As reported in the T&G, City Manager M. V. O’Brien is finally jumping on the boost Wusta bandwagon - he wants to reorganize and consolidate all city marketing efforts under his auspices.After umpteen failures by the city, public and private efforts (Worcester Marketing Corp., Choose Worcester Inc., Grow Worcester Inc., Worcester UniverCity Partnership, Destination Worcester, Chamber of Commerce, etc. ) CM O’Brien wants to give it the ole college try. But me thinks the odds are against him. In fact I’d be willing to take bets. Sorry.
Consider this, even in the best of economic times, all those endeavors were failures. The fact is, over the years Wusta has been sucked dry by a bunch of slick salesmen promising manna, but delivering chaff. In fact some pretty prominent business folks names appear in those failed endeavors. Thinking here. If their cumulative expertise couldn’t buck the trend, how’s CM O’Brien gonna do it? With TIFs? Glad handing? Name dropping? Sorry, ain’t gonna cut it.
With all the tools at City Hall’s disposal, economic development still passed Wusta – it didn’t work in the roaring 00’s, it sure ain’t gonna work in this depression. So CM O’Brien can consolidate all he wants. Nuttin ain't gonna work. Wusta is cursed.
So why ain’t Wusta a magnet for business? Well, that’s easy. It’s a city dominated by non-profits and a liberal mindset. That’ll scare away even the most savvy speculators. The City is incapable of attracting and servicing profit-oriented businesses - it just doesn’t know how to do it. After all, City Hall isn’t exactly an incubator of free enterprise thinking. It's populated by bureaucrats without real world experience.
Okay assuming the CM gets something rollin - the all important question, what kind of businesses can thrive in Wusta’s economy? Strictly speaking, it’s a service oriented economy, so bars, coffee shops, groceries, and restaurants are about all that would have an interest settling here. And non-profits.
How come all the brainpower coming out of the locals colleges, some 10,000 degrees every year, hasn't had any effect on the city over the past two decades? The kids just want out of this place. Can you name one locally graduated entrepreneur whose business calls Wusta home? Think long and hard about that because it’s indicative of the City's and the Consortium's inability to capitalize on that brainpower.
So is Wusta cursed? No, it’s just an ugly place to live. As crass as that sounds, that plays a role in its overall attractiveness. People are petty, but businesses are more so.
Ask local business woman Beth Proko, boss of Worcester Citizens for Business, who alleges to be the voice of Worcester businesses, some 108 (including the infamous real estate agent Tony Economou and insurance salesman cum Tea Party sycophant Bill Randell) of the circa 3,500 in Worcester.
Of course Worcester Citizens for Business progenitors Ed & Beth Proko, owners of a used car lot, claim it’s all about the city’s higher than average tax rate that impinges on businesses, preventing them from investing and scaring away potential investors. Well, you know what they say about used car salesmen.
Actually it’s a lot more complicated than the tax rate. Since WCB’s website hasn’t been updated in over 2 years, it’s hard to know what they have for ideas to boost incorporations or prime the economic engine except whine about tax rates.
You’ve heard, it takes money to make money. In other words, it takes big companies to create jobs. Verizon, Mass Electric, St. Gobain, Hanover etc., they're the real economic engines, not a used car business or a one-man events business.
Of the 108 businesses who participated in the questionnaire (whose names WCB won’t reveal - that's rather dubious) how many jobs can they possibly create, considering the majority of respondents were commercial property owners. So how’s giving them a tax break gonna create jobs and revitalize Wusta? Me thinks Beth & Ed need to think that thru.
Anyone know the status of PILOT? Who hasn’t signed on? According to my research looks like Holy Cross and Becker College are the sole holdouts. Why’s that? Um... if the CM can't get them to contribute a few thousand to help out, how's he gonna get corporate America to invest here?
