From left to right: Select Board member Vineeth Hemavathi, Select Board Chair Dan Zwirko, state Sen. Jake Oliveira, state Rep. Brian Ashe, Police Chief Robert Stocks, Town Manager Lyn Simmons and Police Capt. Carl Mazzaferro.
Reminder Publishing photo by Peter Tuohy
LONGMEADOW — Improvements are on the way for the Longmeadow Police Department after state Sen. Jake Oliveira, state Rep. Brian Ashe and town officials stopped by on Sept. 23 to present a $50,000 check, which was secured in the fiscal year 2027 state budget.
The funds will go toward improving the building’s compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. It was built in 1959 as a shared space with the Longmeadow Fire Department.
Ashe said Police Chief Robert Stocks showed him the space around eight months ago and he’s very happy to get the funds through the House and Senate with help from Oliveira.
“It’s money well spent,” Ashe said. “Longmeadow, like most towns, struggles from budget to budget and there’s certain things you can do and certain things you can’t do, so it’s nice. In our budget, we can try to help out and supplement in certain areas.”
He said he asked for $100,000 in funds, but was still thrilled to be able to award $50,000.
Stocks said the department is very supportive of the support from Ashe and Oliveira and that this money will help make the station more accommodating, safe and professional for the community.
Oliveira said buildings as old as the Police Department start to fall apart. He said Ashe and him try every budget season to pass things through the legislature to help their towns, and he is thankful to Ashe for leading the way on this.
“You want to have a safe space where people can go into and feel comfortable,” Oliveira said. “When people enter a police station, sometimes they’re at their worst and they’ve been through an experience of trauma with themselves, a loved one, or experienced something that’s pretty horrific. Having the space that’s accessible for the public to come and utilize when they have to utilize a police station is part of our jobs as legislators, to identify those problems as a community and find solutions to them.”
Oliveira also thanked Select Board Chair Dan Zwirko, Select Board member Vineeth Hemavathi and Town Manager Lyn Simmons for attending and looking out for ways to improve Longmeadow’s infrastructure.
Zwirko said the Select Board deals with a lot of tight budgets and costs continue to rise on a regular basis.
“Having days like this where you can show up and actually hand us a check for $50,000 to help with very necessary improvements to the police station is welcomed,” Zwirko said. “We really appreciate that and your continued partnership, Brian and Jake. We can always rely on both of you at the state level to help bring home necessary funding in a town like Longmeadow where, like I said, budgets are tight.”
Hemavathi said the issue of aging buildings is not unique to Longmeadow and is seen all across Massachusetts.
“It just means so much to have a partner at the state level, like Sen. Oliveira and Rep. Ashe, who are having conversations with us, and then you take those conversations back to the State House and are able to deliver for us,” Hemavathi said. “We’re so appreciative to have great state partners.”
