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Daily Update 7/21: Major Progress at Assembly Square

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Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Today: Tuesday, July 21, 2009

 

  • This morning, Governor Patrick attended a Traffick Jam community event in Lowell at the United Teen Equality Center.               

 

  • This afternoon, Governor Patrick tours downtown Lowell and meets with business owners and residents followed by a meeting with the Lowell Sun editorial board.

 

  • Later this afternoon, Governor Patrick meets with the Newburyport Daily News editorial board prior to a town hall meeting in the Newburyport City Hall Auditorium.

In the Press:

Governor Patrick announces the recovery plan for Assembly Square in Somerville

 

  • Assembly Square Project Moves Forward – As part of his Massachusetts Recovery Plan to secure the state’s economic future, Governor Deval Patrick announced yesterday a state-federal partnership to move the Assembly Square Project in Somerville forward. Federal stimulus funding will be used to support improvements to local infrastructure and accelerate a development project that will create thousands of permanent jobs and long-term regional economic growth. “This project will put people to work now and in the future, and deliver a host of economic, housing and community benefits to Somerville and the region,” said Governor Patrick. "This is what recovery spending is all about." Learn more here.

 

  • Assisting Mass Workers – The Patrick administration identified that thousands of individuals were going to exhaust their unemployment benefits, and worked closely with the Legislative branch to pass legislation enabling further extensions for Massachusetts claimants. “Once we realized that thousands of people were going to be dropped from receiving their benefits, the executive and legislative branches worked hand in glove to fix the problem,’’ said state Labor Secretary Suzanne Bump. “Now, we are also poised to help people who might exhaust benefits over the next six months.’’ Read more in the Boston Globe here.

 

  • Reform at the RMV – Responding to new budget constraints, Registrar Rachel Kaprielian outlined a plan to restructure and modernize Registry of Motor Vehicles customer service resources to help Massachusetts' 4.6 million drivers shift to a new way of getting license, registration and motor vehicle services. The RMV has responded to a tighter FY10 budget by closing 11 branches in every region of the state and immediately redeploying staff and equipment to open five new 'mitigation' offices located in underutilized MassHighway and Massachusetts Turnpike Authority toll plazas, visitor centers and offices. (Click here to see map of the "new RMV"). The changes will save the RMV an estimated $1.7 million dollars a year and exemplify the type of reforms which will help create a more accountable and unified state transportation organization as directed under the landmark transportation legislation signed into law by Governor Patrick.   As a Boston Globe editorial states that “(w)hile the closings are sure to create some inconvenience, the public should bear with a state agency that is being bolder than many when trying to maintain core services in the face of steep budget cuts.” Read more in the Boston Globe.

 

  • Controlling Health Care Costs – The Special Commission on the Health Care Payment System endorsed recommendations last week for improving the quality of patient care in Massachusetts by revamping the way patients pay for health care.  Massachusetts has become a national leader in health care reform by covering over 97% of our residents, but in order to ensure that reform is sustainable, we need to be serious about tackling costs.  Replacing fee-for-service with per-capita payments handled by healthcare professionals “could be the secret to better, less costly medicine.” Read more in a Boston Globe editorial here.

 

This Week:

 

  • On Monday, Governor Patrick made an economic development announcement in Somerville.

 

  • Monday afternoon, Governor Patrick met with Gloucester community leaders.

 

  • Yesterday afternoon, the Governor attended a legislative leadership meeting.

 

  • Monday evening, Governor Patrick met with University of Haifa President Aaron Ben-Ze'ev.