House packs $85M in earmarks onto economic development bill
Photo | Courtesy of Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Massachusetts State House
The House agreed Thursday afternoon to add more than $85 million in funding for a potpourri of local economic development and infrastructure projects as part of the second consolidation of amendments to its $3.8 billion economic development bill, including millions to help the Edward M. Kennedy Institute pay its debts.
The consolidated amendment, which emerged for review shortly after 1:30 p.m. and was adopted unanimously about 45 minutes later, contains a little bit of everything. Among the larger price tag items is $5 million for a grant to the Martin Richard Foundation and Boys and Girls Clubs of Dorchester to help with the construction and renovation of the Dorchester Field House, $8 million for the Downtown Merrimack Street Redevelopment project and the Merrimack Street Public-Private Redevelopment Project design in Haverhill, $5 million for "debt service obligations incurred by the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate so that the institute may continue offering civic education programming to the public," $9 million for improvements to the intersection at Western Avenue, Soldiers Field Road and Birmingham Parkway in Brighton, and $1 million for repairs and upgrades at the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield.
At the other end of the cost spectrum, the amendment funds projects like $60,000 for a roof replacement and HVAC improvements in the Brockton Public Library system, $400,000 for the repurposing of the Waterford Street school building in Gardner, $75,000 for a reevaluation of the zoning bylaws in Paxton, $25,000 for accessibility improvements and an expansion of the community garden in Reading, $10,000 for the Gloucester Boxing Club, and $25,000 for the Williamstown Summer Theater youth internship program.
Before adopting the amendment bundle, representatives rejected an amendment filed by Rep. Jamie Belsito, a Topsfield Democrat, that she said would have allowed public housing authorities to provide residents with broadband internet access.
In all, the consolidated amendment dispensed with (but did not necessarily incorporate) 194 of the roughly 790 amendments that were pending to the House's biennial economic development bill (H 5007) when representatives returned to work on that legislation early Thursday afternoon.
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