Lawmakers urged to create opportunities for candidates of color
Matt Murphy
State House News Service
The state s only majority-minority Congressional district, represented by U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, is an area ripe for lawmakers to create more opportunities for candidates of color at the state level, according to officials and advocates who testified Monday in front of legislators in charge of redistricting.
Pressley, who in 2018 became the first Black woman elected to Congress from Massachusetts, urged the Special Committee on Redistricting on Monday to keep as much of her district intact as possible.
Meanwhile, leaders in Randolph, Chelsea and Revere pressed for their communities to be kept whole in House districts on Beacon Hill, rather than carved up. And numerous advocates said Boston should have a Senate district crafted to make it more likely that a Black person can be elected.
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While growing up in Randolph, Simmonds used to play at Belcher Park, the home of the new playground. He graduated from Randolph High School in 2004 and eventually became a Boston police officer.
The playground, unveiled in a plan last year but delayed by the pandemic, was a joint effort by Randolph town officials and the Where Angels Play Foundation. The Randolph Town Council donated $20,000 to make the project happen. It tells our children that police work is important work and has great value to it, Randolph Planning Director Michelle Tyler said. And we were hoping that that’s something of a message that kids will pull away from this playground.
RANDOLPH In the fall, a new playground was supposed to be built in Randolph in memory of native son DJ Simmonds, a Boston police officer who was injured during the hunt for the Boston Marathon bombers in 2013 died from those injuries the following year.
But the worsening pandemic scrapped those plans as the nonprofit organization from New Jersey, which was donating the project, could not make the trip and piece the equipment together at Belcher Park in October as planned.
But the Where Angels Play Foundation and Randolph residents will piece together the delayed playground during a two-day project beginning at 9 a.m. May 13 and 14, with a ribbon-cutting planned for 11 a.m. Saturday, May 15.
Wicked Local
In the fall, a new playground was supposed to be built in Randolph in memory of native son DJ Simmonds, a Boston police officer who was injured during the hunt for the Boston Marathon bombers in 2013, and dying from those injuries the following year.
But the worsening pandemic scrapped those plans as the non-profit organization from New Jersey, which was donating the project, could not make the trip and piece the equipment together at Belcher Park in October, as planned.
But the Where Angels Play Foundation and Randolph residents will piece together the delayed playground during a two-day project beginning at 9 a.m. May 13-14, with a ribbon-cutting planned for 11 a.m. Saturday, May 15.