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Mystic Valley Wins $200,000 with EPA Showcase Community Designation

Release Date: 06/11/01
Contact Information: Amy Miller, Press Office, (617) 918-1042

BOSTON - The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced that the Mystic Valley Development Commission, made up of the cities of Malden, Everett and Medford, has been designated as a Brownfields showcase community, bringing together more than 15 federal agencies to help clean and develop vacant industrial sites and bring new vitality into the region's economy. Today's announcement includes an award of $200,000 for the commission's brownfields efforts.

Mystic Valley, a heavily urbanized area five miles north of Boston, received one of two Showcase Community designations in New England and 12 being awarded nationally.

A former center of manufacturing and chemical production, the Mystic Valley has seen drastic declines in employment in recent years. In Everett, Malden and Medford, manufacturing employment has declined 61 , 13 and 79 percent, respectively. The poverty rate is 36 percent higher than the state average.

"This designation will help the commission build the kind of community that will attract new activity and jobs," said Ira Leighton, acting regional administrator of EPA New England, at a press conference today along the Medford River at the TeleCom site in Medford. "As part of a showcase community, Everett, Malden and Medford will also create a model for other regions with high unemployment and poverty."

The Mystic Valley Development Commission is trying to reclaim more 200 acres of blighted industrial land, where environmental contamination has been identified in soils covering more than two-thirds of the site. In addition, environmental contamination in the Malden River has been identified. The Showcase designation will help assess contamination at these sites and plan for future use.

In particular, the commission plans to:

• develop Telecom City, a project with 1.8 million square feet of office, research and development and manufacturing space that will help boost the areas's economy.

• expand open space and recreational opportunities for residents through a riverfront park.

• create 7,500 jobs and a payroll of $450 million.

• develop a Lifelong Skills Center, training youth and potential workers as well as scientists and technicians.

The Mystic Valley Development Commission has also received funds for the Telecom City from several other federal and state agencies, including the Department of Commerce, the US Department of Transportation, the US Department of the Interior and the Mass. Department of Housing and Community Development.

"This is another great step forward for Telecom City. The Brownfields effort represents the marriage of sound environmental policy and sound economic policy that will attract more businesses and jobs to Malden, Everett and Medford. Investments in Brownfields restoration continue to be a catalyst for our great industrial cities. We must continue to support environmental programs that engage local communities in their own environmental clean-up and economic development," said U.S. Senator John Kerry.

Senator Edward Kennedy said, "Congress and the EPA are committed to revitalizing these polluted sites that once were given up for dead. Neighborhoods and businesses across the country are proving that the best days of these brownfields are in the future, not in the past. This designation will enhance the impressive efforts by the communities of Everett, Malden, and Medford to clean up brownfields and turn them into new engines for job creation and economic growth."

With this grant, EPA has spent a total of $1 million on brownfields work in the Mystic Valley, $21 million in Massachusetts and $46 million in New England.