EAST LONGMEADOW — The East Longmeadow Town Council welcomed state Rep. Brian Ashe (D-Longmeadow), state Sen. Jacob Oliveira (D-Ludlow) and state Rep. Angelo Puppolo (D-Springfield) to its Oct. 8 meeting to share updates on legislative issues important to the town.
During the update, Ashe, Oliveira and Puppolo each highlighted their commitment to supporting East Longmeadow and working with its local officials, emphasizing that they were available to answer any questions.
Prompted by questions from Town Council members, the state officials discussed three main state issues during the meeting, offering their knowledge on current progress and potential future actions.
Crumbling foundations
One discussion during the update centered on the statewide concern for damaged foundations from pyrrhotite, which can cause cracking in the foundation’s concrete.
When asked about availability of additional funding support, Ashe explained that access to funding was delayed by the coronavirus pandemic. He noted that he and other legislators were working on a $200 million bill, but that the number of homes requiring support has increased with many in central Massachusetts as well.
“If you haven’t [seen the impact of pyrrhotite] it’s difficult to really understand it and see the impact if you’re just seeing it on paper until you go into someone’s home and you can see it just disintegrating them and these people have no options. Their options are either turn their house over to the bank or they have to take … a couple hundred thousand dollars to fix it,” Ashe said. He stated that it “takes a little longer” for unimpacted towns to understand this impact and need for funding.
Furthermore, the issue affects more than families with impacted homes, as homes that are not addressed will reduce the property value of nearby homes, he stated.
Despite this increased need, Puppolo highlighted that more impacted residents also make it “a little bit easier to bring that to the forefront” when trying to pass legislation. He and Ashe both agreed that additional legislation on the crumbling foundations issue was likely in the upcoming legislative sessions.
Housing
Town Council President Connor O’Shea also questioned if any future changes to housing in the state was expected soon, referencing the by-right accessory dwelling unit initiative and recent approval of the Affordable Homes Act.
In response, Ashe and Puppolo both stated that there would likely be additional bills related to housing in order to adjust recent legislation to better suit communities.
Similarly, Oliveira stated that “we don’t get it right always on the first try” and that changes to the Affordable Homes Act may be necessary in the coming sessions. He encouraged the town to reach out to the legislators if there were specific changes that East Longmeadow was interested in.
“The [Affordable Homes Act] was the largest bond bill for housing that we passed in two decades,” he said, emphasizing the Affordable Homes Act’s benefits to the region. However, he noted that he “can’t see us doing a bill of this magnitude in the next few sessions because there was a lot packed into it.”
Concerning regional equity, Oliveira highlighted the importance of providing housing options due to the differing housing needs in each region of the state. One example is the distribution of Chapter 90 funds, which rely on road mileage, population and employment to calculate how much towns receive; therefore placing Western Massachusetts towns with low density populations at a disadvantage for receiving funds.
“We created a new pocket of funds that was solely based on miles of roadway instead of on things like employment and population which hurts Western Mass. communities,” Oliveira said of the Chapter 90 bridge and road maintenance bill approved earlier this year. “We understand we don’t all fall into the Boston area’s demographics. There are unique needs for our regions.”
The Chapter 90 bridge and road maintenance bill also includes grants for programs such as the Municipal Small Bridge Program, which provides funds for work on public bridges between 10-20 feet, the Municipal Pavement Program, which uses funds to repair state routes, and the Complete Streets Funding Program, which targets local transportation infrastructure, according to the state.
MCAS ballot question
During the legislative update, the state officials also discussed potential next steps if the 2024 ballot question to remove the requirement to pass the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System test to graduate was approved.
Noting his previous work against the No Child Left Behind Act, which focused on standard tests, Oliveira stated that standard, high-stakes tests often show a community’s wealth status, rather than students’ academic performances and “preys on our most vulnerable populations.”
He explained that state Sen. Jason Lewis (D-Winchester) created legislation to create a baseline for graduation requirements by improving state guidelines, stating that Lewis would submit this legislation if the MCAS ballot question was approved. Oliveira did not provide specific information on how this legislation would improve the guidelines.
Ashe echoed his sentiment, stating that the MCAS test also led many teachers to spend large amounts of time teaching toward the test’s questions, rather than on the specific material for the course while Puppolo noted that the MCAS test has “served its purpose” and now needed to be modified.
