Municipal officials and advocates line up to support Gov. Baker’s economic development and infrastructure bill
By Doug Pizzi, Executive Director | May 10, 2022
The Legislature’s Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies on Monday, May 9, held a hearing on Gov. Charlie Baker’s massive, 113-page plan to spend $3.5 billion on capital projects. H.4720, An Act Investing in Future Opportunities for Resiliency, Workforce, And Revitalized Downtowns (FORWARD) funds projects in every community in the state. Of that sum, $2.2 billion would come from the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and $1.3 billion from state capital funds.
A parade of municipal officials and advocates from across the state testified in favor of various provisions in the bill, and equally important, the Governor’s timely submission of the bill. MCV is submitting written testimony to the joint committee in favor of the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) spending in the bill.
Within the bill, Gov. Baker is proposing $258 million for DCR facilities, including forests, parks, campgrounds, trails, pools, spray decks, playgrounds, fields, bathrooms, and rinks. These facilities run from Boston to the Berkshires and from the South Coast to the North Shore–click here to view H. 4720. Lines 790-875 for state parks and trails. The figure is considerably more than the $100 million Baker proposed last year, when the Legislature appropriated the first round of ARPA funding, which got trimmed to $15 million in the final bill.
In explaining their actions last fall, legislators noted that the DCR Special Commission final report had yet to be written and that there would be additional opportunities to fund our DCR facilities in the next round of ARPA appropriations. That opportunity has clearly arrived.
The Special Commission completed its report last December. It documents in detail the severe underfunding DCR has been subjected to going back more than a decade, and that Massachusetts is a disappointing last in the nation when it comes to spending money to support our historic park system. This cannot continue. In addition to having one of the largest park systems in the nation for a state our size, our parks contribute mightily to our state’s $16 billion annual outdoor economy.
In addition to the budgetary and economic justifications to adequately fund our DCR parks and recreational facilities, there is a public health component we can no longer afford to ignore. When the world began to shut down in March of 2020 because of the COVID pandemic, DCR forests, parks and beaches stayed open and became critical resources for the public to get a little safe, socially distant physical activity along with the mental health benefits of being outside.
Park attendance moved markedly upwards, with some parks seeing as much as a 300 percent increase in use. Many people who did not know much about our parks discovered gems in their own back yards, and park visits continue to place increased demand on DCR assets.
Massachusetts Conservation Voters urges you to support the $258 million Gov. Baker wants to spend on our parks. Summer is nearly here, and our parks will soon see peak usage. Please contact your legislators and ask them to approve H.4720 (FORWARD) before the two-year legislative session ends in July. Remember, the park you save may be your own.
Doug Pizzi is MCV’s Executive Director