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Transit center promotes development in Franklin County

Jeffrey Simon

Director, MA Recovery & Reinvestment Office

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Recently, I had the pleasure of attending the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the John W. Olver Transit Center in Greenfield with Governor Patrick, Lt. Governor Murray, and U.S. Representatives John Olver and Jim McGovern. This project epitomizes the efforts of the stimulus program by providing immediate jobs, creating new opportunities for future economic growth, and by reducing our impact on the environment with new energy-saving technologies.

With $12.8 million of ARRA funds covering over 80% of the total budget, this transit center will serve as a hub for all of Franklin County and will soon be the home of the Greenfield rail station on the restructured Amtrak Vermonter high speed line.  This rail line – the “Knowledge Corridor” - will run all the way from New Haven, Connecticut to White River Junction, Vermont.

Improved transportation is a key element of economic development because it allows for the movement of workers, products, and raw materials to jobs, stores and factories throughout the area. With the unpredictability of gas prices in recent times, it is crucial that our infrastructure allows more people to move around the region at a reasonable cost. On top of the 287 people who received ARRA funded paychecks from the creation of this transit center, many more will benefit from the improved transportation system. 

In addition to the environmental benefits that public transportation provides, the building itself will have very
 little impact on the environment. This transit center is the first zero-net-energy transit building in the entire country, meaning it produces all of the energy that it consumes. This is achieved through a combination of solar panels, geothermal heating, and a boiler powered by wood pellets as well as numerous energy saving techniques including low-energy light and water fixtures and state of the art insulation.  Even the design of the building plays a major role in conservation.The John W. Olver Transit Center is a building that Greenfield and Franklin County residents should be proud of. It exemplifies both Governor Patrick’s and President Obama’s commitment to improving infrastructure necessary for economic development while protecting, preserving and enhancing the world around us.

The John W. Olver Transit Center is a building that Greenfield and Franklin County residents should be proud of. It exemplifies both Governor Patrick’s and President Obama’s commitment to improving infrastructure necessary for economic development while protecting, preserving and enhancing the world around us.

Renovations revived, thanks to Stimulus

Jeffrey Simon

Director, MA Recovery & Reinvestment Office

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One of the most satisfying aspects of the Stimulus Program is investing to jumpstart much needed renovations
 that had been stopped due to the economic downturn. Many of these projects were scheduled to begin but with a struggling economy, the financing of these renovations became impossible, especially for local nonprofit-run housing units.

Recently, I visited a few of the ARRA-funded overhauls of Urban Edge’s low-income apartments in Jamaica Plain. The entire project, made up of 103 family-sized units, cost $17.7 million with about $10 million funded by stimulus grants. Each apartment in the five 100-year-old buildings that I had the pleasure of visiting has been completely rehabilitated with energy efficient insulation as well as energy saving appliances and lighting. High efficiency boilers have been installed in each building and shared laundry facilities have been upgraded with new washers and dryers to further cut down on water and energy consumption.

The energy savings that will be realized as a result of this project will help Urban Edge to keep rents affordable for these units and to keep more families in their homes during these improving, but still difficult, economic times. On top of that, these renovations have vastly improved the quality of life for the tenants by making their homes look and feel healthier.

The Recovery Act has allowed projects like this one to stay on course even when the financial markets crashed. I am extremely proud to be involved with Stimulus because of developments like this since the effects are felt throughout the entire economy. Green renovations provide savings for the tenants, work for the contractors and suppliers, and make long-lasting improvements in neighborhoods all over the Commonwealth.

Charlestown rink receives energy efficient improvements

Jeffrey Simon

Director, MA Recovery & Reinvestment Office

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As Director of the State’s Recovery Office, I have visited well over one hundred different ARRA-funded projects over the past three years ranging from multimillion dollar research ventures that push the boundaries of current technologies, to the local development projects and renovations that make all the difference to a community.

Many times these local projects are eclipsed by the more costly and innovative projects. Yet in addition to important jobs they provide so much more to a community. Recently, along with Lt. Governor Murray, I attended the celebration of the stimulus-funded installation of energy efficiency improvements to the Emmons Horrigan O’Neil Memorial Rink in Charlestown. We discussed the major impact that the rink has had on the community and how these improvements will continue that positive influence.

 It’s not just the fact that the energy efficient ceilings save 25-40% on the $142,000 average energy bill each year, or that the decrease in temperature, made possible by the new ceilings, will help to keep the ice crisp and solid to intensify the skating experience. 

As important, the updated facility will impact the community long after the job is completed by providing a place for kids to learn teamwork and perseverance through team sports as well as a space for families to come together and enjoy themselves.

The Charlestown rink isn’t the only facility that DCR is renovating either. Skating rinks in Dorchester, Hyde Park, South Boston, and Weymouth will receive the same treatment.

The first goal of ARRA is to put people back to work by creating new jobs and developing lasting industries to further perpetuate employment. I believe that the impact that these projects have on the surrounding communities is an equally important role of the stimulus program and I am glad to be a part of it.

A future in clean energy, with stimulus' help

Jeffrey Simon

Director, MA Recovery & Reinvestment Office

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One of the hallmarks of the Recovery Act is its dual objectives within each of its programs: Creating jobs for today and developing industries for tomorrow.

Nowhere is this more in evidence than in the Recovery Act’s investment in clean energy. The state received $245 million in clean energy and environment programs. In total, federal and state stimulus investments in energy/environment in Massachusetts was $790 million.

I recently visited a number of companies that received stimulus grants through the federal Department of Energy and saw firsthand the impact these companies are having now on their employees and the potential impact the products these companies are developing will have on our country’s economic and environmental future.

One of these companies, Ginkgo BioWorks, received a $3.5 million grant from the Department of Energy as well as a $99K Small Business Innovation Research grant. The company is engineering organisms in an attempt to develop an alternative fuel source. If successful, the product would have enormous implications for our reliance on imported fuel as well as what we are emitting into the environment. The stimulus grants are helping them do the critical research and development they need to do to develop this fuel. It also created 19 crucial jobs.

Another company I visited, Resolute Marine Energy, is developing a wave energy converter that will generate energy from the power of waves. They received a $1.1 million grant from the Department of Energy to help them develop this futuristic looking product that captures energy from the action of the waves. The vision of Resolute co-founder Bill Staby is that there will be a field of these wave energy converters generating useable energy. “We want to build a device small enough that it can be easily deployed,” he told me. According to Staby the stimulus funds were “hugely helpful” in helping the company develop and test the wave converter, as well as hire the employees they needed to get the product built.

At Coincident, which is housed in a six-story abandoned building in South Boston shared by other clean energy companies and dubbed Greentown Labs, the goal is to develop an energy management system that homeowners can use to manage their energy use more efficiently. Jason Hanna, the company’s founder told me that the company’s $1.1 million stimulus award from the Department of Energy was a “tremendous opportunity.” He noted that while there are other companies in this space, Coincident’s goal was to make their system affordable.

Pellion Technologies is working on the issue of the moment in the startup world: How to build a cheaper, longer lasting battery. Pellion’s idea is deceptively simple - to develop batteries from magnesium ion instead of the current lithium ion.  When I went to visit them, Dr. Robert Doe, one of the company’s founders told me that the company was largely virtual until it won a stimulus-funded grant from the Department of Energy for $3.3 million. The funds enabled Pellion to hire 21 employees and focus on its research and development. While Pellion’s magnesium batteries have many applications including cell phones and laptops, the company’s goal is to see these batteries power electric cars – and Poe’s credits the stimulus’s clean energy program with helping to get them there. “The ARRA funds let us go from two people and an idea to 25 and growing,” he said.

Stimulus at work: Providing jobs, access and economic opportunity on the South Coast

Jeffrey Simon

Director, MA Recovery & Reinvestment Office

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I recently attended the opening of a new interchange on Route 24 in Fall River. Exit 8B, as it will be called, was funded by the Recovery Act and it struck me, as I stood there on the bridge of the interchange overlooking the highway – amidst workers, state officials and local politicians – that this project represents everything that the stimulus program is about.

First - and foremost - the $35 million project put lots of people to work. From engineers to construction workers to laborers, the project involved many people in many different sectors.

The interchange is also critical to the long term economic development of the South coast area. It is the interchange that is vital to the development of the 300-acre SouthCoast BioPark in Fall River and Freetown, a biotechnology park that is being anchored by UMass Dartmouth and demonstrates enormous economic development potential for the region.

On the other side of the highway, in Freetown, the interchange is providing improved access to the 325-acre Riverfront Business Park. Stop and Shop has its distribution center there and couldn’t expand without this interchange.

This new interchange is the largest Recovery Act funded highway project in the state and it provided a region not only with much-needed jobs in the short term but also with long term economic hope for the future. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: That is what the stimulus program is all about.

Educating the next generation in solar energy

Jeffrey Simon

Director, MA Recovery & Reinvestment Office

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One of the things that I love about Recovery Act-funded projects is the innovative way in which they often tackle more than one issue.

I'm thinking specifically of a few stimulus-funded solar photovoltaic projects I've visited or heard about recently that manage to combine energy efficiency with educating the next generation in sustainability – both of which are of equal importance.

Boston College High School installed an 870 panel solar installation on its roof, thanks to the Commonwealth Solar Stimulus rebate. The 197 kW system will produce 40 percent of the electricity needed for the campus.

But what I really like about this project is that the solar panels are also being used as a visual teaching tool for the students. As Dan Burgess, of the Department of Energy Resources writes, Brian Maher, executive director of capital planning and technology at the high school, told Burgess that "the solar panels are being used to teach students firsthand about the importance of sustainability and renewable energy." As part of the curriculum, said Maher, students tour the solar PV system and then track the power being generated in real-time through an online monitoring system.

Maher added to Burgess, "We can’t wait to show the students the progress when the school year starts again."

Now that's an education.

I saw the same types of systems installed in Milton on the Collicut Elementary School and the Milton  

High School. The solar arrays installed on these schools – which were funded through the Recovery Act -- can be accessed through classroom computers so the teachers can demonstrate to the students, in real time, exactly how the solar panels are functioning, what the cost savings are and even how the weather is impacting the array.

Bill Clark, Milton's Director of Planning and Community Development, told me: "It shows the students what a system like that is capable of doing in the real world. They can understand the concept, touch it and use it. It's a real learning tool."

Indeed it is.

The learning extends to the university level. I visited the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth which installed solar arrays on five of its buildings, thanks to Recovery Act funds. Included in the installation is a connection to a web-based system that demonstrates, in real time, the benefits of the solar system. This system, open to all Internet users, is extremely comprehensive -- showing visitors every aspect of the solar installations and its energy saving impact from how many gallons of gas have been saved to how many trees to how many tons of carbon dioxide. Users can see the impact of shade on the installation and learn which building is best situated to catch the sun's rays.

As Manny Del Lima, senior resident engineer for the university, told me, "It brings awareness of energy conservation efforts to the campus. It's also helpful to students who want to do research."

The Recovery Act has provided approximately $32 million for solar projects across the state, funding 114 solar projects or 20.7 megawatts of solar installation. The stimulus program has helped to establish the solar industry in Massachusetts, but its side benefits are just as crucial -- impacting the next generation's attitude towards solar energy.

Weatherization works: Keeping families warm, saving them money

Jeffrey Simon

Director, MA Recovery & Reinvestment Office

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It's not often that we get to celebrate a milestone that reflects achievement. But here in the Massachusetts Recovery & Reinvestment Office we are thrilled to celebrate an impressive one: the 10,000th traditional home weatherized under the state's Weatherization Assistance Program.

The number means that contractors, laborers and suppliers were kept busy working on all these units, receiving paychecks and feeding their families. In fact, nearly 3,000 people received a Recovery Act-funded paycheck in this program since it began.

The Weatherization Assistance Program's reach also extends to public housing – nearly 2,400 public housing units were weatherized under this program – as well as preservation units which had nearly 550 units weatherized. These numbers are impressive because each unit weatherized means someone in the state will be kept warm this winter and will save money on their energy bills too. (The average energy savings per weatherized home under the Recovery Act is about 35 %.)

These numbers are even more impressive because it reflects the fact that the Weatherization Assistance Program is on track to exceed its goal by 3,000 units – the new projected goal is nearly 20,000 units in total by the time this three-year program is finished at the end of March in 2012.

I have visited many homes that have been weatherized, and spoken to contractors and laborers that have been kept busy doing much needed weatherization work on people's homes and it is clear that this program is working – and working well. And that is a milestone worthy of a celebration.

From Great Barrington to the White House: A Champion of Change

Jeffrey Simon

Director, MA Recovery & Reinvestment Office

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As Director of the state's stimulus program, I have spent the past two years overseeing the program and, of course, touting Massachusetts' success stories. It's nice to see that the White House agrees with me.

The White House recently named Iredale Mineral Cosmetics one of its "Champions of Change."  Now I don't usually like to say I told you so, but in this case I can't help it - its true.

On the Champions of Change site, it describes who qualifies for this title: "All across the country, ordinary Americans are doing extraordinary things in their communities to out-innovate, out-educate and out-build the rest of the world."

Iredale Mineral Cosmetics clearly qualifies.

Jane Iredale, who founded the cosmetics company, wanted to create cosmetics that were good for the skin. Basing her products on minerals, she did just that and found a domestic and international market clamoring for her wares. But as the Champions of Change article notes, "While this forced the company  to expand, Ms. Iredale refused to turn her back on the small town of Great Barrington and was adamant about keeping her company in it."

Iredale is now renovating an old school building (located across the street from where she lives in Great Barrington) with the help of a stimulus grant. This new building will enable Iredale to expand and hire more employees. As the article notes, "Moreover, it will continue to invigorate Great Barrington’s entire economy, as over 1,000 people visit the facility for meetings and trainings each year."

Iredale's is a great story, not only because stimulus funds are helping this cosmetics company grow and hire in the small town of Great Barrington. It's also a great story of how a company is using stimulus funds in a creative and innovative way now to ensure that it can continue to contribute to the local economy and to the state – and to the country - for a long time.

Stimulus was here

Jeffrey Simon

Director, MA Recovery & Reinvestment Office

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I've been running the state's stimulus program for nearly two and half years now but I am still awed by the breadth of programs in Massachusetts that have been impacted by the Recovery Act.

I say this now because two weeks ago I was out in Quincy to see how stimulus funds of $6.8 million to build the Quincy Concourse are enabling the city's $1.3 billion downtown development.

Last week I visited Castle Square Apartments in Boston's South End which, thanks to a $4.4 million stimulus grant, is the site of the largest Deep Energy Retrofit ever undertaken in the country, slashing energy usage by a whopping 72 percent. For the residents at this affordable housing project, that means big cost savings.

This week, I am attending the opening of Lynn Economic Opportunity's Early Head Start Child Care Center, a building that was purchased with the help of a $3 million stimulus grant. The building will help the anti-poverty agency more effectively serve the needs of parents in this area.

In the course of a few weeks, I'm seeing the best of what stimulus can do and this is just a small  glimpse into the life of a program that has been doing this kind of thing for over two years. From roads to housing to child care, the stimulus program has been relentless in its impact on nearly every aspect of what we as a society need to function and flourish.
I'll be blogging often to take a look at how the program is leaving its mark on the state.

How stimulus gets the job done

Jeffrey Simon

Director, MA Recovery & Reinvestment Office

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This week was an exciting one for the great city of Quincy. Governor Patrick signed into law an act that will move forward the huge redevelopment of the city's downtown.

The project is big and exciting and involves office space, housing units, hotels, retail, restaurants and a movie theater. It also involves lots of new jobs – estimates are about 4,000 construction jobs and nearly 6,000 permanent ones -- for this city of over 90,000 people.

Not surprisingly, what interested me was the financing of the project – most specifically that $6.8 million of Recovery Act funds are being used for the development of the Quincy Concourse. Now, granted that is just a small piece of a $1.3 billion project, but it's an essential piece of the city's downtown redevelopment plan that was approved early on in the project's planning and it's yet another demonstration of how the stimulus program works, building essential infrastructure to ensure that a worthwhile project can get done.

I thought of that this week when I went out to see Iredale Mineral Cosmetics Company, a company that is growing like crazy in Great Barrington. Great Barrington is small – the town manager Kevin O'Donnell told me the population is about 4,000 people – and needless to say a growing international company in their midst is most welcome.

The founder of the company, Jane Iredale, loves the Berkshires (who doesn't?) and was determined to keep her company there. But its growth was becoming an issue. Fortuitously, the balcony of Jane's house overlooks the 17,700-sf Bryant Elementary School, which closed about five years ago.

A $4.6 million stimulus-funded Recovery Zone Facility Bond, along with other financing, is helping Jane renovate the school into her company headquarters and it is keeping Iredale in Great Barrington. The company also plans to add another 70 jobs over the next three years and to conduct training seminars for its employees all over the world in this facility, which is also good news for area hotels, restaurants, taxis and stores.

Stimulus funds were a small part of both these stories – but they were an important element and they got the job done. And at the end of the day, that is what matters most.