It started out slow, but due to the leadership of former State Rep Jim Leary. representatives from CEO's for cities and a great group of college students, we put together a solid clear path for the City of Worcester. Let me recommend that you click here and read it. I am very proud of this 24 page concise report.
The recommendations were awesome and capitalized on the successes of other cities that have had the same problems as the City of Worcester. In the end, we had two main recommendations:
- A structure must be put in place to make the examples laid out by other cities a reality in Worcester. That was done in the form of the Univercity Partnership.
- "Specific reporting requirements and measurement tools must be established and enforced". This was never done!!!!!
As a result nobody has a clue who Armand Carriere is and the efforts of this task force have never been realized. By the way Armand Carriere is the Executive Director of the Univercity Partnership, who was suppose to make our recommendations a reality and our task force a success.
In the end although the process was great, the implemenation of the task force recommendations was awful and I would never waste my time to participate in another task force again. Versus the same PILOT issue coming up every two years at election time, maybe someone should ask about the "specific reporting and measurement tools" regarding the Univercity Partnership to see how we are doing with the recommendations of the task force?
13 comments:
Idea...
Maybe Jim Leary should call a for the orginal task force to meet again to discuss how our recommendations have been implemented??
Bill Randell
BIll, I dont see these Pilot payments ever becoming a reality. I am convinced that too many councillors beat the drum for PIlot payements, but in reality the councillors are in bed with the collleges.
Ask youself, are you or anyone going to pay any hard cash that you dont otherwise have to?
If I was college bigwig in Worc. I would first suggest the city get its house in order operationally and finacially.
Everyone knows my pet peeve.............city employee sicktime abuse......9, 10, 11 days per year on average for EVERY employee, depending on whose #'s you believe. The reality is that many employees may take only 4 or 5 sick days a year and then there's another group that take 15 a year.
Now I ask private business men........would anyone put up with that crap in their business?
Our low income housing policy is a ++++'ing disaster. We dont need anymore and it's going to break the school dept and what really frosts my derriere is that the CDC's and other non profit builders are the good guys b/c they are helping the indigent and private Landlords are viewed pond scum.
Paulie I guess some of teh bigboys are reading this blog if you've been getting vibes that you're po'ing some others with your postings GOOD enough!!!!!
Also, How mnay other organizations do we have that market and seLl Worcester and what results have we seen
Jahn:
You did not do your homework. The recommendations in the task force report did not include Pilot payments.
It is hard to explain just take a minute and flip through the recommendations.
Bill
Sorry about that........I thought you were referring to Pilot payments...........However my comments stand ..................so bill how many other groups do we have marketing Worcester? There has to be a 1/2 dozen?
Folks just look at the airport, Massport has been here 9 years and still absolutely nothing accomplished......speaks volumes, unfortunately , about our ability to get anythng meaningfull done( except build more low income housing)
Jahn
Massport was asked/forced to assist Worcester until it got it's act together.
It didn't.
We're lucky Massport doesn't say addios---take care of your own problems like you were supposed to.
I agree with Bill on the issue the airport should have been in negotiations with other entities other than Massport when it had the chance.
Worcester Taxpayer
Jahn:
I am missing your points today.
Will we get non-profits to make PILOT payments? No I doubt it. there are, however, alot of ways that the local tax-payers can benefit from the buying power, employment opportunities amoungst many other things that the non-profits offer. Did you read the report?
How many agencies are selling Worcester? Way too many we have discussed this before. The Univercity Partnership is not selling Worcester but is in place to funnel the strenghts of the non-profits back into the City of Worcester.
MassPort? I agree with everything you are saying.
Jahn, have you been drinking Jahngermeister today???
...or a few Jahn & tonics !!!
Harry Tembenis
Worcester, MA
Sorry Folks, I been under the weather since Sunday night. Lost 2full days of work already. Maybe some Jahngermeister might help me!
I will read that 24 page report.
To Bill, I am certain that local vendors have their salesmen knocking on the colleges doors regularly. Do we really need another study group & report to tell Worc businesses that our colleges want to buy from them. Likewise for employment at local colleges. Mr Carriere has been on the job one(?)year now. We should be right on the edge of seeing some tangible results then?
To anonymous, I think you're making my point for me? The city of Worcester, after 9 years of Masssport is still standing around with nothing accomplished re: making the airport a viable operation and this unfortunately is too typical of how things dont get accomplished around town.
Will Univercity Partnership accomplish anything and if so what & where are the measurable results or is Univ P'ship just going to be another Worc Airport where reports just gather dust, more consultants get hired, and those who feed at the public trough get fatter & happier?
IMO the only time the colleges want to partner up with the city is when they have to expand their campus and things happen like handing over West St to WPI or helping Clark Build a campus annex in the beacon Brightly area ( Kilby/Hollis St)
Can you imagine if St Gobain wanted to take over or close down a city St to expand?
Jahn:
I agree 100% with you. My point was that we have the infrastructure in place with the Univercity Partnership to make things happen.
Versus hearing the same rant every two years at election time, people should be demanding results now from the Univercity Partnership or shut the dam thing down.
Bill
Bill, I just gave that 24 page report a very, very, quick perusal....Evelyn Woods Style.
Then I thought, of all the goods & services that colleges buy on the open market, what Worcester based businesses could provide which goods & services?
E.g They all buy huge amounts of food for cafeterias......so who in Worc can provide that? I think there maybe one produce house left in Worcester?..........other than that I am at a loss.......all the other foodstuffs have to come from out of town, probably from regional or national distributors.
Another example that I just personally experienced a few months ago. There is a particular item I needed and the only place left I could ever find it was Palsons Office Products, so I stocked up about 2 years ago b/c I knew the guy behind the counter there and he told me they'd be closing. So now I need the item again. I know Staples doesnt carry it and TO MY KNOWLEDGE there are no other local office supply places left in Worcester. Check the yellow pages! (afterward I did remember there is [or was] a local place out by the old diner in Rochdale)...........so my point is that colleges buy plenty of office supply items..........but where are they ever going to find a place to buy them in Worcester?
A nice addendum to that report could have listed all the local purveyors of goods & services that a college needs and then distributed that list to the college purchasing agents and then a year later do a follow-up to measure the success. ON second thought, maybe Mr Carriere has already done that?
Also keep in mind the colleges may already be members of certain buying consortiums with other colleges and for example, they buy all of certain foodstuffs from Hallsmith-Syco Insitutional purveyors which is a regional ( maybe larger) distributor with a local plant in Taunton or Norton
IMO the colleges talk a nice game but never measure up when the rubber meets the road.
Jahn:
Good points... It was more then just buy local.
It included things like "hire local". Trust me I know alot of unemployed people on Canterbury Street, good people, but for whatever reason never apply at a Clark or Holy Cross. We need to bring their hiring people down to the neighborhoods and hire these people. Believe it would be a good match for Holy Cross/Clark and help the neighborhoods.
Help the downtown. Who knows provide downtown payment assistance to employees of the colleges who buy house downtown or the Canterbury Street area. Whatever area is irrelevent, but the colleges could help all around the City of Worcester like Clark did around their campus.
Jahn, it was definately Evelyn Woods style sinice there was much much more in the 24 page report then just "buy local"
Colleges for the most part hire alot of ex city /gov't retired employees.
Not that they're better than anyone else, just better connected with a steady work history i.e. networking skills.
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