Editorial

A Breath of Fresh Air in Holyoke

When people reference Alex Morse’s age, they do so slowly and with conviction.
They say ‘22 years old’ as if there was a verbal exclamation point behind the number and words. And it’s understandable — that’s a very young age to be walking around with a business card that says ‘mayor of Holyoke.’
But Morse is not like most recent college graduates, as anyone who has spent just five minutes talking with him can readily understand. He has confidence, poise, a plan — well, about as much as any mayor can have a plan — and a deep affection for his city.
He’ll need all of that and more as he moves into the corner office, because the challenges facing Holyoke and all other urban centers are considerable, and real progress is difficult to achieve and sustain.
But Morse will make you want to believe.
His election is certainly one of the most intriguing stories of 2011 locally, a real breath of fresh air in a city that is in many ways ahead of Springfield in terms of generating some positive vibes. And now, with Morse’s election, there is genuine excitement and optimism in the Paper City.
There’s something else, too — what could be real leadership.
BusinessWest has recorded a number of urban turnaround stories in recent years. Just last month, we told the story of Grand Rapids, Mich., the site of a City2City visit involving a large delegation from this region. A year earlier, that same program took us to Winston-Salem and Greensboro, N.C. A few years ago, we relayed the stunning recovery in Lowell, and we’ve been witness to real progress in Worcester, Pittsfield, and other cities.
There are common denominators with each of these stories, but the most critical is leadership, in the form of individuals who can set a tone and get people to follow them and work with them as they carry out strategic initiatives; leadership, in the form of people who can restore civic pride and get people to believe in their community again; leadership, in the form of people who can generate game-changers.
It’s very early in the game — the new mayor is still organizing the desk drawers in his office — but we believe he possesses such leadership skills, even at 22.
In simple terms, Morse has real potential to be the proverbial right person in the right place at the right time. The place is a city that is showing some signs of life after spending decades in retreat, and the time is a period when Holyoke is gaining a reputation as a ‘green’ city, a place where individuals and businesses want to be, at a time when most planners and economic-development experts tell us that people want to move back into the cities that were abandoned in favor of the suburbs 40 years ago.
The person is someone who appears to have the ability to get people to listen, follow, and take the lead when necessary.
In sports, analysts have a phrase they use when observers get excited about someone who has excelled or overachieved in their first exhibition game or spring-training tilt. They say, ‘don’t put him in the Hall of Fame yet.’ That appears to be what we’re doing with Morse, and it’s probably a little unfair — or more than a little.
But even though he hasn’t presided over his first ceremonial ribbon-cutting yet, it is clear that there is excitement in Holyoke, and he is the primary cause of it. What happens when the media hype from the election and its aftermath dies down is anyone’s guess, but we believe that in time, and probably not much of it, people will stop referencing how old Morse is. That’s because they’ll have better, more important things to talk about.