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Congrats to Steve Poftak

To those of you in the blogosphere who miss the witty and sometimes irreverent posts of our research director, Steve Poftak: Steve has been blog-silent for good reason. He and his wife are celebrating the birth of their second child. All of us at Pioneer wish Steve and his family the best, even as we miss his wit and banter around the office.

A Path to Solvency for the DCR?

Though I have been unable to leave the BGC behind (it really was that good an event), I cannot take credit for the following post. It comes from one of our summer interns, Katharine Sheehan, a senior year BC: “The Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority (NVRPA), runner-up at the BGC, has transformed its operations in just a matter of years and cut operating costs while increasing usership and revenues. As a result, the NVRPA is now a self-sufficient agency, producing enough revenue that it no longer relies on state and local funding. The key to its success is simple: the NVRPA reinvented itself by implementing a market-focused strategy. Here in Massachusetts, the DCR, which oversees the state park system, has […]

Whom would you like to address the BGC dinner next year?

Now that it’s all said and done, we at Pioneer have a moment to reflect on the BGC. Though admittedly biased, we do believe it was a great success: 280 contest entries, 360 awards dinner guests, and 2 very fine speeches, delivered by Springfield (MA) Mayor Charlie Ryan and Governor Deval Patrick. (As an aside, our condolences to Springfield on losing out to Springfield, Vermont in the contest to host the world premiere of the upcoming Simpson’s movie. A red carpet in Vermont? Who would’ve thunk it?) Looking to the future, we have already started kicking around the office names of people we would like to invite to be next year’s guest speaker. As some people expressed, shall we say, […]

Stop with the running!

Another post on running?! Well, this one is on running afoul of intellectuals because of running! The TimesOnline, grazie tante to the Arts & Letters Daily for this one, reports that President Sarkozy has fallen foul of intellectuals and critics who see his passion for jogging as un-French, right-wing and even a ploy to brainwash his citizens. Attacks on Mr Sarkozy’s pastime, which he has made a symbol of his presidency, began on the internet as soon as he bounded up the steps of the Elysée Palace in shorts when he took office in May. That moment has become the icon of his hyperenergetic administration. The grumbling has now moved to television and the press. “Is jogging right wing?” wondered […]

Slow to act

Post haste it is not. I received a few days ago a letter from a friend in DC. She had apparently cut out a newspaper article from May 2nd and sent it to me. Now, I don’t know what blue plate special it got stuck under, but it took almost two months for me to get it. Speaking of slow to act, how about the contents of said article? Let’s start with the title of the article in The Current: “Old convention center site to host 700 housing units.” Seems that the 10-acre parcel southwest of Mount Vernon Square where the Washington Convention Center was (New York Avenue and 9th, H and 11th streets) is being redeveloped as a Town […]