I had the pleasure to participate in two very important events this past Friday:
First, I started my day at a homelessness summit at the Kittredge Center at Holyoke Community College which revolved around the issue of "The Pioneer Valley's Plan to end Homelessness." There were a number of outstanding speakers and panels that addressed the homelssness problem in Pioneer Valley. Mayor Domenic Sarno of Springfield, Mayor Michael Sullivan of Holyoke and Mayor Mary Claire Higgins of Northampton deserve alot of credit for their leadership on this issue. City Councilors Rebecca Lisi and Tim Purington also attended the event with me.
Participants were all provided copies of the the plan and it appears to be a comprehensive approach to end homelessness, especially as it relates to families, in our area. The summit was very well attended and provided all types of people and constituencies to get together to end this problem.
As the former Director of Loreto House, a homeless shelter for men in Holyoke, this issue is very near to my heart and I told the mayor he can count on me to be helpful in any way possible to rid this tragedy from our community.
Secondly, from that event I wisked up to the Log Cabin for a special luncheon with the Speaker of the Mass. House Rep. Sal DiMasi. The event was hosted by the Greater Holyoke Chamber of Commerce who I thank very much for having invited me. We enjoyed a nice lunch and listened to this powerful Beacon Hill player tell us about his vision for the state. I certainly like the Speaker's approach to state finances which are very similar to mine on the city level. Keep taxes down as much as possible, find efficiencies, new approaches and make government live on its budget. This is never easy at the city or state level. He has a very difficult job and I was glad to hear that under his leadership the state has built up a reserve of $2.1 billion and there are no proposals to increase taxes. I am proud to say that City has over $9.1 million in our Stabilization Fund.
He discussed casinos and his skepticism for them. He added that the Legislature will be having more hearings and members will be taking some votes relatively soon. He discussed numerous bond bills on education, higher education and transportation that will be coming. He also stated that the legislature recently passed a large Life Sciences Bill which will call for the formation of a Life Sciences Center in our area. He stated that the Governor's recent proposal for free state tuition is also doomed because there is no way the state can afford it.
He is a very personable person who was very generous with his time and even fielded questions from the audience. I asked him about the future of the Governor's so called proposals to reduce property taxes. He stated that the proposed local option taxes such as allowing cities to have a meals tax or increased hotel occupancy taxes were unlikely to pass. As for the rest of the Governors proposal, its future appears cloudy at this time.
It was a great opportunity to say hello to alot of our local legislators; including Rep. Rosemarie Sandlin of Agawam and Rep. John Scibak of South Hadley who sat at my table along with my good friend Councilor Elaine Pluta and several employees of Goss & McLain Insurance.
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