Rep. Ken Gordon's Updates from Beacon Hill

Burlington, Bedford and Wilmington's voice on Beacon Hill

August 31, 2015

V isit www.repkengordon.org

Joint Committee on Transportation Hears Testimony

The legislature is returning from summer recess, but your State Rep has been busy at work, advocating for some of the bills filed in January, supporting colleagues on others, and generally advocating for important issues including those that benefit Bedford, Burlington and Wilmington during the rest of the 2015-16 term.

Two of our bills have been voted favorably by committee. Bedford's request for eight new liquor licenses is heading to the House floor, likely this month. A bill that will provide a new name to the Route 3 corridor between Burlington and the New Hampshire border was approved by the Transportation Committee and the new Middlesex 3 Highway is one step closer to reality. This name change is not just cosmetic. It will help our area businesses market the towns lining Route 3 as a center for high-tech advancement, and a place to locate a new or relocating business. And that will help reduce the traffic on our roadways, which will benefit us all.

On the subject of highways, we have obtained engineering plans drafted by MassDOT for the intersection of Routes 3 and 128 and plan to hold a public information session either late this month or in October. The public will be invited to ask questions and provide input before any commitment is made to any of the plans. We will keep you informed.

As always, it is my honor and pleasure to serve as your State Rep, and should you have any ideas, questions or concerns, please contact me.

Ken Gordon

Office Hours Continue

We continue to hold monthly office hours, as we have since joining the legislature in January of 2012. In the coming month, we will be at True North Coffee, 204 Cambridge Street in Burlington, from 9 to 10 a.m. on Sept. 12, and from 10:30 to 11:30 that morning we will set up at Prince Street Cafe, 200 The Great Road in Bedford. We will also appear at the Wilmington Public Library Sept. 21 from 7 to 8 p.m. We are available to discuss any general topic or concern. If you would like an appointment to discuss a matter personal to you, you can set it up there or contact me at kenneth.gordon@mahouse.gov.

We will also continue our visits to the Councils on Aging. We will be at the Burlington COA Sept. 10 from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and at the Bedford COA Sept. 21 from 1 to 2 p.m.

Gordon, Interns Meet With Administration on Key Projects for Bedford, Burlington

While much of the legislature rested this month, Ken led teams of interns in meetings with key cabinet administrators to push for projects important for the district.

The CFO of MassDOT received the first visit to discuss Ken's effor ts to assist district restaurants and unemployed workers by arranging for employer-funded shuttle service from Lowell to Burlington during weekends and off-hours, to assist those small businesses with employment needs.

Pursuant to the project, the state would supply the vehicles, while the employers would fund their use in a lease arrangement through the Middlesex 3 Transportation Management Association.

Ken accompanied interns Braden Parker (Burlington, UConn) and Cody Case (Burlington, UMass-Lowell), who presented their month-long research project to Dana Levenson. Levenson told them he wasn't prepared to be so impressed. "This was the best meeting I've had all day," he told them. "In fact, it's the best meeting I've had all week." The undersecretary had some ideas that may further assist Burlington's businesses that participate in the project.

"It's an important plan, not only for small business, but it will help get cars off the road, which addresses our traffic congestion and helps our residents," said Gordon.

Ken's project to help re-train high-tech and health care workers who are laid off after successful careers got a boost after the work of interns Jennifer Zhou (Bedford, Northeastern) and Anthony Palazzo (Bedford, Wake Forest) helped convince Labor and Workforce Development Undersecretary Ron Marlow to support a grant for a training program administered by the Shawsheen Tech Adult Education department.

Despite the loss of funding in Fiscal Year 2015 due to budget cuts, Shawsheen continued with a pilot program that trained 12 workers in the electrical field with tremendous success. Ten of the trainees were offered jobs. Shawsheen is now training health care tech workers for new employment. "You keep talking about the type of success you have shown through Shawsheen, and you'll be competitive," said Undersecretary Marlow.

Intern Aaron Dvorkin (Bedford/Burlington and Brandeis) helped

Ken write a bill he plans to file this month, concerning the authority of couples who plan their wedding to choose the person they want to preside over the ceremony.

Currently, a couple planning a wedding can use a person authorized by a Massachusetts religious organization, or a justice of the peace authorized by the State. Or, if they want to choose someone special to them not in those categories, they can apply to the Secretary of State and engage in a time-consuming process to obtain a one-day licence to perform a marriage ceremony. Ken seeks to give the power to issue a "one-day marriage license" to the municipal clerks, rather than the Secretary of State, so the process can be streamlined and efficient.

"Weddings are one of the most special and important days of our lives," Ken said. "The government should not care who presides over a wedding, as long as someone witnesses the creation of the marriage and reports it to the clerk. Let's make it easier for people to arrange for the wedding they want."

In the News

Ken drew on his background as a former journalist this summer, penning two op-ed pieces. One was published in the Boston Globe and the other in the Bedford Minuteman.

This month, he was asked to contribute to the Argument section of Globe North, writing about his co-sponsorship of Rep. Lou Kafka's bill that will allow certain terminally ill patients the right to obtain life-ending treatment. Ken explained how he and his sister could not satisfy their terminally ill dad's request that they end the pain of his pending death.

"We had some wonderful conversations in the days leading up to this request," said Ken. "I wanted them to continue, because I was learning so much. But that was my self-interest. My father wanted to control his own life, and I believe he had the right to do so."

Earlier in the summer, Ken wrote a column in the local weekly newspaper calling for support of a bill filed by Rep. Denise Provost that will provide full civil rights in public accommodation for transgender people. "We are hearing that people are being left off buses and taxicabs, and being pulled out of line at retail stores or refused service at restaurants because they are believed to be transgender," said Gordon "This is just not right. I will work to end discrimination in any form."

Ken plans to get involved in more writing as the session continued. Write to us if there is a topic you want him to address.

Lost and Found

Ken is helping Treasurer Deb Goldberg identify residents of the district who have unclaimed money held by the treasurer. More than a million dollars is sitting with the Commonwealth, waiting to be claimed.
We urge you to visit www.findmassmoney.com to see if there is lucre awaiting your claim. It is easy, and certainly worth the effort.