City Councilor Sean Curran sent a letter to Gov. Maura Healey asking her to consider creating a Western Mass. undersecretary of economic development.
Reminder Publishing submitted photo
SPRINGFIELD — With the state in the midst of finding a permanent economic development secretary, Springfield City Councilor Sean Curran is asking Gov. Maura Healey to consider creating a new position that specifically benefits Western Mass.
Curran, the chair of council’s Economic Development Committee, sent a letter on May 5 to Healey requesting that she explore the possibility of establishing a “Western Mass. undersecretary of economic development” position to help kickstart some economic initiatives across the four Western Mass. counties.
“With the change in leadership at the secretariat level, it might be a good opportunity for Western Massachusetts to gain a louder voice at the table,” Curran said.
The request comes a few days after Yvonne Hao officially stepped down from her post as the state’s economic development secretary to “address urgent family matters.” When she announced her departure, Hao said she would continue as an unpaid advisor for the Healey-Driscoll administration.
According to the state, former Undersecretary Ashley Stolba is currently serving as the interim secretary while the Healey administration searches for a permanent candidate for the position.
Curran hopes the new undersecretary for Western Mass. comes to fruition, especially as Springfield’s one-year average unemployment rate rose to 5.2%.
“I made the request because there’s a lot of potentially great initiatives that are on the drawing board, but they’re just not being executed,” Curran said in an interview. “And perhaps an undersecretary can help kickstart some of those initiatives.”
In his letter, Curran mentioned how the new position could help jumpstart some dormant plans in Springfield, like the expansion of UMass Springfield, the creation of the Basketball Hall of Fame Hoop City Sports Complex and the creation of the Springfield Food Hall.
He added that the undersecretary would be “part of the solution to the crisis Springfield’s business community now faces,” as evidenced by the closure of several staple businesses in the city over the last year, including Jackalope Restaurant, Cookie Lady and Dewey’s Jazz Lounge.
According to Curran, the new undersecretary could also offer support on major endeavors like the building of a new courthouse in Springfield or assist municipalities on projects that involve leasing additional state offices in commercial buildings downtown.
“There’s 44,000 state employees, and many of them are attached to leases in the city of Boston and around Boston,” Curran said. “With Zoom technology and [Microsoft] Teams, why not take some of those state leases that are in the most expensive zip code in the country and bring them out to Western Massachusetts.”
“You could fill up the city of Springfield with state office workers, and that would be a great kickstart to our local economy for a lot of reasons,” he continued.
When asked if Healey has considered a position like this, a spokesperson from her office said this: “Gov. Healey and Lt. Gov. Driscoll are committed to leading an administration for all Massachusetts residents — including Western Mass. It’s why they doubled the size of the Governor’s Western Mass Office by hiring a Director and Deputy Director and have made significant investments in economic development, housing and transportation in Western Mass. We always welcome ideas about how we can best represent and support Western Mass.”
