Tewksbury

As a former student in Tewksbury Public Schools, Barry Finegold has strongly advocated on behalf of the students in Tewksbury. The town needed a new high school due to increased enrollment and a deteriorating facility. Finegold was an early supporter of the new high school project and pushed for the construction of a new, energy efficient and technologically advanced facility.

This year, Barry Finegold, along with Sen. Susan Tucker and Rep. James Miceli, pushed for the Tewksbury land conveyance in House Bill 4801, An Act authorizing the conveyance of certain parcels of land. This allows the town of Tewksbury to sell the lot at 918 Main Street where the old police station was formerly located, and keep half the proceeds. "I am thrilled that we can turn what is now an eyesore into a great benefit for the town – meaning immediate revenue for Tewksbury, which can be used to off-set potential budget cuts," Barry said.

Barry Finegold helped secure $400,000 for the design and construction of a traffic signal at the intersection of River Road and Andover Street (Route 133) in Tewksbury. Finegold and his colleagues, Rep. James Miceli and Rep. David Nangle, secured the funding as an earmark to the long-awaited House Bill No. 4825, the Transportation Bond Bill in 2008.

When the town of Tewksbury was forced into a bad trash contract by the state, Barry fought and won relief from the state to offset expenses in Tewksbury, as well as in Andover and Dracut—saving local taxpayers a significant amount of money.

In 1999, Barry won the Kennedy School Fenn Award for Political Leadership for his leadership in bringing together legislators and officials from New Hampshire and Massachusetts to address the traffic problems on I-93. His efforts led to the opening of the breakdown lane during rush hours, which greatly reduced congestion during peak commuting times, leading to easier commutes and faster access to the business in our communities. The breakdown lane is only the beginning – Barry is focused on working to bring a new I-93 interchange to better serve our local businesses. He is working with community leaders to find a viable solution to the interchange that will bring thousands of dollars of tax revenue and jobs to the town of Tewksbury.

Barry Finegold also pushed National Grid, Verizon and Comcast to work with the town during severe storms to defray some of the costs and inconvenience of power and service outages. He called on them to be more responsive, especially during power outages.