Worcester Business Journal

www.wbjournal.com June 8, 2015 • Worcester Business Journal 37 Some companies, to their credit, have taken steps to narrow that gap. Amid a broad outcry to raise the minimum wage, Wal-Mart, long the focus of advocates for lower-paid workers, announced earlier this year that it would raise the floor wage for about a half-million workers to $9 an hour, $1.75 above the current federal minimum of $7.25. Closer to home, the TJX Cos., the Framingham-based parent of T.J. Maxx, HomeGoods and Marshalls, announced a similar action in March. While we can all argue that rising wages can hurt business, especially small business, we must also consider that ours remains a consumer driven economy, and if we don't have a healthy middle- class group of consumers, we risk stalling the very engine that drives our economy. The wage stagnation the country has been under may be helping the stock market, but it can't be helping our communities. On a broader scale, Becker College recently announced it will open a center on its Worcester campus that will focus on how business can identify and solve social problems. The Yunus Social Business Centre will be named for Muhammad Yunus, a Bangladeshi economist, banker and social entrepreneur who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006. He pioneered the concept of social business: utilizing microfinance and microcredit to help the poor develop self-sustainable businesses, especially businesses that can address social problems. Becker is one of a handful of higher education institutions around the world — and the first in the United States — to establish a Yunus site. It's a noble and commendable cause. Efforts such as this are needed here and elsewhere to help lift people with business and entrepreneurial potential out of poverty, and find business-driven solutions to benefit society in addition to meeting needs in the marketplace. This undertaking, aided by The Seven Hills Foundation, which conducts some of its work in eight developing nations, can also benefit by its location: in the middle of a state that thrives on ingenuity and innovation. "Business is uniquely positioned to address need, create value, and drive profit which, in turn, can expand the reach, impact, and sustainability of the solution," Becker President Robert Johnson said in a statement announcing the agreement. Such a message can resonate well with the Central Massachusetts business community, which, as a whole, recognizes the value and virtue of community involvement. This strategic partnership between Becker and Seven Hills represents an innovative approach and a unique opportunity to create and build more sustainable businesses that can also help the greater good. n Becker effort represents boost for 'good' business E D I T O R I A L The Worcester Business Journal welcomes letters to the editor and commentary submissions. Please send submissions to Rick Saia, editor, at rsaia@wbjournal.com. Letters can also be faxed to 508-755-8860. E verybody, it seems, has an opinion about what's wrong with the MBTA and how to fix it. But there's one thing that each of the many blue- ribbon panels that have looked into the T's problems has agreed on: We can't expect to fix the T for the long term without investing more money in the system and getting more value from every dollar we spend. Gov. Charlie Baker's special panel on the MBTA is the latest to reject the "reform vs. revenue" debate because, in the panel's words, "the MBTA needs both." So, it's disappointing and puzzling that the governor's MBTA reform legislation, now before the legislature, proposed cutting over half a billion dollars that had been pledged toward the state's transportation system (which also includes regional transportation authorities, plus roads and bridges) under legislation passed two years ago. That law — along with reforms adopted in 2009 — took important steps toward bringing the MBTA and Massachusetts' transportation system into the 21st century. The laws streamlined governance, eliminated many wasteful practices, and established a process to ensure that future transportation spending delivers the greatest bang for the buck. Those reforms from the 2013 law are still being implemented. And, as the special panel concluded, there are many additional steps that must be taken to ensure that the MBTA is run efficiently and effectively. With the Baker administration in control of the T, odds are better that those important steps will be taken. But cutting funding for transportation across the state and the MBTA — funding that many previous studies suggest is still woefully inadequate for current and future needs — would eliminate a critical fiscal safety net just as the high-wire act of reforming the T begins. Without that safety net, the MBTA may be forced to rely on self- defeating service cuts or major fare hikes. That's clearly not the governor's preference, based on recent remarks before lawmakers. MBTA riders, however, know the history here. In the last decade, an effort at fiscal accountability led to a squeeze that left riders subject to a cycle of major fare hikes and threats of dramatic service cuts, even as equipment and service deteriorated and the MBTA fell further into debt. As recently as 2012, the MBTA proposed cutting 100 bus lines and raising fares up to 43 percent to make ends meet. That's why, in 2013, the legislature wisely stepped in to put the T on more solid financial ground and prevent history from repeating itself. The hundreds of thousands of people who use the MBTA daily — and the many businesses that rely on it — crave stability and confidence after last winter's fiasco. As the legislature considers the governor's proposal, keeping in place the funding they wisely provided in 2013 and maintaining the limits on fare hikes would assure riders that the more recent ser vice interruptions won't be met by a new round of disruption in the coming months and years. The commonwealth should seize this unprecedented opportunity to build a "reliable, predictable, affordable" transit system for Massachusetts, the kind of system that can support and encourage continued economic growth and prosperity. n Kristina Egan is the director of Transportation for Massachusetts, a Boston-based transportation advocacy group. Jesse Mermell is executive director of the Alliance for Business Leadership, a Cambridge-based organization of business leaders. T money must help system move forward BY KRISTINA EGAN AND JESSE MERMELL Special to the Worcester Business Journal V I E W P O I N T A lift for democracy in Worcester W e see it every year: veteran public officials running unopposed for re-election, which can mean one of two things: Either they're doing a fabulous job for their constituents, or there's a pervasive sense of apathy that keeps worthy candidates who might challenge them on the sidelines. So, it was a pleasant surprise when 16 candidates emerged for the six at-large seats on the Worcester City Council, as well as four people who filled out their papers for the open District 2 seat. That means a preliminary election, scheduled for Sept. 8, will actually mean something when voters pare the at-large field to 12 and the District 2 field to two. Our hope is that more candidates will mean more attention to the races, and a lengthier conversation between the candidates and the voters on important issues facing the city. There is no greater enemy to enlightened public policy than voter apathy. Let's hope that the large field turns into a larger voter turnout. There is plenty at stake in Worcester for the business community. The city's still disparate property tax rates, downtown and neighborhood development, and growing the business tax base are all critical to its economic future. A broader pool of candidates is a good start. n I n some circles big business has taken it on the chin for the widening income disparity between CEO pay and the pay of regular working-class employees in the United States. That disturbing disparity comes on top of Wall Street bearing a large chunk of the blame for the devastating recession that began in 2007, and which to this day remains front and center in our collective psyche. Kristina Egan Jesse Mermell

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