Let's Go: Worcester

A proposal to jump-start Main Street is planning chief Everett Shaw's first true test. The Phoenix asks about his odds for success.

by Chris Kanaracus

In the past 20 years, city leaders have pinned Worcester's downtown economic prosperity on an arena, a shopping mall, and now a mega-hospital. The spin-off created by the Worcester Medical Center has yet to be determined. But it's long been known the Common Outlets and the Centrum Centre haven't been the saviors Main Street small business needs to prosper.

Perhaps there's hope.

On May 1, a task force convened by Worcester's chief development officer Everett Shaw in April 1999 released what could become the blueprint for Main Street salvation. The 50-plus-page vision, penned by the Centre City Development Council (CCDC), brims with dare-to-dream photos and artwork, sleek charts and graphs, and a hefty dose of optimism. The source? Fifty-five high-profile representatives from Worcester's business, arts, and public-service communities. John F. Merrill, regional president of Fleet Bank, is a co-chair along with Mechanics Hall director Norma Sandison. Their goal? To make lonely, homely, nearly forgotten downtown an exciting place to be, 18 hours a day. And getting there, they say, will take a carefully planned effort.

But so far their work has been met with modest fanfare. It's not hard to see why: residents have seen too many supposed revitalization plans collect dust in the past decade. Take the Worcester Redevelopment Authority's 1996 Union Station plan. Sure, the station's restored. But where are the shops? The parking garage? Or even the trains?

But it's possible the CCDC's effort could succeed, say supporters. For not only is it a well-researched, wildly comprehensive document, but also it differs from earlier initiatives. It's not another heavy-handed government mandate, but a coordinated effort between downtown's private sector and the development office.

Certain proposals won't surprise you. There are the expected calls for improved signage, lighting, and green space. Additional tax-increment-financing agreements (TIFs) for small-business owners are also recommended. There's talk of retooling the city's tax structure.

Other aspects of the plan, though, are more provocative. For instance, the CCDC wants the city to double its marketing budget from $500,000 to

$1 million. And the committee wants to reduce the sales tax on purchases made downtown from five percent to two-and-a-half percent.

Nightlife isn't ignored, either. The report calls for an entertainment zone (or "Big E-Z," as the CCDC defines it) in North Main Street. The plan suggests pouring hours be extended to 3 a.m.; that businesses be allowed to serve liquor outdoors (current regulations require an enclosed canopy on any such area); and that the Palladium be purchased, refurbished, and converted into a venue for traveling Broadway shows. The report also seeks to unify the city's geographically scattered cultural institutions and to hire a cultural liaison to oversee a new cultural corridor.

A centerpiece is a proposed "Metropolitan Learning Lab" to be located near the Worcester Common that would offer post-graduate, adult-education, and certificate-level programs. Such a lab, say CCDC members, would draw students with disposable income; and it could increase street life during the dead-as-a-doornail evening hours.

Perhaps the biggest challenge facing the CCDC is one of its most crucial aspects: getting people to actually live downtown. The plan outlines four specific areas -- Pleasant/Chestnut, Foster Street, the Arts District, and the Common -- to develop 1000 new residential units in five years.

All said, it's an ambitious plan. And -- without discounting the efforts of those who crafted it -- the person with the most at stake when it comes to its success has to be Everett Shaw. Since his arrival in Worcester, Shaw has been criticized by those who say he's a wonder when it comes to forming committees but not good at getting things done. Now, one year in the making, the CCDC's report is his first major test as the city's economic-development point man. Last week, the Phoenix sat down with Shaw at his City Hall office to discuss the plan and the future of Worcester's Centre City.

Q: The idea of an 18-hour day seems to be the emphasis of the recommendations. If you were able to create a downtown with activity 18 hours a day, would you have accomplished basically everything in this report?

A: Hopefully that will be the byproduct of a lot of economic activity and all the different sectors that we're concentrating on. To have that type of vibrancy, we need to accomplish most everything in our plan, because it's just a cross-section of everything from commerce to entertainment, arts and culture, residents living downtown, a vibrant retail. The welcome mat can't be pulled in at five o'clock. That's the major target.

Q: Playing devil's advocate, we wonder if we should care about downtown anymore? There's been so many attempts to jump-start it -- at least from the planning side. Perhaps it's hopeless?

A: Healthy urban centers anywhere in America are centers that are developed equally -- center city and neighborhood and commercial development. We can't sacrifice one for the other. If we're going to attract business and residents to our city, we need to show them a vibrant, active Centre City.

Q: Critics of Main Street say downtown has a dingy, gray appearance. Is the recommendation to create an awnings and facade program an attempt to put pressure on owners to improve the look of their buildings?

A: It isn't pressure; it's an inducement. And the city will be unveiling very shortly an extension and expansion of its facade program. It's really a partnership. It isn't just pressure on businesspeople, but the city has to play its role. I think that's the spirit of this report. . . . My position with this -- from day one -- [is] that the CCDC serves as the board of directors for this office regarding the Centre City build-up and development.

Q: Outdoor dining has also been recommended. It's been tried before in the North Main Street stretch, but it didn't work. Can it work this time?

A: I think the reason it hasn't happened is there's never been a comprehensive growth plan. In the past there have been a couple of efforts to encourage the growth of restaurants. And we have had two periods of restaurant development. Regrettably, there weren't parallel and equal efforts to bring people in for other reasons. Historically, this city, and a lot of other cities, have made incremental steps. That's not good enough. Let's say the city stepped forward with new sidewalks and new lights, and then hoped for something to happen. Well, people are not going to come downtown because you've got a new sidewalk or a new light. People don't necessarily come just for restaurants. There's got to be other reasons. And that's why the proposal put forward by CCDC says "use the activity level," but also, with the Metropolitan Learning Lab, with new residencies at market-rate housing. We need to have people down in this area, for whatever reason, with levels of disposable income, to create commercial transactions.

Q: People may be surprised to see a reduced sales tax has been put forth -- a proposal that needs to be approved by the state Legislature. Why such a radical proposal?

A: I think one of our great challenges in this city -- and I think it goes for the rest of the cities in Massachusetts, with the exception of Boston -- [is the] Commonwealth is [not] anywhere nearly as aggressive at supporting urban economic development as are surrounding states. The programs we put forward for the state to consider are programs that are currently ongoing in other places. New Jersey has a very aggressive program, in which the urban centers are allowed the following benefit: In Jersey, the sales tax is six percent. Urban centers are allowed to charge only three percent. You will find in those cities where this is made available, the businesses heavily advertise the fact. They'll even have it in their window. New Jersey then takes one-half of what the three percent generates, and they return that money to the city to be used in the center city. Say the five percent tax around here generates $20 million. We're asking for two and a half percent in the Centre City, so that's $10 million. We would then ask the state to return $5 million of that to be targeted specifically under an organization, such as the CCDC, to be used for implementing new programs in the Centre City. That program is already going on in other cities. And those cities are our competition.

Q: It's also put forth that additional tax-increment financing deals (TIFs) be offered. Many folks have been critical of TIFs, suggesting all the bigger players -- namely, the Worcester Common Outlets and Worcester Medical Center -- have taken advantage of Worcester without paying the taxes to do business here.

A: First of all, I do not subscribe to the theory that TIFs all go to the larger companies. We use TIFs very strategically on any company that will spur the growth of jobs. I see TIFs being used in projects that only create five jobs, okay? Do most TIFs go to smaller people? I would say it's an even distribution across our economy's makeup. With the Centre City, we want to begin using TIFs even more aggressively for our small businesses, but also use TIFs to create housing, or residential opportunities in the Centre City.

Q: The report says TIFs or incentives should be used to encourage existing businesses to open a second location on or near Main Street. How realistic is such a proposal?

A: [It's] key for driving the success. Commercial transactions will follow if we are successful in creating an environment that attracts more people. One is the Common proposal. If you take the Common, which is largely devoid of people other than some folks sitting on a bench. Commons . . . have increasingly become magnets for drawing people. They draw people from the city, or outside the city, with entertainment or a different venue. Secondly, this housing initiative is key. We believe when you start to establish an enhanced residency -- we're talking about market-rate housing. Thirdly, we're talking about the eventual learning lab, hopefully reaching about 2000 students.

Q: Where do you plan to build the lab?

A: I would like to see it somewhere right around the Commons, or close to the Commons. But that can be a magnet that brings around 2000 to 2500 [people] . . . and when I say students, we're talking about people at the graduate, post-graduate-certification [level]. People who are coming here from their work at six or seven o'clock, who have income to spend. Those are the magnets that can bring people.

Q: There's a section to the report devoted to improving city services. Specifically, it's suggested that your department could be streamlined so potential businesses would have an easier time setting up shop here. Do you acknowledge operations within the OPCD could be improved?

A: There have been a couple major obstacles to development in the city. One is that we need to . . . address the lack of parity in the tax structure. The city absolutely has to address that. The commercial rate is almost twice that of the residential rate. Back in the '80s, state legislatures allowed cities to set two tax levels so they could tax commercial things more heavily. Unfortunately in this city, the disparity has grown to twice residential. There's no doubt in anyone's mind: the impact is very detrimental to investment. And the very fact that we have a two-tier tax system sends a message to developers and business people that the city's not business-friendly.

We also need to reorganize substantially a lot of the services [the planning office provides]. What we call one-stop shopping. The next major effort for us -- that we'll be addressing in the next few months -- is how we absolutely improve code enforcement and permit processing. Third is insufficient state support for development. As a community, we've got to start calling on the state to give us a bit more help.

Q: Can you specify what the cultural liaison would do?

A: We have a lot of cultural assets in the city. . . . But one of the major obstacles to it having the full impact that it should is because the way it developed over the years; our art culture has become very spread out geographically. You go into a lot of cities, and one street will be almost entirely museums and theaters. We look at arts and culture as one of the critical links in building a Centre City. It's one of the critical quality-of-life facets. We believe if the arts and culture in the city -- which already draws a large number of people -- if tied into something larger, if we bring it together, we think it could be a major, major thing. (We think a million, million and a half people are just coming in for arts and culture.) The cultural corridor is a way of creating that critical mass. We can't move our museums around, obviously. We have a vibrant museum district up on North Main. We have proposed -- which we will now be activating, thanks to CCDC -- an aggressive arts-village campaign in South Main. And the cultural corridor is designed to tie together [that]. That could include anything from having paintings or exhibits in some of the windows along the way. Maybe some of the retail places could display them. There could be a sculpture in the green space right outside [Fleet] bank. It could even be retail that supports this: paint shops, costume shops, dance schools, anything that gives us that vibrancy.

Q: Back to the liaison?

A: The liaison is the one who is going to orchestrate all of that development. That position will come on board approximately July 1. There is a group called the Cultural Coalition, [which] I look to as my board of directors as far as culture in the community. They've raised the money to place someone in this office for a three-year period. That individual will work here, and work solely on the arts-culture agenda. There's going to be a major focus on the cultural corridor, but they'll also have input on other things we're doing.

Q: The report suggests the city purchase the Palladium. How feasible is this?

A: One of the things the [cultural liaison] has to do in the first six months -- and give or take on months -- is to put together an arts-culture plan for the city. One of the things the cultural community wants to examine is whether or not we have a full venue of theaters. There's a children's theater, there's a 500-seat theater, an 1800-seat theater. . . . One of the reasons we looked at the Palladium is to bring Broadway shows, what they call trailer shows. You need around 3000, 3200 seats for such shows. For musicals and Broadway shows, you cannot support it with a 2000-seat range. Of all the facilities in town, the Palladium is most suitable for that.

Q: Housing is an essential component of the report. Worcester already has housing near the center. Why should we entice more people to live downtown?

A: Two or three things you'll see happen are with the expansion of downtown education opportunities -- with Curry, Mass. College of Pharmacy, and a couple of other deals we're working on now on a confidential basis -- is an increased demand for residential. The other key is what the MBTA can mean to us. In other words, a lot of the future growth of this city, if we handle it right and are aggressive, can come out of Boston. Downtown rentals in Boston [commercial] are renting in the $50 to $55 range. Housing rentals, as you know, can cost $1500 a month for an efficiency in some areas. The MBTA, we believe, can be to Worcester what the transit system has been to New York and New Jersey and Connecticut.

Part of our push on Union Station, on enhancing the MBTA, is to approach young people who can go in the Boston market at one pay level, but also be able to recreate in the Worcester market, to live in the Worcester market where you have housing options that could give you twice as much but for less money. That's the part of the market we've got to go after.

Q: It's been specified that 1000 units can be built in five years. That sounds ambitious.

A: A 1000 units for a city of this size, and a region of this population, is really not excessive. We as a city love to go around and say we're the second-largest city in New England. But many times, our plans reflect a city that thinks it's maybe the 300th largest. If you want to be big and you want to be dynamic and you want to be focused, you've got to act that way. . . . The city of Hartford has a 130,000 population. And I might add their poverty statistics far exceed anything we have. If they can talk about 1000 units in a four- to five-year period, there's no reason Worcester can't. You're seeing it already happen with the Mass. College of Pharmacy. In a four-year period, you're going to have 600 students and 300 administrators. I'm not saying you're going to get everyone [to live in town]. But that's already an enhancement. And then you look at the other things we're talking about doing, and then you say, `Can we compete with the Boston market?' Yes. . . . It all depends on whether or not this community remains very united with expert leadership.

Q: Lowell has recently announced plans to entice people to live downtown. Are you taking a page from that city's book?

A: Part of the proposals that we have, one of the tax proposals, is to encourage the upper-level development of a lot of buildings that are currently vacant, to encourage them through numerous tax incentives. The other thing we're looking at, as you may know, is that the artist's village is based upon taking a look at some of these buildings and having three types of development occur: ground floor, commercial activity; next level up, back-office operation; third floor, start looking at market-rate or affordable housing. Some of the build-out space is what they call `spatially free,' which is what artists like to get into.

Q: Do you think the city's other departments will support this report? As the plan specifies, many departments -- public works and police, to name two -- will have to do their share.

A: I don't see any difficulty, for three reasons. One is that the business community has spoken through this, and this is an expression of the business community. Second, this document has gone to the council, and I expect the council to support it unanimously, which is a powerful, loud voice. Thirdly, the manager has endorsed this and endorsed the activities of the CCDC. And, quite frankly, I've found the cooperation from most of the departments to date has been excellent, anyway. I think our chances for Worcester being one of the best urban centers in this first decade hinges on all of us pulling together. What we're trying to do in many ways is enhance the way we operate. A major effort of this office has been to increase the communication between the private sector and the city administration. I found a larger gap between the private sector and the public sector that I've ever witnessed anywhere.

Q: Though it may be supported, Mayor Ray Mariano was critical of the report once it was released, suggesting there were no new initiatives put forth.

A: I think the mayor's extremely happy with the progress that has been made. I think he's confident with where we're going. I think he's got a great love for the city, but I think his leadership method is to say, `Great job, but I think you can do better.' And everybody has a different leadership style, and we recognize that. But let me point out to you that everything I've ever gone to the council for, the mayor's endorsed.

Q: Last week, plans to build a minor-league baseball stadium fell through. It was seen as a substantial blow to downtown-revitalization efforts. The Atlantic League stated it pulled out of negotiations with local officials because it wasn't satisfied with the task-force's decision to use Franklin Street as the stadium location. Did the task force make a mistake, and does this hurt your efforts?

A: I don't think it hurts anything. [The baseball stadium] task force took its mission focus very responsibly. . . . When the airport was redeveloped a number of years ago, if a task force was in charge of it, an access road would have been built at that time; and the airport would have been an enormous success. The Union Station restoration, when it was undertaken and planned? If a task force of that nature had worked on it, then the development and the reconfiguration of the roads and the restoration would have taken place at one time. I think if a task force had been in charge of the Centrum and the convention center, when it was built, there would have been a hotel attached to it and a retail development center, just like every other city does it. I think the task force has taken its responsibility very hard. It took eight months and delivered a decision to the manager. . . . When you're looking at a $35 million project that will be used 70 nights a [year] for 2 1/2 hours, I think you have to take into context what it can generate and where it's located. So I think if anything, the task force has strengthened the city's long-term future. . . . And I stand behind them.

Q: Worcester -- dare we say -- is prone to jealousy and petty squabbles. How do you think you'll be able to push these recommendations through when certain folks may ask for you to improve their neighborhoods first?

A: Take any urban center in American that has done well in the last three decades. Show me an urban center that has turned itself around, and it's a city that has a balanced program for both its center city and its neighborhoods. And that's precisely what we're doing. This office puts as much time into Lincoln Plaza. Okay? This office puts as much time in Main South, Gardner-Kilby, South Worcester Industrial Park as it does here. This office puts as much time in Franklin Medical Device Park as it does here. There are loads of examples. The city for the first time, last year, had an economic-development plan. It's hard to believe that a city of 180,000 or 170,000 people never had an economic-development plan. I put it together as a statement of where we wanted to go. And it was unanimously endorsed by the council. Why? Because it had a balanced approach. If you go into any city, which emphasizes center city, and center city alone, then we've got a failure. Likewise, if you go to a city and all they talk about is neighborhoods and they neglect the center city, then you've got a dying city. This is a balanced approach, and that's why you have to have the private sector.

Q: Another obstacle to overcome is the perception that downtown is seedy. How can you combat that perception?

A: Downtown here is one of the cleanest cities around. . . . I think one of the problems is that there aren't enough people in Worcester that visit other cities. Is there a perception of seediness? . . . Part of what we really need is imaging and marketing of the city. The city had never had a professional marketing package. And it needs to tell its story. Look at any major corporation, any successful one, and they'll have a marketing budget directed at telling its story. That's the thing. You can't leave your perception to instinct or to intuitive perceptions, if you want to try to put those two words together. We have an incredibly safe city, our crime statistics could stand Worcester against any other city in New England and any other city our size. . . . We have failed as a city to tell the story. And when you leave your story, or leave your image, to instinct or intuition, it's never going to be an accurate one.

Q: Those that support this plan note the extensive committee that helped put it together. High-ranking business leaders were involved, which suggests the recommendations will be embraced by the public at large. Yet, critics say it's just another task force without any authority to enforce the recommendations.

A: People say there are too many committees, too many task forces. . . . I want to respond to that. I think it's hollow, I think it's empty. Usually, in most other cities where you have some sophisticated people, the criticism en masse is that the private sector isn't at the decision-making table. The government is trying to make decisions for others without having the others at the table. My thrust, my commitment -- unchanging -- is to use this office to bring as much of the private sector to the decision-making table as possible. . . . Our group is open to all business people. And [I wanted to] be able to charge that group with developing the plan, the vision. That's how great cities are born, that's how great cities are created. When you get into a city where government works in an isolated, insulated fashion without substantial input from the private sector, you've got a city that's not going to move ahead. . . . Quite frankly, this city in many ways has done a pretty good job with people to build up the neighborhood level. Where I don't think the city has done a good job, historically, has been in the commercial and center city. Now the agenda of this office is obviously largely set by the manager and the council, but the agenda that I bring to the manager and I bring to the council is shaped largely by the private and commercial sector. People that criticize it don't know anything about development. It's mind-boggling that anyone should suggest that government compose a plan, and then impose it on those that have to make it work. That doesn't happen anywhere. It's archaic thinking. We don't do it in residential neighborhoods, and you can't do it in commercial neighborhoods.

Q: The real challenge now will be to make it work, to separate it from the other studies that have been conducted of the same Main Street stretch. If you were taking bets, what would your wager be?

A: The odds, if we have the level of cooperation that I see coming together, if we have the continued support of the private sector, I would think that within one year, you will see the beginnings of many changes. In two years, you'll see significant changes. In three years, there will be a buzz of activity, in which you'll see a Centre City largely be defined. I truly believe in five years this is totally attainable.

Q: If it doesn't work, why not?

A: I see only one problem. And I mean this most sincerely. It's the Ned and Nellie negatives. People have to -- people in this city, and I see this happening -- come together on the issues they agree upon, rather than remaining apart on the lesser issues they disagree on. It's consensus, it's commitment.

Chris Kanaracus can be reached at ckanaracus[a]phx.com.