City Exec Payraises

I just read today's paper completely blown away by these payraises! You need to read the story by Nick K today and read the comments. We probably have the highest paid golf pro in Central Massachusetts making 87,182 per year for how many months of work?

Guest Post--David Zimage

I received an e-mail that was real good and thought it was worthy of a post, after getting the sender's permission. If anyone ever wants to have a guest post, just let me know.

Thanks



I agree with some of the posters on your blog that you need to rethink the criteria for your business closed list. For example, you list Zoots on Grafton Street but that one is a direct result of the failings of the chain itself. Take a look at this link from today's Boston.com - http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2008/05/15/high_concept_cleaner_in_tatters/
Also, Kangaroo Crossing is still located at 180 Main Street. They closed their retail location but are transitioning to a web based business model. Their website is currently under construction - http://www.sneakerloft.com/
Seeing your closed list does not seem to have a specific timeline involved, how about the following few that I can think of that have opened and/or made a commitment to Worcester:
1) St. Vincent Hospital's decision to build Med City instead of moving to a new location in Boylston (which was the original intent of the hospital trustees - Imagine what downtown would look like without their presence)
2) Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (I believe they now own the entire area between Commercial, Mechanic, Foster & Norwich Streets for future expansion)
3) The redevelopment of Lincoln Plaza and the stores that have a city presence because of it - think about it, would some of these tenants have locations in Worcester were it not for this project I.e. Target, Lowe's, Barnes & Noble, etc. (IMHO, no they wouldn't! They would have just surrounded the city with suburban locations)
4) Hilton Gardens on Major Taylor Blvd.
5) Fedex Kinko's on Front Street
6) Worcester Dental Group's move to larger quarters on Front Street
7) WCRN's commitment to stay in Worcester (soon to be moving to Franklin Street in one of the Mayo group buildings). Where's our other dominant media outlets, WTAG/WSRS located? That's right, Paxton.
8) Citadel Broadcasting Group Stations (WXLO - WWFX - WORC-FM) on Front Street. In case you forgot, WWFX & WORC-FM used to have their offices in Shrewsbury & Webster respectively)
9) For that matter, let's not forget the Mayo Group itself and their commitment/investment in our downtown core
10) WPI's joint venture with the WBDC for the Technology Center off of Grove Street


And on another note, Konnie Lukes in an article today in the T&G, actually voiced optimism on the future of City Square. This is very significant in my eyes because she has long been a very vocal critic of the project. In the article "Mayor gives Impromptu City Tour <http://www.telegram.com/article/20080515/NEWS/805150438/1008/NEWS02> ", she is quoted as saying, "And the mayor, who far from a starry-eyed cheerleader for the city and who has been publicly skeptical over the years about the $565 million CitySquare project planned for the empty urban outlet mall between Washington Square and City Hall, also expressed some uncharacteristic optimism about CitySquare. As the bus drove by the mall's sprawling, clumsily designed parking garage - most of which is slated to be torn down - she declared: "That mall will not be here a year from now." "It appears to be in the works," Mrs. Lukes said of the long-delayed CitySquare undertaking."


I do agree that we have a long way to go in Worcester but I don't have quite as a bleak perspective as some of the friends who post regularly on your blog.



David Zimage

New Businesses

Let me clarify. I feel all the new restaurants and bars in the Canal/Shrewsbury Street are a great addition to the City of Worcester. That said what concerns me is the shrinking commercial tax base that has caused all of our property taxes, water bills and other expenses to skyrocket.

Specifically the lack of development in places like:

• South Worcester Industrial Park
• Airport Industrial Park
• Wyman Gordon Parcel

There are many many other parcels that I could list. My point here was not to diminish the benefits of the restaurants and bars, but to point out we are losing much of our commercial base and we need to do something to:

1. keep and
2. attract businesses back to Worcester.

We need to aggressively targets areas for commercial use and:

1. lock in current assessed value for a certain period of time (5 or 10 years)
2. waive all permitting, water/sewer hook-ups

We can call it the Hanover Theatre Treatment. So everyone understands where I am coming from. The restaurants/bars are great, but we need to make the City of Worcester attractive for business.

This goes with out saying, but we need to stop funding the CDC's yesterday.

New Business

Some have accused my list of not being fair. Lets work on a new business list then. Admittedly there have been alot of new restaurants/bars in the Shrewsbury Street/Canal area.

Please post here new businesses the past 2-3 years other then these restaurants and bars and I will list them here.

City on The Move

any suggestions:

1) Parker Companies
2) Pressmet
3) Woodmeister
4) Tatnuck Boookseller
5) Morgan Construction (sold)
6) O'Coins
7) TiNova (I have a gift certificate)
8) Allegiant Air
9) Salter School
10) Barbers Crossing
11) EB Luce
12) DeScenza Jeweler
13) Bancroft Tire and Car Sales
14) Applebee's downtown
15) Mayfield Plastics to Millbury
16) Palsons Office
17) Union Station Restaurant
18) Blues Club at Union Station
19) Vincent Jewelers
20) Bob's at Webster Square
21) Sh'Booms
22) Parker & Harper on Dewey Street
23) Manoog Plumbing
24) Fidelity on Belmont
25) Sheraton Lincoln on Lincoln
26) L Hardy
27) Shaws on Grafton Street
28) Java Hut
29) Marshall's Greendale Mall
30) FDR Library
31) Plumber's Museum
32) Emilia's
33) Luciano's
34) Struck Cafe
35) KB Toys
36) Friendlys on Lincoln Street
37) Blackstone Harvest
38) Bancroft Liquors
39) 80's Club
40) Stowe & Degon
41) Woodfire barbeque
42) Zoots on Grafton
43) Hollywood Video on Grafton
44) African Museum on Canterbury Street
45) Robert's Fish & Chips (Lincoln)
46) Duffy's
47) Bank of America (Front Street)
48) Prime Mortgage
49) Kangaroo Crossing

Cape Air Expands to NY

HYANNIS, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cape Air cut the ribbon today inaugurating their newest routes between Saranac Lake and Plattsburgh, New York and Boston’s Logan International Airport. The new service actually began flying passengers in February and Cape Air President Dan Wolf says the route is already a proven winner.”

Folks here in the Adirondacks are really responding to the service and we are very happy with our first few months here,” says Wolf. “With a flight time of less than an hour and some fares as low as $59, it is cheaper to fly than it is to drive. We are looking forward to a busy summer and fall season.”

“Cape Air is our hometown airline,” said Edward C. Freni, Director of Aviation for the Massachusetts Port Authority, which owns and operates Logan. "We are pleased Cape Air is connecting Boston Logan International Airport with upstate New York.”

By September 2008 Cape Air will add an Albany hub with three new routes between the state capital and the communities of Watertown, Ogdensburg and Watertown. “Thanks to the tremendous support of state and local officials Cape Air is establishing a niche here in New York’s North Country and we are proud to add this beautiful region to our route map

Rockford Update

From our friend Tom Bona, click here:

Chicago Rockford International Airport posted its 19th consecutive month of year-over-year growth in April, with 21,127 passengers.That’s an 8 percent increase from last April.It’s also the fifth-best month for the airport all time. All five of those months have been since last March. For the year so far, the airport has seen 21 percent growth. It’s on pace to break its 17-year-old single-year record or 221,006.

Airport officials say that’s notable at a time when airlines are cutting back and airports are losing service around the country.“Think about 19 months ago and how much has changed, yet RFD continues to produce record traffic,” said Mike Dunn, chairman of the Greater Rockford Airport Authority board of commissioners. “The streak which began in October 2006 continues to show RFD’s ability to fill seats from the Chicagoland area to high-demand destinations.”Planes in and out of the Rockford airport were on average 85 percent full.

CSX Deal Falls Through in Florida

From the Tamba Bay Business Journal:

CSX Corp.'s deal with the state to sell 61 miles of track in Central Florida for a commuter rail system is off after the Florida Legislature did not approve a bill with provisions that the proposed sale hinged on. It appears that the action won't affect the terminal being built in Winter Haven, said Gary Sease, CSX spokesman.

The deal CSX negotiated with the state runs until June 2009. That means that it still can be implemented with legislative approval. Lawmakers in the Orlando area are trying to forge a compromise that could win approval of both houses at a later date.

The commuter rail deal had faced opposition from officials and civic leaders in Lakeland and other communities that would have seen freight train traffic increase as CSX would have rerouted trains through the area to a proposed intermodal rail yard in Winter Haven. In the end, it also faced opposition from people wary of the legislation's provisions to shield CSX from liability in accidents involving passengers. CSX wanted the state to cover liability for the commuter rail operation and the equipment involved in that, while the railroad would continue to shoulder liability for all freight operations, Sease said.

In a statement to the press, CSX said it's disappointed that the Legislature "failed to endorse this important investment in Florida's future." While commuter rail in Central Florida will not happen, CSX also said it's "reviewing its timeline for rail infrastructure modifications in Florida and studying other implications" of the Legislature's action.

CSX

I truly believe a great deal of the future success lies in commuter rail service. If we had steady consistent fast service to Boston, it would make a huge difference to Worcester and make projects like City Square a reality.

That said much of the dicussion that I have heard on the radio and read in the newspaper concerns me. In the end private property rights is the basis of capitalism and can not be overlooked.

We should negotiate with CSX but talk of class action lawsuits or eminent domain do not seem fair in this case. CSX owns this section of rail and it is there right to sell or not sell their own property.

Worcester Scratch Ticket

Story in the Telegram today that Councilor Smith has proposed the idea of a Worcester Scratch ticket to only be sold in Worcester with all proceeds from the sales going to Worcester. Imagine the fun we could have with this. The wild card could even be a picture of Scratch and the prizes. Post your ideas here.

On a serious note maybe we should focus on some of the cost cutting ideas that the Worcester Regional Research Bureau suggested first. More importantly there is no way in hell the Lottery would allow this.

When Less Is More

This latest Cigarette Tax Increase is going to backfire on the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Recently the state of New Jersey passed a rather large increase and not only did they not meet their projections, but they actually collected less then before the increase. There are four other states that I know of who have collected much less then projected with their last increase and the more recently the Governor of Florida actualy vetoed an increase from the the legislature, for fear it would hurt revenues.

The topic of today's post, however, is New Hampshire. Check out the story from the Boston Herald here. They are not going to pass an increase in light of the Commonwealth's most increase realizing that they can collect more by not passing an increase. The thing people never consider are the lost revenues from alcohol and lotter sales to New Hampshire and surrounding states when people cross the border to buy cigarettes.

These lost revenues to the Commonwealth have a direct effect of the City of Worcester when 50+ percent of our revenues come from the Commonwealth.

Worc Regional Research Bureau

Once again they have pretty much nailed it in their latest report. The question is will any of the recommendations be implemented. Too long to list here. Readers of this blog I highly recommend it to be read. Quick easy read.

Gateway Cities

Nick K wrote a story about how 11 cities around the Commonwealth, including Worcesterm and banning together to compete against Boston. To quote the story:

During the past year, City Manager Michael V. O’Brien said he has been working with chief executives from the other cities on creating the “Gateway Cities Compact for Community and Economic Development.” The other “Gateway Cities” are Brockton, Fall River, Fitchburg, Haverhill, Holyoke, Lowell, Lawrence, New Bedford, Pittsfield and Springfield.

This can not hurt Worcester. The story also mention that they 11 cities will meet to formally sign the pact. It is just me or is there some irony in the fact that instead of meeting in one of the 11 Gateway cities, they are meeting in Boston to sign it?

What really caught my interest is that the City Manager will be presenting "a five-year, coordinated commercial district development action plan that will focus on downtown". My guess is that it will look like what they did in Philadelphia and what was down for the Hanover Theatre. First, lock in current assessed value for time period certain and myabe even waiving of permitting fees, etc.

This is good news and I look forward to hearing what the City Manager has in mind.

Allegiant Passenger Numbers

Regional carrier Allegiant Air LLC said its total traffic rose 26.3 percent in April as it beefed up capacity and flew fuller planes. The company, operated by Allegiant Travel Co., said total system traffic, which includes scheduled service, contract flights and other flying, increased to 326.1 million revenue passenger miles, compared with 258.3 million a year earlier.

A revenue passenger mile is an industry measurement accounting for one paying passenger flown one mile. Capacity increased 19.9 percent to 382.9 million available seat miles, from 319.4 million a year earlier. Load factor, a measure of occupancy, increased 4.3 percentage points to 85.2 percent

Allegiant 1st Qtr Results

From Duluth News Tribune


Despite rising fuel prices, Allegiant Travel Co., parent company of Allegiant Air and Allegiant Vacations, posted $9.7 million in earnings during the first quarter of 2008, nearly matching its performance for the same period during the previous year.

With shrinking margins, Allegiant achieved this feat only by dramatically boosting its revenue 58 percent, from $84.3 million during the first quarter of 2007 to $133.1 million during the first three months of this year. “Our focus on achieving higher loads was successful — our scheduled system had the highest domestic load factor in the industry at 86.9 percent, a 4.4 percentage point increase from the first quarter of 2007,” Maurice J. Gallagher Jr., Allegiant’s chairman, CEO and president, said in a statement.

Based in Las Vegas, Allegiant operates a fleet of 37 jets on 103 routes. Its service includes twice-weekly direct round-trip flights between Duluth and Las Vegas.

Bank of America

On Front Street in closing. City on the move continues.

Bank of America

On Front Street in closing. City on the move continues.

Liability and CSX

Good story in the newspaper today from a local lawyer, Dennis Gorman, at Fletcher backing up CSX and their liability concerns:, click here. THIS IS A MUST READ!

Worester Airport Status

• Master Plan?
• G-13?
• 300,000 left in DOT monies need to be spent by September?
• IMG has been paid 100,000 --what are they doing?
• Bidder for the one parcel of land?
• Contract negotiations with MassPort?
• Does the city still charge their own fuel tax?
• Continue to lose millions each year

The situation is not getting better. Downgrade to General Aviation and get out of the airport business yesterday. The whole situation is simply ridiculous.

Anonymous Post

Paulie said... "not for nuttin'..if da service is dat bad..why not find another airport??

"Most have. Like I said, take a walk around and see the desolation.Just for fun, take a look at ORH through google maps, and click on the sattelite image. I count 12 planes in the tie-down area, one (jet?) in front of Dynair, and 8 at the radio shop.I count 38 planes in Fitchburg, 16 in Spencer ,12 in Sterling (along with 79 glider trailers with 8 outside the trailers) 23 in Stow, 23 in Southbridge, 9 in Gardner, and 14 in Barre.

Every privately owned airport in the area has more planes than Worcester, and of the publicly owned ones, only Gardner has fewer. I suppose ORH is simply a secret that us fly-boys haven't discovered yet. Otherwise, it woudl be loaded with little planes.

h yeah, if Patrick gets his way, Mass will join Maine as the only New England States charging sales tax on airplanes and parts, so you can say good-bye to the Radio Shop too.

Auburn--Southbridge Street

Last night I hit my first bucket of ball at the Auburn Driving Range and driving back I counter 11--13 signs that advertised space for rent, space or sale. That whole stretch is getting killed. My bet is that the 146 Mall put the big hurt on this stretch.

Boston to Fort Lauderdale

My wife flew to Florida to stay with her mom for a week. Just checked on her JetBlue flight from Boston to Fort Lauderdale. JetBlue had 8 flights today from Boston to Fort Lauderdale.

Grant Monies Accepted

The City Council voted last night to accept 10 million in grants for capital improvements at ORH, click here for Nick K story in the Telegram. Was there any discussion of downgrading the airport to General Aviaiton? I have no idea...

For 1,000 time the City of Worcester needs to privatize the entire airport via a long-term lease or outright sale by assembling an RFP for the entire airport and get other airport management companies (Avports), other airport authorities and anyone else that we can think of to look at the RFP. Couple other questions:

1. What ever happened to the G-13 Jet that was coming to ORH?
2. Where is the final Master Plan?
3. What is IMG doing?
4. I assume the one bidder for the one parcel of land, who was given a 6 month extension, is not going to exercise their option to lease.

Urban Compass

I mentioned this about one month ago, urban compass. It is scary how similar the issues are that they are having.

Nick K Story

Click here for story. Looks like this grant will get approved this Tuesday, but it is good to see that some of the City Councilors are starting to ask questions and demand results regarding the sale or long-term lease to MassPort. Only a year or so ago, I remember when Councilor Rosen was chastised for inquiring to the status of the negotiations.

The one thing I find interesting was the line from Tom Zidelis.

Over the past 20 years, the city has received nearly $27 million in capital improvement grants for Worcester Regional Airport from the federal government, according to Thomas F. Zidelis, the city’s chief financial officer. Using a 20-year straight line amortization, he said, the unamortized balance of those grants is slightly more than $9 million.

That is the lowest number that I have ever heard. In fact in Mr Nemeth's column today, he refers to "a consultant pegged that figure at close to $30 million." Although I do not see closure of ORH as being an option, we should have an idea of what that number is?

A good question by a City Councilor Tuesday may be, if we accept these monies would there be any problems if we end up downgrading to a General Aviation airport?

Bob Nemeth Column

What can I say? I agree 100% with everything Mr Nemeth had to say today. I only wish that he would not exaggerate:

1. "MassPort has spent 15 million in deficit subsidies and operating expenses". It has been a substantial amount but everytime I try to calculate it, I come up with more like 7-8 million. We should still be very thankful to MassPort, but lets me accurate.
2. "60,000 flight operations." That comes to 5,000 per month or 166 per day. This was explained once before that the flight school landings account for more then half the number.

Green Hill

Great story about public golf courses in the newspaper today. The golf pro at Gardner Municipal Country Club is paid 50,500 per year, which I assume includes benefits maybe not, and he gets to keep profits from the pro shop sales and golf cart rentals as well as doing private lessons. What a racket, where can I sign up for that. Granted the golf pro has some expenses, which he maintains to be about $60,000 grand per year but I net you he nets at least another $60,000 from the golf cart rentals and pro shop profits on top of his $50,000 per year salary.

Municipally owned golf courses need to be privatized, via a long term lease or outright sold. Myself I am not a big fan of selling the course but having a private golf management company taking over the course for 20 years is fine by me. No different then the management company that runs the DCU Center.

Commerce Bank

I bank here they are great and the hours can not be beat (7-7), when you own a retail business. The other day waiting in line, it dawned on me that Commerce is for sale. Why do I say that? In light of all the troubles that Duddie is having in the paper, he is not getting younger (estate planning issued) and the name fight with TD BankNorth over the Commerce name, can you think of a better time to sell?

Jahn, I bet you here that Commerce is sold by the end of the year.

Rockford Sets Another Record

Authorities at Chicago Rockford International Airport say it set another record for passengers last month.

Airport executive director Bob O'Brien says that in March, 29,361 people flew in and out of Rockford - a 27% increase over the previous record set just a month earlier.The airport's top four months all-time have been in the past year.

Mass Pike Exit on to 56 to be Studied

Worcester paper today

SouthWest Considering Logan

Boston Globe Story

Thanks Dave

Avports And the City of Detroit

From Detroit News.com:

Privatizing City Airport studied

Kilpatrick wants to turn over management, renovate City Airport and add longer runway.
Christine MacDonald / The Detroit News

DETROIT -- Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is close to announcing a plan to turn over management of the struggling Coleman A. Young International Airport -- commonly known as City Airport -- to a private company that has pledged to spend $50 million to revamp it.

Improvements would include construction of a 6,500-foot-long runway parallel to the two shorter existing runways, said Deputy Mayor Anthony Adams. He said Kilpatrick plans on submitting to the City Council a proposed agreement with AvPorts, a Baltimore-based company, in the next three weeks. Bigger jets can't use the airport because its runways are too short. But lengthening runways is expensive and will face certain opposition from nearby suburbs over noise.

The deal is tied to the $6 million Kilpatrick has set aside for the airport in his proposed $300 million economic stimulus plan, Adams said. He said that money would help bring in AvPorts, which he said would then make the renovations. "It's an area ripe for redevelopment," Adams said.

The $6 million would be used to complete a federally recommended safety zone by buying out nearly 500 area property owners, a plan which the city has been working on for more than 13 years. Adams said the city would still own the airport, but the private company would manage operations -- similar to the city's relationship with the Detroit Zoo.

James Canning, a Kilpatrick spokesman, said the administration is unable to release more details on the proposal, including what would happen to city employees who work at the airport. Eight full-time positions are listed for the airport in the city's current budget. It will cost the city nearly $3.4 million to run the airport this year.

Detroit officials have talked about turning over management of the airport for years without success. The last three Detroit mayors have promised to expand the airport, but all have fallen short. About a dozen commercial airlines have pulled passenger service since 1975, and the only planes using it are private, corporate and cargo. Still, some aviation experts see the airport as a key opportunity in the city's revitalization.

AvPorts operates and manages airports. Its sister company, Atlantic Aviation, runs 72 fixed-base operations at 69 airports across the country

March 10, 2008 Airport Board Meeting

Minutes not on line.

Toll Road News

Direct from Toll Road News in the Boston Globe.

"The study says the MassPike spends a higher percentage on those expenses than any of the other 34 toll roads surveyed. Most other toll roads spend less than half of what they collect on operations."

Boston Fire Department

Must read click here and here . Key line:

"The alleged scam has served to boost one of the fastest-growing areas of municipal finance, pensions."

CDC "fuzzy" Math

Here is very simple example based on a sale price of 130,000.

First and foremost you need to be low to moderate income to qualify, people with money stay away. Take a minute to think about that--how crazy is this!! Why?

There is a "soft" second for $50,000. What is a "soft" second mortgage? It is a mortgage that you do not have to pay back and is discharged, if you live in the house for a stipulated "affordability" period of time (mostly 15 years). In order to "qualify" for the "soft" second, you need to be low to moderate income. People with above moderate income will not qualify for the "soft" second mortgage.

In this example the CDC would receive $180,000:

1. 130,000 in the form of first mortgage from a private "conventional" bank
2. 50,000 from the City of Worcester in HOME funds.

The low to moderate home-owner pays back the first mortgage (130,000), but pays nothing on the "soft" second. What happens if this home-owner falls behind on their first and is foreclosed by the bank? If this occurs the stipulated "affordability" time period mentioned above has been violated and the $50,000 soft second is no longer "soft". The City of Worcester owes $50,000!!!!

Right now the City of Worcester has millions in soft seconds, resulting mostly from the sale of houses by the CDC's all around the City of Worcester. These "soft" seconds will become liabilities to the City of Worceter, if someone who is not low to moderate income takes title to the underlying property. In other words the City of Worcester has a vested interest to help a low to moderate income home-owner with a soft second stay out of foreclosure.

We can expect to see more and more monies being diverted to programs such as SAVE to help people in foreclosure. These programs main purpose, however, will be target home-owners in foreclosure, who have "soft" second mortgages to prevent them from becomiing liabilities for the City of Worcester.

How to Waste $1,000,000

A more detailed story in the newspaper today about saving the CDC's, click here. It never ends, more hand-outs to the tune of one million dollars.

• My own personal favorite is Main South CDC needs 107,788 to convert four condos to rental units?
• Better yet East Side CDC needs another 760,000 to build 4 units. Maybe someone should say don't build them right now???
  
• Do you think anyone in leadership positions will question any of this?

Again let me ask how can a private developer compete with subsidized development like this? The simple answer is they can not and will not invest monies into projects in the City of Worcester. I am repeating myself but not only do the CDC's not stimulate private investments they stiffle it.

Business friendly? CDC friendly is more like it in the City of Worcester.

Update

I just drove down Kilby Street and counted 6 brand new foundations and a couple other lots being prepared for more housing. On one hand we are giving Main South CDC monies to subsidize the sale of their houses, while they keep building more houses?

CDC's

You got to read this story. To date the CDC's:

1. Get land for pennies on the dollar from the City of Worcester, usually through tax title--SWEETHEART deals
2. Get any variance that they want, no matter how ridiculous
3. Millions of dollars in Federal and State grants
4. Although I can not prove, I question whether or not they pay the same water and sewer fees that the private developer has to pay.

That is still not enough. Governor Patrick is announcing "nearly $1 million in state grants for community development corporations to help those nonprofits in the sale of affordable housing units that are not selling because of high prices". What about the private developers and private homeowners trying to sell their houses in this market??

Who is going to help with all the foreclosure problems? Governor Patrick is announcing "a program to help community nonprofit organizations buy foreclosed properties and get them back on the market to protect affected neighborhoods from speculators and deterioration."

Let me get this straight. On one hand we are going to help the CDC with their speculative investments and then we turn to them to protect us against speculators?

Airport Grant Monies

Make take on story in today's paper. I am 90% sure that these monies need to be spend on capital improvements, not on debt (per Jahn's suggestion).

We need to take the money!! It will, however, increase the amount of money that we would owe if we closed the airport down. Lets be realistic that is not going to happen.

An analogoy would be this. You want to sell your house and someone is going to give you $20,000 for free to put a new roof and siding on the house. The catch is if you tear the house down you will have to pay the 20,000 back. You would take the free 20,000, put on a new roof/siding and sell the house. Note you better make sure that the new owner is liable for the 20,000 if he tears the house down.

We need to:

1. take the monies
2. do the improvements
3. downgarde to a GA airport
4. market the entire airport nationwide (not just to MassPort)

City Council Airport Discussions

Listened to the City Council tonight. There was much discussion and commentaries but there were two very simple questions that were not asked:

1. A simple question asking how much could we save if we downgraded to General Aviation?(as our consultant IMG advised).
2. Why do we always only talk about MassPort? (They are not the only owner or manager of airports.)

Supermarkets

Harry has some interesting ideas on the Whole Foods market on Grafton Street. At first, I was not so sure but the more I thought about it --there is potential, but here are my thoughts.

1. I would imagine that Shaws signed a long term lease. In other words the landlord is getting paid so what impetus is there for the landlord to even bother looking for a tenant. This happens all the time, can you say Price Chopper on Mill Street.
2. It is much better idea then an indoor skating rink.
3. It would be wildly more successful then a Super 88 Supermarket on Portland Street. What research did anyone do on this?

The location has no walking traffic and no parking. To top it off there are two very successful and very busy Oriental markets on Main Street and one on Green Street, all less then one mile away. Not to mention a brand new Price Rite going on Southbridge Street, although this was only added recently to the equation. Hey lets not for the old Mart location. Who the hell would ever shop here?? Evidently Super 88 realized the same thing, thus they are not coming to Worcester.

Bottom line is that we need truly "out of the box" ideas like these, versus the same old same old.

Blueprint for Worcester?

According to control board executive director Philip Puccia’s recent memo to the board, issued in tandem with the city’s new budget, an aggressive reform approach has affected Springfield’s finances, administration, public safety and schools, summarized in the memo as follows:

• Health insurance plan design changes and the transfer of city employee and retiree health insurance to the Group Insurance Commission. This year, the increase in health insurance rates is only four percent, compared to the city’s historical annual 18 percent increase.
• Adoption of Chapter 32B Section 18 of the Massachusetts General Laws which makes Medicare the primary payer of retiree health insurance costs, saving $18.7 million for the city and retirees over a three year period (FY06 – FY08).
• Successful negotiation and implementation of all city and School Department labor contracts, most of which are long-term contracts, and all of which provide for improved departmental management and predictable, affordable wage increases.
• Implementation of MUNIS, an integrated financial management system, for the city and School Department. This system will improve accountability and transparency, streamline inefficient processes and eliminate the vast majority of (often redundant) manual processing for municipal processes.
• Collection of $25.8 million in overdue taxes, including fees and related interest charges.
• Transfer of Retirement System assets to the Commonwealth’s Pension Reserves Investment Management Board, a decision which increased retirement system earnings by $25 million in one year, compared to the city’s prior investment performance.
• Implementation of performance-based budgeting to increase the accountability and efficiency of service output.
  Utilization of a comprehensive payroll system that has improved efficiency, reliability and has helped us to improve many other areas of municipal operation.
• Increase in the size of the city’s Police Department and Fire Department through hiring, and by transferring dozens of sworn personnel from desk duty to street patrol and fire suppression duties.
• Significant investment in a system to track and manage repairs in the city’s infrastructure of parks, schools and other municipal buildings.

Springfield Educlean

Interesting story.



Check this out too.

Injured On Duty

Over the past couple of weeks I have the number 600 mentioned twice regarding the number of City employees on IOD. That just seems like a huge number!!! Maybe someone should ask for a report on this???