Gloucester Daily Times “Letters to the Editor” February 1,2012
Unedited Version as originally submitted follows:
INNER HARBOR FLOATING MARINA PROPOSAL - My View
First and foremost, Gloucester’s deep water commercial harbor is its crown jewel. Our harbor is a recognized prime commercial waterway on the eastern seaboard. For years activists and preservers of the “working waterfront” have advocated for our blue collar fishermen and the preservation of Gloucester’s quintessential commercial harbor.
In the mid ‘60s, urban renewal devastated our working waterfront. Until recently, every public administration and economic development body have refused to recognize and address this major economic deficiency in our commercial tax-paying community.
To that end, we have rebuffed the commercial residential development of the paint factory by several private developers opting for a non-profit marine-related whaling research organization. This property, after decades, now half its original size, is the potential emblematic harbor front door to our city. Currently, this inactive property is a visual reminder of unproductive grandiose dreams, seeking some form of public funding. While the periphery of our stagnant harbor continues to remain blighted and punctuated with undeveloped properties, this floating marina proposal, however well intentioned, is destined to compound our working waterfront felonies of the past.
The one asset we have miraculously retained over centuries is our undisturbed natural deep water waterway, especially the inner harbor itself. Until now! If the Waterways Board and the “fast track” Gloucester Daily Times, have their way, the very lifeblood of our community will be jeopardized by diminishing the only area showing new growth in a promising dynamic commercial working waterfront.
Our expanding new cruiseport facility, with its ocean-going tug and its continuing effort to attract medium-sized cruise vessels, is not enhanced by the introduction of a sprawling recreational mooring field at the narrow entrance to their North Channel waterfront location. Introducing a 450’ x 40’ (football field +) small boat obstacle, right smack in the middle of a deep water channel intersection leading into the far reaches of our harbor’s north and south channels, is a BAD proposal.
This narrow North Channel has a long history of near misses, collisions and sinkings. It can be argued that this floating marina is set back from the working channels, out of harm’s way; it is not. At high water this area is a frequent short-cut for medium sized vessels crossing the harbor. As I write this piece, a modern-day, state of the art cruise ship, has run aground on a well-chartered ledge through negligence and inattention.
A commercial harbor with year-round 24/7 daily activity is no place to install a series of permanently anchored recreational floats! Think about this proposed 450’ long, 18,000 sq. ft., proposed “breakwater”, with 30 small vessels tied up at night, unaware owners and crews sleeping, about to be run down by a huge loaded herring trawler with an out-of-control engine! This whole floating breakwater, sitting dead center in our harbor, would be wiped out, similar to the recent cruise liner accident. The point is, anything can happen in an overcrowded active commercial waterway.
Suppose a sudden sou’west gale sweeps down the harbor as these small yachts hang precariously onto surging floats? Even our 110’ Coast Guard cutter, from the same harbor area, always seeks calmer waters and refuge at the end of the fish pier in the North Channel or on the pier’s south side Cripple Cove end. This practice started in 1940 and continues to the present day!
Let’s face it, we can’t have it both ways: an active working harbor with a pleasure boat facility in the middle cannot co-exist “safely”. It is a stretch to promote this concept in a busy commercial harbor. The Waterways Board is asking for trouble! A tendered facility would be ideally operated by yacht clubs in mainly yachting oriented communities, i.e., Marblehead and Manchester-by-the-Sea.
No matter how It is promoted as an economic panacea to the downtown merchants, at best, it is a three-month expensive “questionable” source of revenue, dependent on the weather. The harsh reality is, it will be a 12-month, indisputable inner harbor navigational distraction and hazard…..an accident waiting to happen.
All successful marinas operate from the land for the following reasons:
• Derive their income by providing multiple services on site
• Supply on site parking for their boat owners
• Provide maintenance and repair services
• Rent mooring dockage and upland storage space, seasonally and year round
• Locate out of the way, usually conveniently accessible to a main waterway
I am always in favor of meaningful waterfront development. This floating marina plan is a dangerous solution to circumvent the Designated Port Authority (D.P.A. zoning) restrictions. D.P.A. zoning is effectively killing our waterfront economic advancement. This is all about outmoded zoning in a transitioning working harbor. Our city fathers and state political representatives should move heaven and earth to get out from under this bondage, once and for all!
Consider the following:
1. City does not belong in the marina business.
2. Marina dollar investment cannot be recouped.
3. Marine legal liability exposure is SCARY!
4. Marine liability insurance (absolutely necessary and required) is expensive.
5. Three months (transient only) operating revenue is a financial loser.
Consider the following less dangerous harbor locations:
1. Behind Ten Pound Island
2. Inside Eastern Point Breakwater adjacent to E.P. Yacht Club
3. In front of Niles Beach
4. Off Half Moon Beach
5. A few visitor floats at Freshwater Cove area or mouth of Little River.
This floating marina proposal is a pricey infrastructure investment. This major city government undertaking demands thorough research from all departments, especially the legal department! Proceed with caution!
Ron Gilson
Gloucester
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
'Harbor renewal' can't come fast enough
James Tarantino is absolutely “right on”. Change is coming to Gloucester’s waterfront and the reality is, it can’t come fast enough! Since the 1960s we have witnessed our waterfront’s steady decline. For decades we’ve been assured of a coming resurgence in the fishing industry. Politicians, wives’ associations, and activists have lobbied positively for the industry over the years. Today our fishermen for the most part have been driven out of business. Our federal government has successfully imposed regulations and schemes by promoting a general mind-set of allegedly depleting resources; adopting ridiculous 800 lb. species quotas; limiting days at sea; instituting catch-share programs; and closing plentiful fishing areas, thus bringing about the current state of our local industry. To Mr. Tarantino, I say, the “fix is in”; no longer can we hope for fish-related harbor buildup and fleet renewal, the likes of the ‘40s and ‘50s. The world’s fishing industry has changed; the consumer has changed; the work force has changed; and Gloucester citizens must change their antiquated harbor attitudes also.
“Jim” Davis does have a plan for Gloucester’s premier harbor industrial park. Davis is a business man and a local (summer) homeowner, who is well aware of the economic free-fall that Gloucester’s waterfront has been experiencing for decades. He is stepping up, investing in our faltering waterfront. This isn’t a Chicago bank holding paper; this is a local resident with economic resources and a vision.
Mr. Tarantino asserts that Mr. Davis and other interested investors are taking business risks for personal gain! Isn’t that what private investing is all about? Return on investment is only one incentive; along the way our harbor will come alive, properties will rise in value, employment and tax revenues will increase. As the old saying goes, “a rising tide lifts all boats”.
“Jimmy T.” is “right again”. The Fort is a linchpin. I see the Fort as a jumbo economic egg about to crack wide open. A few non-resident Fort activists and even fewer Fort home owners should no longer influence the economic future of Gloucester’s entire taxpayer base.
For too long the anemic Fort area has gone unnoticed, out of the way, subsidized by the city’s taxpayers. This waterfront economic downward trend must be reversed. Properties have gone undeveloped, owners denied the right to invest because of regulations – zoning restrctions, D.P.A. restrictions, etc. This has to change. For too long the former Producers’ Fish Co., now city owned; Cape Ann Fisheries Co. property; and the former O’Donnell Usen Fish Co. parcel (all prime harbor front real estate); have been allowed to languish in economic limbo. This was brought about by a mix of federal and state regulations, coupled with declining fish landings, resulting in an absence of previous investor interest. The city’s economic development arm must intervene and work positively with these owners.
It’s interesting that Mr. “T” mentions the Cripple Cove area – that’s “Capt. Joe’s” property, formerly Gorton’s East Gloucester flake yard,skinning loft, smokehouse, and redfish wharf complex. When I was a kid, this property was meticulously maintained and employed 200 of my Ward II neighbors. Today, and for decades, this multi-acre property has been wasting away and currently employing only its two owners, handling one product, lobsters. Small boats tie to decrepit pilings on the periphery of this unimproved property; it’s a prominent, visible reminder of a bygone era, a decadent inactive waterfront, crying out for renewal.
Selected prime waterfront properties from Rocky Neck to Harbor Cove are presently undergoing ownership/development changes. Finally, harbor renewal is on the horizon!
Recent changes in our city council makeup, renewed awareness, and reenergized leadership from our proven forward-thinking mayor now promises monumental, beneficial change for our city.
No one cares more about Gloucester, its harbor, and our anchor industry’s heritage than I do. I wrote a book attempting to preserve a portion of our illustrious history. No one can reminisce more than this writer. I love the “old days”, but the reality is we have many books, first-class museums, and excellent city archives that do the remembering. The fact is, Gloucester must move forward and recognize this new wave of private investment as an opportunity. Gloucester is entering an exciting era
“Jim” Davis does have a plan for Gloucester’s premier harbor industrial park. Davis is a business man and a local (summer) homeowner, who is well aware of the economic free-fall that Gloucester’s waterfront has been experiencing for decades. He is stepping up, investing in our faltering waterfront. This isn’t a Chicago bank holding paper; this is a local resident with economic resources and a vision.
Mr. Tarantino asserts that Mr. Davis and other interested investors are taking business risks for personal gain! Isn’t that what private investing is all about? Return on investment is only one incentive; along the way our harbor will come alive, properties will rise in value, employment and tax revenues will increase. As the old saying goes, “a rising tide lifts all boats”.
“Jimmy T.” is “right again”. The Fort is a linchpin. I see the Fort as a jumbo economic egg about to crack wide open. A few non-resident Fort activists and even fewer Fort home owners should no longer influence the economic future of Gloucester’s entire taxpayer base.
For too long the anemic Fort area has gone unnoticed, out of the way, subsidized by the city’s taxpayers. This waterfront economic downward trend must be reversed. Properties have gone undeveloped, owners denied the right to invest because of regulations – zoning restrctions, D.P.A. restrictions, etc. This has to change. For too long the former Producers’ Fish Co., now city owned; Cape Ann Fisheries Co. property; and the former O’Donnell Usen Fish Co. parcel (all prime harbor front real estate); have been allowed to languish in economic limbo. This was brought about by a mix of federal and state regulations, coupled with declining fish landings, resulting in an absence of previous investor interest. The city’s economic development arm must intervene and work positively with these owners.
It’s interesting that Mr. “T” mentions the Cripple Cove area – that’s “Capt. Joe’s” property, formerly Gorton’s East Gloucester flake yard,skinning loft, smokehouse, and redfish wharf complex. When I was a kid, this property was meticulously maintained and employed 200 of my Ward II neighbors. Today, and for decades, this multi-acre property has been wasting away and currently employing only its two owners, handling one product, lobsters. Small boats tie to decrepit pilings on the periphery of this unimproved property; it’s a prominent, visible reminder of a bygone era, a decadent inactive waterfront, crying out for renewal.
Selected prime waterfront properties from Rocky Neck to Harbor Cove are presently undergoing ownership/development changes. Finally, harbor renewal is on the horizon!
Recent changes in our city council makeup, renewed awareness, and reenergized leadership from our proven forward-thinking mayor now promises monumental, beneficial change for our city.
No one cares more about Gloucester, its harbor, and our anchor industry’s heritage than I do. I wrote a book attempting to preserve a portion of our illustrious history. No one can reminisce more than this writer. I love the “old days”, but the reality is we have many books, first-class museums, and excellent city archives that do the remembering. The fact is, Gloucester must move forward and recognize this new wave of private investment as an opportunity. Gloucester is entering an exciting era
Friday, July 29, 2011
Development is Fort Solution, Not Problem
Finally, "Sam" Parisi, a Commercial Street resident, is speaking out.
A Fort waterfront property owner, businessman, and former fisherman, Parisi, is telling it like it is (Letters, the Times, June 28), and in a few short paragraphs to the Times, Parisi lays out the dire plight of his industry and the neighborhood he resides in.
The day after his 1960 G.H.S. graduation he was on the deck of his family's dragger, F/V St. Rosalie. He brings to the table eight generations of Parisi family involvement in the fishing industry.
In my lifetime, the Parisi's have built, skippered, invested, and crewed at least a dozen large commercial vessels. They have owned several waterfront properties, hired hundreds of fellow crewmen, and landed millions of pounds of fish over these years. "Sam", his brother "Mike" and their wives, continue to eke out a living on the waterfront while our own federal government commit felonies, break into our fish auction, and routinely fine and regulate our harbor out of existence….that's the reality.
Entering Commercial Street and the Fort area, we are greeted with a "For Lease" sign on the upper floor of the Chamber of Commerce building. Across the street is a new wharf and building, for years begging for a tenant. The Birdseye plant and acreage cries out for development. The Amero property (formerly Cape Ann Fisheries) languishes, while the former Producer's wharf property is now owned by the city for $78,000 in back taxes, and is reduced to storing lobster traps, for free!
Parisi's property offers 33,000 square feet of class A building space but only 20% is rented! Because of increasingly more stringent government regulations, Parisi has lost three of his four tenants years ago and they haven't been replaced. Contrary to frequent activist "spin", business investors are not lining up for Parisi's waterfront space, even at a reduced rate!
In 1964, "Tony" Parco and partner "Ed" McCollum opened Ocean Crest Seafood. At the Open House festivities, I counted no less than 32 floral tributes sent by fishing vessel owners, soon to be their suppliers.
Now, all those boats are gone and have not been replaced. The founder's siblings labor on. The company has reinvented itself. They have representatives sitting daily at the fish auction and have established a successful fertilizer division, Neptune's Harvest. They continue streamlining their operation. Yet Ocean Crest Seafood survives while struggling with diminished product availability as more and more fish is processed out of town and away from the local waterfront.
Next door at Cape Pond Ice Co., management has rewritten its business plan. Their boat customers are few, they now market bagged ice cubes, create specialty ice products, and actively promote and sell Perfect Storm inspired "T" shirts, etc. The ice company has reinvented itself with new products and creative merchandising. They, too, are hanging on!
The Fort business community has changed. Companies once totally water dependent are now only water related!
Finally, "Sam" Parisi, a Commercial Street resident, is speaking out.
A Fort waterfront property owner, businessman, and former fisherman, Parisi, is telling it like it is (Letters, the Times, June 28). And in a few short paragraphs to the Times, Parisi lays out the dire plight of his industry and the neighborhood he resides in.
The day after his 1960 G.H.S. graduation he was on the deck of his family's dragger, F/V St. Rosalie. He brings to the table eight generations of Parisi family involvement in the fishing industry.
In my lifetime, the Parisi's have built, skippered, invested, and crewed at least a dozen large commercial vessels. They have owned several waterfront properties, hired hundreds of fellow crewmen, and landed millions of pounds of fish over these years. "Sam", his brother "Mike" and their wives, continue to eke out a living on the waterfront while our own federal government commit felonies, break into our fish auction, and routinely fine and regulate our harbor out of existence….that's the reality.
Entering Commercial Street and the Fort area, we are greeted with a "For Lease" sign on the upper floor of the Chamber of Commerce building. Across the street is a new wharf and building, for years begging for a tenant. The Birdseye plant and acreage cries out for development. The Amero property (formerly Cape Ann Fisheries) languishes, while the former Producer's wharf property is now owned by the city for $78,000 in back taxes, and is reduced to storing lobster traps, for free!
Parisi's property offers 33,000 square feet of class A building space but only 20% is rented! Because of increasingly more stringent government regulations, Parisi has lost three of his four tenants years ago and they haven't been replaced. Contrary to frequent activist "spin", business investors are not lining up for Parisi's waterfront space, even at a reduced rate!
In 1964, "Tony" Parco and partner "Ed" McCollum opened Ocean Crest Seafood. At the Open House festivities, I counted no less than 32 floral tributes sent by fishing vessel owners, soon to be their suppliers.
Now, all those boats are gone and have not been replaced. The founder's siblings labor on. The company has reinvented itself. They have representatives sitting daily at the fish auction and have established a successful fertilizer division, Neptune's Harvest. They continue streamlining their operation. Yet Ocean Crest Seafood survives while struggling with diminished product availability as more and more fish is processed out of town and away from the local waterfront.
Next door at Cape Pond Ice Co., management has rewritten its business plan. Their boat customers are few, they now market bagged ice cubes, create specialty ice products, and actively promote and sell Perfect Storm inspired "T" shirts, etc. The ice company has reinvented itself with new products and creative merchandising. They, too, are hanging on!
The Fort business community has changed. Companies once totally water dependent are now only water related!
Good Harbor Fillet, the area's largest fish plant, has relocated "inland" to Blackburn Industrial Park.
This is not a rosy picture, especially when the neighborhood's City Councilor Ann Mulcahey continues to bash and outright reject any positive area renewal.
I would remind Councilor Mulcahey that new development, whether hotel, clustered residential or direct waterfront related business, is not the problem at the Fort, it is the SOLUTION! In fact, it is the answer to Gloucester's economic survival!
City Councilor Mulcahey states publicly that she has the votes on the council to deny any future hotel proposaI. I ask, "Who are these harbor anti-development councilors?" Gloucester taxpayers deserve to know before our next city election!
Ron Gilson, Gloucester
Taxpayers For Harbor Economic Renewal
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Condos Get Bad Rap When it Comes to Land Use
Condominiums Get a Bad Rap
As the Fort neighborhood (Birdseye) zoning discussions move forward, the anti-condominium crowd once again advances its agenda of smoke and mirror scare tactics. This fiery political rhetoric is really warmed over political spin. As a two-time condo owner over the past ten years, I take exception to their persistent, false assertions.
Not long after returning from the service in 1961, I had the pleasure of meeting and conversing with our own famous Gloucester economist, Roger Babson. This question was asked: what advice would you have for a young man like me who wants to live and raise his family in Gloucester? Babson’s answer: there is only so much waterfront property; it is Gloucester’s most important asset. Whenever one has a chance to buy waterfront land, he should make every effort to do so. Cape Ann is in general a granite rock pile with large tracts of interior unbuildable acreage. Shoreside residential development is essential to Gloucester’s future as a growing vibrant community. Babson’s advice in 1963!
At a social gathering some years ago, a prominent local business man said this: The City of Gloucester should award John McNiff a medal for what he has given the city. McNiff took an antiquated piggery and dairy farm, sited on a challenging hilly, rocky acreage and transformed it into a national award-winning condominium community with an ocean view. Nugent Farm condominium complex is a no-maintenance “cash cow” for Gloucester..... that keeps on giving!
Hawthorne Point, Thorwald and Rockaway condominiums are other successful examples of cost effective multi-unit housing development, all quietly returning big dividends to city coffers.
These are the facts:
1. Condos generate higher real estate tax dollar volume on minimal land area, demanding fewer city services.
2. Condo housing takes advantage of excellent locations and smaller land areas, capitalizing on economies realized through clustered townhouse/condo designs.
3. Condos are often owned by older “empty nesters”, frequently vacant during the calendar year, eliminating any school demands and reducing the need for full city services.
4. Condo owners are responsible for the maintenance of their internal infrastructure, common area roads, snow plowing, landscape services, trash removal, etc. .....at no cost to the city.
5. The condo concept has made prime location waterfront living affordable to a larger tax-paying population.
6. Condo ownership is not for everyone; it is a sensible and efficient lifestyle that fits a perceived need by a diverse group of housing consumers.
As Roger Babson observed, shelter is a basic need. Cape Ann’s available residential land mass is minimal. We must be constantly vigilant, seeking out opportunities to increase the housing tax base. In an era of unfunded federal and state mandates, requiring city-wide sewer and water infrastructure improvements, schools, and expanded city services, demanding millions of dollars in added municipal investments, etc.; I ask, where is the increased tax revenue coming from?
The Fort’s residential and commercial community is a unique geographical area in our city. It will always be. Obsolete industrial buildings and undeveloped prime waterfront land presently disrupts and impedes this neighborhood. There has never been any intention to change its character. Fish, fertilizer, ice, lobsters, and retail entrepreneurial activity make this mixed area distinctly Gloucester. Because of its allure, nestled in a seaside location, it provides a special “step back in time” living experience, reminiscent of another romantic era. For decades the Fort residents have recognized and guarded this magnetism. Anyone moving there seeks the area for this very uniqueness. That allure is the attraction! In the final analysis, we are all custodians of this land that we live on. It only makes common sense that the area’s potential be fully realized.
Ron Gilson
Friday, December 24, 2010
A Landmark Year for Gloucester's Waterfront
Decision Time On The Waterfront
The year 2010 will be remembered as a turning point in Gloucester’s history. After 45 years, local government finally took control (temporarily) of the I-4 - C-2 parcel downtown, long considered critical to our Main Street economic revival. The second happening was the acquisition of the idle Birdseye property by a local investor. These two events could positively change Gloucester’s future economic direction, if we are prepared to make the necessary hard zoning decisions.
Mac Bell’s multi-use Birdseye proposals, currently under city government review, already have initiated vigorous public debate by activists bent on preserving the run-down status quo character of the “Fort” area. The arguments pro and con in this debate will play out publicly, and should influence any future decision-making by the city’s planning and zoning boards.
The larger more pressing problem is the Fort Point, direct harbor frontage land area which has remained ignored and undeveloped for decades. This blighted, unproductive land area, currently devoted to lobster pot storage, is not the highest and best use for this prime water frontage. The 1-4 Amero harbor frontage properties of the former Cape Ann Fisheries and Producer’s Fish Co., cry out for development. This whole neglected area resembles a war zone. Why aren’t the marine related developers and promoters of the spin-type “wave energy and ocean acidification projects” attracted to these shovel-ready, properties currently lying fallow? This is where the Fort’s major future development should be focused.
Yes, there certainly are “positives”. Ocean Crest Seafoods, Cape Pond Ice, and Felicia Oil Co. can justify their continuing need for wharf frontage. Neptune Harvest/Ocean Crest with their trendy organic fertilizer and new green storage tanks, as well as Intershell’s new retail expansion showcases upgrades in the area. These ongoing investments demonstrate continuing faith in the Fort’s commercial community. Survival in any business depends upon renewal, innovation, and staying competitive. Neptune Harvest products are today’s fertilizer innovation.
In fairness, there’s not much new about processing fish waste. In the 1940s, the products of LePage’s Glue, Rogers Glue and Isinglass Co., and other fish waste plants, were considered novel for that era. These facilities were located in West Gloucester and in a field now known as Pond Road Industrial Park. From its Commercial Street location, Good Harbor Fillet Co., a fish processing plant, moved to a modern building in Blackburn Industrial Park. Lobster business activity, conducted in a rented Commercial Street building, could be accomplished anywhere.
The reality is: fertilizer, fuel oil sales, lobsters, tuna landings, and retailing of exotic seafood products can be processed, shipped, and marketed almost anywhere away from a wharf on Commercial Street. In other words, the work of the often clichéd “working waterfront” can now be “worked” anywhere!
COMMON SENSE “NO SPIN” REALITY POINTS
1. Gloucester and its fishing industry have changed. The men are gone, the boats are gone, and the fish are off limits!
2. We have a federal government and an ever-growing NOOA-NMFS, intent on regulating independent fishermen – the core of Gloucester’s once famous
industry - out of business!
3. Any and all fish landings can be processed at one wharf, the Gloucester Seafood Display Auction.
4 FACT: At the height of 1940-‘50s, millions of pounds of fish were processed on only 60% of the available wharf frontage.
5. FACT: We have more available vessel wharf space in our harbor today than at any time in Gloucester’s history.
6. FACT: Booth Fisheries relocated inland to I-95 North in Portsmouth, N.H., in the 1960s, proving fish processing can be accomplished anywhere.
7. FACT: Barren prime waterfront land and unimproved, obsolete buildings impact negatively on the entire tax paying population. Failure to react to this fiscal reality is to place politics ahead of government’s fiduciary responsibility.
8. FACT: Gloucester is no longer the fishing capital of the world. Change has come to the Fort for many reasons; to survive economically, Gloucester’s city officials must respond to this change.
Ron Gilson
Gloucester
The year 2010 will be remembered as a turning point in Gloucester’s history. After 45 years, local government finally took control (temporarily) of the I-4 - C-2 parcel downtown, long considered critical to our Main Street economic revival. The second happening was the acquisition of the idle Birdseye property by a local investor. These two events could positively change Gloucester’s future economic direction, if we are prepared to make the necessary hard zoning decisions.
Mac Bell’s multi-use Birdseye proposals, currently under city government review, already have initiated vigorous public debate by activists bent on preserving the run-down status quo character of the “Fort” area. The arguments pro and con in this debate will play out publicly, and should influence any future decision-making by the city’s planning and zoning boards.
The larger more pressing problem is the Fort Point, direct harbor frontage land area which has remained ignored and undeveloped for decades. This blighted, unproductive land area, currently devoted to lobster pot storage, is not the highest and best use for this prime water frontage. The 1-4 Amero harbor frontage properties of the former Cape Ann Fisheries and Producer’s Fish Co., cry out for development. This whole neglected area resembles a war zone. Why aren’t the marine related developers and promoters of the spin-type “wave energy and ocean acidification projects” attracted to these shovel-ready, properties currently lying fallow? This is where the Fort’s major future development should be focused.
Yes, there certainly are “positives”. Ocean Crest Seafoods, Cape Pond Ice, and Felicia Oil Co. can justify their continuing need for wharf frontage. Neptune Harvest/Ocean Crest with their trendy organic fertilizer and new green storage tanks, as well as Intershell’s new retail expansion showcases upgrades in the area. These ongoing investments demonstrate continuing faith in the Fort’s commercial community. Survival in any business depends upon renewal, innovation, and staying competitive. Neptune Harvest products are today’s fertilizer innovation.
In fairness, there’s not much new about processing fish waste. In the 1940s, the products of LePage’s Glue, Rogers Glue and Isinglass Co., and other fish waste plants, were considered novel for that era. These facilities were located in West Gloucester and in a field now known as Pond Road Industrial Park. From its Commercial Street location, Good Harbor Fillet Co., a fish processing plant, moved to a modern building in Blackburn Industrial Park. Lobster business activity, conducted in a rented Commercial Street building, could be accomplished anywhere.
The reality is: fertilizer, fuel oil sales, lobsters, tuna landings, and retailing of exotic seafood products can be processed, shipped, and marketed almost anywhere away from a wharf on Commercial Street. In other words, the work of the often clichéd “working waterfront” can now be “worked” anywhere!
COMMON SENSE “NO SPIN” REALITY POINTS
1. Gloucester and its fishing industry have changed. The men are gone, the boats are gone, and the fish are off limits!
2. We have a federal government and an ever-growing NOOA-NMFS, intent on regulating independent fishermen – the core of Gloucester’s once famous
industry - out of business!
3. Any and all fish landings can be processed at one wharf, the Gloucester Seafood Display Auction.
4 FACT: At the height of 1940-‘50s, millions of pounds of fish were processed on only 60% of the available wharf frontage.
5. FACT: We have more available vessel wharf space in our harbor today than at any time in Gloucester’s history.
6. FACT: Booth Fisheries relocated inland to I-95 North in Portsmouth, N.H., in the 1960s, proving fish processing can be accomplished anywhere.
7. FACT: Barren prime waterfront land and unimproved, obsolete buildings impact negatively on the entire tax paying population. Failure to react to this fiscal reality is to place politics ahead of government’s fiduciary responsibility.
8. FACT: Gloucester is no longer the fishing capital of the world. Change has come to the Fort for many reasons; to survive economically, Gloucester’s city officials must respond to this change.
Ron Gilson
Gloucester
Monday, December 6, 2010
Out of the Ashes Rises A Symbol of Hope
December 6, 2010
Congratulations to our Cape Ann Jewish Community, especially to their synagogue design and architectural oversight committee, for the beautiful futuristic building taking shape on historic Middle Street. This modern temple sends a message of hope and inspiration. Our Jewish community is alive and well, moving forward with an edifice that inspires hope for the future while honoring their founding fathers from the past.
Gloucester has been my home for a lifetime and some of my most memorable experiences involved my Portuguese neighbors and lifelong Italian friends. Reflecting on my formative years, our Jewish community the smallest of Cape Ann’s ethnic groups influenced my life more than any other; I am truly grateful.
It has been my good fortune to have lived in some of Gloucester’s most exciting times. The period from the end of WW II – 1945 to the opening of the A. Piatt Andrew Bridge in 1951 (when we were still an island) was for me, undoubtedly Gloucester’s finest hours. It was in this brief period that Gloucester was a community like no other. We were the leading fishing port in the world! Millions of pounds of fresh fish were landed daily. Hundreds of wharf workers and vessel support personnel worked the waterfronts, three marine railways, and numerous processing plants. A fleet of 200 vessels sailed from Ipswich Bay to the Grand Banks, a thousand miles away! The whole city prospered, Main Street was alive! Gloucester was like no other place. It was a special time.
My father worked for Ben Kerr of the National House Furniture Co. at the corner of Elm and Main Streets during the 1940s. Around the supper table we were introduced to the Jewish community, listening to my father’s stories working for the Kerr family. On several special occasions, Dad was recruited by Ben to pump the organ (bellows) in the synagogue. It was quite an experience for my dad; he even donned a yarmulke.
One hot summer night in July of ’45, my mongrel dog was severely injured in a fight. The vet’s phone rang and rang. My father remembered that Dr. Morris Pett was a dog lover. He called the doctor, and was told to come to his office on Middle Street, but to enter the back way with “Rags” wrapped in a sheet. While Dr. Pett’s patients unknowingly waited in his outer room, Dr. Pett sutured my dog’s neck in his rear examining room....no charge! Dr. Pett was a little boy’s hero. He was a kind, compassionate and giving person, a Gloucester legend.
I only recall three Jews that worked the Gloucester waterfront in the mid forties. Nathan Flasher, a lumper (longshoreman) and my friend Gene Marshall, a lumper and marine insurance broker, who rented a one room office in the green building (still there) on the Gloucester House wharf. The third person was a “worker of the wharves”, Harry Slafsky. Across the street from Ed Bloomberg’s Strand Theater (now Palazola’s Sporting Goods store) on the West End of Main Street was Slafsky’s Pawn Shop. Harry was a short, portly man, a natural salesman with an outgoing personality. His pawn shop was not in the busiest section of Main Street, so Harry conducted business daily on the waterfront, reminiscent of the peddlers of old. In those days, Gloucester hosted a large 15 - 20 vessel southern fleet each summer. These southern crew members lived aboard their boats between trips – a captive clientele. Harry, with rings on every finger and a dozen wrist watches on each arm, brought his wares to these customers. This was my first lesson in retail merchandising.
Upon my return from the service in 1961, I took my first job at the Gloucester Safe Deposit & Trust Co. on the corner of Main and Duncan Streets. All the tellers belonged to “Bob” Kramer’s suit club. Every week “Bob” would collect a buck from each of us, placing us in the “lottery” with a chance to win a free suit. The trouble was, after a year of contributing, I never won! I expressed my displeasure to “Bob”. Low and behold, the next week, I was “shocked, shocked” to learn that I had won the grand prize of a nice suit. “Bob” threw in a Dobb’s felt hat to boot. Bob Kramer was my friend, long before and after the suit experience. He called me “Herbie”, my dad’s name. Everyone in Gloucester who knew “Bob” Kramer, owner of Bob’s Haberdashery, loved him.
In Sarah V. Dunlap’s wonderful, informative chronicle “The Jewish Community of Cape Ann”, an oral history, she tells the story of the five musical Sandler brothers. Sandler’s Music Store was on the corner of Hancock and Main Street (where the curtain shop is today). High school kids flocked to the store’s record department to test play hit records of the day in one of six soundproof booths at the rear of the store. On the second floor the brothers gave music lessons.....perhaps Fred Slafsky and “Louie” Norton, my fellow R.O.T.C. band friends, were taking sax and trombone lessons at the time. Both are retired medical doctors today.
Twenty years later in the early ‘70s, I acquired Gene Marshall’s marine insurance business after his untimely passing. I was associated with attorney Solomon Sandler who conducted his law practice directly above my ground floor office, with his son Mark and their associate “Bob” Laramee. Attorney “Sol”, became my marine insurance adviser. He was like a father to me; he was my mentor.
When I reminisce about Gloucester’s Jewish community members, I think of the Alper family. Leo sold me my first college topcoat for one dollar weekly. “Ted” Linsky gave me credit and auto service for years. His son, “Steve”, still continues the Linsky family business. “Lenny” Linsky, was a WWII wounded survivor of the Normandy Beach landing. Richard and “Winnie” Bell were in our restaurant every weekend. Fred Axelrod sold me a suit for my engagement – 50% off! Dr. David Cohen, with his soft, kind voice treated me when I was ill as a youngster. Dr. Broder was my dentist on Pleasant Street. These people and many more impacted my life. They contributed significantly to the prosperity of our community.
Arriving from Europe as peddlers and laborers, Gloucester’s Jewish population, while few in number, would become a major influence in the Cape Ann community. Religiously they moved forward from their humble shul beginnings on Liberty and Addison streets to Prospect, and then Middle Street. Professionally they became prominent Main Street merchants, doctors, lawyers and educators. Their story is a classic American story; it’s what this great country is all about! These are my thoughts when I pass the beautiful temple rising out of the ashes on historic Middle Street.
For those who disagree with the architecture of the new temple, I remind you that the designs of preeminent architect Frank Lloyd Wright were met with serious criticism during his early career. Locally, Gloucester High School was faulted for its design in 1938, dubbed “the factory”. Now 70 years later, it is still a vital component of our community!
After three negative and demeaning letters to the Times, I say, “enough already”! YOU, Mr. Golden, “just don’t get it”. You are too busy looking at the trees! The people of Cape Ann know the “cut of your jib”. On this noble temple project, Mr. Golden, the train has left the station and you’re not on it!
Ron Gilson
Congratulations to our Cape Ann Jewish Community, especially to their synagogue design and architectural oversight committee, for the beautiful futuristic building taking shape on historic Middle Street. This modern temple sends a message of hope and inspiration. Our Jewish community is alive and well, moving forward with an edifice that inspires hope for the future while honoring their founding fathers from the past.
Gloucester has been my home for a lifetime and some of my most memorable experiences involved my Portuguese neighbors and lifelong Italian friends. Reflecting on my formative years, our Jewish community the smallest of Cape Ann’s ethnic groups influenced my life more than any other; I am truly grateful.
It has been my good fortune to have lived in some of Gloucester’s most exciting times. The period from the end of WW II – 1945 to the opening of the A. Piatt Andrew Bridge in 1951 (when we were still an island) was for me, undoubtedly Gloucester’s finest hours. It was in this brief period that Gloucester was a community like no other. We were the leading fishing port in the world! Millions of pounds of fresh fish were landed daily. Hundreds of wharf workers and vessel support personnel worked the waterfronts, three marine railways, and numerous processing plants. A fleet of 200 vessels sailed from Ipswich Bay to the Grand Banks, a thousand miles away! The whole city prospered, Main Street was alive! Gloucester was like no other place. It was a special time.
My father worked for Ben Kerr of the National House Furniture Co. at the corner of Elm and Main Streets during the 1940s. Around the supper table we were introduced to the Jewish community, listening to my father’s stories working for the Kerr family. On several special occasions, Dad was recruited by Ben to pump the organ (bellows) in the synagogue. It was quite an experience for my dad; he even donned a yarmulke.
One hot summer night in July of ’45, my mongrel dog was severely injured in a fight. The vet’s phone rang and rang. My father remembered that Dr. Morris Pett was a dog lover. He called the doctor, and was told to come to his office on Middle Street, but to enter the back way with “Rags” wrapped in a sheet. While Dr. Pett’s patients unknowingly waited in his outer room, Dr. Pett sutured my dog’s neck in his rear examining room....no charge! Dr. Pett was a little boy’s hero. He was a kind, compassionate and giving person, a Gloucester legend.
I only recall three Jews that worked the Gloucester waterfront in the mid forties. Nathan Flasher, a lumper (longshoreman) and my friend Gene Marshall, a lumper and marine insurance broker, who rented a one room office in the green building (still there) on the Gloucester House wharf. The third person was a “worker of the wharves”, Harry Slafsky. Across the street from Ed Bloomberg’s Strand Theater (now Palazola’s Sporting Goods store) on the West End of Main Street was Slafsky’s Pawn Shop. Harry was a short, portly man, a natural salesman with an outgoing personality. His pawn shop was not in the busiest section of Main Street, so Harry conducted business daily on the waterfront, reminiscent of the peddlers of old. In those days, Gloucester hosted a large 15 - 20 vessel southern fleet each summer. These southern crew members lived aboard their boats between trips – a captive clientele. Harry, with rings on every finger and a dozen wrist watches on each arm, brought his wares to these customers. This was my first lesson in retail merchandising.
Upon my return from the service in 1961, I took my first job at the Gloucester Safe Deposit & Trust Co. on the corner of Main and Duncan Streets. All the tellers belonged to “Bob” Kramer’s suit club. Every week “Bob” would collect a buck from each of us, placing us in the “lottery” with a chance to win a free suit. The trouble was, after a year of contributing, I never won! I expressed my displeasure to “Bob”. Low and behold, the next week, I was “shocked, shocked” to learn that I had won the grand prize of a nice suit. “Bob” threw in a Dobb’s felt hat to boot. Bob Kramer was my friend, long before and after the suit experience. He called me “Herbie”, my dad’s name. Everyone in Gloucester who knew “Bob” Kramer, owner of Bob’s Haberdashery, loved him.
In Sarah V. Dunlap’s wonderful, informative chronicle “The Jewish Community of Cape Ann”, an oral history, she tells the story of the five musical Sandler brothers. Sandler’s Music Store was on the corner of Hancock and Main Street (where the curtain shop is today). High school kids flocked to the store’s record department to test play hit records of the day in one of six soundproof booths at the rear of the store. On the second floor the brothers gave music lessons.....perhaps Fred Slafsky and “Louie” Norton, my fellow R.O.T.C. band friends, were taking sax and trombone lessons at the time. Both are retired medical doctors today.
Twenty years later in the early ‘70s, I acquired Gene Marshall’s marine insurance business after his untimely passing. I was associated with attorney Solomon Sandler who conducted his law practice directly above my ground floor office, with his son Mark and their associate “Bob” Laramee. Attorney “Sol”, became my marine insurance adviser. He was like a father to me; he was my mentor.
When I reminisce about Gloucester’s Jewish community members, I think of the Alper family. Leo sold me my first college topcoat for one dollar weekly. “Ted” Linsky gave me credit and auto service for years. His son, “Steve”, still continues the Linsky family business. “Lenny” Linsky, was a WWII wounded survivor of the Normandy Beach landing. Richard and “Winnie” Bell were in our restaurant every weekend. Fred Axelrod sold me a suit for my engagement – 50% off! Dr. David Cohen, with his soft, kind voice treated me when I was ill as a youngster. Dr. Broder was my dentist on Pleasant Street. These people and many more impacted my life. They contributed significantly to the prosperity of our community.
Arriving from Europe as peddlers and laborers, Gloucester’s Jewish population, while few in number, would become a major influence in the Cape Ann community. Religiously they moved forward from their humble shul beginnings on Liberty and Addison streets to Prospect, and then Middle Street. Professionally they became prominent Main Street merchants, doctors, lawyers and educators. Their story is a classic American story; it’s what this great country is all about! These are my thoughts when I pass the beautiful temple rising out of the ashes on historic Middle Street.
For those who disagree with the architecture of the new temple, I remind you that the designs of preeminent architect Frank Lloyd Wright were met with serious criticism during his early career. Locally, Gloucester High School was faulted for its design in 1938, dubbed “the factory”. Now 70 years later, it is still a vital component of our community!
After three negative and demeaning letters to the Times, I say, “enough already”! YOU, Mr. Golden, “just don’t get it”. You are too busy looking at the trees! The people of Cape Ann know the “cut of your jib”. On this noble temple project, Mr. Golden, the train has left the station and you’re not on it!
Ron Gilson
Monday, November 23, 2009
Francesco "Capt. Paul" Brancaleone Remembered
The recent passing of Paul Brancaleone has saddened our fishing community, his family, and his many friends. Paul’s accomplishments and contributions to his adopted Gloucester deserve recognition beyond a condensed remembrance that a newspaper obituary provides.
I met Capt. Paul in the early ’70s, when as a marine insurance broker I insured his vessel, the inshore dragger Santa Lucia. Over the years, our routine business association developed into a closer relationship, one of admiration, respect, and friendship.
Paul came to this country as a young man in his early thirties. Like so many in the 1950s era, waves of immigrants arriving from economically depressed Terrasini, Sicily, all sought a better lifestyle. Historically this has been Gloucester’s story repeated for centuries. Fishing in the old country was Paul’s expertise. Like so many others before and since, he readily adjusted to his new surroundings and would immediately find acceptance and work on our thriving waterfront of that decade. Brancaleone would become a successful vessel owner/operator, businessman, employer, home owner, and a respected family breadwinner in his newly adopted country.
I often have asked myself: how would I fare, adjusting to a foreign country, reacting to a totally new lifestyle, while learning an unfamiliar language and providing for my family?
Gloucester’s new citizen was a personable, polite, gregarious individual, always a gentleman, and had no trouble fitting into the local waterfront scene. In his trade, he was a recognized expert fisherman, a reliable hard worker, and a contributor....Paul Brancaleone gave back to our local fishing industry from the day he arrived!
Gloucester’s fishing industry in the late 1950s and ‘60s was prosperous and promising to newcomer Paul. He immediately took his place alongside his contemporaries at Fisherman’s Wharf. Accepting Paul into their fraternity of highliners were Capt. "Gus" Sanfilippo of the F/V St. Rosalie; Capt. Emilio Spinola and his brothers, Mike and Tom; their uncle, Sam “Glo” Scola; and the family patriarch, Capt. Domenic Spinola of the F/V St. Mary, newly launched only a few years before. There was also Capt."Tom" Aiello of the F/V St. Providenza, Capt. “Joe” Giacalone and his partner Sebastian “Bikee” Scola in their
F/V St. Peter. Also, the Testaverde family in their F/V Linda B.; the nearby
F/V St. Peter III, captained by "Tom" Favazza; and Capt. Benny Chianciola in the F/V Serafina II. All were successful whiting and inshore groundfish producers of the day. These few vessels were charter members of the original Gloucester Whiting Association, organized at Fisherman’s Wharf in the early 1950s and managed by my friend Ray Kershaw. Its membership would exceed 50 inshore vessels in the
‘50s and ‘60s.
Within a few years of his arrival in Gloucester, Paul Brancaleone, the risk taker, would roll the dice and join this fleet with his own dayboat, F/V Santa Lucia. Fishing with his compardi vessel owners, Brancaleone and his Santa Lucia crew became a reliable producer of whiting and groundfish, landed daily at Fisherman’s Wharf in the decades of the '60s and‘70s even into the‘80s. Paul didn’t own the largest boat in the fleet nor did he receive headlines for his production. He merely went about his business everyday....a true highliner!
For decades, this dayboat fleet regularly provided volume quality fresh groundfish to the gourmet restaurant trade from Gloucester to New York and Philadelphia! Capt. Paul and his Santa Lucia were part of that production. This inshore fleet, frequently overshadowed, often going unrecognized for their achievements, were the prosperity builders of Gloucester in those years, advancing Gloucester’s reputation for providing the best fresh groundfish in the industry.
A few weeks ago, while in traffic passing St. Peter’s Club, I observed my friend Paul sitting on a bench socializing with his fellow retired compardis in the bright morning sun. I recognized his familiar beaming smile. I waved and he waved back. I thought then how wonderful it was that Capt. Paul lived to enjoy his hard earned retirement. I will miss seeing my friend, Paul, now gone from the scene.....no longer with us.
I met Capt. Paul in the early ’70s, when as a marine insurance broker I insured his vessel, the inshore dragger Santa Lucia. Over the years, our routine business association developed into a closer relationship, one of admiration, respect, and friendship.
Paul came to this country as a young man in his early thirties. Like so many in the 1950s era, waves of immigrants arriving from economically depressed Terrasini, Sicily, all sought a better lifestyle. Historically this has been Gloucester’s story repeated for centuries. Fishing in the old country was Paul’s expertise. Like so many others before and since, he readily adjusted to his new surroundings and would immediately find acceptance and work on our thriving waterfront of that decade. Brancaleone would become a successful vessel owner/operator, businessman, employer, home owner, and a respected family breadwinner in his newly adopted country.
I often have asked myself: how would I fare, adjusting to a foreign country, reacting to a totally new lifestyle, while learning an unfamiliar language and providing for my family?
Gloucester’s new citizen was a personable, polite, gregarious individual, always a gentleman, and had no trouble fitting into the local waterfront scene. In his trade, he was a recognized expert fisherman, a reliable hard worker, and a contributor....Paul Brancaleone gave back to our local fishing industry from the day he arrived!
Gloucester’s fishing industry in the late 1950s and ‘60s was prosperous and promising to newcomer Paul. He immediately took his place alongside his contemporaries at Fisherman’s Wharf. Accepting Paul into their fraternity of highliners were Capt. "Gus" Sanfilippo of the F/V St. Rosalie; Capt. Emilio Spinola and his brothers, Mike and Tom; their uncle, Sam “Glo” Scola; and the family patriarch, Capt. Domenic Spinola of the F/V St. Mary, newly launched only a few years before. There was also Capt."Tom" Aiello of the F/V St. Providenza, Capt. “Joe” Giacalone and his partner Sebastian “Bikee” Scola in their
F/V St. Peter. Also, the Testaverde family in their F/V Linda B.; the nearby
F/V St. Peter III, captained by "Tom" Favazza; and Capt. Benny Chianciola in the F/V Serafina II. All were successful whiting and inshore groundfish producers of the day. These few vessels were charter members of the original Gloucester Whiting Association, organized at Fisherman’s Wharf in the early 1950s and managed by my friend Ray Kershaw. Its membership would exceed 50 inshore vessels in the
‘50s and ‘60s.
Within a few years of his arrival in Gloucester, Paul Brancaleone, the risk taker, would roll the dice and join this fleet with his own dayboat, F/V Santa Lucia. Fishing with his compardi vessel owners, Brancaleone and his Santa Lucia crew became a reliable producer of whiting and groundfish, landed daily at Fisherman’s Wharf in the decades of the '60s and‘70s even into the‘80s. Paul didn’t own the largest boat in the fleet nor did he receive headlines for his production. He merely went about his business everyday....a true highliner!
For decades, this dayboat fleet regularly provided volume quality fresh groundfish to the gourmet restaurant trade from Gloucester to New York and Philadelphia! Capt. Paul and his Santa Lucia were part of that production. This inshore fleet, frequently overshadowed, often going unrecognized for their achievements, were the prosperity builders of Gloucester in those years, advancing Gloucester’s reputation for providing the best fresh groundfish in the industry.
A few weeks ago, while in traffic passing St. Peter’s Club, I observed my friend Paul sitting on a bench socializing with his fellow retired compardis in the bright morning sun. I recognized his familiar beaming smile. I waved and he waved back. I thought then how wonderful it was that Capt. Paul lived to enjoy his hard earned retirement. I will miss seeing my friend, Paul, now gone from the scene.....no longer with us.
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