Senator Cindy Friedman

STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, SEPT. 19, 2017…..A debate over adequate worker compensation that was waged before a legislative committee Tuesday and could be headed to the ballot next November has pitted two struggling groups against one another.

On one side, workers earning the $11 an hour minimum wage spoke about living in poverty while holding down jobs at successful businesses. On the other side, small business representatives said hiking the minimum wage to $15 over the next four years would be a death knell for retailers already chafing against the high cost of doing business in Massachusetts while competing against tax-free sellers from New Hampshire and the internet.

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On Sept. 12, Sen. Cindy F. Friedman, D-Arlington, testified before the Joint Committee on Mental Health, Substance Use and Recovery in support of S.1091, An Act establishing a restoration center in Middlesex County, an initiative originally filed by the late Senator Donnelly. The bill would direct a large group of public safety and mental health experts to develop a Restoration Center pilot program in Middlesex County to serve as a jail diversion and treatment facility for individuals experiencing a behavioral health crisis.

According to data provided by NAMI Massachusetts, an organization that also testified in support of the bill, approximately 25 percent of state correctional inmates and up to 50 percent of county jail and house of correction detainees and inmates are receiving mental health services to some degree Additionally, roughly 14 percent of male and 30 percent of female inmates are believed to have serious mental illnesses, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depression.

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BOSTON – Looking for an exit from the “revolving door” of people with mental health disorders going back and forth from emergency rooms to the streets or jail, advocates asked lawmakers on Tuesday to help create a “restoration center” in Middlesex County.

The center would be a facility that provides treatment, including detox and beds, and offers police a place to bring those suffering from mental illness, according to June Binney, director of criminal justice diversion for the National Alliance on Mental Illness Massachusetts.

Advocates testified in favor of legislation (S 1091) that was filed by the late Sen. Kenneth Donnelly that would task a commission with developing a three-year plan to build a restoration center in Middlesex County. The bill has support from Sen. Cindy Friedman, Donnelly’s former aide who was elected to the Senate this summer, and Middlesex Sheriff Peter Koutoujian.

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WOBURN – Wow! The “wow factor” was much in evidence on Saturday as many members of the general public were overwhelmed and had their first look at the new James L. McKeown Boys & Girls Club.

“It’s incredible,” was a repeated declaration of enthusiasm after a parking lot full of enthusiastic support packed the newly-paved front parking lot.

Sen. Cindy Friedman: “It’s great at the State House to work on something so positive. People are just dying to get inside.”

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“How to Be an Effective Citizen Lobbyist”: 7-9 p.m. Sept. 18, First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church vestry, 630 Mass. Ave., Arlington. Want to learn more about how to be heard and influence government decisions? Join in for a conversation with state Sen. Cindy Friedman and Colleen Kirby, the criminal justice legislative specialist for the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts and a member of First Parish Arlington’s Mass Incarceration Working Group. This free program is sponsored by First Parish Arlington’s Mass Incarceration Working Group and is open to all. Questions? Email end-mass-incarceration@firstparish.info.

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State Sen. Cindy Friedman of Arlington, Democrat representing the 4th Middlesex, has announced the creation of her official Senate website — www.cindyfriedman.org — and began holding monthly office hours.

“I’m very excited that our website is up and running,” Friedman said in a Sept. 7 news release. To keep constituents up-to-date on news from the State House, she expects frequent updates on the website, in a quarterly newsletter, as well as on Facebook and Twitter. “One of the most effective ways to ensure your voice is heard is to meet face-to-face with your senator or representative,’ she said. ‘I look forward to holding office hours in the 4th Middlesex each month.”

If you are unable to attend office hours, she encouraged the public to contact her office at 617-722-1432 or at Cindy.Friedman@masenate.gov.

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Naomi Greenfield, the Arlington Human Rights Committee member who organized the event, stood next to State Senator Cindy Friedman, D-Arlington, microphone in hand, and addressed the crowd of over 200 in front of her. She introduced the night’s action items: writing postcards to elected officials, writing letters to residents of Charlottesville, Virginia in the wake of a deadly white supremacist rally last weekend, signing a “Commitment to Change” poster that will hang in the Robbins Library and creating posters for a counter-protest planned in response to an Aug. 19 “free speech rally” that some people fear is actually a white nationalist rally similar to the one in Virginia.

Friedman spoke at the beginning of the gathering, before everyone dispersed to action stations. She described her own sadness about the events that occurred in Charlottesville and called for action after the gathering ended.

“We move forward only to find ourselves coming back to the same issues,” Friedman said. “We are responsible for being voices of tolerance and understanding. We all need to expand tonight’s actions and we’ll need to put ourselves out there.”

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