Business Trends

A glass-half-full view of the apparent recession
Our contributing economist, Michael Goodman, told a recent business gathering in Plymouth that our regional economy won’t escape the nationwide recession, but the slowdown here has a very good chance of being far less traumatic than many other locations across Massachusetts and the United States.
His assessment reflects recent housing numbers that show an actual improvement year-to-year in sales volume, although prices are slipping. That alone distinguishes the south of Boston market.
Goodman, who is managing editor of Benchmarks, the quarterly published by the University of Massachusetts and the Boston Federal Reserve, offered up these observations:
• While residential activity is suffering, commercial building remains surprisingly strong, with demand continuing to outpace supply – especially in Plymouth County.
• The regional recession will not be as severe as the previous one in 2001-2003, when the state lost 200,000 jobs. That’s because high-tech, telecommunications and healthcare industries here are holding up, comparing to their dismal performance eight years ago. This statewide activity so far has been a strong counter to the weakening real estate market.
• Companies that seek business-to-business will weather the storm best. There is relatively substantial growth noted in education, health services, information technology and professional services, such as accounting, the law and financial advice.
On balance, Plymouth County – and the Cape to a lesser extent – are “okay,” he told a Plymouth Area Chamber of Commerce luncheon audience last week. There’s even a sliver lining in that declining home prices are making it easier for those entering the market for the first time, especially young families, to afford homes.
At the same time, Goodman, who also is the Donahue Institute's Director of Economic and Public Policy Research, offered many cautions:
• One reason the recession won’t be as bad here is because the state economy never fully recovered from the last downturn. We are still down about 75,000 in jobs from the peak of the preceding recession.
• Recover from the current downturn probably will not fully occur until 2010 or beyond, and the housing trough has a “ways to go.”

Open Cape
Many big cities are abandoning large-scale wireless projects. That is not the case on Cape Cod, where a growing consortium of business and governmental leaders are pushing hard on Beacon Hill for the Open Cape initiative.
Open Cape would build a network to serve both public and commercial needs. The non-profit OpenCape Corporation Board of Directors has completed preliminary work in corporate formation, engineering, and business planning; and it has obtained seed funding to move the concept forward.
Inevitably, it will need $5 million to construct the network. The OpenCape chairman and several Cape legislators appeared on Beacon Hill before the Joint Committee on Bonding and State Assets on February 14 to request the panel to open up a proposal bill for amendments. That bill addresses broadband needs in Western Massachusetts and the amendment would expand a proposed bond from $25 million to $30 million to accommodate the Cape as well.
The OpenCape Committee is now working to schedule meetings with Governor Deval Patrick, Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Daniel O’Connell, Senator Therese Murray, Senator Mark Montigny, and Representative David Flynn to express support for this initiative.
Among members of the committee are: Art Gaylord, IT Director of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute; Tom Keyes, President of the Selectmen and Councilor’s Association; Trish Kennedy, CEO Back Office Associates; Teresa Martin, president of the Cape Cod Technology Council; Steve Catania, VP Catania Hospitality Group; Robert Curtis, executive director of the Research and Technology Development Corporation; Dick Neitz, chairman of the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce; Sharon Brown, director Opthalmic Consultants of Boston; and Paul Niedzwiecki, executive director of the Cape Cod Commission.
To learn more about OpenCape and the economic benefits to a Cape-wide broadband network, visit www.opencape.com.

Barnstable on the move
Here are 10 initiatives to watch in 2008:
1. Downtown growth incentive zone
2. Performing arts center
3. Revitalizing the 500 block of main street
4. $30 million youth and community center
5. Hotels upgrading to modern visitor standards
6. Hospital expansion with high-paying medical jobs
7. Airport modernization
8. Pearl Street artist colony
9. Zion United Heritage Museum
10. Yarmouth-Barnstable cooperation
Crucial but less noticeable are initiatives already moving forward on two fronts: Expansion of the Water Pollution Control Facility on Bearses Way in Hyannis and scores of reasonably priced homes and apartments already being built to house working families who cannot afford Cape Cod’s median $350,000 houses.
These are some of the focal points for our special issue in the May-June issue of Cape Business called Barnstable on the move.
For companies that want to highlight your business, we are featuring a limited number of horizontal one-third presentations that include a narrative, photo and logo, as well as contact information. If you wish a presentation, please call Bob Viamari at 508-365-3811 before April 5, or email him at bob@capebusiness.net.

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