Scott Wilson Speaking Out

I often read things on blogs and use those as one source for me to become more informed about our community and what our residents are thinking.  While I agree, there are things that the town can do better to support our businesses, this blog misses the mark with regards to what needs to be done.

It begins by discussing vacant spaces on Main Street.  While there are some vacant spots, let’s not confuse a couple large empty lots with the growth that we’ve seen the last few years here in Tewksbury.  Daily we continue to field calls and talk to developers about the vacancies which do exist and what we can do to help fill these holes.

The big ones which stand out are where Ocean State Job lot now sits, behind Ryans Pub and where Home Goods used to exist.   In all three scenarios, the problem was/is the same.  The current owner of the land has a lease in place for a number of years (in some cases up to 10) and they are making their money without any of the headaches.   There is no incentive to sell or fill the space as their rent is paid for every month. Soon after the lease ran out at Ocean State Job Lot, the owners solicited business and the lot has continued to be full and growing.

As for large corporations and mass exodus, I haven’t seen that either.   We lost AVID because they found a better lease and location for their business.  As a town we spoke to them but we don’t own the land and they couldn’t work out a better deal with their landlord.  Since then we have continued to bring in some businesses and we have also watched those businesses expand.

As a town we welcome feedback from the survey conducted by the TBA.  That is why we started a new committee called the Economic Development process review committee which has many small business owners from Tewksbury involved.  We invite others to join us also.     We also have our Economic Development Committee which in recent years has worked with State to have us become an Economic Target area, a green community and a bio-tech ready community.  These designations cause businesses to look at our community regularly.

Specifically the town has spent the last five years shrinking our departments and getting  more done with less money and people.   We have worked closely with unions to better manage our costs associated with benefits and we continue to look for ways to provide more for less.  Just recently there was an article discussing Tewksbury as one of the better communities to move into.  In addition we have not had any difficulty attracting businesses, it just takes time.    I would love to see us invest more money in our community but filling up a few store fronts on Main Street will not bring in those revenues.   I know the Casino gets people excited, but one of the reasons I supported it was that it would allow us to improve some of the very things mentioned in this blog.    Lower Sewer and Water rates, improved infrastructure and more revenue to help improve services.

The restaurant industry in Tewksbury is booming.  We have more great restaurants now than we did five years ago.   I enjoy dining at many of them.   Not all restaurants fail because of the town but many have thrived because of the residents that frequent these places and spend their money locally.

The old Tewksbury definitely operated by “who you know” and not “what you know”.   That is not our town today.  I’m not naïve enough to believe that it happens but to suggest that this is Tewksbury today would be missing a lot of good work that has happened in recent years.

Recently a new car dealership (U-SAVE Car Sales) opened in Tewksbury.  When they applied for their original license, the by-laws didn’t allow them to rent cars.   While disappointing, they followed the process, changed the by-law and can now rent cars.   While all of our bylaws aren’t relevant, many have worked over the years to improve them and that is all it takes.  

I am a fan of Hanson who wrote this blog but can’t support this as a way to work with the town or provide meaningful feedback which we can use to improve processes.    I encourage residents to get involved and help fix the problems.   I can only speak for the last five years that I have been involved but there are more opportunities to fix things than there are people to fix them.   We encourage people to help, as we all only have 24 hours in a day.

Set up a meeting with our Town Manager, come in and speak to the BOS at a meeting, call me on my cell phone and discuss your thoughts.  I am sure of one thing.  We all want this community to thrive and we have been working hard to accomplish just that.

Sincerely,
Scott Wilson

Board of Selectmen (These comments are mine and mine along and may or may not reflect the views of my peers).