When Joel first proposed municipal broadband in 2015 he did so because he knew Charter-Spectrum’s monopoly over Chicopee residents resulted in poor and unreliable service — and most of all, expensive bills.

After years of fighting for it, the first customers came online in the fall 2019 — and now hundreds of residents are able to subscribe to this vital municipal resource.

However, there are many parts of Chicopee where Crossroads Fiber isn’t available at all. That has to change — and fast.

Joel’s plan is to secure state funding to build out Chicopee’s fiber network throughout every corner of Chicopee — and potentially beyond. This will save residents money, not just on their internet bills, but on their cable and phone bills by allowing them to cut the cord.

Read Joel’s May 2020 Op-Ed “Municipal broadband investment needed now for ‘new normal’

Joel spent his years in the State Senate working for the Chairman of the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies, so he knows how to use the state’s targeted economic development programs to benefit Chicopee the most.

He will double down on targeted economic development projects that will get eyesores like Cabotville and Uniroyal back on the tax rolls – creating jobs and revenue for our city – while also preserving important green spaces – that together, make Chicopee an attractive place to live, work, and raise a family.

Joel will advocate for Chicopee to receive its fair share of competitive state grant funding such as MassWorks, Transformative Development Initiatives (TDI), the Housing Development Incentive Program (HDIP), and much more!

Read some of the work Joel was involved in while working in the State Senate

Many of the roads in Chicopee are old and are long overdue to be replaced. Even the newer ones find themselves with potholes every year.

Joel has made infrastructure a top priority during his time on the City Council — and he will do the same as our next State Representative.

Joel will fight for increases to Chapter 90 funding that is specifically allocated to cities and towns for road improvements. He’ll also work to make sure Chicopee gets its fair share of the $9.5 billion in funding Massachusetts is anticipated to receive over the next 5 years from the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

With this funding, Chicopee can build new roads and sidewalks, finish revamping our water and sewer infrastructure, and make our problem intersections safer.

As Senator Lesser’s Deputy Chief of Staff, Joel has been part of the team working to bring an East-West rail line to Western Mass for years.

Once thought impossible, thanks to the years of advocacy on Beacon Hill by Senator Lesser and record funding available on the federal level, there has never been a better time to make East-West rail a reality.

East-West rail will create economic opportunity in Western Mass and provide our residents with better paying jobs. It also plays a significant role in reducing carbon emissions by getting cars off the road.

Joel will take up the mantle from Senator Lesser in the Legislature — and with him as our next Lieutenant Governor, we will finally get it done.

Build in 1963, Barry School is ranked as the worst conditioned school in the Chicopee Public Schools. The ceiling tiles contain asbestos, and the state is now requiring all gaps in the ceilings of all classrooms be sealed to ensure hazardous material does not rain down on students.

It is time for a new school and Joel will work with city officials and the state to make sure Chicopee gets its fair share of school funding from the Massachusetts School Building Authority.

From his time in the Mayor’s Office and in the State Senate, Joel has worked closely with school districts and the MSBA to pursue school funding — and his expertise will help Chicopee get the kind of funding it deserves.

Chicopee has led the way with preschool offerings at Szetela Early Childhood Center for decades, but still far too many students are left out of a vital pre-k education because of lack of access or affordability.

The first five years of a child’s life are the most important — and make a difference for the rest of that child’s life. Universal pre-k is the single most important thing we can do to improve outcomes in communities and lift our people up.

Joel will fight for the funding to help Chicopee expand pre-k access city wide and make it a model for other communities to follow across the Commonwealth.

As a former Uber driver, Joel knows how hard gig workers work — and how greedy big tech companies can be.

Now they want to strip app-based workers of basic employment protections that other employees in Massachusetts are entitled to —while hurting consumers, riders and taxpayers as tech companies boost their profits.

Joel opposes Massachusetts HB 1234 and the statewide ballot initiative led by Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash to rewrite Massachusetts law to exclude hundreds of thousands of workers from fundamental rights and protections.

Big Tech’s effort to steer low-wage workers into subminimum wages and unbenefited positions, while claiming that providing basic benefits would eliminate those jobs, is an attack on all workers and must be stopped.

It’s time for millionaires and billionaires in Massachusetts to pay their fair share — to support our economic recovery and the public services that we all depend on.

Joel supports the Fair Share Amendment, a proposal to amend the Massachusetts Constitution, creating an additional tax of four percentage points on the portion of a person’s annual income above $1 million.

The new revenue, approximately $2 billion a year, would be spent on quality public education. affordable public colleges and universities, the repair and maintenance of our roads, bridges, and other forms of public transportation.

Massachusetts is one of the last states in New England to legalize sports betting — while losing out on important tax revenue as residents cross state lines to place betts in Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire.

Americans spent approximately $9.27 billion on sports bets in January 2022, with more than $1 billion of that wagered in New York alone — making it the the largest sports betting market in the country.

It is long past time for our state to legalize sports betting. It not only creates direct tax revenue from bets placed, but it also creates spinoff economic benefits, particularly in one of the hottest sports markets in the country, which means more jobs and opportunity in our state.