Essex Heritage Events
Upcoming Events
Saturday, June 1, 2013 • 8am - 12pm
Photo Safari featuring Tamron at The Cox Reservation
82 Eastern Avenue, Essex, MA 01929. Capture magnificent views of the Great Marsh, the Essex River, the
back of Crane Beach, and Castle Hill and Choate Island from the Cox
Reservation! Reservations required. Click here for more information about the Photo Safari
program & to register online.
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Saturday, June 1, 2013 • 9:00am - 12:00pm
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Featured
Partner Event - Essex County Greenbelt
Association Presents:
Celebrate National Trails Day, Barrett Reservation,
Middleton.
Celebrate National Trails Day by helping to construct a new path through the
woods at the Barrett
Reservation, Middleton. Work boots and enthusiasm welcome! Stay
tuned for more information and to get driving directions. Reservations
required. This event is free, but please email ecga@ecga.org or call
Greenbelt at 978-768-7241 to register.
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June 14 - 16, 2013
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Featured
Partner Event
- Essex County Greenbelt Association Presents:
24th Annual Art in the Barn Weekend
at the Cox Reservation
82 Eastern Avenue, Essex, MA 01929
Mark your calendars! Art in the Barn, an art show benefitting
Essex County Greenbelt, will be held June 14-16 at the Allyn Cox Reservation in
Essex. Enjoy this weekend long exhibition and sale! Proceeds benefit
Greenbelt’s land conservation efforts. $5.00 one-time parking fee.
Information on the Merrimack River Trail
In support of its mission to preserve and enhance the region's
historical, cultural and natural resources, Essex Heritage, in partnership with
the Merrimack Valley
Planning Commission (MVPC), is providing leadership to a strategic
planning initiative focused on developing the Merrimack River Trail, a long
envisioned 50-mile multimodal recreational trail along the Merrimack River in
Massachusetts. The project entails the engagement of trail advocates and
municipal officials in the 17 Massachusetts communities that border the
Merrimack River. An early stage reconnaissance planning study was completed in
December 2011 with the support of a Recreational Trails Grant from the
Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation.
With the goal of promoting increased use of the Merrimack River
Trail, the project partners seek to build upon prior efforts by adding and
improving connections between existing sections of the 20 year-old trail.
Tracing the river’s route, the trail will ultimately connect six cities and
eleven towns from Tyngsborough to Newbury, effectively creating the backbone of
a continuous, non-motorized, on- and off-road trail system.
Merrimack River Trail communities include Tyngsborough, Dracut,
Chelmsford, Lowell, Tewksbury, Andover, Methuen, Lawrence, North Andover,
Haverhill, Groveland, Merrimac, West Newbury, Amesbury, Newburyport, Salisbury,
and Newbury.
Regional Events
Salem Five business Meeting
Early
last week as a Corporator of the Salem Five, I attended the annual meeting of
the Bank at their community room on the Essex Street Mall. We were
provided with a current update on the most recent business year and excellent
presentations by the four most senior offices from the leadership
team. The bank had another very good year financially with the
economic comeback of the national economy. The stock market has improved
and real estate values in some cases have been growing. Joseph Gibbons,
President and CEO of the bank, spoke of the continuing merger program with
Stoneham Savings Bank and spoke at some length on the activity of the mortgage
group at Salem Five. I sat during the presentation with Donald
Glass who was a contemporary of mine on the teller line at Salem Five in the
1960’s. Don later became the Executive Director of the Massachusetts
Cooperative Bank League and now serves on the Bank’s Executive Committee.
We spoke after the meeting that the surplus of the bank that reflects the
retained earnings since inception in 1855 now stands at over $330 million which
is substantially higher than the overall size of the bank when we toiled as
tellers in the early 1960’s That metric certainly points out
the success of this community bank that has been a wonderful contributor to the
growth of this region.
The
Bank’s Treasurer Ping Yin Chai presented a usual set of metrics that showed the
bank well ahead of it completion and substantially ahead of stated banking
norms. He pointed out that Salem Five is now the fifth largest bank
in the state. While the standing is well stern of the number one
banking institution Eastern Bank, it reminds me that Salem Five and Eastern
Bank once stood just a couple of blocks away from one another in Salem and
their mutual successes have certainly played a role in the growth of Salem.
Detailed
presentations were provided to the Corporators by bank Senior officers Kim
Meader and Bruce Potter who spoke of their overall
responsibilities. Mr. Meader spoke of the growth of commercial
lending area. Mr. Potter reviewed the methods used to insure that loans
are paid back by borrowers.
It
was announced that the annual social meeting would be held in May at the
Historic Hawthorne Hotel. At that event the speaker will be the noted
motivational speaker and World War ll author, James Bradley who wrote the
emotional best sellers “Flags of Our Fathers” and “Flyboys”, both books were
wonderful tales of valor and life during the war.
City of Peabody Receives Great News From Commonwealth on School
Building Project
In
these difficult times, The City of Peabody has received notification that the
Commonwealth’s School Building Authority has agreed to provide over one half of
the funds to the city for the addition they are planning next to the existing
middle school. The total cost of the project will exceed $88
million and the State has committed $43.6 million fund towards completion of
that project. Even with the Junior High Award, the city is not resting on
its laurels. They have got in line with the Commonwealth for
Elementary School funding to make improvements at three schools in the city.
Unique Business Arrangement Benefits North Shore Community College
A
unique arrangement which appears to be beneficial to both the local Community
College and a company with leadership skills in this region has been formed.
North Shore Community College headed by President Wayne Burton, soon to be
retired, has entered into an agreement with Higher Education Partners that when
completed will save two programs that without the new space might have to be
cancelled due to space constraints at Essex Agricultural School on the
Danvers-Middleton line, where parts of the “Aggie” will have to be torn down to
make room for the new Regional “Tech” School. The two programs,
that focus on Cosmetology and Culinary Arts, will be moved to Lynn and will, as
a result of the agreement, operate in a three story office building in downtown
Lynn that will benefit that community. The unusual feature of
this agreement is that the private company, Higher Education Partners, will
provide the space in Lynn where the College also has a spacious campus and will
bear all of the upfront costs in exchange for a percentage of the program
revenue. This is a most unusual arrangement and all of the players
involved should be congratulated for ”thinking outside the box” to save the
programs for the many students that will benefit from their efforts.
Higher
Education Partners, that runs out on New Bedford, Massachusetts and Providence
Rhode Island, is run by two gentlemen well known in this area. They
are Gerry Kavanaugh and Bill Luster who I have known professionally and worked
with when the Salem Partnership was being developed. At that time, they
served as the City of Salem Planning Director and the Assistant Director and
were instrumental in the success of that endeavor.
National Grid in Discussions with City of Salem over Power Line
Replacement
The
Utility has to replace two major transmission cables that run from the electric
sub station near the Power Station to a new location on Canal Street in
Salem. An alternative plan was proposed and dismissed by
National Grid that would place the cable beneath Salem Harbor. They
want to lay the cable through the Salem Common Neighborhood and then down
Hawthorne Boulevard and ultimately to Canal Street. A large group
of neighbors gathered to voice their opinion and were very opposed to the plans
proposed by National Grid. I am reasonably certain that there will be
additional negotiations between the Company and those impacted. The work
is scheduled to begin next year and to be finished the following year.
Some resolution must be addressed as the new cables are essential to the power
grid that serves the community,
Medical, Senior and Disability Matters
News From North Shore Elder Services
The
attached New York Times article,
“For Modern Retirees, There’s No Place Like Home”, was published on March 12,
2013.
The concepts outlined in the following newspaper article provides
support for the some of the present activities of North Shore Elder Services
that is attempting to introduce the concept of “staying in your home” to the
region with the mission of the Longevity
Connection in two important aspects: the role of technology in the
home and the potential demand for the “village” model. The Longevity Connection is one of the
most current initiatives of North Shore Elder Services that could be very
valuable to a number of seniors in this region. Please review the
following letter and if later more information is needed or if you would like to discuss the
concept in more detail a visit to The Longevity Connection at the 3rd floor headquarters of
North Shore Elder Services at Sylvan Street in Danvers would be well worth the
investment of ones time as several programs are available for discussion.
For Modern Retirees, There’s No Place Like Home
LOUISVILLE, KY
INFLUENCED by long-term trends in housing design, communications
technology, medical care and the expectations of the largest retiree generation
in United States history, the outlines of the next era of American retirement
are gaining clarity across the country.
In Parker, Colo., 18 miles south of Denver, retirees are proposing
what they call a senior cohousing community in a downtown neighborhood. When
completed, perhaps next year, it will have shared common spaces for activities
and about 40 condominium-style apartments at affordable prices.
In Boston, retirees in 2002 established a nonprofit service
organization to provide rides, grocery shopping, repairs and social events for
members of the nation’s first urban village. Today, according to the
Village-to-Village network, a national alliance of such groups, 100 other
urban, suburban and rural villages — networks defined by more than
geography — have formed nationwide. Members typically pay annual dues of $400
to $600, and some seek to recruit residents who have specific interests in art
or music, a trend illustrated in Dustin Hoffman’s 2012 film “Quartet.”
The Parker and Boston projects reflect two of the most significant
priorities that have consistently emerged in surveys of new retirees and adults
who are approaching retirement: the desire to stay in one’s home as long as
possible and the interest in living in big-city neighborhoods or suburban
downtowns. “We’re seeing the
development of housing networks and social networks and service networks that
provide the activities and support for many more people to lead the lives they
want in their homes,” said Paul B. Kusserow, senior vice president and chief
strategy and corporate development officer for Humana, the large Medicare
insurance provider, which is based here.
Recognizing the strength of that trend, which is developing in an
era of rising energy costs and static incomes, cities are building new
neighborhood infrastructure — transit lines, public markets, parks and denser
housing — that is accessible without driving. Cincinnati and Grand Rapids, Mich., for
instance, are among the dozens of small American cities that are building new
rail and rapid bus transit lines that serve the growing number of young
professionals, as well as middle-age and older residents moving to their
downtowns. “Young people and old people are sharing some of the same values
about neighborhood living,” said Armando Carbonell, chairman of planning and
urban form at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, a research group in
Cambridge, Mass. “They share preferences in housing that are showing up in the
market. It is a kind of living that is more central city, smaller units for
smaller households.”
Software developers and engineers say they are making it easier
for people to stay in their homes — urban or suburban — by inventing sensors,
audio and visual equipment, and communications devices to provide care
remotely. Much of the data, video and sound is accessible online, enabling
instant contact with residents, and providing peace of mind for friends and
family. “In 20 years, many more people will stay in
their homes who need help but don’t need to be in nursing care or assisted
living,” said Casey Clements, the managing director of Rest Assured, which
installs sensing and communications devices and assigns a trained staff member
to provide what it calls telecare from its offices in Lafayette, Ind.
Founded in 2006 as a division of ResCare, based in Louisville and
one of the nation’s largest in-home care providers, Rest Assured serves 600
clients in 16 states for an average cost of $1,100 a month, Mr. Clements said. “Technology is changing in our favor,” he
said. “Costs are coming down and these tools are already easy for clients to
operate. We see many, many more people turning to this kind of system so that
they can stay in their homes.”
The goal of remaining at home also has attracted the interest of
builders. In 2011, the Lennar Corporation, one of the country’s largest
builders, began offering floor plans for new multigenerational suburban houses
in California and Arizona that incorporate separate living quarters. The
first-floor apartments — which include small kitchens — initially could be used
by a boomerang college student or an aging parent, and then by a live-in
caregiver.
Master-planned retirement communities, which serve what the market
calls “active independent adults,” are being built much closer to downtowns
because customer surveys clearly indicate that buyers expect to continue
working in their retirement years. “With future baby
boomers working part time, starting new businesses or new careers, it’s not
surprising that they want to stay connected to their current community but
still take advantage of an active lifestyle,” said Deborah Meyer, chief
marketing officer for the PulteGroup, a national home builder based in
Bloomfield Hills, Mich. Pulte is the parent company of Del Webb, which in 1960
founded Sun City near Phoenix, described as the country’s first large-scale,
age-restricted retirement community.
Few places in the United States are studying the stages of aging,
market trends and housing more intently than Louisville, a northern Kentucky
city of 602,000 residents. In the last two decades a thriving “aging and
wellness” sector developed here, with health professionals and business
executives from leading companies in insurance, senior housing, medical
devices, software and nursing care. It employs about 20,000 people, according
to city figures.
Much of the research and business models under development in
Louisville focus on what some specialists call the outsourced wing of the
retirement and health sector, where retirees rely on others providing
services: assisted living, nursing care, hospitalization and
rehabilitation.
The ideas being tested and deployed here encompass things like the
colors of the paint, carpet and fabrics used in Signature Healthcare’s
state-of-the-art nursing facilities, online-guided robots for remote doctor
visits and high-definition communication systems in the Trilogy Health Service
assisted-living centers here.
Such innovations are also applicable in many other settings, said
John P. Reinhart, president and chief executive of InnovateLTC, a research and
marketing group. Established with seed funding from the state, Signature
Healthcare and the University of Louisville, InnovateLTC fosters marketing and
collaboration among companies based here — the corporate hub of the nation’s
largest cluster of service companies for the aging, with revenue exceeding $44
billion annually.
Nearly 42 million people in the United States are 65 or older,
according to the Census Bureau. By 2050, one of every five Americans — 88.5
million people — will be 65 or older, according to a 2009 study by the
Congressional Research Service. In 1950, 12.4 million Americans were 65 or
older, or fewer than one in 12 American citizens.
“We already know that in a decade there won’t be enough caregivers
to help the number of retirees that need support,” Mr. Reinhart said. “We’re
finding other ways to interact and provide care. That involves new technology.
It also involves new ways to organize ourselves in neighborhoods and new
relationships with people to provide care. We are going to develop a new
definition of who we consider family.”
The influence of Louisville’s wellness sector has permeated
surprising corners of this city’s business community, like interior design.
Douglas Riddle, a designer and president of Bittners, an upscale furnishings
and custom-crafted furniture company founded here in 1854, has helped several
clients “build a house they tell me they’re determined to be carried out of.” Mr. Riddle counsels clients and their
architects on incorporating wider doors, fabric patterns and colors that will
not confuse people with memory loss and dementia, and even extra studs in
bathroom walls for the day when handrails are needed. “I have several clients who are
physicians,” Mr. Riddle said. “I ask them questions about what to anticipate,
and I’ve developed expertise in designing homes for people who really mean it
when they say they won’t be leaving.”
For people who need more care, Louisville is thinking about that,
too. One leading company in the aging sector here is Atria Senior Living,
founded in 1998, which owns and manages 127 retiree or assisted-living
communities.
One of its newest centers is Atria on the Hudson in Ossining,
N.Y., a community where residents in one- and two-bedroom units share so many
places to meet and muse — cafes, a library, a theater, gardens — that the
campus resembles a pedigree prep school. Another Atria community is West 86, a
luxury retiree residence on Manhattan’s Upper West Side that provides owners
access to three restaurants, a spa, rooftop fitness center, a library and
numerous cultural and social events. “What we’ve done in both residences is
respond to a need in the market that will only grow,” said Mark Alexander,
Atria’s senior vice president for redevelopment.
Masonic Homes of Kentucky, based in Louisville, takes a more
comprehensive approach. Its Continual Care Retirement Community mixes a
multistory condominium for younger and active retirees with assisted living,
skilled nursing and rehabilitation centers on a campus close to the city’s
center. The idea is that active residents have
easier access to the city’s arts and recreational institutions and will never
have to move again as they age.
People in the News
Former Salem High School Winning Football Coach Named to Hall of
Fame
After a period when his efforts and results were not recognized,
Ken Perone, who is a personal acquaintance, was elected to the Hall of Fame at
Salem High School along with other coaches and athletes. Ken who is
tied for the most wins in school history has been in sports limbo for the last
two decades due to unusual circumstances. In addition to his football
wins, Perone has also been a most successful baseball coach at Salem State
University.
Retiring North Shore Community College President to be Honored
Retiring President Wayne Burton will be honored for his work as
President of North Shore Community College later this year in Ipswich on June
13th for his many achievements. He is a winner of the Essex
Heritage Hero Award a couple of years ago. We will provide more
details about his honor as we get closer to the date of his event.
General Observations
Medical Associations in this region Continues to Change
It seems as if it were just weeks ago when Beverly Hospital and
Addison Gilbert Hospital in Gloucester announced that they had become part of
the Lahey Health System. Now just a few weeks later Lahey is reported in
local newspapers as being in talks with Beth Israel Hospital and their
physicians group in Boston concerning the potential of a merger. The CEO
of Leahy indicated that exploring partnerships with other high quality health
providers are fundamental to meeting the needs of our patients and controlling
costs. It is most clear that the medical industry continues
to be in a constant state of flux. It is likely that the challenge
of partnerships is not over yet and when it is all said and done there will be
just a couple of large well capitalized and talented professional labor pool
heath organizations and Lahey expects to be one of those players and competing
with organizations like Partners Health Care.
Cursive Writing Becoming a practice of the past in this Digital
Age,
As an elementary student, I learned cursive writing and learned
the Palmers Method of writing. Now penmanship seems to be taking a
back seat to computer keyboards. The ability to use the keyboard on
the computer today is important, but I believe that some attention still should
be paid in learning how to write cursively.
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