The Fleecing of Fall River - Part 1

"You always hurt the one you love,
 the one you shouldn't hurt at all"
              from a pop standard, written by Allan Roberts
              and Doris Fisher, first recorded by the Mills Brothers,
              June, 1944.

"Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap"
              From the rock band AC/DC, 1976


PART 1

I understand there is a great amount controversy surrounding the "Destination Casino/Bio-Park" usage of 300 acres of land within the Freetown-Fall River State Forest. However before the entire discussion becomes a needless polemic, maybe we all must look at a few basic facts.

The Bio-Park, to most people in Fall River, represents the advent of a higher education consciousness within the community. And I think it should. There is nothing wrong with a community having goals over the long term, especially in education matters. There is little doubt that the City's education standards are extremely weak, and that's putting it politely. So to have an opportunity to become host to an enterprise which provides Fall River with a better profile, one that bespeaks of the 21st century, advanced education, related scientific professions and is vital to its future. It will also provide a meaningful incentive to those future budding scientists being taught in our school system. It clearly says, "Yes, we are forward looking, we are competent, we can master science as an education discipline, we can provide hope for our children and we can be proud of our City"!

But lets also put this in the proper perspective. The U/Mass involvement in the Bio-Park project was never designed to make mass scale employment the primary reason for existence. The calls by FROED for developing the property for large scale medical goods production is rooted solely in their collective imagination. There may be a plausible explanation for this, which I will explore later in this discussion. At this point, let me simply state that it is fairly certain that there will NOT be wide scale employment at the Bio-Park, if it is in fact located here in Fall River.

The U/Mass idea was to create a medical research business "incubator" where new ideas related to life sciences and medical technology are developed for probable full scale production ELSEWHERE. U/Mass never made any guarantees that this location would explode into some medical/industrial complex with full production facilities. That idea was fostered by FROED and its personal pied piper, Ken Fiola. I'm afraid the City and it's residents have once again been sold a sad bit of goods by FROED.

Cambridge, with its world renowned research and science based universities and colleges, with close proximity to the world's best hospitals and medical communities, is where such research and production will take place, at least in this part of the country, not Fall River. It's not about "hope", it's about reality. There never was any doubt about this. Only someone with absolutely no understanding of the politics of science and medicine, and the true business risk involved with NOT going with the industry gold standard in this economy would think otherwise. Just today in the Boston Globe was a discussion of the expansion of a world class European drug firm in Cambridge, and a listing of similar firms based in Cambridge.

"Just last week, 56 life sciences companies, including Sanofi-Aventis, applied for $25 million in tax credits available this year, according to Angus McQuilken, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, a quasi-public agency established by the state Legislature in 2006 and charged with implementing the initiative. The tax credits will be awarded in December. Last year, 26 firms received $24.5 million.

Industry officials said the Sanofi-Aventis move reaffirms Massachusetts’ standing as one of the country’s leading hubs for drug industry research.

“We’ve done well, posting some significant wins,’’ said Robert Coughlin, president of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, an industry group.


More than a half dozen other major European and Asian pharmaceutical companies have major operations in the Boston area, including Swiss drug maker Novartis AG, Merck KGaA of Germany, Japanese drug makers Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. and Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma Co., and British pharma giants GlaxoSmithKline PLC, AstraZeneca PLC, and Shire PLC."(Source: Boston Globe - 7/8/10)

These medical-related firms, and many, many others, are located in Cambridge because of its well known and high profile scientific research ability and proven background. The best want to be with the best. It's a fact of business and a fact of life. It provides the ability of medical related businesses to take advantage of economies of scale and horizontal integration. And with all due respect to the Southcoast, U/Mass Dartmouth is not Harvard or MIT. That's not being anti-Fall River...that's a cold, hard fact.

(Source: Boston Globe - 7/8/10)

So, when seen in the harsh sunlight of reality, the hopes and dreams of FROED and Fiola to convince the local populace that "thousands" of jobs would  eventually be created here were just that, a collection of hyped hopes and dreams created to CONVINCE Fall Riverites in the efficacy of FROED and Fiola. Again, I will lay out my reasons why this is the case a bit later.

That does not mean meaningful jobs will not be created at the Bio-Park, if it is located in Fall River, and if it is built within the next five (5) years. And yes, they will no doubt require some greater level of technical and scientific expertise than is widely available within the City's population, but that does not mean the City lacks the ability to fill many of the Bio-Parks personnel needs, nor should it cease to be a beacon of education attainment hopes for its youth because of it's reduced scale, reduced at least in the expectation of Fall Riverites. Fall River needs the Bio-Park for more than just jobs. It really  needs it for hope, for a better sense of self. On this there is no possible price tag.

In terms of the controversial proposed use of the 300 acres of land to host a "Destination Casino", again FROED and "pit boss" Fiola might be advertising things that may not happen. Surely, the casino, if built, will produce a few thousand, or so, construction jobs immediately, which are sorely needed. Theses are well paying jobs that will pump millions of dollars into the City, regional and state economy. Of this there can be absolutely no doubt. It's a prodcut of simple regional economic analysis, and will be critical to overall local economic recovery. They are also the types of jobs that create the greatest number of positive economic growth spin-offs and household creation, with the families of these workers normally purchasing additional or new(er) capital goods, such as homes, trucks and cars, and major household appliances, the sorts of purchases that reaches out to all sectors of the local and regional economy, both production and service sectors. These are FACTS and cannot be denied.
The Casino, if built, will also create a few thousand, or so, jobs of all types, in manning (and womanning) and running the Casino itself and all the satellite and associated business ventures related thereto on site. They will, for the most part, not be jobs requiring an extensive skill or education background, but this does not mean they will all be low paying, minimum wage jobs with few or no benefits. Also, some middle management positions will absolutely be filled by local people.

However, the exact number and nature of the jobs made available by the Casino, those non-construction jobs, has yet to be determined. In fact, the existence of the Casino in Fall River is no closer than it was when it was first contemplated, regardless of all the political machinations that we've witnessed so far. Until the final deal is signed and a shovel hits the ground, this project is no more certain than the many, many FROED and Fiola projects that have been floated as so many trial balloons designed to mollify the public about the purpose of FROED and it's Executive Director, Ken Fiola.

Do I think the Casino is needed in Fall River? The jobs, yes, absolutely. Should we be trying to develop BOTH the Bio-Park and the Casino? Absolutely, yes! Can one project be developed at the expense of the other. NO! Why?

Well, I  look at these projects like the freshman in the movie ANIMAL HOUSE. I see the Bio-Park, with appropriate controls over what kind of research is allowed (it must not place Fall River in any danger) being the "good angel" of the two, with associated community hope , Fall River self esteem and education attainment goals paramount with this project. It symbolizes a new Fall River for the 21st century. It tells the community and the outside world that we should be taken seriously, that we matter greatly.

The "Destination Casino", on the other hand, takes the role of "bad devil". It provides an unknown number of jobs that are, frankly, a byproduct of a well known vice, gambling, a vice known for associated mal-effects such as addiction of all types, not just gambling, violent and non-violent crime, prostitution, community operating budget increases to fight these problems NOT covered by local, casino generated revenue streams and in almost all cases, the distinct presence of organized crime, of which there has been NO discussion of locally. "Bad devil" indeed. But the jobs are desperately needed, of that there is no doubt!

Is it an accident that things have worked out this way? I don't think so. I believe that much of what Fall River has witnessed over the years from FROED and Ken Fiola, FROED's front man, is part of a method of political and personal financial madness aimed at helping FROED and Fiola and few others.

This , then, will be the subject of Part 2.