Proposal Could Mean Funds For More Worcester Businesses
PHOTO/MATT PILON
Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Worcester, met with local business owners at a round table event. Worcester Mayor Joseph O'Brien also attended the gathering, which was held at the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce.
Paul Morano Jr., Worcester's business assistance director, announced before a room of business leaders this morning that the city wants to expand the number of small businesses who are eligible for state funding for façade improvements and microloans.
Specifically, Morano has a proposal that needs city council approval to expand Worcester's Commercial Area Revitalization District (CARD).
The CARD is currently comprised of the Canal District, downtown, lower Lincoln Street, Main South, the Pleasant Street and Chandler Street corridor, the Shrewsbury and Grafton Street corridor and the Southbridge Street and South Worcester Industrial Park.
But Morano's proposal would add all of Main Street, Stafford Street, Highland Street, West Boylston Street and lower Belmont Street to that list.
The expansion is expected to go before the council in a month's time.
Worcester receives approximately $100,000 annually in community development block grant (CDBG) funding from the federal government. The majority of the funding each year is used for the façade improvement program, according to Morano. While the district may expand under this proposal, the amount of federal dollars will likely remain the same.
Morano made the announcement at a round table meeting of business owners and local business association representatives organized by the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce. The meeting was chaired by Mayor Joseph O'Brien and the guest speaker was Rep. James McGovern, D-Worcester.
McGovern told the roughly 20 business owners in attendance that neighborhoods of the city that organize and are persistent are the ones that achieve results in streetscape and other improvements, pointing to the Canal District as an example.
He said that the mantra in Washington, D.C., now is to cut rather than spend, so business owners cannot look forward to any big infusions of funds from which they could benefit.
Phil Niddrie, the city's business retention manager and member of the Workforce Investment Board, told McGovern that the House of Representatives cut funding in its budget for worker training grants and asked what McGovern could do to help.
McGovern said that he expects the Senate to try to return some of the funding in its own version of the budget and noted that President Obama has called the workforce training funding a priority.
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