Mayor James J. Fiorentini > Press Release

January 13, 2006

For Immediate release

“Fiorentini Says Bush Signing of Highway Bill Removes Final Barrier to Obtaining $7.6 Million for Parking Deck”

Tuesday, President Bush signed into law the $286 billion highway transportation bill passed by Congress law week.

Today, Mayor James J. Fiorentini said that the signing of this law means that Haverhill will receive the $7.6 million in funding allocated to Haverhill for a new parking deck.

“The signing of the bill by President Bush was the final hurdle we had to overcome for this money,” said Fiorentini. “The bill had to pass the House, where Congressman Meehan put $5.6 million into it for Haverhill. In the Senate, Senator Kennedy added an additional $2 million bringing the total to $7.6 million. It then had to pass the conference committee. The final hurdle was that President Bush needed to sign the bill, which he did on Tuesday.”

“This is great news for our city. We thank Congressman Meehan and Senator Kennedy for making this happen. We will now proceed forthwith to find a location and to set the design. The city has talked about a new parking deck for over a decade. We are not there yet, but this money makes it possible for the first time.”

Fiorentini said that his next step would be to meet with Congressman Meehan and obtain the details on how to obtain design money. “Once we do that, we will set up a committee to select a site and move as quickly as possible. President Bush’s signing the bill presents our city with a golden opportunity and we intend to capitalize upon it.”