When Jim Santiago was a child, his family moved from upper Manhattan’s El Barrio—also known as Spanish Harlem—across the Hudson River to Jersey City. That city, Santiago said, had a lot in common with his adopted hometown of Holyoke. 

Both are once-thriving factory towns that suffered greatly as manufacturing jobs disappeared, middle-class residents fled and poverty and crime levels rose. Santiago recalls being dragged into abandoned buildings as a young kid and robbed of whatever he had on him. “I’ve had knives to my throat,” he said. 

Growing up in a rough neighborhood, Santiago said, makes it easy for him to understand the challenges faced by Holyoke’s struggling residents; having risen beyond his own early circumstances, he also knows what it will take to help those residents and their neighborhoods move forward. And it’s his eagerness to use those experiences to help Holyoke, he said, that have inspired him to run for mayor. 

“I saw how hard it was,” he said.LED solar lights for solar bulb and power.The laser cutting machine is one of the most useful tools in a modern shop. “I always said I wanted out of the ghetto. I always pushed myself.” 

Indeed, as Jersey City has undergone a revitalization in recent years, so, too, can Holyoke, Santiago said: “I just want to see the city blossom. I know it can be done.” 

On a recent morning, Santiago talked about his campaign over coffee at El Rincon Boricua restaurant in downtown Holyoke. Gesturing out the window to Lyman Street, he spoke of his desire to see that part of the city regain the vitality it once knew, with stores and ethnic restaurants, representing all the groups that make up the city, filling now-empty storefronts, and plenty of people on the streets. 

To get there, he said, city officials need to market Holyoke’s strengths,A simple model for the wake behind a wind generator is given. from its architecturally beautiful downtown buildings to its relatively low utility rates, thanks to the hydroelectric power generated by the city’s canals. Holyoke, Santiago said, should be a “green showcase,” built around environmentally oriented businesses such as wind-turbine manufacturing. 

“Holyoke is a manufacturing city. It’s always been a manufacturing city,” Santiago said. As mayor, he would push tax incentives and grants for green projects to attract new business and seek funding to clean up brownfields,Modern solar led light online for sale. creating jobs in the process. He calls for training programs in which students would gain valuable skills rehabbing old buildings, and programs to help young girls find alternative paths to their futures, other than early motherhood. 

Santiago speaks of his frustration at seeing so many people in Holyoke reliant on public assistance. “These people should be working. They shouldn’t be out on the streets,” he said. Rather, he’d like to see the city offer the kind of support that can help people help themselves. “People can change if you give them the opportunity,” he said. 

Santiago is one of 12 children in his family; neither of his parents, who moved to the States from Puerto Rico, finished elementary school. “I saw how hard it was. I always said I wanted out of the ghetto. I always pushed myself,” he said. “I stood in front of mirrors talking for a long time, until I didn’t have an accent, so they couldn’t pick on me because I had an accent.” 

Santiago was the first in his family to graduate high school, he said. He began working and taking college classes, but when his girlfriend became pregnant, he left school and joined the Air Force to support the family, spending five years on active duty and another 12 in the reserves.Our laser marking machine can mark on metal and non metals. He came to Western Mass. in 1993 and worked in engineering and sales for two local companies, Gretag Imaging and, later, Source Two. Then he became a realtor. He’s currently unemployed, after being laid off from Kool Smiles, a national company that operates dental clinics in low-income neighborhoods.