North Shore leaders talk economy

DANVERS – State of the Region addresses delivered at a forum Wednesday by mayors and town managers along the North Shore ranged in complexion from down-and-out to highly optimistic.The annual Economic & Public Policy Breakfast at the Danversport Yacht Club brought into vivid contrast the community viewpoints of Lynn Mayor Edward J. Clancy Jr., Salem Mayor Kimberley Driscoll, Beverly Mayor William Scanlon, Gloucester Mayor Carolyn Kirk, Newburyport Mayor John Moak, Amesbury Mayor Thatcher W. Kezer III and Danvers Town Manager Wayne Marquis.Clancy expressed dismay over the economic downturn. “These are difficult times,” he said, using the analogy of tectonic plates shifting and colliding to explain the cross purposes of the tax-capping Proposition 21/2 legislation and the demands brought by the collective bargaining process.On the up side, Clancy said Lynn has a new police station, athletic field, a summer college baseball team and is achieving gender equity among its municipal staff with the city’s first female firefighter, school superintendent, health department director and election office head.Clancy said real estate values in Lynn dropped by about 28 percent last year, while surrounding communities experienced declines of about 33 percent.Driscoll was upbeat about Salem. “The downtown is brimming with activity,” she said, citing the resurgence of investment in the city’s downtown business district.The former Salem News building on Washington Street has been converted to 61 residential units with the new Tavern on the Square restaurant occupying the ground level.Driscoll noted the former Salem Jail is undergoing a transformation into 24 housing units and a restaurant, the latter featuring jail memorabilia. She also called attention to the sprawling J. Michael Ruane judicial center, under construction on a 3.9 acre site between Federal, North and Bridge streets. Once completed, it will house regional courtrooms, the district attorney’s office and accommodations for judges and judicial staff.Plans are also under way in Salem to build a commuter parking garage and a commercial wharf for commuter ferries, whale watch tour boats and cruise ships, she said, adding, “The harbor is our Route 128 and key to our future development.”The Salem mayor said attempts at regionalization of municipal services were attempted but didn’t work out. “They’re great in concept but harder to put into place,” she said, using for example the idea of a regional fire-police dispatch system. “We tried to implement it and it unraveled,” she said, as did an attempt to share health department services with Peabody.The forum, established in 1988, provides an opportunity to gain a “big picture” of what is happening on the North Shore, according to Dr. Wayne Burton, chairman of the North Shore Chamber of Commerce, which sponsors the event.Kezer described Amesbury as on solid footing. “The taxes are still high, but we have the plan in place to achieve our goals,” he said, the most important of which is to provide services that residents can afford.To balance this year’s budget, Kezer laid off 18 percent of the municipal workforce. He also regionalized health services with Newburyport and Salisbury, dropping his annual health inspection costs from $60,000 to $6,000.Amesbury residents can now go online, log into the municipal Web site and file a complaint about pot holes or other problems, he said. “Our biggest challenge is our own facilities,” he said. “Our buildings are old.”Failing infrastructure was the central them of Kirk’s address, which emphasized the Gloucester’s latest round of troubles with its drinking water supply.Gloucester on Wednesday was in Day 20 of a boil-water order, forcing the closure of five Dunkin’ Donut franchises, several popular restaurants, and other businesses highly dependent on clean water.Kirk urged her municipal colleagues to prepare contingency plans should a bad-water situation hit their communities. “Some businesses had to shut