HAVERHILL SEEKING CYBER AID

Local business owners and city leaders are preparing to visit a Manhattan high-tech center they want to duplicate in Haverhill.


HAVERHILL - Business owners and city officials are hoping a trip to a New York City high-tech center will convince state leaders a similar center can be developed downtown.

State and business leaders, including Greater Haverhill Chamber of Commerce members, will be visiting the Global Community Sandbox, a high-tech center in the heart of Manhattan's financial district. The trip will
be Thursday.

Eugene J. O'Neill, economic planning and development director, said the group wants to get information on the latest technology for businesses in electronic commerce. Officials also say they want to show state leaders how the city can benefit by having its own technology center in downtown Haverhill

"We need to sell them on how important this would be for downtown Haverhill," said Diane M. Tarpy, vice chairwoman of the Chamber of Commerce and a Bell Atlantic executive who handles network operations. "We need to make them as passionate as we are about this."

City and business leaders see the Sandbox-a center which offers video conferencing, training space and other services for small businesses, colleges and groups which cannot otherwise afford them-as a model for what they hope to start downtown.

A center can happen in Haverhill if the city works with private businesses, said Mr. O'Neill. "It could be a real boost to the regional economy," he said.

Ms.Tarpy, who will be going on the trip, said Bell Atlantic wants to work with the city to develop a
high-tech center.

Bell Atlantic helped upgrade some Cyber District businesses and also played a major role in New York's Center, also known as 55 Broad Street, said Ms.Tarpy.

A smaller center would fit in well with the city's Cyber District, say Haverhill officials. The Cyber District was started several years ago as way to draw in small start-up technology companies to the city's abandoned warehouses. About a dozen companies have moved in so far, said Mr.O'Neill.

Local leaders visited the Sandbox last summer and started meeting with the Cyber District representatives about their trip.

After meetings with state leaders, city officials decided it would be better to put their efforts into coming up with a plan to build a technology center instead of a mini-convention center, as had been proposed before.

For years, city leaders worked on a convention center plan, hoping to get $10 million from the state to build it.

State leaders have talked about spending money for centers in Greater Haverhill and in other parts of the state, but the money has not been put aside yet.

A state study found that Haverhill would not be a good spot for a large convention center but recommended instead that the city develop a smaller civic center.

"This could be the complete renewal of downtown," said Ms.Tarpy, who emphasized the importance of having business and community leaders work together. "We got this $10 million and we can't afford to wait any longer to light the fire."

Leaders have not decided where a center would be located, but some have discussed the possibility of converting and old building in the Cyber District.

Robert E. Grassia, Bell Atlantic's regional director of public affairs, said the center could be a model for other states, towns and cities.

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