 |
|
Economic summit and business roundtable fosters
public-private partnerships
Officials hang out city's
'open for business' sign
By Joe Cohen
Standard-Times staff writer
 NEW
BEDFORD — State Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill and city
officials hung out an "open for business" sign on the
city Tuesday, making a pitch to create new
public-private partnerships to a group of bankers and
investors who control hundreds of millions of dollars to
do development deals.
Accentuating the positive and focusing on the city's
facilities, infrastructure, schools, work force and
geography, Mr. Cahill and city officials said they are
ready to work with any bank or investment group willing
to enter into partnership to bring jobs and development
to the city.
Calling it an economic summit and business roundtable,
Mr. Cahill brought together representatives of Sovereign
Bank, Bank of America, Citizens Bank, TD Banknorth,
Access Capital, the AFL-CIO's investment fund and the
New Boston Fund.
As state treasurer, Mr. Cahill has a large amount of
public money to invest and typically does so with banks
and other financial entities that agree to engage in
so-called public-private partnerships within
Massachusetts.
On Tuesday, about 40 people met in the New Bedford Art
Museum to listen to a 90-minute presentation about the
attributes and potential of the city from Mayor Scott W.
Long and Matthew A. Morrissey, executive director of the
New Bedford Economic Development Council. Those
attending included representatives of the city's
legislative delegation, city officials, current and
potential developers, and the bankers and investors.
"My job is to put you all together — I'm just a
facilitator," Mr. Cahill said. "This is a vibrant area
... there is affordable housing ... great work force."
The city, he said, has "great bones."
And, he said, the city is "a breath of fresh air ... not
a NIMBY community as some are," referring to the acronym
for "not in my back yard."
"This isn't a charity operation. You want to make
profits," he said to the bankers and investors.
New Bedford, Mr. Cahill said, has "got all the pieces in
place" for development to happen quickly and
efficiently.
Mayor Lang touted the school system and public safety,
including improvements made in the past couple of years
since he took office. He also cited the New Bedford
Industrial Park, city infrastructure including sewer and
water system capacities, the airport and other selling
points.
Mayor Lang also told the meeting that so-called
"smokestack cities" need a Marshall Plan to recover from
decades of job losses. "We need jobs. We know bringing
jobs in will grow 10 fold — jobs beget jobs."
Speaking about the current troubles with the national
economy, Mayor Lang said, "We don't know if (a
recession) has started, we are in the middle or at the
end." Regardless, he said, he wants to push for new
development and jobs now. He also said he wants to
maintain projects that are under way and could be
destabilized by negative economic conditions, unless
they receive additional public-private partnership
support.
Mr. Morrissey, using a projector and screen, took those
attending on a visual tour of the city's many potential
sites for development or redevelopment. Those included
Aerovox, Cliftex 1 and 2, Whalers Cove, Fairhaven Mills,
Hicks-Logan-Sawyer, Berkshire Hathaway Mills,
International Ladies Garment Workers Union complex,
Goodyear, Elco Dress/Payne Cutlery and Chamberlain
manufacturing.
Mr. Morrissey also talked about the State Pier,
commercial fishing and working waterfront, Route 18
project, and the future development focus on alternative
energy, marine science and high technology sectors. He
noted that the city has about 100,000 residents, 48,000
jobs and 2,300 businesses.
City Councilor David Alves raised the issue of a casino,
calling it the elephant in the room and noted that the
city has "been down this road 12 years ago." Mr. Cahill
said he is in full support of casinos in the state, but
one should not be seen as "the savior of the city" and
is not a substitute for overall economic development.
Kevin J. Sullivan of Sovereign Bank suggested that the
city refine what it is offering, "map out the low
hanging fruit ... (choose) four sites that are further
along ... (and) identify funds available." Mr. Sullivan
concurred with others who had indicated that Boston and
larger cities tend to get greater attention. "The
outlying areas need all the help you can get," he said.
William Fenton of Bank of America said his impression
after hearing the presentations was that the "city is
open for business."
"At the end of the day, it has to make sense," Mr.
Fenton said of the financial justification for doing
deals. "We will be sniffing around."
Contact Joe Cohen at jcohen@s-t.com
February 27, 2008 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
