Election Year Siren's Song

OUR VIEW: Momentum on the water.

By The Herald News
Posted Aug 27, 2010 @ 12:00 AM

Fall River’s waterfront has long been a glaring example of unfulfilled potential. Despite being blessed with such enviable geography, city and state leaders have consistently squandered the opportunities waterfront land provides, beginning decades ago with the short-sighted decision to build a double-decker highway on what should be highly valuable property.

Political candidates have made multiple pledges of waterfront revitalization over the years, but, somehow, their promises never seem to pan out, leaving residents to wonder whether their community will ever boast the type of attractive coastal development that has led other cities to prosperity.

They may finally have the answer they’ve been looking for. At long last, disappointment may be turning to excitement. At the very least, strong momentum is being built as city and state leaders have teamed up with private sector developers and are putting in the consistent effort needed to spur real action. Some concrete plans are in place, raising hopes other businesses will follow and leaders will find the political will to do what’s necessary to turn the waterfront into the economic engine it always should have been.

Gov. Deval Patrick was in Fall River Wednesday to announce the latest waterfront development — a deal to bring a turbine blade manufacturer to the area. TPI Composites Inc. plans to convert a 69,000-square-foot masonry building on Water Street into a research, development and manufacturing facility, where it will create the 10-ton, 50-meter blades needed to generate clean electricity. The company will initially create about 30 engineering, technical and manufacturing jobs, with the hope that planned expansion will eventually increase that number ten-fold.

Patrick touted the facility’s location, noting the easy water access opens such companies to broad markets. “We believe if we get this right the whole world can be our customer,” he said.

The TPI deal is the latest in a string of announcements on waterfront revitalization in recent months. Local developer Anthony Cordeiro bought Commonwealth Landing, the former Quaker Mill headquarters on Davol Street, and plans to convert it into 40,000 square feet of commercial space. He is negotiating with two restaurants and bars, one of which may be Jerry Remy’s sports bar and grill, the original of which is directly across the street from Fenway Park in Boston. “We’re very close,” he said.

In May, Lt. Gov. Tim Murray traveled to Fall River to announce $2.2 million in state and federal funds dedicated to cleaning up the polluted city pier, where plans are in the works for a marina and office space. The marina would join another point of water access introduced Wednesday. Just south of Commonwealth Landing at Bicentennial Park, the $334,000 boat ramp provides easy access for boaters, helping draw more people to the waterfront.\

The building momentum has certainly caught the attention of state leaders, who have made frequent visits to the Spindle City in the past couple years. Having the commonwealth on board and convincing state leaders that redevelopment efforts are legitimate could help grease the wheels on the largest piece of waterfront development — the demolition of Route 79 in favor of a scenic waterfront boulevard that would open acres of developable land.


Combine the proposed projects with the ongoing improvements to the Braga Bridge and established attractions like Battleship Cove and Heritage State Park, and Fall River could soon have a vibrant, profitable waterfront that attracts businesses and visitors, finally taking advantage of its potential.

I have been in and around Fall River since the early 1980"s. I'm sure that makes me somewhere between a Boston area carpet bagger and a relative newcomer to most Fall River citizens, who approach anyone who grew up outside of Fall River with a sense of dread and  bewilderment, not to mention a complete lack of trust. But I think 30 years allows me the right to comment on  the odd , ooccasional truth about Fall River. And one of the most stable and undeniable truths I can think of is that once the election silly season starts in earnest, and trust me, even the campaign for the Mayoral election next year has already started for Mayor Sylvanagan, the siren's song of "The Treasure that can be Fall River's Waterfront" will be heard early and often.

Wasn't it just last year when the idea of opening up the Quequechan River was, excuse the expression, FLOATED by a group of local elected officials and businessmen, headed by Mayor Correia? Tear up Route 79 and let the holy waters of the Quequechan run wild and free and make that waterfall dance for scads of tourists and travelers to Fall River, as well as the soccer moms going into and out of Work Out World? (I can see it now - being able to walk from one bank of the Quequechan to the other without getting your feet wet by stepping on tossed away green 2 liter Mountain Dew bottles floating on the river!) Less than 12 short months ago that was the latest in a long line of promises to fix up the waterfront and make it relevant for tourism, restaurants (food carts , anyone?) and other commercial and industrial development. So excuse me if I am not moved by this call by the editorial staff of the HN (LISA STRATTAN, whose husband was on Mayor Sylvanagan's transition team) to open our eyes and see all the wonders and colors of the waterfront rainbow! All I see when I look down there are wasted potential and a genuine lack of caring by the powers that be that have run this City for the full 30 years I've been around. And for all you Sylvanagan droids out there, if that sounds too negative for you to accept, too bad, because here we deal with what has been and what IS, not " pie in the sky by and by when we all die". Mayor Sylvanagan is just another in a long and inglorious line of municipal pseudo Reverend Ike's to curse the City with their presence. And the HN is just his lapdog propaganda machine, all recent editorials calling him out to the contrary.

And please, let's not act like obtaining a grant to clean up eco-disastrous filth on the pier is something to bay at the moon over. It's expensive because for generations someone at City Hall was asleep at the wheel, probably under the guise of "supporting business growth in Fall River", the results of a "jobs and economy" Mayor from some earlier time, no doubt. Let's all wait and see how fast someone is willing to invest on that particular parcel. PCB's for breakfast, anyone? I thought this City had already cornered the market on mutagenic industrial waste caused club footed citizens? Why would we want to produce generations more by developing any business on that , for lack of a better term, "land"? Maybe the members of the FROED Board of Directors would be brave souls and make a joint purchase of the newly cleaned up pier and lead by example, put their personal money where their mouths are and develop a socko business there. And maybe wild monkees will fly out of my butt , too!

(Sylvanagan, Fiola and Torres Fly Out of My Butt! - actual scale)

I DO like and applaud the two local entrepreneurs that went ahead ON THEIR OWN to start what I hope could be both a viable manufacturing business ( TPI Composites Inc. ) and hub for commercial and restaurant properties (Anthony Cordeiro's Commonwealth Landing, the former Quaker Mill headquarters on Davol Street). Notice that FROED and Sylvanagan  were no where to be found. That's no doubt why both ventures actually started and will most likely succeed!

One thing that would make further business development on the waterfront much more viable would have been the development of "short shipping" facilities of the type recently started in New Bedford. Once again, FROED asleep at the wheel. New Bedford gets needed transportation facilities for commercial and industrial development, Fall River gets to sign  a sales agreement with the Wampanoag Indians for 300 acres of prime land previously set aside for the Bio-Park, to be used for gaming facilities, once the legislature gets around to legalizing gambling in Massachusetts. Oh yes, and there is no guarantee that will happen, or that if it does, that the state will award one of the casino licenses to Fall River and the Wampanoags, or that the federal government will recognize the Wampanoags claim to make that land sovereign Indian land. Nice, really nice job there FROED and Sylvanagan.

So, get ready to hear the siren's song of the waterfront yet again this election season. You'll hear about more glorious proposals presented at specially called news conferences given by a who's who of statewide elected officials, all to help out the powers that be in their election campaigns. And because there is a sucker born every minute, old timers in Fall River will remember the good old days and will vote for the slickest of the Reverend Ike's to offer them good times down on the waterfront.

Don't forget what happened to the sailors in mythology who listened to the siren's song....they ended up crashed on the rocks!