both literally and figuratively.

Practical Lessons from the Great Recession

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Opinion

With the possible exception of the bill-collection business, virtually every sector of the economy has been negatively impacted by the current recession. But perhaps none more than the hospitality industry, and especially the restaurant business.

It is a simple truth that, when money is tight, people (even current generations) will splurge less and stay home more. In reaction to this fact of life, area restaurateurs have responded with determination and imagination, necessary ingredients if one is to not merely survive but somehow thrive in these challenging times.

As outlined in a piece in BusinessWest’s annual Restaurant Guide (page 23), steps taken have been as varied as the items on a typical dinner menu; from reducing lighting and energy costs to expanding the menu with lower-priced items; from cutting down on printing costs to staying visible through aggressive, targeted marketing.

Restaurateurs typically run a tight ship — they have to because margins are so low to being with — but these days, that ship is much tighter.

The hospitality sector is certainly not alone in its creative, determined response to the softened economy and its ongoing implications, but its actions serve as strong testimony to the fact that, while this recession is in all ways painful, there are practical lessons to be learned from it, and ones that could help this region become more competitive in the long run.

The biggest lesson, clearly, is that companies shouldn’t wait until the storm is upon them to look at their operations and devise ways for them to run more efficiently and creatively. This mentality should prevail 24/7/365, regardless of what’s happening with the economy.

But as everyone knows, reality is different. Companies — and the people who manage them — tend to become complacent when times are better. They’re less concerned with how long the air conditioning is on and what the thermostat reads when people go home for the night. They’re not as likely, perhaps, to market themselves aggressively and remain visible because they believe the business will find them. And they’re not as willing to look at a department or a division and wonder whether it is properly staffed and if the same amount of work can be done with fewer people.

It is when times are tough that people turn over every rock in search of ways to cut expenses and increase revenues. As one restaurateur put it, this is the time for everyone in an operation to “think like an owner.”

He’s right, of course, but the time for such thinking, for such a mindset, is all the time.

And if area business owners and managers can learn this lesson, then maybe there will be something actually gained from what’s being called the Great Recession.

Indeed, newspapers and business magazines often run collections of stories on businesses large and small surviving a recession. They are replete with tales of business leaders being daring and entrepreneurial as they blueprint ways to do what they do better, to reach new audiences, and cultivate new groups of customers.

Add it all up, and it seems that people in business do their best, most creative, thinking when their backs are up against the wall and their survival is quite possibly at stake.

What we hope people take away from these troubling times is that they don’t have to wait until trouble strikes to be entrepreneurial or to really think like an owner. If they act in such a manner during all economic seasons, then this region will have better, stronger small businesses and, overall, a much more resilient economic base.

OPINION

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Opinion
Casino Jobs Aren’t Enough

Last year, House opposition stopped Gov. Patrick’s proposal to build three resort casinos in Massachusetts. With a worsening fiscal crisis and Speaker Robert DeLeo taking a more casino-friendly stance than his predecessor, the issue is sure to reemerge this fall.

Proponents argue that casinos will add new tax revenue and much-needed jobs — a Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce study estimates that three resort casinos would add between 10,000 and 11,500 temporary construction jobs and 17,000 to 21,000 permanent jobs. Opponents cite the societal costs associated with gambling.

Our organizations haven’t taken a position on casinos. But we believe the much bigger issue is that, while the country added about 25 million jobs over the last two decades, the number of jobs in Massachusetts stayed the same.

Flat job growth is not a strategy for long-term success. Skilled workers have made Massachusetts a leading destination for high-paying jobs. But focusing only on high-end employment is a recipe for disaster, creating a society of haves and have-nots. Broader job growth creates social mobility, encourages affordability, and enhances the region’s ability to attract the best talent.

Creating a level playing field should be the foundation of an overall vision for long-term job growth. It begins with streamlining the process for starting a business. Massachusetts must be a destination that holds opportunity for new immigrants and other start-up entrepreneurs, not just the established and affluent. And while Massachusetts will never be inexpensive, costs matter, and there is much that can be done to reduce them.

A 2006 study prepared by Global Insight for Pioneer Institute found that the cost of land was the source of the state’s high residential and commercial rents, wages, and overall cost of living. The problem often stems from rigid local zoning ordinances that discourage development. In the midst of a deep recession, it’s easy to lose sight of problems such as the supply of affordable commercial space not keeping up with demand. But over time, this has been a main driver of rising costs, making each new job more expensive to create.

The cost of employer-provided health insurance continues to rise much faster than inflation. The Commonwealth’s 2006 health care reform law was a first step toward addressing the problem. It has successfully expanded access to health insurance, but a laser-like focus on cost containment will be necessary if it is ultimately to succeed.

Massachusetts’ cost of electricity, one of the highest in the nation, is also hindering economic growth. With the state’s reliance on expensive fuels to generate power, escalating costs to replace an aging infrastructure, and the willingness to constantly add surcharges to customer bills to fund unproven renewable technologies and other costly experimental programs, further double-digit rate increases are certain.

Massachusetts employers also pay more than $1.5 billion annually in unemployment insurance taxes — double the national average on a per-employee basis. The taxes support a system that offers the richest benefits in the country, and one in which it’s easier to qualify for benefits and recipients can collect for longer than in other states.

With people hurting across the state, this isn’t the time to cut unemployment benefits. But a set of reforms proposed last year by Associated Industries of Massachusetts would have saved $366 million without slashing benefits.

Today, businesses in seasonal industries like construction and tourism routinely lay off the same employees every year, using unemployment benefits as kind of a payroll subsidy. Some small-business owners take advantage of this loophole by laying themselves off and collecting for part of each year. Charging those companies much higher unemployment insurance tax rates would provide a disincentive for bad behavior and lighten the load for companies that aren’t abusing the system.

Whether to build casinos in Massachusetts is an issue that merits spirited debate. But casinos alone aren’t nearly enough to make up for the Commonwealth’s failure to grow jobs. Regardless of how the casino debate turns out, state policymakers should spend far more time and effort on reforms that will spur substantial long-term job growth.

Rick Lord is president and CEO of Associated Industries of Massachusetts. Jim Stergios is executive director of Pioneer Institute.

Community Colleges Need Real Stimulus

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Opinion

Since President Obama put his American Graduation Initiative — a plan to pump $12 billion into the nation’s community colleges over the next decade — on the table, regional and national commentators have hailed the plan as a giant step forward for these important institutions.

Obama has been hailed as a visionary and a president who gets it when it comes to the importance of community colleges in the broad realm of economic development. Meanwhile, the initiative, with grant funds tied to performance — specifically with regard to graduation rates — is seen as a means to get community colleges focused on results rather than mere enrollment numbers.

That’s what the plan looks like from afar. But when one gets a little closer, it becomes clear that maybe this initiative, usually accompanied by the adjective ‘bold,’ doesn’t really deserve such a descriptor. The money certainly won’t hurt — every little bit helps at this time of severe state budget cutbacks — but it is a far cry from what these schools really need to handle the huge assignment they’ve been given: to play a large role in training the next generation of workers for emerging new business sectors.

What the Obama initiative does — quite effectively, we believe — is at least open a dialogue on community colleges, shed light on some of their unique challenges, and stimulate debate on just what can be done to effectively support these institutions moving forward.

Historically, community colleges, which have been part of the American landscape for just over a century now, have lacked state and federal support, with rare exceptions such as the original GI Bill, passed just after World War II. Perhaps the reasons for this are the role played by the colleges and the constituencies they serve.

In short, community colleges provide education for those who have few, if any, other options for obtaining a degree. They cater to mostly non-traditional students, older individuals who are balancing school, work, and family obligations. Many of these people are the first in their families to go beyond high school.

This is not what elected leaders envision when they think of ‘college,’ and perhaps that’s why community colleges have traditionally been underfunded by state and local governments, at least when compared to four-year schools. But enrollment at the nation’s community colleges is soaring, in part because of changing demographics — new waves of immigrants coming to this country — and also because of the economy and the need that many have to improve their job skills to re-enter the workforce.

This surge in enrollment, however, is juxtaposed against dramatic budget turmoil at the state level, especially here in Massachusetts, where cuts have led to budget reductions of 14% or more at area community colleges.

Which brings us to Obama’s American Graduation Initiative. It represents a dramatic increase in federal support for community colleges — 60% if averaged out over the next decade — but to say there are strings attached to the money is a huge understatement.

Indeed, most of that $12 million will be apportioned on the basis of grant applications that link money with graduation-rate performance. While this sounds admirable, it will likely coerce schools into lowering graduations standards, toughening entrance requirements, or both. The often-criticized, deeply misunderstood graduation rates may in fact climb, but at the likely expense of accessibility to higher education — which is what community colleges are all about.

While these schools will applaud Obama’s actions and gladly pursue the money, they should also press for more substantial, more meaningful, and more consistent federal support of community colleges. That’s what they really need and truly deserve.

OPINION

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Opinion
Retooling the Medicare/Medicaid Model

National health reform is on a fast track. And most proposals draw heavily on the experiment in Massachusetts, which has led to a phenomenal coverage success. But there is a lesser-known innovation in Massachusetts that may offer greater lessons to our nation in improving health and lowering cost. It is called Senior Care Options, and it targets a population largely ignored by health reform — seniors. To understand its novelty, a quick review of Medicare and Medicaid is instructive.

Both public programs are overseen through one federal agency, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Medicare is administered by the federal government and provides health insurance to seniors 65 and older. Medicaid is funded by the states and the federal government, but administered by individual states. It provides insurance to low-income families, disabled individuals, and seniors. Families represent three-quarters of Medicaid’s enrollment, but only 30% of the costs. Seniors account for much of the rest.

A child on Medicaid costs $1,700 per year. A senior in a nursing home costs $70,000. Herein lies an irony. Medicare was created to provide care for seniors. But that care is putting the greatest pressure on state Medicaid budgets. Why? Medicare does not pay for most long-term care services — the most expensive care for this population. And since most seniors cannot afford long-term care, once they become frail they ‘spend down’ their assets (or previously transferred them to their children) to qualify for Medicaid.

In order to deal with this growing burden, states are investing in innovative community supports and services — like home health and personal-care services — to keep seniors out of nursing homes. To do this well, a state must effectively manage the entire care for this population. But for the 9 million nationally who are on both Medicaid and Medicare, it is almost impossible to do so. This is because each program operates in its own silo with different rules, providers, and services, resulting in enormous fragmentation and added cost. And this cost is significant. Seniors in this circumstance — so-called ‘dual-eligibles’ — account for more than $200 billion in spending per year.

Enter Senior Care Options. Massa-chusetts and CMS entered into a novel experiment in 2004. For dual-eligible seniors, Medicare and Medicaid both provide funding to Senior Care Options organizations, which are responsible for managing all care. The organizations provide care that best meets the needs of individuals without separate funding sources and rules to fragment care. Care is fully coordinated, and patients and their families are actively involved in decisions about their health.

The program has had impressive results. Enrollment in this state now tops 11,000 and has increased each year. (Senior Care Options is not available in all regions of the state, and as a voluntary program does not cover all those eligible.) One recent survey found that customer satisfaction was generally very high. Another showed that those in these organizations entered nursing homes at a rate that was 25% lower than those not in the program.

Senior Care Options teaches that seamless coordination of care is critical to success. Yet, the arcane design of Medicaid and Medicare presents major obstacles. As a result, very few other states have successfully replicated this model, and the care for most dual-eligibles remains largely unintegrated.

As Congress considers a new public plan, shouldn’t we better align the public plans that already exist? The Obama administration can reorganize CMS so that it focuses as much on the unique needs of populations as it does on the rules of payment. CMS should create a program integration unit devoted exclusively to breaking down silos between the two programs and working with states to eliminate barriers to seamless care for dual-eligibles. Doing so will go a long way to reducing costs — and free up resources for more far-reaching reform.

Douglas S. Brown is senior vice president and general counsel of UMass Memorial Health Care in Worcester and a former state Medicaid director.

OPINION

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Opinion
Transportation Reform in Place, but Not Over

When Gov. Patrick recently signed the transportation bill into law, it marked a major step forward in a long and arduous process the Senate began last November. At that time, we wrote about the need for reform before revenue in transportation.

We outlined a series of changes we felt were badly needed, and we are proud that the final legislation we enacted specifically addresses those changes. Rather than simply talking about reform while waiting for others to act, the Senate worked swiftly, diligently, and collaboratively to arrive at this moment.

The new law stands as an example of what can be done when we put individual differences aside and work together to create real and lasting change.

In November, we discussed the need to consolidate the various transportation agencies into a new, unified surface-transportation agency to eliminate waste and duplication.

The new law accomplishes that by establishing the Mass. Department of Transportation. We urged the swift dismantling of the Mass. Turnpike Authority, another goal achieved.

MassDOT will operate on the same accounting systems and fiscal year as the state to create a level of consistency and transparency that was missing under the Turnpike Authority. It will also assume all remaining debt from the Big Dig and be able to engage in public-private partnerships to help fund investments in our transportation systems.

This transportation overhaul was not easy, and required a great deal of diligence and effort. Every decision required our full attention. There were legal and constitutional considerations along the way. And we made it our priority to seek input from stakeholders in our transportation system — from the Legislature and administration to our transportation agencies. We also listened to the Transportation Finance Commission’s recommendations and, most importantly, to the needs and concerns of our constituents across the state.

Shortly after announcing our priorities in November for a cost-efficient, restructured transportation system, the Joint Committee on Transportation held a series of public hearings around the Commonwealth to discuss and study transportation reform and the financing of transportation services. We created a blog to gather input from citizens on transportation issues.

All the information we collected was critical to producing our final plan for a unified, surface transportation authority and taking that first major leap to reforming the delivery of transportation services in the Commonwealth.

Throughout the process, we held steadfast to our insistence on reform before revenue. We strongly opposed a proposal for a significant increase in the state’s gas tax of 19 cents per gallon that did not include any discussion about reform or consolidation. Rather than continuing to throw money into a broken system, we felt, as we do today, that a fundamental overhaul of our transportation services was the better approach.

Now, as we celebrate the passage of transportation reform, we also recognize there is more work to do. Texting while driving remains on the table, as does the issue of impaired driving at any age, both of which the Joint Committee on Transportation took up in recent hearings. We must continue to implement the lessons learned from the Big Dig, and ensure that we do not slide further and further into debt.

The Joint Committee on Transportation intends to hold oversight hearings to monitor the progress of the reforms as they are implemented. We began with the strong conviction of reform before revenue, and we have delivered. Now, we cannot allow our efforts to go to waste. v

Sen. Therese Murray is president of the Massachusetts Senate. Sen. Steven Baddour is chairman of the Joint Committee on Transportation.

OPINION

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Opinion
The Race for Clean-energy Innovation

On a recent congressional delegation to Hong Kong, I toured a factory that is developing a thin solar cell that can be put on windows to generate electricity from the sun with zero carbon emissions. I thought of 1366 Technologies, a company in Lexington that is also racing to get advanced solar technologies to market.

It may seem like your typical competition between two companies, but this race is about much more than the solar market. It is about the race for trillions of dollars in clean-energy investments. As President Obama says, “the nation that leads in 21st-century clean energy is the nation that will lead the 21st-century global economy.”

And if we win the race, it could bring 150,000 new jobs and billions of dollars to Massachusetts.

American companies would get an edge with passage of the Waxman-Markey bill, the most sweeping energy legislation Congress has considered in a generation. The plan would end America’s dangerous dependence on foreign oil; increase the amount of clean energy we produce; make our buildings, homes, cars, and trucks more efficient; and cut the harmful carbon pollution causing global warming.

The bill requires that 20% of our electricity in 2020 come from clean-energy sources like solar or wind, or from energy efficiency. It establishes ‘clean-energy innovation hubs’ around the country to help researchers and inventors move their ideas from the lab to the market.

It also aims to reduce carbon emissions from major U.S. sources 83% by 2050 compared with 2005 levels, and saves consumers money at the pump by investing $20 billion to retool America’s auto manufacturers to produce electric cars that don’t use any gasoline.

The Waxman-Markey bill would invest more than $190 billion in clean-energy technologies that will go to the companies, research institutions, and entrepreneurs smart enough, agile enough, and innovative enough to devise the next great clean-energy technology.

Many of these cutting-edge companies will be in Massachusetts.

The state has always led the way in innovation, but, like the rest of America, our technological dominance is threatened. Germany has emerged as the global photovoltaic market, even though Massachusetts has 30% better solar resources. Korea and Japan are leapfrogging America in battery and electric-vehicle technology, even though we pioneered invention of these technologies.

Today, only one-fourth of the world’s top renewable-energy companies are American-owned, because we have failed to put in place a set of policies to promote alternative energy sources. China is spending $12.6 million per hour on clean-energy development and is preparing to invest $440 billion to $660 billion this year in clean-energy development.

As I traveled around China, I saw countless examples of how Chinese investments in clean energy are bearing fruit, from the solar company in Hong Kong to electric-car factories in Tianjin. And I came back thinking that these jobs belong in Massachusetts.

There are signs of a clean-energy economic recovery sprouting over our region. There is American Superconductor in Devens, a company pioneering wind-turbine designs and working on new power-cable systems to connect sources of renewable energy to the rest of the country. Marlborough’s Evergreen Solar is on track to be manufacturing 160 megawatts of solar panels annually, and recently opened a larger factory. These are only two local examples of the next generation of American entrepreneurs who stand poised to capitalize on the clean-energy revolution.

The American economy and the American dream have succeeded because we refuse to be shackled to old technologies and business as usual, but instead always look for the newest idea or opportunity.

In Massachusetts, we have the brain power. We have the potential. What we need are the right policies to unleash this revolution. And with the Waxman-Markey bill, the next great revolution will come to New England, as we shape a new-energy destiny for the nation.

U.S. Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Malden) is chairman of twin climate and energy panels in the House.

OPINION

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Opinion
Addressing the Crisis in Math and Science

The U.S. owes a great debt to the makers of Sputnik 1. The Soviet Union’s 1957 launch of the world’s first earth-orbiting man-made satellite challenged our national self-image of leadership in mathematics and science. Within a year, Congress passed the National Defense Education Act, and by the time Apollo 11 landed the first humans on the moon in July 1969, American mathematics, science, and technology were the envy of the world.

Our nation’s leadership in mathematics and science is once again at risk, and a new congressional act of similar scope is needed. According to the recent National Mathematics Advisory Panel report, “American students have not been succeeding in the mathematical part of their education at anything like a level expected of an international leader.”

Changing this will take teachers with a dedication to math and science — and the knowledge to match. But the data suggest that we are in a feedback loop, with today’s ill-prepared students becoming tomorrow’s teachers. This week’s announcement that nearly three-quarters of aspiring elementary school teachers failed the math section of the state’s licensing exam is the latest example.

Last June, the National Council of Teacher Quality, a nonpartisan research and advocacy group, reported that the average 2007 mathematics SAT score of high-school seniors planning to major in education in college was 32 points below the national average for all college-bound students. And colleges themselves are too often not helping. The council surveyed 77 education schools, and it rated 37 of them as “fail on all measures” in preparing elementary teachers to teach math. The situation in science is no better — a 2007 report of the National Academies described the scientific knowledge of K-8 teachers as “limited” and “often quite thin.” Since teacher knowledge significantly affects student learning, this should give us pause.

The nation is not producing enough well-qualified teachers of math and science. And too many of the ones it does produce are leaving the classroom after a few years. We cannot continue to lead in math and science without substantial and immediate changes nationwide.

To break the feedback loop, we need a new Mathematics and Science Education Act. Its principle points should include:

  • Financial incentives to attract mathematically and scientifically able students to become teachers. It should provide low-interest college loans for top math and science students who want to become teachers, with debt forgiveness for those who remain teachers for a certain period of time.
  • A focus at colleges and universities on developing math and science content knowledge along with teaching skills. We must ensure that new teachers know these subjects thoroughly — the why, not just the what. This will require new classes, taught by mathematicians and scientists, who must take greater responsibility for preparing the next generation of teachers.
  • Professional expectations and opportunities for teachers. We need to re-envision teaching as a profession with a ladder of steps, progressing from novice to expert. Teachers should be subject to rigorous licensing requirements and periodic recertification. They should also be offered opportunities for substantial professional development leading to additional intellectual engagement with their subject areas. In particular, teachers in mathematics and science must be offered a regular sabbatical so that they can stay up to date and add to their knowledge with college or graduate-level disciplinary courses. And we must pay for those courses.
  • Increased salaries for mathematics and science teachers. The law of supply and demand cannot be avoided. We need this expertise, and we should be willing to pay for it.

    • The implementation of such an act will require a good deal of effort and is likely to trigger some controversy. But its long-term impact and benefits would far outweigh any growing pains.

    Sputnik included a radio beacon audible every 96 minutes. It became a clarion call to change. If only we could hear it now.

    Solomon Friedberg is a professor and chairman of the Mathematics Department at Boston College. He is a member of the Mass. Board of Education’s Math-Science Advisory Council and an editor of the book series Issues in Mathematics Education.

    Springfield’s Priority: Attracting Private Investment

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    Opinion
    Springfield’s Priority: Attracting Private Investment

    Springfield has a new director of economic development. John Judge, a real-estate developer in Boston and former director of Habitat for Humanity of Greater Boston, was introduced last week, and he’ll be on the job full-time in a matter of weeks.

    Judge will have a number of challenges to meet and priorities to address — from finding a new use for the York Street Jail site to following the script laid by the authors of the Urban Land Institute report; from filling the former federal building to infusing some life downtown.

    Perhaps the broader challenge, though, and one that touches on all the others, is the need to generate private investment in Springfield. We’ve said on many occasions that the city, and the region to a lesser extent, is becoming far too dependent on public investment for economic development, and that there must be greater balance if the city is to achieve significant growth and vibrancy.

    If one were to look around, it would become quickly apparent just how much public-sector investment has taken place in the city: the MassMutual Center, the new federal courthouse, the infrastructure work on State Street, and more has all been funded with federal or state dollars, or both.

    On the horizon are a backup data center, to be built at the site of the former Technical High School on Elliott Street (a state project), and the long-stalled revitalization of Union Station — there is a revised plan being shaped called ‘Union Station 2’ — that is predominantly a federal project. And now, all eyes are on federal stimulus dollars and projects that can be funded with them, which is understandable.

    It would be fair to say that Congressman Richard Neal has been more active in economic development in Springfield — he won money for the courthouse, Union Station, and State Street, and pushed hard for the data center to be placed at Tech — than any other party.

    And in the larger scheme of things, this isn’t good for the City of Homes, which, historically, has prospered not through government-backed jobs projects, but entrepreneurial ventures ranging from MassMutual to Smith & Wesson.

    The various public projects described above were undertaken with the intention of spurring private investment. The term people use when they seek such funds is that they can ‘leverage’ private projects. Thus far, there hasn’t been too much leveraging going on — in the area near the MassMutual Center, on State Street (although there is some promise there, certainly), or anywhere else.

    There have been pockets of private-sector development — the riverfront and the broader Columbus Avenue corridor, for example, as well as Baystate Health’s new ‘Hospital of the Future,’ which has been delayed by the downturn in the economy — but there obviously needs to be more.

    How can it be generated?

    This will be Judge’s main assignment, and he won’t be alone in that challenge. Indeed, there are many other communities in this region and across the state that are trying to catch the attention of the development community. How does Springfield prevail with such vast competition?

    It can start with more-aggressive marketing designed to introduce or re-introduce the city to developers and business owners. There has been some, but certainly not enough, and nothing on a consistent basis.

    Meanwhile, there should be a renewed emphasis on small businesses and stimulating more entrepreneurial opportunities. Economic development isn’t just about big, high-profile projects like the jail site or Court Square or Chapman Valve. It’s also about long-neglected blocks off Main and Dwight streets and trying to bring them back one by one.

    And perhaps another place to begin is with the arts. Other older industrial cities, such as Pittsfield and Lowell, have made artists and the small businesses that support them a key component of economic development.

    Judge will have a long, detailed job description to go along with his new position. At the top of that list should be spurring private-sector development, because it will be the key to growth and prosperity down the road.

    OPINION

    By
    Opinion
    Why Manufacturing Still Matters

    On May 13, ‘Manufacturing Day in Holyoke,’ the Greater Holyoke Chamber of Commerce, the mayor’s Industrial Advisory Committee, and Associated Industries of Massachusetts recognized nine local manufacturers, each more than 100 years old. This celebration is a reminder that manufacturing remains a pillar of our economy and a vital step on the ladder of social mobility.

    Manufacturing does matter — for Holyoke, for Massachusetts, and for the nation. Manufacturing is evolving, and despite fierce competition both domestically and abroad (and often a lack of appreciation by government at all levels), the state’s manufacturing sector is competitive, and in some sectors growing.

    The Mass. Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MassMEP) notes that Census Bureau figures reveal a startling change: for the first time in the state’s history, small manufacturing enterprises (SMEs) are employing more people than the larger firms of more than 500 employees. In 2002, manufacturing establishments operated by companies employing 500 or more had 167,433 employees in Massachusetts, while SMEs employed 162,917; by 2006, employment by larger manufacturers declined 24% to 127,364, while employment by SMEs declined by less than 10% to 147,816.

    The numbers of establishments tell the same story: large employers declined from 738 in 2002 to 624 in 2006, but SMEs remained steady at just under 7,000. As a recent report from Northeastern University, Staying Power: The Future of Manufacturing in Massachusetts, notes, “it is remarkable, given the situation facing manufacturing across the U.S., that Massachusetts still sustains a manufacturing base that employs nearly 300,000 people.”

    So much has public opinion lost sight of the contributions made by manufacturers, however, that few in government, education, or the population at large are aware that the manufacturing sector is the largest contributor to the Massachusetts Gross State Product (GSP). As the financial-services bubble deflates, we should understand that making products produces real wealth, and recognize that we still manufacture many things in the Bay State.

    In 2007, the manufacturing sector in Massachusetts contributed $42 billion to the GSP (13.7%), as compared to real estate, rental, leasing ($40 billion), professional and technical services ($35 billion), finance and insurance ($34 billion), and health care and services ($25 billion).

    Manufacturing, moreover, has a large multiplier effect, creating economic activity and jobs in other segments of the economy. Without manufacturing, the Massachusetts economy would be about 40% smaller, we would all be poorer, and many of us would be out of jobs — or out of the state.

    We all know about the problems of the automobile industry, and the current economic downturn has hit most industries hard, but some manufacturing sectors are actually growing in Massachusetts, including pharmaceuticals with 2008 gross sales of $5.9 billion, navigation measuring and control instruments at $8.8 billion, and medical equipment and supplies at $3.6 billion. And since 2001, there has been growth in several other sectors, including food manufacturing, beverages, plastics, and machinery.

    Massachusetts SMEs have remained vibrant and competitive although our state ranks in the bottom 10 in perceived economic climate, according to the Gallup Poll, and fourth-worst in cost of doing business, in the Milken Institute’s index.

    Some of our economic disadvantages are natural; many are self-imposed. To put Massachusetts in a position to generate new jobs when the current recession abates, lawmakers should review every single Massachusetts-only cost of doing business, law, or regulation. They should focus on advancing not only new industries and emerging technologies, but established ones as well. And they should shape policy to encourage graduation from research and development to full-scale manufacturing here in our state. Such an agenda will help ensure the Commonwealth’s economic future for all of our residents.

    Meanwhile, let’s tip our hats and congratulate the nine Holyoke manufacturers who have made it in Massachusetts for more than 100 years! v

    John Regan is executive vice president of government affairs at Associated Industries of Massachusetts, an employer association of 6,500 Bay State employers. Doris Ransford is president of the Greater Holyoke Chamber of Commerce.

    BusinessWest at 25: a Progress Report

    By
    Opinion

    If you look carefully, you’ll notice that some things are different in this issue of BusinessWest. There is a subtle new look that we believe is a little cleaner, more modern, and easier to read.

    These minor changes come as BusinessWest marks 25 years of serving the business community in Western Mass., and represent about the only thing we’re doing to mark the occasion, other than to restate our mission and stress our commitment to honoring it.

    This publication was started as the Western Mass. Business Journal, and first arrived at area businesses in May 1984, when the world — and the Pioneer Valley — were much different places. Now, as then, the magazine’s purpose is to hold up a mirror to the region and especially the business community, write about the reflection in that mirror, and comment on what it all means.

    It’s been a challenging, yet enjoyable and rewarding assignment, one that has changed in some respects, but is still very much a constant.

    First, let’s look at what hasn’t changed. For more than 300 years now, and especially the past quarter-century, the region’s business community has been a force in constant motion. People, names, products, technology, issues, needs, and desires are always changing and seemingly moving. It has always been our mission to capture this motion, describe it in great detail, and examine its significance. And we think we’ve done that pretty well.

    Since this motion is constant, as we said, that aspect of our mission won’t change. But what has changed, and what will continue to evolve, is BusinessWest’s role in how this movement takes place. Where once we were content to merely observe and report, the magazine has become increasingly involved in shaping response to change and the issues of the day.

    How? By becoming more involved with groups such as area chambers of commerce, the Young Professionals Society of Greater Springfield, area colleges and universities, and agencies like the Regional Employment Board and the Tourism and Convention Bureau to inform, educate, and perhaps inspire progress.

    The word you’re hearing more often with regard to BusinessWest is ‘partner,’ and you’ll be hearing it much more in the months and years to come.

    We want to partner with those aforementioned groups and many others to make this region’s business community stronger, more diverse, and, ultimately, more competitive. We don’t want to sit and hope that the region and its capital, Springfield, become more vibrant; we want to help make that happen.

    We won’t do this only by reporting the good news, but also by partnering in efforts to promote the region, its businesses, and the people who make those businesses run. If we’re successful, then perhaps there will be more good news to report.

    As BusinessWest turns 25, those of us who bring it to you every two weeks want to say thank you for supporting our efforts, but more importantly, we want to thank you for inspiring us to reach higher, do what we do better, and create more of those partnerships mentioned earlier.

    Such collaborative efforts are necessary; these are exceedingly challenging times, and our region is facing a number of hurdles to achieving desired progress — from closing the skills gap in employment to keeping talented, young individuals from leaving this market; from reducing poverty in many area cities to identifying new sources of jobs for future generations of area generations — and no one group or individual can tackle them alone..

    The magazine you’re reading now doesn’t look anything like the one that first debuted in 1984. We’ve come a long way in 25 years, but there’s still a lot of work to do. We’ll hold the celebration and get right to it.

    —Kate Campiti, Associate Publisher and Advertising Director

    OPINION

    By
    Opinion
    JA: It’s Not Just About Building Birdhouses

    Junior Achievement has changed over the years, but the mission is as vital today as it was in 1919.

    A report from the Mass. Business Alliance for Education, released in October 2008, noted, “students in the 21st century must master skills that include: global awareness; financial, economic, business and entrepreneurial literacy; civic literacy … creativity and innovation; critical thinking and problem-solving; communication; and collaboration skills.” JA provides skills to our young people through the financial and volunteer support of local businesses.

    Nearly one in every four children in Springfield Public Schools is involved in JA this year, but there are more children who need the JA experience, and you can help by investing in JA. It’s good business.

    In 1919, JA’s founders wanted to teach children between the ages 8 and 12 about this country’s economic way of life and give them the skills to succeed in an economy that was changing from an agrarian base to a manufacturing base.

    The students were organized into clubs that had adult leaders and operated like a business. With the adults overseeing the program, the students developed an enterprise, made articles for sale, and learned how to operate their own company. The clubs were supported financially by local businesses. In the mid-1920s, the Junior Achievement Training Institute was built on the grounds of the Eastern States Exposition, where Achievement Hall still stands today.

    For nearly eight decades, JA remained an after-school program, where groups of high-school students, mentored by adult volunteers, formed a company, sold stock, made a product, and sold it with the goal of returning a profit to the shareholders. For more than 400,000 people in Western Mass., JA brings back fond memories of making birdhouses, aprons, wire hangers, hair products, or electrical gadgets.

    Today, 90 years later, JA is part of a worldwide organization where more than 3 million volunteers serve 9.2 million students in 137 JA areas in the U.S. and in 97 other countries. Despite the tremendous growth, JA remains true to its mission “to prepare and inspire young people to succeed in a global economy.” However, while our mission is the same, our approach to providing economic and entrepreneurial education has changed.

    Junior Achievement offers a wide variety of programs for students in grades K-12 that focus on business, citizenship, economics, entrepreneurship, ethics/character, financial literacy, and career exploration. The three pillars of JA’s foundation continue to be financial literacy, workforce readiness, and entrepreneurship.

    Junior Achievement has continued to grow over the years because it delivers relevant programs and, like business, adapts to the needs of the community.

    Today, JA programs are still delivered by local volunteers. The programs are found in schools, after-school programs, community youth organizations, and summer programs. JA’s programs can take place in one-day or in a series of weekly classroom visits. The program and the delivery method depend on the needs of the school or organization. The age-appropriate, interactive JA activities are correlated to the state frameworks in mathematics, language arts, reading, social studies, economics, and civics, as well as to the Mass. Comprehensive Assessment System.

    Today, a Junior Achiever might be a first-grader who learned the difference between a need and a want; a fourth-grader who knows about human, natural, and capital resources; or a middle-grader who knows about budgeting, how to use credit wisely, and the importance of insurance. A Junior Achiever can also be a high-school student who has completed JA Success Skills and four hours of JA volunteer training and can be found teaching JA to students in grades K-3, learning first-hand the importance of teamwork, time management, communication skills, and service. –

    Jennifer Connelly is president of Junior Achievement of Western Mass.; (413) 747-7670.

    A Winning Strategy Needed for the Hoop Hall of Fame

    By
    Opinion

    It’s been an interesting couple of weeks for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, which has certainly seen better times, especially from a public-relations standpoint.

    First, there was the story in the local press revealing some dire financial straits and accounts of a letter sent to the hall’s trustees several weeks ago informing them that if things didn’t improve, and quickly, the shrine might be forced to sell its memorabilia, file for bankruptcy, or close the doors. Within that same story there were comments from the hall’s director, John Doleva, that things had already improved since that letter and that such dire consequences were not likely, but the news had been broken and the response locally was that the hall was in trouble — again, or still.

    There was then the expected follow-up comments from area tourism officials downplaying the grim forecasts and expressing hope, and confidence, for a strong summer season for the hall. But soon, there were calls from columnists to stage campaigns to seek donations from millionaire NBA players and former players to save the hall, and even letters sent by Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno to state and federal leaders seeking some kind of financial help — aid that Doleva says isn’t needed.

    Then there was some criticism in the media that hall officials had lost out on a golden opportunity to bring some badly needed attention to the shrine by refusing to move off a Sept. 11 date for the 2009 induction ceremonies — featuring a very strong class headlined by Michael Jordan — thus likely precluding a visit from President Obama, an avid basketball fan.

    Amid these somewhat conflicting reports, it’s hard to gauge just what kind of financial shape the hall is in, but what seems clear is that the facility needs for some good things to happen — soon and for the long haul. It needs to have a very strong summer to stabilize its financial picture and calm the doubters, who are many. Then, it must make the very most of the opportunity presented by the induction of Jordan this fall. He is, in many respects, still the face of the game of basketball, and when he comes to Springfield to be enshrined, the world will be watching.

    But the hall needs more than a strong finish to 2009. It needs some long-term stability that can only be gained from attaining a better, higher place in the region’s psyche. The hall has always been a part of the Pioneer Valley’s cultural and business scene, but it has never approached the level of recognition and importance achieved by the baseball and football halls of fame. In fact, in many circumstances people don’t even say ‘Baseball Hall of Fame’; they simply say ‘Cooperstown,’ the town in Upstate New York where that shrine is located.

    How does Springfield gain such status, or something approaching it? It will likely take a strong branding, or rebranding, effort to make the city synonymous with basketball. Right now, it’s a long way from that place, in part because of past history and the city’s connection with manufacturing and, especially, the Springfield Armory, but also because of recent history and the city’s many financial and image problems.

    Turning things around will take a concerted effort on the part of the hall, city and state tourism officials, elected leaders, and even area residents and business owners who must understand that the hall is not just another tourist attraction.

    Local tourism officials have a lot on their plates and many priorities — including an underperforming convention center that has become the focus of a broad, new marketing effort called ‘Springfield First.’ But a stronger focus on Springfield, the Hall of Fame, and the game of basketball is something that’s needed.

    In the end, donations from NBA players and emergency support from federal and state sources are not going to put the hall on solid financial footing for the long term. Only a strong, committed effort to permanently and forcefully connect Springfield with basketball can do that.-

    The Future of Medicine Is Exciting — but Troubling

    By
    Opinion

    It’s no space-age fantasy: today’s doctors and other medical professionals know they’re living in exciting times. Anxious times, too.

    When we asked some of the area’s foremost medical experts for their thoughts on what the next 15 or so years will bring to the health care landscape, they had no shortage of ideas.

    They spoke about the promise of stem cells, and the possibility that scientists might hone their potential to replace tissue and even grow new organs for patients in need — an idea that would have seemed like science fiction not too long ago.

    They talked about how robotics, laparoscopy, and other surgical advances are helping doctors operate with a minimum of trauma or scarring, and turning what used to be week-long hospital stays into outpatient visits.

    The breakthroughs keep piling up — research on gene therapy to reverse the effects of heart disease and prevent it from recurring. Imaging technology that is giving doctors quicker, more accurate pictures of health problems. Computer advances that are starting to help doctors diagnose and treat homebound patients remotely.

    The list goes on, and it speaks not only to the boundless ingenuity of medicine and science, but also to the impressive quality of health care in Western Mass., where many of the latest technologies are being put into practice every day.

    So, there’s clearly no shortage of optimism when it comes to innovation. But there’s also a nagging worry that’s beginning to loom ever-larger for those who are paying attention.

    It’s simply this: how are we going to pay for it all?

    Let’s face it — Americans are accustomed to expecting the best, and our attitude toward health care is no exception. If there’s a breakthough in treatment, people want to partake of it, and they want it now. That’s our culture.

    But doctors and policy experts are starting to ask some sobering questions. With health care already costing about $2 trillion per year, with each new high-tech medical solution arriving with a hefty price tag, and with the plentiful Baby Boomers expected to live longer — often managing serious, chronic health issues — than past generations, many are starting to wonder whether our current health care infrastructure is even sustainable.

    In some cases, they’re flatly saying that it’s not.

    Although debate will rage over the details, many expect that some sort of universal health care in the U.S. is inevitable, which will strain the system further. Long waits for non-essential treatment might become commonplace. Federal regulators might have to decide which products make it to market and which are deemed, well, not cost-effective.

    Some would gasp at the very thought. But, again, we’re Americans, and we’re used to having options. The idea of our health care choices being severely reduced is a scary thought — but it’s one that many are openly talking about.

    There’s a clear dichotomy in play; science is performing miracles on a daily basis, but will we reach a point where even those efforts must be slowed due to financial restraints?

    “We’re developing all this great stuff,” Dr. Jeffrey Leppo told us when he was interviewed for the “Vision 2025” story (see page 34). “We can maybe cure diseases, but we’re still decades away in some cases, and in the meantime we’re pouring tons of money into it without any control.”

    It’s not clear right now that anyone has the answer for a cost problem that, by the direst estimates, could crash the system within 10 years. Efforts to streamline health care through electronic record-keeping and other efficiencies play around the edges, but don’t tackle the core of the problem, which is simply a growing lack of money to pay for everything we want.

    And we want everything. Which, in the end, may turn out to be the biggest fantasy of all.

    Wanted (and Needed): More Jobs for Young People

    By
    Opinion

    A recent study conducted by the Center for Labor Studies at Northeastern made official what most experts have suspected for some time — that more people are working past what would traditionally be considered retirement age.

    The study revealed that, since 2000, the employment rate nationally among those ages 55 to 64 has increased 4.4%, and, for those over 65, it has increased 3.6%. Conversely, though, for those ages 20-24, the rate is down 5.5%, and for those ages 16-19, the drop is a whopping 12.6%. The numbers are very similar for the Bay State.

    Quick translation — there are far fewer jobs for young people these days, and it appears that things are going to get worse, maybe much worse, in this regard before they get any better. Indeed, with the country in the midst of perhaps the worst recession in 70 years, there are simply fewer jobs to be had. And with people living longer and needing to work longer — with retirement accounts getting hammered and traditional pensions a thing of the past — there is now more competition for what jobs there are.

    And one can’t blame people in their late 60s, 70s, and even early 80s for being part of that competition. Many want to work to feel vibrant and stay active and sharp, and, as we just mentioned, many need to work just to make ends meet. But if this trend continues and accelerates, which it probably will, young people are going to find it ever more difficult to find gainful employment.

    Which is quite problematic for regions like the Pioneer Valley, because first, second, and third jobs are important — for a number of reasons. First, from a practical standpoint, jobs provide young people with the resources to help pay for college and, in many cases, just to support themselves. Also, they provide key lessons in how the world of work operates, thus better preparing them for that proverbial first ‘real’ job. And, in both urban and suburban areas, jobs help keep young people from getting bored and getting into trouble.

    And so, while the nation and this region grapple with the immediate and considerable challenge of creating and retaining jobs for people of all ages, there is apparent need to pay special attention to somehow sparking more openings for young people.

    We say ‘somehow,’ because at a time when most companies are struggling to stay afloat, avoid layoffs, or minimize reductions in workforce, creating jobs for teens and college students would fall into the realm of the extraordinary. Meanwhile, when employers face the choice of hiring someone in high school, who doesn’t have much work experience, or someone in their 60s, who has plenty of experience and (probably) better work habits, they will usually choose the latter.

    On top of all this, technology has made it possible for business owners across many sectors to simply make do with fewer people. Add all this up, and it doesn’t bode well for young adults trying to join the workforce.

    What may be needed are special incentives, probably in the form of tax credits, awarded to employers who can imaginatively add new jobs and award them to young people — as opposed to simply choosing teens over 70-year-olds who either want or need to work.

    Generations of area residents remember first or second jobs stocking shelves at Rocky’s, making Fribbles at Friendly’s, taking tickets at Showcase Cinemas, or operating rides at Riverside Park (now Six Flags). Today, jobs such as these are fewer in number, and more of them are going to people who probably had such a job 35 or 40 years ago.

    There are consequences to such a trend — ranging from a few more people not having the resources to attend college to many more people not gaining the valuable experience, confidence, and knowledge of work that comes with a job.

    Area economic-development leaders and employers need to collaborate to find ways to get more young people into the workforce.-

    OPINION

    By
    Opinion
    2009 Agenda Links Economic Stimulus and Health Care Reform

    With the nation and the world watching, President Barack Obama and the 111th Congress have an incredible opportunity, and a formidable challenge: to enact comprehensive health care reform. While the economy will unquestionably dominate the early days of the 111th Congress, a compelling case is being made that health care is a key economic issue.

    Late in 2008, the presidential transition team worked to craft an economic stimulus package. Last month, Congress passed — and Obama signed into law — the $787 billion bill, which dedicates some money to help states with growing and underfunded Medicaid programs, and also funds to help physicians purchase health information technology.

    In late December, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a cost-benefit analysis of 15 health care reform options. While the general finding was that most of the options would place significant cost burdens on the government, the CBO predicted that fostering the use of health information technology (including electronic medical records) would save the federal government $7 billion over the first 5 years and nearly $35 billion over 10 years, primarily through reductions in medical errors, lower health insurance premiums, and avoiding unnecessary tests and procedures.

    Another health-reform option predicted to positively impact the budget if enacted is a requirement (similar to that in the Massachusetts Health Reform Law) that all but the smallest employers who fail to provide health insurance to their employees pay a fee. The CBO estimates that this would result in $47 billion in new revenues.

    The Massachusetts law continues to serve as a possible framework for national health care reform.

    Both the Senate Finance Committee’s proposal and President Obama’s stated health care positions support an ‘incremental universalism’ approach that includes Massachusetts-style elements such as ‘play or pay’ provisions for employers, expansions of Medicaid eligibility and other public programs, and some form of ‘connector’ to help people purchase more affordable health insurance.

    U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy continues to lead efforts in the Senate to develop a comprehensive proposal that would work at the national level. Kennedy recognizes that, while the principles of the Massachusetts plan are applicable nationally, there are significant differences between the state and national markets.

    This year considerable attention will also focus on efforts to change the Medicare physician payment formula. While a solution is far from clear, there is no question that Congress wants to move away from using volume as a basis for physician payment and toward a still-undefined measurement of value and cost- effectiveness. The Mass. Medical Society continues to work with the Massachusetts congressional delegation and the American Medical Society to forge meaningful national health care reform.-

    Alex. Calcagno is director of Federal Relations for the Mass. Medical Society. She is responsible for advocating the MMS positions before the Massachusetts congressional delegation, federal agencies, and the executive office. Calcagno has over 20 years experience lobbying in Washington, D.C. Before coming to Massachusetts she was assistant director of the Washington office for a national medical association and worked on Capitol Hill for a member of Congress.

    OPINION

    By
    Opinion
    The Value of Teaching 21st-century Skills

    Think strategically. Use technology wisely. Work collaboratively. Communicate effectively. And recognize how the world around you connects to everything you do.

    Employees are expected to be steeped in these and other skills their first day on the job. In today’s weak economy, the resumes of those who don’t speak the language of the 21st century are quickly passed over.

    That is why the debate over the value of teaching students so-called ‘21st-century skills’ is baffling. These skills include problem solving, financial and business literacy, global awareness, and innovation. A vocal minority disregard them as ‘soft skills,’ but others recognize them for what they truly are: the number-one job requirements for anyone interested in success after high school.

    The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education’s Task Force on 21st Century Skills recently released a set of recommendations of ways these skills can be integrated into the K-12 curriculum in Massachusetts. Since then, a debate has ensued between those who see the benefits of fully integrating these skills in schools and those who misinterpret this effort as a first step toward dismantling education reform.

    Nothing could be further from the truth. The Commonwealth has long been seen as a leader in education reform, and our curriculum and performance standards are widely hailed as among the strongest in the country. Massachusetts has worked hard to earn its position as the top-performing state in the nation on measures like the National Assessment of Educational Progress, and in December it ranked among the top performers around the world on the Trends in Math and Science Study exam.

    The simple fact is that a focus on standards and academics is no longer sufficient, as evidenced by persistent, troubling achievement gaps.

    Our role now as policy makers, educators, business leaders, and parents is to provide students with the best of both worlds: a strong and challenging academic curriculum, and a full infusion of the 21st-century skills students will need to succeed outside of high school. Denying students the right to learn what we recognize is required by today’s employers goes against our goal of providing all students with all the tools they will need to succeed after high school, regardless of race, ethnicity, or ZIP code.

    There is no shortage of research on this topic, and plenty of naysayers who dismiss these skills as ‘soft.’ But even Washington Post columnist Jay Mathews, a critic of the 21st-century skills movement, was forced to rethink his position after reading a recent report by the Education Sector. The turning point for him was a simple phrase: The best learning happens “when students learn basic content and processes . . . at the same time that they learn how to think and solve problems.”

    This is not about teaching either academics or skills; this is about blending the two and teaching one using the other. Some teachers will need additional training to get there, the frameworks will need to be enhanced, and the vision of a ‘typical’ classroom will need to be rethought. Taking these and other necessary steps will move us in the direction the global economy demands and help provide students with the education they will need to compete with their international peers.

    We cannot stand still. I am pleased to hear input on the specific recommendations as the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education begins its evaluation of the Task Force report and works with Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester to develop an implementation plan for the items deemed most important, but we cannot be paralyzed by an unreasonable fear that altering our course will curtail progress.

    This is hard work, and it must be done in a careful, thoughtful way, but it must be done.-

    Maura Banta chairs the Mass. Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and is the eastern regional manager for corporate affairs for the IBM Corp.

    Building a Workforce — One Parking Lot Visit at a Time

    By
    Opinion

    Ed Leyden acknowledged that it’s tough not knowing if his hard, time-consuming work will pay off until seven, eight, or maybe 10 years down the road. But what he does know is that he has to keep doing it.

    Leyden, president of Ben Franklin Design & Manufacturing in Agawam, was referring to the tours he gives to young people — some in high school, but many even younger — designed to impress upon them the good health of the precision-machining sector in Western Mass. and the many attractive career opportunities it offers.

    These tours take a few hours, and, while they’re not exactly heavy lifting, they can be difficult because the subject matter is rather intense, and sometimes it’s difficult to make a connection with the eighth-graders wearing the borrowed safety glasses. That’s why Leyden always takes an extra few minutes to show visitors the cars, trucks, and SUVs that his employees drive. It’s often easier to make an impression that way than with 30 minutes of talk on computer-assisted design.

    What Leyden adopts is what amounts to a ‘whatever it takes’ approach when it comes to sparking an interest in his sector, and he’s certainly not alone. Shop owners who are busy trying to attract business and make deadlines for current customer orders are still making time for these tours — given to groups as small as a handful of youngsters — because they know they must if they are going to have a sufficient supply of workers for next year, a decade from now, and two decades from now.

    The ‘whatever it takes’ mindset prevails not only among precision manufacturers in this region, but in other sectors as well, such as health care and, to a lesser extent, ‘green’ businesses, environmental science, and the biosciences — and we’re glad this attitude prevails.

    That’s because, as we’ve said many times, the region’s economy is, and will always be, only as strong as its workforce, and when it comes to economic development, this is priority one, plain and simple.

    Addressing the problem requires diligence, teamwork, and imagination, in equal doses, and we’ve seen some great examples of these qualities come together. One of the latest is a program called Career Explorations — Robotics/Precision Manufacturing, one component of which was Leyden’s latest tour. The initiative is designed to introduce, or reintroduce, young people and, when possible, their parents to the precision-machining sector and, in the process, eliminate some lingering misperceptions about the industry.

    In addition to tours of plants like Ben Franklin, students, in this case members of the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Springfield, visit area community colleges and Putnam High School in Springfield to see how one goes about getting on the path to such a career. There is also a series of classes in robotics designed to stir the imagination and provide lessons in teamwork.

    The program involves a number of partners, from the Regional Employment Board of Hampden County to Springfield Technical Community College; from the Black Men of Greater Springfield to the National Tooling and Machining Assoc. They all understand the importance of helping young people and their parents make smart decisions about career paths and thus which high school to attend.

    Such partnerships, and there are many of them, as we said, hold vast potential to reduce dropout rates and poverty rates, while also helping to ensure that the region, individual sectors of the economy, and specific businesses have the qualified employees they’ll need to keep their ventures going.

    The programs have different names and varied missions, but there is a common denominator — that ‘whatever it takes’ attitude that drives Leyden, other shop owners, hospital presidents, and college administrators.

    Not all of these people wind up giving tours of the parking lot, but they’re all doing essentially the same thing — making those vital connections.

    They are the key to a stronger workforce, and that’s why these groups and individuals must continually look for new and effective ways to make them.-

    OPINION

    By
    Opinion
    Infrastructure Needs a Bill of Its Own

    President Obama is the first urbanite in the White House since Teddy Roosevelt. He certainly knows the vital role that cities play in America. Yet despite the Chicagoan on Pennsylvania Avenue, infrastructure spending in the House stimulus bill follows a business-as-usual pattern that discriminates against density.

    The only way to break that pattern is to take non-repair-related infrastructure spending out of the stimulus, and craft a separate bill that looks beyond the current recession. Major infrastructure projects, especially in cities, cannot be done quickly.

    Per-capita transportation spending in the House stimulus package, including transit, is more than 50% higher in the 10 least-dense states than in the 10 densest states, including Massachusetts. Yet America’s highways and rails already make it easy to move goods and people across America’s open spaces. The hard slog is getting across dense downtowns.

    Other elements in the stimulus package also favor farm over city. The subsidies for broadband infrastructure are unnecessary in already-connected cities. Access to the latest technologies is, after all, one reason for cities’ economic success. The $6 billion for weatherizing homes will surely do more for rural America than for apartment dwellers. There is urban spending in the bill, but money spent rehabilitating public housing is not the transformative investment that will make cities more productive.

    Infrastructure is the skeleton on which the economy hangs. In the 19th century, America built a great transportation network of rails and canals that enabled the wealth of the land to make its way east. America’s 19th-century cities — Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh — were nodes on that network that grew along with it.

    In the 20th century, Americans built a highway system that decentralized urban areas. The resulting exodus from cities to suburbs reminds us that infrastructure can have far-reaching consequences.

    A visionary infrastructure strategy cannot fit into a stimulus package. For stimulus, speed is vital. The Big Dig took 21 years. Working in cities is particularly slow because it takes time to tunnel, and because community opposition holds up urban mega-projects. A need for speed will always create an anti-urban bias.

    America needs both a stimulus package and new infrastructure, but combining the two in one bill is a mistake. Congress should eliminate any pretense that the stimulus plan is addressing long-run infrastructure needs, and leave in only those infrastructure expenditures, like rehabilitating decaying roads and bridges, that require minimal planning, public approval, and time to implement.

    A separate infrastructure bill would take cost-benefit analysis seriously, and direct spending to the projects with the highest returns. This means breaking the infrastructure spending status quo. As the Office of Management and Budget’s expectmore.gov Web site notes, highway infrastructure “funding is not based on need or performance and has been heavily earmarked.” To reduce boondoggle projects, localities, particularly wealthier ones, should provide a significant share of the funding. Requiring locales to pony up their own cash helps ensure that new projects are really valued.

    The role of cities is vital. According to County Business Patterns, 56% of America’s wages are earned in the 22 mega-metropolitan areas with more than 2 million people each. A serious infrastructure bill would aid metropolitan areas, but ask for sacrifice in return for subsidy.

    The cities that stand at the center of the economy need new infrastructure, but that can’t be built in two years. To ensure an infrastructure plan that does not shortchange metropolitan America, major infrastructure needs to come out of the stimulus package and get a bill of its own.-

    Edward L. Glaeser, a professor of Economics at Harvard University, is director of the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston. This article first appeared in the Boston Globe.

    A Stimulus Plan: It’s All About Job Creation

    By
    Opinion

    The business news is pretty bleak these days, and on a number of fronts.

    There have been scary headlines concerning the restaurant sector, hotels, retail, the auto industry … and just last week came the stunning news that Brandeis University, facing a huge hit to its endowment and calamitous losses from the Madoff scandal, is actually selling the collection in its art museum for more than $300 million.

    But the most disturbing news concerns jobs.

    Analysts called Jan. 26 “Bloody Monday,” because more than 70,000 jobs were lost on that day alone. Another 11,000 cuts were announced the following Tuesday. Locally, the jobless rate in the Greater Springfield area climbed to 7.2% for the month of December, up a full percentage point from November.

    Job losses are critical because when people are out of work — or fear that they soon will be — they become more cautious and conservative in their spending. This leads to reductions in production in factories, the closing of restaurants and hotels, and shrinkage among some major retail chains.

    This leads to more layoffs, which puts more people out of work and prompts even more to fear that they may face a similar fate, which leads to reductions in production in factories … you get the idea.

    All this underscores why the stimulus plan being discussed on Capitol Hill must create jobs right now, this quarter.

    However, some early details about what’s in the plan show that only a small percentage of the money in the package will be spent this year

    Specifically, of the $30 billion the House bill allots for highway projects, for example, less than $4 billion would be spent before 2011. And of the $18.5 billion earmarked for renewable energy, less than $3 billion would actually be spent within two years.

    While there are widespread questions about the relative worth of any stimulus package of this type, one has to doubt whether one with such delayed action will help stem the tide of job losses — and resulting negative impact on virtually every sector of the economy.

    Instead, proceeding with such a package would amount to simply throwing money at the problem, which every analyst has warned against — especially when one considers the sky-high levels of debt the nation is absorbing — and President Obama insists is not the case.

    It’s not too late to retool this plan and forestall more of the announcements like the one Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick made recently. He unveiled a $1.1 billion round of emergency budgets — including large reductions in local aid — that will lead to reductions in service, tough times at public colleges and universities at a time when applications to those institutions are soaring, and, most importantly, thousands of layoffs.

    As we wrote recently, giving Patrick a check for $2 billion today will do a lot more good than putting $2 billion into a troubled bank that will likely keep it in the vault, or targeting $2 billion for a ‘green’ energy development that won’t put anyone to work for two years, when the recession will presumably be over.

    At a time when colleges are selling their art collections to raise cash, drastic steps must be taken to restore confidence, keep people working, and put people laid off on Bloody Monday back to work.

    Time is of the essence when it comes to a stimulus package, but it’s more important to get it right than to get it done fast.

    OPINION

    By
    Opinion
    Go Green, but Be Smart About It

    Economists say we are facing a long recession. The Patrick administration offers a response: investing in the ‘Green Economy’ — primarily energy efficiency, renewable energy, and grants to encourage green companies to grow here — as good for the environment and the economy. And they’re right — if we do it correctly. However, in our exuberance to do the right thing, there is the potential to spend money needlessly, and residents may not get all the benefits they should expect.

    Let’s start with the basics. The proposed investments are not funded by taxes but rather through surcharges and tariffs collected on customers of utilities — totaling about $175 million in 2009. This money supports utility-operated energy-efficiency programs and grant programs at quasi-government organizations such as the Mass. Technology Collaborative to build renewable power installations and provide seed money to green industries.

    In addition, the Green Communities Act would allow utilities to invest ratepayer money to subsidize more renewable-power projects, with the financial risk and higher costs borne entirely by the ratepayer. This is all on top of an existing law that subsidizes renewable power to the tune of $125 million per year, and the approximately $75 million allocated to energy efficiency from recent auctions of carbon allowances as part of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.

    All this adds up to billions of dollars over the next few years alone, a huge wealth transfer from electricity users (many of whom are struggling in the economic downturn) to favored industries and programs. As a result, the administration and the Legislature have a heightened obligation to make sure the programs are cost-effective, transparent, and coordinated, and to monitor the overall program costs.

    At present, that is not the case. Since responsibility for these programs spans different agencies and arises from separate legislation, regulation, and administrative actions, it is not clear that anyone except perhaps the attorney general, as ratepayer advocate, is adding up the combined impact of all these programs on ratepayers’ bills or gauging the economic impact of raising electricity rates on one sector of the economy to give incentives to other sectors. While some of the charges that fund these programs are separately identified on ratepayers’ bills, others are not, making them invisible to consumers.

    That is not only unfair, but unwise. Without more coordination and cost control, and a hard look at their cost-benefit, these investments will be a patchwork of government and non-government programs operating in their own silos, resulting in redundancy and wasted money.

    The fact that something raises costs or does not have an immediate payback, of course, does not mean we shouldn’t do it. Manageable higher prices today are an appropriate trade-off to free ourselves of fossil fuels, for environmental, social, and security reasons, as well as for the potential economic boost of more jobs.

    But we must be smart. An economic crisis like this should open the door to innovative thinking and bold actions. The desire for expediency should not absolve the administration from spending the money efficiently and providing information in a transparent and accessible way. At a minimum, this means all the programs should be separately itemized on ratepayers’ bills. Also, the Legislature should maintain vigilant oversight of these programs.

    Massachusetts can be the leader it wants to be and turn economic anxiety into economic advantage by committing to build or upgrade our ‘green infrastructure.’ Energy efficiency, distributed generation, wind farms, solar installations, new natural-gas-fired power plants, mass-transit projects, ‘smart’ electric meters, and plug-in stations for electric cars should all be in the mix.

    But let’s do something that works, not something that just sounds good. The current crisis will be the catalyst for positive environmental and economic changes only if we resist the urge to spend unwisely.-

    Robert Rio is senior vice president of Government Affairs at Associated Industries of Mass. Roger Borghesani is chairman of the Energy Consortium.

    In Praise of the Difference Makers

    By
    Opinion

    BusinessWest launched a new recognition program late last year. It’s called Difference Makers, and as we said in our initial announcement, while that name says it all in some ways, in other ways it really doesn’t.

    That’s because the phrase ‘making a difference’ is somewhat overused and has lost some of its meaning and its punch. With this new program, BusinessWest wants to bring some attention and acclaim to those who really are making an impact in the community we call Western Mass., and are inspiring others to do the same.

    When we unveil the first round of winners in early February, you’ll see what we mean.

    But let’s back up a minute.

    BusinessWest already had a few recognition programs with its name on them. One is the Top Entrepreneur award, given since 1996 to individuals who exemplify the proud tradition of entrepreneurship in this region, a tradition shaped by people like Milton Bradley, George Davis, Everett Barney, and Horace Smith and Daniel Wesson, and carried on by recent winners such as Jeb Balise, the Falcone family (founders and operators of Rocky’s Hardware), and the recipients for 2008, Arlene Kelly and Kim Sanborn, who have created two businesses that have changed the face of health care business operations.

    We also created 40 Under Forty. Well, actually, we started our own version of what has become a national trend among business publications — to recognize up-and-coming talent in a given market.

    Both programs have become huge successes, and play key roles in helping this publication relate the accomplishments of some very talented people. But something was missing.

    Not all people are true entrepreneurs (although most in business are at least entrepreneurial), and, alas, certainly not everyone doing important things and making lasting contributions is under 40. So we created another program that can, and will in many cases, recognize those who don’t fall into one or either category.

    These can be individuals who are making great strides in business and thus perhaps changing the fortunes of a company, a business sector, a community, or a region. They can be individuals who are making an impact in the community through donations of money, time, energy, and inspiration to nonprofits and those served by them. They can be leaders who are at the forefront of change and improvement in the quality of life for people who live, work, and play in this region.

    The timing of this program is important. While we didn’t exactly plan it this way, Difference Makers becomes a counterbalance to the successive waves of negative news about the economy, the stock market, job losses, and the incredible toll all this is taking on individuals and communities. There are still good things happening in the region, and some of that news is being buried in the avalanche of negative press.

    But BusinessWest is not a ‘good-news journal.’ That’s not our purpose, and it never will be. Instead, our mission is to simply hold up a mirror to the region and especially its business community and effectively reflect that image — good, bad, ugly, or promising.

    Difference Makers is part of all this mirror-holding work that we do.

    It was created to reflect the work of people (some of which goes largely unnoticed or underappreciated) that contributes to progress in this region and makes Western Mass. special.

    The stories vary, of course, but they all start with unique people who, well, want to make a difference — and are doing so.

    So who are the first Difference Makers? For that, you’ll have to wait two weeks. We need to build up some suspense.-

    There Were Some Bright Spots in 2008

    By
    Opinion

    A Boston Globe sports columnist was writing recently from Seattle. He was trying to describe just how bad things are for the sports teams and their fans there, and he summoned this phrase: “reading the sports page here is like reading the business page everywhere else.”

    Ouch.

    That says a lot about how last place has become the mailing address for most teams in that city — but also about how painful it was, and is, to turn to the business section. It has been replete lately with stories about layoffs, failing banks, climbing mortgage-foreclosure rates, stocks tumbling hundreds of points on a regular basis, businesses closing, car dealers posting wretched numbers, and retailers having lousy months, quarters, shopping seasons (take your pick, they all work).

    Locally, residents were treated to all of the above, with specific examples ranging from the collapse of Skybus and the closing of its operation at Westover to the loss of SunEthanol (now Qteros) to the Worcester area, the closing of several car dealerships, and even Springfield’s ranking among the fastest-dying cities in the U.S.

    It wasn’t all bad. It just seemed that way.

    Amid the gloom and doom there were some bright spots, and in an attempt to maybe get 2009 off to a decent start, BusinessWest thought it would recount five of those positive stories. In no particular order:

    • A blueprint on workforce development. Toward the end of 2007, regional economic-development leaders initiated a program to improve the quality and quantity of the region’s workforce for the long term. Called Building a Better Workforce — Closing the Skills Gap on the Road to Economic Resurgence, the endeavor took its first major steps forward in ’08 with programs to put workers in the pipeline for the health care and precision-manufacturing sectors, and also increasing access to preschool. Perhaps more important, the first steps will get a number of businesses and institutions actively engaged in an issue of vital importance to the region’s future
    • The emergence of YPS. That’s the acronym for a group called the Young Professional Society of Greater Springfield, which, while only a few years old, seems to possess enormous potential to not only keep more young people in this region, but also help prepare them to be leaders — in business and the community.
    • New life for an old mill. Westmass Area Development Corp. announced plans to acquire the old Ludlow Manufacturing Associates complex in the center of that community. This is a 20- to 30-year proposition that looks to transform the nearly 1 million square feet of mill space and 79 acres of adjacent undeveloped land into a business and industrial center. At a time when the inventory of traditional greenfields is shrinking, the Ludlow development is an imaginative attempt to give companies more opportunities to move to and grow within the Pioneer Valley.
    • The start of a ‘green’ wave. Yes, the region will lose Qteros, one of the best emerging ‘green’ stories in Western Mass., but there are some other signs of potential growth in the realm of ‘green jobs.’ In Wilbraham, a company called FloDesign is making progress on a prototype that may revolutionalize the design of wind turbines. Meanwhile, in Greenfield, there are the makings of a ‘green’ cluster. And everywhere, there is a commitment to creating jobs in what looks like a sector with enormous promise. Stay tuned.
    • Liberty Mutual brings hundreds of jobs to Springfield. With what seems like a big assist from Gov. Patrick, Liberty Mutual announced that it would locate a call center in the Technology Park at STCC. Cynics will say that these are just call center jobs and that the company would have done the city more good if it had located downtown. The bottom line is that these are new jobs, and decent jobs, coming in a year when there weren’t many gains in that department. Meanwhile, a big part of this good story is the fact that Springfield triumphed over many other job-hungry cities in what became known as Project Evergreen.

      • There were other somewhat uplifting stories from 2008 that, while they didn’t obscure all the bad news, generated some hope for 2009 and well beyond. Let’s see if the region can build on this in the year ahead.

      OPINION

      By
      Opinion
      Catalyzing the Clean-energy Economy

      A key issue facing the nation, and one that must be addressed by Steven Chu, President-elect Obama’s pick for secretary of Energy, is how best to transform the nation’s energy infrastructure, catalyze the clean-energy economy, and reach Obama’s goal of creating 2.5 million green jobs.

      While there are aspects of energy transformation that demand central involvement by the federal government, the country’s tremendous record of innovation is based on the power of individuals in the private sector to identify problems, envision solutions, and pursue their dreams as entrepreneurs — often starting in their garages. This is precisely what fueled the explosion of computers and information technology, and it can drive the development of a new generation of clean-energy technology as well.

      In order to make this happen, Chu should direct a far greater percentage of the department’s budget and resources outward — sparking more clean-energy research in our universities and research centers, accelerating new venture creation, and helping to scale proven technologies.

      A powerful template for action can be found in New England’s recent surge as a clean-energy cluster. Massachusetts and the region have seen the number of clean-energy companies grow exponentially since 2006; this can and should be repeated elsewhere. Here are a small number of programs that could help create powerful clean-energy clusters around the country:

      • Clean-energy seed grant program. Using the Bay State’s Green Jobs Act as a model, the department should aid other states in developing a clean-energy seed grant program — offering grants to researchers and teams whose technology suggests commercial viability. The goal should be to engage the private sector (investors, entrepreneurs, university technologists) and provide a team of business-oriented coaches who can guide each grant recipient toward private funding and commercialization.
      • National lab technology transfer. To increase the flow of technology out of our national labs and into the marketplace, the department should reestablish a network of regional offices within all sizable clean-energy innovation centers that do not have a lab in proximity, such as Boston, Austin, and Portland. Each office would be tasked with connecting entrepreneurs, investors, and companies with researchers and emerging technologies at national labs, and be measured on the number of technology transfer deals completed.
      • Clean-energy boot camp. The department should offer funding for a series of regional clean-energy boot camps that put entrepreneurial executives through an intensive, energy-focused, executive education program — and speed the transition of critical talent into the clean-energy sector. The goal: offer executives a working knowledge of energy technologies, a basic understanding of energy markets and macro trends, and a network of contacts in the clean-energy field.
      • Clean-energy pilot plant development. The department should expand its loan guarantee program for helping clean-energy companies fund pilot plants. Such guarantees should be made through commercial banks (which would take on some risk for non-repayment) and should cover no more than 75% of the required capital — private investors would provide the rest. In this fashion, the risk profile of any loan would be lessened by the due diligence of both private investors and the banking institution.

        • Chu will be busy. There is a dizzying array of decisions to be made with regard to energy efficiency, renewables, and helping Congress formulate the market signals required to more quickly steer our society away from traditional, fossil-based energy.

        But most important, the new secretary must drive the department at the speed of business, utilizing public/private partnerships to catalyze private-sector action, if we are to achieve energy independence and a thriving clean-energy economy.-

        Nick d’Arbeloff is executive director of the New England Clean Energy Council. Hemant Taneja is a managing director at General Catalyst Partners, and the council’s co-chairman.

        OPINION

        By
        Opinion
        A Head-on Approach to Green-based Prosperity

        As our nation struggles with the global economic crisis, President-elect Obama and Congress must find the right measures to stimulate the economy today and invest wisely to create sustained prosperity. Obama recognizes an extraordinary opportunity exists to restart the economy and combat the threat of global warming by launching a green New Deal, but our long-term success greatly depends on educating skilled workers for new technical fields.

        Obama has outlined an immediate plan to create 2.5 million jobs through green-based initiatives, such as building wind farms and solar panels. This first step must be complemented with a long-term strategy that improves the environmental and economic sustainability of our nation.

        Through a national green initiative, centered at our public research universities, we can meet this challenge and emerge with a more sustainable environment and economy in the short and longer term.

        This national green initiative, which would be launched in coordination with the flagship research universities across the country, would have three parts but one simple goal — building the human and capital infrastructure necessary to compete in the decades ahead, while simultaneously infusing millions of dollars into the private sector right away in building the facilities needed to create tomorrow’s green technology breakthroughs.

        The federal government would create a loan-forgiveness program that would allow students in science, technology, engineering, and math to have their student loans partially or completely forgiven in return for a multi-year commitment to teaching in these fields in K-12 schools. Every state is facing shortages in qualified teachers, and at a time when the job market is increasingly difficult, there’s never been a better time to encourage bright, young people to become teachers.

        To educate these students, each state’s public research university would develop a proposal to build or renovate the laboratories and classrooms necessary to train both workers and educators in math and sciences as well as environmental sciences and related fields. These facilities would drive innovation and research breakthroughs as well as provide valuable learning space. To support this, the federal government would establish a $50 billion fund for such construction across the nation, and encourage universities to match these federal funds with state and private support. At the same time, the universities would be required to plan to work with the educational systems in their state to increase the numbers of students in these fields, and to offer current teachers access to these facilities for improved training.

        For this plan to work, these efforts must be aimed at improving the learning environment across the state, and our public research universities are uniquely positioned to drive this effort.

        Each of these construction projects must meet the latest green-building standards, and the bid process should require that local workers in each of the states be employed on these projects — thereby training a whole new cadre of workers in the latest sustainable technologies. In addition, faculty at these universities should be directly involved in the project development to ensure that not only are these facilities as green as possible, but that they meet the teaching and research needs of our next generation of students and teachers, as well as for training our workforce of the future.

        While this idea is, in many ways, very simple, it will require our government and universities to work closely together, to eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy and to move right away on these projects. It will also require our universities to fully engage the community colleges and other higher-educational institutions in a partnership.

        We must, as a nation, address head-on the issue of energy self-sufficiency while combating global climate change. We must create jobs and financial security now, even as we attempt to prepare for an uncertain future.-

        Robert C. Holub is chancellor of UMass Amherst.

        A Time of Challenge and Opportunity

        By
        Opinion

        A few months ago, a contributing columnist to BusinessWest suggested retiring the phrase ‘hunkering down.’ He said that, overall, the term doesn’t really mean anything anymore (if it ever did), but that if there is a connotation, it is generally a sense of ducking and dodging.

        Webster’s Collegiate states only that ‘hunker’ means to squat or crouch, and that the word is, in fact, generally used with ‘down,’ although that sounds somewhat redundant.

        And if people are going to continue to use that phrase with regard to the recession and their efforts to withstand or survive it, then it should be retired. That’s because this region doesn’t need a lot of hunkering, or even hunkering down, right now.

        Instead, as business-management experts state in an informal guide to getting to the other side of this recession in this issue, it needs some imaginative thinking and determination to grow, and not merely survive. What the experts say, and they’re right, is that, while this may be a time of challenge — or extreme challenge for those in some sectors — it is also a time of opportunity, if people choose to view it as such and have the daring not to merely hunker down.

        Such daring remains a foreign concept to many, including most of those who remember what 1990 and 1982 were like. The phones in their offices stopped ringing — unless they were in the bill-collection business — and didn’t start ringing again for years.

        In response, many did some real hunkering, and in the process they probably missed out on some excellent business opportunities, while helping to deepen those recessions in the process.

        We know that’s it’s very easy to preach such action, and much harder to do it. The ‘experts’ (yes, that word needs quotation marks around it) pull out some well-worn rhetorical phrases like ‘be active, not reactive,’ and ‘thrive, not simply survive,’ which are overused and can sound as trite as ‘hunkering down.’

        But they’re right.

        While it goes against some of their most basic of instincts, now is a time when business owners should be thinking imaginatively and perhaps taking some steps they normally take only when those handling both accounts receivable and accounts payable sound much more upbeat.

        This might be the time to find new ways to collaborate with other businesses and organizations to create new revenue streams that will yield dividends long after the recession is declared over. Likewise, this could — and should — be the time to make sure your company is providing relevant products and services and that customers are receiving what they demand most — value.

        This is also a time, as one expert stated, when business owners and managers should be exploring what would be considered missed opportunities — such as the huge and still-growing Hispanic market and other ethnic populations — to turn such misses into hits.

        Meanwhile, this is definitely the time to look at operations, procedures, and personnel to make sure one’s company is being as efficient as it can be. This sounds like a no-brainer, but businesses don’t do enough of this whether the economy is bad or good.

        In summation, those ‘I Refuse to Participate in a Recession’ buttons are good, clever, and practical. But the wearers need to back up the words with actions.

        If they don’t, those words are hollow and somewhat meaningless — just like ‘hunkering down.’

        Lamenting One That Got Away

        By
        Opinion

        The saga of the so-called Q microbe, the micro-organism that could dramatically alter the course of ethanol production, remains one of the most compelling research and development stories in business today.

        The problem is, it will soon be some other region’s story.

        Specifically, Worcester’s. Those developing the Q microbe announced just over a week ago that, while they would love to stay in the area, where the microbe was discovered (near the Quabbin Reservoir, hence the name) and where many researchers live and work, the facilities and workforce are apparently lacking, thus forcing them to go elsewhere for the next phases of this ambitious project.

        This isn’t the first time the region has lost a biotech firm on the rise to the Worcester area, and this announcement made by the principals of Qteros, formerly SunEthanol, could not have been considered a real surprise. But it still hurts.

        Actually, this loss is especially painful.

        Why? First, there was the promise of new jobs as the concept worked its way through the R&D stage. There would also have been exposure for this region, which is much-needed as it attempts to develop new clusters in the broad technology sector and create new sources of jobs to replace those being lost in traditional manufacturing and other sectors.

        But there was also the pride factor, for lack of a better phrase. This is a potentially game-changing development, as they say in research, and it was unfolding right here in the Pioneer Valley. This was going to be a great story for the company, its leaders, UMass (where much of the research is taking place), and the region as a whole.

        It will still be a great story — it just won’t be ours.

        And this has many people saying that economic-development leaders could have — and should have — done more to keep the company in this area code. This is easy to say (one can always do more), but we’re not sure anyone here could have done enough to change this outcome.

        “We needed to move fast, and there really wasn’t a facility here,” Susan Leschine, chief scientist for Qteros, told the local press while explaining the move to Worcester County, juxtaposed against news that the company had received $25 million in next-stage funding.

        Reading between the lines of the statements made by those involved, it seems clear that those at Qteros simply got a better offer — probably a much better offer — to move east, where there are large research facilities and, according to many in the industry, a deeper pool of labor to tap.

        While being disappointed with this news — as economic development leaders say they are — they should also be determined not to let something like this happen again.

        The Worcester area already has an infrastructure in place, as well as a critical mass of companies in this field and talented workers. The Valley? Well, it’s working on all that.

        And the lesson to be learned from all this is to keep working on it, so that the next time a company is in the position Qteros is in now, the region stands a fighting chance of keeping it here.

        New UMass Chancellor Robert Holub told BusinessWest recently that he is committed to taking the university to the “top tier” among the nation’s research universities. To do that, he and others at the school will have to work with area ecomomic-development leaders, area businesses, and other colleges to create that infrastructure and workforce that Western Mass. currently lacks.

        By doing all this, the Valley can not only retain future companies like Qteros, it can possibly attract some from other regions, like Worcester.

        The loss of Qteros will sting for some time, but this setback will be even more profound if area leaders don’t answer the wake-up call and ultimately make the Pioneer Valley better able to compete for such companies.-

        OPINION

        By
        Opinion
        Don’t Limit Access to Higher Education

        By most accounts, we are now entering the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Nationally, the signs abound: the loss of home value, the meltdown in the stock market, the rise in unemployment, collapse of the credit markets, and a record $1 trillion federal deficit.

        As these dramatic changes reverberate through the economy, a college education becomes ever-more important to secure a decent paying job and enter a stable career; studies show the link between higher levels of educational attainment and higher average salaries. Furthermore, certain associate degrees such as those in nursing, allied health, computer science, and manufacturing, pay much greater dividends becaue jobs in these fields are in high demand.

        In this environment, individuals are facing hard choices about where to commit to spend their money. Where to go to college and how to pay for higher education ranks among a family’s most important decisions.

        One may choose between public and private colleges, with elite private colleges now costing — without room and board — upwards of $40,000 per year. Within the public sector, there are three options: university campuses, state colleges, and community colleges. In Massachusetts, average student charges per year without room and board for these three segments are:

        • $9,585 for the four UMass campuses;
        • $6,400 for the nine state colleges; and
        • $3,862 for the state’s 15 community colleges.

        Since community colleges are the least expensive, they are becoming more and more popular as a way to stretch a family’s and student’s limited resources. And people are flocking to these local colleges. Fall 2008 figures show community colleges now dominate enrollment in the state with 89,000 students, compared with 46,928 at the four university campuses, and a total of 37,509 at the nine state college campuses.

        This fall, community colleges statewide had an enrollment increase that averaged 5.3%, the largest jump of any segment. Although the Commonwealth’s community colleges offer only the first two years of a baccalaureate degree and a number of two-year career programs, the quality of instruction is superb. Consider that community colleges are teaching institutions with a focus on undergraduate students. Faculty are hired because of their knowledge and their ability to teach, not for research skills.

        Springfield Technical Community College, for example, offers 60-plus career programs in business, health professions, computer science, and engineering technology. In addition, the college has a robust liberal arts curriculum leading to transfer to baccalaureate colleges throughout New England. Local private colleges — AIC, Elms, Bay Path, Western New England, and Springfield College — court STCC graduates through agreements that provide guaranteed scholarships for students with good grades.

        Many STCC students also transfer to the public institutions, most notably UMass Amherst and Westfield State College.

        So, for those worried about the economy and the future, community colleges continue to be the best deal in the state.

        However, the current state budget deficit now threatens the accessibility and affordability of public higher education just when Massachusetts residents most need it.

        Community colleges are the most lean and efficient segment of higher education, educating more students with less funding. They enroll more than half of public higher-education students, yet receive approximately one-quarter of state funding. Consequently, it will be more difficult for these institutions to absorb major funding cuts without affecting the quality of the education and resources so important to students and to our economic future.

        Education is the economic driver for our state, producing the skilled and knowledgeable employees needed by business, schools, and industry — particularly the health care industry.

        While cutting funding for education will save money in the very short term, it will represent a far greater loss for our citizens and our state.

        Ira Rubenzahl is president of Springfield Technical Community College.

        How Not to Make the Recession, or Depression, Worse

        By
        Opinion

        Here are some signs of the times as a dreary 2008 comes to a close and a 2009 cloaked in anxiety and uncertainty sets to begin:

        • Safe sales are up. Many retail outlets reported a run on the metal vaults this fall as people sought ways to feel secure about what to do with their money; people must be putting such acquisitions to use, because by the end of June, domestic bank deposits had slipped by nearly $40 billion;
        • The Boston Globe prints an “Economic Survival Guide.” Headlines on the various pieces range from “Deal with getting laid off” to “Get by working part-time” to “Share bad news with your kids.”
        • Increasing use of the word depression — not the medical term, but the economic term. (Well, both, actually.) Usually put to use in clauses such as ‘worst since the Great Depression,’ the term has been employed more often lately to describe what may come to pass in 2009. FYI: Webster’s Collegiate defines depression as “a period of low general economic activity marked especially by rising levels of unemployment.”

          • All this points to what could be some very difficult times ahead even in a market (here comes that line again, sorry) that doesn’t see the serious swings, up or down, that other markets experience. We suggest that elected leaders in Congress, already under a great deal of stress with regard to the economy, piece together some kind of strategy for minimizing the damage from this severe downturn.

          As we’ve said many times before, this means a focus not on gimmicks or quick fixes or knee-jerk responses, but on well-thought-out strategic initiatives that will put resources, bailout funds, or whatever we might call them to the best use.

          And one of the best places to start is not with the auto industry — although we concede that a well-orchestrated plan of support designed to change the way the Big 3 does business and not promote business as usual is needed — but rather with direct infusions to states and communities.

          Unlike businesses, these entities cannot run deficits, and when revenues decline, as they have across the board, then painful cuts have to made, reductions that could potentially make the recession, or depression, of 2009 that much worse.

          As a point of reference, recall the budget cuts announced recently by Gov. Deval Patrick. They totaled $1 billion or so, and included cuts across the board — to colleges and universities, public-safety agencies, health care providers, parks, libraries, museums, day centers, nonprofit agencies that serve the poor, the blind, and those with HIV … you name it.

          These cuts add up. Community colleges will have to lay off staff, cut programs, raise fees, or all of the above, possibly, if not probably, reducing access to education. Meanwhile, health care providers will be forced to reduce staffs (several already have in fact), and some programs, such as those provided at Providence Behavioral Hospital in Holyoke, are imperiled. (In recent years, due to falling reimbursements, Providence has become almost dependent on emergency allocations from the Commonwealth.)

          And the Bay State is not unique in these actions, not by a long shot. New York’s Gov. David Paterson recently announced more than $5 billion in cuts, and California faces a $17 billion shortfall.

          There are movements being considered to send aid directly to cities, towns, states, and households that are all in a state of crisis on par with the Big 3, and we hope these calls are heeded. While a bailout of the automakers is needed to prevent a collapse of one or more of those companies, thus facilitating full-scale depression, support to cities, towns, and states is also needed.

          If it’s not forthcoming, we’ll all probably get more practice saying ‘depression,’ and we’ll certainly need that economic survival guide.

          It’s Time for America to Get Its Swagger Back

          By
          Opinion

          All presidential elections are drawn out, trying, divisive processes, but this one was even more so — on every score.

          It seems like it’s taken forever to reach this point, and the ugliness factor involved in choosing our next president has set a standard that will be hard to match. But through it all, we seem to have reached something approaching consensus — an electoral count of 349 to 163, at press time, allows us to use that word — that Americans want not simply change but better leadership, and they believe Barack Obama can provide it.

          Let’s hope he can.

          Because this country has lost something over the past several years. For lack of a better term, we’ll call it swagger.

          The United States had, until quite recently, been respected by most of the rest of the world. It led the way when it came to innovation and entrepreneurship and bringing about positive change. All that seems gone now. The respect is certainly gone, and so, to a large degree, is that sense of entrepreneurship.

          We’re no longer watching to see if other countries can catch up to us — instead, we’re hoping to catch up to the new standards being set by other countries, especially China.

          This is one of the matters to consider as this nation enters what is always a very intriguing period, a time when the rancorous election process is behind us and people start to focus on the future and what can and should happen. We have some thoughts along those lines as well.

          Obviously, the economy is first and foremost on everyone’s minds, and the turmoil of the past few months is no doubt one of the key reasons why Obama was elected. Now, it’s his job to fix things — but it’s not only his job; the task belongs to everyone who helped create this mess and then tried to fix it with stopgap, knee-jerk responses designed primarily to keep the Dow from sliding, and they didn’t even do that.

          No, the economy can’t be fixed through $600 stimulus checks, nor with bailouts of major, and quite irresponsible, financial institutions. It will take much more than that, and perhaps the best place to start is with infusions of capital and support in programs that will generate new, well-paying jobs.

          In the ’30s, the government did this by building roads, bridges, and dams. Today, it could do it by fostering development of new energy sources and technology that will rid this country of its dependence on foreign oil and help preserve the planet for future generations.

          While making such investments, our elected leaders (not Obama all by himself) must address the annoying habit this country has of privatizing gains and socializing losses. The government enabled financial institutions to make the foolhardy moves that led to the recent meltdown, and then it bailed out those companies, or most of them, anyway. This wasn’t the first time this happened, but we hope it’s the last.

          Elected leaders can help make sure it is by somehow changing attitudes in boardrooms across the country. We need to lose the ‘quick, easy buck’ mentality — like putting people in homes even if they don’t qualify, knowing that we can make billions if we do and the government will bail us out if it all blows up — and earn money the old-fashioned way.

          In other words, corporations have to stop looking at the next batch of quarterly results and how to make them look better. They need incentives to look at and plan for the long term.

          All this is difficult, because voters are aren’t focused on the long term, either. They want the economy fixed, and they want it fixed now. They don’t want to dread opening their next 401(k) statement.

          In many respects, that’s Obama’s job — to make everyone’s 401(k) healthier. But in reality, the task is much broader and more difficult.

          He’s got to get that swagger back.-

          OPINION

          By
          Opinion
          Union Station: It Does Make Sense

          I read with interest BusinessWest’s recent editorial, “Union Station: It Still Doesn’t Make Sense,” and must respectfully disagree with this conclusion. In my view, the new plan for the redevelopment of Union Station (‘Union Station II’) represents an exciting opportunity to revitalize this long-dormant landmark, and it makes great economic sense for Springfield.

          In a nutshell, the plan positions Union Station as the key regional interchange for Amtrak and commuter rail service, regional and local bus service, and taxi service. The existing run-down rail terminal would become a modern public facility. A new bus terminal with a parking garage would be built on the site of the baggage building. Office space would be provided for the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority (PVTA) as well as the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission. A day-care center would serve employees throughout the downtown area. Finally, the ADA-accessible facility will include space for transit-related retail and more office uses in the future.

          Union Station II is the result of an intensive year-long planning effort undertaken by the PVTA, the Springfield Redevelopment Authority, and the Springfield Business Development Corp. Working with HDR, an award-winning consulting firm, this team has produced a plan that resolves a number of thorny issues that plagued previous efforts.

          While it is true that Union Station II is less elaborate than earlier concepts, this new approach is both more realistic and within budget.

          Let’s take a closer look at why Union Station II makes sense:

          Enhanced transportation facilities. With the memory of $4-per-gallon gasoline fresh in our minds, the time has never been better to advance a project that will support mass transit as an alternative to over-reliance on the automobile.

          Transit-oriented development. Across the world, transit-oriented development (TOD) has emerged as a proven vehicle for achieving ‘smart growth’ by leveraging transit resources. Union Station will become a TOD anchor that will attract private investment to the area.

          Market-driven. Union Station II is well-grounded in Springfield’s real-estate market. This practical approach relies on fewer tenants that each have good reason to be located in a transit-themed facility.

          Downtown revitalization. The project will advance the cause of downtown, bringing new people to Springfield and improving the marketability of office space. It is an ongoing effort to move downtown forward, which includes a soon-to-be-announced plan for the federal building.

          Historic preservation. Union Station II will preserve one of Springfield’s most important landmarks, taking full advantage of Union Station’s architectural and historic character.

          ‘Green’ construction. The project will be undertaken on an environmentally sensitive basis. Sustainable design is expected to earn the project a ‘silver’ LEED rating.

          Financial viability. The redevelopment plan reflects strict financial discipline. It utilizes available federal financial resources and anticipates private investment as ancillary commercial space leases up.

          While it has taken longer than I would like to bring about revitalization of Union Station, the fact is that virtually every major economic development initiative involves a certain measure of uncertainty, frustration, and delay. In this case, the time spent is certainly reasonable given the complexities involved in assembling a viable project. In my view, the parties involved should be praised for their persistence in the face of multiple obstacles.

          Springfield wants and deserves a transportation center that is modern, clean, and efficient — a center that brings together various transportation options, including commuter rail and intercity bus service, in an attractive, welcoming, and customer-friendly setting. The economic and environmental benefits of a revitalized station support the promise of a brighter future for Springfield and the Pioneer Valley.

          Yes, Union Station II makes a whole lot of sense, and it deserves public support.-

          U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal represents the Second District of Massachusetts.