Mayor Elaine Pluta 

 Greetings to all the residents of Holyoke.

I wish you much Success, Health, and Happiness this year.

First of all, I want to declare that 2010 was a successful year in the comeback of our fair City. You are all aware of the great events that took place which made everyone, even its residents, take an additional look at Holyoke and its great resources.

If not, here’s a quick overview:

• The grand opening of the Holyoke Transportation Center,
• the CanalWalk grand opening,
• the Holyoke Green High Performance Computer Center (HGHPCC) location was chosen and
 the ground-breaking held,
• construction activity at the new site for the Senior Center, and
• the important openings of numerous new small businesses….just to name a few accomplishments_2010.pdf
 

On the horizon for this year is:
• more activity at the site for the HGHPCC,
• CISCO’s continued efforts to make Holyoke a smart and connected community,
• the beginning of the reconstruction of our Public Library, 
• the next phase of the CanalWalk project,
• recommendations from the Innovation Task Force, and
• more grand openings of small businesses.

From my office this will be the first year that a strategic tax planning panel will be convened to look at ways to improve our tax rates across the board for both commercial and residential properties. This panel will form a long-range plan to improve the City’s future for economic development. It will consist of representatives from the business and residential sector, members of the city’s finance team, and City Councilors-all in a joint effort lead by my office.  We can also look forward to an initiative of support for the creation of incubator businesses to spur more small business growth. Small businesses are touted as the jobs of the future and I want Holyoke to be in the forefront of this effort.

In addition to the Tax Panel, I will continue to take the lead on the Clean City Initiative Committee and you can expect a cleaner City as our efforts are put into place. There will be a new Police Chief and new Fire Chief thanks to our Police Chief Search Committee and the Fire Commissioners who will work very hard on our behalf to bring us the best candidates.

I spent the last weekend in January, 2011, in Boston at the MA Municipal Trade Show and brought back some great ideas on how to move our City forward, cut expenses, improve our revenue sources, and bring our budget into compliance with the state financial aid cuts that are a very real possibility.

This is a quick snapshot of what’s in store for this coming year. The highlights and the one lowlight of financial cuts but I have every confidence that Holyoke will thrive on all fronts. There will be bumps in the road but we will come out on top as long as we all work together for the City’s success.

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 A farewell by Holyoke Police Chief Anthony Scott to senior citizens features Bill Cosby Scott praised his staff for volunteering to chaperone the seniors on buses up to the Log Cabin. 

 Mayor Pluta proposes the creation of a committee to look at how to reduce taxes for both businesses and residents of Holyoke. She says, "The key is that such a committee would be working on a long-term plan, not a quick fix."

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“We are extremely excited to be working with Cisco to transform Holyoke into a modern, technology-driven city that residents can be proud to be a part of,” said mayor Elaine Pluta in a statement. “The initial phase of pilot programs is just the first step for the city toward creating a more sustainable and collaborative environment for our citizens.”

Cisco kicks off smart city pilot program in Holyoke, Mass. - SmartPlanet

Cisco on Thursday announced that it’s working with the city of Holyoke, Mass. to begin several pilot programs to help redevelop the city.

   

October 20, 2010 at 4:53pm

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  Computer Center groundbreaking.

Gov. Patrick to participate in ground-breaking of new high performance computing center in Holyoke

The center is to be built by government agencies and a variety of colleges.

  

 October 4, 2010 at 1:45pm  

 

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