The two-day visit to Gloucester by 11 visiting economic development specialists in early May, part of an emergency assignment to the major fishing ports of New England by then-Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, will produce nothing of immediate value, Mayor Carolyn Kirk said Thursday.
Kirk gave the assessment after a briefing by Joshua Barnes, the team leader from Commerce's Economic Development Administration who also delivered a 35-page draft assessment of Gloucester's history, economy, culture and potential.
"We've going to have a year's worth of meetings so that we'll be on the receiving end of federal aid," Kirk said.
She said the draft would be corrected for factual errors and circulated to the participants in the meetings before it is returned to the Department of Commerce to be converted into a finished product.
Kirk said, however, that one realization to come from the meetings and dialogue with the experts — part of the Commerce Department's Economic Development Administration — is that Gloucester is not well organized or structured to match the requirements of the federal government.
In federal jargon, as expressed in the draft report. what is out of kilter is the "city of Gloucester economic development delivery system."
Read the complete story from The Gloucester Times