Federal Economic Assessment (In Depth)

As I promised two blogs ago, I will now describe the Economic Assessment Meeting held at the Cape Ann Museum in Gloucester between a federal delegation, the mayor, and numerous nonprofit organizations, in greater depth. As stated before, the delegation was in Gloucester to determine the economic state of the city. As I also said before, this was, as I believe, the first time that the city of Gloucester had directly asked the federal government for financial aid, making it a significant event in the city's history. I won't be able to supply direct answers for each question asked, especially for the above question, but I can supply many of the questions asked.

After everyone in attendance had briefly explained who they were, the order of business was a discussion about the different aspects of the economic situation of Gloucester. One of the first questions that was asked by the board was about art colonies in Gloucester, specifically whether there were any. It was explained about there were a number of art colonies, most notably the Rocky Neck Art Colony.

The next question asked by the board was how the market shares of Gloucester would be characterized. Gloucester, it turns out, currently ranks 33rd in state market shares, not a positive sign. The concept of a "creative economy", a diverse economy, was discussed, and what were the measures Gloucester was enacting to do so.  Strategies for building up the infrastructure were also discussed, particularly by Chamber of Commerce head Bob Hastings. Because of the lack of infrastructure and attractive business, many residents had been leaving Gloucester in droves. This, as a consequence, has deprived the city of much needed revenue.

Hastings used a quote to describe Gloucester's situation: "We have seen the enemy and he is us". This about sums what was unanimously agreed upon in the meeting: Gloucester is in the economic dump, to phrase it nicely, a lot of it the fault of poor handling by the city government and the residents of Gloucester. The mood of the meeting, however, was very optimistic, much like the meeting I attended last week. That is a positive sign that cooperation to work toward the economic benefit of Gloucester is unanimous by all parties involved.