February 15, 2007

RFP's

Did anyone read the story in today's Telegram in regards to the RFP for the two old schools. Here is one line:

There has been a concerted effort to advertise and attract qualified developers from across New England,” Mr. O’Brien said. In an effort to reach a broader audience, Ms. Jacobson said the RFP has been advertised in the Boston Herald, New England Real Estate Journal and Banker & Tradesman, in addition to the Telegram & Gazette and Central Register.

I commend the City of Worcester on these efforts, but only wish the same marketing effort had been put into ORH.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

How was the RFP for the airport advertised?Are you sure it was not advertised in the newspapers or are you just guessing?

Bill Randell said...

there was an RFP for the land.... There has never been an RFP for the airport itself.

Anonymous said...

Ok. So was the RFP for the land advertised in any newspapers and/or other vehicles for getting the word out or are you just guessing?

Dave from Worcester said...

I wish the city would wake up and make an effort to actually have an airport. We are the third largest city in New England, not far behind Providence for 2nd, and in the heart of Massachusetts. Also, Worcester is the closest major city to Boston. This is almost perfect for an airport. I know about the competition with other airports, but every secondary airport has to deal with that.

Anonymous said...

I agree, Worcester needs to have a real airport to compete with the other cities in the northeast. It amazes me that we can not bring JetBlue here but they will fly to Nantucket.

Anonymous said...

i HAVE A DREAM . If ORH was w/in 50 miles of Mashpee maybe we could that casino that has been joked about over the years. Add in a 1st class Nascar facility and we still have room left for 767's.

Did anyone notice that 4 schools were closed by the city last June (?) and only 2 of them were put out to bid. Could be a host of reasons why Dartmouth & Adams St were RFP'ed and Mill Swan & New Ludlow were not. They probably lend themselves more easily to condo conversion. Ludlow, If memory serves me well, was right in the path of one of the proposed access roads and of course Mill Swan is on Mill St which IS a corridor that is currently under review by a another blue ribbon committee. Review for upgrading as a possible ORH access improvement?

THIS IS NOT AN APPLES TO APPLES COMPARISON..BUT ONLY TOOK the school dept 8 months to get an RFp out for the school, yet in 8 years of Massport management, ORH could not get out:

1. An RFP to sell the place

2. A successful GA facility RFP

3. A restaurant RFP


Good job by Caradonio & School committee. When one has MONEY on the line (for a new North High) it tends to light a fire under their proverbial derriere. When no one has money on the line, things tend to wither on the vine.

If Massport didnt step up to the plate 8 years ago ORH would be a thriving airport now b/c the city would have been forced to sell it off to private interests. The Massport subsidy has basically been a crutch to lean on that has done us no good in the long run and if Patrick takes over control of Massport( translation:hackarama) it will be the end for ORH

Bill Randell said...

Jahn:

Great points.

The RFP for the Land was advertised quite well and developed alot of interest. The problem was with the terms in the RFP, which generated no responses. My point was the RFP for the school also look like they will be well advertised.

On the other hand, we will end up long-term leasing or outright sell ORH w/o an RFP. That was my point.

Anonymous said...

So it was advertised well. Do we know where? That certainly was not what was in the original posting. Was it in any industry -related media or web sites? If the terms were a problem what did they do about it? My only point is we have to be careful to be critical where appropriate and to the point. Innuendo only causes a lack of credibility in the long-run.

Bill Randell said...

Tom:

The Land RFP was well advertised, how exactly I do not know. There was even a conference for potential bidders. The problem was the RFP itself. Furthermore it makes no sense even trying to put the land out to RFF again until the future management is known. I think I have said this numerous times.

At the same time I have also said 100 times that we should put the entire airport out to RFP. Only wish that the same efforts that are being put into a RFP for the two schools, or the matter a 4.5 acre parcel of land, were put into an RFP for the entire airport.

Innuendo?? We have, if nothing else, extremely consistent on putting the entire airport out to bid for two years.