Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | December 11, 2017 | Worcester Business Journal 21 Don't get caught with stars in your eyes The Worcester Business Journal welcomes letters to the editor and commentary submissions. Please send submissions to Brad Kane, editor, at bkane@wbjournal.com. I 'm frequently asked, "You must slow down in the win- ter, right?" My reply, "Actually, no. People eat multiple times a day, every day. We don't die in the winter. There is more local food available in February than in early May." I am not surprised by the reaction, because most con- sumers know very little about the sea- sons of local food. It's even more shocking, however, when the same dis- connect happens in the kitchens of local restaurants, schools and institu- tions, especially if their marketing says, "local farms/food" or "farm to table." Kitchens have caught on to changing menus with the seasons, but be weary, food may not always come from local farms. The spring equinox arrives March 20, but the peas, asparagus, fiddleheads and ramps associated with a spring menu don't arrive for at least another four to 12 weeks. If a restaurant rolls out that type of menu in March or April, they most certainly did not source from local farms. Sometimes, we as consumers don't care either way. We want strawberries in December, because we love putting them in holiday dishes. We want corn on the cob for the Fourth of July, because that is the official start to summer. That corn is coming from the South, but if you want local corn, you must wait until mid to late July. Truth be told, I don't want to give up citrus or avocados, but I recognize that choice positively impact the local agricultural econo- my. There are 7,000 farms in Central Mass., so buying local isn't hard, you simply must want it and know where to look. Be creative and be prepared to be blown away with quality and flavor, not to mention the health benefits. A place exists for both cheap outsourced food and local- ly grown food. Kitchens buying and serving cheap food are catering to consumers who don't care where or how their food is raised; but if you do care, it is important to know the difference. The restaurant business runs lateral dilem- mas with profit and labor just like the farming community. I am thrilled some kitchens in the Greater Worcester area are buying a few pounds of local food every so often. They have other options for food, especially cheap out- sourced food. More has happened with the integration of local food in Worcester in the last five years than it has in the last 50. When I first launched Lettuce Be Local and a chef bought a few ingredients for a special menu, I was ecstatic! Chefs were biting off on local food; I knew they would love it because the quality and flavor were irresist- ible. Today we have far to go and I wonder if Worcester is truly submerged in farm-to-table or just riding the wave? Chefs are genuinely excited for new ingredients and sea- sonal changes, but it's their new relationships with local farmers and knowing the ingredients were raised specifi- cally for them that has created a humbling experience. As a farm connector, I curate relationships to build the farming community, a process starting to take shape after decades of being forgotten. Our next step is keep educating ourselves about why we should care more about what we eat. Lynn Stromberg is the chief lettuce officer of Sterling local food distributor Lettuce Be Local. Educate yourself on what you are eating V I E W P O I N T E D I T O R I A L BY LYNN STROMBERG Special to the Worcester Business Journal Lynn Stromberg WO R D F R O M T H E W E B Tweets of the week "It is important to understand how this tax bill threatens higher ed." - Mary Ellen Lane (@MaryEllenLane29), Nov. 30, on a story about the University of Massachusetts' criticism of the U.S. Senate tax bill "Congratulations to Emily Holdstein, who is retiring as executive director of @WorcesterJCC" - Leigh Tucker (@NonprofitCFOs), Dec. 1, on a story about the Worcester JCC executive director's legacy W Facebook feedback "I hope he keeps deadhorse hill there. Worcester's best restaurant!" - Gail Dempsey, Dec. 4, on a story about Worcester Railers owner Cliff Rucker buying a Main Street block for $2.7 million "Nothing compared to NY and others." - Michelle May, Dec. 1, on a story about Worcester spending $11,000 on its bid for Amazon's HQ2 B y all accounts, Worcester city officials appear to want to give the Pawtucket Red Sox a big chunk of money to lure them to the Canal District. Team and government officials have been tight-lipped on their discussions, but it is difficult to imagine the Triple A minor league baseball team moving from the state it has called home for nearly 50 years for anything less than what it proposed in Rhode Island: an $83-mil- lion stadium with a combination of city and state subsidies totaling $35 million. Worcester officials are on the right path here in wooing the PawSox to Central Massachusetts. The team would create a buzz much like the Worcester Railers minor league hockey team has done in its inaugural season this fall and then some. With the team playing 71 home games a year in the Canal District, a brand like the Worcester Red Sox would create a strong sense of civic pride and no doubt bolster the neighborhood's businesses. Despite these positives, Worcester needs to pro- ceed with caution. Bright lights have a tendency to make us all make emotional, less rational decisions. America is fraught with cautionary tales of over- exuberant municipalities giving too much public subsidies for sports. Hamilton County, Ohio – the home of the Cincinnati Bengals and Reds – is so overleveraged with its $540 million in stadium obligations it had to sell a hospital to make up for the shortfall in revenue. Hartford, Conn. built a $71-million ballpark to move a Double A minor league team 12 miles down the road from a suburb, and now Hartford is on the verge of bankruptcy. A reason Rhode Island's legislature has been hesitant in giving the PawSox what they want is the state is still smarting over the $75 million in bonds it gave for Curt Schilling to expand his now-bankrupt vid- eo-game company – the appeal of doing business with a World Series hero outweighed a prudent assessment of his business model. To assess what kind of value a Worcester Red Sox team would bring to the city, WBJ News Editor Grant Welker talked to three economists from the city, New England and the country. They all warned stadiums' economic impact are typically overinflated and should be considered about the same as a 16-screen movie theater, or even a Walmart. A prudent amount of public subsidy to give to such an endeavor is about $7 million. In a somewhat similar comparison, Worcester businessman Allen Fletcher is building a $21-mil- lion, mixed-use apartment complex near the pro- posed Red Sox site. For that development, which will bring people to live 24/7 in the Canal District, Fletcher received a $838,000, 10-year tax break from the city (and no state subsidy). Augustus and state officials should consider that a measuring stick when it comes to the Red Sox package. With the state backing Worcester's efforts – Jay Ash, secretary of housing and economic develop- ment, is participating in the PawSox discussions, and Gov. Charlie Baker threw his support behind the effort in early December – it's possible Worcester won't be on the hook for an unwieldy share. Or the state could agree to an infrastructure improvement to benefit the entire neighborhood, such as fixing the Kelly Square traffic problems. Regardless of if Worcester's discussions are suc- cessful in getting the PawSox, the city needs to do a logical assessment of how much it is actually will- ing to commit to these endeavors. Worcester is a growing market with genuine buzz, and businesses – including sports teams – will want to locate here. No doubt this is an exciting opportunity we'd like to see happen. Whether it is the Red Sox, Amazon, an Abbvie expansion or a new Niche Hospitality Group restaurant, Worcester needs to make smart deals to build on the community's momentum. W

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