The Lowell Sun - Candidates Have Ideas to Bolster Economy

News Article

The former Wang towers in Lowell still stand as a constant reminder of the booming computer technology industry of the 1980s.

Textile manufacturing jobs, once the backbone of the region, had been replaced by a thriving, high-tech economy anchored by such computer giants as Wang Laboratories, Digital and Prime Computers.

But a new decade ushered in a host of changes, and the renowned Route 128 corridor lost out in the innovation race to California's Silicon Valley, where smaller, highly specialized companies proved more able and willing to adapt to the changing technology landscape.

Enter the 21st century. The Merrimack Valley, according to experts, stands perched once again to regain its prominence as a leader in innovation, this time in the field of renewable energy and biotechnology.

And the six candidates running for the 5th Congressional District to replace U.S. Rep. Marty Meehan — five Democrats and one Republican — say they understand it is going to take a renewed commitment to small businesses, job training and education to make sure this wave doesn't pass the district by.

"The days of Wang and Digital have come and gone," said state Rep. Barry Finegold, D-Andover, who helped found the Massachusetts Hydrogen Coalition and bring Nuvera Fuel Cells to Billerica. "Companies like Nuvera Fuel Cells are the modern job-growth companies. I want to make the Merrimack Valley the fuel-cell capital of the world."

All six candidates have put forth early proposals, to varying degrees of specificity, that they say will encourage business and job growth, and guarantee a highly skilled work force for the future.

Bob Forrant, a UMass Lowell history professor who tracks the Merrimack Valley economy for the economic journal MassBenchmarks, said, "I think there are two big problems. One is that the blue-collar jobs lost over the last 15 to 20 years haven't been replaced with jobs that people without a college degree can get that pay decent wages.

"Because of that, the focus on biotech, nanotech and those things requires that if we are going to put people back to work, there needs to be a massive overhaul of the education system," Forrant said.

To that end, Democrats Niki Tsongas, Eileen Donoghue, Jamie Eldridge, Finegold, and Republican Jim Ogonowski, all called for a significant federal investment in education and work-force development to train students and young professionals in math and science.

"There is certainly a need for job training for those individuals who may go from vocational schools to work that could have a lot of opportunities in these highly technical industries," said Donoghue, of Lowell.

Partnerships with UMass Lowell and Middlesex Community College will also be key, the candidates said.

"So much will be spawned with research at the university, which is why we must invest heavily in education," said Tsongas, of Lowell. "When I visited Ballard Systems in Lowell, many of their engineers came from UMass Lowell."

Biotech and medical-device companies like Wyeth Pharmaceuticals in Andover and Bristol-Myers Squibb in Devens, as well as renewable-energy companies like Nuvera and Ballard Systems, are being touted as the new economy.

All six candidates also said the federal government should provide tax incentives for emerging technology companies to encourage them to move to the 5th District.

Finegold has called for a $1 billion pledge by the federal government to convert all federal buildings and vehicles to green energy over five years, an instant market for technology being developed in the district.

Tsongas and Finegold also said the tax incentives should be targeted to encourage businesses to locate in urban areas like Lowell, Lawrence and Haverhill, where vacant mills offer plenty of space.

Democratic state Rep. Jim Miceli of Wilmington is pushing a unique proposal of his own.

Miceli wants to spend up to $35 billion to accelerate the cleanup of Superfund sites, like the Rocco Landfill in Tewksbury, as a way to protect the environment and create jobs.

He said that after the sites are cleaned, tax incentives can be offered to encourage new renewable-energy companies and research and development firms to locate in those areas.

"People have talked about doing this for years, but nobody has," Miceli said. "Cleaning up the environment is a priority."

Providing an educated work force and start-up money, however, is not the only impediment to economic development.

The high cost of housing in Massachusetts, according to Robert Halpin, president of the Merrimack Valley Economic Development Council, and the flight of jobs overseas are also major impediments.

Eldridge, of Acton, calls himself a "fierce critic" of NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement. He said free-trade agreements must be renegotiated so that the U.S. can compete on equal footing with countries like Mexico, Peru and China when it comes to environmental and labor standards.

Forrant, the UML professor, said he's less optimistic than some economists predicting 10,000 to 15,000 new jobs being created in the nanotech and biotech industries because of global competition.

Ogonowski, of Dracut, as a hay farmer and small-business owner, said the tax code also needs a major overhaul to take the burden off small-business owners.

The lone Republican in the race called taxes his single biggest expense in producing a bail of hay.

Eldridge said his plan for universal, government-sponsored, single-payer health care will further reduce the financial pressures on small-business owners.

Source