Brockton (Massachusetts) Mayor Bill Carpenter said that after he first took office a little over two years ago, during one of the very first meetings that he requested, he told MassDevelopment chief executive Marty Jones about his ideas for the economic revitalization of the community.
“She was very clear and succinct to me, and I’ve never forgotten this,” Carpenter recalled. “She said, ‘Mayor, with all do respect, Brockton is a city that does not have a city planner and does not have a plan. And until you have a plan and a planner, you’ll never be taken seriously at the state level.’”
Carpenter said there’s been a lot of progress since then, with Brockton hiring its first city planner in six years in July 2014. Now, an action plan is in place for economic development in Brockton’s downtown.
See full article with link to final plan.
See related final draft of District Improvement Financing Program (PDF).