ANSWERS TO WILBRAHAM-HAMPDEN TIMES QUESTIONS
October, 2004

Q. What do you believe are the top three concerns of voters in the 12th Hampden District?

A. People in my district are concerned about the future of our country, the future of western Massachusetts and the future of Springfield. People are concerned about the economy, especially in the Northeast and here in western Massachusetts, which has been chronically depressed relative to the rest of the state. Much of my district works in Springfield’s schools, hospitals, courts, law firms, and corporations. People realize that Springfield’s recovery is important to the surrounding suburbs. As goes Springfield, so goes western Massachusetts. People are telling me they are more fearful for their children’s futures than their own. The cost of college and the possibility of the reinstatement of the draft are of great concern to families with teenage children; and, of course, people are very concerned about the $3 trillion deficit our children will likely inherit. People are asking whether their children will be able to afford to buy homes. Will there be jobs for them? Will there be clean air for them? Seniors in my district express fear about the solvency of the social security system and about the cost and quality of nursing home care. There is a healthcare disaster on the horizon. The cost of healthcare is spinning out of control. No provisions have been made to provide services for the enormous population of “baby boomers,” who are hitting middle age and who are expected to live longer than any generation before them. Our nation is at the crossroads of greatness and decline. We have been at this crossroads before and have taken the right road. My constituents are very worried that we take the right road this time! We need to get Springfield, the northeast and our country back on the road to prosperity.

Q. Do you believe property taxes in the area are reasonable, given demographics and population density?

A. Springfield’s property taxes are not reasonable. My Springfield district is a large and ever-shrinking part of the City’s tax base and my constituents pay the highest taxes in Hampden County. Worse yet, the higher the taxes in Springfield, the more people will flee the City so raising taxes is a self-defeating strategy. This is one of the potential problems of having a control board in charge of the City. There is an inherent conflict between the mission of the control board and the long-term best interests of the City. The control board must establish fiscal stability, balance the books and make the bondholders secure. Sometimes, this involves raising taxes, which achieves the short-term goals but, in the long term, shrinks the tax base even further. So far, the control board has not taken this approach and we are grateful for that.

City officials blame its problems on lack of state aid and state officials blame the City’s problems on poor management. Certainly, those factors played a role in the City’s crisis but those factors are only part of the picture. As the taxpaying base left to follow the jobs south, property values declined and with it, the City’s ability to support itself. The City of Springfield, and many other great cities in the Northeast, never recovered from the loss of the manufacturing base. Both the federal and state governments have failed to reinvest in the redevelopment of our cities. The millions in local aid the Springfield delegation has brought to the City over the years can never substitute for the kind of focus and funding I believe is necessary to revive the City of Springfield. Springfield needs more than an annual hand-out from the state. It needs new life and new vision. It needs to reinvent itself.

Lastly, geography is destiny when it comes to cities. First: Springfield’s location on I-91, a major drug and crime corridor, has brought social problems that no city, and, in fact, no state by itself, can solve. The federal government has abandoned cities like Springfield, that are victims of geography and have impacts beyond their control. Second: Unlike other distressed cities in Massachusetts, Springfield is not positioned geographically to benefit from the economic boom in the eastern part of the state. Unlike Chelsea, which was in receivorship and is often used as a comparison, Springfield is not a suburb of Boston and there is less opportunity for
Springfield to benefit from a “rising tide” such as Boston.

Sprinfield’s decline did not happen over night and its problems will not be solved overnight, but it is important that we make a start. The “Plan for Progress” initiative unveiled at the Basketball Hall of Fame several weeks ago identifies the problems and the players. Now, we must take the next step, identify goals and implement the plan. For my part, the answer is clear. The next “Big Dig”, that is, public works project of comparable magnitude, must be in Springfield. Springfield is the third largest City in the Commonwealth and it cannot be allowed to fail. It will soon become clear, if it is not already, that the vitality of Massachusetts will be judged on the vitality of the entire state and not just on the state east of 495. I think that the Bio Tech and Life Sciences initiatives will be important economic engines for the I-91 corridor, including Springfield, in the 21st century but my interest lies in working on the development of the Springfield river front, along the lines of the River Walk in San Antonio.


Q. Do you believe that the district has received its fair share of state aid? And, if not, what do you plan to do to change that situation?

A. The 12th Hampden District has changed boundaries so many times over the years that I will answer the question regarding whether we receive our fair share of state aid in terms of Springfield and western Massachusetts in general. Have we received our fair share of state aid? No, not ever, or at least not in 100 years. The Massachusetts Legislature is about Boston. All the western Mass legislators together, Republicans and Democrats alike, represent only 13% of the voting power in the State House. Further, we lost a seat in the recent redistricting due to a population shift eastward where there are more jobs. While legislatures in other states are more centrally located, our legislature is located in the far eastern part of the state. Puritans arrived in Boston more than 350 years ago, looked at Beacon Hill and determined that’s where the legislature should be. That was pretty much the end of the discussion. It is a Boston centric legislature. It always has been and always will be. The population is in the eastern part of the state and the political power is in the eastern part of the state. Nonetheless, the western Mass delegation, of which I am a part, will continue to fight for a more equitable distribution of state aid. We have a new Speaker in the House and we are hopeful he will take a fresh look at the aid distribution issue. However, the only answer to increasing the aid to western Mass cities and towns is adding new money to the “pot.” We simply will never have the voting power to take millions away from cities and towns in the eastern part of the state. Given the fiscal crisis of the past four years, there has been no new money anywhere and there is no appetite for increased taxes. Lawsuits compelling more equitable distribution of state resources have been considered and rejected. The Massachusetts constitution is clear that only the legislature appropriates money and not the courts. Challenges to this doctrine have almost always failed. Changing the ways of the longest, continuously operating legislature in the United States (and one of the oldest in the world) is not easy. Hopefully, Springfield’s fiscal crisis, will provide the impetus for some degree of change in the way local aid is distributed.


Q. There has been considerable discussion in recent months about traffic safety on Boston Road. What positive steps do you feel have been taken and what would you like to recommend if you are elected state representative?

A. Senator Lees and I were successful in obtaining more than $1 million for improvements to Boston Road in the area of Post Office Park and the new YMCA, an especially dangerous stretch of road in Wilbraham. Planned improvements include new traffic signals at the intersection of Post Office Park and Boston Road, the elimination of the entrance to Spec Pond and the construction of a new entrance through Post Office Park, new sidewalks, bike paths, drainage systems and parking. These improvements should go a long way towards making Boston Road safer. Widening Boston Road in certain areas would help from both public safety and economic development perspectives. There has always been considerable resistance to this idea from homeowners and business owners whose homes and businesses are located very close to the roadway. Taking these properties by eminent domain would cause tremendous economic dislocation and hardship. It is also becoming more expensive every year as the value of Boston Road properties rises. However, I think there are opportunities to widen the road at certain locations and as certain uses are extinguished. I envision there may be a time when individuals actually purchase Boston Road properties in contemplation of road widening and eminent domain takings. Boston Road is really the only commercial area the Town of Wilbraham has and the only opportunity for economic development. There will be hard choices to make in the future.


Q. A common perception in Western Mass is that infrastructure in our area has suffered because of the Big Dig in Boston. Do you feel that’s true, and if so, how do you feel you could help rectify it if elected.

A. Beyond a doubt, infrastructure repairs and replacement in western Mass and elsewhere in the state suffered because of the “Big Dig.” I remember that one of the most gut-wrenching votes I had to take in my tenure as a legislator related to the “Big Dig”. We had to vote to commit half the bonding capacity for the entire Commonwealth’s infrastructure for a period of five years to finish “The Dig.” Many of us did not want to commit that money but we were told that if we failed to complete what is the largest public works project in the country, the Commonwealth’s bond rating would sink to junk bond status. Like many of the votes we take, we are often presented with a “Hobson’s” choice. When confronted with two undesirable choices (as we so often are), we try to pick the lesser of two evils. There is no doubt in my mind that the $14 billion cost of the “Big Dig” deprived cities and towns outside of the Boston area with desperately needed funding. Many people in the Boston area think the “Big Dig” brought wonderful improvements and perhaps it did but the burden on cities and towns outside of Boston was great. First, I am adamant that the Commonwealth must recover the $140 million in fraud associated with this project and return it to the general fund. Second, I will fight to bring the next major public works project in the Commonwealth to the western part of the state. Hopefully,Springfield’s fiscal crisis will serve as an impetus to siting a major project in the City. Transportation initiatives would help Springfield greatly. Our lack of public transportation hurts everyone, especially senior citizens and young people. One major project that would serve the interests of western Mass, as well as the rest of the state, is the construction of a high-speed rail linking Boston and Springfield. Imagine being able to work in Boston and commute home to the “Golden West” in time for dinner.

Q. What do you feel are your greatest accomplishments up until this point?

A. I am proud of my work on Fountain Park, Western Mass Recycling, the Country of Club of Wilbraham, and the proposed Lantern Lane development. I am proud that I fought successfully the proposed pipeline through Wilbraham and surrounding towns. I am proud of my work on behalf of our local hospitals and, especially, my successful efforts to save the Sisters of Providence Behavioral Health Hospital, the only facility of its kind in western Massachusetts. I was honored to receive the Sisters of Providence Health System Health Care Advocacy Award and I will be honored to dedicate, as keynote speaker, the newly-expanded Caritas Cancer Center on October 26. I am proud that I will Chair the Cervical Cancer Eradication Commission, which I established through legislation I sponsored and which is funded with $100,000 I secured in the budget. I am proud of my successful effort to help the non-profit Spirit of Springfield and proud to be this year’s Honorary Chair of the Bright Nights Ball. I am proud of my work on the Springfield “bail out” legislation and the millions in school and local aid I’ve helped bring to our communities. I’m proud of my role in securing a new library for the Town of East Longmeadow and proud of my part in establishing the Legislative Institute at Western New England College School of Law, a venue for many state house committee hearings. I am proud of my work as Chair of the State task force on the Allocation and Adequacy of Court Funding and the extra funding I helped secure for local courts. I am particularly proud of my work in rehabilitating the Springfield Juvenile and Housing Courts building, a multi-million dollar project and the only project of its kind in the state. I am proud that I was the first in my class to be elevated to leadership in the house. I am very proud of the countless “thank you’s” I have received from people in my district. It is a wonderful moment when you are able to help someone with a serious problem and ease their burden. It is a privilege to serve and I am grateful for the opportunity.