PEDA Cuts Off Web Access to 'Master Plan'
Download PEDA's Master Plan and 'Enabling Legislation' (see below).
by G.M. Heller
Published: Friday, December 23, 2011
Wm. Stanley Business Park, Pittsfield, Massachusetts -- Credit goes to 'Molly', a poster at Web site PlanetValenti.com, who made the discovery late last night that the link from Pittsfield Economic Development Authority's Web site to the agency's so-called 'Master Plan' has been terminated.
In other words, public access to PEDA's primary document has been shut off, coincidentally on the eve of the agency's announcement that it is negotiating with a Boston-area mall developer to construct a large "retail complex" on PEDA land.
That Master Plan is PEDA's signature report, written specifically to encapsulate and describe PEDA's entire mission, its raison d'etre.
What is behind this attempt to keep the public in the dark?
What explains the timing of PEDA's capricious action to prevent the public verifying that what PEDA is now contemplating with a proposed complex of buildings geared solely for retail is indeed in keeping with the goals and restrictions set by the state legislature when it established PEDA, set as well by PEDA itself when the newly-created agency's first most scrutinized task was to produce its critical mission statement and game plan?
Just yesterday, The Berkshire Eagle ran an editorial hailing the proposed complex at William Stanley Business Park.
All this means is that all the local players are now on board.
So what specifically is it in PEDA's Master Plan that could possibly trip up what the developer and PEDA are now contemplating?
Further, does the original enabling legislation even allow PEDA to engage this developer's project given that the proposed complex has plainly nothing at all to do with manufacturing?
Remember, it took four years and nine months of time and money (from 01/15/99 to 09/2003) to produce PEDA's Master Plan, and now it appears PEDA, in possible breach of its legislature-authorized mission, is chucking the whole thing to pursue a course guaranteed only to create low-paying entry-level jobs requiring little or no skills.
PEDA's Master Plan is Available Here
As a community service, and in spite of PEDA's precipitous action cutting off public access, the PDF file containing PEDA's original Master Plan, published September 2003, is available for download at the following link (File size: 28.2 MB):
http://www.berkshirerecord.com/masterPlanPEDA2.PDF
In addition, the Massachusetts General Court's original 'enabling legislation', which created PEDA in 1998 (approved January 15, 1999), is available at either of the following links:
1) http://www.berkshireeagle.blogspot.com/2011/03/pittsfield-economic-development.html
2) http://www.malegislature.gov/Laws/SessionLaws/Acts/1998/Chapter486
(Link #2 connects directly to the Massachusetts General Court Web site, with relevant text starting with the phrase "SECTION 2. Chapter 295 of the acts of 1996 is hereby amended .....") <<<<<
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Write to G.M. Heller at editor@berkshirerecord.com
by G.M. Heller
Published: Friday, December 23, 2011
Wm. Stanley Business Park, Pittsfield, Massachusetts -- Credit goes to 'Molly', a poster at Web site PlanetValenti.com, who made the discovery late last night that the link from Pittsfield Economic Development Authority's Web site to the agency's so-called 'Master Plan' has been terminated.
In other words, public access to PEDA's primary document has been shut off, coincidentally on the eve of the agency's announcement that it is negotiating with a Boston-area mall developer to construct a large "retail complex" on PEDA land.
That Master Plan is PEDA's signature report, written specifically to encapsulate and describe PEDA's entire mission, its raison d'etre.
What is behind this attempt to keep the public in the dark?
What explains the timing of PEDA's capricious action to prevent the public verifying that what PEDA is now contemplating with a proposed complex of buildings geared solely for retail is indeed in keeping with the goals and restrictions set by the state legislature when it established PEDA, set as well by PEDA itself when the newly-created agency's first most scrutinized task was to produce its critical mission statement and game plan?
Just yesterday, The Berkshire Eagle ran an editorial hailing the proposed complex at William Stanley Business Park.
All this means is that all the local players are now on board.
So what specifically is it in PEDA's Master Plan that could possibly trip up what the developer and PEDA are now contemplating?
Further, does the original enabling legislation even allow PEDA to engage this developer's project given that the proposed complex has plainly nothing at all to do with manufacturing?
Remember, it took four years and nine months of time and money (from 01/15/99 to 09/2003) to produce PEDA's Master Plan, and now it appears PEDA, in possible breach of its legislature-authorized mission, is chucking the whole thing to pursue a course guaranteed only to create low-paying entry-level jobs requiring little or no skills.
PEDA's Master Plan is Available Here
As a community service, and in spite of PEDA's precipitous action cutting off public access, the PDF file containing PEDA's original Master Plan, published September 2003, is available for download at the following link (File size: 28.2 MB):
http://www.berkshirerecord.com/masterPlanPEDA2.PDF
In addition, the Massachusetts General Court's original 'enabling legislation', which created PEDA in 1998 (approved January 15, 1999), is available at either of the following links:
1) http://www.berkshireeagle.blogspot.com/2011/03/pittsfield-economic-development.html
2) http://www.malegislature.gov/Laws/SessionLaws/Acts/1998/Chapter486
(Link #2 connects directly to the Massachusetts General Court Web site, with relevant text starting with the phrase "SECTION 2. Chapter 295 of the acts of 1996 is hereby amended .....") <<<<<
--------------------------------------------------------
Write to G.M. Heller at editor@berkshirerecord.com
Labels: City of Pittsfield, GE, General Electric Company, PEDA, Pittsfield Economic Development Authority
posted by G.M.Heller at Friday, December 23, 2011
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