MOSES: Attend Next Week’s Special Commission Public Listening Session
Dear Massachusetts Conservation Voters and Supporters,
I would like to introduce myself; I am Joe Dorant, former President of the Massachusetts Organization of State Engineers and Scientist (MOSES). For those who don’t know, MOSES is a labor union who represents over 3,330 scientists and engineers that work for the State of Massachusetts. Over 2,000 of our members work at DCR and MassDOT. I was president of MOSES for 14 years but still work for the organization.
I want to make you aware of something that is taking place now, as a result of a legislative action that took place back in 2019. You may have heard that the legislature established a DCR Special Commission to look at improving the management, operations, and asset conditions at the DCR. Language establishing the Commission was introduced in an outside section of the FY20 budget. Due to COVID, the commissioners were only appointed recently and held their first meeting last month. One of the charges of the Commission is to make: “a determination of whether departments, divisions, assets or operations of the department should be transferred to other agencies, departments, municipalities or entities, with special consideration given to urban parks and roadways”.
MOSES has been hearing from many of our professionals in the Parks Division and the Engineering Section fearing that this is yet another attempt to transfer DCR’s Historic Parkways to MassDOT, which would be a huge mistake. As you know, these parkways are not merely important pieces of the Commonwealth’s infrastructure, they are cultural and historic landmarks providing essential links within and between our great parks system.
There has been a long history of attempts to transfer the DCR parkways to our highway agency. In fact, many of you were probably part of a coalition that defeated previous proposals back in 2007 and 2009. We again need your help to preserve the vision of Fredrick Law Olmsted and Charles Elliot who designed the early parkways as linear greenways connecting parks and recreational facilities for the enjoyment of the public. Their foresight of Emerald Necklace connecting the Charles River with Franklin Park has been duplicated many times across our state, along the Mystic and Neponset rivers, just to name a few.
Today, the network of parkways, bike trails, river walks, rail trails, conservation trails and community parks have expanded into a massive network of recreational greenways for the public to enjoy.
Here is a flyer that we encourage you use to educate your members and the public about what is happening on the DCR Commission and the potential impacts of what could be a bad decision. MOSES along with other unions like NAGE and AFSCME have joined with environmental groups to form a coalition to publicize the actions of the Commission.
Please, make your voice heard! Contact members of the Commission and elected officials today. Insist on a full public discussion before any recommendations are made by the Commission. Advocate for adequate funding and sufficient staffing at DCR. Oppose the transfer of DCR’s Historic Parkways to MassDOT.
Attend the virtual meetings of the Special Commission, dates and times are listed at https://www.mass.gov/service-details/department-of-conservation-and-recreation-special-commission-meetings. Submit testimony at the Special Commission’s Public listening sessions on May 25th 4-6pm.
Finally, join the Parkway Coalition by contacting Steve Smalley at MOSES: ssmalley@moses-ma.org.
Joe Dorant is the former President of the Massachusetts Organization of State Engineers and Scientist
The Massachusetts Organization of State Engineers and Scientists is a professional employee union that represents the 3,400 technical, engineering and scientific employees of 29 different agencies of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts including the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.