Senator Brownsberger is visiting all eight regions of the Commonwealth Conversations tour crossing the state between February 4 and March 18. The tour, which kicked off today in Western Mass, will be an opportunity for senators to listen directly to residents, businesses, and interest groups, and then come together in shared leadership to craft an agenda for the next legislative session. Below is the full press release from Senate President Stan Rosenberg’s office.
Senator Brownsberger will be leading his Metro Boston tour on March 4th. Details will be made available at the tour website as they are determined. Each tour will feature an evening forum that the public and stakeholder groups are encouraged to attend and share their needs and concerns. Please note that tour dates may change due to weather conditions.
Update 2/5/15: See this Boston Globe editorial praising the tour.
Update 2/18/15: The town hall public forum will take place 6:30-8:30 p.m. at Roxbury Community College, Media Arts Center, Mainstage, 1234 Columbus Avenue, Roxbury.
Senate Announces Commonwealth Conversations Tour
Boston, MA –Today the Massachusetts State Senate Announced the “Commonwealth Conversations Tour” of the State bringing Beacon Hill to main streets. The Commonwealth Conversations Tour, coordinated by Senator Michael Rodrigues (D-Westport) is a statewide tour of Senate districts led by the local senators to reach out to local residents, businesses, and interests groups to listen directly to their needs and concerns with the hope that it will foster more civic engagement while helping each senator learn more about issues outside of their own districts.
Each member of the Senate has committed to attending at least two of these sessions outside of their own region that is not an adjoining district to their own.
“I am pleased to announce the Commonwealth Conversations Tour and I want to thank Senator Rodrigues and his staff for their hard work organizing these events. In my swearing-in speech I spoke about shared leadership and civic engagement,” said President Stan Rosenberg (D-Amherst). “We hope to hear directly from the people of the Commonwealth about how we can help improve their lives through our work in the Senate. “These conversations will help us craft our agenda and engage the public in the good work that we hope to accomplish this legislative session.”
“The Commonwealth Conversations Tour will provide an excellent opportunity for the members of the Senate to learn and understand the diverse perspectives of the state’s citizens from the many different regions,” said Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester). “Massachusetts is home to a wide range of industries and people; from those who work in agriculture to technology, from healthcare to manufacturing, and it is essential that we listen to all of them, and have the benefit of their wisdom. The Commonwealth Conversations Tour will give us a chance to do that.”
“I am honored to play a role in organizing the Commonwealth Conversations Tour, and excited to engage with people from all corners of the state to learn more about the challenges and opportunities they are encountering,” said Senator Michael Rodrigues (D-Westport). “It is my hope that this tour will provide a platform from which the Senate can work collaboratively toward improving the lives of people throughout Massachusetts.”
All members of the public are encouraged to participate. To read more about this effort you can go to the website at https://malegislature.gov/cc and follow on Twitter at @Ma_Senate.
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The tour dates run from February 4th through March 11. They are as follows:
| Regional Group | Senate Regional Lead | Staffer | |
| 4-Feb | WESTERN MASS Lesser, Downing, Rosenberg, Welch and Humason |
Lesser | MaryAnne Welch/Nik Nadeau |
| (9-Feb) RESCEDULED TO 18-Mar |
SOUTHEAST Wolf, deMacedo and Kennedy |
Wolf | Elysse Magnotto |
| 11-Feb | CENTRAL MASS Chandler, Moore, Gobi, Flanagan and Fattman |
Chandler | Naomi You |
| 23-Feb | NORTH SHORE McGee, Tarr, L’Italien, Lovely, Lewis, Donnelly, and O’Connor-Ives |
Donnelly | Hannah Buntich |
| 25-Feb | SOUTH SHORE Keenan, Hedlund, Joyce and Rush |
Keenan | Kristin Grazioso |
| 2-Mar | METRO WEST Eldridge, Creem, Donoghue, Spilka, Barrett and Ross |
Eldridge | Michael Carr/Megan Montgomery |
| 4-Mar | METRO BOSTON Brownsberger, DiDomenico, Petruccelli, Jehlen, Chang-Diaz, and Forry |
Brownsberger | Jeanne Mooney |
| 11-Mar | SOUTH COAST Rodrigues, Pacheco, Montigny and Timilty |
Rodrigues | Jeremy Spittle/Tara Conklin |