GE...Pittsfield...PCBs...CANCER...corruption...

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May 15, 2009

Pittsfield never cleaned up a great majority of its PCB toxic waste cancer causing pollutants. Instead of cleaning up the mess GE - America's most elite corporation - left behind, the former-Mayor, Gerry Doyle, who ended up absconding to Florida with a local women more than 1/2 his age, signed the Consent Decree in one of his many alcoholic stupors. The Consent Decree met the EPA's regulatory approval by capping -- NOT cleaning - much of the toxic waste that has caused cancer in thousands of local residents, including my mother. The caps only last from less than one day to a maximum of 25-years. Once one of the caps becomes defective due to a tear, leak, or age, the toxic waste continues to cause cancer in local residents by polluting the land and water around them. The biggest capped toxic waste site abuts an elementary school filled with thousands of local school children over a period of 25 years. Pittsfield - my native hometown - is a toxic waste site that needs Superfund status sooner rather than later. Mayor Jimmy Ruberto & co. took GE's $10 million bribe and gave it to their special interests instead of job creation. In fact, joblessness continues to be Pittsfield's reality, which will be followed by increasing numbers of cancer victims. Political Corruption - see Peter J "Lobbyist" Larkin - via special interests continues to be Pittsfield's hallmark signature!
- Jonathan Melle
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"Transformer buildings next: PEDA still optimistic about redevelopment of property"
By Tony Dobrowolski, Berkshire Eagle Staff, Friday, May 15, 2009

PITTSFIELD — General Electric has begun the final phase of cleanup at the William Stanley Business Park of the Berkshires, a job that involves demolishing several massive buildings at the company's former transformer manufacturing plant.

The work, conducted by local contractor J.H. Maxymillian Inc. of Pittsfield, began this week. It is expected to take between 12 and 14 months to complete, said William M. Hines Sr., the interim executive director of the Pittsfield Economic Development Authority, which is charged with developing the 52-acre site.

Known as the "teens" area, it is a 15-acre parcel bordered by the CSX Railroad tracks to the south, Woodlawn Avenue to the west, and Tyler Street Extension to the north. It includes five buildings, some of them as large as 100,000 square feet, Hines said.

"The five buildings will be coming down," Hines said. "They will be chopped up and used for fill later on."

Once the buildings have been demolished, GE will perform any additional cleanup work before turning over the 15-acre parcel to the Pittsfield Economic Development Authority, or PEDA.

Under the terms of the 10-year-old consent decree with Pittsfield, GE is required to both demolish and remediate each section of the 52-acre site before the land transfers can occur.

GE has only transferred half of the site to PEDA. The remainder is located in the teens parcel and what is known as the "40s" area, which is located along Kellogg Street across from PEDA's executive offices. The 40s area has already been remediated, and Hines said the details of the transfer are being worked out.

"We're nearly at the point where they're ready to transfer it to us," Hines said. He said he expects PEDA to take control of the 40s area by the end of the summer.

General Electric Co. spokesman Peter O'Toole did not return a telephone call seeking comment.

Hines called the work on the teens complex a "huge step" in the overall development of the Stanley Business Park. The acreage that GE has already turned over to PEDA is hilly, Hines said, while the land that includes the teens and 40s complex is flatter, which makes it more suitable to accommodate larger structures.

"That's why it's a huge step in the right direction," he said.

Although the demolition and remediation of the 26-acre parcel bordering East Street has taken place, workers are still performing infrastructure improvements that include removing storm drains, sewers and gas lines, Hines said. Those improvements are expected to be completed by January 2010, according to Hines.

The goal is to make that parcel "shovel-ready" for potential clients, Hines said.

As part of the consent decree, GE is also required to clean nearby Silver Lake. Although that project does not involve PEDA, Hines said it is a two-year project that will probably begin next year.
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To reach Tony Dobrowolski: tdobrowolski@berkshireeagle.com, or (413) 496-6224.
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"Ellen Ruberto, mayor's wife, dies at age 62"
Berkshire Eagle Staff report, Wednesday, July 22, 2009

PITTSFIELD -- Ellen Reynolds Ruberto, the wife of Pittsfield Mayor James M. Ruberto, died peacefully at their home this morning after battling a rare form of cancer, the mayor's office has confirmed. She was 62.

Diagnosed in 2005, Mrs. Ruberto underwent treatment for the cancer, and later was given a clean bill of health. The cancer recurred in 2007.

In May, Mrs. Ruberto accompanied her husband to City Hall, hand in hand, as he took out nomination papers to seek a fourth two-year term in November. It was a moment that captured her endurance and displayed the strong bond that existed between them.

The Rubertos made it clear that they made decisions in running for mayor together, and considered her illness in choosing to run for election.

In 2007, when the couple took out mayoral nomination papers at City Hall, Mrs. Ruberto said they "take things as they come." The "best course of action was to move forward," the mayor said the night he was re-elected in 2007.

Married 40 years in August, the couple graduated from St. Joseph's High School in 1964. They have no children.

Details for services will be announced this week.

A statement from the mayor's office said "the family asks that the public respects their privacy during this time."
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July 22, 2009

My heart goes out to Ellen Reynolds Ruberto and her family. She was a very nice person. I always sent her my regards. My mom had cancer twice -- once in 1990 & again in 2006 -- and I am thankful my mother survived this horrible disease. Pittsfield has a terrible toxic waste problem left behind by Jack Welch's GE in the form of PCBs that causes cancer in local residents. I have read, heard and saw thousands of local residents contract cancer, including my mother twice over. Pittsfield needs to clean up its toxic waste sites! Mayor Jimmy Ruberto should NOT have put his wife under the stresses and rigors of politics. He should have taken care of her instead. While I am saddened by Ellen's passing, I am upset with Pittsfield's cancer cases caused by left behind toxic waste sites and the Mayor who put his political interests above the needs of his suffering wife.

- Jonathan Melle

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Some community leaders believe signs of life should have emerged by now in the William Stanley Business Park. Half of the 52-acre site has been under the control of the Pittsfield Economic Development Authority (PEDA) for four years. (Holly Pelcyznski / Berkshire Eagle Staff)
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"William Stanley Business Park: A blank space"
The Berkshire Eagle, By Tony Dobrowolski, Berkshire Eagle Staff, 7/26/2009

PITTSFIELD -- In drawings and diagrams, the William Stanley Business Park resembles a college campus, with attractive brick buildings laid out on landscaped sites that are bordered by green, leafy trees.

This is how the Pittsfield Economic Development Authority (PEDA) envisioned the business park when the General Electric Co. agreed to turn 52 acres of its former transformer facility over to the quasi-public agency formed by the state Legislature in 1998 to develop the parcel.

A decade later, that vision for the business park -- and the hundreds of new jobs that could have come with it -- are still just concepts. Discussions have taken place with prospective tenants, but nothing has panned out, leaving the park as vacant as it was 11 years ago.

Even though PEDA’s acting board chairman says that half of the park’s land is ready to be built on, there hasn’t been one nail hammered on new construction, and some community leaders believe the organization should have done more with the park by now. Potential tenants cite a host of problems -- from high costs to unbuildable soil to stringent building restrictions by PEDA -- that have kept them away.

This is just one more challenge amid the recession for the William Stanley Business Park, already saddled with the name "brownfield," a term that refers to former industrial complexes such as GE’s transformer facility, where redevelopment is hampered by environmental contamination, in this case PCBs.

PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, are suspected of causing cancer in humans and have been linked to developmental problems in children.

On the site, 26 acres have been under PEDA’s control for four years. The remaining acres are controlled by GE, which is expected to turn over an additional 15-acre parcel to the agency in the fall. Those 41 acres have been cleaned of PCBs in accordance with state and federal levels regarding commercial and industrial development.

The demolition of buildings on the final 11 acres of the 52-acre Stanley site began in May and was expected to take 12 to 14 months.

Community leaders who are skeptical about PEDA’s role in the park cite the lack of tenants; goals and projections that fell short; and a lack of communication between the board and the public regarding the board’s activities at the former GE site, which runs approximately from East Street north to Tyler Street Extension.

"How many times have we heard that this is going to happen and that is going to happen, and it hasn’t happened," Ward 5 City Councilor Jonathan N. Lothrop said.

Ward 6 Councilor Daniel L. Bianchi, at a PEDA briefing at a City Council meeting in April, questioned whether PEDA’s six board members -- Mick Callahan, Ben Kaplan, Sharon Harrison, MCLAPresident Mary Grant, board chairman Gary S. Grunin, and Mayor James M. Ruberto -- have what it takes to develop the site.

"Maybe this task is too large for the current makeup of the board, and more than the board can handle," Bianchi, now a candidate for mayor, told The Eagle in June. "Do we have the right people? Do we have enough people? Do they have the right capabilities?"

Gerald S. Doyle Jr. -- Pittsfield’s mayor when PEDA was formed -- and former Pittsfield-based state Rep. Peter J. Larkin also said they thought redevelopment would be further along than it is now.

Ruberto and William M. Hines Sr. -- PEDA’s interim executive director -- say they understand the anxiety over the lack of development at the William Stanley Business Park.

"Nobody’s more frustrated than the two guys in this room," Ruberto said during a joint interview with Hines this summer. "Nobody’s more frustrated than me. But I truly believe that we are going to be creating the kinds of partnerships that are going to be necessary to make that site eminently successful."

"I think maybe we’ve done a poor job in overselling the time factor of getting all this transition done and turning this into a park," said Hines, who as PEDA’s leader earns $5,000 a month in funding supplied by GE. "And I think we’ve done a bad job in aligning expectations with reality."

Larkin said he believed that, within three to five years of PEDA’s inception, the William Stanley Business Park would have enough tenants to create 500 jobs.

"Certainly everyone is disappointed that there hasn’t been more development," said Larkin, now a consultant for the biotechnology industry. "That being said, people have been trying hard."

Under an agreement finalized between GE and the city of Pittsfield in 2000, redevelopment of the business park includes the cleanup of chemical contamination, the demolition of decrepit buildings, and landscaping improvements.

Since Hines -- the retired CEO of Pittsfield-based Interprint Inc. -- replaced Thomas E. Hickey Jr. as PEDA’s executive director on an interim basis in February 2009, Ruberto said the board has developed subcommittees designed to make it easier for information about the business park to reach the public. PEDA also has released a new marketing and communications plan, along with a new Web site, williamstanleybusinesspark.com, that are designed to make the business park more visible.

But unsuccessful attempts to lure new tenants -- including local companies Sinicon Plastics, Unistress Corp., Nuclea Biomarkers LLC, and Sabic Innovative Plastics -- have been the norm during the existence of PEDA, which is not overseen by any state agency but like other state redevelopment agencies is required to file yearly reports with the state auditor’s office regarding its actions and expenditures.

Glen Briere, a spokesman for the auditor’s office, said he isn’t aware of any problems with PEDA’s previously filed reports.

But a lack of problems with the state hasn’t translated into success with the business community.

Two years ago, Unistress agreed to build a multimillion-dollar metal fabrication facility at the business park, but backed out a month later when it was determined the soil wouldn’t support the building without a significant additional investment.

Last year, the House and Senate approved $6.5 million for an incubator building at the Stanley Business Park as part of a $1 billion life-sciences bill proposed by Gov. Deval L. Patrick.

Hines, however, said the funding is tied up in the Legislature because the state was unable to find investors to purchase bonds to finance any of the projects that were scheduled to be funded.

"With [the] economy now in the state, I think we would be hard-pressed to get that money released with or without a bond for this park," Hines said.

Regarding business-leader claims that PEDA has too many building restrictions, Hines said: "PEDA doesn’t require businesses to put up a specific kind of building, [but] we have [certain] expectations."

As for the future, Hines said a regional telecommunications company and a firm that manufactures pre-engineered homes have expressed an interest in relocating to the park. He said the telecommunications company is interested in building a 10,000-square-foot structure to accommodate its technical and customer support operations with 20 or 30 employees on a site bordered by East Street and Woodlawn Avenue.

"I hope later this year to have the foundation started for that first building," Hines said. "That’s a hope. A lot of things have to fall into place for that to happen. But if and when it happens, I expect it to happen this year."

Hines and Ruberto said PEDA also plans to renew its partnership with the Massachusetts Development Finance Agency, which provides financial tools and real estate expertise for former industrial sites through its Brownfields Redevelopment Fund.

Also, PEDA and the Berkshire Economic Development Corp. have started working together to recruit new tenants, and Patrick has included the William Stanley as one of the state’s "municipal growth districts," which means prospective tenants are eligible for incentives and a streamlined permitting process if they agree to relocate there.

BEDC President David M. Rooney said his organization has a variety of financial incentives -- including investment and tax-credit programs, along with workforce training and hiring grants -- that it could offer.

"This doesn’t have to be five more years before there’s a successful tenant on the site," Rooney said. "Now that you’ve got a site that’s got the infrastructure in place and is ready [to go], we can really aggressively market it."

When PEDA decided not to renew Hickey’s contract in January 2009, Hines said the agency needed an executive director who had more expertise in marketing, attracting businesses and accessing economic incentives, rather than in technical processes and engineering.

Hickey, who had been PEDA’s executive director since the agency’s inception, declined to comment on his departure from PEDA.

While the inability to meet goals and projections are viewed by some as a lack of progress, PEDA board members say they have spent the past decade navigating the 52-acre William Stanley site through the complex process required to prepare the land for development.

"Everybody wants to see something happen," said Callahan, the only original member of PEDA’s board. "But I think what ends up happening is you need to position the site to have conversations to that prospect."

Barbara Landau, the PEDA board’s environmental lawyer, said the cleanup of the former GE site is difficult because of the number of agencies involved.

Besides GE and PEDA, decisions have to be approved by the state Department of Environmental Protection and federal and state environmental agencies.

"In Massachusetts, it is one of the more complicated ones," she said, referring to brownfield sites in general. "Multiple parties are involved. There’s a lot of unknowns in the ground. There are different goals among each of the parties. ... It’s not like we’ve done this before."
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To reach Tony Dobrowolski: tdobrowolski@berkshireeagle.com, or (413) 496-6224
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'Infrastructure issues'
By Tony Dobrowolski, The Berkshire Eagle, Sunday, July 26, 2009

PITTSFIELD -- Patrick J. Muraca, the president of one of the four local companies that discussed relocating to the vacant William Stanley Business Park, said talks ended because his company would have been required to sign a 99-year lease and construct a building it could not afford.

The Pittsfield Economic Development Authority (PEDA), formed in 1998, is charged with developing the business park, located at the General Electric Co.'s former transformer plant, a site that runs roughly from East Street north to Tyler Street Extension.

A large part of PEDA's mission is to bring tenants to the park, which is undergoing the demolition of decrepit buildings, landscaping improvements, and a cleanup of chemical contamination.

Although PEDA has held discussions with companies from Berkshire County and beyond, no businesses have relocated to William Stanley since PEDA was formed.

"It looked as though there were a lot of infrastructure issues, and that it would cost $5 million to build a building," said Muraca, the leader of Nuclea Biomarkers LLC, which moved most of its operations from Pittsfield to Worcester late last year.

Muraca's company, now known as Nuclea Biotechnologies LLC, still maintains an office in Pittsfield.

"It was because of certain restrictions that PEDA was putting on you," Muraca said of the failed talks. "You had to have a certain look, you had to have a certain building. They didn't want to have it look like a hodgepodge of different buildings, but it added a significant cost to the work."

PEDA's interim executive director, William M. Hines Sr., said companies aren't required to sign a 99-year lease at the park, but can lease parts of their structures amid time limits that are open to interpretation.

Hines said PEDA doesn't require businesses to put up a specific kind of building, but added: "We have expectations. You just don't throw up an old building without enhancements."

He said negotiations involving a building for Nuclea with Muraca never took place because, "He had no business plan, and his investors in New York never came forward."

Hines said PEDA also held discussions with Sabic Innovative Plastics about six months ago when the company was considering moving its polymer processing facility to the William Stanley from Building 100 on the GE site, a distance of less than a mile.

According to Hines, Sabic decided not to move the facility because it was less expensive to keep it where it was.

Sabic officials could not be reached for comment about the decision.

In June 2007, Unistress Corp. announced plans to build a multimillion-dollar fabrication facility at William Stanley, but backed out a month later when tests revealed that the soil on Silver Lake Boulevard would not support the structure without an underground support system.

Company officials determined the construction project would take too long and cost an additional $200,000.

PEDA also held discussions with Sinicon Plastics Inc. of Pittsfield, which has outgrown its current 12,000-square-foot facility on West Housatonic Street. But that company decided to relocate to Dalton instead.

Sinicon President David K. Allen said the move to Dalton, which he expects will occur in August, is "a better setup for me" because he purchased a 35,000-square-foot building that will solve his company's future expansion needs.

"If I had built a 15,000- or 25,000-square-foot building and wanted to expand it, it would have been more expensive to do," Allen said of the possibility of relocating to William Stanley. "And I have eight acres of land.

"It wasn't like it didn't work out," Allen added. "Things were working in tandem, and I decided to take this one."

PEDA-board chairman Gary S. Grunin said building sizes at the William Stanley Business Park depend on the location of the building lot, the company's operation, and the number of jobs a firm would bring to the area.

While the construction of a 100,000-square-foot building at the park is possible, PEDA is mainly interested in buildings in the 20,000 to 25,000 range, Grunin said.
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July 27, 2009

A lot of infrastructure issues at the PEDA site makes the costs exceed the benefits of doing business there. It is basic economics to say if costs exceed benefits then it is inefficient to do business. The PEDA officials have been talking about economic incentives to attract business investment, but has not resolved the high costs associated with the complex and many infrastructure issues at the PEDA site. They put the cart before the horse!

- Jonathan Melle

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"PEDA's past and future"
The Berkshire Eagle, Editorials, Tuesday, July 28, 2009

To read the PEDA timeline in Sunday's Berkshire Eagle is to grasp the frustrating nature of the development of the much-hyped William Stanley Business Park on General Electric's former property in Pittsfield. Progress in clearing and developing the site has come with painstaking slowness, in large part because as a brownfield, an alphabet soup of agencies has input in what goes on there. The result, with the poor economy factored in, is that relatively little has taken place.

It is a painstaking process, but much of the 52 acre site has been cleared of PCBs, the contaminant that was long associated with Pittsfield. Most of the decaying buildings that gave that section of the city a firebombed-Dresden appearance are mercifully gone. But that is where the park is stalled more than a decade since the PCB consent decree made it a reality. The promise of new businesses and the jobs that go with them is still unrealized.

We agree with interim Executive Director William M. Hines Sr. in Sunday's Eagle that the board oversold the park's ability to draw new businesses given the realities of the slow process, creating expectations that could not be met. But the board of the Pittsfield Executive Development Authority waited a long time, until earlier this year, to seek someone with marketing expertise for the executive director's job long held by Thomas Hickey. The board should at least consider someone from outside the Berkshires for this position because while the PEDA hierarchy has consisted of accomplished people, it has been insular in nature as well. This official should be hired in large part on the basis of communication skills, as PEDA's actions and strategy have too long been a mystery to elected officials and residents of the city alike.

The board will need to lower its expectations as to the type of company it can attract, at least for now. The brutal economy has made it more difficult to attract businesses over the past couple of years, compounding problems Pittsfield faces, such as a poor road network and rail access that is lacking compared to potential rivals.

It is encouraging that PEDA is working with the Berkshire Economic Development Corporation in seeking new tenants. Governor Patrick's inclusion of the park as one of the state's municipal growth districts should help reduce the red tape that so frustrates communities and businesses.

And while the park hasn't gained much over the last decade, it hasn't lost anything, either. All the drawbacks to the facility aside in terms of soil difficulties in some areas and access to it, the decaying buildings symbolic of another era are largely gone and Pittsfield has a prime piece of industrial real estate in its center possessing considerable potential. If PEDA begins to reach that potential in the years ahead, its slow start will be forgotten.
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CORRUPT LOBBYIST!
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www.peterlarkin.com
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Re: GE has paid Peter Larkin $192,521 in lobbyist fees over the past 3 years!

July 28, 2009

Money, money, money, MONEY! That is what Lobbyist Larkin has received from GE for creating a failed entity named PEDA!

PAYMENTS TO PETER J LARKIN FROM GE:
2006 - General Electric Co. - $14,500.00.
2007 - General Electric Co. - $58,000.00.
2008 - General Electric Co. - $119,521.00.
Over the past 3 years, GE gave Peter J Larkin a whopping $192,021.00.

www.topix.com/forum/source/berkshire-eagle/T80QIOT674UIE3HBV

1/15/2009
Peter J Larkin was the force behind the FLAWED consent decree that is now law. The problem with the consent decree is that the caps are a short-term solution to a long-term problem. The caps only last about a generation or 24-year lifespan. After the caps wear out, the toxic waste called PCB chemicals will continue to pollute the land, water and people of Pittsfield.
- Jonathan Melle



Jack Welch's financial legacy as the famed CEO for GE



Jack Welch has a DARK SIDE! His decisions were extremely economic and financial (or banal) without any morality and humanity to the people and communities he irreparably harmed. Pittsfield, Massachusetts, is a case in point. Jack Welch pulled a great majority of GE's business out of Pittsfield and killed its local economy in the process.

Moreover, Jack Welch signed a consent decree that was FRAUDULENT on so many terrible levels. GE left behind TOXIC WASTE in the form of cancer causing PCBs in Pittsfield and like areas. Pittsfield colluded with GE to cap -- NOT clean -- the numerous toxic waste sites. The crux of the problem with the consent decree is that the caps will last about a generation and then become as useless as a used condom. Around the years 2025 - 2030, Pittsfield residents will be exposed to lethal amounts of GE's left behind PCBs and even more local people will suffer and die from CANCER because of Pittsfield's deal with the Devil...excuse me, Jack Welch.
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"Grant leaves PEDA board"
By Tony Dobrowolski, The Berkshire Eagle, Wednesday, July 29, 2009

PITTSFIELD -- Citing the responsibilites that go with her job, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts President Mary Grant recently stepped down from the Pittsfield Economic Development Authority's Board of Directors.

PEDA's interim Executive Director William M. Hines Sr. said Grant had told him in early July that she would be stepping down. The board hopes to have Grant's replacement in place within the next few months, Hines said.

Appointed to the board by former Pittsfield Mayor Sara Hathaway, Grant had attended only one PEDA board meeting between January 2008 and May 2009, according to the board's minutes. She attended the board's meeting last September via conference call.

In a recent interview, Grant said conficts with her schedule as MCLA's president had prevented her from spending more time with the PEDA board.

"Board work is demanding," Grant said. "If you can't put the energy into it, then it's time to step aside."

Grant said she also decided to step aside because her role in providing an educational training component to the PEDA board has yet to be realized.

"We really haven't gotten to that piece," Grant said.

A quasi-public agency, PEDA was formed 11 years ago to develop the William Stanley Business Park of the Berkshires. The 52-acre parcel currently has no tenants.

Hines said Grant's absences didn't affect the PEDA board's operations because there were always enough members in attendance for the meetings to legally take place. "It didn't effect the quorums," he said.

According to the organization's bylaws, appointments to the PEDA board are brought forward by the mayor and require approval by the City Council before they can take effect. Hines said he has yet to talk with Mayor James M. Ruberto about filling the vacancy.

"I would say that we will fill that role within the next couple of months," Hines said.

In April, the City Council approved Ruberto's appointment of Ben J. Kaplan to the PEDA board. Kaplan, who is a member of Pittsfield's Zoning Board of Appeals and works for a marketing firm, replaced Osmin Alvarez, the CEO of Boxcar Media of North Adams.
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"Mixed signals block funds"
By Tony Dobrowolski, Berkshire Eagle Staff, Saturday, August 1, 2009

PITTSFIELD -- The Pittsfield Economic Development Authority has yet to submit a detailed proposal to the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center for an incubator building at the William Stanley Business Park, according to Susan R. Windham-Bannister, MLSC'S president and CEO.

Gov. Deval L. Patrick's $1 billion life-sciences bill, approved last year, included a $6.5 million earmark for the incubator site, but PEDA has not received any funding.

PEDA was formed in 1998 to develop the 52-acre business park, but it has remained vacant.

On Friday, PEDA's interim executive director, William M. Hines Sr., said he was confused about Windham-Bannister's comment, because PEDA had submitted detailed architectural drawings of the incubator building to the state Legislature in order to obtain the earmark on the bill.

But Angus McQuilken, the MLSC's vice president of communications, said those who already have received earmarks are required to submit a second detailed proposal to the Life Sciences Center so it can determine which projects are considered "shovel-ready."

"First you need to submit the project to the Legislature," McQuilken said Friday. "The next step is to submit detailed information to the center so that we can vet it and evaluate it."

Hines could not be reached for additional comment Friday, July 31, 2009.

The Life Sciences Bill includes $500 million to fund a variety of capital projects over the next 10 years, McQuilken said. The bill already has $300 million in earmarks, including the $6.5 million slated for PEDA's incubator building. He said the MLSC needs to determine how each project fits into the funding for its capital campaign.

"We have not had a conversation with them [PEDA] yet, which says to me that they're not quite ready to go," Windham-Bannister said this week. "A lot of projects have not approached the center yet."

"I think PEDA needs to flesh out the proposal more before it can receive the funding from the Life Sciences Center," said state Sen. Benjamin B. Downing, D-Pittsfield.

Given the current recession, Downing said the state's borrowing capacity remains difficult. He said investors are more willing to purchase bonds to finance roads and schools, than to finance economic development projects.

"I think the Life Sciences Center is trying to be cautious and prudent with taxpayer dollars," Downing said.

The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center is a quasi-public agency created by the Legislature in June 2006 to promote the life sciences within the state. It is charged with investing in life-sciences research and economic development, which includes making financial investments in public and private institutions.

Windham-Bannister said the Life Sciences Center has invested $48.5 million in public funds in a variety of projects during fiscal 2009, which attracted $359 million in matching investment and created 950 jobs. In fiscal 2010, the center plans to award $25 million in tax incentives, but additional funding has yet to be determined.

Berkshire County's open spaces, natural resources and skilled workforce, along with the presence of a major medical facility in Berkshire Medical Center, make the area attractive to the biotechnology industry, Windham-Bannister said.
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"Restrictions cripple Stanley Park"
The Berkshire Eagle, Letters, August 1, 2009

After reading your July 26 article about the blank space in the Stanley Business Park, I would like to comment on another blank in the whole situation. Your article details the allowed types of development agreed upon with GE when this proposal was conceived. I was shocked to see that the site was not to be used for the purpose of heavy manufacturing or in the manufacture of large equipment. Only light assembly was to be considered. Who agreed to this, the board of directors of PEDA and Pittsfield's city fathers? What were they thinking?

In doing this they take away all possibility of good-paying skilled jobs for welders, machinists and assembly types of people who with the support of well-paid and educated design and engineering types make the core group of citizens that enable a community to thrive economically. The allowed uses offer limited opportunities for skilled labor. Frankly, they all appear to be some kind of fantasy world job.

The last thing we need to be is a center for financial services. We are in a recession which will last another four years. Data processing and software development are nice work if you can get it, but I don't think we will see someone hanging that kind of shingle out.

How about a product manufacturer and distributor? How about a world class recycled paper mill? I wonder what kind of deals were made behind closed doors years ago to insure that Pittsfield and the surrounding towns would never again be known as a center for world class heavy manufacturing.

MARK A HANFORD
Becket, Massachusetts
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"Kennedy kept in touch"
By Tony Dobrowolski, The Berkshire Eagle, Thursday, August 27, 2009

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy had a well-deserved national political reputation due to his long tenure in the Senate. But his political influence was assuredly felt in Berkshire County.

"A lot of people go to Washington and want to be an international senator, and be senator of everything but their states," said North Adams Mayor John Barrett III. "He achieved that. But he never forgot about the cities and towns like North Adams."

Kennedy died on Tuesday night following a 15-month battle with brain cancer. On Wednesday, state and local politicians said the Bay State's senior senator was a major influence on several pieces of Berkshire legislation, including the 1998 consent decree that required the General Electric Co. to clean up PCB contamination in Pittsfield. Kennedy also helped defeat a federal initiative in 1995 that would have replaced the $1 bill with a coin. Its passage would have cost Crane & Co. in Dalton, which manufactures the paper used in U.S. currency, some 200 jobs.

"We would have had to most likely close a mill," said Crane & Co. CEO Charles Kittredge. "About 40 percent of the currency paper that we make is that denomination."

‘Could always go to Ted'

State Rep. Daniel E. Bosley, the dean of the county's legislative delegation with 23 years at the Statehouse, said Kennedy was as adept at local issues as he was with national ones.

"I think he's always kept in touch with what was going on out here," the North Adams Democrat said. "Whenever we needed something, we could always go to Ted Kennedy."

In 2006, Kennedy helped the Pittsfield Public Schools receive a highly competitive $3 million federal grant intended to create safe learning environments that promote healthy childhood development and prevent drug use among youths. Pittsfield was the only city in the Northeast to receive the grant that year.

The Safe School/Healthy Students Initiative also provided a steady stream of funding for the Juvenile Resource Center, which is located in the old county jail on Second Street.

"We kept [the JRC] going prior to that with criminal justice funds, which are always very, very iffy," said Berkshire County Sheriff Carmen C. Massimiano Jr., who was chairman of the Pittsfield School Committee when the three-year federal grant was awarded.

"It's still in existence today," Massimiano said, "but without Ted Kennedy's intervention, the JRC would be closed."

Brought sides to the table

The negotiations that led to the crafting of the consent decree were highly contentious partly because 11 different agencies were involved in the discussions. GE actually walked away from the negotiating table six months before an agreement was reached.

Former state Rep. Peter J. Larkin, who sponsored the landmark brownfields legislation that made the consent decree possible, said Kennedy's intervention kept everyone at the bargaining table.

"It fell apart on a couple of occasions," said Larkin, who is now a lobbyist for the biotechnology industry. "He had the ability to speak to both sides on a contentious issue and bring out the best in everyone."

Referring to Kennedy's part in the negotiations, Larkin told The Eagle in 1998 that "when we needed a lion, he was it."

On Wednesday, Larkin chuckled when reminded of that statement, saying there was a lot of truth in that remark. "He was it," Larkin said.

Kennedy also sponsored myriad legislation at the national level, particularly in health care and education, that filtered down to residents of the Berkshires.

"In so many ways, people never even knew about how it affected their lives," Barrett said.

State Rep. Denis E. Guyer, D-Dalton, who was employed at Crane & Co. during the coin/currency crisis 14 years ago, said Kennedy's efforts to raise the minimum wage, his support of elderly housing, his efforts to provide health coverage to people who have lost their jobs, and his backing of funding for veterans' programs such as Soldier On in Pittsfield, also affected county residents.

"I think the fights that Senator Kennedy fought on behalf of the people of Berkshire County are some of the things that are going to carry on," Guyer said.

State Rep. William "Smitty" Pignatelli, D-Lenox, referred to Kennedy as "a champion of the middle class," and that his passing means the Berkshires have lost a "very dear friend."

"Despite the fact that Senator Kennedy experienced some very public tragedies in his family, he stayed the course in public service," Pignatelli said. "You don't have to agree with his politics, but you have to respect his commitment to serve for so many years."

Alfred Shogry, the president of the Berkshire Central Labor Council, said Kennedy had the ability to champion union causes while simultaneously promoting business.

"All of our issues he carried them right through," said Shogry, who was president of a local labor union when Kennedy visited their union hall on Tyler Street in the 1980s. The union named the hall after Kennedy's brother, former President John F. Kennedy.

"When he said he was going to do something, he did," Shogry said "Anything with collective bargaining, he was right there for us. He proved his loyalty to the workers without hurting business. Those things stuck with me, you know."

A personal touch

State Sen. Benjamin B. Downing, D-Pittsfield, saw a personal side of Kennedy that few people see. He said Kennedy called from Washington to speak to his mother the night that his father, Berkshire County District Attorney Gerard D. Downing, died suddenly in December 2003, and later sent him a handwritten note "that I still keep to this day."

Downing was a staff assistant in U.S. Rep. John W. Olver's Washington office when his father passed away.

"To think that someone with that many demands and that much power and the ability to affect people's lives called my mother and wrote me a note when I was only a staff assistant," Downing said. "That stuck with me."

Barrett said Kennedy performed a similar service when his wife, Eileen, died of breast cancer in June 1990.

"The day I lost my wife, he called that evening and let me know that he was thinking of me," Barrett said. "I couldn't deliver 10 votes for him at the time. But he took the time."

"He's sent me 60 or 70 notes over the years," Barrett added. "He always signed it with, "be good, my old friend."

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8/27/2009

Re: The Berkshire Eagle Editors are misleading about The Consent Decree!

While I believe that U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy helped a lot of people, and contributed to the political needs of rural Berkshire County, The Berkshire Eagle is dishonest to state: "...the 1998 consent decree that required the General Electric Co. to clean up PCB contamination in Pittsfield, Massachusetts..." is totally misleading! A great majority of the toxic waste PCB pollution in Pittsfield was capped, not cleaned. The Consent Decree was a band aid to a major injury that left behind many tons of toxic waste PCB pollution in Pittsfield. The caps do not last long, while the pollution does. The caps can become ineffective at any time, from day one to year 25. The caps need constant, daily monitoring! The Consent Decree also did NOT cover all of the PCB pollution in Pittsfield. It also left huge swaths of land and water south of Pittsfield to the Long Island Sound in Connecticut exposed to PCBs. As much as I hate to say it, maybe it is karma that Ted Kennedy died of cancer. He, along with other local, state and federal politicians, and GE executives such as then GE CEO Jack Welch, did a bad, dangerous and fraudulent thing when they concocted the bogus Consent Decree!
- Jonathan Melle
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Work continues at the William Stanley Business Park in Pittsfield. Officials from the Troy, N.Y-based CornerStone Telephone Co. say they are willing to locate a $5 million office structure at the business park if the federal government agrees to provide financial support. (Darren Vanden Berge / Berkshire Eagle Staff)
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"Park could see tenant"
By Scott Stafford, The Berkshire Eagle, 9/17/2009

PITTSFIELD -- The CornerStone Telephone Co. is willing to locate a $5 million, 13,000-square-foot data center and office structure in the William Stanley Business Park of the Berkshires if the federal government provides financial support.

Officials of the Troy, N.Y. firm told the Pittsfield Economic Development Authority’s Board of Directors on Wednesday that the company would be willing to construct the operation if the federal government approves a $3.7 million stimulus grant for the project. The data center and office would bring up to 30 jobs to the area within three years, CornerStone officials said.

If the project goes through, CornerStone would become the Stanley Business Park’s first tenant. PEDA, formed in 1998, is charged with developing the Stanley Business Park, which is located on part of the General Electric Co.’s former transformer facility.

Five shovel ready building sites are expected to be available at the Stanley Business Park by January, PEDA’s Interim Executive Director William M. Hines Sr. has said.

Rick Drake, CornerStone’s CFO, said the new building will allow the sale of a variety of services, including broadband interconnection, network traffic and router management, trouble dispatch and repair, billing and collecting services, data storage and disaster recovery services.

He said the Pittsfield location is perfect for attracting industry customers from New York City, Boston, Springfield, Albany, N.Y. and Hartford, Conn.

"We think this location is key, and we believe the project is needed," he said.

Drake referred to the project as the Western Massachusetts Broadband Operations Center.

Dan Yamin, founder and CEO of CornerStone, said this operation would allow them to bring their broadband management needs into their own building rather than paying another company for the service.

"This would be a new business for us -- with it we can bring our services in-house in addition to bringing in a sales staff to market our services," he said.

Much of the need for these services is driven by the Massachusetts Broadband Institute, which has applied for federal funding to install a fiber optic system throughout Western Massachusetts that would provide high speed Internet access to the entire four county region. This broadband infrastructure will generate more broadband activity and the need for commercial-level broadband management services, which CornerStone hopes to provide, Drake said.

Growth for the data center operation will happen quickly during the first three years, as different phases of the fiber ring comes online, Yamin added.

Jobs at the data center will include network engineers, a position that pays up to $100,000 per year, and network technicians, a job that pays up to $60,000 per year.

There will also be a need for customer service and help desk specialists and back office help, which pay up to $30,000.

The grant application for $3.7 million from the Broadband Technologies Opportunity Program was supported in writing by the City of Pittsfield, Berkshire Health Systems, the Berkshire Economic Development Corporation, the Richmond public schools, U.S. Sen. John F. Kerry, State Rep. Christopher N. Speranzo, State Rep. Denis E. Guyer, and State Sen. Benjamin B. Downing. The grant funding is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Even if the grant is approved, the company would still need to secure an additional $2 million in funding, Drake noted.

If all funding is secured, construction is expected to start during the second quarter of 2010. The building will be fully operational by early 2011.

CornerStone is the same company that established a local presence last March when it purchased Richmond Telephone and its subsidiary Richmond Networx.

During his presentation, Drake noted that CornerStone was founded in 2002 and had achieved positive cash flow by early 2003. The company had total revenues of $26.2 million in 2007, $30.5 million in 2008 and a projection of $38 million in 2009.

Berkshire Economic Development Corporation President David M. Rooney said CornerStone and PEDA have been working together on the idea of bringing a facility at the business park for about three months.

"We think this project makes a lot of sense -- it creates local jobs, regional business opportunities and activity at the William Stanley Business Park," he said.
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To reach Scott Stafford: sstafford@berkshireeagle.com.
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"Path toward a better PEDA"
By Rinaldo Del Gallo, The Berkshire Eagle, September 23, 2009
PITTSFIELD, Massachusetts

This column is intended to offer positive and upbeat suggestions for PEDA's future.

1. Restructuring of PEDA Board: We need to amend the Pittsfield ordinance that creates the PEDA board, and if necessary, seek modification of the state enabling act. The "independent agency" concept simply did not bring about the needed accountability and transparency. The executive director of PEDA should directly report to the mayor and City Council. PEDA is not a private business and giving it the trappings of a private business has proved fruitless. Board members should be removable at the discretion of the mayor and City Council.

2. A new board and executive director: It is now time for new direction. Ideally, the new board will have a business or general practice lawyer, an environmental lawyer, someone with environmental and civil engineering expertise, more than one person with experience in industrial real estate, someone with experience in finance and venture capital, someone with experience in marketing, and several people with experience in economic development. The executive director must have a background in industrial park development, ideally with industrial parks that were formally brown fields, and ideally would also have an economic development background.

3. Fort Devens Model and Massachusetts Development: One of the most successful industrial developments has been Fort Devens, Massachusetts, which is a former army base and a Superfund site. It is now teeming with quality employers. Massachusetts Development has made Fort Devens the success it is today. If Massachusetts Development is not working for us the way they did for Fort Devens, we need to find out why and rectify the problem, perhaps with the help of the governor and Berkshire delegation.

4. Get the facility ready: Unfortunately, we are selling something yet to be. Those fancy schematics need to become realities. The consent decree was signed a decade ago. According to a recent discussion with board member Gary Grunin, GE is responsible for demolition and removal of old buildings. There must be some contractual obligation the Consent Decree that bound GE, Pittsfield, and the EPA. If there was no express time table for demolition, courts will usually impute a reasonable period. An attorney needs to look into the matter.

If GE and the EPA are constantly fighting and preventing demolition and clean up, it is time for court intervention. We should drastically reducing spending money on executive directors and marketing efforts until we have a usable facility to prevent further dissipation of limited funds. Until we have an inventory of available, fully serviced sites, we might want to hold on to these precious PEDA funds.

5: Account for money spent: According to the mayor's office, of the $15.3 million set aside for PEDA (not to be confused with the $10 million of the GE Economic Development funds), only $6.5 million is left. This money should be reviewed by an independent auditor to make sure that it is not allocated for expenses that GE was to pickup. A breakdown of the expenditures needs to be more accessible. The loss of the type of line item review usually associated with government expenditures is one of the most disconcerting aspects of the entire project. PEDA is quickly becoming just another industrial park without significant incentives because the money is disappearing.

6: Foster greater transparency and awareness: Someone at PEDA must become a member of Pittsfield Community Television, get a camera, put it on a tripod, put a microphone on the table, and start taping the meetings. They could have PEDA meetings in the City Council chambers for a more professional appearance. There should also be quarterly reports to the Pittsfield City Council both orally and with short write-ups. Annual reports should be available online and at City Hall. There should be annual or biannual town meetings with a presentation and Q&A sessions to foster community awareness and support.

7. Web site and incentive packages: Why come to the William Stanley Business Park? The answer should be simple and clear and concise, with room for some flexibility based upon various criteria, and the information should be massively disseminated. A 25-year-old with a marketing degree should be able to make a sensible presentation to corporate prospects.

Why go to Fort Devens?: "Expedited permitting including a 90-day max on the permit process and one stop-shopping, open spaces, low real estate taxes, its own municipal utility services which offers highly competitive utility rates, and easy access to key labor pools." Why go to PEDA? I do not know, and that is a serious problem.

Instead, there has been such an emphasis on "flexibility" and "individual needs," we have no known coherent set of incentives for people to locate here. We need to implement and make known one-stop shopping for permits, a 90-day max on permits, as well as establish the criteria for tax rebates or forgiveness, financing, and other incentive packages. To PEDA's credit, there have been some improvements in the permitting department, but this has been abysmally advertised making one wonder if the program really is in place.

Our failure to create a coherent set of incentives based upon given criteria has hindered lead development. There is no reason to put us on any initial list of considered sites. Known incentives would give a reason for someone to stop by a booth at a tradeshow or respond to an advertisement. An approach of having known incentives based upon known criteria would allow present citizens and indigenous corporations to be ambassadors and salespeople with something to sell other than scenic beauty and cultural amenities.

Better still, we could offer some type of cash reward system, as some councilors are suggesting, for those companies or individuals that do introduce future tenants.

8. Federal and state cooperation: Finally, we will need to cultivate state and federal cooperation to provide additional tax incentives, funding, and support services.
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A writer and attorney, Rinaldo Del Gallo is an occasional Eagle contributor.
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Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Gregory Bialecki talks with PEDA officials and others Friday in Pittsfield. (Caroline Bonnivier Snyder / Berkshire Eagle Staff)
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"School eyeing Stanley parcel"
By Tony Dobrowolski, The Berkshire Eagle, Saturday, October 31, 2009

PITTSFIELD -- The Pittsfield Economic Development Authority has signed a letter of intent to enter into discussions with a career-training organization that is interested in developing a new campus for a two-year private technical college at the William Stanley Business Park of the Berkshires.

Premier Education Group, a career training organization that serves more than 10,000 students at 25 campuses from Delaware to Maine, is interested in constructing a 20,000-square-foot building at the Stanley Business Park that would serve as a new campus for Salter College of West Boylston, which is one of the institutions that the organization runs.

PEDA is a quasi-public agency that is charged with developing the Stanley Business Park, which is located on 52-acres of General Electric's former power transformer facility. PEDA was formed 11 years ago. If the deal goes through, Salter College would be the park's first tenant.

The announcement came on the same day that Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Gregory Bialecki met with city and state representatives at the PEDA offices on Kellogg Street to discuss the progress of the park.

Bialecki said the ongoing infrastructure improvements at the Stanley Business Park are an important component of the overall development of the parcel in making the site more attractive to potential clients.

The letter of intent allows PEDA to begin negotiations with Premier Education Group on the construction of the facility. But PEDA's interim Executive Director William M. Hines Sr. said there's a good possibility that an agreement will be reached before the end of this year.

"There's a strong indication that it's going to go forward," Hines said.

Hines said Premier Education Group would like to have the facility constructed so the new campus can open next fall. Salter College would probably have 10 to 15 employees on staff in Pittsfield, who would be hired locally, Hines said. Student enrollment would be between 400 and 450 pupils, he added.

Mayoral candidate Daniel L. Bianchi, who has been highly critical about a lack of progress at the PEDA site, found the timing of the announcement "very interesting" considering it came four days before the mayoral election.

"I know that just a few weeks ago Bill Hines was quoted as saying that we had a couple of needle-in-the-haystack type projects which seemed like million-to-one shots to me," he said.

"Obviously, I'm happy to have any projects at that site," Bianchi said. "I guess I'll take a wait-and-see attitude and be hopeful."

Gary Campbell, the president and CEO of Premier Education Group, could not be reached for comment on Friday. But in a written statement, Campbell said that Berkshire County, Pittsfield, and the Stanley Business Park fit the organization's business model to continue to expand its education program throughout the Northeast.

"A new campus for Salter College makes sense for the Pittsfield area, and this site is a great location for development," Campbell said. "We are excited about this opportunity and looking forward to finalizing it."

According to Hines, GE is willing to waive a stipulation in its Definitive Economic Development Agreement with PEDA that prohibits educational institutions from being located at the Stanley Business Park.

Salter College provides technical training programs for a number of professions including accounting, office administration, medical assistance, massage therapy, the culinary arts, and HVAC technology.

Hines said the culinary, HVAC, and medical assistance programs are some of the initiatives that would be located in Pittsfield.

PEDA has two other projects in the works: The CornerStone Telephone Co. of Troy, N.Y., has expressed an interest in locating a $5 million, 13,000-square-foot data center and office structure at the Stanley Business Park, if the federal government approves $3.7 million stimulus grant for the project.

The Stanley Business Park is also one of eight sites that the Western Massachusetts Electric Co. has chosen as sites for large scale solar power facilities in its coverage area. Hines said the solar proposal is "moving along very quickly," while Community Development Director Deanna L. Ruffer said construction should begin next year.

Earlier this week, the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council certified the city of Pittsfield as a BioReady Community. Through cooperation with the Department of Community Development and PEDA, the city has met multiple criteria in order to receive the gold, or highest rating, from the Massachusetts Biotechnological Council.
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To reach Tony Dobrowolski: tdobrowolski@berkshireeagle.com, or (413) 496-6224.
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