Published in Interface Business News
PORTLAND—Taking advantage of federal grant money and their own corporate resources, about 15 Maine companies have invested nearly $500,000 in cash and services for the Maine Corporate Wetlands Restoration Partnership (CWRP), to protect, rehabilitate and protect Maine’s wetlands. The benefits are not just for the environment, but for the businesses themselves.
Jeff Simmons, senior environmental scientist at the Yarmouth office of Bedford, N.H.-based Normandeau Associates, said he gets to work with firms he might otherwise compete with or not interact with very much.
“From a business perspective, it’s a smart thing to do,” Simmons said. But it also has personal and professional payoffs.
“As a resident of Maine and as a wetlands scientist this is something that’s near and dear to my heart,” he said.
The CWRP is part of larger regional and national efforts to protect wetlands, and is supported by large federal grant budgets, matching every private dollar with up to $3 in federal money.
While a good matching deal, currently worth $2 million overall, the private dollars can be hard to come by.
The lead company in Maine is Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline, based in Boston, Mass. Patrick Hester, senior vice president and general counsel for Maritimes & Northeast, said the program started in Massachusetts in the past couple of years, and expanded to Maine shortly thereafter.
Hester was able to raise support among companies Maritimes & Northeast has worked with in Maine.
They have started with the “easy wins,” projects Hester described as nearly complete. “If we or somebody else didn’t come along, the project would still be sitting there,” Hester said.
“It is good community involvement and good corporate stewardship,” according to Bill Hubbard of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, one of sixteen federal agencies that are involved in wetlands preservation under the federal Coastal America program.
David Warren, managing partner of Verrill & Dana in Portland, agrees. “We have a very strong desire to contribute to the community,” Warren said.
Gil Paquette, senior manager of Duke Engineering and Services in Portland, said not only does it feel good too do a project like this, but through contact with agencies and regulators, “it strengthens our ability in the permitting arena as well.”
Even Verizon Maine, based in Portland but a subsidiary of New York-based Verizon, got involved, though the environmental nature of the CWRP falls outside its normal commnunity focus on literacy programs.
Dan Breton, director of public affairs for Verizon Maine, said the company’s employees and customers care deeply about the environment, providing a major impetus for the company to spend money on wetlands.
Cito Selinger, managing partner of Curtis Thaxter Stevens Broder & Micoleau, a law firm in Portland, said that not only are they able to use their firm's specialization, but they can simultaneously support a major initiative of a client company, Maritimes & Northeast, and do some good as well.
“Development has got to be done sensibly,” Selinger said. “We don’t want to see the state developed in a bad way,” Selinger said.
Charles Hewett, vice president of Pittsfield-based Cianbro, agreed with Selinger.
“It’s something that we’ve done to be a good corporate citizen,” Hewett said.
Companies wanting to get involved in the Maine Corporate Wetlands Restoration Partnership should contact Marylee Hanley at Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline at 1-617-560-1573.
Friday, March 15, 2002
Thursday, March 14, 2002
Cape parents asked to fight substance abuse
Published in the Current
The Cape Elizabeth School Board bid farewell to a longtime teacher and asked parents to assist with the enforcement of substance-use bans for athletes at its regular monthly meeting March 12.
Superintendent Tom Forcella noted the resignation, effective at the end of this year, of longtime teacher and coach Anine Burgess, who has been out on medical leave all of this school year.
Middle school Principal Nancy Hutton described Burgess as “a great question-asker.” Board member Kevin Sweeney remembered Burgess’s efforts to promote civil rights and diversity. Board chair George Entwistle said of her, “There was just so much energy and excitement, and certainly she’ll be sorely missed.”
The board also gave first readings to several athletic policies, and suggested adding a new contract for parents and students to sign which would include a promise not to use drugs and alcohol.
It would be similar to the one presently required, but would include reference to abiding by the rules and supporting their enforcement, rather than a simple acknowledgment that they had been read and understood.
Other new policies laid out the philosophy and beliefs behind the athletics program, codified existing practices, set rules for booster clubs and admission charges at sporting events, and defined the framework for coaches’personnel records.
While budget discussions did not play a role in the business meeting, at the finance committee meeting preceding it, some members of the board indicated their sense that there was too much cut, while others said they may need to do more.
In other business, the board:
– heard a report from the high school representatives that the student government is working on a new policy for spectator conduct at sporting events, following inappropriate behavior by three Cape students at a hockey game in Yarmouth last week. There is also a new study hall policy under development.
– heard a report from the middle school representatives that the eighth grade band has been asked to perform for the state Legislature in Augusta later this school year.
– heard and praised a presentation from the organizers of Cape Play to improve the playgrounds at Pond Cove and the middle school.
– heard a report from middle school Principal Nancy Hutton that several parents have volunteered to teach Steve Price’s classes for a couple of weeks so he can work on preparing the school play. Also, the Wonder Years day was a big success.
– heard from Pond Cove Principal Tom Eismeier the school has nominated second-grade teacher Kelly Hasson for the Maine Teacher of the Year 2003 award.
– heard from high school Principal Jeff Shedd that he is expecting high demand for the new Latin course at the school. Shedd also noted that the Cape one-act play will continue to statewide competition, as will the jazz band.
The Cape Elizabeth School Board bid farewell to a longtime teacher and asked parents to assist with the enforcement of substance-use bans for athletes at its regular monthly meeting March 12.
Superintendent Tom Forcella noted the resignation, effective at the end of this year, of longtime teacher and coach Anine Burgess, who has been out on medical leave all of this school year.
Middle school Principal Nancy Hutton described Burgess as “a great question-asker.” Board member Kevin Sweeney remembered Burgess’s efforts to promote civil rights and diversity. Board chair George Entwistle said of her, “There was just so much energy and excitement, and certainly she’ll be sorely missed.”
The board also gave first readings to several athletic policies, and suggested adding a new contract for parents and students to sign which would include a promise not to use drugs and alcohol.
It would be similar to the one presently required, but would include reference to abiding by the rules and supporting their enforcement, rather than a simple acknowledgment that they had been read and understood.
Other new policies laid out the philosophy and beliefs behind the athletics program, codified existing practices, set rules for booster clubs and admission charges at sporting events, and defined the framework for coaches’personnel records.
While budget discussions did not play a role in the business meeting, at the finance committee meeting preceding it, some members of the board indicated their sense that there was too much cut, while others said they may need to do more.
In other business, the board:
– heard a report from the high school representatives that the student government is working on a new policy for spectator conduct at sporting events, following inappropriate behavior by three Cape students at a hockey game in Yarmouth last week. There is also a new study hall policy under development.
– heard a report from the middle school representatives that the eighth grade band has been asked to perform for the state Legislature in Augusta later this school year.
– heard and praised a presentation from the organizers of Cape Play to improve the playgrounds at Pond Cove and the middle school.
– heard a report from middle school Principal Nancy Hutton that several parents have volunteered to teach Steve Price’s classes for a couple of weeks so he can work on preparing the school play. Also, the Wonder Years day was a big success.
– heard from Pond Cove Principal Tom Eismeier the school has nominated second-grade teacher Kelly Hasson for the Maine Teacher of the Year 2003 award.
– heard from high school Principal Jeff Shedd that he is expecting high demand for the new Latin course at the school. Shedd also noted that the Cape one-act play will continue to statewide competition, as will the jazz band.
Thursday, March 7, 2002
Cape blames state for budget woes
Published in the Current
The Cape Elizabeth School Board projects its budget increase will be twice the amount requested by the Town Council, and councilors and board members alike are blaming state funding cuts for the fiscal crunch.
Town Council Finance Committee Chairman Jack Roberts delivered a letter to Superintendent Tom Forcella March 1 stating the town budget would be
capped at a 3 percent rise in expenditures, and expressing the hope that the School Board would exercise “similar restraint.”
The School Board, at its workshop March 2 and in prior meetings, has characterized its budget – up 5.7 percent – as “responsible” and “conservative,” and blames a lot of the budget pain on a loss of $589,598 in state funds.
The state funding formula takes into account a town’s property value increases and the number of students in a district. The state cuts are particularly painful for cities such as South Portland, which is projected to lose nearly $2 million in state aid.
Cape’s school budget request is up $815,583, and includes no new programs. Several planned staffing increases also have been cut, with the only remaining personnel increases related to enrollment increases or additional needs for special education students.
“Some people think we cut the budget too much,” said School Board member Kevin Sweeney.
“We made every effort to keep a tight hold on spending,” Forcella said. The letter from the Town Council, he said, “just reinforces the tight budget climate that we’re in.”
At the budget workshop, Forcella said, a major concern was about the items that are not in the budget, including the district’s Future Direction Plan and five-year staffing plan.
“There’s a lot left out of this budget,” he said.
Sweeney is among the most outspoken of the critics of the state government, saying the education funding system is designed to cause problems.
“Because of the way the state funding formula is set up, it creates divisiveness,” Sweeney said. He added that while representatives in Augusta are working hard for their constituents, “they are not working hard for education in the state of Maine.”
Board member Jim Rowe also voiced his concern. “Anytime you have something like that pulled out from under you, it really affects what you’re doing,” he said.
Rowe and Forcella both wish the state cuts could have been phased in, rather than coming all at once this year. Forcella said he doesn’t see much of a cushion coming from Augusta to soften the blow, and expressed concern that the legislature had “never funded education as much as they said they would.”
Rowe sent an e-mail to state Sen. Lynn Bromley, D-Cumberland, and got a response that indicated to him “nobody in Augusta wants to hear about” the problems in Cape Elizabeth, Rowe said.
“I think they have to hear that we have needs,” Rowe said.
Bromley said she has trouble getting sympathy for Cape Elizabeth in Augusta, and said she has been called a “thief” by at least one senator from the northern area of the state, who was opposed to her efforts to bring more money to her district.
Bromley said she and other senators have promised to vote against the governor’s budget unless it is revised to give more funding to schools in their districts. “The formula does not work,” she said.
“I encourage people to make their voices heard,” Bromley said, suggesting that people describe exactly what will happen if funding cuts continue.
But, state Rep. Janet McLaughlin, D-Cape Elizabeth, said, there must be perspective. “I cannot sit here in the house chamber and cry ‘poor’ for Cape Elizabeth,” McLaughlin said. She said she is trying to increase the amount of money to be spent on schools, no matter what method is used to determine how much each school gets.
Several of the town’s councilors, too, blame the state for the hardship and are stuck trying to make up the difference from the property tax.
Councilor Jack Roberts, who attended the budget workshop, said the drastic cut is too much. “It’s just wrong, wrong, wrong,” Roberts said. “We’re getting hammered by the state.”
He said he was hoping the schools could keep expenditures below 3 percent, regardless of revenue. The state cuts only make things worse.
“Obviously (the School Board has) no control over the $600,000,” Roberts said.
Making things especially hard this year is the increase in special education spending in the school district, Roberts said. The federal government pledged to pay 40 percent of the cost of special education, but is actually only paying 12 percent, Roberts said.
He said there will certainly be a tax increase in town, though he declined to predict specific figures.
“We’re going to try to keep it as reasonable as we can,” he said.
Councilor Mary Ann Lynch, who also attended the School Board’s budget workshop Saturday, said she was glad to get at least an informal look at the budget, but declined to comment on the specifics until she saw a formal document.
Council Chair Anne Swift-Kayatta was at the budget meeting as well, and though she declined to comment on specifics, said she looks forward to working with the School Board and the Town Manager to put together a successful budget.
But the bottom line, many say, is just that: the bottom line, and the effect of the state budget on local spending.
“When you pull that much money in one fell swoop, it causes problems,” Rowe said.
The Cape Elizabeth School Board projects its budget increase will be twice the amount requested by the Town Council, and councilors and board members alike are blaming state funding cuts for the fiscal crunch.
Town Council Finance Committee Chairman Jack Roberts delivered a letter to Superintendent Tom Forcella March 1 stating the town budget would be
capped at a 3 percent rise in expenditures, and expressing the hope that the School Board would exercise “similar restraint.”
The School Board, at its workshop March 2 and in prior meetings, has characterized its budget – up 5.7 percent – as “responsible” and “conservative,” and blames a lot of the budget pain on a loss of $589,598 in state funds.
The state funding formula takes into account a town’s property value increases and the number of students in a district. The state cuts are particularly painful for cities such as South Portland, which is projected to lose nearly $2 million in state aid.
Cape’s school budget request is up $815,583, and includes no new programs. Several planned staffing increases also have been cut, with the only remaining personnel increases related to enrollment increases or additional needs for special education students.
“Some people think we cut the budget too much,” said School Board member Kevin Sweeney.
“We made every effort to keep a tight hold on spending,” Forcella said. The letter from the Town Council, he said, “just reinforces the tight budget climate that we’re in.”
At the budget workshop, Forcella said, a major concern was about the items that are not in the budget, including the district’s Future Direction Plan and five-year staffing plan.
“There’s a lot left out of this budget,” he said.
Sweeney is among the most outspoken of the critics of the state government, saying the education funding system is designed to cause problems.
“Because of the way the state funding formula is set up, it creates divisiveness,” Sweeney said. He added that while representatives in Augusta are working hard for their constituents, “they are not working hard for education in the state of Maine.”
Board member Jim Rowe also voiced his concern. “Anytime you have something like that pulled out from under you, it really affects what you’re doing,” he said.
Rowe and Forcella both wish the state cuts could have been phased in, rather than coming all at once this year. Forcella said he doesn’t see much of a cushion coming from Augusta to soften the blow, and expressed concern that the legislature had “never funded education as much as they said they would.”
Rowe sent an e-mail to state Sen. Lynn Bromley, D-Cumberland, and got a response that indicated to him “nobody in Augusta wants to hear about” the problems in Cape Elizabeth, Rowe said.
“I think they have to hear that we have needs,” Rowe said.
Bromley said she has trouble getting sympathy for Cape Elizabeth in Augusta, and said she has been called a “thief” by at least one senator from the northern area of the state, who was opposed to her efforts to bring more money to her district.
Bromley said she and other senators have promised to vote against the governor’s budget unless it is revised to give more funding to schools in their districts. “The formula does not work,” she said.
“I encourage people to make their voices heard,” Bromley said, suggesting that people describe exactly what will happen if funding cuts continue.
But, state Rep. Janet McLaughlin, D-Cape Elizabeth, said, there must be perspective. “I cannot sit here in the house chamber and cry ‘poor’ for Cape Elizabeth,” McLaughlin said. She said she is trying to increase the amount of money to be spent on schools, no matter what method is used to determine how much each school gets.
Several of the town’s councilors, too, blame the state for the hardship and are stuck trying to make up the difference from the property tax.
Councilor Jack Roberts, who attended the budget workshop, said the drastic cut is too much. “It’s just wrong, wrong, wrong,” Roberts said. “We’re getting hammered by the state.”
He said he was hoping the schools could keep expenditures below 3 percent, regardless of revenue. The state cuts only make things worse.
“Obviously (the School Board has) no control over the $600,000,” Roberts said.
Making things especially hard this year is the increase in special education spending in the school district, Roberts said. The federal government pledged to pay 40 percent of the cost of special education, but is actually only paying 12 percent, Roberts said.
He said there will certainly be a tax increase in town, though he declined to predict specific figures.
“We’re going to try to keep it as reasonable as we can,” he said.
Councilor Mary Ann Lynch, who also attended the School Board’s budget workshop Saturday, said she was glad to get at least an informal look at the budget, but declined to comment on the specifics until she saw a formal document.
Council Chair Anne Swift-Kayatta was at the budget meeting as well, and though she declined to comment on specifics, said she looks forward to working with the School Board and the Town Manager to put together a successful budget.
But the bottom line, many say, is just that: the bottom line, and the effect of the state budget on local spending.
“When you pull that much money in one fell swoop, it causes problems,” Rowe said.
Monday, March 4, 2002
Convergent ready to serve RBOCs
Published in Interface Tech News
LOWELL, Mass. ‹ Moving to offer its products to a wider market of larger companies, Convergent Networks has put its ICS2000 broadband switch through the testing process in order to assure buyers it will properly integrate with new and legacy telephone network equipment.
"Now we can plug-and-play," said Carl Baptiste, Convergent's director of product marketing.
The process, designed by Telcordia (formerly Bellcore) and called OSMINE, is a nine-month sequence of testing and documentation designed to ensure equipment functions reliably as part of the telephone system.
Convergent is now engaged in talks with Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs), and is confident of making sales soon.
Other Convergent customers ‹ about 30 CLECs around the country ‹ are in the process of installing the switches in their systems, Baptiste said.
"We certainly have customers who have money and are spending with us," he said. "Next-gen equipment is one of the bright spots."
The privately held company does not release much financial information, but it has 200 employees and revenues in the tens of millions of dollars, Baptiste said. The company's existing customer base bills three billion minutes per month of telephone traffic on Convergent equipment, he said. But the prospect of a major carrier as a customer has the company thinking bigger.
"Winning one of those networks could be as big as all of the business we've done, over time," Baptiste said. Finding a small bit of Verizon's $17 billion annual capital expenditure budget is one target, he said.
The company hopes to draw big customers not only with standard-compliant equipment, but also with next-generation telephone features and continued inter-working between packet and PSTN voice systems.
Yankee Group senior analyst Mindy Hiebert said the company knows what it is talking about. "Convergent is serious about going after these service providers," she said. The company has been buckled down in the testing phase for several months now, and the company may have to wait until later this year for marketing efforts to really pay off.
Also, Hiebert said, the RBOCs might not make big moves until they are challenged by smaller competitors. But, she said, the possible buyers are big companies that have real money to spend, when they open their checkbooks.
LOWELL, Mass. ‹ Moving to offer its products to a wider market of larger companies, Convergent Networks has put its ICS2000 broadband switch through the testing process in order to assure buyers it will properly integrate with new and legacy telephone network equipment.
"Now we can plug-and-play," said Carl Baptiste, Convergent's director of product marketing.
The process, designed by Telcordia (formerly Bellcore) and called OSMINE, is a nine-month sequence of testing and documentation designed to ensure equipment functions reliably as part of the telephone system.
Convergent is now engaged in talks with Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs), and is confident of making sales soon.
Other Convergent customers ‹ about 30 CLECs around the country ‹ are in the process of installing the switches in their systems, Baptiste said.
"We certainly have customers who have money and are spending with us," he said. "Next-gen equipment is one of the bright spots."
The privately held company does not release much financial information, but it has 200 employees and revenues in the tens of millions of dollars, Baptiste said. The company's existing customer base bills three billion minutes per month of telephone traffic on Convergent equipment, he said. But the prospect of a major carrier as a customer has the company thinking bigger.
"Winning one of those networks could be as big as all of the business we've done, over time," Baptiste said. Finding a small bit of Verizon's $17 billion annual capital expenditure budget is one target, he said.
The company hopes to draw big customers not only with standard-compliant equipment, but also with next-generation telephone features and continued inter-working between packet and PSTN voice systems.
Yankee Group senior analyst Mindy Hiebert said the company knows what it is talking about. "Convergent is serious about going after these service providers," she said. The company has been buckled down in the testing phase for several months now, and the company may have to wait until later this year for marketing efforts to really pay off.
Also, Hiebert said, the RBOCs might not make big moves until they are challenged by smaller competitors. But, she said, the possible buyers are big companies that have real money to spend, when they open their checkbooks.
Friday, March 1, 2002
Owning a wooden boat
Published in PortCity Life
Being the owner of a wooden boat isn't easy. It requires constant work and a lot of energy. Fiberglass boats are for folks who want to go out on the water, come back and go home. Not so the wooden boat owner, who is so in love with the boat that hard labor becomes fun.
Marty and Sue Macisso own a 1971 48-foot Egg Harbor flush deck motor yacht, Invincible IV, which they keep at their slip at DiMillo's on the waterfront. They laugh about their efforts to have a life and still give the boat the attention it needs. "You can spend all day stripping it down to bare wood," Marty said, holding a scraper in his hand on a sunny summer afternoon. "You've got to stay focused."
He spent years in the boat business, as an owner's representative to shipbuilders, and knows how rare a good ship's carpenter is - and how expensive. Rather than spend the $50 an hour it can cost to have someone else do it, he takes on a lot of the tasks himself.
They do pay a diver for help with the anodes, making sure the screws holding the boat together remain intact. "You keep (the anodes) up, they'll last a long time," Marty said.
But diving is just part of the maintenance schedule for Invincible IV.
"You can't leave a boat unattended in Maine," Marty said. He and his wife live aboard the boat in the summer. They're both originally from Munjoy Hill, so being close to Portland's downtown is a real benefit, and a good change from their Scarborough winter home.
They take the boat out several days a week. On the days the boat is in its slip, though, Marty is at work somewhere aboard. "It's like doing body work on a car," he said.
But like a car, the key is paint. Keeping the wood protected from the elements is a challenge, and Marty spends more of his time inspecting the exterior of the boat, looking for chipping paint or bare spots. Then he scrapes away any loose paint before going in with bucket and brush.
For bigger projects, Marty and Sue network with their neighbors in the marina. Somebody is handy around motors, while another might be a wizard at on-board plumbing or wiring. It's an informal barter system, in which Marty and Sue get help in exchange for future or past help on other boats.
But most of the effort has to come from their dedication to the boat. They've owned Invincible IV for a year (and bought it with that name, so they have no idea what happened to the first three Invincible boats), but owned a 38-foot Egg Harbor and wanted more room. They knew what they were in for, and signed up cheerfully.
"A wooden boat requires self-sufficient owners," Marty said, "They're a special breed."
Being the owner of a wooden boat isn't easy. It requires constant work and a lot of energy. Fiberglass boats are for folks who want to go out on the water, come back and go home. Not so the wooden boat owner, who is so in love with the boat that hard labor becomes fun.
Marty and Sue Macisso own a 1971 48-foot Egg Harbor flush deck motor yacht, Invincible IV, which they keep at their slip at DiMillo's on the waterfront. They laugh about their efforts to have a life and still give the boat the attention it needs. "You can spend all day stripping it down to bare wood," Marty said, holding a scraper in his hand on a sunny summer afternoon. "You've got to stay focused."
He spent years in the boat business, as an owner's representative to shipbuilders, and knows how rare a good ship's carpenter is - and how expensive. Rather than spend the $50 an hour it can cost to have someone else do it, he takes on a lot of the tasks himself.
They do pay a diver for help with the anodes, making sure the screws holding the boat together remain intact. "You keep (the anodes) up, they'll last a long time," Marty said.
But diving is just part of the maintenance schedule for Invincible IV.
"You can't leave a boat unattended in Maine," Marty said. He and his wife live aboard the boat in the summer. They're both originally from Munjoy Hill, so being close to Portland's downtown is a real benefit, and a good change from their Scarborough winter home.
They take the boat out several days a week. On the days the boat is in its slip, though, Marty is at work somewhere aboard. "It's like doing body work on a car," he said.
But like a car, the key is paint. Keeping the wood protected from the elements is a challenge, and Marty spends more of his time inspecting the exterior of the boat, looking for chipping paint or bare spots. Then he scrapes away any loose paint before going in with bucket and brush.
For bigger projects, Marty and Sue network with their neighbors in the marina. Somebody is handy around motors, while another might be a wizard at on-board plumbing or wiring. It's an informal barter system, in which Marty and Sue get help in exchange for future or past help on other boats.
But most of the effort has to come from their dedication to the boat. They've owned Invincible IV for a year (and bought it with that name, so they have no idea what happened to the first three Invincible boats), but owned a 38-foot Egg Harbor and wanted more room. They knew what they were in for, and signed up cheerfully.
"A wooden boat requires self-sufficient owners," Marty said, "They're a special breed."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)