City and state officials celebrated Friday the receipt of $210,000 in budget earmarks for improvements and maintenance at several Haverhill parks.
The money was included in the state budget following advocacy by Sen. Barry R. Finegold, whose district is being reconfigured to include Haverhill; Rep. Andy X. Vargas; and Sen. Diana DiZoglio with support by Reps. Linda Dean Campbell, Lenny Mirra and Christina A. Minicucci.
Finegold secured $100,000 for an extension of the Riverside Park trail extension and $50,000 for improvements at the park adjacent to Lake Pentucket, more familiarly known as Round Pond.
In addition, as WHAV reported first in April, Vargas sought and won approval to set aside $50,000 for Gale Park to help pay for restoration of the park’s World War I monument, damaged viewing plaza and Spanish American war monument name plates; build accessible walkways; and replace the park’s broken water fountain.
As WHAV reported first last June, DiZoglio secured $10,000 from a $1.6 billion supplemental state budget or the maintenance of the city’s new Vietnam Veterans Memorial at Mill Brook Park.
In a statement posted to social media, Mayor James J. Fiorentini said, “Grants and earmarks allow us to do things to improve our quality of life that we just can’t afford to do in our regular budget.”