Category: Massachusetts
Legislation Could Protect State’s Revolutionary War Battlefields
Battles
The New Bedford Standard-Times
Cristian Hernandez
Boston University Washington News Service
03/06/09
WASHINGTON – The House of Representatives passed legislation this week that would help preserve Revolutionary War and War of 1812 battlefields.
The bill, cosponsored by Rep. Jim McGovern, D-3, allots $50 million for the establishment of a national grant program to help acquire and protect battlefield sites.
The money would be distributed to local preservation groups and local governments in the form of matching grants that pay no more than 50 percent of the total costs needed to acquire the battlefield site. Officials from the National Park Service said that property owners have to be willing sellers.
Massachusetts has 26 Revolutionary War battlefield sites including the site of the New Bedford-Fairhaven Raid of 1778, which is not under the protection of the National Parks Service. In September of 1778 the south coast came under attack when 4,000 British troops burned homes and sunk ships.
“There are quite a few [battlefield sites] that are still around but are threatened by 21st century development,” said Tanya Gossett, preservation planner for the National Park Service Battlefield Protection Program. “A lot of times folks are not even aware of historic events that took place in those grounds.”
The National Park Service Battlefield Protection Program operates a similar program for Civil War battlefields.
Lawmakers said that urbanization, suburban sprawl and residential development have encroached on important battlefields all over the country. A report by the National Park Service said that out of 677 significant Revolutionary War and War of 1812 sites nationwide 177 are in danger of being destroyed.
Other Massachusetts endangered sites include Penobscot Bay, Nantasket Roads, Newburyport, Dorchester Neck and Charlestown.
“The battlefields of the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 provide a unique opportunity for Americans to experience where and how the epic struggle for our nation’s independence took place,” said Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., in a written statement. Holt sponsored the legislation.
Gossett said that the bill provides incentives for communities interested in historic preservation.
The bill will be placed in the Senate’s legislative calendar for consideration this spring.
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Local Projects May Get Funding From Omnibus Legislation
Omnibus
The New Bedford Standard-Times
Cristian Hernandez
Boston University Washington News Service
02/27/09
WASHINGTON—Local projects may get up to $21.4 million in earmarked federal funding requested by Rep. Barney Frank.
The money is included in the 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Bill, which passed the House Wednesday 245-178.
“I am very proud of the earmarks I have sought for the 4th District,” Frank said in a statement. “They will help create jobs, promote economic development, and provide very important public benefits.”
Proposed funding for projects in the area include:
- $475,000 for the construction of YWCA in New Bedford.
- $1.6 million for the development of submarine sensor software.
- $380,000 for handicap access improvements for the Auburndale commuter rail station.
- $475,000 for the construction of a community center in New Bedford.
- $1 million for the Massachusetts Marine Fisheries Institute.
“With other states around the country in line to receive project funding under the omnibus bill, I believe it’s important to make sure the people of the 4th District get their fair share,” Frank said.
The list of 22 earmarks also includes $423,000 for cranberry grower organizations, $950,000 for the building of a bus terminal and parking facility in Fall River, $95,000 for upgrades to the New Bedford airport, and a $285,000 for the South Coast Health System electronic records technology.
“The monies set aside for the Fall River but terminal will inject much needed jobs and funds into out local economy and help people get back to work,” said Fall River Mayor Robert Correira in a press release by Frank.
The legislation has been criticized by House Republicans for having too much pork. According to the government watch dog organization Taxpayers for Common Sense, the bill has 8,570 disclosed earmarks worth $7.7 billion.
In a press release, Frank’s office said that about 40 percent of the earmarks in the bill were requested by Republican House members.
Included in the bill are nine appropriations bills that will fund the federal government through fiscal year 2009, which ends Sept. 30. The Senate is expected to vote on its version of the bill sometime next week.
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McGovern Proud of $7.3 Million in Earmarks for Central Massachusetts
PROJECTS
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Sarah Gantz
Boston University Washington News Service
02/26/09
WASHINGTON -- Central Massachusetts may receive $7.3 million in the form of earmarks for workforce restructuring, medical research and infrastructure from the $410 billion fiscal 2009 omnibus spending package that the House passed Wednesday. The Senate will debate and vote on the bill next week.
Critics point to President Obama’s vow to pare down earmark spending and say too many pet projects were included in the omnibus bill, which will finance government operations through September. A conservative government watchdog group, the Heritage Foundation, estimated that the bill includes more than 9,000 earmarks.
“Regardless of whether an earmark itself is for a good cause, the process itself is the problem,” said Brian Riedl, senior federal budget analyst for Heritage.
Project financing should be left to local officials, Mr. Riedl said. Representatives and senators are “too far away to be making these decisions” he said.
“Understand one thing,” Rep. James P. McGovern, D-Worcester, said. “There will always be earmarks.”
But that is not a bad thing, he said. Federal earmark money is necessary to jump-start local projects that otherwise might miss out on funds from Washington, he said.
Money for nurse training at Becker College, RNA interference research at UMass Medical School and Westerly Wastewater Treatment Plant upgrades in Marlborough are among the projects Mr. McGovern secured in the House version of the bill.
More than $2.5 million would be directed to local colleges and universities, to be used for research, program development and workforce preparation.
Mr. McGovern requested nearly $1 million for the RNA interference research. RNAi is a natural process that can be used to define biological functions of genes.
“This is an investment in sound medical research that could result in improving the quality of life for millions of people,” Mr. McGovern said.
Craig C. Mello, a professor at the medical school, and a colleague received the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine in 2006 for their discoveries related to RNAi.
“Any funding helps,” said James R. Fessenden, a spokesman for the medical school.
Becker College could receive as much as $540,000 to expand its nursing program and ramp up its workforce training, which Mr. McGovern said is necessary to address the shortage of nurses.
Also included in the bill is $500,000 for the Westerly Wastewater Treatment Plant upgrades, $475,000 for construction in the Gardner-Kilby-Hammond area, one of Worcester’s poorest neighborhoods, and $475,000 for Holy Cross-McKeon road improvements in Worcester.
Mr. McGovern’s list of projects also includes $1.4 million for Aspen Aerogels, a Northborough-based company that manufactures energy-efficient insulation.
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Shift in Donations a Sign of McGovern Moving Upward
FINANCE
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Sarah Gantz
Boston University News Service
02/26/09
WASHINGTON — In an uncontested 2008 House race, the $1 million U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern, D-Worcester, raised topped any of his other campaigns except his first race for reelection 10 years earlier. Since then, the congressman's source of campaign funds has changed—lobbying firms, lawyers and pharmaceutical companies now back a politician who once relied on money from labor unions.
As his sources of campaign finances have changed, so has Mr. McGovern. The Worcester native started his House career as a member of the relatively low-profile Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Now in his seventh term, he sits on two of the House's more influential committees—the Budget Committee and the Rules Committee, on which he serves as vice chairman..
The increasing amount of money Mr. McGovern has been receiving from lobbyists, who typically donate to politicians they consider to be powerful in committee, is evidence of the congressman’s rising political profile and could be a sign of loftier political ambitions.
“They’re either anticipating a tough reelection race or they have aspirations for higher office,” Massie Ritsch, the communications director for the Center for Responsive Politics, said of why delegates raise more money than they need.
“Any Massachusetts congressman who’s banking money is possibly doing it because they’re hoping for a Senate seat to open up,” Mr. Ritsch said.
The center tracks the influence of campaign money on elections and public policy.
In an interview, Mr. McGovern said he does not have his eye on a Senate seat. But he said it was his “dream” to serve as the chairman of the Rules Committee and in doing so to fulfill what he called the “dying wish” of his mentor, the late Rep. Joe Moakley, who represented the 9th District of Massachusetts. Moakley, who was chairman of the Rules Committee until the GOP took control of the House in 1995, died in 2001.
It is extremely common for senior members in both parties to raise big campaign war chests and donate campaign cash to challengers and members of their own party who are facing tough re-election races in an attempt to win support if they decide to seek a committee chairmanship or party leadership position.
According to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission, Mr. McGovern in the 2008 election cycle donated about $300,000 to Democrats in contested races and to Democratic Party committees.
Among Mr. McGovern’s donations were $2,000 to Rep. John Murtha, (D-Pa.), $1,000 to Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and $2,000 to Rep. Niki Tsongas (D-Mass.).
Mr. McGovern raised just over $1 million for the 2008 campaign. That is less than the national average, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Lobbying firms’ political action committees and employees were the second largest donor, at more than $55,000, to Mr. McGovern’s campaign. He ranked 53rd in the center’s list of recipients of contributions from lobbyists—higher than any of the other nine Massachusetts representatives.
The $1 million Mr. McGovern raised for an uncontested race is normally the kind of money candidates for Congress raise for a competitive House race, according to Robert G. Boatright, an assistant professor of government at Clark University.
To lobbyists, Mr. McGovern is a good candidate with whom to develop a relationship because, as a delegate from the deep blue Bay State, he rarely faces competition for his seat, Mr. Boatright said.
“So they’re a pretty safe bet” for groups interested in developing connections to politicians in their areas of interest, Mr. Boatright said.
The changing pattern of contributions to Mr. McGovern was dramatic in some cases. In the 2000 election, lawyers and lobbyists donated almost $54,000 to the Worcester congressman; in the 2008 race, the two groups combined for more than $134,000, an increase of about 148 percent, according to the Center for Responsive Politics’ Web site. At the same time, union contributions dropped from $164,000 to about $86,000, a decline of about 47 percent.
The largest contribution—$25,950—Mr. McGovern received came from the PAC and employees of Sepracor, a pharmaceutical distributor based in Marlborough. Tim Hermes, executive director of government affairs at Sepracor, said the company’s employees donated to their local congressman in the interest of having a Washington contact who has been a “visible presence in his district.”
When it comes to campaign finance, this is the explanation for who donates to whom.
“They give based on access,” Mr. Boatright said.
The Carpenters and Joiners Union, the Teamsters Union, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the AFL-CIO were listed among the top five donors to Mr. McGovern’s 1998 campaign. The PAC and members of the Carpenters and Joiners Union donated $10,500 to the congressman that year, a sum that was among the largest contributions the union made to a candidate.
In recent campaigns, the union's donations have shrunk to $5,000. The top donors to Mr. McGovern’s 2008 campaign after Sepracor included a hospice political action committee, and two lobbying firms.
“The determining factors for money are what area do you represent and what committees are you on,” Mr. Ritsch said.
Mr. Boatright said that caps on contributions by individuals and political action committees limit the potential for conflicts of interest. The maximum a candidate in 2008 could receive from an individual during the two-year election cycle was $4,600 and from a political action committee it was $10,000.
But equally important is the constituency’s perception, according to Nick Nyhart, president of Public Campaign Action Fund, a campaign finance watchdog group.
“Voters make a direct connection between where candidates get their money and how they vote,” which can create problems of trust among constituents for even the cleanest lobbyist-friendly delegate, Mr. Nyhart said. A congressman’s loyalty to his home district is a fundamental necessity of representative democracy, he said, which can be compromised when congressmen depend on lobbyists instead of constituents to finance their campaigns.
Mr. McGovern said his participation in committee work and his policy choices are not influenced by campaign contributors.
“I make my own decisions,” he said. “I meet with everybody, whether you like me or don’t like me, donate to me or don’t donate to me.”
Neither does the source of his campaign funds influence his political priorities, Mr. McGovern said. His goal of someday ruling the Rules Committee is a clearly defined goal, but he said he hopes to attain the chairmanship through continued hard work on the committee and dedication to the Democratic Party.
“Good waiters,” he said, “get good tips.”
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Local Cities to get Housing Funds From Stimulus Package
Housing
The New Bedford Standard-Times
Cristian Hernandez
Boston University Washington News Service
02/26/09
WASHINGTON – Federal funds will start flowing to local communities for the development and improvement of public housing projects, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Department officials doled out $10 billion of the $13.61 billion included in President Obama’s Recovery Act for Housing and Urban Development to state and local housing authorities on Wednesday. Among the recipients are the New Bedford Housing Authority with an allocation of $4.8 million and the Fall River Housing Authority with $3.6 million.
“This is terrific news for the housing authority. This will enable us to do many things that have been pushed aside because of lack of funding,” said Joseph Finnerty, the New Bedford Housing Authority’s executive director.
In addition to money for local housing authorities the stimulus bill will boost the Community Development Block Grant program. Massachusetts will get $9.1 million for block grants, which fund local development projects such as public housing, infrastructure developments and anti-poverty efforts. The grants are mainly used at the discretion of local and state governments.
“We are very thankful and eager to implement these resources and are optimistic that we can put this money to immediate use,” said Patrick Sullivan, the director of New Bedford’s Office of Housing and Community Development.
New Bedford will receive $802,671 for block grants, Fall River $805,818, and Attleboro $125,811.
Local housing and community development officials said they plan to use the money to pick up the slack of projects that have been put on hold due to lack of funding.
“We have experienced a number of cuts over the years. We have a couple of infrastructure projects that have been waiting. We can use some of this money for them,” Sullivan said.
Included in those projects is the construction of a new community center that authorities have been trying to jump-start for the last year and a half, Sullivan said.
Finnerty said he wants to use the Housing Authority money to catch up on deferred maintenance in public housing facilities. He said the agency defers maintenance due to lack of funds and often can only afford to address the most egregious problems.
A major project for the housing authority will be updating older building that lack handicap accessibility. Finnerty said a lot of work also will be done to repair the sidewalks and roads in public housing neighborhoods.
The HUD money also will provide relief for the homeless. The stimulus bill includes $1.5 billion for the Homelessness Prevention Fund. Massachusetts will get $18.4 million with Fall River and New Bedford each getting $1.2 million.
Sullivan said that the city is trying to help people who have become homeless because of foreclosures
“There was an increase of homeless in the city and homeless families. We are looking to utilize initiative to provide services and creating permanent housing opportunities for the homeless,” Sullivan said.
New Bedford has a total of 496 homeless people, a 25.5 percent increase from last year, according to Sullivan’s office. The number includes people who are in emergency shelters and transitional shelters.
According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness the stimulus money would help an estimated 600,000 homeless individuals in the country. According to the organization there are 700,000 homeless Americans on any given night.
“It’s important to prevent a new generation of homelessness as a result of the recession,” said Nan Roman, the president of the alliance. She said the organization hopes to work closely with local governments to help them efficiently utilize the funds.
In Fall River, Mayor Robert Correia said that it is likely that the recovery funds coming from HUD will be used to help people struggling to my make utility payments and to help prevent foreclosures and any increase in homelessness.
“I am very pleased to hear such great news. The city will be working in the next few weeks to prioritize our projects and put the best plan into action to apply the funds where they are needed the most,” Correia said in an email.
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The White House Estimates Thousands of Jobs for Local Districts
Jobs
The New Bedford Standard-Times
Cristian Hernandez
Boston University Washington News Service
02/20/09
WASHINGTON—The economic recovery package passed by Congress last week could mean thousands of jobs for the New Bedford area, according to White House estimates.
The $789 billion package would create or save an estimated 3.5 million jobs over a two-year period, 8,000 of which will be created in the 3rd Congressional District, 8,100 in the 4th District and 7,400 in the 10th District. The estimates are based on each district’s working age population, current employment, and types of business and industry, according to a White House press release.
“It’s going to keep people from getting laid off,” said Rep. Barney Frank, D-4th.
New Bedford Mayor Scott Lang said he wants jobs created by the recovery package to help stabilize local governments and the city’s infrastructure. He said the key issue now is waiting to see how the money will filter down to the city to help with education and public safety.
“In order to create jobs we have to make sure local governments are stable enough to create growth,” Lang said.
Massachusetts lost 16,800 jobs last month and the umeployment rate rose to 6.9 percent in December, the higest level in more then 15 years. The stimulus package would create an estimated 79,000 new jobs in the state.
“This package contains enormous opportunities for Massachusetts, particularly in the areas of infrastructure, education and funding for safety net services,” Gov. Deval Patrick said after the bill passed in the Senate.
It is still unclear how funds that will generate jobs will be distributed or how individuals can apply for jobs. Officials from the state’s Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development said they are working with the governor and the Obama administration to identify how projects will get approved and to understand what kinds of jobs will be created as a result of the bill.
Jennifer James, the department’s undersecretary, said they are working on a strategy that will allow them to match up people looking for employment with jobs generated by projects funded by the stimulus. They want to use the state’s 37 career centers to best match job opportunities with the unemployed, she said.
“We believe that the resources coming from the federal governtment are highly critical for Massachusetts,” James said. “We are very hopeful that they will create employment opportunities and retain jobs.”
Frank said the version of the legislation that emerged from the Senate is not as good as the version the House passed but said the bill was still a good deal. “Its going to be a lot better than we would have gotten under George Bush,” Frank said.
Rep. James McGovern, D-3rd District, praised the bill, which in addition to creating thousands of jobs in his district provides $180 million for infrastructure projects in Massachusetts.
“We need to act quickly and boldly to put people back to work and restore confidence,” McGovern said in a written statement.
Mayor Lang said that budget problems have forced the city to lay off employees. He said he hopes to put people back to work and jump-start local projects that have been put on hold because of the economic downturn. Among the projects the mayor said he would like to see receive federal funding are the creation of a commuter rail from Boston to New Bedford and Fall River and the renovation of schools. New Beford has the highest number of 100-year-old schools in the area, Lang said.
Local lawmakers in Congress and local offcials said they are satisfied with the legislation approved by Congress last week and are hopeful the stimulus package will pull the economy out of the worst economic crisis since the Depression.
“My feeling is that without the stimulus the economy would continnue to fall into a severe resession,” Lang said. “Full employment is the key to getting the economy moving.”
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As Frank’s Campaign Contributions Increase, Profile of Top Donors Changes
FEC FRANK
The New Bedford Standard-Times
By Cristian Hernandez
Boston University Washington News Service
02/19/09
WASHINGTON – Rep. Barney Frank, who has represented the 4th District since 1981, went from raising less then half a million dollars in each of the six election cycles before 2004 to raising more than $2 million in 2008, according to data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.
And the profile of Frank’s top donors has changed since he became the senior Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, with the bulk of his donations coming from the financial service sector.
In 2003 Frank became the senior Democrat and became chairman when the Democrats won back the House in 2006. In 2008, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington-based group that tracks money in politics, the top industry to donate to Frank was the securities and investment sector, with $224,000; that was the most that industry donated to the congressman since he was elected. The industry that came in second was real estate, which donated $219,851.
The congressman said the influx of campaign contributions from the financial services and housing sectors did not come as a surprise and it was because “of the fact that I became the chairman of the committee, people felt it nice to curry favor with me.”
Frank said he raised more money because once he became a key Democratic leader the Democratic Party wanted him to contribute large sums of money to other Democratic House candidates.
“I was expected by the Democratic Party to contribute more,” Frank said.
Frank said he began to raise money in 2004 because he was interested in running for a seat in the Senate. The 2004 election was the first time he hired a campaign fundraiser when it looked like Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass, could become president. Frank said the Senate seat no longer appeals to him and he has zero interest in pursuing it in the future.
“Once I became chairman I dropped the idea of going to the Senate. I have a chance to influence and shape policy here,” Frank said. “It would be a big ego trip to give up my position now to go to the Senate.”
In 2004 Frank raised $1.3 million, breaking the million-dollar mark for the first time. Frank, who has had little opposition, had raised less then half a million in most races since first being elected in 1980, according to the Center for Responsive Politics’ Web site,opensecrets.org. In 2002 he raised $432,544.
Since becoming chairman of the Financial Services Committee Frank’s top donors all come from the financial sector, according to the Web site. The company whose employees donated the most in 2008 was the private bank and financial consulting firm Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. The company’s employees gave $36,200 to Frank’s campaign. In the two previous elections before he became chairman his top contributors came from labor unions.
A spokesman for Brown Brothers Harriman. said in a statement that the company does not have an organized political action committee and that the donations came from individual employees, but he said the company sponsored a fund-raiser for Frank during the campaign.
“Where the money is coming from makes sense,” said Doug Roscoe, associate professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. “Committees is where the work actually happens in Congress. It’s natural for companies in the financial sector to spend money. They want to have access.”
Roscoe said that because the amount a political interest group can donate to a candidate is capped by federal regulation at $10,000 per election cycle, the possibility for corruption is reduced. But large donations will get access to politicians, Roscoe said.
Frank said that campaign donations have nothing to do with how he makes decisions in the committee. “I give access to whoever has business with the committee regardless of how much they donate,” he said. “If they don’t have any business with the committee then I probably won’t get to see them.”
Craig Holman, the Capitol Hill lobbyist for the nonprofit consumer advocacy organization Public Citizen, said that it is not uncommon for committee chairmen to see an increase in donations.
“Whoever is appointed chairman of a committee rakes in campaign cash galore--the Financial Services Committee in far greater number then other committees because they have money,” Holman said. “Executives know full well the importance that money carries in influencing decisions in Congress.
Some associations in the housing and financial services sectors have always supported Frank but stepped up their donations after 2006. The National Association of Realtors Political Action Committee went from donating $1,000 to $5,000 to the maximum contribution of $10,000 in 2008.
“We have always supported him because he is a very good public servant who understands the private sector. We want to work with public officials who understand the issues,” said Scott Reiter, managing director of the Realtors’ political action committee.
Reiter said Realtors understand Frank is in a position to influence policy. He said the association supported the recently enacted economic stimulus package and the banking rescue legislation that Frank closely engineered.
“The financial services sector is throwing a lot of money at Barney in particular,” Holman said. “They seem to think that they can buy a seat at the table as these bailout policies are taking shape.
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Federal Aid for Infrastructure Could Stimulate Worcestor’s Economy
ROADS
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Sarah Gantz
Boston University Washington News Service
02/11/09
WASHINGTON —The promise of what Worcester could be—colorful and attention-commanding—takes the form of an 18-foot-8-inch mosaic signpost that towers over Main Street outside the Hanover Theatre in downtown Worcester. The sign is part of the Wayfinding project, which calls for hundreds of signs to help visitors better navigate the city’s labyrinth-like tangle of roads.
For now, the hand-tiled tower that reads “Downtown” in cutout aluminum letters is the only one of its kind in Worcester until the city finds a way to fund the $2.7 million project.
But help could come soon. The sign project is one of 30 shovel-ready infrastructure and improvement projects the city has identified for funding when the $2.8 billion tentatively set aside for Massachusetts in the economic stimulus package is divvyed up among communities.
“We need help,” said Rep. James P. McGovern, D-Worcester. “We need investments in our infrastructure because it not only creates jobs but is something that will last a long time.”
Mr. McGovern described the transportation and infrastructure projects Worcester has proposed as “a catalyst for economic development.” City officials agree. They say that improving the city’s accessibility and navigability will bolster business.
“The biggest complaint about Worcester is that nobody knows where anything is,” said Troy Siebels, executive director of the Hanover Theatre.
Mr. Siebels said the painted metal and hand-tiled sign comes in handy when giving directions to the theater—“when you’re looking down Main Street, it’s the only thing you see”—and helps unite the theater to the downtown district.
“We’re only a couple of blocks from city hall, but it’s a couple of blocks that people don’t walk,” he said.
Congestion and inaccessibility from highways have long plagued the city, where the roads designed for a mill town serve a central business district. Plans to address the congestion of east-west traffic are among the city’s shovel-ready projects, according to Assistant City Manager Julie A. Jacobson.
The Worcester Regional Mobility Study, a state-funded program organized by the Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission, will be released this fall and will evaluate east-west traffic in and out of Worcester.
Some of the study’s ideas for stimulating business—widening roads, upgrading traffic signals, developing commerce along major corridors—can be done now and are included in the city’s shovel-ready plans, Ms. Jacobson said.
“It’s got to be looked at from a multimodal standpoint,” she said. The mobility study evaluates not only road quality but how travel by car, train, airplane and even bicycle can be improved.
The Worcester Regional Airport, for example, is notoriously inaccessible. Improved access to the airport, as well as to Union Station and other hubs of transportation, would improve the city’s economy by making Worcester better-connected to communities near and far, Ms. Jacobson said.
Better roads and more fluid traffic into the city could also mean a larger labor pool for businesses to choose from, said Nancy B. Cahalen, president of the Better Business Bureau of Central New England.
Ms. Cahalen agreed that better access to highways and clearer directions to sites of interest “once you’re in here” would also be beneficial for visitors. “If they had a good experience coming in,” she said, “they’d be more apt to make return trips.”
The $2.7 million cost to spread hundreds more Wayfinding signs throughout the city pales in comparison to some of the other proposed projects. The city requested $20 million for the east-west traffic enhancement program, $9.9 million for Belmont Street reconstruction and $7 million to renovate Quinsigammond Avenue.
“We know that this is an ambitious list,” Ms. Jacobson said, but this, she said, is what Worcester needs.
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Ted Danson: ‘Offshore Drilling is a Bad Idea’
Drilling
The New Bedford Standard-Times
Cristian Hernandez
Boston University Washington News Service
02/11/09
WASHINGTON—Environmental advocates urged lawmakers Wednesday to reinstate the national ban on offshore drilling that Congress had lifted only last fall.
Members of the House Natural Resources Committee were told offshore drilling would cause irreparable damage to oceanic ecosystems and strike an economic blow to the country’s fishing industry.
“Offshore drilling is a bad idea, a horrible idea,” testified actor Ted Danson, a board member of Oceana, an ocean conservancy organization.
Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va, the committee chairman, suggested that the drilling ban, which was lifted in the fall after 25 years, would be difficult to reinstate. “That ship may have already sailed,” he said.
The local fishing industry would face challenges if offshore oil exploration were to take place off the coast of New England. “The main issue with offshore drilling is that it puts objects in the water that get in the way of fishing gear,” said Brian Rothschild, co-director of the Massachusetts Marine Fisheries Institute.
Environmentalists told lawmakers that offshore drilling would mean “flirting with disaster” because of the potential for oil spills. They also cautioned lawmakers on the danger of changes to marine life ecosystems.
Rothschild said drilling for oil would inevitably change the ecology of the Atlantic Coast through an increase in carbon dioxide emissions that would add to the acidic content of ocean waters.
So, for example, high acid levels could impair the ability of shellfish to grow shells, Rothschild said.
“We would be destroying the bottom of the ocean while fishing the top,” Danson said.
Massachusetts lawmakers, including Rep, Barney Frank, D-4th, have voiced strong opposition to offshore drilling, and last week Rep. Ed Markey, D-7th, introduced legislation that would protect Georges Bank, the enormous Atlantic fishing ground, from oil drilling exploration.
Markey said Georges Bank was a key economic engine for Massachusetts and the region. New Bedford is the most productive fishing port in the country, bringing in a $268 million catch in 2007. The collective catch of New Bedford, Gloucester and Provincetown-Chatham is worth around $350 million annually, Markey said.
The committee hearing came a day after Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said that he was putting on hold offshore drilling plans the Bush Administration had drafted and that he wanted a review of offshore oil and natural gas development before making any decisions on what path to take.
Advocates of offshore drilling say it would create jobs and lessen America’s dependence on foreign oil. Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, a member of the committee, called for allowing offshore drilling while looking for alternative, renewable sources of energy.
Philippe Cousteau, a board member of Ocean Conservancy, which calls itself an “advocate for the oceans,” said that if new drilling was to be done it had to be guided by science but that investment in renewable resources would yield longer-term benefits.
“Oil is not the future, renewable energy is the future,” Cousteau said.
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Stimulus Bill Includes Plan to Computerize Health Records in Five Years
HEALTH
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Sarah Gantz
Boston University Washington News Service
Feb. 5, 2009
WASHINGTON—When it comes to medical technology, Massachusetts is ahead of the game. Hospitals, private practices and medical facilities across the state have been working to computerize patients’ health records for years, a practice intended to reduce medical errors and save money. But it won’t be easy and it may not be enough.
The stimulus package moving through Congress this week outlines a national plan to computerize every American’s health record in five years. The billions of dollars set aside for this program in the stimulus legislation would supplement the out-of-pocket money that medical facilities in Massachusetts are already putting toward moving from paper to computer, a process that takes years.
The state budget includes $15 million to go toward Gov. Deval Patrick’s goal of computerizing all health records by 2015, but many in the medical world say that without federal aid, electronic health records across the board may not happen any time soon.
“Crucial. Very, very important,” was how William Corbett, the vice president of UMass Memorial Medical Group, described federal aid for electronic health records. “If we want to have doctors electronic in five to 10 years, it’s not going to happen unless there’s some federal money.”
UMass Memorial began transitioning its staff of more than 800 doctors to electronic records two years ago. About one fourth of its doctors now use Allscripts, a Web-based program that makes data more readily accessible to doctors, Mr. Corbett said. The hospital has received some money through grants, but much of the cost, about $50,000 per doctor, has come from internal funds, he said.
Medical professionals say that electronic health records reduce the number of medical errors by making it easier to access a patient’s medical record. About 90 percent of doctors and 70 percent of hospitals will be using comprehensive electronic health records within the next decade, according to the office of Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.).
“Health information technology has extraordinary potential to revolutionize the practice of medicine, and Massachusetts is leading the way,” said Sen. Kennedy, adding that “electronic medical records will significantly reduce costs, bureaucratic red tape, and medical errors, as well improve the quality of care for patients.”
Dr. Dilip Jain, of Worcester, has kept his patients’ medical records electronically for more than eight years. Rather than flipping through thousands of pages of paper charts, he simply scrolls through one screen to find the information he wants. “Data at your fingertips,” he said.
The transition from paper to computer is a slow process, Mr. Corbett said, because each system must be customized.
“It’s not like a microwave, where you take it out of the box and use it,” he said. Computers must be formatted to build dictionaries, automatically transfer data, and address billing needs, he said.
Dr. John D. Halamka, the chief information officer at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, agrees. “It’s not about buying PCs and installing software, it’s about the people we need to make it happen,” he said. The process of computerizing health records involves a team of people to organize and maintain the use of the electronic programs, which he says could create thousands of jobs.
A major challenge of implementing these programs is getting doctors on board, experts say. Dr. Jain said some of his colleagues nicknamed him the Space-age Guy because of how easily he adapted to electronic records.
Dr. Lawrence D. Garber, medical director for informatics of the Fallon Clinic in Worcester, said the relationship between having electronic records and using them was “very much like buying a piece of exercise equipment—you can buy it and have someone put it in your house, but if you don’t use it regularly, you won’t get the benefits from it.”
The same is true for computerized health records, he said. Without the necessary staff training and site maintenance, doctors will simply not use the system.
Provisions in the Senate version of the stimulus bill that provide monetary incentives for using computerized record systems may address that problem.
The bill would allow for health providers who participate in the Medicare program to receive compensation beginning in 2011 for using electronic systems, according to Sen. Kennedy’s office.
A similar provision would allow health care providers who service Medicaid patients to receive aid to offset the costs of supporting, maintaining or upgrading certified electronic health systems.
Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative connected 600 physicians in three communities, Brockton, Newburyport, and North Adams, with computerized health records, a $50 million project made possible by a grant from Blue Cross Blue Shield, said Micky Tripathi, the nonprofit organization’s chief executive officer.
Mr. Tripathi said that the project is an example of the large amount of money that is needed to complete the transition of Massachusetts doctors to computerized records.
Federal money would help the medical facilities make the transition, he said, but aid would also benefit the many health-oriented research facilities and production companies in Massachusetts.
Girish Kumar Navani, the chief executive officer of eClinicalWorks, an electronic medical records provider based in Westborough, said he plans to hire at least 150 employees in the Massachusetts area to help with the increased demand for services that the company has been experiencing in the last few years. The company also will open a new facility in California to meet demand on the West Coast.
“The stimulus will have an amazing impact on jobs in the short term and significant impact on improving health care costs in the long term,” he said. “It’s what you’d call a no-brainer.”
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