Category: Sorboni Banerjee
Conway’s High-Tech Village Slowed by Lack of Funds
Land for Conway’s proposed hi-tech village has been chosen, grants applied for, and contacts in Washington D.C made, so according to the Mount Washington Valley Economic Council’s Executive Director Jac Cuddy, right now action is “in a holding pattern.” The missing link? Money.
“The council has negotiated a purchase and sales agreement with willing sellers,” Cuddy said, “However at this point in time we need funds. We’re still moving forward. But right now we’re hoping to obtain the funding source that’s been requested.”
The Mount Washington Valley Economic Council has applied for both local funding and federal funding. Any federal funds must be matched locally however, so Cuddy said that the Council is looking to organizations within the state such as the Community Development Finance Authority, along with several private businesses he was not at liberty to disclose.
Cuddy said the decision on the land for the proposed $6.2 million tech village should come in the next few weeks. “We’re hoping to hear sometime in October, when it goes to committee.” The Council is also waiting to hear about the lease for the Center Conway building, the facility that will be renovated into a business incubator to jumpstart the tech village. Cuddy guessed that this also should be decided by October.
Whether or not the 80 acres of land located on Route 16 is deemed appropriate for the tech village depends on several key factors.
“It’s permitting. It’s rezoning. There’s quite a bit to be done,” said Roger Grenier, chief financial engineer for the project. “One of the contingencies on getting the land is for the Council to approve the plan,” Grenier said. “And I have no reason to believe they will not. I think all our ducks are lined up.”
“Only about half of it has to be rezoned,” David Sorensen, Chairman of the Site Selection Committee said. “But that wouldn’t hold the project up.” He said the front half could still be developed while the back portion is being rezoned. It is currently an agricultural residential zone.
Expanding the commercial zone is a decision that will be on the ballot in April, Cuddy said. Cuddy also recently met with Conway village commissioners to talk about expanding the water district by 1,200 feet to provide for the village. He said he does not foresee any difficulty in getting approval for the expansion, and will be discussing the matter with the Board of Selectmen soon.
“It’s a very complicated project,” Grenier said. “It involves a whole bunch of steps similar to what a company would do in finding a piece of land and building on that land for a business.” He said that surveyors must make the final assessments about whether the land is indeed fit for the village.
Once the land is approved on a local level, federal funds are necessary to continue the purchase and development.
Representative John E Sununu said he is very optimistic that funding will be secured for the incubator program.
“As a conferee on the VA, HUD bill, I can show the importance of the proposal, in terms of impact on local economy, and the degree of support it will give to long term infrastructure,” he said. The VA, HUD subcommittee has a component of jurisdiction over the tech village proposal.
While most of the attention in Washington is focused on last week’s devastating terrorist attacks and what comes next, Sununu said he expects the Appropriations Committee to begin considering other matters soon.
“Within the next five to ten days, House and Senate leadership will begin to work through an outline for the final budget allocations,” Sununu said.
Sununu added that Senator Judd Gregg, the ranking Republican on the Commerce, State, Justice Subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee, is well aware of the proposal for the tech village.
Gregg’s press secretary Jeff Prescott said that since the Senator sits on the Committee he will be able to give his assistance.
Prescott said that emergency spending measures to fund victim relief, security measures and military response in reaction to the terrorist attacks should not affect the money available for projects like the tech village.
“Most of that funding, the $40 billion in aid, will come, fortunately or unfortunately from the surplus,” Prescott said.
When discussion on bills unrelated to the recent crisis resumes, Prescott said someone from Conway will contact the Senator and say, “this is my project” and provide Gregg with a “very detailed and specific proposal. It should be specifically community driven. We have to see that local leaders and residents have thoughtfully proposed something that will benefit not only them but surrounding communities and areas as well,” he said.
“We provide the federal level assistance,” Prescott said. “But the heavy lifting is done by the people on the ground.”
Grenier said he thinks Conway has an excellent team volunteering. “We have strong representation from the business community and the nonprofit community on the Economic Council.”
Grenier was one of the members of the Economic Council who met with David Sampson, President Bush’s Assistant Secretary of Commerce.
Sampson provided those at the meeting with what he called the Sampson Seven, a list of elements to include in the proposal that will help it sound feasible and effective when the Commerce, Justice, State Subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee reviews it.
The major points illuminated in the Sampson Seven were that the plan be market-based, proactive in nature and scope, look beyond immediate results, and serve the region on a whole. Grenier said he thought the Sampson Seven were “right on.”
“It was almost like the Sampson Seven were tailor made for the tech village,” Greneir added.
Grenier said since he’s with the Echo Management Group, the company formerly occupying the building now chosen for the incubator facility, he understands the benefits of employees living and working in an environment like Mount Washington Valley.
“This technology village is clearly one of our major initiatives,” Grenier said.
Conway is unique in pursuing this project, Cuddy added. “We had a feasibility study in the fall of 2000 and it came back that there really hasn’t been this kind of concept in a rural area. So we’re pioneering.”
Conway Travel Agency Asks for Help
WASHINGTON - Employees of a North Conway travel agency sent a letter to Representative John E. Sununu yesterday, pleading for help.
In the letter, Holly A. Gaudette-Fitch, the owner of Saco Travel, asked that travel agencies not be forgotten as Congress works to pass a federal aid package to save the nation's airlines from economic disaster after Tuesday's terrorist hijackings.
"The Nation's travel agencies face and unprecedented financial crisis," the letter read. "It is imperative that Congress include travel agencies in any financial relief legislation for the airline industry."
"We are hoping that Mr. Sununu can bring up the plight of the travel agencies," said Loretta Chauvin, an employee at Saco. "We are working in conjunction with airlines, hotels, cruises. If they're affected, we're affected."
Sununu's spokesperson said the Congressman has received the letter, and will be forwarding it to the administration through Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta. He also plans on sending a copy to former Chairman of the Appropriations Committee Don Young.
Sununu said he agrees that travel agents should be included in discussions on any financial relief legislation.
The letter, based on a form letter from the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA), included a list of requests.
If airlines receive federal aid, ASTA agents want at least 4 billion dollars of aid in the form of grants and no-interest loans. They requested no further reductions in travel agent compensation while airlines are receiving federal aid, and asked for the right to observe all immunized airline discussions. They also asked that federal aid be strictly limited to use for airline operations and customer service, not marketing or other activities.
ASTA also asked that all fares be available through all distribution channels, that state laws are still used to resolve disputes with airlines, and for passengers to be provided with timely and accurate reasons for delay.
Since the terrorist attacks, many airlines have been laying off workers. United Airlines has said they plan to lay off 20,000 workers. U.S. Airways could lay off 11,000 employees. Continental Airlines said it is cutting 12,000 jobs, and Virgin Atlantic may cut 1,200 jobs. And most recently, Boeing, the world's prime jet maker, plans to cut up to 30,000 jobs. Travel agencies will be directly affected, according to ASTA.
Chauvin said Saco, located on Seavy Street, only employs three people. It is this type of local agency that are presented as perhaps among the most vulnerable in the letter.
"We are small, family-owned businesses," Gaudette-Fitch wrote. "Many of us have already been forced to lay off staff. Others face immediate bankruptcy."
The letter noted that Saco supports assisting airlines if the government deems it necessary, but stressed that travel agencies should be included in the equation since they provide vital services as well.
Chauvin said she added a sentence to the letter before sending it, pointing out that travel agencies provide a primary phase of security screening.
"When people come to us, we know the people for the most part," she said. "And if we don't know them already, we can ask them questions. Then if any red flags go up, we can pass along that information."
Chauvin said that travel agencies are the advocates for the consumers. "If the travel agent is not supported in conjunction with the airlines, that consumer support could disappear."
In the week since the suicide hijackers crashed planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, thousands of passengers have been displaced and delayed.
NH Delegates Say Unite
WASHINGTON - For New Hampshire delegates yesterday it was as President Bush described. Business. But not business as usual. Yet the unusual and tragic events of the last few days, New Hampshire delegates say, may serve to bring America together.
Their second day back at work after the terrorist attacks on America, ended in evacuation.
The line of people filing out of the US capital late yesterday afternoon was not the first sign for New Hampshire Senators and Congressmen that the threat was still real.
When Senator Bob Smith tried to visit the Pentagon this morning to meet with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, there was a bomb threat and they had to vacate the entire building. But Smith was resolute.
"I'm heading back there tonight," he said.
At the Pentagon the smell of fire was still in the air. Scattered on the ground were twisted remains of the airplane that terrorists hijacked and crashed into the Pentagon during the assault on New York City and the capital.
"You could get the sense of the incredible power of a one hundred thousand pound aircraft hitting the side of a building. Floor one. Full throttle." Representative Charles Bass (R-NH) said of his visit yesterday morning to the Pentagon. "There was evidence of casualty. It was a very sobering experience."
Sobering, but somehow, unifying. New Hampshire delegates reflect the mood of many in the nation during these painful days after, when they say that everyone in the United States has come together after an attack intended to tear us apart.
The emotions coming from constituents reflect the feelings of members of congress and the administration, according to Representative Sununu (R-NH).
"I think everyone views this as an act of war, as an attack on the American people, an attack on freedom," Sununu said.
Sununu said he was certain be a resolution will be drawn up by the House and Senate that will empower the administration to utilize the president's powers as commander in chief, and to undertake military action. He said that the government wants to "work with our allies that have joined us in this cause, to punish and eliminate those responsible."
Punishing and eliminating the terrorists does not necessarily mean a declaration of war.
Bass for one, does not think it would be appropriate.
"I do not support a declaration of war," Bass said. "War gives the enemy a series of rights. It changes the status of victims and damages." He added that insurance companies do not pay the damages of war.
Smith said that he has been working with Senate Majority Leader Tomas Daschle and Minority Leader Trent Lott to allocate aid of up to 20 billion dollars for emergency equipment and supplies. Smith said he expects that sum to be approved within the next few days. He also thinks a defense bill could be passed by early next week.
Senator Judd Gregg was busy on the senate floor as floor director for a period of business with Senators who made statements regarding allocating money to fight terrorism.
Sununu supported the House passage of the "Victims of Terrorism Relief Act of 2001," according to a press release.
"Our hearts and prayers go out to all the families and loved ones of those who perished in Tuesday's attack against America, and particularly to those related to the New Hampshire residents who lost their lives in this unprecedented tragedy," said Sununu, Vice Chairman of the House Budget Committee and member of the House Appropriations Committee.
"The measures approved by the House will provide financial assistance to the victims of these attacks as Americans everywhere pull together in a display of strength and unity."
With such immediate decisions pending, Bass said issues like the on budget, off budget question wane.
"America no longer has the stomach," he said, about citizens' ability to handle vicious debate over social security surpluses, and special education.
"These issues are no less important. They're just put on hold."
Bass said he hopes the bipartisanship that has characterized Washington decisions and standpoints since the terrorist attack will extend and help with future policy making.
With the official announcement on Wednesday that there was real and credible evidence to believe that Flight #77 was originally streaming straight for the White House, delegates say they can only begin to imagine the damage if the plane had not taken a dive into the Pentagon instead.
"Things could have been a lot worse," Smith said, "if not for the bravery of those on that aircraft. These folks on the plane knew that the terrorists were using the planes as weapons. We have very good reason to believe that they took control from the terrorists."
"If not for one little electric charge in the hijacker's brain that made him say no not there, there, the White House would be gone," Bass said.
Members Ready to Return
WASHINGTON - New Hampshire Senator Judd Gregg was meeting in his Capitol office with First Lady Laura Bush on early childhood development issues yesterday when a hijacked aircraft plunged into the Pentagon.
"The Secret Service first tried to move Mrs. Bush," Gregg said. "She stayed in my office with Senator Edward Kennedy." But when the Secret Service determined that the White House was not safe, the President's wife left for an undetermined destination, and, Gregg said, he left for his Virginia home when the Capitol was evacuated.
Gregg, like other New Hampshire delegates and staff members, was stunned by the chain of terrorist attacks in New York and Washington that forced evacuation of the Capitol. Despite the chaos and an overriding sense of disbelief, members said, the key to recovery is to return to business as usual as soon as possible and not to let these acts of terrorism disrupt American life.
"That would be the terrorists' biggest wish, I think," said Rep. Charles Bass, (R. N.H.). "They're going to be sadly disappointed. The demeanor in Washington has been excellent."
Gregg said Americans are concerned for the people who were injured and who died as well as for the emergency personnel and also want to know as soon as possible who is responsible for this horrible attack.
"This is a seminal event," Gregg said. "Nothing like this has happened since Pearl Harbor." Gregg said that the terrorist attacks show that we need to change our culture and take a hard look at how we approach issues of terrorism.
"The mood was one of incredulity," Bass said. "We were trying to understand something unbelievable."
Bass said he was working in his office when the planes slammed into New York City's World Trade Center. Moments later, an aircraft crashed into the Pentagon.
Bass and his staff heard an alarm and evacuated the building. "It was surreal as we were walking away," Bass's press secretary Sally Tibbetts said. "Like something out of a movie."
They went to a staff member's apartment about four blocks from the Capitol. On the way there, Tibbetts said, they were ready to turn around and go back to work, because they heard that the airspace over the Capitol was safe. But another member of Congress informed them the Capital had been shut down.
Gregg was also working in his office when the planes crashed into the World Trade Center. "I saw the second explosion, and it was clearly a terrorist event," Gregg said.
Representative John Sununu evacuated the Capitol along with everyone else. He said Members of Congress already knew it was a "tense situation," even before the Pentagon was hit.
"We have had various security threats on Capital Hill before," Sununu said. "We move quickly. It was understood that this [the evacuation] was necessary."
Sununu was back at his office by early afternoon, after a noon security briefing. He said he hoped the next step for the members would be to get back to business.
"We should not allow this kind of a terrorist act to succeed in disrupting the operation of the government," Sununu said.
Sununu said that every member's focus is on the victims and their families and making sure that everything is being done to rescue potential survivors.
