FITCHBURG — Newly elected City Councilors Joe Bowen and Kevin Starr along with state Sen. John Cronin made presentations and answered questions during the most recent community meeting that Ward 1 City Councilor Bernie Schultz hosts monthly.
Cronin spoke first at the Jan. 12 gathering held at the Legislative Building. He thanked Schultz for hosting the forums and shared that he is beginning his fifth year serving in his role as the Worcester and Middlesex District representative and is halfway through his third term.
“I am a proud resident of the city … I am very proud specifically of the public and private partnerships through the Fitchburg Redevelopment Authority, through the City of Fitchburg, working with Mayor [Sam] Squailia,” Cronin said.
He also gave a shout-out to other local officials and City Council members as partners, noting that they all work together “to bring state investments to Main Street and to revitalize so many of the vacant buildings into new housing and to create a mixed-income and vibrant community in our downtown.”
Cronin disclosed that across the 10 cities and towns he represents, he has witnessed that bringing development plans and evolution to fruition — what’s happening in Fitchburg — has “historically been really a regional anchor and the beating heart of a regional economy.”
“We have a vision and for the first time in a long time we’ve been directing resources and seeing the private investment that is required to really make Main Street the beating heart of North Central Massachusetts again, and I think we are well on our way.”
He talked about what he calls “the big four” in regard to state policy — housing, transportation, education and health care — and how he and state Rep. Mike Kushmerek work side by side along with many other state and local politicians to address those pressing issues in tangible ways.
“Those big four and those domains are really the meat and really the bread and butter of what we do in state government,” Cronin said before speaking on each of the four topics, starting with housing and more specifically affordable housing, a significant crisis in the state.
“The state funding for the housing, that has been the catalyst for the improvements that we are seeing in the downtown Fitchburg, thank you for that,” Squailia said to Cronin from the audience. “We are seeing incredible momentum in the downtown.”
Starr was up next and also thanked Schultz for hosting the community meetings, saying he has been to some before and thinks “they are fantastic.” He shared that this is his “second go around” on the City Council, having served as a Ward 4 councilor from 2008-2012. He is now an at-large councilor.
“It was the most unbelievable learning experience that I could possibly imagine, and I was incredibly lucky to work with some fantastic people,” Starr said.
He said he took some time off from public service to spend time with his family, mentioning wanting to be able to coach his daughter’s teams and such before she went off to college. Starr noted that he has not served with any of the current councilors and is “getting to know everybody.”
“It’s a lot different but we all have similar perspectives as to what needs to be done,” he said.
Ward 3 Councilor Bowen wrapped up the trifecta of presentations, beginning by saying he has been living in the city since 2002 and “started really getting civically involved within the city” about a decade ago. After finding a job closer to home, which cut his commute time down significantly, he found himself with more free time and “started looking for all those doors of opportunity to get things done within the community because I’ve done community service my whole life.”
He came across a community calendar that spotlighted things happening every day in the city, within the government and local nonprofits, entertainment, restaurants, “all kinds of things.”
“I made it my mission to figure out where does this thing come from because I want to promote it and I’m going to start there,” Bowen recalled, adding that is what led him to meet Squailia, who runs the calendar.
“She and I talked about where I could best perform my civic duty that I was interested in,” he said, which then led him to serve on the Fitchburg Cultural Council. “That was my initial home.”
That enabled him to meet a lot of people who are active in the community, and Bowen hosts a radio show on Fridays promoting events in the community. He started getting involved in more things and connecting with more people and ran for office for the first time in 2019.
“That was quite the learning experience,” said Bowen, who ran for City Council two times prior and along with Starr was elected to his current position as a result of this past November’s election.
“My real passion is just to help people build a better life in Fitchburg, and whatever way I can do that, and if we can do some work within the city government and I can influence that, that’s my primary goal,” he said.
When Schultz asked him what his “priorities” are for Ward 3 and mentioned Bowen running “a spirited campaign,” Bowen responded that he has spoken to “hundreds and hundreds of residents over the course of the three campaigns” and listened to what they had to say.
“The majority of them are just looking to get the government to serve them with various things, whether that be they need potholes repaired, they want their trash picked up, a lot of it is just constituent services. They are trying to navigate the world of the City of Fitchburg … and they need some advice and counsel in order to get things they want. …
“I hope to find the right decision that works best for the ward residents and the city in general,” Bowen said. “I don’t know if I’ll always have a win-win situation on that but that’s the primary goal. We want to try to make life better and we have an opportunity to do that.”
To view the meeting in its entirety visit https://tinyurl.com/96pwmp9u.
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