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A man walks by the recently opened COVID-19 vaccination site in Chelsea, Feb. 8, 2021. Chelsea s vaccination sites are limited by Massachusetts eligibility rules. (Elise Amendola/AP)
Chelsea has been especially hard hit by the pandemic. People in the city just north of Boston have been disproportionately affected by the crisis. As the anniversary of the coronavirus shutdown approaches, Chelsea City Manager Tom Ambrosino spoke with WBUR’s
Weekend Edition.
On the way coronavirus hit Chelsea in the early months of the crisis:
Ambrosino: We were at levels of contagion that were greater than any other city in the commonwealth or really any other city in the country… But, you know, it really didn t surprise us given that this was an airborne virus. And we have people who live in crowded conditions, who travel to work in crowded conditions, and who work in crowded conditions. So it was sort of a perfect storm of events that created this real extraordinary impact in the city.
City Manager Tom Ambrosino delivered his annual State of the City address to the Council on Monday night, going through the lows of 2020 while identifying the pitfalls coming in 2021, but also noting that he is more optimistic at the moment than he has been over the last year.
“It’s been the hardest on me in my 30 years of public service, and it’s probably been the hardest on this City in its history,” he said. “However, I have to say for the last few months I actually feel a sense of optimism – optimism ground in the belief that despite a still-raging pandemic and despite continued economic turmoil and notwithstanding unresolved racial injustice, we do seem poised as a City and a nation to turn a corner. The vaccines are here, and though distribution is frustratingly slow, it is here.
Help is on the way for homeowners that find themselves with increasing tax bills, as the City Council on Monday voted 10-0 to transfer $750,000 to the Homeowner Stabilization Program to help some owner-occupants with tax increases.
The Homeowner Stabilization Fund had been in existence and had a $250,000 balance this fall, but after the tax rate was set and it was discovered many people were going to get his with tax increases – particularly two-family and three-family homeowners – it was proposed to be expanded. The program combined will have $1 million in funding and will be available to those making under $119,000 as a household.