Haverhill
Fiorentini Declares Lack of Housing a Moral Crisis in Final State of the City Address
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Haverhill Mayor James J. Fiorentini presented his final State of the City Address last night, tracing his nearly 20 years as mayor from financial crisis to “moral” housing crisis. The address, held at Haverhill City Hall and heard on WHAV, was presented to a room full of current and former state and local officials and other residents. The mayor began by presenting a short video comparing the state of the city in 2003, when he first took office, to present day. “As you saw in the video, back then most of the old shoe factory buildings were abandoned and off the tax rolls, but the worst of it was our finances. Because of the collapse of the municipal hospital, the city’s finances had collapsed and we were left with the largest municipal debt in the history of Massachusetts,” he said.