NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll said she sees optimism and potential in the Steeple City after marching in Sunday's Fall Foliage Day Parade. 

 

Driscoll is the first sitting lieutenant governor to appear in the parade since Timothy Murray and his family back in 2007. She and Gov. Maura Healey were elected to four-year terms in 2022. 

 

"Absolutely picturesque to be able to see, you know, this time of year in this region, and then this parade, the history of it, like multiple generations of families on the sidelines, excited to either watch the parade or be in the parade, participate in it," said Driscoll at a fundraiser meetup at Hotel Downstreet hosted by the local town and city Democratic committees. "It's a perfect New England day, and I was glad to be a part of it."

 

Driscoll had traveled to Dalton in the morning to endorse Leigh Davis, the Democratic candidate for the Third Berkshire District. In North Adams, she made some brief remarks then mingled with the dozen or so attendees, including city councilors and Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts President Jamie Birge, who hoped to bend her ear on relevant issues.

 

Driscoll said she was hearing "lots of enthusiasm for the work that's already happening here" including opportunities to leverage hospitality and tourism challenges around infrastructure and what the state could to support those efforts. 

 

She touched on the hopes for funding toward a public safety building and the city's two bridges — the closed Brown Street bridge and the deteriorating Veterans Memorial Bridge. The memorial bridge, constructed as part of the Central Artery project in the 1960s, is being studied for reconstruction or removal under a federal grant with the goal of better connecting Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art to the downtown. 

 

"I think generally, people are really optimistic about the possibilities that exist here in leveraging off of the things that are already working well, whether it's a university or a cultural asset like Mass MoCA, or a downtown that's beautiful, that has some some rough patches that need to be prettied up, like, how can we work together to accomplish that?" the lieutenant governor said. 

 

Her official duties include chairing the Governor's Council and the Seaport Economic Council, as well as the Governor's Council on sexual abuse and domestic violence. But, she said, as the former mayor of Salem, "I'm definitely the go-between for a lot of cities and towns, their needs and how we can support and empower and uplift what those needs are at the state level."

 

That includes looking at state formulas for aid and how to ensure geographic equity between rural communities and urban centers. 

 

"I'd say two other areas are arts and culture," Driscoll said, expanding on a question about her "porfolio" on Beacon Hill. "Having worked in a community that focuses on arts and culture and tourism, those are the areas that I get to really lift up. And you know, when you're a mayor, you do a lot of things, from chairing a school committee to driving economic development. So I'm fortunate that I have a partner in the governor who really wants us to be force multipliers, like, how do we use the strengths that we have as a team to deliver for people who live in the commonwealth and make it a better state? So we work on that together every day."

 

Her predecessor, Republican Karyn Polito, had also carved out a role as liaison to cities and towns and frequently visited the area to tout the administration's Community Compact program. Driscoll said it was "almost a natural alignment for those of us who have been in local government to kind of love language, right? Like, how do we really make sure we're fostering strong relationships?"

 

She said she's also pushed for more tools for the state's public higher education "knowing that those are our future teachers, nurses, bankers, entrepreneurs, lieutenant governors who stay in Massachusetts."

 

Driscoll was asked about Salem's recent ranking as one of the "hottest ZIP codes" for real estate  and how that could translate to North Adams.  

 

"Honestly, lots of these older gateway cities have transformed themselves and their identity. For Salem, it was obviously tourism or coastline city. We're close to Boston," she said. "For North Adams, this is a place that has a cultural richness — look at the architecture, it's beautiful. How do you leverage getting more people here in density because then that'll help drive the economy. In our case, we've got that density component, and that helps you know have robust businesses and success and drives it. I think there's more we can do here to support that."