I have been a long out-spoken critic of the Chamber of Commerce, sometimes referring to it as the sleeping Chamber. Happy to say there are things changing over at the Chamber and the days of the once a year Letter to the Editor and the annual appearance at City Hall to advocate against the lowest residential rates are behind them. They need to be active 12 months per year.
Lots of good things are starting to happen that will truly represent the interests of businesses. As a result for the first time, we have joined the Chamber of Commerce. All I ask is that as see new programs roll out, please join the Chamber with us.
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| Application and check to Stuart Loosemore |
7 comments:
I think this is your VIP coming to ORH.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel/airline-looks-to-establish-nonstop-service-to-florida-from-several-new-england-cities/2012/11/06/638e7e62-285d-11e2-aaa5-ac786110c486_story.html
So did anyone else see this weeks WOMAG piece on City Sq, downtown, etc?
Seems we have the holy trinity all trying to control Worcesters future central business district. We have the city Econ Dev dept, (ED), we have the Worc Bus. Dev. Corp (WBDC) and we have a volunterr architect (VA).
When you read the piece you'd almost think the WBDC is owed by its CEO. I always thought WBDC was owed by the city and funded with tax $$$$. Who "owns" the WBDC?
The volunteer architect says colleges want to "invest" in building a hockey rink (not to be confused with a skating rink). somewhere in the central business district. The city ED dept. wants to concentrate on a residential/ business mix. THE WBDC wants Quinsigamond Comm College to locate a campus (Satellite?) in the old T&G building.
Can we please have one city dept in charge of all city dev'ment...all under one roof with one person in charge and it would be primarily business dev'ment as we really dont need anymore gov't intrusion into residential dev'ment .......given the excess amount of low income housing that Worc already has and how gov't involment in that arena has already loused up the city enough.
Then I flip over to the next Womag page and there is piece about meeting at Plumley Village led by a city employee from the housing dept and the topic is how to use Comm. Dev. Block Grant money. One gentleman gets up and says it should go healthcare b/c it seems health care is on everyne s mind. This gentleman is employed by Great Brook Valley Health Center....so clearly he has an 100% unbiased opinion on how to spend Washington DC giveaways.
Can we please keep our city housing agnecies and depts out of the social services business. Just house the poor and be dome with it. We dont need the Worc Housing Authority getting involved in teen pregnancy and prophylactic giveaways. Ya see how all these do gooder agencies just keep expanding their mission to draw in more grant money from Beacon Hill and DC... a.k.a. mission creep.
And of course all these honchos talk about how there will be lotsa public input before any decisions are made...........RIGHT!!!!!!! ..just like how the city decided to give 600 ft. of Downing St to Clark U. and then decided to hold public hearings on it 4 months later.
ENOUGH with the mushroom treatment of the citizenry!!!
As one might say, ya cant make this stuff up. So this morning (11-9) I pick up the T&G only to find out that not only do we have the 3"depts" listed in my past/last post on here, we also still have the WRA (Worc Re-Dev. Authority)......
Geeeesh I though that entity died after Medical City was built and city ended up having to pony up zillions more $$$ after the WRA took by eminent domain many properties at the Medical City site and was deemed by the courts to have WAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYY unvalued them.
SO anyway this beast is still alive and they have come up with the grand idea of purchasing brewery equipment to the tune of $400,000 and setting it up in Union Station to be leased to Wormtown Brewery which is currently sited at Park Ave & Downing St and needs to expand. Again, ya cant make this stuff up. You'se awl s'pose that making Downing St a dead end street helped out the Wormtown Brewery? And OMG even Konnie is kinda, sorta forced to agree w/this insanity b/c Union Station cant seen to unite any tenants in this building boondoggole which just like The airport terminal building boondoggle.....is as empty as used keg of beer at 2:00am on a Sunday morning.
Gentlemen, can we please at least see if Wormtown Brewery has the collateral/security to carry a $400,000 nut before we ask for bids. I mean it aint like they dont already have a dam good idea of what this equipment is going to cost b/c clearly Wormtown knows that it's an outlay that they cant get finanacing for in the private sector.
The city states "we're not going forward [with this purchase] until we have sufficient security". Bill's (sorry Bill) new Chamber of Commerce is also hoping there's "a substantial collateral req'mt.
Folks...please......the reason The Wormtown Brewery needs the city to finance this moonshine operation is b/c the Worntown Brewery aint got the credit to do it themselves. This not a knock on Wormtown as many small businesses run into this. Sorry, but I just dont think these bureaucrats understand how private business works(or doesnt work). YA dont lease or rent something to someone who cant get conventional financing.
And this new equimment would triple the production capacity from 20 to 60 barrls per batch run. I do not know how often a batch is run but I'm scrathcing my head here and wondering how all this beer will be sold in a retail setting, except on March 17th. Could Union station also be turned into a wholesale distribution/warehouse site?
How about this.....the city finances a brand new Tadcaster Building and Brewery in Green Island where it used to be located until it folded and I-290 (I think)took the rest of it. The Worc Historical Comm. would be elated.
Maybe Worc can be a model for Natick as Natick may attempt to revive the Carling Brewery on the shores of beautiful Lake Cochituate.
Sorry but this is too much gov't intervention and only ticks off other city businessmen who have been here for years and see this baloney and then ask themselves why they dont get similar treatment. This so called "cold liquor tank" idea s/b permanently put on ice unless the city wants to finance my new $310,000 Cat D-9 bulldozer :).
So after a brew and a sandwich for Fri lunch, I read the T&G comments on this article. 15 of 17were dead set against it. The other 2 of 17 comments had to do with the beer product it self..one thumbs down, one thumbs up. Also seems there is some Nepotistic Narragansett in the mix if I can believe one of teh T&G bloggers.
And please let us not repeat our wayward construction practices of the past (Common Rink) and forget get to include in the bid the refrigeration apparatus necessary to keep things cool.
Jahn,
Although the WBDC partners with the city they are an independent entity with a track record of nothing but success with everything they touch.
Here is a partial list of some of their projects:
Airport Industrial Park
Gateway Park
CenTech Park
CenTech Park East
CenTech Park North
Mass Biotechnology Research Park
They are now concentrating their resources downtown to create what they are marketing as “The Theater District” by initially buying the former T&G building. They are hoping to land the Medical Science Department of Quinsig to relocate to the T&G building as the initial lynchpin for the area.
Quinsig has indicated they would like to move this department DT so they will be in close proximity to St. Vincent’s & MCPHS (who I may add is already looking to expand their presence, also).
I am very bullish on their plans for DT.
Check out their website at this link – http://thewbdc.com/
Anonymous,
This was also reported in the T&G on Wednesday.
Startup airline eyes Worcester
Elite Airways plans flights to Florida
Here is a link to the article -
http://www.telegram.com/article/20121107/NEWS/111079984/0/SEARCH
Good to hear from you David, however we would like to hear from you more often. Dont be a stranger. Dittos to Big Daddy who is probably on a 3 day hiatus on the Chatham beaches... red plastic cup in hand !!!! :).
David, I agree that what I see at the North Worc site of WBDC certainly appears to be successful.
The only question I have is how much gov't money did it take build out and make successful all the WBDC properties that you mention. I do think that some of the North Worc Site was dev'ed by WPI money, at least as I understand it.
My point is that if huge amts of gov't money are handed off to WBDC, then it is very easy to be successful. I mean just look the city's many non profit housing housing dev'ers and how they can spend anywhere between 275k to 513k of gov't money to build a beautiful new flat or townhouse and then rent them for maybee $900 to $1200 per month or worse sell them off for $125,000 per unit. Private money cannot do this. IMO this is not success, but crony capitalism run amok.
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