Editorial: Destination 2008
As 2007 comes to a close, the Worcester Business Journal is anxiously looking forward to 2008 and the promise it holds. While the economy is on shaky ground as we all close out the books on this year, no one can tell for sure that 2008 won't be our region's best year ever.
Here are our prophecies - some realistic, mostly fantastical - for the Central Massachusetts business community in '08.
Living In A Virtual World
Hopkinton's EMC Corp., in conjunction with its minority-owned subsidiary VMware, releases Virtual Employee 1.0, which will do twice the work of a living, breathing human being in half the time. There's no health insurance cost and only two software support personnel needed per user license.
Tilting At Turbines
Gov. Deval "Don Quixote" Patrick comes out with a proposal calling for a wind turbine on every hill in Massachusetts. The Bay State supplants the Netherlands as the windmill capital of the world. Combined, the new turbines produce enough electricity to power the state's first wooden shoe factory in Fitchburg.
Gene Therapy
Craig Mello's RXi has the biggest biotech IPO to hit Wall Street in a decade. The company immediately builds a 250,000-square-foot headquarters at the old Wyman Gordon site in Worcester. Worcester immediately becomes the number one city for venture investment in the United States.
Back On Track
CSX and the commonwealth put selfish interests aside and see that the giant Union Station in Worcester is under-utilized. CSX offers up use of its tracks, doubling the number of commuter trains from Worcester to Boston, thereby providing each rider with his or her own private rail car.
Breaking The Mold
The North Central plastics industry, long in the decline, gets invigorated with the invention of a neon green lawn turtle. The piece of plastic kitsch is so popular, Pixar develops a computer animated movie around it, paying royalties to the workers at the plant in Leominster. Who needs a pink flamingo?
Higher Ed
U.S. News and World Report names Central Massachusetts as the best region for getting a college education in nation, thanks to the numerous high quality schools in the area. Yale University gets jealous, and sets up a campus in Spencer.
Take A Tax Hike
The City of Worcester decides local option taxes are a bad idea. It does away with the meals tax and its dual-rate property tax system in favor of a single rate for commercial and residential property owners. As a result, all the businesses the city always wished it had move right in. But the city's more than 160,000 residents all move out. The three-deckers are subsequently zoned commercial and there's a fireplace in every boardroom.
Outbreak
A genetically modified goat at GTC Biotherapeutics' Worcester-area farm bites a worker there, turning him into "Antithrombin Man," a mild-mannered scientist by day and a superhero with horns who eats tin cans and saves surgery patients from blood clots by night.
Trigger Happy
Berkeley Investments of Boston gets its trigger tenant and then some as boutique retailers and Boston law firms fight for space in the proposed development in downtown Worcester. Coming from Newbury and Boylston Streets, $30 a foot is cheap space! Young Park and Michael O'Brien get to high five in front of the dubious city council as the wrecking ball finally makes its first contact with the Common Outlets.
Happy Holidays!
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