Page 13 - BusinessWest July 21, 2021

Eric Lesser
State Senator, First Hampden and Hampshire District
Eric Lesser says he doesn’t know if a pro- posed high-speed rail project linking the eastern and western parts of the state
has enough support on Beacon Hill to become reality.
What he does know is that the concept has never been this close to becoming reality, and he isn’t shy about touting his role in getting what has become known as ‘east-west rail’ as far down the tracks as it has ever traveled.
“We’re at a closer and more exciting moment than we’ve ever been,” he said of the initiative. “With Joe Biden in office, with the feasibility study done ... after eight years of advocacy and work, we have the best chance we’ve ever had of
making this reality.”
The rail proposal is just one of the initiatives
Lesser has led since first being elected to the First Hampden and Hampshire District Senate seat
in 2014 (and earning a 40 Under Forty nod the following year). Most, but not all, of them have fallen into the broad realm of economic devel- opment and, more specifically, into the area of leveling the playing field between east and west within the Commonwealth and bringing oppor- tunities to the people — and communities — of the four western counties.
Lesser
Continued on page 44
“The animating principle of both my campaign in 2014 and, really, every day I’ve been in office since then has been unlocking and creating economic opportunity for Western Mass. that’s comparable and equal to people in Eastern Mass. I will have succeeded if a child born in Springfield or Chicopee or anywhere in Western Mass. has the same shot at making a good living and supporting a family as a kid born in the Boston area.”
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