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OPINION

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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.

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Departments

Bright Nights Launches 15th Season

SPRINGFIELD — The recent launch of the 15th season of Bright Nights at Forest Park included details of a new display, “Winter Garden,” a new logo, and a master plan to provide maintenance and improvements to the park. Wanting to make a major impact on the 2009 season, the “Winter Garden” display will extend the holiday lighting experience by a quarter-mile. The icy blue and white lights will transport visitors to a garden with frost-covered urns, snowflake towers, a fountain, deer, snowflakes, and a carousel. While many pieces are new, some were donated by Tower Square. To ensure the longevity of Bright Nights at Forest Park, the Spirit of Springfield and the Springfield Department of Parks, Buildings & Recreation Management have prepared a comprehensive document, inventorying all 390 display pieces and planning for the constant renewal of the displays and the park. The five-year plan, 2009-2013, is expected to exceed $3 million, with support from the private and public sectors. Looking back at 2008, Bright Nights at Forest Park officials said the holiday season was a success. Vehicular traffic, both cars and buses, increased; there were 1,081 more cars than in 2007 and 19 more buses. Survey results show that, while in the area, visitors also frequented the Holyoke Mall at Ingleside, Yankee Candle, Friendly’s, Pizzeria Uno, and the Springfield Museums. The impact statement also takes into consideration the $283,000 paid to the City of Springfield (police, fire, and public works) for the season. For more information on Bright Nights at Forest Park, visit www.brightnights.org.

MassMutual Settles Battle With Ousted CEO

SPRINGFIELD — The legal battle between the MassMutual Financial Group and its former chief executive officer, Robert J. O’Connell, has ended, with both parties keeping specifics of the settlement under wraps. O’Connell had been fired by MassMutual’s board of directors in June 2005 for reasons including improperly flying on company aircraft, misusing trading accounts, interfering in the discipline of his son and son-in-law, both of who were employees of the company, as well as other infractions. Since the firing occurred, an arbitration panel ruled in favor of O’Connell in the fall of 2006, and in January 2007, Suffolk Superior Court Judge Allan van Gestel found no evidence of any problems with the arbitration panel’s hearings. In addition, the state Appeals Court dismissed MassMutual’s appeal of van Gestel’s ruling in favor of O’Connell. Last November, both MassMutual and O’Connell agreed to voluntarily dismiss the case, and the Appeals Court accepted that decision.

Survey: Economic Confidence Drops in Bay State

SPRINGFIELD — More than one-third of state residents believe the national economy will get worse over the next 12 months, and one-fifth believe their own financial situation also will worsen, according to the latest survey from the Western New England College Polling Institute. The telephone poll of 569 adults, conducted Feb. 2-11, also found that eight in 10 were very or somewhat confident that President Obama will make the right decisions about the economy. Nearly 70% approved of the job that Obama is doing as president, while only 11% disapproved, and 21% said they did not know or did not offer an opinion. The poll, which has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4%, found that 39% of residents believe the national economy will get worse over the next 12 months. That’s a 13-point increase since November, the last time the Polling Institute asked the question in a statewide survey. Nearly one-third (32%) said they expect the economy to get better, down seven points from November. Pessimism was highest among those ages 50 to 64, with 47% predicting the economy will deteriorate further. Young adults ages 18 to 29 were the most optimistic, with 50% saying they expect the economy to get better in the next 12 months. Complete results of the poll are available at www.wnec.edu/news.

Federal Reserve Predicts Economy to Shrink

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve has revisited its earlier predictions and now projects that the economy will shrink and unemployment will continue to rise in 2009. Under the new projections, the Fed expects the unemployment rate to rise to between 8.5% and 8.8% this year. The old forecasts, issued last November, predicted the jobless rate would rise to between 7.1% and 7.6%. Fed officials also predict the economy will contract in 2009 between 0.5% and 1.3%. The November forecast said the economy could shrink by 0.2%.

OPINION

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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.

OPINION

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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.

OPINION

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Uncategorized

With his Cabinet in place, President-elect Obama will turn his attention to the agencies and the countless appointments that will complete his new government. Although some appointments will be virtually unnoticed, they are no less instrumental in fulfilling his agenda of change. For example, who will replace Dana Gioia as chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts? And what is the NEA again?

That Gioia’s agency is little known is partially a reflection of the agency’s modest allocation. The Endowment’s annual budget is less than the Pentagon’s cost for a single fighter plane. And for every per-capita dollar the NEA spends, France’s Ministry of Culture spends more than $13,000.

Gioia was once asked why the U.S. government doesn’t support the arts the way Europe does. “The U.S. provides more funding for the arts than any other country in the world,” Giolia replied. “It’s called the tax deduction.”

A tax deduction is not an arts policy.

Under the federal tax code, deductions are allowed for contributions made to charitable organizations. Individual and corporate support for the arts, incentivized by these tax deductions, will likely slow in a chilling economy. Arts organizations will compete for shrinking funds, insufficient to sustain them all. An opera company might skate by, relying on its endowment and longstanding donors, while a small Latino theater troupe or an inner-city music school would be forced into extinction.

But funding isn’t the only problem. For 20 years the NEA has been in hibernation.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, a handful of artists were accused of subverting American culture, and social conservatives and fiscal watchdogs joined forces in an offensive against the arts. Their battle cry: art was responsible for the decay of American values, and why should American tax dollars pay for it? The agency survived but retreated, leaving American artists to fend for themselves.

The Endowment has stirred again during Gioia’s tenure, having secured its first significant funding increase since 1984. “American Masterpiece” was awarded $18 million to bring American classics to the far-reaching corners of 50 states as well as military bases. “Shakespeare in American Communities” was another Gioia initiative, and this year he launched “The Big Read,” a $2.8 million nation-wide Oprah-style reading club.

But a reading club is not an arts policy, and Gioia’s programs stop short in bringing the NEA back to life. These programs do not reflect the arts as a vital and dynamic expression of American culture. They do not reflect the diverse face of America. These programs do not fuel the economic engine of American communities large and small. In this financial climate, that’s an issue that deserves attention.

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt recognized the combined power of American productivity and creativity. Between 1935 and 1943, his Works Progress Administration put 8 million Americans to work. Under the same umbrella, construction workers and engineers built the nation’s physical infrastructure, while writers, painters, and performers constructed the nation’s cultural foundations. Buildings and bridges, murals and sculptures sprung up in public places around the nation.

John F. Kennedy’s commitment to the arts paved the way for the formation of the NEA. Kennedy’s vision of an America in which ingenuity was championed above all else was not reserved to space travel alone. The arts were included too. “If art is to nourish the roots of our culture,” he said, “society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him.”

Obama’s campaign planted the seeds of change. As he builds his administration, he should follow in the footsteps of Roosevelt and Kennedy, considering the unique and historic role that the arts have always played in cultivating change. He should select a new chairperson who will lead the NEA with a commitment to the ways in which the arts can nourish the nation’s economy and its imagination.-

Thor Steingraber is an opera director and Harvard University’s Hauser Center fellow for arts, culture, and media.

OPINION

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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

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    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.

    OPINION

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    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.

    OPINION

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    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.

    OPINION

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    Opinion
    Fostering the Development of a ‘Smart Grid’

    New England states have laid out an ambitious agenda to slow the growth in electricity use, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, develop renewable resources, maintain power-system reliability, and lower costs. The sometimes-conflicting nature of these goals makes it difficult to align them.

    Indeed, this is a critical juncture for New England. For decades, the region has faced formidable energy challenges, from a lack of indigenous fuel sources to historically high costs, a weak transmission system, and growing consumer demand. The introduction of competitive electricity markets a decade ago has provided a solid foundation for progress: almost $10 billion in private investment in new power plants has boosted supply by more than 30%, and $3 billion of long-overdue transmission investment with about $5 billion more being planned will result in a more-efficient flow of power throughout the region.

    The next steps can be achieved by developing solutions that accommodate and harness recent technological innovations to improve the efficiency of the power grid — in other words, to foster the development of a ‘smart grid.’

    This ‘smart grid’ means far more than the use of technology. It means establishing ‘smart’ policies that will bring new technology to all corners of the power system to optimize supply, transmission, and conservation. It also means being smart about resource choices in the long term, so that the region can diversify its fuel sources and lessen its reliance on natural gas and oil to produce electricity.

    On the regional level, smart-grid technology has been incorporated into New England’s power system operations so that grid conditions both inside and outside the region can be monitored. Moreover, ISO New England is committing funds for the development of an ‘Advanced Grid Simulator’ that will help determine how the grid will operate with the addition of intermittent alternative energy resources such as wind.

    New electricity markets were recently implemented to expand the types of resources used to meet consumer demand. New England’s markets now procure in advance not just traditional supply such as power plants, but also conservation resources that reduce electricity use and have never been included in the marketplace before.

    This fall, the ISO began a pilot program designed to test alternative energy resources, including energy storage, as a way to instantaneously balance electricity supply and demand. At the state level, policies are being implemented that will maximize the potential of these innovations and encourage their continued development. The state recently enacted the Green Communities Act that promotes the development of renewable resources and energy-efficiency programs.

    Meanwhile, the state of Connecticut passed energy legislation that promotes conservation and reduced demand to limit the growth in electricity use. Connecticut has become a leader in demand response, which provides financial incentives for customers to lower their electricity use during tight supply periods. And energy efficiency programs are giving consumers tools to better manage their energy use.

    Some New England states are either considering the adoption of smart meters or have already introduced pilot programs. Such technologies would provide consumers with real-time price information to enable them to better manage their use and lower their bills.

    The goals that have been set for renewable resources, conservation, and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions are ambitious, but feasible if industry and government continue to build on progress. Technology transformed the region’s economy in the 1980s and ’90s, and fostered improvements in productivity and efficiency in industries around the world. New England can be at the center of another technological revolution in power delivery and use — automating the system to make it more efficient and bringing the economic, environmental, and energy needs of the region into closer alignment.-

    Gordon van Welie is president and CEO of Holyoke-based ISO New England Inc.

    OPINION

    By
    Opinion
    Question 1 Is Reckless and Irresponsible

    Question 1 on the Nov. 4 ballot, if passed, would eliminate the Massachusetts personal income tax.

    The Economic Development Council of Western Mass. opposes Question 1 because it is bad for business — and education, infrastructure, public safety, and our overall quality of life.

    The initiative’s proponents are hoping to sway voters by stating that, on average, taxpayers will annually retain $3,600 each. But it is what they are not saying that is of greater concern to the EDC and its affiliate economic development entities. Here are some facts that support the EDC’s opposition:

    • Throughout the last fiscal year, the state collected a total of $21 billion from all sources of revenue;
    • The portion of the $21 billion that comes from the personal income tax is slightly over $12 billion, totaling 57% of that amount; and
    • The state’s entire budget is approximately $32 billion, including federal funds. Therefore, the decrease to the entire budget will be 38%.

      • Proponents are not saying how the state will continue to provide vital services in the wake of such a dramatic revenue loss. A state budget reduction of 40%, if done across the board, would dramatically impact the services that we see every day: the education of our children, safety of our streets, fire protection, safe roads and bridges, and more.

      The EDC strives to foster the economic development of this region by assisting the region’s current businesses, while also encouraging new businesses to locate in the Pioneer Valley, bringing new jobs and opportunities.

      We have long known that the region’s roads and bridges are aging, worsened by overdue repairs. We realize that, as some workers lose their jobs, they must be retrained with new skills for new jobs. Western Mass. already has workers waiting for placement into job-training programs, waiting because of the lack of adequate funds.

      The EDC has also always recognized the value of our public colleges and universities. These institutions prepare our young people, the region’s future workforce that our businesses are relying on to sustain their growth. Many of those students are dependent on the state’s financial-assistance programs — which would be financially devastated by a 38% cut in state revenue.

      The EDC is also proud to work closely with all nine mayors of the Pioneer Valley. Businesses do not locate to the ‘state of Massachusetts,’ but rather to a very specific location, where our cities and towns provide basic services, including police and fire protection, to ensure a safe community in which those companies’ employees can work and raise a family.

      With that in mind, the EDC has consistently maintained that cities and towns require more state financial aid, especially over the past few years, as cities and towns have become more reliant on the local property-tax stream.

      After assessing these needs and conducting a very careful analysis of the state’s current financial situation, the EDC believes that a 40% reduction in state revenues would be extremely detrimental to all economic efforts and would greatly impact our quality of life.

      Overall, the EDC believes that expressing frustration with the government by supporting initiatives such as Question 1 is the wrong approach.

      Question 1, if passed, will do nothing to sustain a safe and sound Pioneer Valley for our residents and businesses. The cost of replacing the services that will have to be cut will far outweigh the savings estimated to be achieved by eliminating the income tax.

      For all those reasons, the EDC has taken a strong position opposing Question 1 — and encourages others to do so as well.-

      Allan Blair is president of the Economic Development Council of Western Mass.

      OPINION

      By
      Uncategorized

      Great things, no matter their size or scope, are achieved by people, not institutions.

      Personal achievement is possible only with the help of others and in the service of others. At no time in recent history is the value of individual service to the community more universally felt than it is today. Making the commitment to serve is important, but it is equally important, if not more, to have a greater understanding of how to serve. We are living in an historically important time of economic, political, and social change. As a result, it is not only important to identify the issues important to our work and the people we serve, but that we act on ways to address these issues.

      As we do so, it is critical that the decisions we make on behalf of others always keep the larger interest of our community in mind. If we keep community first, institutional interests second, and our individual interests third, we will find new solutions and approaches to today’s challenges, and in the end our individual interests will also be served.

      This idea is fundamental to the United Way’s mission, which is to improve lives by mobilizing the caring power of our communities. We learn that great social movements begin with individual acts of kindness or courage that are driven by principles, commitment, trust, and confidence in the work that we do.

      I have learned in my three years with the United Way that the people we are helping and the lives we are changing are the results of the good work that we do together. Without this strong sense of civic engagement and personal leadership, we could not achieve the important work that must be done day after day.

      It is in this spirit that the United Way has emerged into what we call a community impact organization with the belief that if we live and work united, to advance the common good, lives will be improved by mobilizing the caring power of communities. For us it is important that we focus on the root causes of the issues we face, not just our fundraising. We do this with you as our partners to help us move beyond the surface of problems in order to tackle the underlying causes of these challenges.

      What are some of things that we are involved in, and why? You might remember news articles that spoke about Springfield ranking sixth in the nation for percentage of its children living in poverty. We have learned since that our poverty level is three times higher than the Massachusetts poverty rate and more than twice the national rate. Through our work at the United Way and from research we have done locally and received from national studies, we know that, to address the root causes of poverty in our area, we will need to focus on programs and services that provide strong early-childhood education, youth development focusing on out-of-school and summer learning, and creating financial stability for individuals and families that live in distress.

      We support efforts that provide access to high-quality early education, summer learning, and other out-of-school programs as well as helping the less fortunate.

      Our mission at the United Way has always been to strengthen the lives of the people who live in our region by empowering them to create a community where all of our citizens are valued and where together we provide the opportunity to create neighborhoods that are safe, productive, and secure. We also know that, in order to accomplish all of this, our United Way will need to create healthy partnerships with all of our stakeholders, members of our community, donors, and more than 50 member agencies that provide more than 120 programs for the 23 cities and towns in Hampden County, South Hadley, and Granby.

      We are proud to be partners with these agencies and programs, and value their work. Together, we know that we will need to embrace new ways and new solutions to our work. We need to understand that, if we do business today as we did yesterday, we are bound to lose, but if we do business tomorrow as we do today, we will surely be doomed.v

      Joel Weiss is president and CEO of the United Way of Pioneer Valley.

      It’s All State of the Art

      By
      Ron Michaud
      Sections Supplements
      New Facility at UMass Should Prove to Be a Big Draw
      Ron Michaud

      Ron Michaud stands outside the new Studio Arts Building at UMass Amherst.

      UMass Amherst recently opened the doors to a new, $26 million Studio Arts Building. The facility brings together a number of two- and three-dimensional art programs that had been scattered across the vast campus — often in facilities that were cramped and not up to modern building codes — and creates, with the nearby Fine Arts Center, what one administrator calls an “integrated arts district” on campus. But the center will also benefit the region as a whole, say school administrators, by making the university’s arts programs more attractive, thus bolstering the Western Mass. creative community.

      Joel Martin has a number of descriptive nouns and adjectives he applies liberally to the new Studio Arts Building at UMass Amherst.

      Martin, dean of the College of Humanities & Fine Arts, calls it a “well,” a “source,” a “talent magnet,” and even a “talent factory.” He deployed those terms and others to explain how the $26 million facility, which opened this past month and brings a host of two- and three-dimensional arts programs that were spread across the campus together under one roof and tons of glass, will help bring more talented art students to the school — and thus bolster the region’s creative community.

      He believes this because he has data showing that many of the artists living and working in this area said in a recent survey that they probably wouldn’t be doing business in this market if they hadn’t been exposed to it while attending college here. And the new Studio Arts Building, which has heen roughly 30 years in the making, according to some long-time administrators in the College of Arts & Humanities, will be a very effective recruiting tool.

      “Everything in it is state-of-the-art,” said Martin, acknowledging while also embracing the play on words, as he referred to everything from the air handlers to table saws in the woodworking area in the 47,000-square-foot building. “It’s a wonderful learning facility — it’s makes great use of light, and there are some grand spaces; we really needed to have a state-of-the-art, safe, environmentally sound facility so that our artists’ energies could be best used. And now we have one.”

      Ron Michaud, associate dean of the College of Humanities & Fine Arts, and former chair of the arts program, has been advocating for something like the Studio Arts Building for years now. He said the university’s arts programs have functioned well over the past half-century, and have succeeded in helping a number of accomplished artists — painters Chuck Close and Shan Shan Sheng, among them — develop their talents and find their potential.

      But it can do much more of the same with the gleaming new facility, which, when coupled with the nearby Fine Arts Center, creates what Michaud called “an integrated arts district” on the campus.

      Like Martin, Michaud said the new arts center makes UMass a stronger player as it competes with such institutions as the R.I. School of Design, the Pratt Art Institute, and a host of public colleges and universities for top art students. And the hope — and expectation — is that some of this talent will remain in the Pioneer Valley.

      “A building like this can really become a magnet for talented people across this region and also well beyond,” said Michaud. “This will put this university on a higher level, and also help this region and its economy.”

      The Proper Framework The ‘art barn.’

      That’s the nickname, if one could call it that, attached to one of the now former homes for studio arts programs at the university. The barn, located in the northwest corner of the campus not far from the Mullins Center, hosted painting classes for decades, said Michaud, and is now a facility housing lawnmower-repair operations “or something like that.”

      Another former art program facility, one recently razed to make way for an integrated sciences building, was a post-World War II army barracks annexed by the college. It housed sculpture programs and some instructional space, Michaud noted, adding that, overall, programs have been spread across as many as 19 buildings, most of them cast aside by other departments that didn’t want or need them anywhere.

      Some of these facilities, like the art barn, were considered warm and cozy, and actually had some fans, he continued, but they were not designed to house creative arts programs, were inefficient, and were often several hundred yards away from buildings hosting other programs.

      Even the university’s Fine Arts Center, opened in the early ’70s and designed mostly for the performing arts, lacked what would be considered modern, efficient space for most of the studio arts programs offered by the school, said Michaud, noting that, in many respects, the sprawling complex has been “showing its age” with respect to considerations such as ventilation, waste disposal, ‘green’ design, an even instructional facilities.

      A succession of students and, more importantly, administrators within the vast College of Humanities & Fine Arts, recognized the problem and the need to do something about it, he continued, but it wouldn’t be until the start of this decade before mobilized efforts succeeding in generating some action.

      “In 1995, we conducted a comprehensive study of our inventory of facilities,” said Michaud, “and came away knowing that we needed a new studio-arts building to remain competitive nationally and internationally.

      “People came together behind a common vision, and eventually convinced the administration that we needed something like … this,” he continued as he began a tour of the new facility, one that encountered several classes in progress and artists at work.

      As he started down one wing of the V-shaped complex, it didn’t take Michaud long to make his point about bringing once-scattered programs together in one space. Indeed, the woodworking, welding, sculpture, and ceramics programs were all arranged in a row. “Before, these were spread across campus,” he explained, noting that most former settings simply weren’t designed to house kilns or welding equipment.

      On its ground floor, the center features a high-end digital and computer-graphics studio, a central location for photography, and facilities for instruction in such disciplines as lithography, etching, and silk-screening.

      “The instructional areas are much larger, in most cases, than what we had before, and they’re more efficient,” he explained, “giving students the facilities they need to learn.”

      Martin agreed, and noted that for decades, the College of Arts & Humanities had been adjusting — or trying to adjust — whatever space came its way to accommodate whatever program, be it woodworking or pottery, that needed room. Now, it has space custom-designed for each discipline.

      The center is also one of the ‘greenest’ on the UMass campus, said Michaud, noting that it makes use of sustainable building materials, operable windows for natural ventilation, and a variety of energy and water-conservation measures.

      Breaking the Mold

      As he stopped in the large, open common area that serves as the primary entrance point as well as a gathering space for students and faculty and venue for art shows and guest lectures, Michaud remarked at how quiet it was at that time (late afternoon).

      “You won’t see it like this very often,” he said, adding that he and others expect that space, complete with high windows and expansive views of the campus, to help generate a stronger sense of community among artists who had been working in the four corners of the sprawling campus.

      And that notion of ‘community’ is important, said both administrators, because those in the arts thrive in settings where they can share ideas and critique each other’s work.

      “We now have facilities where people can meet, have lunch, talk about what they’re working on, and compare work,” Martin explained. “And that’s really important as they develop individual arts, but also as they compare and blend different forms of art, and perhaps even create new forms of art.”

      But while creating a larger, stronger, and more-visible arts community on campus where all this can happen, the new Studio Arts Building is also expected to have a broad impact beyond the university’s borders, said Martin and Michaud.

      Noting that many communities across the Pioneer Valley are looking to the arts and the so-called creative economy to help fill old mill buildings left quiet by the exodus of paper and textiles makers and other manufacturers and breathe new life into downtowns that can longer prosper through retail, Martin said the new facility can help provide the key ingredient to all those aspirations — artisans.

      “The creative economy, no matter how you define it, ultimately rests on having creative people with talent generating fresh ideas, approaches, and designs, to help create art, but also to communicate, persuade, and market this art,” he explained.

      And this is where Martin summoned those descriptive terms to drive home his points concerning what the Studio Arts Building is — and will ultimately become — as the region and individual communities focus on the arts as an instrument of economic development.

      “We’re the talent magnet that attracts the greatest number of talented people in the Valley,” he explained. “And with this facility, we can now attract and retain the most talented student artists in the country and the most talented faculty and artists. We have a state-of-the-art facility that is a pump, a source, a well that will feed this Valley.”

      Citing a survey of College of Humanities & Fine Arts alumni, released just a few months ago, Martin that a large percentage (nearly half) of those queried said they likely would not be working in the Valley as writers, photographers, painters, and sculptors if they had not attended the university and thus become exposed to the region’s amenities and quality of life.

      “When you look at those numbers, it’s clear that if we can bring more top talent to this university, we can, potentially, keep more of it in this region,” he explained. “That’s why people pushed so hard for so many years to get a facility like this.”

      Brush with Success

      As he passed two students conversing in the undergraduate studio area on the second floor of the new facility, Michaud offered a question, and an opinion, with the words, “better than the art barn, isn’t it?”

      There was a moment’s hesitation while the students thought this over — a reflection of how some liked the old accommodations, despite their limitations — but eventually some nods of approval.

      There will be more of those as the building’s facilities, amenities, and displayed works of art — including a piece by Shan Shan Sheng due to be installed later this month — come to be known and fully understood.

      That’s to be expected with a building that is truly state-of-the-art, in every sense of that phrase.

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

      OPINION

      By
      Opinion
      Creating a State of Diversity in Massachusetts

      ‘Inclusion Incorporated’ is an excellent phrase for the new world of hiring and workforce development being faced by corporations and other organizations throughout New England every day.

      The cover story with that title in the July 21 edition of BusinessWest focuses tellingly on the many factors that make diversity an economic imperative — a subject that is now urgently discussed in business schools and boardrooms, and would be even if it weren’t so prominent on the political pages.

      As Lorie Valle-Yanez of MassMutual pointed out in that story, with Baby Boomers beginning to retire, organizations will need to find large numbers of new employees in the next few years, and they will be recruiting from a pool that is much more diverse than the group checking out. Workplaces that give a cold shoulder to employees of color will soon find themselves short of talent.

      One big problem for Massachusetts is its reputation as a place that doesn’t welcome diversity. College recruiters, corporate human-resources directors, and others repeatedly find that talented people of color from other parts of the country are reluctant to locate here. The problem reached its peak during the bitter court-ordered busing conflicts in Boston in the 1970s, but it was simmering for decades before that. And it persists.

      Commonwealth Compact, a statewide program, was launched earlier this year to face the problem squarely and turn it around. The stated goal is to make Massachusetts a location of choice for people of color. This is no small ambition, we know. But the response has been so positive, so broad, and so fast that we are encouraged to hope real progress can be made.

      Driving our project is the belief that diversity is more than a moral or social issue. Real inclusion of all kinds of people, at all levels of organizations, is absolutely crucial if they hope to thrive in our shrinking world.

      Together with a group of more than 50 advisors from all segments of the community, and with the support of Gov. Patrick, the group’s creators agreed to confront honestly the question of how much of the state’s poor reputation is a leftover from busing and how much is still deserved; build on the work of other groups in the field, collaborating to expand their efforts and not competing; and rally a statewide community response.

      One first step was a survey by the McCormack School last year of more than 300 boards of directors. It found that 95% of members were white and 87 male in corporations, with numbers only slightly better for non-profit organizations. Other indicators were also discouraging: for instance, in paired tests of couples seeking housing, nearly half of those of color received fewer options or inferior financing.

      Commonwealth Compact’s Bench-marks Initiative seeks to encourage organizations of all kinds to respond with individual actions that could be very powerful collectively.

      Specifically, organizations are asked to measure annually their own diversity on a detailed list of 25 benchmarks, ranging from board membership through the workforce — including retention and promotion rates vs. white males — to policies relating to customers and suppliers. Individual information is confidential, but the data will be aggregated and reports issued. The object is improvement over time. To date, 125 organizations have signed on, including Staples, Raytheon, John Hancock, Harvard, MIT, UMass, Partners Health, Blue Cross Blue Shield and the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

      This strong response shows an enormous and heartening appetite to make real progress. To build further, Commonwealth Compact is preparing an online talent database of people of color, and a clearinghouse to connect people with ongoing agencies, programs, and events.

      We encourage organizations from all over the state to join the effort, so that inclusion really can be incorporated.-

      Robert Turner is the director of the Commonwealth Compact; (617) 287-5579.

      OPINION

      By
      Opinion
      Clearing the Path to a Greener Future

      The relentless surge in energy prices and growing concerns about global warming are motivating many of us to change the way we use energy. Compared with the same period a year earlier, Americans drove 22 billion fewer miles from last November through April. Demand for smaller, more fuel-efficient cars exceeds supply, as do seats on the MBTA at rush hour. Home-improvement stores struggle to meet demand for insulation and compact fluorescent lighting.

      Consumers are not the only ones changing their behavior. Recently, Gov. Deval Patrick, Senate President Therese Murray, and House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi led the effort to enact a comprehensive energy reform bill. The Green Communities Act is a critical step for Massachusetts. It has the potential to increase our energy efficiency, expand our use of renewable fuels, and stimulate the development of new energy technologies.

      This is especially important in Massa-chusetts, where we mainly use carbon-intensive fossil fuels, imported from far away and bought at premium prices. For this state, and many others like it, increasing efficiency and developing clean, indigenous, and sustainable fuels are the essential elements of a sound, long-term energy policy. The Green Communities Act is built on those essentials and gives Massachusetts the opportunity to lead the nation to a greener, and more affordable, energy era.

      The law uses both carrots and sticks to dramatically transform our energy infrastructure. It calls for the state to meet at least 25% of electricity demand through improved efficiency and another 20% through the use of renewable energy by the year 2020. It also seeks to reduce the use of fossil fuels in buildings by at least 10% and reduce total energy consumption by at least 10% in that same time frame. Among its many provisions, utilities are required to invest in efficiency before purchasing new supplies of electricity and are encouraged to own and operate solar generators. Power suppliers are encouraged to use combined heat and power systems, coal gasification, and even flywheel energy storage devices.

      While the new law is a major achievement, daunting challenges remain. Patrick and state regulatory agencies will have to decide just how much additional energy efficiency and renewable energy the state can afford. Investments in these programs are likely to reduce supply costs in future years, but increase total spending in the near term, at the very moment consumers are paying some of the highest prices in decades. The agencies will have to solve that age-old dilemma: how much to spend now to save later.

      Whatever balance is struck by the agencies, Patrick can be expected to feel the heat from both disappointed reformers and overburdened consumers as he works to implement progressive, but responsible, reforms. Likewise, the Legislature must confront a serious practical constraint on fulfillment of the law’s promise: the limited availability of skilled workers needed to rapidly expand our clean-energy output.

      Recognizing this, DiMasi, with support from Patrick and Murray, has filed a Green Jobs Act that proposes to reallocate more than $50 million of existing funds over five years to provide specialized clean-energy workforce-training programs.

      The consequences of the energy-reform measure will not be known for some time. And the debates over emerging new regulatory requirements and the funding of workforce-development programs will undoubtedly be intense. But with continued leadership from Patrick and the Legislature, these near-term challenges can be solved and unleash tremendous long-term opportunities. There is little doubt that our current direction is the right one. We should not let squabbles over exactly how we get there deflect us from our vital goal: a greener — and more affordable — energy future.-

      David L. O’Connor is senior vice president for energy and clean technology at ML Strategies and previously served as state commissioner of energy resources. Thomas R. Burton III is an attorney and chairman of the Energy and Clean Tech Practice Group at Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C.

      Opinion

      By
      Uncategorized

      When I graduated from high school in Guilford, Conn., more years ago than I’d like to admit, I wore a yellow rose pinned to my gown that was given to me and all of my classmates by Pinchbeck’s Rose Farm.

      Pinchbeck’s is a wholesale grower of cut roses that has been in business for 80 years. It’s no small operation. They have the largest greenhouse under one roof in the country and sell 3 million roses a year to florists all over Connecticut and New York City. Back when roses were shipped by rail, Pinchbeck roses were also sold in Boston.

      Pinchbeck’s managed to survive the Depression and several wars, but it can’t survive the importation of cheap roses from South America. And yesterday, Pinchbeck’s closed its wholesale business for good.

      Just a few years ago, there were a dozen wholesale rose growers in Connecticut, but according to Tom Pinchbeck, his business is the last of its kind in all of New England. The weak economy and rising energy costs, but mostly the competition from cheaper foreign imports, forced him to shut down.

      Revenue for the company, which employs 30 people, is half of what it was in 1990. Back then, imported roses were only about 5% of the U.S. market. Now more than 90% of all the cut roses sold in the U.S. come from outside our borders, most of them from Colombia, which is the world’s second-largest supplier of cut flowers.

      What’s happening may be inevitable, and it’s a story that is being repeated in other cities and towns around the country. When a well-loved store on Main Street closes its doors or a locally owned manufacturing facility shuts down, the benefits and support it provided to its community can’t be replaced by the economic upside of foreign trade.

      In 2007, the US trade deficit was $700 billion, a sobering number.

      Many people know a business like Pinchbeck’s that has been forced to close and someone who has lost their job because of cheaper foreign labor. The benefits of trade can be less personal and more diffuse — lower cost goods for U.S. consumers and the development of other kinds of businesses that can take advantage of U.S. strengths.

      But it can often be difficult to separate hard economic realities from personal stories when the factory in your town is shuttered and the folks you know are out of a job.

      Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential candidate, recently announced a trip to Colombia, undoubtedly to draw attention to the stalled trade agreement with that nation.

      House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats have put the brakes on consideration of the Colombia Free Trade Agreement. Pelosi has said domestic economic issues must be addressed before the trade agreement can be taken up, and she maintains that concerns about the effects of past trade agreements on the U.S. economy are driving her decision to go slow.

      The Democrats have also raised concerns about the treatment of trade unionists in Colombia, but mostly this seems like an effort to score political points with voters and organized labor in this country.

      Colombian-produced goods like roses can enter the U.S. duty-free, while American manufactured and agricultural goods exported to that country face stiff tariffs. The agreement under consideration would eliminate the tariffs on most U.S. goods entering Colombia, so ratification of the agreement should be a good thing for U.S. businesses.

      But with the American economy souring and voters in a somber mood, trade seems to be a dirty word.

      Even if it were ratified, the treaty wouldn’t help Pinchbeck’s Rose Farm. Selling roses to Colombia would be like carrying coals to Newcastle.

      Despite what’s happening to his business, Tom Pinchbeck isn’t bitter. “I tend to believe in free trade,” he says philosophically. “Things are going to get produced where they are more efficiently produced. To me it just seems inevitable.”-

      Linda Killian, a professor of Journalism and the director of Boston University’s Washington Journalism Center, is a public-policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. This article first appeared in the Boston Globe.

      OPINION

      By
      Opinion
      The Battle to Curb Public Pensions

      It’s one step forward, two steps back in the battle to bring pensions and other public-employee retirement benefits under control in Massachusetts. Beginning in January, MBTA retirees under 65 will contribute 15% toward the cost of their health insurance. Most T employees can retire with generous benefits after 23 years. Until now, those benefits included free health care for life. Not a bad deal, especially when you can retire in your 40s.

      Phasing in a plan that would have provided incentives for recent and soon-to-be retirees to choose less expensive health insurance, as proposed by a panel charged with assessing state transportation finances, would have been fairer to those nearing the 23-year mark, saved more money, and avoided a potential spate of retirements at the T. Still, treating younger MBTA retirees the same as retired state employees is a step in the right direction.

      But while most state workers pay around 10% of their salaries toward retirement, T employees still pay just 4%. Unlike state employee contributions — which are set by law — MBTA pension contributions are subject to collective bargaining.

      At least the MBTA pension situation isn’t getting any worse. An amendment adopted during the state House of Representatives budget debate and included in the Senate’s recent budget proposal increases from $12,000 to $16,000 the amount upon which cost-of-living increases are calculated for teacher and other state retiree pensions. Earlier this month, busloads of retired teachers descended on the State House to lobby for pending legislation that would guarantee future escalation by linking the base amount to the consumer price index.

      The change would raise the average pension just $120 for the coming year. But compounded annually, the move could end up costing taxpayers more than $8 billion.

      Next year, taxpayers will pay almost $1.5 billion out of a likely $28 billion budget to retire the Commonwealth’s more than $13 billion unfunded pension liability. Hiking retirement benefits would extend the time at which state pension obligations will be fully funded from 2023 to 2026.

      State Treasurer Tim Cahill warns against extending the date, saying it could hurt the Commonwealth’s bond rating. The higher interest costs that would result are no small matter, given that $16 billion in new borrowing has either recently been approved or appears headed toward approval.

      Payments to retire the liability are set to increase each year, reaching more than $2.8 billion in 2023. That means three additional years would cost taxpayers more than $8 billion. Keeping to the current schedule would result in the annual sum rising even higher than $2.8 billion by 2023.

      Part of the problem with the Commonwealth’s pension system is that it’s just too easy to push the burden out to future generations. Three early-retirement programs earlier this decade saved money in the short term, but added nearly $2 billion to overall liability.

      Reining in pensions is not about shortchanging public employees. For years, the argument was that government workers got rich benefits to make up for lower pay. But according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, public employees in Eastern Mass. now earn 15% more than their private-sector counterparts who perform comparable work, and that number is exclusive of more generous government benefit packages.

      The new health care reform law is just one of the priorities Massachusetts is struggling to fund. If not for the nearly $1.5 billion taxpayers will have to put toward retiring unfunded pension liability next year, the Commonwealth could pay costs related to the law; eliminate the need to pull $400 million from the rainy day fund, as the state Senate did to balance its budget proposal; and still have money left over. That’s why we have to resist the pressure to add to already-staggering liabilities.-

      Charles Chieppo is a senior fellow at the Pioneer Institute. This article first appeared in the Boston Globe.

      OPINION

      By
      Opinion
      Averting an Energy Crisis

      Gas prices are skyrocketing; the average price of a gallon of regular hit $4 last week. Venezuela has threatened to cut off oil exports to the United States. The dollar has fallen by 30% against the euro over the past two years. Could things possibly get worse?

      Yes. Real-world events underscore our nation’s acute energy-security vulnerabilities. Over the past year, oil prices have surged in a short period of time without any single precipitating event. The effects are stark. Every $10 increase in the annual price of a barrel of oil costs the economy $75 billion.

      The average American household spends $5,750 a year on energy, up more than $2,000 from just four years ago. The increase in the cost of gasoline alone amounts to a more than $1,500 tax on the typical American family. Over much of the past decade, Americans have been able to compensate for rising energy costs by drawing on the also-rising equity of their homes. But that did not solve the problem; it camouflaged it. And now that the mortgage crisis and the resulting collapse in property values have taken that crutch away, Americans are more conscious of the impact of the rising cost of oil on their livelihoods.

      The United States consumes 25% of the world’s oil: 21 million barrels every single day. The transportation sector — not just cars, but the trucks and airplanes that are crucial to delivering goods and services — use petroleum products for 97% of its energy needs. And the picture is not getting any better: demand in the United States is expected to grow by 30% — to 27 million barrels per day by 2030.

      Add to this continued instability — and in some cases, hostility — in some of the world’s most prolific oil-producing nations, and the conclusion is clear: America’s dependence on oil, particularly oil from unstable and undemocratic parts of the world, threatens national security and economic stability.

      Recently, in the Forum of the Harvard Kennedy School, a group of former high-level government officials gathered to take part in Oil ShockWave, a high-tech, realistic simulation exercise based on an all-too-possible scenario: a series of geopolitical events leading to a sudden and sustained jump in the price of oil.

      The simulation illustrates how one small event in one corner of the world can cascade through the entire global supply system. Courses of action, at that point, would be limited. Would Americans accept an emergency restriction on driving, rationing, or forced carpools? Would we have to deplete our strategic stores, which are held in reserve largely for extreme contingencies, including military shortages? Would we be willing to send troops to secure oil facilities abroad? Would we have to bow to the demands of nations like Iran and Venezuela?

      This is not just the stuff of Tom Clancy; these are scenarios we may have to one day face if we continue down our current path. None of them is palatable, and none is even guaranteed to work. Once the crisis occurs, it is already too late.

      The objective is to keep the crisis from occurring. Since we cannot control the entire global oil market, we need to do the next best thing: reduce our dependence on oil and increase our resilience and capacity to cope with interruptions. There are meaningful steps we can take, from reducing demand through fuel economy and other standards to increasing the production and deployment of alternatives, to looking at other methods of powering our transportation sector (like electricity), to expanding domestic production of energy in an environmentally responsible way, to working in concert with other major consumers to increase strategic reserves.

      The alternative — waiting until the real crisis occurs — is unacceptable.-

      Graham Allison is director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School. Robbie Diamond is founder and president of Securing America’s Future Energy.

      OPINION

      By
      Opinion
      Budgeting Should Be Based on Results

      Elections are exciting; budget debates are not. Millions are enthralled by the neck-and-neck Democratic primaries, but I don’t know anyone who spent the recent state budget week glued to Google News for the latest from Beacon Hill. If public participation in government is good, then it is surely bad that most of us happily ignore the Great and General Court as it makes some of the most important decisions in government, allocating billions to public safety, schools, and health care.

      Arguing over a few billion dollars of school spending is never going to be as thrilling as debating tales of 10-year-old sniper fire or an awkward, acrid adjective like ‘bitter,’ but perhaps more people would pay attention to the state budget if we knew what our tax dollars were doing. Since few of us understand the impact of an extra dollar on schools or safety or hospitals, public budget discussions turn into empty, dull displays of fidelity to abstract ideals. Supporting state aid to schools becomes a means of showing love for children. Supporting infrastructure signals foresight about the state’s economic future.

      I care about bridges and tunnels, public safety, and hospitals. As the father of three small children, I certainly care about schools. But I can care about these things without having any idea about whether the state should increase spending in any of these areas. Without a better idea of what an extra dollar on schools or hospitals or safety accomplishes, I can’t possibly know where our extra dollars should go.

      When a corporation invests in a division or product line, the firm will evaluate the impact new investment will have on profits. The government’s investment decisions are more important than those made by any firm, and the need for transparent and compelling public investment criteria is just as strong. Just because governments have more holistic objectives doesn’t mean that governments shouldn’t weigh costs and benefits. Yet the Commonwealth is a long way from having a budget process that clearly allocates spending to high-return activities.

      Here are five steps that could help:

      First, lawmakers should drop any presumption that this year’s budget allocations should look like last year’s budget allocations. A better rule of thumb would be that, unless a budget item shows success, spending should be cut by 10% each year. A norm of reducing budgetary allocations should help avoid spending sclerosis and provide plenty of incentive to document results.

      Second, the Commonwealth needs to frankly discuss how to weigh different goals. A faltering economy will probably keep revenues low over the next few years. Hard tradeoffs are inevitable, but few leaders have honestly debated how much value to place on a better-educated child versus a healthier adult.

      Third, budgetary proposals should reflect the current scientific knowledge about the impact of different forms of spending. Dozens of studies suggest that routine increases in school spending have little impact on children’s outcomes; there is more of a consensus supporting the benefits of pre-kindergarten programs. Budget boosters have an obligation to present peer-reviewed evidence supporting claims that their spending proposal will result in some desirable outcome.

      Fourth, state aid to localities should be tied to ongoing improvements in local government outcomes. School aid can be tied to improved student performance; police aid can be based on victimization surveys. Connecting aid to outcomes creates incentives for local governments to make measurable progress.

      Fifth, budgetary increases should always be designed to make future evaluation more transparent. New programs can be phased in across localities to make evaluation easier and structured so that before-and-after comparisons are more revealing. We desperately need knowledge about the impact of government spending, so any new spending category should help provide that data.

      State and local governments enrich our lives in countless ways, and state budgets are important. I’d like to see the public bring the same excitement to budget week as it does to a three-game Red Sox series against the Yankees. The budget process would get more interesting if the debate was filled with meaningful facts and if spending was based on results.-

      Edward L. Glaeser, a professor of Econom-ics at Harvard University, is director of the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston.

      OPINION

      By
      Opinion
      Investing in the Nation’s Future

      In Mumbai last November, I addressed a conference of India’s leading CEOs. Their interests had a single focus: what makes the American system of higher education such a powerful force for U.S. prosperity?

      It was not an idle question, as India builds economic momentum. From 12,000 miles away, they understood something easy to lose sight of here at home — that this country’s distinctively open, varied, and competitive system of higher education has served both as an escalator of individual social mobility and as an engine of our country’s economic growth. Can we afford not to continue to invest in the future of our people and our nation?

      Since the GI Bill dramatically expanded America’s middle class by educating half of all returning World War II veterans, the personal value of higher education has been broadly accepted. It opens your mind, and it also expands your prospects. According to the U.S. Census, over the past 20 years, households with an increase in real income were overwhelmingly headed by someone with at least a college degree.

      Perhaps less obvious but equally important is the vital role of higher education in our economy as a source of both innovators and innovations. Indeed, MIT economist and Nobel Laureate Robert Solow estimates that more than half of America’s economic growth since World War II can be traced to technological innovation — much of it spawned through government-funded, university-based research.

      Backed by extensive federal investment, America’s research universities have invented many of the disciplines and technologies that define modern life, from computer science to biological engineering, from the laser to the foundations of the Internet. If you doubt the value of federal research funding, consider this: over the past 30 years, NIH investments of $4 per American per year in cardiovascular research have led to a 63% decrease in mortality from heart disease. Yet, the Administration’s proposed NIH budget for FY 2009 represents a drop of 13% from 2003 in actual, inflation-adjusted health-science spending.

      Our local economy benefits profoundly from the dense concentration of colleges and universities. The region’s eight research universities employ nearly 50,000 people and provide a total regional economic impact, including everything from payroll and construction costs to student spending, of more than $7 billion. What’s more, when research universities attract federal research dollars, those funds not only support individual labs, but buoy the state’s economy as well.

      Our system of higher education has, indeed, earned the envy of the world, as I heard in India. According to a Shanghai Jiao Tung University survey, the U.S. still boasts 17 of the world’s top 20 research universities. Not surprisingly, other countries are actively copying our success. China is making dramatic investments in its universities, with the aim of vaulting five of them into the top-20 ranking by 2020.

      In this global context, it is particularly important to understand America’s higher-education system as a strength to be nurtured. We must continue to improve the quality of higher education and to increase accessibility. America needs a highly educated workforce. The nation also needs the fruits of university innovation. At this moment of exceptional promise in fields from energy technology to cancer research, the federal commitment to basic research is faltering. Funding for research in the physical sciences has been flat for decades. Overall federal research investment has fallen from 2% of GDP in the mid-1960s to eight-tenths of 1% today.

      The result of such shortsighted research investment policies can be measured in opportunities lost: opportunities to attract the best young researchers, to accelerate the clock of discovery, and to conquer humanity’s most urgent challenges. It is time to ask just how much it would it be worth investing, as a nation, to invent our way to a better, cleaner, healthier future.-

      Susan Hockfield is president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This article first appeared in the Boston Globe.

      ‘Knock on Wood’

      By
      Features

      It’s Not Exactly Business as Usual in the Valley, but There’s No Panic, Either

      ‘Survival mode.’
      That’s a term being seen and heard with increasing frequency these days as the media covers the ongoing economic downturn and how individuals, families, businesses, and municipalities are responding to life within it.

      This phrase and others like it may accurately depict the current picture within some areas of the country, and even some parts of the Bay State, said Ken Albano — putting the accent on ‘may’ — but they’re a bit overblown for the Pioneer Valley, where, it seems, most companies seem intent on doing more than merely surviving.

      “A lot of people are saying, ‘knock on wood, I’m doing OK,’” said Albano, a business law specialist with the Springfield-based firm Bacon and Wilson, who spoke about life for his clients, as well as for his law firm. “They’re just not saying it very loud because they’d prefer to fly under the radar screen and not say they’re doing OK, in case something happens.”

      Others used different words and phrases to convey essentially the same thing — that the economic downturn (there still appears to be some debate over whether this is officially a recession) has business owners cautious and wary about what might happen. But no one is yet drawing up comparisons to 1991, the height of the last deep recession, when the phones simply stopped ringing at many companies.

      It’s not exactly business as usual in this region, by most accounts, and there are some definite signs that times are tough. Indeed, the demise of low-cost carrier Skybus earlier this month brought the downturn home to the Valley and, specifically, to Westover Metropolitan Airport in Chicopee, with an exclamation point. Meanwhile, there are real concerns about the residential real-estate market and its fate. There is talk of large-scale cutbacks across the Commonwealth as state and municipal officials grapple with budget deficits and declining tax revenues, and most all businesses have been touched in some way by high gas prices and sky-high diesel fuel prices.

      But many of those asked to give a quarter-pole analysis of 2008 and the state of the local economy were sounding mostly optimistic tones. Here are some observations:

      • Laura Stevens, president of the regional offices of Keller Williams Realty, said that, contrary to popular opinion, houses are moving — if they’re priced right, that is. “The problem we have is that a lot of people simply don’t want to believe that their house has lost 10% of its value since last year, and they’re stubborn,” she said, referring to the average drop in the Valley, by most estimates, that she believes represents a market correction that was overdue. Stevens remains optimistic that sellers will come to grips with reality and that, likewise, buyers will realize that there is no real advantage to waiting, two prerequisites for reducing a bloated inventory that is keeping prices lower. The question is, when?

      • Arlene Putnam, general manager of the Eastfield Mall in Springfield, said most retailers there enjoyed a fairly strong February — “why, no one is really sure.” Despite mostly gloom-and-doom headlines and sound bites locally and nationally, she expects this sector to hold its own amid a general decline in consumer confidence and capitalize on those economic-stimulus checks that people will be getting later this year.

      • Kenneth Boutin, senior vice president and senior credit officer at Holyoke-based PeoplesBank, wasn’t projecting a strong first quarter for commercial lending activity last fall, but to his surprise the numbers are solid, with business owners in many sectors making investments in new equipment and facilities. Some industry groups are doing better than others, he acknowledged — hospitality is struggling somewhat, for example — but most are exercising caution, not hunkering down.

      • Joe Ascioti, president of Reliable Temps in Agawam, said that, thus far, he’s seeing little evidence of companies cutting back or delaying planned hiring. He admits, though, that the picture is seriously clouded by the much-bigger story — ongoing struggles in many sectors to find enough good help. This is evidence, he said, that shortages in labor that many have projected for years down the road — when smaller generations are going to be asked, unrealistically, to fill the huge void left by retiring Baby Boomers — are already here.

      In this issue, BusinessWest takes an in-depth look at the economy as the second quarter of ’08 begins, and the issues that will determine what happens short- and long-term.

      House Money

      Stevens told BusinessWest that, in response to one reporter’s question a few months ago, she said that “if there was a recession, her company was choosing not to participate in it.”

      That was her way of saying that Keller Williams is having a solid start to ’08 and that, overall, the local housing market is not as depressed as many other areas of the country, nor is the picture as bad as most would believe.

      She used the word “stable,” and went so far as to say that a long, bleak winter may have as much to do with the current conditions as any downturn in the economy, and that the picture will improve when the weather does.

      “We’ve been ignoring the headlines and advising our clients to essentially do the same,” she said. “We tell them that if they put a reasonable price on their house, someone will buy it. I can sell anyone’s house in a day — you just have to price it right.”

      It appears that not enough people in the Valley are heeding such advice, because the local housing market has declined to the point where firms such as Bacon Wilson, which handle large volumes of real estate closings, are certainly feeling an impact on the bottom line.

      Albano said this is part of a broad trickle-down effect from a slow housing market that he and most others believe is perhaps the most important factor impacting the fate of the local economy short- and long-term. That’s because this trickle-down impacts businesses ranging from law firms to homebuilders to retailers, and it’s real, based on what he’s seen and heard anecdotally.

      “It all starts with the real estate market, and right now, it’s slow,” he said, adding that he can qualify matters more easily than he can quantify them. “There were times during the boom three or four years ago when a deal would come in the door and you’d have to order a title exam from the local title examiner. The feedback you’d get was, ‘maybe next week at the earliest.’ That’s not happening now; people are sitting around waiting for the phone to ring because people aren’t buying and selling homes.

      “I represent a few local developers who opted to get into the over-55-development concept,” he continued. “It still is a great concept … but for people to move into one of these complexes, they need to sell their house; there’s a big backlog of inventory at these over-55 developments because people have signed up to move in but they can’t until they close on their existing home.”

      While he insists he’s a “glass-half-full person,” and sees plenty of positive signs regarding the economy, Albano says the residential market is the key, and there are real questions about when it will rebound. “I’m glad I’m not a mortgage broker right now, and I’m glad I’m not a Realtor.”

      Stevens is a Realtor, and she expressed some cautious optimism that the market will improve, but included a number of caveats. Specifically, she said some attitudes will have to change if the big picture is to brighten considerably.

      Elaborating, she said that both buyers and sellers should think through their strategic outlook and not respond to headlines, perceptions, or their what neighbor might be thinking or doing. For sellers, she said, most expectations on price are not realistic, and this is contributing to high inventory: “if a house is priced right, it will sell; if it’s not, it won’t.” As for buyers, if they wait to pull the trigger due to reasonable expectations that prices will go still lower, they will only see any benefit offset by rising interest rates.

      When or how much they’ll rise is anyone’s guess, she continued, but logic dictates that they can’t go much, if any, lower. “Once the economy stabilizes, rates will rise, and buyers will be sorry.”

      Overall, Stevens said sellers are only hurting matters by rushing to sell now, amid fears that conditions will only worsen. Such actions will simply turn those fears into reality, she explained, because a glut of homes with ‘for sale’ signs keeps prices down, while giving buyers more reason to hesitate, which just deepens the cycle.

      “More people are trying to sell because they fear what’s coming — sellers are the ones panicking the market,” she said, noting that her firm currently has about 130 listings, when it normally would have roughly 90. “If they would just stay put, the inventory would go down, buyers wouldn’t have so much to choose from, and they’d bid against each other on houses.”

      Banking on It

      While the residential housing market bears watching, so too does the commercial-lending realm; when conditions worsen, some business owners will put off expansion plans or investments in new equipment and facilities until they feel more confident about the future.

      But thus far in ’08, there has been little such hesitancy, said Boutin, who admits to being more than little surprised by the numbers recorded by the PeoplesBank commercial-lending department thus far this year.

      “We’re ahead of the pace for the past few years,” he said, attributing this to, among other things, several strong sectors, including health care and education, as well as a manufacturing base that is considerably smaller than it was years ago, but still has many strong players that have flourished in niche markets.

      “This market doesn’t see as the highs or the lows that other areas, like Boston, do,” he said, referring to the Valley’s traditional performance during economic declines and upswings. “We’re ‘steady Eddie.’”

      Donna Bliznak, vice president of Commercial Loans at PeoplesBank, told BusinessWest that there isn’t much, if any, speculative borrowing at present, but companies are responding to what they need in terms of growth strategies. She cited one manufacturer that secured $1 million for new equipment and another that borrowed $2 million to invest in new technology. “There’s been a steady stream of business coming in the door.”

      Mary Meehan, another vice president of commercial loans at PeoplesBank, said the commercial real-estate market remains fairly steady, with many clients and potential clients looking for investment opportunities.

      Still, all three bankers noted that it’s early in ’08, and many business owners are still analyzing year-end accounting statements. The next few months will provide a good barometer of overall business confidence, said Bliznak, adding that some sectors are more vulnerable to worsening conditions than others.

      One sector that would certainly appear to be in harm’s way is retail, and some components of this industry, especially restaurants, hotels, and other hospitality-related businesses, are being impacted as consumers tighten their belts.

      Putnam acknowledged that seemingly non-stop gloom-and-doom coverage of the scene nationally tends to wear down consumers — “those headlines scare people” — but she is optimistic that the worse may be over, and some first-quarter numbers support her positive feelings.

      Indeed, while most retailers did not enjoy a good holiday season and that trend continued into ’08, there was, at least at Eastfield Mall, a noticeable bounce in February.

      “Many of our stores reported increases over last year’s numbers,” said Putnam, adding that some imaginative steps, such as a ‘summer in February’ program staged during school vacation week, succeeded in bringing people to the mall.

      “And if you can get them to the mall, they will spend money in the stores and eat lunch here,” she said, adding that confidence among consumers remains generally high locally, and it should remain that way unless the situation changes for the worse in dramatic fashion.

      And she doesn’t believe it will. A veteran of several economic cycles, Putnam said that, generally, when people start talking about definitely being in a recession (as many economists are with regard to the current conditions), the nation is already on its way out of recession.

      “I think we’ve hit that magic point, and there’s no place to go but up,” she said, expressing confidence that a presidential election, which generally helps boost an economy, coupled with those economic-stimulus checks, should brighten the picture for retailers within a few months, and certainly by back-to-school sales time.

      What the jobs picture will look like by then is anyone’s guess, said Ascioti, who admitted that he is having a hard time making complete sense of what’s going on now. In general, he said, businesses are not showing signs of cutting back or putting off hiring, and are proceeding as they would during better times.

      But there is a problem, he continued, noting that businesses in many sectors continue to struggle in their search for qualified help. Many are turning to companies like Reliable Temps for help, he continued, which helps explain a strong Q4 in ’07 and a good start to ’08 for the firm.

      “Companies are wanting us to find them good, quality people they can hire, and to me, that’s not indicative of a recession,” he said. “All of our seasonal people are starting to pick up, and our phones are ringing; we’re seeing a lot of people looking for work.”

      But it leads to questions for the long term. “People were projecting that, down the road, there would be real shortages of people for many different jobs because the Boomers would be retiring and there wouldn’t be enough members of the younger generations willing to go into those fields,” he said. “Well, it’s starting to happen now.”

      Summing things up, Albano said Bacon Wilson is responding to the current downtown as most responsible businesses would — with caution and what he called “smart spending.”

      This strategic approach applies to everything from additional hiring to marketing to charitable giving, such as sponsorship of benefit golf tournaments. “We’re going to be prudent and spend when and how it makes sense to do so.”

      That’s all most companies are doing for now, he said, displaying that ‘glass-half-full’ mentality. “I talk to a lot of people in business, and, for the most part, they are doing OK.”

      Knock on wood.

      Course Management

      By
      Tim Kurty
      Sections Supplements
      There’s Often Some Rough Going in the Business of Golf
      Tim Kurty

      Tim Kurty at the ‘new’ Mill Valley Golf Links.

      It looks like fun — and sometimes it is. But owning and managing a golf course is also hard work, and there are challenges around every dogleg. Owners must contend with mounting competition, swings in the economy, and even the weatherman and the dreaded five-day forecast.

      If Tim Kurty could do it all over again, he would probably change the name.

      When some people hear ‘Mill Valley Golf Links,’ they summon memories from a few decades ago, he said, when the always-picturesque course in Belchertown had only nine holes, was too short by most players’ standards, and was in pretty tough shape, primarily because previous ownership didn’t invest in automatic watering equipment.

      “None of that is true anymore,” said Kurty, a retired MassMutual employee who bought the facility nearly a decade ago with two partners and is now the sole owner. “But a lot of people go with what they remember, and they only know the old Mill Valley.”

      Getting them to try the new version, which opened nine new holes in 2004, is one of many challenges facing Kurty, who is a proud member of a fairly unique fraternity — entrepreneurs trying to make it in a changing, and in many ways more difficult, golf industry.

      “A lot of people say this is a dying sport,” said Kurty, repeating an often-voiced opinion that the game does not resonate with younger generations, despite the presence of Tiger Woods, and that the future doesn’t look as bright as the present or certainly the past. He doesn’t agree with that sentiment, at least based on what he can see from his clubhouse porch. Indeed, Mill Valley, despite those perceptions he noted, remains a popular venue, especially among women and couples, who come to socialize as much as to play golf.

      Still, this is a tough business, he acknowledged, one in which players — meaning those owning the golf courses, not those playing them — must be diligent about all the factors they can control, especially the applicable contributors to overhead, because there are many things they can’t control, like diesel fuel prices or the state of the economy.

      And don’t forget about the weather — or the daily forecasts of same.

      Ted Perez Jr. gives the five-day forecast a prominent place on the list of challenges facing course owners, right there beside soaring insurance costs and a growing population of municipally owned courses that don’t have the same expenses, or revenue pressures, as the privately owned tracks.

      “People like those five-day forecasts,” said Perez, the pro at East Mountain Country Club, a course built by his father in the early ’60s only a drive and a wedge from the main runway at Barnes Municipal Airport in Westfield. “The problem is, the forecasters tend to play up the negative, even the slightest bit of it. If there’s 30% chance of rain, that means there’s a 70% chance that it won’t. But what graphic do they use? — the one of the cloud with rain coming out of it; people see that on Tuesday, and they change their plans for Saturday.”

      Paul Napolitan doesn’t like the long-range forecasts, either, and he says the shorter-range variety can also cause trouble.

      “They kept saying it was going to rain yesterday,” said Napolitan, co-owner with his brother, Tom, of St. Anne’s Country Club in Agawam, which was built by their father in 1963 on his family’s farm. “My office has all kinds of windows … I kept looking out them, saying, ‘where’s that rain?’ We never got a drop, and that happens all the time.”

      Despite those inaccurate forecasts, St. Anne’s has seen steady increases in rounds and revenues over the past several years. Napolitan attributes this to his ability to deliver value — St. Anne’s has one of the lowest rates in the area and is in generally good condition — and some imaginative steps that bring benefits to players and, especially, associate members.

      Take his so-called ‘points program,’ for example.

      Members get points for each dollar they spend beyond their yearly dues, he explained. When they reach 200, they’ve earned a free round, and at lower thresholds they can earn a sleeve of balls or other equipment.

      “We’re innovative here … we do a lot for our members,” he said. “You have to be creative today and really focus on customer service. It’s not like the old days when you could wait for business to come to you; now, you have to earn their business.”

      In this issue, BusinessWest talks with some individuals who won’t round up or down when talking about how many Saturdays were washouts last year — they know exactly, and, fortunately, it wasn’t a big number — and who say that, while golf is a sport, it’s also a very competitive business, and in both cases, it’s not as easy as it looks.

      Avoiding the Rough

      Before talking with BusinessWest on the warm but misty Tuesday that Napolitan referenced (in fairness to the forecasters, it did rain a little in Belchertown), Kurty had just finished putting out yardage markers on several holes. These are white poles placed on the edges of the fairways to tell players when they are 200, 150, or 100 yards from the middle of the green. Earlier in the day, he rung up a few greens fees, sold a membership, took a beer delivery, and met with his insurance agent.

      This, he said, is life for a golf course owner like himself, and it is a matter of necessity, not want.

      “People have to be able to do everything here,” he explained, adding that it is not uncommon for those who mow the fairways to fill in behind the bar or in the kitchen if needed.

      There is no counter in the pro shop at Mill Valley — “people get trapped behind a counter,” said Kurty — and one person will usually act as cashier, armed with a wireless credit-card swiper, starter (the individual charged with getting groups off in good order), and designated checker for coolers; courses lose money when players bring their own beer on the course, and there are strictly enforced rules forbidding such action.

      Perez can relate to all this. On the day he spoke to BusinessWest, he opened the pro shop, as he always does, but also got a pot of coffee going in the snack bar area in preparation for a group of senior men heading out in about a half hour; it’s still early in the season, and the person handling the snack bar doesn’t come in until 8:30 or so — much later than she would in the middle of summer — to reduce costs.

      The ability to multi-task is just one skill that golf course owners and managers must possess, said Napolitan, adding that they must also be determined, imaginative, and responsive to the needs of customers.

      These are all lessons he learned while growing up with the game — and the business.

      His father started with nine holes that he designed and built himself, and added a second nine in 1970. Napolitan said he handled every job there is on a golf course, starting when he was in grade school. “I was a cart kid, I washed dishes … I did everything.”

      Those experiences gave him an appreciation for how a staff has to work together efficiently to make an operation run profitably, he said, before returning to that word ‘innovative’ to describe the approach he and his brother take at St. Anne’s.

      “Sometimes it’s little things, but important things, like our cart enclosures,” he explained, referring to the devices that protect occupants from cold, wind, and rain. “Things like that add up; overall, though, it comes down to having what every business must have — a good product.”

      That adjective couldn’t be applied to Mill Valley, or at least not to the course, said Kurty, when he and partners Silvia Bertolaccini, a former LPGA player; and Stan Kogut, the long-time course superintendent at Ludlow Country Club, acquired it.

      So the three pumped some money into the layout and the clubhouse, with the goal of building upon a loyal membership base that existed despite the course’s problems. The biggest investment came in the form of a second nine holes.

      The partners acquired 150 acres from the Canadian National Railroad, then swapped that land for 54 acres closer to the original nine holes that were owned by the town. Kurty and Kogut, who passed away last year, designed a few of the new holes themselves, and also did some of the tree-clearing work while also handling the extensive permitting and red tape that accompany such an undertaking.

      “When you build a golf course, you get to meet a lot of people at the DEP,” said Kurty, referring to the state Department of Environmental Protection. “And you get to know them on a first-name basis.”

      The investments, totaling roughly $3 million, have paid off, said Kurty, noting that they have helped to stabilize and expand the membership base, while also (through the help of some aggressive marketing) bringing some new players to the course. Overall, the Mill Valley operation is at or near the break-even point financially, and with most of the hard work and major expenditures in the rear-view mirror, the future looks bright.

      “The course just has to mature some,” noted Kurty, adding quickly, however, that he, like all course owners, must be diligent to control expenses, while making the venue attractive to a broad range of constituencies.

      Going for the Green

      Perez concurred. He said there was a time when the nickname ‘Easy Mountain’ used to bother members of his family. It doesn’t anymore.

      The moniker has become part of the local golfing lexicon to connote that the layout is not as demanding as most others, primarily because it’s short and, for the most part, wide open. Some steps, such as the addition of a few new sand traps, have been taken over the years to make the course a little tougher, said Perez, but “the Mountain,” as it’s also called, will always be what his father intended it to be — a place for working people of average golfing skills — and it won’t pretend to be anything else.

      “Nowhere on the scorecard does it say that this is a ‘championship’ course, because it’s not,” he said, adding that the track appeals to a broad range of players, including women, and this helps at a time when competition is mounting, the number of golfers remains relatively flat, costs are soaring, and courses like East Mountain simply can’t pass on all those increases to the players in the form of higher greens fees.

      Not when there are several municipal courses in the area that have lower fees, lower expenses, and even get grants from the Legislature, like the one given to the Ledges in South Hadley to build a new clubhouse.

      “They got a $260,000 grant — they don’t have to pay that back,” said Perez in a voice displaying a sense of astonishment, as he referenced the Ledges, the still-struggling ‘muni’ that opened a few years ago. “Some legislators told us that municipal golf courses were long ago put in the category of parks and recreation. Well, it’s not recreation, it’s a business.

      “It’s not a level playing field,” he continued, referring, again, to the municipal tracks and some of the competitive advantages they enjoy. “We put a big addition on our clubhouse years ago … we got a grant, too; it was called a loan from the bank, and we had to pay ours back; banks are rather insistent about that.”

      While he tried, unsuccessfully, not to rant about municipally owned courses, Perez said they comprise just one of the challenges facing golf-course owners today. Overall, he said, there are still ample revenues for the courses in the area, but expenses are rising at an alarming rate, and facilities like his can’t pass them on.

      Using diesel fuel as an example, he said those skyrocketing costs touch everything from the equipment used on the course to the food served in the snack bar. Meanwhile, other costs, from labor to insurance, are also soaring.

      “Our insurance bill this year is $149,000,” he said. “Just 12 or 15 years ago, it was more like $50,000. Many of our expenses are moving in that same direction, so you have to get as many rounds as you can.”

      Thus, East Mountain opens early in the season and stays open late — it has developed a reputation as a course one can play when others are closed — but sometimes Mother Nature prevails, such as this past winter.

      “We closed last December 3rd, and didn’t open again until March 14th,” said Perez, adding that he doesn’t have to check those dates — they’re etched in his memory. “In the winter of ’06 and ’07, we were closed for seven weeks total; this past winter it was three and a half months. Things have a way of balancing out, but it’s hard when you have no control over things.”

      To survive and thrive in this environment, said Kurty, privately owned courses have to do whatever is necessary to control overhead, while also being creative in developing new revenue streams and creating new customers.

      As an example, he pointed to the two large card tables that were still occupying the pro shop in early April. They were used for Texas hold ’em events on Friday nights during the winter, one of the many steps taken to keep revenues coming in during the long offseason.

      Kurty went as far as to describe Mill Valley as “a great sports bar with a golf course wrapped around it.” Elaborating, he cited events such as regular summer clambakes; for $45, participants can play a round of golf and eat lobster and clams.

      Napolitan told BusinessWest that the focus on customer service at St. Anne’s has yielded strong results. The club now boasts 600 members and has been averaging nearly 50,000 rounds per year, which is about the max.

      “We peaked in 2005 — it was so crowded we couldn’t get people out,” he said, adding that volume has decreased only slightly, and he believes the future is looking good for his club and the industry in general.

      “I think golf is picking up, and Tiger Woods has certainly had something to do with that — he’s bringing people into the game,” he said. “Overall, this is still a fun business. I love it; it’s great coming to work every day.”

      Perez wouldn’t go that far.

      “This used to be fun, and a lot easier — if you had a course in the ’90s and it wasn’t making money, something was wrong,” he said. “Now, it’s a lot harder.”

      Clubhouse Turn

      Perez told BusinessWest that his now-semi-retired father still jokes about one of the things he would do if he could do it all over again.

      “He said he would have bought up all the radio stations in the area,” said Perez, “and for the weather forecasts, every day they would say ‘sunny and in the 80s.’”

      That would have eliminated just one of the challenges facing golf course owners, and there are plenty more, as Perez and others noted.

      This is a realm the Legislature may consider parks and recreation, but it is really a business — one in which adversity as well as storm clouds (real and proverbial) are par for the course.v

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

      OPINION

      By
      Opinion
      The Teen Job Crisis

      In the 1990s, many young people worked both year-round and seasonally in communities across Massachusetts — in construction, retail, finance, parks and playgrounds, and community centers. Today, however, the level of national joblessness for teens is greater than at any time over the past 60 years, and this summer will produce a new record unemployment rate unless we take action now.

      The collapse of the teen labor market has affected all demographic and socioeconomic groups. There are, however, large gaps in teen employment rates across race-ethnic and income groups. During an average month in 2007, only 20% of black teens across the nation had jobs, compared to 30% of Hispanics and 40% of white non-Hispanics.

      The teen job market in Massachusetts has also collapsed since the late 1990s. Despite modest growth in overall payroll employment, the state’s teen employment rate last year was only 38%, a 30-year low. The state is no longer a national leader in the employment of teens, whether in school or out of school.

      There are many reasons to care about rising youth joblessness. Path dependency is strong in teen employment behavior. The more teens work this year, the more they work next year. Less work experience today leads to less work experience tomorrow and lower earnings down the road. Disadvantaged teens who work in high school are more likely to remain in high school than their peers who do not work. Teens who work more in high school have an easier transition into the labor market after graduation. National evidence shows that pregnancy rates for teens are lower in metropolitan areas where female teen employment rates are higher.

      Congress had an opportunity to boost teen and young adult employment this year when it passed a fiscal stimulus package to boost consumer spending. Yet despite efforts led by U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy and evidence that job-creation programs have been found to be effective in creating new jobs for teens, particularly low-income teens, the White House and the congressional leadership killed the proposal to add $1 billion to create jobs for teens and unemployed young adults.

      There are a variety of workforce-development strategies that can be pursued to boost teen employment opportunities this year.

      First, the summer youth employment program funded by Congress for the past 35 years to create jobs in the nonprofit and public sectors should be reinstituted with an appropriation of at least $1.5 billion. Funds also could be used by state and local workforce investment boards to subsidize jobs for teens in the private, for-profit sector.

      Second, the existing network of one-stop career centers should be assigned a priority to recruit and place teens in jobs.

      Third, recent efforts by the Patrick administration to create year-round jobs for youth should be expanded in every region of the Commonwealth and supported by the Legislature.

      Fourth, state funding for school-to- career connecting activities programs that support local workforce boards to develop year-round and summer intern jobs for high school teens should be expanded to boost access to a wider variety of jobs in the state’s economy.

      The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics preliminary payroll numbers for February are down 63,000 jobs from the previous month. The governor must provide leadership to engage Congress, the business community, and elected officials to follow the lead of Boston, where Mayor Thomas Menino has aggressively recruited jobs for teens in private sector firms.

      Young people are leaving Massachusetts in record numbers. The state needs to make youth joblessness a priority in order to keep them here.

      Andrew Sum is director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University. Don Gillis is executive director of the Mass. Workforce Board Assoc.

      OPINION

      By
      Opinion
      The State Is Thinking Big on Energy

      Thinking big is not something new to Massachusetts. It was a president from here who declared his goal in 1961 to put someone on the moon, and less than a decade later the country did. In the 1970s, the government wanted a communications network that would survive a nuclear attack, and in Cambridge the Internet was born. When the demand for computers spread to private business, Digital Equipment invented the minicomputer here in 1964. And today, the state is at the leading edge of the biotech revolution. The list of big ideas that have been realized here is long and dramatic.

      Gov. Deval Patrick, who is often accused of being big-idea-happy, has touched the surface of an idea that could once again put us at the forefront of another technology revolution. The governor recently advanced a program that will provide incentives for the development and use of solar panels in this state and does so in a way that is economically feasible.

      The idea is so good that it encouraged a local company, Evergreen Solar, to stay and manufacture its product in this state rather than take it to Germany, which was its original intention.

      It’s funny how far a little government support can go to stimulate economic activity.

      Now imagine what would happen if Massachusetts became a haven for any company that produced new energy-saving technology.

      Susan Hockfield, the president of MIT, has taken a leadership role in addressing the energy issue and has met with political and industry leaders to look at what role research institutions can play in addressing these challenges.

      MIT has the Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research, which focuses exclusively on issues related to energy and environmental policy in order to support both government and industry in decision-making. MIT is also organizing the MIT Clean Energy Entrepreneurship Prize, which will give a $200,000 award for commercially viable energy ideas. MIT is a resource that no other state in America has and gives Massachusetts instant credibility on this subject.

      But MIT cannot go it alone, and the opportunity before the state requires a full-court press from the governor’s office to create our equivalent of President Kennedy’s call to put a man on the moon.

      If the governor’s office, with support from U.S. Sens. Edward Kennedy and John Kerry, spearheads a sweeping initiative that sets a two-decade goal of producing enough new energy-saving products and technologies from Massachusetts to free the country from its addiction to fossil fuel, the impact would be global. It would also energize the state’s economy, which ranks 49th in job creation.

      Unlike the federal government, which is headed by a president from an oil-producing state, Massachusetts has no obvious conflicts of interest. Indeed, given the state’s climate, the need for creating economical solutions to the country’s energy problems is particularly acute.

      To find the precedent for individual states creating de facto national policy, one need only to look at California, which has driven the automobile emission standards for the rest of the country. Massachusetts can do the same for other energy issues.

      Though a combination of creative tax incentives, free utilization of surplus state land for energy-related manufacturing, streamlined approval processes, state grants, encouragement of university participation, commitments to purchase these new technologies for state use, incentives for Massachusetts residents to purchase home-grown technologies, rewards for products brought quickly to market, accelerated depreciation for venture investments, and incentives for technology companies to relocate to Massachusetts, the state could well become the nation’s center of energy technology. Massachusetts may also help change the world in the process.

      Bruce A. Percelay is chairman of the Mount Vernon Co. This article first appeared in the Boston Globe.

      OPINION

      By
      Opinion
      Plan for Education Czar Threatens Reform Efforts

      Fewer than 15 years ago, K-12 public education in Massachusetts — a few favored communities aside — was in bad shape. The system by which schools were funded was so inequitable that it was in danger of being declared unconstitutional, student achievement was mediocre at best, and there was no reason to believe it would get better.

      The Commonwealth’s 1993 Education Reform Act, with its grand bargain of a massive infusion of new money coupled with high standards, accountability, and enhanced parental choice, changed all that. Today, we lead the nation on student assessments, and average achievement compares favorably with the leading nations worldwide.

      The crafters of the 1993 reform got it right. But no matter how well legislation is crafted, implementation is where the rubber meets the road.

      Education reform is often stifled by the vested interests that resist accountability and new models like charter and pilot schools. In Massachusetts, the independence of the state Board of Education provided the continuity that allowed reform to be implemented year after year.

      The board was responsible for the initiatives that were the heart and soul of reform, like the MCAS exam, teacher testing, and academically rigorous curriculum frameworks. It was the board that followed a prudent course by creating rigorous charter school approval and closure processes.

      Each of these reforms was the target of substantial resistance from a powerful and change-averse education establishment. Only an independent Board of Education, insulated from politics, could have made them a reality.

      Despite these unparalleled successes, all we have achieved is now at risk. A proposal to eliminate the Board of Education’s independence seems to be breezing through the Legislature. The proposal would make the board just another part of Gov. Patrick’s administration and thus politicize an institution that has been insulated from politics since 1837.

      That continued independence is essential to address the challenges that remain, such as eliminating the unacceptable achievement gap that condemns many urban children to stunted lives.

      I learned to have a deep respect for how essential that independence is when I worked for the board in the early 1970s, responsible for integration and equal opportunity in Boston, Springfield, and New Bedford. We were under constant attack in the Legislature, with only the courage of board members preventing the interests of African-American students from being abandoned. We were able to stay the course because the board members served long and overlapping terms, and were selected for their character, not the constituencies they represented.

      The selection of a new commissioner of education provides a more recent example of how the proposed restructuring would strip away the Board of Education’s independence. The board unanimously chose an eminently qualified candidate who was clearly not the administration’s first choice. Under the proposed changes, a new secretary of education would have veto power over the board’s choice for commissioner.

      Incoming Commissioner Mitchell Chester brings particular expertise in accountability. But another recent proposal would make the new secretary responsible for accountability. The result would be a commissioner who is little more than a department head ostensibly reporting to a largely ceremonial board.

      Gone would be the independence of a board that implemented reform initiatives over the long term, even as governors and legislative leaders came and went.

      Instead, teachers and students would potentially be subject to 180-degree shifts in policy every time a new administration takes over. The 15 years of moving in a consistent direction that has been responsible for our education reform success would be rendered virtually impossible.

      Charles L. Glenn is dean ad interim of the Boston University School of Education.

      Why the ‘Casino in the Woods’ Is a Safer Bet

      By
      Opinion

      When it comes to casino gambling in the Bay State these days, the phrase you hear with increasingly regularity is ‘when, not if.’

      To many, the pendulum has swung, from a belief that the state couldn’t afford to approve casinos (from a social standpoint, at least) to the opinion that it can’t afford not to — from a budgetary standpoint. The growing consensus is that gambling is part of our society and that if people are going to go Connecticut, New York, or Rhode Island to do so, they may as well stay within the confines of the Commonwealth and generate much-needed revenue that can go toward schoolbooks and bridges; highways and health clinics.

      We’re not exactly sold on this ‘when, not if’ theory — the arguments supporting casinos are based on common sense, and the Legislature doesn’t usually apply that to its decision-making — but let’s assume for the minute that it’s accurate, but that ‘when’ may still be a few years away. The next consideration for the state and its leaders is the all-important question of where?

      And this gets complicated. There are several areas of the state that want a piece of the action, many politicians with power (real or imagined) who will try to influence matters, and some conflicting definitions of just what constitutes ‘Western’ and ‘Central’ Mass. as talk continues about how to divide up the pie.

      And then, there’s the very powerful argument that casinos will go only where the developers willing to pony up hundreds of millions of dollars to create them want them to go.

      Considering all of these factors, we believe the resort-style facility being proposed for a site just off Turnpike exit 8 in Palmer, perhaps the casino plan with the most momentum at the moment, makes a good deal of sense, and we hope the Legislature and whichever body picks the eventual winning locations agrees.

      There are other proposed sites in what would inarguably be considered Western Mass., including a challenged parcel in Chicopee that Mayor Michael Bissonnette has floated as a consideration. It’s landlocked, has wetlands and multiple owners, and so far no one in the casino development community has expressed any interest in it. But other than that, it’s perfectly viable. Then there’s the Holyoke Mall, which, rumor has it, has caught the eye of Donald Trump. This location actually makes some sense. It’s visible, highly accessible, has ample parking, and could easily be retrofitted into a casino and all its accompanying features, including an entertainment venue, restaurants, and shops (the site already has plenty of those).

      But Holyoke is not in the woods, and the ‘casino in the woods’ seems to be the preferred model at the moment.

      This is the Foxwoods/Mohegan Sun model, the destination area that offers much more than gambling and isn’t in the middle of a major urban area. This means that, by and large, the resort, or destination, casino breathes life into an area instead of sucking life out of it, which is essentially what happened in Atlantic City and what many Bay State leaders fear could happen here.

      The Palmer site apparently works for at least one developer — Mohegan Gaming LLC is interested and last month presented a conceptual plan to a packed room of officials and residents — and we think it makes sense for the state and this region. It gives Western Mass. a piece of the pie, and, with its location well to the east of Springfield, Holyoke, Northampton, and Amherst, presents the opportunity for casino visitors to possibly (that’s possibly) stop in those communities on their way to Palmer from Eastern New York and Berkshire County.

      The Palmer site has its share of challenges, and a casino on that site would certainly impact workforce quantity and quality in Western Mass. — where would 3,000 workers come from, and what impact would an employer of that size have on wages for service sector jobs?

      But from most points of view, the Palmer location does, indeed, make the most sense.

      Should the ‘when, not if’ theory of the casino universe be accurate, we would hope that a facility in Palmer would be in the cards for Western Mass.

      OPINION

      By
      Opinion
      Easing the Burden of Unemployment Insurance

      After nearly a year of haggling over the most recent round of proposed business tax changes, a compromise seems to be emerging. A special commission voted to recommend that the state Legislature close loopholes, but also enact a meaningful cut in the Commonwealth’s 9.5% corporate tax rate, the fourth-highest in the nation.

      House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi has maintained that the tax code should be reviewed in its entirety rather than in a piecemeal fashion. He’s right. A 2006 Pioneer Institute/Global Insight study found that high business costs — some of which have nothing to do with taxes — put Massachusetts at a serious disadvantage compared with competitor states.

      One of the main sources of that disadvantage is a business tax that has hardly even been mentioned during the recent debate: unemployment insurance. The unemployment insurance program levies a payroll tax on employers that is used to provide a financial cushion for individuals who unexpectedly lose their jobs.

      This entirely rational idea has spiraled out of control. The average unemployment insurance taxes paid by a Massachusetts company nearly doubled between 2003 and 2005. Today, only property and excise taxes account for a larger share of the overall state business tax burden. In 2006, Massachusetts companies paid $576 per employee in unemployment insurance taxes, more than twice the national median of $261.

      Part of the reason the Commonwealth’s unemployment insurance tax burden is so high is because it provides more generous benefits than other states — 76% above the national average, according to a just-released Pioneer study.
      Forty-eight states allow claimants to collect for 26 weeks, but in Massachusetts it’s 30 weeks (Montana has a 28-week limit). Most states require 20 weeks of work before qualifying for benefits; here it’s 15 weeks. In addition to offering the easiest eligibility and longest benefit period, the Commonwealth’s maximum benefit of $600 per week is also the nation’s richest.

      Generous benefits aren’t the only reason for our unemployment insurance mess. Although companies whose employees use the system more pay higher taxes, those additional contributions don’t come close to covering the cost of the benefits they generate. In 2004, laid-off workers from about 4% of Massachusetts companies accounted for almost one-third of total benefits. The companies paid $124 million into the system, while their former employees pocketed $403 million in benefits.

      All too often, these “former” employees are current employees. They work in seasonal businesses like construction or landscaping and are laid off like clockwork each year, effectively shifting the burden to unemployment insurance during a company’s slow months. The more closely you look at the program, the less surprised you are to learn that about half the people who apply for benefits in a given year also applied the previous year.

      Fixing unemployment insurance isn’t rocket science, but it will require substantial political courage. First, we should eliminate incentives to collect rather than work by bringing benefits more in line with other states.

      Next, we should force companies who habitually use the system to shoulder more of the load. This would have the additional benefit of reducing the burden on “good” companies that don’t take advantage of the system and bear a larger share of the unemployment insurance costs in Massachusetts than in most other states.

      Finally, instead of being allowed to lay themselves off, small business owners should be required to demonstrate that their business has actually closed in order to collect.

      In addition to eliminating a major competitive disadvantage for Massachusetts, fixing unemployment insurance would stimulate the economy and generate revenue for the Commonwealth. It would also allow us to make decisions about business taxes within the context of a fairer and more rational business climate.

      Charles D. Chieppo is a senior fellow at the Pioneer Institute.

      By
      Departments

      Hasbro Games Set to Eliminate 200 Jobs

      EAST LONGMEADOW — As early as February, 200 local residents will lose their jobs at Hasbro Games as the company retools its manufacturing processes to remain competitive in the games business. The company is currently in negotiations with Local 224 of the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union of the United Food and Commercial Workers to hammer out an agreement on changes to some work practices. The reduction in force includes 180 manufacturing jobs and approximately 20 non-union office jobs, according to Wayne S. Charness, senior vice president for communications at Pawtucket, R.I.-based Hasbro. At press time, Hasbro officials and union representatives were negotiating severance packages and ways to change work practices that are in the best interests of both the employees and Hasbro. If Hasbro can secure the changes it proposes, the company will invest $10 million immediately in the plant, and as much as $40 million over the next few years, added Charness. Hasbro and the union are currently operating under a three-year contract signed in 2007.

      WP Requests ‘Woman of the Year’ Nominations

      SPRINGFIELD — The Women’s Partnership, a division of the Affiliated Chambers of Commerce of Greater Springfield Inc., is seeking nominees for its annual Woman of the Year Award, given to a businesswoman in the Greater Springfield area. The nominee should best exemplify ideals of outstanding leadership, accomplishments, and service to the community. Services can be rendered over a lifetime or for more recent achievements. In either case, her leadership and accomplishments are regarded as a model for the Greater Springfield community. Nomination forms can be requested by calling (413) 543-8000, via E-mail at [email protected], or at the Affiliated Chambers of Commerce of Greater Springfield office, 1441 Main St. The deadline for nomination documents is Jan. 31.

      Picknelly Joins Development Team on Casino Proposals

      EAST LONGMEADOW — Peter A. Picknelly, president of Peter Pan Bus Lines, has joined the development team as an investor in the proposed development of a 150-acre tract in Palmer and a 35-acre waterfront site in New Bedford into destination sites, possibly to include resort casinos. Picknelly is investing in the proposed projects through the Northeast Group, owner of the land in Palmer off Exit 8 of the Massachusetts Turnpike and the entity that has site control of a waterfront tract in New Bedford off Exit 16 of Route 195. Both communities have passed local referenda in favor of legalized gaming, and both represent potential sites for a resort casino and retail complex. Should gaming be legalized by the Legislature, Commonwealth-approved resort casino operators could develop either or both sites. Gov. Deval Patrick has proposed the development of three resort casinos statewide as a means of stimulating economic development and raising revenue for the state. Northeast also recently announced it has hired the Suffolk Group LLC and lead lobbyist William F. Cass of Boston to represent their interests on Beacon Hill, and Paul Robbins Associates Inc. of Wilbraham to assist on communications regarding the real estate development and tourist potential for the Palmer and New Bedford properties.

      Survey: Workplaces Safer in 2006

      BOSTON — The state Division of Occupational Safety (DOS) recently announced that the rate of workplace-related non-fatal injuries and illnesses in Massachusetts dropped by more than 7% from 2005 to 2006, according to the annual Occupational Injury and Illness Survey of private-sector workers. The number of workplace fatalities dropped by more than 13% over the same period. The rate of workplace illness and injuries continues to be below the national average, and by far the lowest rate among all New England states, according to Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development Suzanne M. Bump, who oversees DOS. Bump added that under the Patrick administration, Massachusetts will survey public-sector workers for the first time this year. The state formerly collected data on private-sector employers only. The survey covers 10 ‘super sectors,’ ranging from manufacturing, education, and health services to natural resources and mining. The only super sector to show an increase in injuries and illnesses was natural resources and mining, where the number of injuries (300) remained unchanged while employment dropped. The entire report is available online at www.mass.gov/eolwd

      Survey: Spouse Remains Chief Career Advisor

      MENLO PARK, Calif. — Those considering a job change seek many resources of guidance, but the opinion they value most often comes from the person closest to them. Nearly half (46%) of executives polled said they turn first to spouses or significant others for advice when evaluating a potential job change, up from 42% in 2002.

      OPINION

      By
      Opinion
      Working for the Union Label

      The Nevada caucuses are over, following on the heels of the Michigan primaries. This schedule calls to the mind the striking contrast between the way Detroit greets air travelers and the way Las Vegas does it. If you fly into Detroit Metro Airport and catch a ride east toward the city itself, you have to go a stretch before a gigantic tire welcomes you to the Motor City. But far be it from Las Vegas to show such reserve. At its airport, just after you exit the jetway, slot machines greet you in the terminal.

      As different as it is from Detroit, however, Vegas has imitated it in one respect: Detroit used to be a place where a person with little education could still get a good-paying job. With the contraction of the auto industry in Michigan, and the expansion of the gambling business in Nevada, Vegas has become the town that beckons with this opportunity.

      In Nevada, the average hourly wage of a worker with no more than a high school diploma is $23.30, the highest of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. On this count, Michigan is now 10th.

      Nevada isn’t on top by accident. It’s there because the vast majority of the state’s workers hold jobs in the Las Vegas area and, though Nevada is a right-to-work state, Las Vegas is nonetheless a union town. In fact, as Hal Rothman reports in Neon Metropolis, his insightful book on Vegas, it is now “the most unionized city in the United States.”

      Its largest local union is Culinary Workers Union Local 226. This is the 60,000-member local that endorsed Barack Obama last week. Caucuses aside, though, this union is also a possible model for the future.

      The typical hourly wage of a 2008 worker with at least a four-year degree is higher than the typical hourly wage of a 1973 worker with a four-year degree — but the typical wage of a 2008 worker without a degree is lower than the typical wage of a 1973 worker without a degree. Moreover, two of three of today’s workers do not have a degree.

      One reason why the non-college jobs of today don’t pay as well as the non-college jobs of 35 years ago, it has been claimed, is that a lot of the 1973 jobs were in manufacturing, and a lot of the 2008 jobs are in the service sector — and rank-and-file work in the service sector, unlike such work in the manufacturing sector, is inherently low-wage work.

      But the paychecks of the Culinary Workers Union members rebut this claim. As working stiffs in the gambling industry — hotel maids and fry cooks, busboys and cocktail waitresses, laundry workers and card dealers — they do menial work in the service sector. But they do not have to do it for menial pay. In part, this has to be because unionization has given them some leverage.

      To be sure, the pay levels for rank-and-file workers in manufacturing have been higher than those for such workers in the service sector. But this isn’t because there is something in the nature of manufacturing itself that makes for higher pay. It’s because it has been more unionized. An old issue of Life magazine tells the story of a steel worker whose pay jumped by 260% in 10 years. This was chiefly because, at the beginning of the 10-year-period, the steel workers across the country unionized.

      Much of the workforce can be divided into two groups. One group is the workers who can build a brand for themselves as individuals, such as the best-known real estate agent in a small town. Because such workers stand out from the crowd, they hold bargaining power as individuals, and get paid well.

      The other group is the crowd: the workers who are generic. They have little or no bargaining power as individuals. In the way of pay, they often must take what the job market offers to workers like them. If they want to earn more, they can try to brand themselves. Or they can bargain not as individuals, but en masse. It worked that way in Cadillac plants. It works that way in resort hotels.

      Ralph Whitehead Jr. is a professor of Journalism at UMass Amherst.

      OPINION

      By
      Opinion
      We Need to Invest in Education

      When Gov. Deval Patrick recently filed a $2 billion capital bond bill to finance infrastructure improvements at all 29 of Massachusetts’ public college and universities, he declared it to be an “emergency law,” meaning that it would go into effect immediately upon passage by the Legislature and his signing.

      Little did the governor or anyone else know how apropos that designation would be.

      A few days after the filing, Salem State College officials made the difficult decision to close that college’s library based on concerns raised over the structural soundness of the 35-year-old building.

      As serious as the situation is at Salem State, this capital bill is not just about some falling bricks and cracked mortar. The reality is that our public colleges and university system are being asked to educate the talent for the emerging industries of the new economy in laboratories and classrooms that are sometimes more than 40 years old.

      Investment in our public higher education system is long overdue. Massachusetts devotes only 2.8% of its capital expenditures to public higher education, while other states invest 12.5% on average.

      At the campus level this pattern of state disinvestment in its public higher education system has resulted in a backlog of more than $5.5 billion in unfunded capital projects and necessitated that campuses tap already-tight operating budgets and increase student charges to pay for deferred maintenance.

      At the state level, this pattern has resulted in Massachusetts falling woefully behind its chief economic competitors in supporting its public higher education system. In fiscal 2006, Connecticut invested more than four times what Massachusetts did on the capital needs of its public colleges and university system, North Carolina approximately seven times, and New York nearly eight times.

      With two-thirds of our high school graduates who attend college in Massachusetts going to a public institution — up from only 58% a decade ago — our economic future depends on having public colleges and a university with best-in-class labs, equipment, and technology.

      Patrick’s bond bill recognizes these competitive implications by emphasizing investments that contribute to the medium to long term competitiveness of our state economy.

      The bill would fund new science centers at four Massachusetts state colleges where existing science facilities are 30 to 50 years old. These buildings lack the labs to conduct some of today’s sophisticated experiments in chemistry and biology and the space to meet current equipment, fabrication, and technology needs in physics.

      These shortcomings undermine our ability to attract top faculty and retain students interested in science, technology, engineering, and math in Massachusetts. First-rate facilities will promote teaching and learning in these fields, help fill the talent pipeline needed to support regional industries, and meet the demands of our public schools for the finest science and math teachers.

      At the state’s 15 community colleges, the bond bill will fund construction of new allied health buildings on four campuses as well as the complete modernization and rehabilitation of science and general academic buildings on most of the remaining campuses. New allied health facilities will strengthen these colleges’ capacity to respond directly to changing workforce needs by enhancing the training of more nurses, medical technicians, and health care professionals — jobs that are in tremendous demand.

      The effects of state disinvestment in our public colleges and university are not as visible to the public as lack of investment in our transportation networks, but they are every bit as critical to our long-term competitiveness. As the Legislature considers the bond bill, the question is not whether we can afford to pay for these investments, but whether we can afford not to.

      Robert V. Antonucci is president of Fitchburg State College. Terrence A. Gomes is president of Roxbury Community College. This article first appeared in the Boston Globe.

      OPINION

      By
      Opinion
      Building a Better Springfield

      Thirty years ago, all of Massachusetts was caught in the economic maelstrom that followed the exodus of manufacturers from New England. Since then, Greater Boston’s economy of ideas has turned Massachusetts into America’s fifth-richest state, while some of our cities, like Springfield, remain mired in poverty.

      What should we do about the vast gulf that separates thriving Boston from faltering Springfield? Good urban policies put people ahead of place. The Springfield region has a chance for rebirth by focusing on the quality-of-life policies that attract smart, entrepreneurial people.

      But revitalization is far less important than a brighter future for Springfield’s children. If we can deliver that brighter future, even if those children eventually move far from Springfield, then we shouldn’t worry if the city itself keeps shrinking.

      Manufacturers once located in Springfield because of transportation advantages, including the Connecticut River and a junction of two major rail lines. Springfield’s edge in moving goods made it a center for rifles and Rolls-Royces, gas pumps and motorcycles. Urban clusters of smart people produce innovation; Springfield gave us basketball and America’s first gasoline-powered car.

      As the cost of moving goods plummeted, manufacturing left New England for cheaper climes, and Springfield fell into decline. While older, colder cities with a strong skill base switched from making goods to making ideas, only 16% of Springfield’s adults have a college degree. The city hasn’t reinvented itself. Today, one-fifth of Springfield’s families are poor.

      The most important response to such poverty is to invest in schools and safety. Unfortunately, most declining cities have neither the funds nor the leadership to revamp their schools.

      In a move that brings great credit to both men, Gov. Deval Patrick put former rival Chris Gabrieli in charge of Springfield’s external Finance Control Board. Gabrieli combines a passion for schools with a reputation for independent competence. Perhaps he can persuade others that more spending on such troubled school districts as Springfield can be a wise investment.

      Increased spending on Springfield’s schools should be tied to performance and innovation. Troubled school districts, like Springfield, must try new approaches, including embracing competition from charter schools and incentives for students and teachers.

      While good regional policies for Springfield can go beyond schools, they should still focus on the human capital that is the real engine of local economies. Some people see salvation in a light rail line between Hartford and Springfield. But the era in which rail can make a city is long past. Today, the Springfield region’s modest densities make new rail lines inappropriate. Can it possibly make sense to spend hundreds of millions of dollars — money that could go toward Springfield’s children — on a rail line?

      Good regional economic policy also shouldn’t try to micromanage industrial decisions. Neither I nor state officials can tell whether Springfield should invest in biotech or bikes. A better approach is to turn Springfield into a consumer city that will attract entrepreneurs who want to live there. It should follow the Providence model: attract well-educated people who are tired of high Boston prices.

      Springfield has a beautiful housing stock and a region crammed with great educational institutions. If Greater Boston persists in making its housing unaffordable, then Springfield can provide an alternative. Indeed, Springfield’s future looks almost bright when we consider how unlikely it is that Greater Boston will build enough housing to meet demand.

      I am rooting for Springfield, but there is no shame in decline. The region should try to revitalize itself by improving its quality of life. But it should also remember that taking good care of a smaller and smaller population is far better than chasing an unattainable return to former glory.

      Edward L. Glaeser, a professor of Economics at Harvard, is director of the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston.

      OPINION

      By
      Opinion
      A Winning Game Plan for Life Sciences

      A championship team is built by investing in a nucleus of talented people and focusing that talent on achieving a common goal. This approach has been the foundation of the success of the New England Patriots.

      We believe it is also the formula necessary to sustain Massachusetts’ leadership in the life sciences.

      A vision, a game plan, and prudent investment are necessary elements in assuring that the Commonwealth maintains its competitive edge in the life sciences. This is the reason that we support Gov. Deval Patrick’s Life Sciences Initiative.

      We have all the fundamentals in this region to elevate our position in the international life sciences community. We are home to the world’s best medical and research facilities and the best and brightest scientists, technicians, and medical practitioners. Many of the world’s leading biopharma and medical-device companies are based here. We have consistently led the nation in per-capita NIH funding, biomedical venture capital investments, and life science PhDs. This success also makes us a target — a target for every other state and international competitor for life-sciences business and talent.

      When the Patriots were at risk of leaving for St. Louis in the early 1990s, we made a significant but calculated investment to purchase the team and keep it in New England. Patrick has now stepped forward to do the same with our life-sciences supercluster. It comes at a critical time.

      California, New Jersey, North Carolina, Singapore, and others are aggressively investing billions of dollars to attract our top scientists and companies through lucrative grants, tax credits, and facilities. We remember how the high-tech industry all but disappeared in this region a couple of decades ago and the dramatic impact it had in terms of lost jobs and tax revenues. We cannot afford to let that happen with life sciences.

      Life-sciences research and industry have a major economic impact on the region. It is growing significantly faster than other sectors, providing millions in tax revenues and thousands of high-paying jobs. These jobs expand beyond research science and PhDs. The Kraft Group’s core businesses are in paper and packaging manufacturing and distribution. These industries and many others, like information technology, software, advanced materials, and construction, benefit significantly from the growth of life sciences companies and facilities.

      A recent study by the Milken Institute underscores this ripple effect, concluding that for every direct job in life sciences, 3.6 indirect jobs are created. Combine this economic activity with the fact that Patrick’s initiative also calls for life-sciences workforce and training programs, and we have a game plan that assures the best chance of success.

      Massachusetts is at the cutting edge of developing cures and therapies that save millions of lives throughout the world. Over the years we have been major supporters of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Children’s Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, and other institutions, and we have seen first-hand how the science developed has helped in the treatment of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s.

      Whether it is addressing serious injuries from sports or aiding the recovery of children from cancer through breakthrough technologies, we are indebted to this research and cannot risk a loss of it to other regions of the nation or the world.

      A few years ago, we invested our resources in keeping the Patriots in Massachusetts. It is an investment that we believe will continue to benefit the New England community for generations to come.

      Now we must keep life sciences here, and we support the leadership and wise commitment of our friends in the Legislature, the business community, and the governor to maintain our excellence in scientific and medical research and industry and to maintain and grow our significant lead in the life sciences.

      Robert Kraft is chairman and chief executive of the Kraft Group. Jonathan Kraft is president and chief operating officer of the Kraft Group. This article first appeared in the Boston Globe.

      OPINION

      By
      Opinion
      Transparency at Our Hospitals

      Ten years ago, the idea of tying Medicare or Medicaid reimbursements to hospitals’ performance on specific clinical measures would have been unthinkable. Today, not doing it is unthinkable.

      Having worked in the hospital and health care industries for decades and in many states, we have seen firsthand how others approach quality-improvement efforts. What business leaders, opinion makers, and patients in Massachusetts need to know is that — far and away — hospitals here are leading the nation when it comes to taking on quality improvement. The type of work underway to improve patient safety through increased transparency and public reporting is unlike anything going on around the country. And it is all voluntary.

      Well before federal Medicare officials announced their recent plan to no longer pay for certain preventable hospital errors, including falls and pressure ulcers (or bedsores), Bay State hospitals were collecting data in these very areas. Recently, Massachusetts hospitals, using a consumer-friendly Web site, started reporting data on falls to the public and will unveil bedsore data later this year.

      Also, while the Institute for Healthcare Improvement is urging hospitals nationwide to get trustees more involved in the quality and safety agenda, Massachusetts hospitals, through a grant from the Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation, are developing a model trustee curriculum that is being piloted around the state.

      This is not just a sampling of health care facilities; 100% of Massachusetts hospitals are reporting their numbers, sharing best practices with one another, and implementing new clinical protocols. We are finding that transparency and openness breed new conversations, a heightened focus on correcting problem areas, and, ultimately, improved care.

      It is not just the federal government looking at ways that payments can move the needle on hospital quality. In August, the Medicaid program in Massachusetts also introduced plans to make the payment-quality connection. Unlike the federal government’s plan to withhold payment for hospital errors, the state, in partnership with Massachusetts hospitals, developed a ‘pay for performance’ initiative, which in effect gives hospitals an added bonus for a job well done in certain areas.

      Under the plan, Massachusetts hospitals can earn bonuses totaling $20 million for more effectively managing such concerns as pediatric asthma, pneumonia, surgical infections, and racial and ethnic health disparities.

      For years, hospitals — particularly those in urban areas — have been retooling their delivery systems to meet the changing needs of a diverse patient population. Interpreters and disease-prevention programs aimed at curbing illnesses more prevalent among certain minority populations have been the norm for hospitals in Massachusetts. Under the new Medicaid regulations, all hospitals will have an added incentive to look more closely at the issue and will be rewarded for a job well done.

      Why have Massachusetts hospitals placed such an emphasis on being open with the public? The single most important reason is that we owe it to our patients. Having a loved one hospitalized can be a heart-wrenching and stressful time. Reducing the number of questions around health care quality can inform and ease the minds of our patients. Also, as transparency efforts become the standard in Massachusetts, the industry will take the lead in managing health care costs, a goal we can all support.

      Virtually anywhere you look, you can find easily accessible performance information in many different industries. An airline’s on-time arrival performance or your local school’s standardized test results are two good examples. It is only common sense that information on how well your local hospital treats certain illnesses should be there for you to look at as well.

      Lynn Nicholas is president and chief executive of the Mass. Hospital Assoc. Robert Norton is president and chief executive of North Shore Medical Center. This article first appeared in the Boston Globe.

      OPINION

      By
      Opinion
      STCC Technology Park Is an Asset for the Region

      Lost in the controversy earlier this year about the possible location of a new state information technology center either at the STCC Technology Park or in the former Tech High School on Elliot Street is the vital role the tech park has played, and will need to play, for Western Mass. to be considered an inviting address for new, emerging, or native tech-savvy companies.

      When former STCC President Andrew Scibelli had the vision to create a technology business park adjacent to the college campus, he, and those of us who were part of the founders’ team, were responding to changes evident in a global marketplace early in the high-tech revolution. It was bold, risky, and the first of its kind.

      It was just that kind of ahead-of-the-curve thinking that led STCC’s first president and visionary, Edmond Garvey, to establish STCC, known then as the Springfield Technical Institute, in 1967, turning a suddenly defunct federal armory into a center for technological learning.

      Just 10 years ago, around the time the technology park was launched, E-mail and use of the Internet in daily commerce was still in its infancy. That the technology park has grown, changed, and broadened its scope is a testimony to just how fluid and dynamic this new age of technology is. Just as Edmond Garvey saw a niche to fill, so too did all of us who were involved in the startup of the park.

      As I exit at the end of October from my service as chairman of the STCC Assistance Corporation Board, I leave satisfied that the park has upheld its original mission but also acutely aware that it will need vision and renewed commitment from all involved in order to respond to a rapidly changing and expanding business environment.

      So much has changed, yet the focus, and need for the technology park, have never been greater. Events in the global marketplace and the acceleration of technology at all levels of business and commerce make the case that not only was development of the park the right thing to do, but that it is a critical piece of the puzzle in attracting new business development.

      Flying somewhat under the radar to date, the park now has a broad range of business concerns that represent an asset to Springfield, the region, and STCC. These include organizations such as One Communications, the largest privately held competitive telecommunications provider in the U.S.; C2C, the E-mail archiving and management firm; and national and regional companies such as Verizon and Western Massachusetts Electric Company.

      On the other end of the spectrum is a company like Mind Wing, a small startup technology firm born in the Curtis Blake Day School at American International College that recently graduated from the STCC Incubator. The park also hosts the National Center for Telecommunications Technology, the advanced technology center that develops and pilots telecommunications courses in high schools and colleges. It is a testimony to the original vision that organizations large and small have the confidence to be stakeholders in the park.

      The park has also attracted a breadth and scope of business concerns that are utilizing the park’s unique assets of security and redundant digital capacity. These are important elements needed by growing technology-based companies and can be duplicated nowhere else in the Valley.

      And it isn’t just those of us who had a founding role who feel this way. The park has won some national acclaim over the years: in 2001 the Economic Development Administration recognized it for ‘Excellence in Urban Development,’ and the International Economic Development Council bestowed its Excellence in Economic Development Award on the park in 2002.

      At the end of the day, it isn’t about awards or recognition, or about my own view of the Technology Park’s success and prospects.

      What’s at stake here is how we do business as a larger community — putting on display all of the region’s assets as we go about the task of advancing economic development in the region.

      And, as Edmond Garvey proved to all of us, we shouldn’t limit our own thinking about what is possible.

      Brian Corridan is the outgoing chairman of the Springfield Technical Community College Assistance Corp.

      OPINION

      By
      Opinion
      At the United Way, Community Matters

      It’s called the Day of Caring, and the name says it all.

      The program was started in 1994 by the United Way of Pioneer Valley to involve area businesses and their employees in initiatives that would benefit the community and those who live, work, and play here in Western Mass. It started small, with only 12 companies and fewer than 80 employees. On Sept. 7, 1,700 employees representing 48 companies completed 209 projects in the latest Day of Caring.

      Most of these projects were small in nature — spreading mulch in playgrounds, cleaning graffiti from park equipment, sweeping up litter, fixing bicycles, painting fences, for example — but together, they made a difference in the quality of life for many people.

      This, in a broader sense, is how the United Way of Pioneer Valley works. It coordinates a number of programs and partners with dozens of area agencies and service providers to make a difference in the lives of more than 100,000 area residents, and make the Pioneer Valley an attractive place in which to live and work.

      The United Way of Pioneer Valley plays a unique leadership role. It identifies specific community issues, coordinates the necessary resources to address those needs, and then follows up to measure the results of its funded programs.

      The United Way and its board of directors are doing things in new ways — being conveners, enablers, and facilitators, all to address our community’s ongoing and ever-changing needs. The United Way strives to be proactive, not reactive, and to address needs before they become a crisis. It approaches old problems in new ways — its food and shelter programs do not just provide hot meals for the homeless, but encourage services that also provide a welcoming and safe haven, teach job skills, provide vocational training, help arrange job placement, as well as coordinate child care and transportation needs.

      Other supported programs focus on areas dealing with children and young adults, the elderly, families, and health and wellness.

      Many people think the United Way benefits and serves others, but not them or their families; they’re wrong. By connecting community resources to community needs, the United Way helps make the Pioneer Valley the type of place where you, your family, your employees, and your co-workers will want to live and thrive. Its involvement and impact on quality of life in the region makes it easier to recruit and retain good employees, and to increase your own property values.

      It makes our community a place where our children will want to live and raise their own families, rather then heading to someplace where they believe the grass is greener.

      As the Day of Caring shows, when people work together, they can make a difference — and at the United Way, we prove this 365 days a year. As this year’s United Way campaign kicks off, I see another opportunity for the people of this region to show what they can do — together.

      They can show that community matters and that the United Way is a worthy investment for us and our community.

      None of us can predict what personal problem or natural disaster will face us, our neighbors, and co-workers, but we can rest assured knowing the United Way and its affiliated agencies will be there with solutions when situations arise, funding the human services needs of the Pioneer Valley with integrity and innovation. For all of these reasons, I ask that you give generously and support the United Way campaign this year.

      For less than the price of a cup of coffee each week, you can make a meaningful impact. Do it for your community, and do it for yourself.

      Michael B. Katz, Esq. is the chairman of the 2007-2008 United Way Campaign. He is a partner at the regional law firm of Bacon & Wilson, P.C.

      OPINION

      By
      Opinion
      The Arts Mean Business

      Every day, the nearly 100,000 nonprofit arts and culture organizations that populate the nation’s cities and towns are making their communities more desirable places to live and work. They provide inspiration and enjoyment to residents, beautify shared public places, and strengthen the social fabric. New research by Americans for the Arts provides further evidence that the nonprofit arts and culture industry is an economic driver in those communities — a growth industry that supports jobs, generates government revenue, and is a cornerstone of tourism.

      Arts & Economic Prosperity III, the largest study of its kind ever conducted, shows that, nationally, the nonprofit arts and culture industry generates $166.2 billion in economic activity annually, a 24% increase over just the past five years. The economic benefits of this spending are significant. It supports 5.7 million full-time U.S. jobs, an increase of 850,000 jobs since the 2002 study. Furthermore, because arts and culture organizations are locally based, employing locally, purchasing locally, and generating local spending, these are jobs that necessarily remain local and are unlikely to be outsourced.

      The industry also generates nearly $30 billion in revenue to local, state, and federal governments every year. By comparison, the three levels of government collectively spend less than $4 billion annually to support arts and culture — a remarkable 7:1 return on investment.

      Arts & Economic Prosperity III features findings from 156 study regions (116 cities and counties, 35 multicounty regions, and 5 statewide studies). Data was collected from 6,080 nonprofit arts and culture organizations and 94,478 of their attendees across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The study uses four economic measures to define economic impact: employment, resident household income, and revenue generated to state and local governments. The study focuses solely on nonprofit organizations and their audiences. It does not include individual artists for the for-profit and entertainment sector. As a result, it is extremely conservative in how it measures the economic impact of the arts.

      Nonprofit arts and culture organizations are active contributors to their business community. They are employers, producers, consumers, and members of the chamber of commerce as well as key partners in the marketing and promotion of their cities and regions. In 2005, their estimated total spending was $63.1 billion. This output supports 2.6 million U.S. jobs, provides $57.3 billion in household income, and generates $13.2 billion in total government revenue.

      Arts and culture, unlike most industries, leverages a significant amount of event-related spending by its audiences. For example, when patrons attend an arts event, they may pay to park their car in a garage, purchase dinner at a restaurant, eat dessert after the show, and return home to pay the babysitter. This generates related commerce for local businesses such as restaurants, parking garages, hotels, and retail stores. Total event-related spending by nonprofit arts and culture audiences was $103.1 billion in 2005. This spending supports 3.1 million full-time jobs in the U.S., provides $46.9 billion in household income, and generates $16.4 billion in government revenue.

      In addition to spending data, researchers asked each of the 94,478 survey respondents to provide their home zip codes. This enabled an analysis of event-related spending by local and nonlocal attendees. Previous economic and tourism research has shown that non-local attendees spend more than their local counterparts do. This study reflects those findings. Nationally, 39% of the respondents were non-local — evidence that arts and culture is a magnet that will draw people to your community.

      Arts & Economic Prosperity III is great news for those whose daily task is to strengthen the economy and enrich quality of life. It lays to rest a common misconception: that communities support arts and culture at the expense of local economic development. In fact, they are investing in an industry that supports jobs, generates government revenue, and is a cornerstone of tourism, and our local and national economies. This report shows what most of those in the know already understood — that the arts mean business.

      Randy Cohen is vice president of Policy and Research for Americans for the Arts.

      Unlocking the ‘Employer of Choice’ Dilemma

      By
      Sections Supplements
      Six Keys to Success in the Fight to Retain Quality Workers

      Companies around the globe are starting to experience labor shortages and are having a difficult time retaining quality workers. The competition for key talent is quickly becoming a battleground.

      One answer lies in your organization’s ability to have a culture where people actually want to work — in other words, you need to become an employer of choice. Numerous studies have discovered that corporations that are viewed as a great place to work outshine their competitors in retaining talent, market share, behavioral success, and bottom line.

      Employers of choice have corporate cultures where the working climate is supportive and genuinely appealing — often referred to as a ‘warm climate.’ Many corporate objectives state the desire to be an employer of choice and delegate the sole task to the human resources department.

      Unfortunately, corporate officials overlook the basic issues needed in creating a supportive corporate culture. The result is a company with improved benefits, which on the surface makes sense; however, good benefits alone do not create an employer of choice.

      Regrettably, many companies have cold climates versus warm ones. And while the Baby Boomers have tolerated cold climate organizations as ‘just the way it is,’ Generation X workers are putting their foot down: either the company’s climate changes, or the Gen-Xers change companies.

      When given the choice, Gen-Xers want to be a part of companies with a warm, pleasant, and supportive climate and reject a cold, stressful, unpleasant one. They want to work for companies that display loyalty, pride, trust, respect, strong relationships, and open communication. When at work, they want to feel supported, included, challenged, rewarded, and encouraged to think up new and diverse ideas. They abhor such things as defensiveness, blame-game tactics, alienation, and managers being closed to ideas. If you want to keep Gen-X workers on your team, you need to create an inviting climate.

      What exactly influences the company’s working cultural climate? Two things. First, the attitude from the top filters down into the organization, which includes the parent organization’s political situation and organizational systems, and second, effective communication and leadership skills of managers and team leaders. That is why you may have a company with a cold climate and a corresponding culture, but you see pockets within that company where people think it’s a great place to work. Everyone wants to work in a certain person’s department because that manager created a warm climate.

      But having pockets of warmth within your company isn’t enough. Corporate officials must ensure a warm climate permeates every department and touches every employee in order to retain quality talent, improve productivity, and reap bottom-line success. Following are some suggestions to help you accomplish precisely that.

      Key 1: Be Descriptive

      When you communicate with others, describe situations without judging the rightness or wrongness of something. For example, when someone comes up with an idea that you don’t like or think won’t work, the cold and natural response is, “No. That’ll never work.” But such a response breeds defensiveness and resentment. To communicate warmly, a better response would be something like, “Let’s talk more about that idea. What do you think the impact of your suggestion would be on our sales department?”

      Managers need to involve employees in decisions and demonstrate a safe environment, even with opinions contrary to their own. When you’re descriptive and specific, you’re encouraging a conversation about the idea and not shooting someone down. And if the idea really won’t work, your conversation will bring that to light in a natural and non-confrontational way.

      Key 2: Engage Your People

      Many companies say they solve problems as a team, but in reality the manager proposes a solution, and that’s it. No one challenges the manager, either because they know from past experience not to, or because the manager doesn’t ask for feedback in an open way. Rather, he or she states the solution and then asks, “Does anyone have a problem with that?” Of course, no one raises a hand. Employees are not actively encouraged to submit ideas, counter suggestions, or speak honestly. Gen-Xers want to give their input and opinions. And when you hear them out, you’ll likely have a better solution and will foster a warmer climate in your group.

      Key 3: Collaborative Style

      When managers communicate with a pre-conceived end result or action, they make people withdraw and create distrust. For example, a manager may gather the team together to brainstorm a new marketing approach. The manager enters the meeting with an idea for the new marketing message. Even though the team collaborates and comes up with a great idea, when the final marketing piece is revealed, the manager’s marketing message is the one featured. In this case employees will feel manipulated. When managers act spontaneously and collaboratively without hidden agendas and motivations, employees develop feelings of ownership, pride, and enthusiasm for corporate goals. So always put any pre-conceived ideas aside and let the group synergy work.

      Key 4: Take Heart

      Employees want managers who have empathy for their situation. Realize that many Gen-Xers are marrying and having kids a decade later than the Boomers typically did. So Gen-Xers are in the workforce in high-profile jobs, and they have the added responsibility of a baby at home or aging parents who need their help. Additionally, since most Gen-X families are two-income households, when a family emergency comes up, there’s no one at home to take care of it. The employee needs the time off. When managers convey a lack of concern or respond to time-off requests in an angry manner, they create resentment in their employees. Remember, Gen-Xers value productivity more so than hours spent on a job. Get assurance that their deadlines will be met (they will meet them), and then let them attend to whatever they have to do.

      Key 5: Fairness Rules

      Fairness is a fundamental building block in creating a supportive culture; it creates diverse thinking and ideas, and sends the message that each employee is as important and valuable as the next. Gen-Xers want to feel that they are valued and respected in the company. In order to make that happen, managers need to drop any ‘status and favoritism’ practices they may have. If your company is to keep up with the times and stay competitive, managers need the workers’ perspective on the marketplace and their opinions on corporate products and services. So value the ideas and opinions of employees. Seek differences in opinion, engage in open dialogue, and recognize and support everyone’s point of view.

      Key 6: Be a Facilitator

      Facilitation is more than just running a meeting. It’s about asking the right questions. One of the most powerful questions in the facilitative approach is the ‘what’ question, as it helps the conversation focus on discovery. ‘What’ questions help with identifying issues and probing for details. They also get the other person involved with the discussion. Unfortunately, many leaders use questions that begin with the word ‘why,’ which often prompts defensive behavior from others. ‘Why’ questions are often interpreted as criticism, whether intended or not. To avoid this, change your ‘why’ questions to ‘what’ questions. Instead of asking, “Why did you do that?” ask, “What are the reasons behind your actions?” or “What caused you to act that way?” Using a facilitative approach can help a team solve problems, make effective decisions, and improve work processes.

      Reaping the Rewards

      As you make these changes to improve your corporate climate, you’ll quickly notice a marked improvement in your workforce. Employees will be happier at work, more productive, and eager to advance the organization’s mission and goals. And remember, working in a warm climate isn’t just for Gen-Xers. All your employees will feel a greater sense of job satisfaction, regardless of their age or generation identification. In short, a warm climate may be just what your company needs to improve profits and long-term growth.

      Deanne DeMarco, RCCI, is an author, speaker, and certified business coach. She is the author of the just-released ‘Speaking of Success’ and ‘Pocket Resource: Coaching Tips’;www.deannedemarco.com

      Time for the State to Go ‘All In’ on Casinos

      By
      Opinion

      There is considerable speculation going on these days about who holds the cards — figuratively speaking — when it comes to casino gambling in the Commonwealth and the prospects for it becoming reality.

      Is it Gov. Deval Patrick, who leaned against the concept of gambling as a candidate during last fall’s campaign, but may be may be more open to the concept now that he has an aggressive list of projects to advance and few revenue sources at his disposal? Or is it Attorney General Martha Coakley, who must set down the rules by which casino owners can operate and has cautioned that casinos are “not some pot of gold at the end of the rainbow”?

      Most would say it’s House Speaker Sal DiMasi, an historically strong opponent of casinos who’s been quiet of late as the governor, AG, and seemingly everyone else in Boston awaits the results of several studies on gambling being conducted concurrently.

      From our view, though, it’s the residents of the state that do, or should, hold the trump card in this highly combustible debate. None of those aforementioned elected leaders will stand against casinos if they’re convinced that the majority of voters and decision-makers are for them. Whether that majority exists is still a matter of opinion, but we believe it should.

      Why? Because the debate has, in our opinion, shifted on casinos — from whether they’re a good thing for society in general (of course not) to what the state should do now that casino gambling is a firmly entrenched part of that same society.

      In other words, the debate isn’t about revenues any longer, it’s about common sense. Can a state desperate for revenue to fund new ventures in education, transportation, and economic development — and with a real dearth of creative and/or politically attractive ideas for funding them —afford to lose out on perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue now going to neighboring states?

      We believe the answer is ‘no.’

      Our stance on casinos hasn’t changed in more than a decade. We view it as a less-than-ideal source of revenue and jobs, but one that should nonetheless be pursued because no one in this state seems to have a better idea, and no one wants to pay higher taxes. Cynics would consider casino gambling a tax — one that would disproportionately impact lower-income, less-educated residents — and it may be just that. But it would be a tax that could improve the lives of most state residents while directly impacting few.

      We are perhaps more vocal in our support of casinos now because we have seen Patrick’s wish list and are intrigued by it. The list includes early childhood education for everyone, free tuition at community colleges, and proposals to build and repair college classrooms and laboratories, repair infrastructure, and spur economic development and new business sectors. We’d like to see these proposals funded, and without sinking the state deeper into debt in the process.

      Opponents of casinos are right when they say these operations are not cure-alls, and they have a point when they observe that casino gambling will probably bring the state only between $150 million and $450 million annually — numbers that represent a tiny fraction of the state’s $26 billion budget.

      But this is revenue that the state will probably not gain from any other sources beyond higher taxes, which are unlikely given the current political climate, and could advance some of the governor’s proposals.

      And that’s why it’s time for the state — meaning its residents and elected officials — to go all in on casino gambling.-

      OPINION

      By
      Opinion
      The Drive Toward Fuel Economy

      Over the past two decades, the automotive industry has been ablaze with innovation — from cars that park themselves to cars that ‘clean up’ after themselves. Literally, the automobile has grown smarter as technology has enabled manufacturers to rethink their old ways. Unfortunately, the foresight ends there.

      Recently, two bills designed to increase fuel economy standards in the U.S. were introduced in the House of Representatives and promptly shot down. With them, the hope that industry standards would finally catch up with innovations in the field diminished as well. Indeed, Congress has dragged its feet for far too long in forcing automakers to improve fuel economy.

      Unfortunately, this latest retreat in Congress is not the first time proposed changes — changes so minor they were not nearly enough to begin with — have hinted at improvement, only to fade rapidly. In his State of the Union speech in January, President Bush suggested a 4% annual increase in the fuel efficiency of cars and light trucks by 2017. His words did little to catalyze any concrete change. Later, a proposal to increase fuel economy standards by 4% annually from 2020 to 2031 died an early death in the House. In short, the U.S. is no better off today than it was 20 years ago as far as fuel efficiency is concerned.

      Compare the U.S. to similar economies: European fleets already average 43 miles per gallon, and Japanese fleets are reaching 50 miles per gallon. While there are only two car models in the U.S. that achieve greater than 40 miles per gallon (both hybrid vehicles), there are more than 113 such vehicles in Europe.

      The most astounding fact is that many of the European high-fuel-economy vehicles are produced by U.S. carmakers. How can the government let manufacturers continue to convince the nation that a fuel economy of more than 35 miles per gallon is difficult to achieve? Any rational person should not be willing to accept these manufacturers’ excuses.

      If existing technology for vehicles with higher fuel economy has succeeded in Europe and parts of Asia in terms of both safety and commercial profit, why not implement policies to make similar vehicles more accessible in the U.S.? The success of the Toyota Prius and other hybrids across the U.S. shows that there is verifiable demand for more fuel-efficient cars.

      Equally important is the fact that hybrid technology is not the only way to reach higher fuel economy; nearly 50% of the cars sold in Europe are clean diesel. Such models not only provide a much higher fuel economy than gasoline models, but also run faster and more efficiently and last longer.

      A closer look at the diesel industry shows that innovations such as the nationwide availability of low-sulfur diesel and the commercial success of diesel particulate filters (which remove more than 99% of pollutants from diesel exhaust) have made clean diesels cleaner than other vehicles on the road. They also provide nearly 20% to 30% better fuel efficiency than gasoline engines, and low CO2 emissions.

      Clearly, the barrier to improving U.S. fuel economy is not technological; the real obstacle is lack of political will. Automakers are demonstrating a remarkable ability to resist any changes in mileage standards, and instead are producing larger and heavier cars with unnecessary amenities, such as chilled glove boxes. A better way to improve fuel economy would be for the government to let market forces do the work, which is what Europe has done so successfully.

      Like Europe, the U.S. should price fuel at its actual cost. It is estimated that the U.S. government subsidizes fuel at a cost of roughly $3 to $10 per gallon, if one considers all the tax breaks accorded to the oil companies as well as the costs associated with regulatory oversight, pollution cleanup, and liability. The real price of gasoline in the U.S., without the subsidies, would not differ much from the $6 per gallon in Europe.

      What would you drive if you had to pay more than $100 the next time you filled up your tank? I know that I would look for better performance with higher fuel economy.

      Bilal Zuberi is vice president at GEO2 Technologies Inc. of Woburn. This article first appeared in the Boston Globe.

      OPINION

      By
      Opinion
      Culture and History — a Platform for Growth

      Springfield’s rich history, combined with the national surge in cultural tourism, can be a key element in the city’s economic renewal. Other Massachusetts cities using historical resources have successfully become tourist destinations: Salem explores its witchcraft trials; Lowell tells the human tale of its extensive mills.

      Based on the recognition that historical assets are valuable for the economic future of communities, a new concept has emerged — cultural heritage tourism. The National Trust for Historic Preservation defines cultural heritage tourism as “traveling to experience the places, artifacts, and activities that authentically represent the stories and people of the past and present,” and notes that “cultural heritage travelers stay longer and spend more money than other kinds of travelers. Good cultural heritage tourism improves the quality of life for residents, as well as serving visitors.”

      Springfield has many assets to support this kind of tourism — an abundance of architecturally and historically significant buildings, a wealth of famous individuals associated with the city, a rich storehouse of records and artifacts in museums and libraries. Moreover, many events from Springfield’s past illustrate major themes in American history:

      • Springfield, founded by puritans in 1636, was greatly damaged by the Wampanoag Confederation in 1675 during King Philip’s War;
      • Daniel Shays’ rebellion in 1787 demonstrated the need for a strong federal constitution, and propelled the convening of the Constitutional Convention;
      • The technological innovations developed at Springfield Armory spread in a precision manufacturing corridor from Vermont to Connecticut, and made possible the mass production of goods;
      • The courageous involvement of Springfield’s citizens in the anti-slavery movement made the city a significant stop for the Underground Railroad;
      • Automobiles, motorcycles, and airplanes were partially invented or popularized here;
      • Weapons developed at Springfield Armory contributed to the outcomes of the Civil War, World War I, and World War II.
      • Springfield has already made a solid start in burnishing and presenting its past, through discovery tours, the growing Museum of Springfield History and the Connecticut Valley Historical Museum, and other venues. However, more can and should be done to build Springfield into a major cultural destination.

      To develop heritage tourism, the National Trust recommends that communities follow these principles:

      • Collaborate: Much more can be accomplished by working together than by working alone. Successful programs bring together partners who may not have worked together in the past;
      • Find the fit: Balancing the needs of residents and visitors is important to ensure that cultural heritage tourism benefits everyone. It is important to understand the kind and amount of tourism that a community can handle;
      • Make sites and programs come alive: Competition for time is fierce. To attract visitors, a community or region must be sure that the destination is worth the drive;
      • Focus on quality and authenticity: Quality is an essential ingredient for all cultural heritage tourism, and authenticity is critical whenever heritage or history is involved; and
      • Preserve and protect: A community’s cultural, historic, and natural resources are valuable and often irreplaceable.
        So, what are the next steps for Springfield?
      • Call together stakeholders to discuss the future of cultural heritage tourism in Springfield. Participants should include major institutional representatives and city officials, as well as other interested parties;
      • Take an inventory of the cultural and historical assets of the city — an important step necessary for further action. This inventory should be sent to the individuals and organizations of step one;
      • Examine successful cultural heritage efforts in small cities similar to Springfield. Much can be learned from their experiences; and
      • Develop a plan for collaboration and further activity. A critical issue will be leadership: who will provide that important ingredient that will lead to further progress?

      Ira H. Rubenzahl is the president of Springfield Technical Community College;[email protected]; (413) 755-4424.