With work on the state budget largely completed, except for possible overrides of Gov. Charlie Baker’s vetoes, the state legislature is moving onto other issues such as the wellbeing of Gateway Cities.
Rep. Christina A. Minicucci, a member of the legislature’s Gateway Cities Caucus, describes the caucus’ recent visit to the area last week. Says the group comes together once a month to talk about issues specific to individual cities, versus the collection of cities across the state, and also looks at initiatives available to Gateway Cities.
“Here we have Methuen, Haverhill and Lawrence. So, we have three Gateway Cities that are clustered up here, and there are grant programs that are available to our cities that aren’t available to Andover or North Andover or small cities like Newburyport,” she explains.
The caucus made stops last week in Methuen, Lawrence and Lowell and will eventually make a visit to Haverhill. Besides Minicucci, local lawmakers involved with the caucus include Sen. Diana DiZoglio and Rep. Linda Dean Campbell.
“Part of this listening tour is that chairs of that group have been going around the state just hearing ‘What are we doing well here? What was really hard for us?’ and trying to share amongst other members of the caucus maybe best practices they can take back,” she adds.
Minicucci was a recent guest on WHAV’s morning program. Yesterday, caucus co-chairs Sen. Eric Lesser of Longmeadow and Rep. Antonio Cabral of New Bedford were scheduled to give closing remarks at the Annual Gateway Cities Leadership Summit, focused on “Growing an Inclusive Economy.”
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