audio by album the business beat

At the end of August, ALlen Fletcher announced that he had sold Worcester Magazine to the Holden Landmark Corporation for an undisclosed amount.

On September 21 in an all-new episode, Art Costa, organizer of New London Local First, talks about helping locally owned, independent busineses to take back their fair share of the local economy.

Charles Cary, Principal of Biomass Combustions Systems in Worcester talks about producing low-cost, "green" heat.

Steve D'Agostino talks with Danielle Spring, co-founder of S&K Valet in Worcester about running a start-up business in a down economy.

Tonight on the Business Beat, Host Steve D'Agostino chats with Clive Hamilton, Owner of Hamilton Frames & Furnishings in Worcester, and Matt Dworman, owner of Archangel Woodworks in Worcester.

With
over 30 years of experience, Warner Fletcher serves as a trustee of
many private family foundations and non-profit organizations,
including the George I. Alden Trust, Fletcher Foundation, Stoddard
Charitable Trust, Albert J. Gifford Charitable Trust, Wyman Gordon
Foundation, Hoche Scofield Foundation, Greater Worcester Community
Foundation, Worcester Art Museum, and Worcester Polytechnic
Institute, as well as many private family trusts.

Jeff Hunter of Assumption College & Robert Thomas of the Martin
Luther King Jr. Business Empowerment Center.  They'll talk about fighting poverty and giving hope with a college education.

Michael Covino, principal of Niche Hospitality Group and chair of the Canal District Business Association talks about running three local, independent restaurants in a tough economy.

David O'Toole, President of Labor Cost Control in Worcester, talks about controlling labor costs in a tough economy.

Robert Nelson, district manager of the Massachusetts Office of the U.S.
Small Business Administration, and Joe Patten, chairman of the
Worcester chapter of the Service Corps of Retired Executives chat with
host Steve D'Agostino on The Business Beat. They will talk about helping small business survive and thrive in a tough economy.

Steve D'Agostino chats with David Barclay of the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association and Marc Sternick of Deitz & Company Architects about NESEA's Building Energy '09 Conference and Trade Show.

The mission of InncerCity Entrepreneurs, which is based in Boston, is to promote job creation, wealth generation and community development by helping a diverse group of urban entrepreneurs strengthen and grow their existing small business.

The mission of Worcester Community Housing
Resources is to help create and preserve affordable housing for low-
and moderate-income families and individuals, and to initiate and support
neighborhood revitalization in the Greater Worcester area.

Matt Wally’s organization operates
the Community Loan Fund, which is comprised of investments from socially
responsible individuals and organizations.

Down 2 Earth, which bills itself as Boston's
premier destination for conscious consumers, will be held the weekend
of April 3, 4 and 5 at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston. D2E is a marketplace for eco-friendly products, a public stage for community initiatives, and an educational
forum that addresses sustainability issues on the minds of us all.
D2E emphasizes local and innovative solutions and connects consumers with progressive companies that are investing in a more sustainable future. D2E is a culmination of the talents and

Ken Mandile is president of Swissturn
USA, a machine shop located in Oxford that specializes in Swiss screw machine products.

Robert Thomas, president and CEO of the Martin Luther King Jr. Business Empowerment
Center.
The Martin Luther King, Jr. Business Empowerment Center is an economic-development enterprise located in its own 42,224-square-foot building. The Center's purpose is to provide
a full array of business opportunities to individuals through entrepreneurial-development
programs, micro-business, incubation, and job training and placement. 

Hank Stolz is host of Wake Up Worcester!, a 30-minute TV show seen Monday through Friday at 8 a.m. on Charter Channel 3. 
Some of you may know him from his 10 years waking up Worcester County on The WTAG Morning News or from The Hank Stolz Experience the last couple of years on AM 830 WCRN.   

He says that being on the air the last dozen years in Worcester has really driven home just how special this area is.  He feels he can fill hundreds of shows as the ideas just keep spilling out.

CitySquare is billed as the largest public/private development project -- outside of Boston -- in Massachusetts history. The $564-million project is to be developed on 20.2 acres in downtown Worcester. The developers of CitySquare promote their half-billion-dollar project as “the premier destination in Central Massachusetts to live, work and play.”
The 2.2 million square feet of urban mixed-use development will, they maintain, “transform the heart of Worcester.

Bruce Gaultney, publisher, and Leah Lamson, incoming executive editor of the Telegram & Gazette.
WE'LL TALK ABOUT: The death and life of America’s newspapers.

Joe Grafton of the New England 10% Shift & Grace Ross of Worcester Local First.The 10% Shift represents organizations of Local Independents in over 20 communities in every state in New England.  They are promoting a New England-wide campaign asking citizens, businesses, nonprofits, and government agencies to shift 10% of their annual purchases from non-local businesses to
Local Independents, which in turn will build stronger and more independent regional economy. 

Host Steve D'Agostino talks with Colin & Carrick McCullough of "Our Renewable Energy".

J. Stuart Esty, founder and Chief Doctor Officer of Dr. Gonzo’s Uncommon Condiments talks to Steve D'Agostino about his company and his products.

Tired of the same old, same old when it comes to condiments?
Do you often forget what you ate at your last meal?
Life is too short to be bland!
Man bites hot dog: No news.
Hot dog bites man: BIG NEWS! 
My guest, J. Stuart Esty – a.k.a. the "Good Doctor" -- produces a line of all natural condiments with no fillers or preservatives -- just what's in the produce -- that can be used in a variety of ways.

Dick Kennedy is the president and CEO of the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce

A switch to strong-mayor governance is something that Worcester has considered on three occasions over the 60-year history of city-manager government—known here until 1985 as Plan E, after the alphabetized options for city government allowed under state statute.

The purpose of the Zeytoonian Center is to help Its clients resolve disputes in ways that are cost-effective and time-efficient and that minimize the drain on its clients’ resources and damage to their relationships and organizations.  
Based on Wellesley, the Center also works with clients to take proactive measures and address situations early on, before they become conflicts, claims or lawsuits.

With global warming a hot news topic, for the first time it is really hitting home: Extreme climate change, a growing list of endangered species and an astonishingly flippant attitude
about recycling.
Our world will soon be in the hands of our children. Are they educated enough about the growing environmental problems in order to not only be interested in them, but also to take action in solving them?

Eric Schultz, president & CEO of Fallon Community Health Plan.  On
the Business Beat, he'll talk with host Steve D'Agostino about Health
care.  And more specifically about the issue of the number of people
uninsured in the United States. Every campaign, politicians pledge to
address the situation, but little is accomplished.
The lack of action can partially be blamed on fundamental disagreements
on the best solution for achieving universal health care. There are
numerous theoretical approaches, each with its own strengths and
weaknesses.

Worcester Magazine, the 33-year-old alternative weekly newspaper serving Greater Worcester, has undergone another design change and re-sizing. WoMag – or Worcester Mag, as the publication
now calls itself for short – has a free circulation of 34,000 copies
through more than 400 locations, and readership of more than 163,000.

Kate Toomey is a candidate for mayor of Worcester.
Kate Toomey, a former elementary and secondary school teacher in the Boston Public Schools, is serving her second two-year term as a Worcester City Councilor-At-Large. She previously served three two-year terms as a member of the Worcester School Committee. 
As Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Education, she and her committee members consider all matters pertaining to public education, the public libraries, arts, culture and higher education.

Konnie Lukes, Worcester’s mayor and a candidate for re-election as
mayor.
Konnnie Lukes, a Worcester attorney in private practice, is serving her tenth two-year term as a Councilor-At-Large and her first full-term as Mayor. She previously served as Mayor in 2007 filling the vacancy created by the resignation of  then-Mayor Tim Murray, after he was elected lieutenant governor. 

Albert “Al” Hartheimer is vice president of The Center for the Study of Economics and past adjunct lecturer in economics at Williams College. He has proposed state legislation, House 2767, to, over several years, phase out the property tax, reduce the state sales tax, and impose a land-value tax.
The land-value tax is a radical idea proposed more than century ago by Henry George. An American writer, politician and political economist, Henry George was the most influential proponent of the land-value tax.

The Worcester Regional Transit Authority (WRTA) service area includes over half a million in population and is the second largest regional transit authority in Massachusetts, serving 35 communities.

The WRTA maintains a fleet of 46 buses and 10 minibuses for 23 fixed routes in Worcester and 10 of the surrounding communities.  

The WRTA also provides paratransit service for the elderly and disabled in the region, in addition to a variety of special services for elderly and disabled residents in the entire service area.

BerkShares are a local currency for the Berkshire region.

Dubbed a "great economic experiment" by the New York Times, BerkShares are a tool for community empowerment, enabling merchants and consumers to plant the seeds for an alternative
economic future for their communities.

Launched in the fall of 2006, BerkShares had a robust initiation, with over 1 million BerkShares having been circulated in the first 9 months and over 2 million to date.  

Currently, more than 360 businesses have signed up to accept the currency.

The Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance’s mission is to restore and enhance an enduring marine system supporting a healthy diversity and an abundance of marine life and human uses through a self-organizing and self-governing organization.

Erin Williams of the Worcester Cultural Coalition & Troy Siebels of the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts talk about the Woo Card: Opening the door to Worcester County's cultural community.

This was the lead of the story in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette on January 6, 2009: 
The Worcester Center for Crafts, one of the city’s oldest cultural institutions, has suspended daily operations and may have to close permanently if it cannot raise $1 million by the end of the month.

And this was the headline of the story in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette more than 11 months later on November 25, 2009:

Craft Center comeback: With help from WSC, staff and volunteers, Festival of Crafts returns for 40th year. 

John Bassett will relocate to Heritage University in Washington State following his retirement in June 2010 as president of Clark University in Worcester.

Heritage University is a small, private institution located on land that is part of the Yakama Nation, near Yakima in south-central Washington. John Bassett was formally installed as
Clark’s eighth president in March 2001. At Heritage, he will succeed Heritage's
founding president Dr. Kathleen Ross of the Sisters of the Holy Name of Jesus and Mary), who served for 27 years in the post.

An unassisted triple play is perhaps the rarest event in baseball with only 15 having ever occurred in major league history -- John Valentin was the last Red Sox player to turn one, in 1994.

An equally rare event is having a team of 3 medical providers working in a coordinated and seamless fashion to help you attack your health-related issues.

A triple play at Body Therapeutics is just that -- and it doesn't occur anywhere within 40 miles of Worcester. 

Since Mike O'Brien was appointed City Manager in 2004, he has worked to improve public safety and the delivery of core services, to bolster economic development and to address the long-term financial stability of New England's second-largest city.
Under his leadership, Worcester is rated one of the safest communities in the country -- compared
to cities with a population of 100,000 or more -- and is experiencing more than $1.3 billion in planned or current economic development activity citywide.

Why the Cleveland Clinic is a good role model for truly healthy health care?
“The Hospital That Could Cure Health Care: Cleveland Clinic is both highly effective and fiercely efficient. So why are its methods so rare?”

That’s the title of a November 27, 2009 feature article in Newsweek.

The article begins by noting:

AES is a solutions-oriented company with expertise in providing services to federal Agencies.
AES has specialized knowledge and experience in brownfields assessment and remediation, and in procuring capital for redevelopment planning and development.
President William “Bill” Picard is a land-use and environmental planner, the majority owner and
principal-in-charge of AES. He has over 20 years of environmental project experience in the restoration of commercial and industrial property. 

The Worcester County Food Bank is a community-based non-profit organization whose mission is: To Engage, Educate and Lead Worcester County in Creating a Hunger-Free Community 
During fiscal year 2009, the Worcester County Food Bank distributed 5.3 million pounds of donated food and grocery product to its network of 178 partner agencies that have programs for feeding people including food pantries, community meal sites, and shelters. These agencies provided food to more than 93,000 different people living in Central Massachusetts. 

This was the lead of the story in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette on January 6, 2009:
The Worcester Center for Crafts, one of the city’s oldest cultural institutions, has suspended daily operations and may have to close permanently if it cannot raise $1 million by the
end of the month.
And this was the headline of the story in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette more than 11 months later on November 25, 2009: Craft Center comeback: With help from WSC, staff and volunteers, Festival of Crafts returns for 40th year.

Dan Thurmon’s new book, Off Balance On Purpose – Embrace Uncertainty and Create a Life You Love, shows us that maintaining our balance in today’s off-balance world is a never-ending challenge.

That’s why he tells us to give up trying to live our life “on balance,” and start livingOff Balance On Purpose

This, he maintains, is the only way we will experience true happiness, accomplish meaningful goals, and lead a life which has lasting significance.

NaviCare HMO is a health-care program sponsored by Fallon Community Health Plan whose aim is to help you get the most out of your Medicare and MassHealth Standard benefits and offers you extra services that can help you stay healthy at no extra cost.
Under NaviCare, your primary-care physician will work with a team to develop your own personal-care plan based on what kind of care you need.
You will have a geriatric-support-service coordinator who will help arrange for community services.

Sustainability is no longer a buzzword hyping simple recycling efforts. Every day, companies are doing all they can to decrease their carbon footprint. Celebrating these efforts, Vault released its 2nd Annual Vault Guide to Green Programs. But Earth Day is even more significant because of the economic implications associated with going green.

On April 13, State Treasurer Tim Cahill, who is also an independent candidate for governor, announced that Massachusetts will withdraw more than $231 million of state funds from a Bank of America account because the lender refuses to cap credit-card interest rates at 18 percent.
Treasurer Cahill’s decision followed a meeting the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization held with Bank of America asking the lender to comply with the state’s usury law, which caps rates at 18 percent.

The Leadership Campaign is working on other ways to repower Massachusetts, by retrofitting homes, slashing emissions in their homes, schools, and churches, and calling on their legislators to follow their lead. My two guests are involved actively with the Leadership Campaign in Worcester.