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Business
Amendment of Kollmorgen TIF on City Council Agenda
by Mary Serreze | Dec 2, 2009 9:44 am | Comments (0)
On Tuesday afternoon, city economic development director Teri Anderson called an “emergency meeting” of the City Council’s Economic Development, Housing, and Land Use (EDHLU) committee. The issue? The status of a 5-year, 5% Tax Increment Financing (TIF) arrangement promised to Kollmorgen Electro-Optical, the defense contractor building a new $18 million, 40,000 square-foot headquarters complex on Northampton’s Village Hill.
(Dann Vasquez’ Scrapbook Blog. )
Continue reading ‘Amendment of Kollmorgen TIF on City Council Agenda’ »
Council to Mayor and EcDev Chief: Deal with Green St Cafe Imbroglio
by Mary Serreze | Nov 20, 2009 10:03 am | Comments (1)
Last night at City Council, Mayor Higgins and her newly-promoted Community and Economic Development Chief, Teri Anderson, were given clear marching orders: Do whatever you can to help resolve the ongoing conflict between Smith College and the Green Street Cafe, and report back in two weeks.
Continue reading ‘Council to Mayor and EcDev Chief: Deal with Green St Cafe Imbroglio’ »
Teri Anderson Appointed Head of CEDO 7-2
by Mary Serreze | Nov 8, 2009 12:11 am | Comments (1)
Video Courtesy of Northampton Community Television
One of Northampton Mayor Mary Clare Higgins’ first actions after her reelection on Tuesday was, at Thursday City Council meeting, to appoint city staffer Teri Anderson to head her own department, the newly-formed Community and Economic Development Office (CEDO). CEDO will be supported by a staff of three, and, according to the mayor, will be funded largely with Community Development Block Grant monies. Anderson had, until this transition, been an economic development coordinator working out of the Mayor’s Office.
Councilors Michael Bardsley and Marianne LaBarge objected to the appointment, contending that the job should have been publicly posted. Vote 7-2. Narkewicz, Spector, Reckman, Carney, Dostal, and Murphy in favor. Bardsley and LaBarge opposed.
Here’s the CEDO page on the city website. (CDBG Funding Eligibility Standards Here.)
Watch things get testy between Labarge and Higgins when Labarge addresses Anderson: the third instance of the evening where Higgins, chairing the City Council meeting, interrupted Ward 6 Councilor Labarge after Labarge had been recognized to speak.
Layoffs at Cooley Dickinson; Nurses Union Holds Firm
by Mary Serreze | Nov 7, 2009 11:24 am | Comments (1)
Cooley Dickinson Hospital has announced that it will lay off 20 to 25 employees on Monday. The hospital, facing a $10 million shortfall, is currently negotiating with its nurses’ union, which recently rejected a cost-cutting plan proposed by management. Last year, Cooley Dickinson laid off 81 employees.
Read Fred Contrada’s report on MassLive.
Angry Yellers
by Mary Serreze | Nov 6, 2009 5:42 pm | Comments (0)
A group of former Daily Hampshire Gazette Employees, organized under the name of Independent Contractors United (visit their Facebook page) were out in full force on Thursday, holding a protest in front of the Gazette’s Conz Street Office in Northampton.
The carriers say that as newly-minted independent contractors with the newspaper delivery chain known as Publishers Circulation Fulfillment, or PCF, that they receive about 50% less money in exchange for more work and more vehicle miles.
Gazette reporter Dan Crowley in today’s paper quotes Gazette Publisher Jim Foudy as saying that the protesters need to bring their concerns to PCF, not the Gazette. Foudy was quoted as saying “These aren’t issues I can speak to,” and that the Gazette is “rooting” for the drivers.
PCF, Inc. describes itself as “the largest independent distributor of home and office-delivered newspapers in the U.S., distributing over 11 million copies a week for over 60 clients across the U.S., and overseeing hundreds of other third party distribution relationships for key clients.”
LaFleur: Post That Position!
by Mary Serreze | Oct 25, 2009 9:43 am | Comments (0)
Mayor Higgins, with City Council approval, has created a new, Community Development Block Grant-funded city department (the Department of Community and Economic Development), and has nominated city Economic Development Director Teri Anderson as its head.
Continue reading ‘LaFleur: Post That Position!’ »
Holyoke’s High Performance Computing Center Moving Right Along
by Mary Serreze | Oct 24, 2009 3:00 pm | Comments (0)
Watch out, Northampton. Here comes Holyoke.
Partners MIT, UMass, BU, EMC, Cisco, Accenture, and the City of Holyoke have completed, after an intensive 120-day period, a working plan for Holyoke’s High Performance Computing Center (HPCC). According to Massachusetts News Wire, the partners have:
Continue reading ‘Holyoke’s High Performance Computing Center Moving Right Along’ »
Gazette-Chamber of Commerce Debate
by Mary Serreze | Oct 21, 2009 2:21 pm | Comments (0)
This morning’s well-attended mayoral debate on Jobs, Business, and the Economy, held at the Clarion Inn and Conference Center, was sponsored by the Northampton Area Chamber of Commerce and the Daily Hampshire Gazette. Gazette Publisher Jim Foudy served as the moderator. Chamber Executive Director Suzanne Beck offered introductory remarks and described the relationship between the C of C and city government.
Things got testy between the two candidates on the issue of the BID (“he was for it before he was against it,” quipped Higgins), on whether Economic Development Director Teri Anderson’s new department head position should be posted, and on the issue of wetlands regulations.
EcDev Czar Anderson and Councilor Reckman: Limit Environmental Review of Fairgrounds Project
by Mary Serreze | Nov 23, 2009 9:19 pm | Comments (1)
Below find the text of an email sent from City Community and Economic Development Office (CEDO) Director Teri Anderson to members of the Three County Fairgrounds Redevelopment Corporation, to Planning Board member Marilyn Richards, and to out-going Ward 3 City Councilor Bob Reckman.
Note that newly-elected Ward 3 City Councilor Angela Plassmann was not copied.
Anderson is urging the group to submit public comment as part of the MEPA process (see related article) and to specifically ask state regulators to not require a full Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the project.
Councilor Bob Reckman forwarded Anderson’s email to the Board of Directors of the Ward 3 Neighborhood Association with the following messsage:
Dear fellow board members:
I just got this today from Teri Anderson. I hope the W3NA. Board will write a letter to MEPA asking that the project not require a full blown EIR. The contact information and the project ID are included in Teri’s note.
Thanks;
—
Bob Reckman
Ward 3 City Councilor
36 Fruit St., Northampton, MA.
Home: 413-584-8905
Cell: 413-695-0281
From: “Teri Anderson”
Subject: FW: MEPA Site Visit EEA# 14509 – Three County Fairgrounds, Northampton
Date: November 23, 2009 10:56:19 AM EST
To: “Barry Roberts”
FYI.
We should all plan to attend this site visit along with any other supporters we can round up. Also would be good to have the City, Chamber, Ward 3 Association, and any other entities write letters of support and a request that an EIR should not be required for this project.
MEPA Site Visit and Public Consultation
EEA# 14509 – Three County Fairgrounds, Northampton
An Environmental Notification Form (ENF) has been submitted for the above project, which consists of redevelopment of the 51-acre fairground site. The project site is located within Bordering Land Subject to Flooding (BLSF) and will result in creation of approximately 7 acres of new impervious area for a total of 16.34 acres of impervious area. The ENF indicates that the redevelopment will impact approximately 2.1 million square feet of BLSF. The project involves demolition of structures that are listed on the Massachusetts Inventory of Historical and Archaeological Assets of the Commonwealth. The project requires an Order of Conditions from the Northampton Conservation Commission (and, on appeal only, a Superseding Order from MassDEP) and is subject to review by the Massachusetts Historical Commission.
Site visit date/time: Monday November 30, at 10am
Location: On-site at the Three County Fairgrounds, Fair Street Northampton. We will meet at the Fairground administration building prior to the site walk.
Comments Due: December 14, 2009
Decision Due: December 23, 2009
Project contact: Jeff Squires, The Berkshire Design Group jeff@berkshiredesign.com (413) 582-7000
MEPA Analyst: Aisling Eglington (617) 626-1024 aisling.eglington@state.ma.us
MEPA Web site: http://www.env.state.ma.us/mepa/
ENF (first few pages) http://www.env.state.ma.us/mepa/mepadocs/2009/112309em/nps/enf/14509.pdf
Aisling Eglington
MEPA Analyst
Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs
100 Cambridge Street, Suite 900
Boston, MA 02114-2524
Phone: (617) 626-1024
Fax: (617) 626-1181
email: aisling.eglington@state.ma.us
Gazette Pink Slips: Final Edition for Paper Boys and Girls Nears
by Guest Columnist | Oct 8, 2009 7:55 pm | Comments (0)
By Edward Shanahan
Among early newspaper casualties were the linotype operators made obsolete by offset printing, then typewriters yielded to the computers, and black and white photos were replaced by digital images, in color no less. How great the advance of technology, but still, the end of the newsboys and newsgirls lugging their white canvas sacks filled with Gazettes, and bringing the latest news each day to their neighborhood, is painful to contemplate.
Beware reporters and editors and photographers – you too can be outsourced.
Here is a September 24th letter to all “Youth Carriers” from Mark Galat, circulation manager for the Daily Hampshire Gazette:
Continue reading ‘Gazette Pink Slips: Final Edition for Paper Boys and Girls Nears’ »
Gala Academy Marquee Illumination
by Mary Serreze | Oct 2, 2009 8:37 am | Comments (0)
The City Council took a ten-minute recess last night to step outside and watch the gala illumination of the Academy of Music’s new marquee.
Continue reading ‘Gala Academy Marquee Illumination’ »
City Meals and Motel Tax Starts Tomorrow
by Mary Serreze | Sep 30, 2009 7:48 am | Comments (0)
Northampton is one of 30 Massachusetts communities that will, on Thursday, start collecting a local tax on meals and hotel rooms. The option to tax meals and rooms at the local level was approved by the state legislature this year. In Northampton, a 0.75 percent local tax will be added to the state’s 6.25 percent tax on restaurant meals. Northampton is projected to raise $378,182 this fiscal year from the new meals tax and $72,606 from the new motel room tax. Read Dan Ring’s report on MassLive.
BID Motion to Dismiss Denied
by Mary Serreze | Sep 28, 2009 2:32 pm | Comments (4)
Opening lecture on the critical role of gardens and plants in urban landscapes; March 5 at 7:30 p.m.