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'Activating' downtown Springfield complex will transform Morgan Square into Station 4 for Thing5 employees

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Property manager Evan Plotkin plans to rebrand Morgan Square as Station 4, and hopes to offer discounted rents to people who work downtown, especially those employed at Thing5, which plans to add 500 jobs to the One Financial Plaza tower.

Evan Plotkin, President and Managing Director of NAI Samuel D. Plotkin and Associates, stands outside of Morgan Square apartments that will be re-named and made available to employees of a new downtown call center.

SPRINGFIELD – On Taylor Street, where the Duryea brothers started the first automobile company, property manager and commercial real estate broker Evan C. Plotkin wants to develop a neighborhood where no one needs a car.

“It’s ironic because the auto industry started here, but the car killed downtown Springfield,” Plotkin, president of NAI Plotkin Realty, said in a recent interview. “Once people started driving in the 1920s, they started moving out. They started moving their businesses out.”

Plotkin is the rental agent and manager for what’s now known as Morgan Square but used to be called the Springfield Steam Power Blocks, a complex of brick mill buildings on Lyman and Taylor Streets near the stone-arch railroad bridge over Main Street. Once, the building housed boilers that fed steam power to area industry in the days before electricity. The rest of the space was rented out to small manufacturing concerns.

“It was the industrial park of its day,” Plotkin said.

At that site, he wants to create Station 4, a housing and retail complex with restaurants and art galleries. He also hopes to offer apartments at discounted rents to people who work downtown, especially those employed at Thing 5 LLC, a telecommunications firm which promises to bring 500 jobs to the One Financial Plaza office tower five blocks south.

"We like anybody downtown," said David A. Thor, managing director of Thing5 LLC. "From our standpoint, being able to work and live in the same environment is a great asset. As the city matures and dies and grows again, there is a benefit to living in the city."

Plotkin said Station 4 will fit in with recent renovations at the former federal courthouse on Main Street, the planned relocation this spring of Cambridge College to Tower Square, and the moving of 23 employees of WFCR New England Public Radio into new studios in the Fuller Block on Main Street in 2013.

Plotkin's plan over the next few months is to rebrand the space as Station 4, a play on the nearby Amtrak station and the existence of four buildings. The complex would have 275 apartments and 16 street-level storefronts.

Plotkin also wants to incorporate artwork into the complex's courtyards to attract people and bring in restaurants and shops. It's all about drawing foot traffic.

"When people see other people who look like they belong, they feel safe," Plotkin said. "We call it activating the space. The key is making a clean, safe, active environment."

He acknowledges that the lack of a downtown supermarket will make it difficult for tenants to establish the type of urban lifestyle he's advocating. But there are efforts under way to attract such a market.

"The world is changing away from the suburban lifestyle," Plotkin said. "Research shows that young people just out of college want to live in a city environment and that is what companies will have to offer in order to attract that talent."

Plotkin is also the rental agent for One Financial Plaza, formerly known as the Sovereign Bank building, where Thing5 is locating.

Despite the decided Dr. Seuss nature of both names, Plotkin insists that partnering Thing5 and Station 4 is just a coincidence.

The jobs at Thing5 will be full-time and will be mostly entry-level call center positions, including those requiring knowledge of more than one language, with a salary range of $10 to $14 per hour. There will be some management positions.

Thor said there is construction going on now at One Financial Plaza and the company has already hired about 100 of the employees it will need.

"Our struggle is to bring them up to production speed," he said.

Thing5's training programs vary in length.

"It really depends on the skill," Thor said. "The job skill is very similar to what a travel agent used to do. It has to do with booking the event, not doing the research."

But the computer systems many of Thing5's clients use are out of date and hard to use. "You don't know why someone has to type 5,000 words at an airline reservations counter," Thor said. "That is why."

Thing5 started in the Springfield Technical Community College Technology Park on Federal Street in 2004.


Slow growth seen for Western Massachusetts economy in 2012 despite hopeful signs

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Europe is also a major source of private investment capital for businesses looking to either get started or grow, said Michael D. Goodman, a professor of public policy at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth.

Ask pretty much any economist or business leader to look into the crystal ball and see what 2012 will bring, and every answer boils down to one phrase: cautious optimism.

“God I hate the phrase, but we are starting to see some green shoots,” says Robert A. Nakosteen, a professor of economics and statistics at the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. “There seems to be some optimism in the air.”

Such optimism could evaporate very quickly, though, due to continued economic problems in Europe, persistently high unemployment and household debt that keeps consumers from spending and keeps the economy from really taking off, Nakosteen warns.

Robert nakosteen.JPGRobert Nakosteen

The U.S. economy grew by 2.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011, its fastest rate of growth in a year and a half. Massachusetts grew at a slightly slower rate, 2.3 percent, according to MassBenchmarks, a quarterly study of the state’s economy.

That slow, but as yet steady, rate of growth is cold comfort to the 26,034 Springfield residents who were unemployed in December, according to the state Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development. Statewide, there are about 228,0000 people out of work.

And, executives seem reluctant to hire, even if they don’t predict more layoffs.

An Associated Industries of Massachusetts survey issued in January found that 24 percent of the employers who responded to its monthly business confidence survey plan to add staff in the first half of 2012. Just 8 percent predict cutting their staffs. The remainder plan to stand pat.

In the Pioneer Valley, the optimism seems to be expressed in the new businesses opening in downtown Westfield.

Optimism is also being expressed in the $168 million Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center, scheduled to be finished by the end of this year in Holyoke.

It’s being expressed in companies like Titeflex, a maker of Teflon hoses with woven cladding and in Warren Pumps, a maker of pumps for the Navy and for the oil industry. One of the region’s stalwarts, Smith & Wesson, also added manufacturing jobs in 2011 as it moved its Thompson-Center production here from a plant that closed in New Hampshire.

Just last month, Agawam’s Microtest labs announced it will manufacture a new vaccine designed to combat celiac disease. The vaccine is part of a $20 million project by ImmusanT Inc., of Cambridge. Microtest has about 80 employees.

Baystate Medical Center plans to open the first phase of its $296 million “Hospital of the Future” in March.

There are three separate proposals for a single casino license that will be awarded in Western Massachusetts under the terms of the state law passed in 2011 following decades of debate. The winner could be in Holyoke, Springfield, Brimfield or Palmer.

Allan W. Blair, the president and chief executive officer of the Western Mass Economic Development Council, says it is the signature event of 2011, a series of tornadoes that cut a 39-mile swath of destruction from Westfield to Sturbridge in June, that will provide the biggest economic development opportunity of 2012.

“I hope 2012 is not a story of planning,” Blair said. “I hope it is a story of project implementation where we keep rebuilding from the storms and we start taking advantage of the Holyoke computer center.”

Polina Vlasenko.JPGPolina Vlasenko

Manufacturing, particularly high-precision work, is a continued strength of the region’s economy, Blair says.

But demand for real estate, both commercial and residential, is still very low, he said.

Polina Vlasenko, an economist and research fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research in Great Barrington, predicts more slow, steady growth in the national economy for 2012. That’s especially good news if one remembers that there was talk a year ago of the potential for a double-dip recession.

“Now 8.5 versus 9 percent unemployment is not dramatic improvement, but it is going in the right direction,” Vlasenko said. “The most important thing is that government no longer seems to be the primary driver of this thing, as it was back during the stimulus.”

Government stimulus of the economy can’t last forever, however, Vlasenko said; eventually the starter motor has to kick off, and the engine has to start chugging on its own.

“When the consumers spend and business produce more, that can go on forever,” she said.

Consumer spending is up, but income is not, Vlasenko added. “This is worrisome because it leads to consumer debt, which eventually lowers consumption,” she said.

When the consumer is in debt, “he behaves differently when he gets more money,” Vlasenko said. “When you have debt, especially debt you are worried about, if you get more income, you just pay down your debt.”

This year’s presidential election won’t help either, according to Vlasenko. All those competing ideologies won’t let businesses plan, and Congress will be afraid to pass anything for fear of upsetting voters, she said.

“But the election will be over in November,” she said. “European debt will stay.”

michael goodman.JPGMichael Goodman

Most economists assume Europe is already in a recession. Beside being a trading partner for Massachusetts-based technology companies, Europe is also woven into the U.S. banking system.

“If something were to really go badly there in terms of the banking system, it will probably spill over here.”

Europe is also a major source of private investment capital for businesses looking to either get started or grow, said Michael D. Goodman, a professor of public policy at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth.

“Here is a factoid that should keep you up at night: Europe provides $5 trillion a year in credit to in the United States, a figure equal to our traditional banking system,” Goodman said. “Our fate is very much in the hands of our policy makers both in Washington and in Europe.”

RI player wins $336 million Powerball jackpot

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The new multimillionaire has not stepped forward and the lottery has not said where the winning ticket was sold.

powerball logo.jpgPowerball

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Lottery officials say someone who played the Powerball in Rhode Island has won the $336.4 million jackpot.

The new multimillionaire has not stepped forward and the lottery has not said where the winning ticket was sold. To win, the player had to match all of Saturday's five numbers, 1-10-37-52-57, and Powerball number 11.

Because of rising sales, the jackpot more than doubled from $173.5 million on Feb. 1.

Powerball is played in 42 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Ware house fire leaves two homeless

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A fire at 60 Chestnut St. in Ware destroyed a single-family home.

fire 1.jpgFire destroys home at 60 Chestnut St., Ware

WARE – Two people were left homeless after their single-family home at 60 Chestnut St. was destroyed Saturday afternoon, officials said.

Ware firefighters first went to the scene at 5:20 p.m. believing there was a brush fire. When they reached the home they realized the structure had caught fire, officials said.

More firefighters were called and they remained on the scene until around 9:30 p.m. Saturday. There were no injuries.

Fire officials are still looking into the cause of the fire. Officials said the home is a total loss.

Chicopee's Westover Air Reserve Base may fall victim to federal budget squeeze

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Ten days ago, the Air Force announced that Westover stands to lose half of its fleet of 16 mammoth C-5 cargo jets.

ae air show 03.jpgCrowds gather as a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III lands during the Great New England Air Show at Westover Air Reserve Base in Chicopee in 2008.

CHICOPEE – No matter how bad the economy gets, houses keep selling in this city, and at a fair price, too, says William J. Wagner, president and chief executive officer of Chicopee Savings Bank.

“Part of the reason for that is Westover,” Wagner says. “Those are good-paying stabile jobs. Every person, military or civilian, on that base is a household. All those households drive the economy.”

But today, with a looming federal budget crisis and changing Pentagon priorities, the solid economic base, which Westover has provided to Chicopee and the region since World War II, could be in danger of crumbling.

Ten days ago, the Air Force announced that Westover Air Reserve Base stands to lose half of its fleet of 16 mammoth C-5 cargo jets. The potential loss of those jets is just the first of what’s expected to be a number of cuts to National Guard and Reserve military units across the country as the U.S. Defense Department begins unveiling plans to cut $259 billion in spending over the next five years.

On Friday, the region’s congressional delegation sent a letter to the Pentagon urging that the Air Force rethink its proposal and consider beefing up Westover’s presence as an inspection center for C-5s nationwide and weigh a move to make it an active-duty base.

President Barack Obama is expected to announce further details of the defense cutbacks Monday along with the rest of his new proposed federal budget.

Westover Air Reserve Base has about 6,000 people working there, from pilots to barbers to clerks at the base exchange store, and the base pumped about $238 million into the regional economy in 2011, according to an Air Force Study.

The total annual payroll for the Air Force Reserve component at Westover was $140 million last year. Military salaries totaled $68.4 million, while civil service personnel accounted for $67 million and non-appropriated fund civilians and private businesses made $4.2 million. Construction expenses totaled $16 million.

Westover is just a small piece of a much larger military and defense-related industry here in Massachusetts, which includes contracting work by machine shops and research work done by colleges and universities. All -told there were $14.3 billion in contracts let by the U.S. Departments of Defense and Homeland Security to Massachusetts companies, according to Christopher R. Anderson, president of the Defense Technology Institute, which is part of the Massachusetts High Technology Council in Boston.

“This is not a BRAC,” he said of the defense cuts, referencing the Base Realignment and Closure Commission that struck fear into the hearts of every community which was home to a military base in 2005. “But, people need to understand that BRAC-like conditions exist in Washington right now. This is serious.”

Anderson’s group, along with the University of Massachusetts’ Donahue Institute in Hadley, is studying defense spending in Massachusetts and New England in hopes of keeping as much of the work here as they can, he said.

“Our mission is to create a value proposition for New England, then arm our lawmakers with that data so they can make a case for the assets we have here,” he said. “Every state is taking this seriously.”

Seven of 12 New England senators, including U.S. Sen. Scott P. Brown, R-Mass., sit on the Senate Armed Services Committee, and four members of the region’s House delegation, including U.S. Rep. Joseph Courtney, D- Vernon, Conn., are on the House Armed Services Committee.

Westover’s 439th Airlift Wing Commander Col. Steven D. Vautrain said he was caught by surprise when the announcement came regarding the proposed cut for Westover’s fleet, due to come in 2016. He reiterated that proposal is “just a proposal. It is not yet a schedule and must be voted on by Congress and approved by the president.”

And, he added, the full impact of the reduction in the Westover fleet will not be know for some time; the loss of eight aircraft, Vautrain said, “only referred to the iron”and any reduction in personnel from proposed cutbacks will be announced “within a few weeks.”

The colonel said he sees no future decline in Westover’s military support and humanitarian missions involving the 439th Airlift Wing despite potential defense budget reductions or realignment or reassignment of units. “I do not see our mission diminishing. We are and have been very busy. And, because we provide strategic airlift, we will remain busy,” Vautrain said.

“The proposed changes will have an operational impact on the base, but Westover will remain a viable part of the Reserve,” Vautrain added. “We are committed to fulfilling our global mobility mission.”

In 2010 the Defense Department spent more than $40 million to upgrade runway flight lines at Westover, and this year $23.3 million is earmarked for replacement of the base fuel system. That project remains on schedule, the colonel said.

U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield, points to such capital improvements as signs that Westover will keep going. He predicted that military cuts will come in the reduction of troops in Germany. “What’s obvious is that the focus is shifting toward the Pacific,” the congressman said.

Neal also he believes it’s obvious that the Defense Department will lean even more heavily on members of the Reserve and National Guard component. To do that, he said, the Pentagon will need big bases for training and deployment that are close to the population centers from which those Reservists and Guard members are drawn. “Westover is ideally suited for that mission,” he said.

In response to the Defense Department’s intent to curb military spending, U.S. Sens. John F. Kerry, D-Mass. and Brown, filed requests to meet with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to discuss proposed cuts and the potential effects on Massachusetts.

Panetta has agreed according to Kerry’s staff and scheduling those meetings is now underway.

On Friday, Brown, Kerry and Neal suggested attaching active-duty flying and maintenance units to the 439th in order to make the best use of the base. The suggestion was included in a letter the three lawmakers sent to U.S. Air Force Secretary Michael B. Donley.

Also, Lt. Gov. Timothy P. Murray is on an information-gathering mission to visit all of the state’s military installations in the coming weeks and enlist community support for them. He began a tour of bases on Feb. 3 at Barnes Regional Airport in Westfield.

Westover, the country’s largest Reserve facility, is not only home to the 439th Airlift Wing which employs more than 3,900 people, including some 2,600 Reservists, but also houses 10 Army Reserve units, two Navy Reserve and four Marine Corps Reserve units which have combined staffing of about 2,160 Reserve members.

It is one of six C-5 transport bases in the country, which also include three active-duty Air Force units at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, Travis in California and Lackland in Texas, where the aircraft from Westover would head under the downsizing proposal. Lackland also has an Air Reserve C-5 unit. There are also Air National Guard C-5 bases located in West Virginia and Tennessee.

Westover has flown the C-5 transport since 1987.

The base is responsible for a total annual payroll of more than $140 million with military salaries accounting form more than $68 million and civil-service payroll of $67.5 million.

During the past year, the base was responsible for pumping more than $237.6 billion into the region’s economy.

The C-5B, currently scheduled for an estimated $90 million upgrade to the newer and quieter C-5M over the next few years, demands a flight crew of between eight and 10 Reservists, including more than one pilot, loadmasters, flight engineer and a maintenance crew chief.

The 439th Airlift Wing flew more than 80 missions overseas in support of national efforts including support of combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq during 2011. In addition, wing officials say “several hundred” of its members are currently assigned to a variety of duty around the world.

Martin A Romitti, director of economic and public policy research at University of Massachusetts Donahue Institute, said the C5s which Westover might lose will represent money in the region’s economy no matter how you slice it.

“Most directly to the community are the infusion of funds that come from people living at the base,” Romitti said. “The stories that go around about the pizza shops and the dry cleaners, the motels that get business from all the Reservists coming to town.”

For Massachusetts as a whole, Romitti said, the good news is a stated objective on the part of the Obama administration to create a high-tech military force, especially when it comes to cybersecurity.

“We are going to devote ourselves to maintaining technological supremacy,” he said. “That is where we try and put our value proposition.”

Anderson said the region, in its effort to stave off the cutbacks at Westover and other facilities, will have to sell the Pentagon on the notion that the country needs to have bases near where those innovations occur, whether its cybersecurity in Boston or advanced, high-precision manufacturing in Western Massachusetts.

“There is a reason private industry wants to locate in clusters,” Anderson said. “Think Silicone Valley.”

Wagner, at Chicopee Savings, reminds people of what happened when the Air Force downgraded Westover from a Strategic Air Command base in 1974.

“They gave up all that land that was turned into industrial and commercial space. There are civilian jobs there now,” Wagner said. “People all over Chicopee are former Westover people. They run businesses and build the economy. I see a community that has been through this before.”

Sen. Scott Brown Letter to Air Force Secretary RE Westover ARB


Staff writer Ted LaBorde contributed to this report.

Mitt Romney crusades against earmarks, but supported them as Massachusetts governor

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Massachusetts needed money for road and bridge repairs during Romney's governorship because federal transportation dollars were sucked up by the massive Big Dig project that buried Interstate 93 in tunnels underneath downtown Boston.

Mitt Romney.jpgView full sizeRepublican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney addresses the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington, Friday, Feb. 10, 2012. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

By ANDREW MIGA

WASHINGTON (AP) — Mitt Romney takes a hard line against congressional earmarks, but the GOP presidential front-runner had a more favorable view of federal pork-barrel spending when he was governor of Massachusetts.

Under his leadership, Massachusetts sought tens of millions of dollars in earmarks for transportation projects through the state's congressional delegation.

A prime example was the $30 million that the Romney administration requested to renovate the historic Longfellow Bridge that spans the Charles River between Cambridge and Boston. The landmark is seen in many movies and television shows.

Romney's transportation secretary, Daniel A. Grabauskas, asked the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to include the money in a transportation spending bill. That bill was full of thousands of earmarks that sparked public furor and became a symbol for Washington's out-of-control spending when Congress passed it in 2005.

In a letter June 17, 2004, to the transportation panel's chief of staff that was obtained by The Associated Press, Grabauskas said federal money for the Longfellow Bridge could be provided as part of the "bridge program, a new mega-project or an outside earmark, or a combination of the three." Grabauskas did not immediately respond to phone messages from AP seeking comment.

A Romney campaign spokeswoman would not respond to questions about how many earmarks the Romney administration asked for, the amount of money involved and the particular projects.

"Every state budget in the country is dependent on federal funding, and every governor in the country makes requests for funding, but governors do not get to decide how Congress appropriates money," said Andrea Saul, a Romney spokeswoman. "Gov. Romney supports a permanent ban on earmarks, which are symbols of what's wrong with Washington."

When Romney was governor and his state was desperately seeking federal dollars to repair crumbling roads and bridges, his administration suggested earmarks for projects to lawmakers on Capitol Hill who were in a position to request the money.

Romney officials specified projects they wanted included as earmarks in the transportation bill to members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation as the measure moved through Congress, said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass.

"The Romney administration was crystal clear on earmarks and what they wanted," McGovern said. "They sent us a letter specifically asking for money to be earmarked for projects."

McGovern cited a Feb. 7, 2005, email from Tom Lawler, Romney's deputy director of state-federal relations in Washington, to a senior McGovern aide seeking $50 million for the Charles M. Braga Bridge between Somerset and Fall River, and $25 million for a highway interchange on Interstate 495 in the Worcester Democrat's district.

The Romney aide wrote in the email that the projects were "the state's suggested high priority projects" for McGovern's district.

The term "high priority project" is congressional jargon for an earmarked project, said McGovern, who did not pursue earmarks for Romney's suggested projects.

Rep. Michael Capuano, D-Mass., a committee member who is the delegation's leader on securing money for bridges and roads, said he was also approached by Romney officials asking for earmarks.

"It was a routine thing," Capuano said. "They went to different members in the delegation. They came to me and said, 'Here's what we need.' They didn't do a ton of (asking for earmarks), but they did enough of it."

Capuano said he supported the Longfellow Bridge project and secured a $3 million earmark for it after sending a request letter and form to the House committee.

Massachusetts sorely needed money for long-neglected major road and bridge repairs during Romney's governorship because for years federal transportation dollars were sucked up by the massive Big Dig project that buried Interstate 93 in tunnels underneath downtown Boston.

Massachusetts, which had its own office of state-federal relations in Washington under Romney, also relied on lobbyists O'Neill and Associates, headed by the son of legendary former House Speaker Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill, to help steer federal dollars to the state.

Romney joined the state's big construction companies and contractors at a big Boston fundraising event in 2003 honoring Rep. Don Young, the Alaska Republican who at the time was chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and who held powerful sway on spending matters as the big transportation bill moved through Congress. Young netted more than $50,000, according to a Boston Globe story at the time.

During his campaign, Romney plays up his anti-earmark views to try to convince GOP voters of his conservative values and to try to undermine his rivals' claims of fiscal conservatism. Earmarks are a hot issue in the GOP race, particularly among conservatives angry about runaway spending and the big federal budget deficits.

Romney's campaign and his allies have hammered rivals Newt Gingrich, a former House speaker, and Rick Santorum, a former representative and senator from Pennsylvania, as "prolific earmarkers" winning federal money, and he has called for a permanent ban on earmarks.

Romney stepped up his attacks after losses to Santorum in Minnesota, Colorado and Missouri, branding Santorum as a big-spending Washington insider.

"A lot of us feel that the Republican Party lost its way in the past," Romney said Wednesday. "Republicans spent too much money, borrowed too much money, earmarked too much, and Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich have to be held accountable."

"Obviously, some of the things of his record are troubling ... The fact that while he was in Washington, government spending grew by 80 percent. And the fact that he is a defender of earmarks. Look, I'm in favor of a ban on earmarks," Romney said of Santorum in a Fox News Channel interview on Thursday.

The Santorum campaign, jabbing at Romney's past support for federal spending, has highlighted a 2006 radio interview with Romney about the Big Dig where he said: "I'd be embarrassed if I didn't always ask for federal money whenever I get the chance."

Earmarking is the longtime Washington practice in which lawmakers, often at the request of governors and state legislators, insert money for home-state projects such as road and bridge work into spending bills. After the 2010 elections, Congress placed a moratorium on earmarking, following public outrage over a 2005 transportation bill stuffed with money for thousands of pet projects, including the infamous "Bridge to Nowhere" in Alaska.

Romney now has joined the chorus of tea party backers and fiscal conservatives who say lawmakers treat taxpayer money like a slush fund.

A pro-Romney group targeted Santorum with ads in recent primary contests assailing his support for pork-barrel spending in Congress. The Romney campaign has used a small group of House Republicans considered fiscal conservatives to attack Gingrich's earmarking.

Chinese immigrant couple's plight highlights need for reform, advocates say

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In Massachusetts, Chinese immigrants represent just over 1 percent of the population with about 124,000 residents, according to U.S. Census data.

When Baijun Li arrived in the United States from his native China, he brought two suitcases.

One master’s degree, two layoffs, a mortgage, a family and 12 years later – he will leave with the same two suitcases.

The 47-year-old chemist and his wife, Xi Wang, a celebrated dancer in their homeland, and their 2-year-old daughter may soon be forced out of the country after a series of failed applications for green cards.

Li’s applications for permanent work visas twice fizzled after he was laid off from Omniglow in West Springfield, and after from a Connecticut manufacturing company in 2009. The timing of the second could not have been worse. Xi Wang was eight months pregnant and the couple had purchased their first home. Li, a graduate of American International College in Springfield, has been unable to find steady work since.

And, the clock was ticking fast on their temporary visas.

“We have started throwing things out. We’ll lose our house, our car and everything we’ve built to go back to a country where we have no one and no place to go,” Li said tearfully during an interview at his brother-in-law’s home in West Springfield. His parents and siblings live in western Massachusetts. His brother, Baiqing Li, is a well-known Tai Chi instructor in the Pioneer Valley.

His wife’s application for a green card under a relatively obscure “extraordinary abilities” provision based on her international dancing prowess was rejected late last year. They have asked the government but are resigned to the fact that their chances are slim.

Li that said over the years he has been working in the United States, applying for temporary work visas and pursuing a green card – he has spent countless hours on hold, filled out reams of paperwork and has never spoken to a human being in the immigration system.

“It’s not my co-workers or neighbors or people who go to my church who determine whether I can stay in this country .¤.¤. it is some man in Texas somewhere; I don’t know what he looks like or how tall he is, but he holds my fate and my family’s fate in his hands,” Li said.

Aside from the long-shot appeal, the couple says they have no recourse and will have to take their toddler back to a country where they have virtually no family members remaining. Immigrant advocates say the couple’s plight highlights systemic problems in the government’s immigration machine that date back to the reforms of 1965.

“The fundamentals of the system have not changed since then and there are such deep complications. There are thousands upon thousands of people who have equally compelling stories but cannot find the legal recourse to stay in the country,” said Frank Soults, spokesman for the Massachusetts Immigration and Refugee Advocacy Coalition. “And because of the complexity of the system, it’s these little misfortunes in life that strike all of us that often make it impossible for people to stay.”

Immigration officials are not permitted to speak about specific visa applicants and could not comment for this story.

Soults added that immigrants from China and other countries, including Mexico and the Philippines, have no spots in the national lottery for green cards (which grants 10,000 per year) because their numbers are already high in this country.

In Massachusetts, Chinese immigrants represent just over 1 percent of the population with about 124,000 residents, according to U.S. Census data. Soults said the Hispanic and Asian populations statewide have increased about 46 percent over the past decade. He also said there is a widespread public misconception that the United States has a swinging door for all immigrants.

“People just assume there’s this natural process and this open door. But those doors actually closed around 1920,” Soults said, adding that anti-immigrant sentiment tends to harden in difficult economic times.

Sarang Sekhavat, federal policy director for the coalition, said the outlook for Li’s family remaining in the country are probably grim. Even if Xi Wang’s application is approved, there is still a two-year back log for the visas.

“The laws aren’t really designed to consider who people really are and what they have to contribute to the country,” Sekhavat said.

Springfield police investigate shooting in Pine Point neighborhood

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Springfield Police investigate shooting in Pine Point.

police lights.jpg

SPRINGFIELD – A shooting in the city’s Pine Point neighborhood sent one man to the hospital Sunday morning.

Sgt. Mark Rolland, a detective with the Springfield Police Department, said a man was coming home around 2:10 a.m. when he was accosted at the entrance to his home by a man holding a firearm.

The victim, a resident at 63 Robert Dyer Circle, said the suspect attempted to rob him. He managed to get inside and shut the door, but the suspect fired the weapon through the door. The victim was shot once in the stomach, Rolland said.

The victim was transported to Baystate Medical Center where he is in stable condition.

No arrests have been made.


Obama's budget offers short-term help for economy, long-term deficit solutions, White House says

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The 2013 budget being released Monday will propose public works spending while seeking tax increases on the wealthy and corporations to claim progress on the federal deficit in his upcoming budget.

101311 barack obama.jpgView full sizePresident Barack Obama

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama will send Congress a budget that will provide short-term help to a struggling economy while offering a long-term plan to deal with soaring deficits, the White House said Sunday. Republicans attacked the spending blueprint as offering more of the same failed solutions for the economy.

The 2013 budget being released Monday will propose public works spending while seeking tax increases on the wealthy and corporations to claim progress on the federal deficit in his upcoming budget. The spending plan projects a deficit for this year of $1.3 trillion, the fourth straight year of $1 trillion-plus deficits, and $901 billion next year.

Jacob Lew, the president's chief of staff, said the new budget would put the country on track to achieve $4 trillion in deficit reductions over the next 10 years by raising taxes on the wealthy and trimming government spending. Lew said the president's budget would cut spending by $2.50 for every $1 it raises in new taxes.

"In the long run, we need to get the deficit under control in a way that builds the economy," Lew said during appearances on the Sunday talk shows. "We do it in a way that's consistent with American values so that everyone pays a fair share."

The release of Obama's spending plan for the budget year that begins Oct. 1 marks the official start to an election-year budget battle over taxes and spending as the nation's debt tops $15 trillion.

Republicans on Sunday criticized the document for its proposals to increase spending in such areas as infrastructure and for its tax increases.

House Republicans will put forward a sharp alternative to Obama's plan that will provide deficit reduction through an overhaul of Medicare and other programs and without tax increases.

"We're taking responsibility for the drivers of our debt," said the chairman of the House Budget Committee, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis. "So when the dust settles and people see actually what we're doing, how we're promoting bipartisan solutions."

Paul Ryan, APView full sizeHouse Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis.

The president's plan is laden with stimulus-style initiatives, like sharp increases for highway construction, school modernization, and a new tax credit for businesses that add jobs. But it avoids sacrifice, with only minimal curbs on the unsustainable growth of Medicare even as it slaps a 10-year, $61 billion "financial crisis responsibility fee" on big banks to recoup the 2008 Wall Street bailout.

The budget, administration officials say, borrows heavily from Obama's September submission to a congressional deficit "supercommittee" assigned to come up with at least $1.2 trillion in deficit savings as part of last summer's budget-and-debt pact that avoided a first-ever U.S. default on its obligations. The panel deadlocked and left Washington to grapple with bruising across-the-board spending cuts that kick in next January.

Obama's plan predicts deficit savings of more than $4 trillion over a decade, mixing $1 trillion already banked through last summer's clampdown on agency operating budgets with $1.5 trillion in higher tax revenues reaped from an overhaul of the tax code. It also claims savings from reduced war costs and takes just a nip at federal health care programs even as it promises $476 billion for road and other surface transportation programs over six years, a significant increase.

It's already received a chilly reception from Republicans who say Obama isn't doing enough to tame the deficit or curb the rapid growth of benefit programs like Medicare.

The budget will also call for a "Buffett Rule" named after billionaire Warren Buffett that would guarantee that households making more than $1 million a year pay at least 30 percent of their income in taxes.

Lew appeared on ABC's 'This Week," CNN's "State of the Union," ''Fox News Sunday," NBC's "Meet the Press" and CBS' "Face the Nation." Ryan was on ABC.

Obituaries today: Edwin 'Joe' Warren was architect, president of Reinhardt Associates

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Obituaries from The Republican.

021212_edwin_warren.jpgEdwin Warren

Edwin D. "Joe" Warren, 88, of East Longmeadow, passed away on Wednesday. Born in Estcourt, Quebec, he graduated from Holy Rosary High School in Holyoke and Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, R.I. Warren retired as president of Reinhardt Associates, Inc., Architects/Engineers in Agawam, in 1986, and continued to work in the architectural profession in that office until recently. He was an active member of the East Longmeadow Lions Club and was a communicant of St. Michael's Church in East Longmeadow. Warren served in the U.S. Army during World War II.

Obituaries from The Republican:

Springfield officials seek student input for superintendent search

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School Committee Vice Chairman Christopher Collins said low attendance at Thursday's meeting at Central High School did not reflect a lack of interest by students in selecting the next superintendent.

052010 christopher collins.jpgSpringfield School Committee Vice Chairman Christopher Collins

SPRINGFIELD – School officials are renewing efforts to get students involved in the search for the next superintendent after only three turned out Thursday for a meeting to discuss the search.

School Committee Vice Chairman Christopher Collins said a representative of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees will meet with students council members at city high schools in the next few weeks to hear their concerns and priorities for hiring a new superintendent.

The association is helping Springfield officials conduct the search for a successor for Alan J. Ingram, who will step down at the end of June when his four-year contract ends.

In another step to encourage student participation, school officials will also emphasize the importance of students filling out a survey on the School Department’s website at http://www.sps.springfield.ma.us.

Collins said the single-digit attendance at Thursday’s meeting at Central High School did not reflect a lack of interest by students in selecting the next superintendent. But several factors – including the lack of announcements during school hours – combined to stifle attendance, Collins said.

“I don’t see it as a reflection of the number of kids who care,” Collins said, adding that views expressed by three students were typical of many students.

“They said they want somebody who knows Springfield, and somebody who has taught in the classroom,” said Collins.

Before conducting a national search for Ingram’s successor, the School Committee is holding meetings to get advice from the public on hiring the next superintendent. The session at Central High School was the third.

Chicopee City Council restores Mayor Bissonnette's chief of staff

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The City Council voted at least three times against restoring the chief of staff position previously.

CHICOPEE – The City Council voted unanimously to restore the position of mayor’s chief of staff, after months of fighting over the position.

Last week, the council voted 13-0 to put back $19,572 into the salary account, restoring the position until June 30, the end of the fiscal year. It made the move after rejecting at least three earlier requests from Mayor Michael D. Bissonnette to bring back the job.

“I thought he was over-staffed. I will give him the chief of staff to make up for the loss of three people,” Councilor Dino A. Brunetti said.

Brunetti was one of seven councilors who voted to cut the $47,000 salary of the chief of staff and a $28,000-a-year administrative assistant position in June when adopting the budget for fiscal year 2013. It left the mayor’s office with two positions, a second administrative assistant and a special projects manager.

Recently the special projects manager left to take a new job, leaving the mayor with one full-time staff member.

The June cuts kicked off a long battle between some councilors and Bissonnette, which intensified during last year’s election season.

Even some city councilors disagreed with the move to cut staff, accusing those who supported the cuts of “playing politics.”

Recently, City Council President George R. Moreau said he sat down with Bissonnette to discuss how they can end the fighting between the mayor and council members. Both said the meeting went well.

“Reasonable and informed discussions lead to better decisions in any organization,” Bissonnette said. “That happened here and reflects the new spirit of cooperation and civility led by Mr. Moreau.”

City Councilor James K. Tillotson said he long believed the mayor needed a chief of staff and the vote to cut the position was partly due to the fact that some councilors did not get along with Christopher Nolan, who held the position.

Nolan took a job as a project manager in the community development office after his job was eliminated and does not plan to return as chief of staff, Tillotson said.

“A mayor needs one person he can confide in and who can keep him on schedule,” Tillotson said.

Western Massachusetts communities announce meetings for the week

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Here is a list of major municipal meetings for the coming week: Agawam Mon.- Board of Appeals, 6:30 p.m., Agawam Public Library. Tues.- Agawam Cultural Commission, 7 p.m., Agawam Public Library. School Committee, 7 p.m., Roberta G. Doering School. Fri.- Agawam Municipal Golf Commission, 7:45 a.m., 128 Southwick St. Amherst Tues.- Shade Tree Committee, 4 p.m., Town Hall. Agricultural...

east longmeadow town hall.JPGEast Longmeadow Town Hall

Here is a list of major municipal meetings for the coming week:

Agawam

Mon.- Board of Appeals, 6:30 p.m., Agawam Public Library.

Tues.- Agawam Cultural Commission, 7 p.m., Agawam Public Library.

School Committee, 7 p.m., Roberta G. Doering School.

Fri.- Agawam Municipal Golf Commission, 7:45 a.m., 128 Southwick St.

Amherst

Tues.- Shade Tree Committee, 4 p.m., Town Hall.

Agricultural Commission, 7 p.m., Town Hall.

Wed.- Kanegasaki Sister City Committee, 4 p.m., Bangs Community Center.

Bang Planning Board Zoning Subcommittee, 5 p.m., Town Hall.

Planning Board, 7 p.m., Town Hall.

Amherst Leisure Services and Supplemental Education, 7:30 p.m., police station.

Thu.- Human Rights Commission, 7 p.m., Bangs Community Center.

Community Preservation Act Committee, 7 p.m., Town Hall.

Chicopee

Mon.- Human Resources Committee, 6 p.m., City Hall.

Ordinance Committee, 6:30 p.m., City Hall.

School Facilities subcommittee, 7 p.m., 180 Broadway.

Tues.- Council on Aging, 4:45 p.m., 7 Valley View Court.

Wed.- Ambulance Commission, 5:15 p.m., 80 Church St.

School Committee, 7 p.m., 180 Broadway.

Board of Registrars, 5 p.m., City Hall.

Thu.- Public Safety Committee, 6:30 p.m., City Hall.

East Longmeadow

Mon.- Capital Planning Committee, 6:30 p.m., Pleasantview Senior Center.

Tues.- Planning Board, 6 p.m., Town Hall.

Council on Aging, 9 a.m., Pleasantview Senior Center.

Board of Assessors, 6:30 p.m., Town Hall.

Wed.- Community Preservation Committee, 7 p.m., Pleasantview Senior Center.

Thu.- Mountainview School Council, 3 p.m. at the school.

Appropriations Committee, 6:30 p.m., Peasantview Senior Center.

Easthampton

Mon.- Highway Business Review, 6 p.m., Municipal Building.

Easthampton Housing Authority, 7 p.m., 112 Holyoke St.

Conservation Commission, 6 p.m., Municipal Building.

Tues.- Planning Board, 6 p.m., Municipal Building.

Wed.- Board of Public Works, 4:30 p.m., Municipal Building.

City Council, 6 p.m., Municipal Building.

Greenfield

Mon.- Council on Aging, 2 p.m., Senior Center.

Human Rights Commission, 6 p.m., 14 Court Square.

Appointment and Ordinance Committee, 6:30 p.m., Police Station.

Tues.- Greenfield Redevelopment Authority, 4:30 p.m., 114 Main St.

Library Board of Trustees, 5:30 p.m., 402 Main St.

Economic Development Committee, 6:30 p.m., 321 High St.

Conservation Commission, 7 p.m., 114 Main St.

Wed.- Board of Assessors, 8:30 a.m., 14 Court Square.

Ways and Means Committee, 6 p.m., Police Department.

Town Council, 7 p.m., 393 Main St.

Thu.- School Committee, 6:30 p.m., Town Library.

Hadley

Tues.- Board of Healt, 7 p.m., Town Hall.

Wed.- Select Board, 7 p.m., Town Hall.

Hatfield

Mon.- Planning Board, 7:30 p.m., Memorial Town Hall.

Emergency Management Committee, 9 a.m., Memorial Town Hall.

Tues.- Selectmen, 8 a.m., New Town Garage.

Council on Aging, 5:45 p.m., Memorial Town Hall.

Thu.- School Improvement Council, 6:45 a.m., Smith Academy.

School Committee, 6:15 p.m., Smith Academy.

Sat.- Selectmen, 9 a.m., Hatfield Elementary School.

Holyoke

Mon.- Board of Health, noon, City Hall, City Council Chambers.

Morgan School Council, 3:45 p.m., 587 South Summer St.

Citizens Advisory Council, 5:30 p.m., City Hall Annex, fourth-floor conference room.

Fire Commission, 6 p.m., Fire Department headquarters, 600 High St.

Water Commission, 6:30 p.m., 20 Commercial St.

Tues.- Retirement Board, 9:30 a.m., City Hall, Room 207.

Planning Board, public hearing, 6 p.m., City Hall Annex, fourth-floor conference room.

City Council Ordinance Committee, 6:30 p.m., City Hall, City Council Chambers.

Fairfield Avenue Local Historic District Commission, 6:30 p.m., Wistariahurst Museum, carriage house, 238 Cabot St.

Wed.- School Building Advisory Committee, 10 a.m., Holyoke High School, 500 Beech St.

Thu.- Citizens Advisory Council, 5:30 p.m., City Hall Annex, fourth-floor conference room.

Longmeadow

Mon.- School Committee, 6 p.m., Longmeadow High School.

Park Board, 7 p.m., Fire Department.

Select Board, 7 p.m., Fire Department.

Tues.- Historic District Commission, 7:30 p.m., Fire Department.

Wed.- School Committee, 6 p.m., Wolf Swamp Road School.

Cable Advisory Committee, 7 p.m., Longmeadow High School.

Capital Planning Committee, 7 p.m., Police Department.Thu.- Adult Center Board of Directors, 9:30 a.m., 231 Maple Road.

School Building Committee, 7 p.m., Fire Department.

Monson

Mon.- Finance Committee, 7 p.m., Hillside School.

Keep Homestead Committee, 7 p.m., Hillside School.

Tues.- Replanting Monson Tree Committee, 6 p.m., Hillside School.

Board of Selectmen, 7 p.m., Hillside School.

Wed.- School Committee, 7 p.m., Quarry Hill Community School.

Board of Health, 6 p.m., Hillside School.

Water and Sewer Commission, 6:30 p.m., 198 WD Main St.
Thu.- Tornado Anniversary Committee, 10 a.m., fire station.

Northampton

Mon.- Board of Public Works/City Council Conference Committee, 4 p.m., 125 Locust St.

Committee on Social Services and Veterans Affairs, 6 p.m., Council Chambers.

Committee on Elections, Rules, Ordinances, Orders and Claims, 7 p.m., Council Chambers.

Committee on Appointments and Evaluations, 11:30 a.m., Council Chambers.

Board of Registrars, 4 p.m., City Hall.

Housing Authority, 7:30 p.m., 49 Old South St.

Tues.- Bicycle and Pedestrian Subcommittee, 7;30 a.m., City Hall.

CDBG Public Hearing, 6 p.m., City Hall.

Wed.- Youth Commission, 7 p.m., City Hall.

Community Preservation Committee, 7 p.m., Council Chambers.

Pleasant/Conz street intersection public hearing, 7 p.m., Senior Center.

Smith Vocational High School Council, 3:30 p.m., Culinary Arts Department.

Thu.- Board of Health, 5 p.m., City Hall.

City Council, 7 p.m., Council Chambers.

TRIAD Committee, 1 p.m., Senior Center.

Palmer

Mon.- Town Council, 7 p.m., Town Building.

Planning Board, 7 p.m., Town Building.

Tues.- Board of Health, 6 p.m., Town Building.

Springfield

Mon.- Public forum on superintendent search, 5:30 p.m., Rebecca Johnson School, Catharine Street.

City Council Finance Committee, 4:30 pm., Room 200, City Hall.

City Council General Government Committee, 5:30 p.m., Room 200, City Hall.

City Council Maintenance and Development Committee, 6 p.m., Room 200, City Hall.

City Council, 7 p.m., Council Chambers, City Hall.

Tues.- Conservation Commission, 5 p.m., 70 Tapley St.

Wed.- Pioneeer Valley Transit Authority, 11 a.m., PVTA office, 2808 Main St.

Public Health Council, 6 p.m., Room 201, 95 State St.

Thu.- School Committee Parent Concerns Subcommittee, 5 p.m., 1550 Main St.

School Committee, 6 p.m., 1550 Main St.

Warren

Mon.- Library Needs Committee, 6:30 p.m., Shepard Municipal Building.

Tues.- Board of Selectmen, 7 p.m., Shepard Municipal Building.

Wed.- Capital Planning, 7 p.m., Shepard Municipal Building.

Sewer Commissioners, 8 a.m., Wastewater Treatment Plant.

Thu.- Warren Casino Study Committee, 6:30 p.m., Shepard Municipal Building.

West Springfield

Mon.- Park and Recreation Commission, 7 p.m., municipal building.

Tues.- Community Preservation Committee, 5:30 p.m., municipal building.

School Committee, 7 p.m., municipal building.

Theresa Strain crowned West Springfield Colleen

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Strain is a second-year Holyoke Community College student.

Gallery preview

WESTFIELD – For Theresa M. Strain, being crowned West Springfield’s 2012 Colleen provides her the opportunity to represent her hometown, visit the country where her parents honeymooned and, most importantly, make her grandparents even prouder of her.

“She’s so wonderful,” said her grandfather, Joseph R. Strain, of Springfield, after the Colleen coronation held Saturday night at Westwood restaurant, a sentiment with which Strain’s grandmother, Lorraine M. Strain, agreed.

An 18-year-old second-year student at Holyoke Community College majoring in liberal arts with plans to continue her education at either Arizona State or Westfield State University, Strain gave a moving speech about the importance of family before being named the winner, a speech that made her parents, Joseph A. and Patricia A. Strain, of West Springfield, realize how valuable family is to their daughter.

“I’m very proud of her,” her father said. “It’s beautiful to know that she cares for her family and grandparents as much as she does.”

While excited about all the events in the coming year, especially the March 18 Holyoke St. Patrick’s Parade, Theresa Strain said she is most appreciative of the way the Colleen contest her bonds with her family.

“This is great because it really brought our whole family together in our Irish heritage,” she said.

One of Strain’s prizes is a trip to Ireland, he country where her parents honeymooned.

Strain will be joined atop the West Springfield parade float by her court, Siena E. Tansey, Mallarie S. Charbonneau, Melissa B. LaFlamme and Samantha G. DiStefano.

Also honored during the event were 2012 parade marshal James Conlin; Ray DiStefano Citizenship Award winners Michael and Rose Desrosier; Olde Mittineague Award winners Liquori’s Plaza and Anthony Liquori; and “Jinx” Powers Award recipient Daniel Patten.

In her farewell speech, 2011 Colleen Sara B. Stewart told Strain and her court that the coming year will provide them with indelible memories that will last a lifetime.

“I’m so excited for these girls to experience everything we did,” she said. “They will come away from each event with a different memory.”

Agawam St. Patrick's Committee crowns Allison McCluskey 2012 Colleen, chooses court

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McCluskey spoke highly of her court and said each one of them deserved to be the 2012 Colleen.

Gallery preview

AGAWAM - The St. Patrick's Committee crowned 17-year-old Allison McCluskey the 2012 Colleen, a title for which 10 other young women competed, and four girls were chosen to be in the Colleen Court.

The annual competition is open to young Agawam women of Irish descent. Winners ride a float in the city's contingent of the Holyoke St. Patrick's Day Parade, make public appearances and, McCluskey said, act as role models by serving in the community.

The 2012 Colleen and her court were chosen by three judges at a ceremony on Sunday at Chez Josef banquet hall.

This year's court: Sarah Murphy, 18; Nicole Parent, 18; Jenna Fenton, 18; and Kara Franqueza, 17. All are students at Agawam High School.

"I've always been so proud of my Irish heritage," said McCluskey in an interview after the Grand March around the room, during which Mayor Richard A. Cohen shook hands with all five girls and congratulated them. "I'm so excited to be a role model to other young girls."

McCluskey spoke highly of her court and said each one of them deserved to be the 2012 Colleen.

"I love them all," she said. "I've gone to school with all those girls forever and played sports with them. Sarah Murphy is my best friend."

McCluskey, who plays field hockey at Agawam High and is captain of the track team, said she is going to Bryant University after graduation to study marketing.

But, while she's in the area, she and the court will be plenty busy.

The crown comes with a responsibility to attend two public events, a corn beef dinner for seniors and the traditional Holyoke Love-In, and appear in both the Memorial Day and St. Patrick's parades.

McCluskey said she was prepared to adorn the parade floats.

"I've been practicing my princess wave since I was little," she said.

Jude O'Hare, the committee's president, said the judging is based on four areas: poise, presentation, the contestant's own knowledge of her Irish heritage and appearance. But, he said, "It doesn't have anything to do with beauty."

Contestant Paige Moriarty, 17, earned the Bill Pfau Cultural Award, named after a founding member and past president of the committee. She will also participate in the Holyoke parade.


Outlook 2012: Pride and innovation in Western Massachusetts

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For Outlook 2012, The Republican focuses our annual look at our region's economy on a theme of "Pride in the Past, Innovation for the Future."

Springfield Skyline.JPGA view of the Springfield skyline

Business as usual? Hardly. One need look no further than the Museum of Springfield History to learn how the Pioneer Valley once helped lead America in business and industrial innovation. From firearms and games to automobiles and aircraft, there has historically been no shortage here of forward thinkers, some of whose work still endures today.

In the 21st century, challenged anew by a deep recession, our region of Western Massachusetts and northern Connecticut is once again rising to the economic challenges of the day. A new generation of innovators is using this fertile valley to build their businesses, working right alongside businesses which date back generations but carry on with new ideas. And, among them, have emerged "angels," investors willing to take a risk on emerging entrepreneurs.

For Outlook 2012, we have focused our annual look at our region's economy on a theme of "Pride in the Past, Innovation for the Future." In stories posted on MassLive today and over the past several days, we share with our readers perspectives from some of the region's leading business and community leaders, along with stories about how change and innovation are keeping our economic engines steaming forward. And in tories in Business Monday in The Republican and online on MassLive.com, readers will get an up-close look at how communities across the region are making their way into 2012.

Here are some of the highlights from Outlook 2012:

"Slow growth seen for Western Massachusetts economy in 2012 despite hopeful signs," by Jim Kinney. Ask pretty much any economist or business leader to look into the crystal ball and see what 2012 will bring, and every answer boils down to one phrase: cautious optimism.

"Road to a Western Massachusetts casino groundbreaking a long one," by Dan Ring. Casino gambling now is legal in Massachusetts, but it could take about five more years for a casino resort to open its doors in the state.

"Organizers of Rebuild Springfield say the future is bright for tornado recovery," by Peter Goonan. The recovery from the June 1 tornado has been described by some city leaders as remarkable, but organizers of “Rebuild Springfield” say the best is yet to come.

"Manufacturing had a small rebound in 2011, looks to a solid 2012," by Jim Kinney. The old days of sprawling American Bosch or Westinghouse plants employing thousands of workers may be over in the Pioneer Valley. But, precision manufacturing, mostly done by small operations like Boulevard Machine & Gear, which make highly specialized parts as subcontractors, still employs 7,800 workers in the region.

"Western Massachusetts vocational high school students, businesses benefit from co-op jobs," by Jeanette DeForge. After spending three years in classes, three students from Roger L. Putnam Technical High School in Springfield are now getting a different type of education.

"Local banks see an increase in loan demand," by Jim Kinney. Douglas A. Bowen, president of PeoplesBank in Holyoke, and other local bankers feel that after the Great Recession of the 21st century and the resulting long, slow recovery, business is about to take off.

"Angel Investors pour capital, ideas into young businesses, entrepreneurs in Western Massachusetts," by Fred Contrada. The common wisdom among the business community is that “Angel Investors” have been giving a boost to entrepreneurs in Western Massachusetts. That begs the question: What’s an “Angel Investor?”

"Massachusetts expected to be center of national health care debate in coming months," by Jim Kinney. Massachusetts has been the laboratory for the types of health care reforms the federal government is trying out: required health care insurance and a connector to buy converge.

"Pioneer Valley Life Sciences Institute wins cancer research grant," by Janice Beetle Godelski The Pioneer Valley Life Sciences Institute, created in 2002, is an organization still in its infancy. It is dedicated to both biomedical research and economic development, with a goal of creating a full-fledged life sciences cluster in the Pioneer Valley.

"Seven Business Improvement Districts have been founded in Massachusetts since 1998," by Stephanie Barry. As downtowns across the nation and the region have taken historical hits with the industrial decline and contemporary hits with a recession and glacial recovery, merchants have looked for a lifeline.

» More Outlook 2012 stories

Agawam officials upbeat about prospects for business development during 2012

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A new industrial park is among the projects being eyed by Agawam officials.

deborah dachos.JPGAgawam Mayor Richard A. Cohen and Director of Planning and Community Development Deborah S. Dachos in front of Agawam Town Hall.


AGAWAM – The city is upbeat about the outlook for 2012 based on a belief that the economy has turned a corner.

“I’m very optimistic. I commend the Planning Department and the planning director,” Mayor Richard A. Cohen said during a recent interview. “I have been working very hard in difficult times, not only with businesses, but with the Agawam Small Business Association and the West of the River Chamber of Commerce. Eventually people will see the positive outcomes of our diligent work.”

Adds Deborah S. Dachos, planning and community development director, “We are seeing projects come forward. There are a lot of people looking around now to expand and make moves.”

Among the projects now in the works are:

Õ¤Plans for a new industrial park behind the Department of Public Works headquarters on Suffield Street;

Õ¤Reuse of the long vacant Sportsmen’s Club property; and

Õ¤Filling vacant space in the former Food Mart site on Springfield Street.

Last year saw the opening of a Salvation Army Family Center thrift shop in a portion of the Food Mart building as well as a slot-car racing center for families.

With only the former Fisher Scientific, a distributor of science equipment, space left open in the city’s industrial park, officials are turning their attention to developing a second industrial park.

That effort is focused on an approximately 24-acre parcel behind the DPW. Progress has been slowed because the site is traversed and used by a population of box turtles, a species considered endangered by the state Natural Heritage Program, according to the mayor and development director.

The city must come up with a plan to protect the turtles before the project can proceed, and municipal leaders are working with state officials to address it.

There are also strong efforts to redevelop the long-vacant former Games & Lanes property at 350 Walnut St. It has been empty and became an eyesore after a fire more than 10 years ago.

“This is the site we get the most questions and concerns about,” Dachos said.


It and the former sportsmen’s club are the city’s two brownfields sites. The Games & Lanes property is contaminated with carcinogenic chemicals left behind by the former Standard Uniform, a uniform rental business that dry-cleaned its wear at the site. Property owner Manfred Tidor has spent more than $1 million trying to clean it up, according to Cohen and Dachos.

The sportsmen’s club property is contaminated with lead and arsenic from having been the setting of many turkey shoots over the years. City officials are working with the federal Environmental Protection Agency to remove an $817,000 lien on the property to cover remediation. They are also arranging for deed restrictions which ban use of the club property and the adjacent School Street Park for growing food for human consumption.

Local contractor Thomas Russo, the driving force behind lots of development in the city, would like to build a condominium project at the sportsmen’s club site.

On the dining front, the operators of Opa Opa Restaurant in Southampton are eyeing the now-vacant Pananas Restaurant site at 916 Suffield St. for a new venue, Cohen and Dachos said.

On a public service front, the YMCA of Greater Springfield hopes to locate a storefront Y-Express program in Agawam within the next year. Cohen said sites near the Morgan and Sullivan Bridge over the Westfield River that connects Agawam with West Springfield are being considered for the Y program. 


Holyoke looks to new mayor, computing center, ways to make city attractive to new businesses

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The Paper City pulses with activity: high performance computing center, revamped Victory Theatre.

morse.biz.JPGHolyoke Mayor Alex B. Morse stands in front of the high performance computing center under construction downtown.


HOLYOKE – New mayor, new vision. New results?

As 23-year-old Mayor Alex B. Morse and this former paper-mill hub prepare to unveil a $165 million computing center later this year, hopes are that the new mayor and a culture of innovation can begin to loosen poverty’s grip on this city.

Morse says he intends to be the city’s economic-development cheerleader.

“My top priority is making sure I’m Holyoke’s chief marketing officer, making sure people know Holyoke exists. I want to be on the front line whenever any new business comes to visit. I want to be there,” Morse said.

It will take more than simply being a cheerleader, though, to convince business and industry to move here, Morse said. Holyoke must, for example, be ready to tell potential developers what kinds of buildings and property are available and how much it will cost them to operate here over the next five to 10 years, he said.

“We need to make Holyoke a place where people want to come to, and move their business,” Morse said.

Obstacles to such progress are entrenched. The poverty rate in this city of about 40,000 is more than 28 percent. More than 10 percent of the population is unemployed.

Only 26 percent of students in grades pre-kindergarten to Grade 3 are able to read at their grade levels. A major reason for the low literacy in those grades is that for most of the enrollment, which is Hispanic, English is the second language.

No one is saying that the big project with the fancy name – Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center – will save the city. But, it is a major investment backed by world-class partners, and officials envision a spin-off effect in business growth.

The partners include Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Massachusetts, Boston and Northeastern universities, EMC Corp., an information storage, back-up and recovery firm, and Cisco Systems, the California-based internet network equipment maker. Holyoke was chosen as the site, in par to take advantage of the plentiful and cheap energy of the hydroelectric dam owned by the Holyoke Gas & Electric Department.

A 90,000-square-foot, two-story complex of brick, precast concrete and glass will house the center on Bigelow Street, at the first-level canal between Cabot and Appleton streets. It will occupy the former Mastex Industries site.

Numerous computers in the center will blitz through unfathomable amounts of data at advanced speeds into areas such as designing drugs, understanding the formation of galaxies, climate change, the arts, cell structures and others.

Construction began in August and the center is scheduled to open late this year, spokeswoman Alexandra L. Swan said.

“The Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center is a data center dedicated to supporting the growing research computing needs of five of the most research-intensive universities in Massachusetts,” Swan said.

The $95 million in funding from the partners to build the facility, she said, includes $25 million Gov. Deval L. Patrick committed to ensure construction began in 2011.

The Holyoke Innovation District Task Force, a board of two dozen officials, planners and business people, was formed to find ways to maximize benefits of the center. Its final report is available online at innovateholyoke.com

“These are the types of conversations that are happening and will continue in 2012,” said Kathleen G. Anderson, director of the city’s Office of Planning and Development.

The computing center has already yielded benefits for public school students. The pending presence of the center led to a $250,000 grant from the National Science Foundation.

The grant will fund a program in which middle-school students will work with college professors in using online interactive textbooks. Those devices offer simulations of things like changing weather patterns to help students learn, officials said.

The lessons middle school students get using the online texts will help them prepare for the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment Systems, or MCAS, exams for eighth-grade science, officials said.

Also, students in an after-school program will learn about the construction of the computing center from the architects, electricians, heavy equipment operators, plumbers, software designers and other specialists who are building it, officials said.

The Youth Force 2020 is a program of Turner Construction, which is building the computing center. Juniors and seniors from Dean Technical High School here, Westfield Vocational-Technical, Cathedral and Chicopee Comprehensive high schools, are all eligible to participate, said Jim Wachala, Turner senior project executive.


“What we’re trying to do as a company and an industry is make students aware that there’s this whole world (of job opportunities) out here,” Wachala said.

Holyoke’s 2012 will be about more than the computing center, the mayor and other officials say.

Construction should begin in the spring on a $16 million plaza anchored by a Big Y supermarket at Lower Westfield Road and Homestead Avenue. It is estimated the project will net the city $520,000 to $590,000 a year in property taxes, up from a current $100,000, and provide 250 jobs, according to Francesca Maltese, development manager for O’Connell Development Group, which owns the site.

Efforts to make the city more attractive to new business by getting gutted and abandoned buildings redeveloped are being pursued. The former Parsons Paper Mill at 84 Sargeant St., which closed in early 2005, and 130 Appleton St., a former mill, are among the targets in that work.

The city seized ownership of the properties for nonpayment of taxes, with $2.69 million owed on Parsons and $538,337 owed on 130 Appleton St., Anderson said. The goal is to find a developer for both properties.

Currently, 285 properties are in tax title proceedings, the process used by the city to take ownership for nonpayment of taxes, according to Anderson.

Morse and Anderson hope the city can increase tax incentive offers from five years to 10 or even 20 years in the program known as Tax Incremental Financing Agreement, or TIF, in efforts to remain competitive with surrounding communities which already do so. City Council and state approvals are needed.

Work continues on several ongoing projects, including the $14.5 million renovation and addition to the Holyoke Public Library and construction of a new $8.1 million senior center at Beech and Sargeant streets. Both are expected to be completed by 2013.

Street-visible construction is scheduled to begin in June on the $28 million revamp of the Victory Theatre at 81-89 Suffolk St., the former vaudeville center that has been closed since 1979. Reopening of the Victory may be pushed forward into early 2013, said Donald T. Sanders, executive artistic director of the Massachusetts International Festival of the Arts, the nonprofit organization that owns the theater.

Morse envisions the Victory as a player in his plan to make the city an arts and entertainment destination. He may create a position of arts director to promote the arts and seek grants and other funding, the mayor said.

Developers’ bids are being considered to turn the former Lynch School at Northampton and Dwight streets into offices, a restaurant or mixed uses, and construction is to begin in the spring on a 9,380-square-foot headquarters for the Girl Scouts of Central and Western Massachusetts on Kelly Way, Anderson said.

Two companies recently made investments here that had nothing to do with the computing center. FLN-MAR, at 102 Cabot St., makes and distributes custom plastic, leather and rubber industrial products. It installed a new heating system at a cost that president David P. Cistoldi declined to identify.

The economy has been tough, he said, but the company decided to stick it out in Holyoke, its location since 1969, instead of moving. “I felt strongly that it was important for us to stay in this area and be where we’re from,” Cistoldi said.

At 306 Race St., Cunningham Equities is attracting tenants to the three-story former mill it has refurbished into a professional arts office building, said Martin Kane, a broker with King & Newton Commercial Real Estate. “It’s an exciting project, and it’s going to be great, and it’s right in the heart of the innovation district,” Kane said.

Entrepreneur Brendan M. Ciecko helped organize an October conference here called “Idea Mill: Fostering Prosperity Through Collaboration, Innovation and Entrepreneurship,” and another is already in the planning for this year.

Morse said he envisions the computing center as a flagship that will make the city an innovation locale to reach the point where, as a participant in the Le Web conference in Paris in December said, according to CNN.com, “Nothing can slow down the pulse of innovation.”

Chicopee continues to add small businesses despite economic downturn

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Several developers have proposed building a casino in Chicopee.

facemate.jpgThis is one of the former Facemate buildings which will be razed to make way for a new Senior Center.

CHICOPEE – The four-year economic slump has slowed building in this city, but it has not been halted development completely.

A private developer is building condominiums and a few single-family homes, there are on-going commercial additions to Memorial Drive and several businesses are expanding.

“We have had some major construction projects even when the economy is at the bottom,” says city planner Catherine L. Brown. “We always have something going on in Chicopee which is pretty cool.”

During 2012, retail projects, like the building of an Aldi discount grocery store and a tire dealership, will continue at the site of the former Casey Chevrolet dealership at 505 Memorial Drive.

Development of the larger Chicopee Crossing on the opposite side of Route 33 is also expected to continue; the site is already home to a restaurant and retail building, but once complete, it is to include a hotel, about 23,000 square feet of retail space, additional restaurants and a bank.



One of the smaller projects will be the construction of a McDonald’s restaurant near the Memorial Drive plaza that holds a Walmart and Home Depot. That project is expected to begin soon, Brown said.

Chicopee is not immune to signs that the economy is taking its toll, though, Brown cautioned.

“We are not seeing any long-term planning,” she said. “People are not coming to us with site development plans like they used to.”

Mayor Michael D. Bissonnette says he’s encouraged that there will be some new development this year for his city.

Construction for an about 25,000-square-foot addition to the U.S. Tsubaki plant in the Westover Industrial Park is expected to begin in the spring, and the Dow Jones Co. on Burnett Road will wrap up an expansion project.

Construction of the Grandview Farms development off Granby Road has also started. The first phase brings 34 condominiums, and the next phase will add more condominiums and 16 single-family homes, the mayor said.

The question of where a casino will be located in Western Massachusetts remains the “800-pound gorilla” amidst the economic downturn, Bissonnette says.

Several developers have approached Bissonnette to propose locating a casino in the city. Bissonnette confirmed Penn National Gaming, a large casino company, is one but would not reveal the other companies. There are three different sites proposed: Delta Park in downtown Chicopee, property off Burnett Road and the Chicopee River Business Park off East Main Street, that includes property in Springfield.

“Based on the potential of 1,500 jobs and $5 million to $9 million in economic revenues, competition for the license will be keen and cutthroat,” Bissonnette said.

While Bissonnette said he may be interested in working with one of the companies to bring a casino to Chicopee, he will only support a proposal if it is right for the city and the proposal will mittigate any harmful affects such as adding more traffic to the city.

Meanwhile, progress is being made on several projects which will span a course of years for development, according to Carl Dietz, Chicopee’s community development director. After years of legal haranguing and applying for grants, the city will see serious progress on the cleanup and reuse of the former Uniroyal and Facemate properties, he said.

The city recently hired a contractor to demolish five buildings on the Facemate complex on West Main Street. The demolition will pave the way for the construction of a new municipal senior center on a portion of the property, Dietz said.

There are limited hazardous-waste issues with the Facemate property, and seven to eight acres of developable land next to the riverfront will remain available, he said.

“The architect has been selected for the senior center site; that is really exciting,” said Dietz. “There is a nice chunk of real estate on the river bank that will be available.”

Bissonnette said the city will need to make a decision on whether to market the Facemate land separately, or wait until more clean-up is done on the Uniroyal property to market it all together.

The city will also be looking at continuing to redevelop Chicopee Center and has a grant to study the use brownfields and other property in the west end of downtown, according to Dietz.

Also on the horizon for 2012 is proceeding with efforts to redevelop the about 25 acres of property near Westover which holds 128 homes that are mostly duplexes and have been vacant for more than a decade. The property was acquired in April from the U.S. Navy.

John F. Kennedy Presidential Library to make public Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis' papers

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The papers released Monday for researchers and scholars feature never-before-seen records relating to her efforts to restore the state rooms of the White House and her Feb. 14, 1962, televised tour of the building.

jfkThis Nov. 20, 1963 photo released by the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston, shows President John F. Kennedy, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, Chief Justice Earl Warren, Mrs. Warren, and others descending the Grand Staircase during the Judicial Reception at the White House, in Washington. On Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012, the Kennedy Llibrary will release the final 45 hours of White House recordings secretly taped during President Kennedy’s time in office. The last tapes were made on Nov. 20, 1963, two days before his assassination in Dallas.

BOSTON — The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum has released some of the personal papers of former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

The papers released Monday for researchers and scholars feature never-before-seen records relating to her efforts to restore the state rooms of the White House and her Feb. 14, 1962, televised tour of the building.

The Kennedy Onassis papers were donated by her children, Caroline Kennedy and John F. Kennedy Jr.

The papers' release follows the September release of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis' 1964 oral history interviews.

Library director Tom Putnam says the papers demonstrate the former first lady's legendary attention to detail and the range of her understanding of art, history and diplomacy. The works include handwritten notes on the principals guiding the restoration project.

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