Concerned parties back small-house model for Soldiers’ Home, vets facilities >Signs, flags, flowers and wreaths are placed at the entrance to the Soldiers’ Home in Holyoke, pictured in April 2020. STAFF FILE PHOTO/JERREY ROBERTS > >Published: 7/13/2021 4:59:22 PM
HOLYOKE Gov. Charlie Baker in May signed into law a bill authorizing $400 million in bonds for the design and construction of a new Soldiers’ Home in Holyoke. Now, a couple of entities are trying to add their voices to the discussion of how to handle this project.
Dignity Alliance Massachusetts, a statewide grassroots coalition of aging and disability service and advocacy organizations, and Disabled American Veterans, a nonprofit providing support for veterans and their families, are advocating for a small-house model as opposed to the construction of another large facility, which they say is outdated and unsafe.
Groups advocate small-house model in Soldiers Home project gazettenet.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from gazettenet.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Left of Center s Mara Dolan, a Democratic state committeewoman, says Healey is very popular. She s already got the support of organizations who will get in if she gets in, Dolan said.
She says Baker could be more vulnerable in 2022 facing a younger, more activist electorate, never mind a primary opponent, Geoff Diehl, a former state representative and Donald Trump s 2016 campaign co-chair in Massachusetts. Geoff Diehl probably can t beat him, Dolan said. But he can raise a lot of issues that are uncomfortable for Gov. Baker. Former state Rep. Geoff Diehl, the co-chair of Donald Trump s 2016 presidential campaign in Massachusetts, announced his campaign to replace Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker on the Fourth of July.
COURTESY OF THE OFFICE OF SEN. CIDNY FRIEDMAN
On July 1, Sen. Cindy Friedman, D-Arlington, and her colleagues in the Massachusetts Legislature voted to override Gov. Charlie Baker’s veto of language requiring a project labor agreement from the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home bill financing the construction of the new home.
In May, Baker signed the bulk of a bill authorizing $400 million in bonds for the design and construction of a new soldiers’ home facility in Holyoke and $200 million in bonds to increase geographic equity and accessibility related to the continuum of long-term care services for veterans across the state, but struck a provision requiring the home to be built with a Project Labor Agreement, under which nonunion workers would have to affiliate with construction unions to have a chance to work on the new facility.
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