Stimulus funds to hasten cleanup in New Bedford

NEW BEDFORD - Millions of dollars in federal stimulus money will be invested in a massive cleanup of polluted New Bedford Harbor, home of one of New England's oldest and largest Superfund sites, federal officials announced yesterday.
US Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lisa P. Jackson came to the Whaling City to unveil the award of at least $25 million, and perhaps as much as $35 million - the single largest portion of the $600 million in stimulus money designated for Superfund cleanups nationwide. Four other New England properties, in Mans field, Lowell, Kingston, N.H., and Strafford, Vt., also received millions [read more]

 New Bedford downtown is quietly growing

Even the news that the state will hold off advertising the rerouting of Route 18 until at least 2010, effectively postponing a plan to make New Bedford's downtown area more pedestrian friendly, can't divert city officials' beliefs that the area is on a true upswing.

While many major cities across the Commonwealth are struggling to find ways to redevelop their aging and mostly vacant downtown merchant buildings, New Bedford has been quietly filling holes over the last five years.  [read more]

 Restoring Ernestina

NEW BEDFORD — It has been 11 months since Ernestina sailed on home waters, but the historic schooner is returning to the city next Saturday, having undergone extensive restoration on the forward part of its 115-year-old hull at the Boothbay Harbor Shipyard in Maine.

Weather permitting, Ernestina will leave the shipyard on Tuesday morning under its own power with a crew of shipyard workers, calling at Gloucester and Boston before transiting the Cape Cod canal on Friday afternoon between 12:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m.  [read more]

 'Chronicle' to explore the 'new' New Bedford

NEW BEDFORD — Could this city be shedding its image as an "undiscovered" gem? It is getting help from "Chronicle," the New England magazine program produced by WCVB-TV5 in Boston.

Wednesday's "Chronicle" is entirely about New Bedford, about all the things that are familiar to the locals but all too often are unexplored by people in the Town of the Bean.

"Chronicle" field producer Clint Conley  [read more]

 Mariners impressed by city and harbor beauty, amenities

NEW BEDFORD — There were swells in the harbor Thursday, all of them aboard the New Bedford Fast Ferry for a slow-speed survey of the waterfront and all that it offers the flotillas of the yacht clubs of the Northeast.

Some of them, such as Steve Taylor, Padanaram summer resident and secretary of the Cruising Club of America, were already intimately familiar with New Bedford Harbor. "I've had a mooring here since 1985, and at $125 I feel very well treated," he said.  [read more]

 Film industry thriving in New Bedford

New Bedford is gaining a reputation as a film friendly city with multiple locations suitable for almost any type of film imaginable. In the past two years, the city has been the location for a segment of the PBS American Experience, a heavy metal musical video, several television shows and short feature films. One such film recently held its premiere in New Bedford. Homeland, filmed in On a Roll in downtown New Bedford.

The producers and director chose  [read more]