Editorial

Let’s Not Forget What’s Really Important

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And then’s there’s Delcie Bean.

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

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

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

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