InFocus featuring Holyoke Economic Development (Joshua Garcia & Erick Nakajima)

From the 22 News Plus Studio, this is 22 News In Focus with Patrick Berry. Hello everyone and welcome to this edition of In Focus. I am your host Patrick Berry. I am excited today because we're talking about one of our local communities that just... If you think back in time over the last 10, 15, 20 years, there has been a lot of focus on this one community, which is a great thing because historically not a lot of focus was paid on the city of Holyoke. But now great things are happening, happening in the Paper City. And I'm excited because joining me across the desk today is their mayor, Joshua Garcia. Mr. Mayor, always great to have you in the house. Eric Nakajima, you are the, and I'm going to read it, Holyoke Planning and Economic Development Director. That is right. Fantastic. Thank you both for joining me. As I said, I remember growing up here in Holyoke for a long period of time. Mr. Mayor, you and I have had this conversation for a long period of time. Holyoke was sort of neglected. And then all of a sudden, over the course of that last 15, 20 years, it's becoming one of the hottest destinations, hottest spots. Businesses are moving in. You got the high-speed computing set. There's just so much going on in Holyoke. In a good way. And now you guys have received more than one point six million dollars in grants from the governor's office. So kudos to you both and the citizens and businesses in Holyoke. So thank you. Thank you for all of your hard work to do that. But I want to ask you, why did you pitch and go for those grants? And what do you hope to expect? Mr. Mayor, let's start with you. Thank you so much for having us here. Always a pleasure to join you and talk about the city of Holyoke. I think there's a combination of things. We're turning disinvestment into reinvestment, and I can't take all the credit. There's a lot of people who have done a lot of hard work before my administration that has essentially been able to get us to the point of where we are. Through that journey, there's been a lot of lessons learned, a lot of coordination, a lot of collaboration, a lot of reestablished relationships, alignment between local government, state government, federal government, which is critically important. You get what you plan for. And our city has been doing a lot of planning and connecting. And now we're trying to get into the growing and building phase. So the grant that was recently announced, to your point, legwork that started ages ago. Well, no, those grants actually took place, legwork that happened a year ago. Oh, okay. But even before that, right? You know, we had a partnership with the state through their Mass Development program with TDI Fellow, and Eric can probably talk a little more about that. It's the Transformative Development Initiative, and we had a fellow, Kevin Maforte, who we partnered with through our Office of Planning and Economic Development office. And we had that fellow for three years, and the fellow has been on the ground working directly with businesses and other organizations. And really trying to coordinate shovel-ready projects so when time came to apply for these grants, our city was ready to go all in. So the groundwork was being laid, but the grants just came into place over the course of the last year. Right. So it was the portal open. These grants come out every year. Yeah. Every year. Portal opened up about a year ago. And, you know, it's it's they're competitive. They're very competitive across the Commonwealth, other communities. And so these grants are looking for those. For those shovel-ready projects that are in line with what their priority commitments are as far as growth and development. So there has been a lot of legwork that took place, but this particular partnership with MassDevelopment was a critical play in the grand scheme. I should add to that that one of the things that Kevin was working on and really focusing on was trying to get storefronts reanimated and reactivated. So if you have an existing store. Getting them new equipment, fixing up their facade. If it's a building owner like Urbanist Developments, got a grant on the upper end of High Street, what they're going to do is they're going to fix up a storefront for a new tenant to go in. So that work is to build out shops, restaurants, other amenities in downtown, help property owners reposition their buildings. A lot of that's happening in the context of the broader urban renewal plan. So you mentioned this has all been happening over the last... You've noticed it happening over the last 15 years, and the city adopted its urban renewal plan in 2012, started getting organized in 2010. That was actually happening in parallel with things like the Massachusetts Green High Province Computing Center coming in, things like the improvements that were going along Race Street with Gateway City Arts is now Lighthouse. Similarly, there are people looking at the different mill buildings. If you look at 216 Appleton, where wind development has 88 units of affordable housing, right next to the computing center, right next to Heritage State Park, all of those things were identified in the urban renewal plan at the time being. In addition to that, there's been a vision for having more housing downtown. And so on both ends of High Street, one cluster around the library with Library Commons and Essex Village where Wayfinders has developed. Things like 79 units of housing over the last six or seven years in that area around the renewed and revitalized library. And on the other end of High Street, you have two different companies, Urbanist and Elliott Developers, that have finished 56 units of, in that case, market rate housing. So you have affordable housing, you have market rate housing. And then what Kevin Miforte was doing through this TDI initiative. I was trying to fill in shops and restaurants in between. But I think the really cool thing about it is it was intentional. We've been working a plan for a number of years, and we're excited to be kicking off. We just adopted, and we're planning on kicking off a community conversation around our comprehensive plan, which is really taking citywide this notion that if we're really intentional about what we're doing, We can be really good partners with each other. We can leverage the private sector. We can bring all our departments together to work on these things, which makes us a better and more competitive partner with the state. Fantastic. We are up on our first commercial break. We're just getting into all the great things happening in Holyoke. So stay with us. We're back in just a minute. This is 22 News in Focus with Patrick Berry. This is 22 News in Focus with Patrick Berry. Welcome back, everyone, to this edition of In Focus. I'm your host, Patrick Berry. Sitting across the desk from me today is your mayor of the city of Holyoke, Joshua Garcia. Mr. Mayor, good to see you. And the Holyoke Planning and Economic Development Director, Eric Nakajima, thank you as well for joining. We're talking about a $1.6 million grant that was announced from the governor's office to help with economic development, housing, and so forth within Holyoke. You guys kind of Laid the groundwork, pardon the pun, about how this, you know, the idea of a urban planning changing how Holyoke, you know, grows and and and becomes more successful. That groundwork was laid 15, 20, 30 years ago. And now, you know, you're getting you continue to get grants to help. Move the city forward. You know, Eric, you talked about partnerships over the years that the city of Holyoke works on. Are they public partnerships, private partnerships, or a combination of both public and private? A combination of both. So if you look at the work we're doing, we have 84 units of market rate housing that's currently being completed at Open Square. That's being done privately. But we've supported their work through applications of the state. There's something called the Housing Development Incentive Program, which is a market rate incentive for market rate housing in gateway cities. So we have 84 units going on there in the mill buildings. It should be really beautiful. We also are now entering the final phase of the South Holyoke Homes, which is a major transformation. The mayor could talk a lot about that. He actually lived there for a while or grew up in that neighborhood. And it was taking one of the more challenging neighborhoods in the city, maybe one of the most challenged. And making a beautiful place for people in the neighborhood to live, work, and play. And that was done with our housing authority. So another public agency. So let's talk about the amount of money that was recently announced. you It was a little more than $1.6 million. dollars in very And Mr. Mayor, I think you had mentioned it. You had to go through a portal. Is it a state-run portal from the governor's office? much. But if I understand it correctly, the portal... Brings multiple, I guess you can apply for multiple grants at once. And then, so you, you applied for all these grants. So it's multiple grants that came through at 1.6. Did I understand that? And just to be clear, by the way, what happens is there are multiple applicants too. So, so when urbanist developers applied, they're the ones who applied. When Ole San Juan Bakery applied, they were the ones who were applying. When Holyoke, they put in an application themselves, the city put an application in to support the development of our business improvement district. So we got $55,000. To support consulting services that are going to take to the next level, hopefully to completion and adoption, a business improvement district that will benefit really all the businesses and make more livable and more vibrant. Our downtown, the city also applied for the $400,000 grant we received for Newton Street, in which for those people watching who know an area where recently there was a shooting, it's an area that was a fire a couple months ago. An area that there are people who live there, there are lots of people who rent apartments, there are people who live in owner-occupied homes there and have for decades, who really need the support. The mayor and I were meeting a few months ago, and we were redoubling efforts to try to work with the departments of the city and the private sector to really focus attention on improvements there. This money will help us do that. So the way you describe it, it's the individual... Businesses, organizations apply for the grants on their own, and then it all comes together with one big check. Is that how it works? There's one big announcement. There's actually one big announcement. Okay. I mean, the funny thing is, I don't think there's anything less interesting for people to learn about than the workings of bureaucracy. There are lots of forms to fill out. There's lots of due diligence, obviously, on the part of the Commonwealth. But I will say this, that the businesses ask for the support from the city. The state likes to know that the city is working collaboratively with the private sector. That they are working a plan or even multiple plans, depending on the issue, whether it's public safety or whether it's parks and recreation, whatever it is, they want to know that we're working in a common direction and that their resources will be well used. Mr. Mayor, let's fast forward a year, two years, five years. How do you see Holyoke being different then than it is today? Well, I could tell you that downtown will be transformed. What's in the pipeline currently for downtown reinvestment for not just, I mean, what we're seeing unfold before our eyes on North and South High Street. Old buildings that have been abandoned for a very long time being renovated and back on the tax rolls. You have mixed use real estate, commercial real estate, bottom level residential above combination of nice, really a combination of low income to workforce affordable to market rate housing that's happening. You know, and mobility, safety and infrastructure we have right now, our city center connector plan that is in construction phase at the moment for Ray Street to Cabot Cabot all the way to the Willimantic corridor or bridge to Chicopee is getting its mobility, safety, complete streets reinvestment or reconstruction development. Then we have the entire length of high in Maple for 2029, 2030, where we're going to see all of High Street and Maple Street streets, sidewalks, protected bike lanes, intersections, those kinds of game changer. So, you know, again, you know, it's it's it's public nonprofit partnerships that are encouraging private investment. All of it's working together. And when I think of downtown, it's really, it's really an ecosystem. And how do you make these investments in a way that allows the ecosystem to support each other so that we're seeing the kind of growth and quality development that, you know, the people expect. So, right. Eric, I need to read my notes. Community one stop for growth. Right. Explain that to me. So it's, we're getting back into the bureaucracy again. This is... It's necessary for this conversation. So what the Commonwealth did a number of years ago is it set up basically one door to go through to access state resources. The concept behind it, actually, I used to work for the state. I worked for the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development when MassWorks was created, when we actually created a lot of our Gateway Cities programs. And one of the ideas back then, which has continued. Through multiple administrations is the idea that for any given property owner, for any given municipality, you either memorize, you focus on memorizing a laundry list of programs to apply for and try to figure out which shoebox do I fit into, or you identify your needs and you go through this one door, this one portal, you put your application in and you make the bureaucrats who are sitting in Boston on the other side, figure out. which shoebox to put your application into, right? So what really it's trying to be more efficient for municipalities, for business owners, property owners to go and apply for funds from the state and say, I don't have to master bureaucracy. That's your job. What I need to do is figure out, do I have a good idea for my community? And I think, again, well, the reason why I feel really proud of the work we're doing in Holyoke is that what we've been focusing on doing, and I think what a lot of the property owners have been doing, The nonprofits have been doing is focusing on what's our good idea and how does it make for a better Holyoke? You know, it's funny because you talk about the bureaucracy of it and streamlining it. Those are oxymorons. They don't go together. But this program seems to be seems to be moving that needle to in a better direction for municipalities. I think that happened under Baker, right? The one stop for growth. Yeah, it did. It did. Under Deval Patrick, he created MassWorks, which brought together... So we actually literally as a state had separate programs funding infrastructure in the Department of Transportation, Housing and Community Development, and Economic Development, Environmental Affairs. So why different silos were funding different pieces of the same kind of projects in communities? And literally, you couldn't necessarily get them to talk to one another. So the initial insight back under Deval Patrick was to create this MassWorks program that coordinated grant applications from basic infrastructure programs in different departments of government. And similarly, you figured out the flip side of that, by the way, meaning in government, you figured out. The flip side of it, though, was also asking communities to be more strategic. And say, figure out what your plan is. What's your good idea? And really sharpen your pencils on that. And then the state would put resources behind it. Under Governor Baker, they broadened that out to include even more departments, even more programs. And I think they've taken that to another level with the Healey and Driscoll administration. I think they've done the same thing. And so it's been a pleasure to sit on this side of the desk. They used to work on the other side, reviewing applications that were coming in. And you can see how it works on this side, too. And what I'm happy is. You know, we have a responsive state government. We've identified needs in our community, and they paid attention, and they're getting resources in. Fantastic. We are up on our second commercial break, folks. Stay with us. We're back in just a minute. This is 22 News in Focus with Patrick Berry. This is 22 News in Focus with Patrick Berry. Welcome back, everyone, to this edition of In Focus. I'm your host, Patrick Berry, sitting across the desk from me today is your City of Holyoke Mayor, Joshua Garcia. Mr. Mayor, thank you for joining me. And the City's Planning and Economic Development Director, Eric Nakajima, thank you as well for joining me. I mean, these... These grants, these ideas, these projects, they don't just come about. Like I said, we've kind of talked about this several times. It takes years. Is there a bigger picture, Mr. Mayor? Yeah, absolutely. Let's talk about that for a minute. I certainly appreciate at the opening of this interview, the statements you've made about, hey, look, here's what we're hearing. Here's what's going on in Holyoke. And it sounds like all these. And, you know, really, the reality is you get what you plan for. That's the motto that we try to live by at City Hall. All right. But, you know, a lot of those projects, you know, were. We have been able to come to fruition because of a urban renewal plan that took place in 2012, as you heard, right? And so the work continues. But also we have been working on the last two years or so on a greater comprehensive strategy for where we're going between now and the next 20 years for the city of Holyoke. Uh, comp plans, you know, cities and towns need to have them. Uh, ours, uh, took place in 1999. Um, you know, a lot has changed since 1999. So is it on a cycle, like every 10 years, every 15 years, a new pro, a new plan comes about? Uh, it should be about 20 years and it's really high level vision plan. It's not necessarily, you know. And so we've been able to complete ours recently. The planning board just recently voted it in. And actually this Wednesday, we have a citywide kickoff. To this comprehensive plan that we're going to be taking out into the neighborhoods and presenting over at the senior center at 630 on Wednesday. So we're really excited about it. And we just can't wait to, you know, there's there's been a lot of community involvement that's contributed to the plan. And we just can't wait to be able to show it off and continue to work for the next 20 years. You bring up a very good point. How important is... is the public's involvement. I mean, I have to imagine. That's exactly what I'm thinking. Because you don't want to top-down approach it. This is what you're getting. We're putting a park here. We're doing this. You want the people who live in the community to say, this is what we want. And then from you guys in your position say, okay, how do we achieve that? Well, that's the thing about when you say comprehensive plan, really the process is the level of engagement that takes place. To try to get every corner of the city to contribute to that plan when we're talking about public safety, housing, economic development, land use, among other factors there. But the most important part of government is actually the most difficult, and that is community engagement. So no matter how much community engagement you do, there's always a group or a handful of person or individual that feels like they weren't involved. And we're dealing with that now as we speak, but it's fluid, right? Just because we finalized this plan and we're We're about to kick it off and show it off. Doesn't mean that it stops there, right? The planning and organizing. And, and the contributions to the continues, you know, it continues to be this moving thing. You know, it's funny. Do you guys, to kind of touch on that a little bit, do you find it difficult to get the community involved? Extremely real time. So no matter how much outreach you have enough, no matter how much outreach you do, right. Like it's, you know, and, and, and I'm, you know, I was born and raised into this, right. I, I grew up downtown. And was involved in so many different community development initiatives. And, you know, considering even my background. But you grew up with civic involvement. Yes. A lot of civic involvement, considering my background, too. But, you know, again, no matter how. You have to be intentional in your outreach, but even with that, no matter how intentional you are, there's still somebody missed. So it makes the work difficult, but you don't lose sight of that. You continue to move forward because you have to move forward because one of my favorite things that Eric has said is we're either moving forward or we're not. Yeah, I'm always pressuring a team to rethink who's not at the table and being as intentional exactly. as possible to make sure that, you know, that groups aren't missed, but we got about a minute left there. You know, honestly, I think it's exciting. Because developing a plan is about setting a vision, getting people's aspirations together. The next step is actually implementing it, which means you're building projects and designing them together with communities, with different public and private stakeholders, figuring out what's the art of the possible, cobbling together different resources, being creative, making compromises. So that process of implementation, in which there's rich engagement and robust engagement with the community, that's what makes the plan real. And to me, if you're building your community, if you're strengthening your community, that's exciting. And we're seeing it all over the place. Honestly, if you go from the Holyoke Mall, where there's new stores going in, down through where the old Kmart Plaza is being redeveloped, ends up by a Walmart, will it be brought to life? And then follow that down the parade route. Uh, you can go through the Churchill neighborhood. You can go through, uh, see it everywhere. You can see it everywhere. You can see expansion. It's going on at the Y you can see the, you know, downtown, you can go straight through the area where I talked about the market, right? Housing, they do stores straight past city hall. Uh, you can see the library commons and the Essex village, that area, there's a tapestry of the city where there's good things happening all over the place. Um, it can be missed because they're happening in a particular neighborhood in a particular place. Um, but it's, uh, it's exciting. Fantastic. Gentlemen, I want to thank you both so very much for, uh, you know, talking about the grants and the great things that are currently happening in the city of Holyoke and what we'll, what we will all see. ...to come in the next few years. Good seeing you both. Thanks for joining me today. You're welcome. This is 22 News in Focus with Patrick Berry.