8.3.2023 Lt Governor visits Battleship Cove

come on up hey everyone it's great to be in Fall River this afternoon what a beautiful day to be able to take a tour of this amazing site that not only tells fall River's history but certainly tells American history as a Navy brat I am definitely feeling a lot of love and attention in this space and I think there's probably a lot of veterans who can relate to that feeling being able to

see something that meant so much to so many lives joining me here today is the marathon River mayor Paul Coogan our Senate chair of ways and means Senator Mike Rodricks representative Alan Sylvia is here I know rep Schmidt has a representative here and Megan Rathburn who's the executive director lucky enough to be the executive director of Battleship Cove and so grateful to be able to be

here on the ground although as I said earlier this is not my first time at Battleship Cove I had the pleasure of spending the night I will not say sleeping because I don't don't think anybody slept my son was part of a Boy Scout Troop one of many it sounds like that has the great privilege of being able to spend time here and I can remember the thrill in all of those kids

eyes listening to a veteran talk about what life was like you know to be uh to be on a on a on a ship like this every day of the year and I think that's what makes it so special when you say Battleship Cove people think of Fall River it's an identity that people have right away and how fortunate we are in Massachusetts to be able to tell this history and not just talk about it by

pointing to a book but to be able to experience what something may have been like our Naval History our our history of the number of immigrants who have come to our cities our Gateway cities in particular and just real opportunity to highlight some of the Investments that we're making as a commonwealth we're fortunate that due to the good stewardship of the legislature you know Governor Healy and I are in our in our

seventh month now so we're still in our rookie year I like to say our rookie season definitely our rookie budget season I will say that um and we're fortunate that I think we've had a legislative delegation that has done such a tremendous job sorting resources as appropriately but sorting resources for the Commonwealth Senator rodericks as the chair of ways and means has made sure through thick and thin

good times and bad times that there were dollars available to support the needs of the Commonwealth and frankly put us in a position along with his colleagues in the legislature to be able to support investments in places like this and that's something that then ultimately strengthens communities and I think the governor and I both feel like strong communities make for a strong Commonwealth and we're able to make up

to 14 billion dollars of investments in capital needs it's great to be the lieutenant governor of a state that's nearly 400 years old but that means we've got a lot of old infrastructure whether it's uh Bridges like the one that that we can see outside or cultural and historic assets like here at Battleship Cove we want to be in a position to make sure we're making these investments in this facility in

particular is such a strong partnership the deck and the pier is owned by the state it's a DCR property and part of our CIP efforts thanks to the strong advocacy of the delegation in particular Senator roderick's outlining a top priority here seven million dollars has been allotted to ensure we're reinvesting in that peer to support the long-term growth and sustainability of what we were just able to take a brief

look at and that's going to ensure that the sort of resources that it's hard for any institution to raise Battleship Cove is a non-profit you can't you can't necessarily lean into the whole effort by yourself this is where the state partnership is so strong state-owned peer private non-profit working together to ensure these historical assets remain in place so grateful to be here today to

be able to make investments like we we're so proud of and certainly to to partner with our municipalities as a former mayor I know the job is is one that is never boring every day something different and again you need that strong partner to make sure you're making the sorts of Investments that can lead to economic vitality and that's what happens here the magic is the history the experience but also so the economic

prowess that it creates for the city I'm proud to be joined and offer Amir Coogan an opportunity to offer a few remarks my friend my friend mayor of course I want to thank lieutenant governor Driscoll for coming down today she is a good friend of ours in Fall River because she wants to support what's going on not only at the battleship but across the city she's a phone call away she always

answers the call and we have such a strong legislative delegation that partners with the administration at um at the state house between Senator roderick's representative Sylvia representative Fiola and representative Schmidt boosting tourism in fall river is good across the entire economy the battleship is a key piece and these investments will make this last longer entertain more children bring more

people to Fall River and keep a good cycle of what's going on with tourism in Fall River I can't thank little lieutenant governor coming for coming down and being on the ground seeing exactly what we're talking about it's very important um do you want me to introduce did someone uh I've never I've never I've never met I've never met the next speaker I can honestly say that um it's my first time

medium he seems like a nice guy I'd like to let Senator Roderick say a few words thank you uh Mr Mayor and Madam lieutenant governor it's great to see you and um the theme that we've been hearing um is Partnerships and we are absolutely here today because of the amazing Partnerships that we have all forged the mayor who is I've never and I've worked with a number of Mayors uh and uh never

has there been a mayor that's more accessible more available anytime day or night whatever day it is um you're calling me answers the phone and he's engaged and he knows what you and he's he's right on task the partnership in the legislature my house colleagues representative Sylvia representative Schmidt representative phiola and we in the Senate we work very very closely and collaboratively together and most

importantly and why we're here today our partnership with the Haley Driscoll Administration immediately upon them taking office seven months ago they were instantly engaged and interested and involved in ensuring that although there have been many Bond authorizations over the years to make investments here at Battleship Cove and on the state Pier they went beyond the authorization and made

sure that it became part of the uh their investment plan for this coming fiscal year so thank you madam LG this is an amazing investment that really is the symbol of fall River and we are all going to continue to partner together to ensure that improvements are made each and every year thank you and do I get to uh introduce my partner in crime I don't say that we're getting trouble

if I say that my partner in the legislature but a very good friend and someone who also lives and breeds bleeds and breeds Fall River each and every day representative Alan Sylvia thank you and uh first of all thank you lieutenant governor for joining us today in our beautiful city and I want to thank of course Megan from the battleship and the great work that she and all of the volunteers and staff he had do um

you know this is being filmed and I'm glad it is because there are some people who think oh there's only two or three people a day who visit the battleship there are hundreds of people here right now on Thursday and we were in the gift shop earlier we were they were bumping into us from all over the country it's the centerpiece the centerpiece of Fall River in its expanding evolving uh Waterfront

this is so vitally important and that's why this capital investment is going to go a long way not only for Fall River for the entire Commonwealth and the nation when you look at the Historical value of what the USS Massachusetts and Battleship Cove is so again thank you all for being here and again lieutenant governor thanks so much I know Megan knows her way around this facility the best and you can tell the

passion you have sharing with us information about both the exhibit and the needs as well so we'd love to hear from you Megan thank you so much and it's been an honor today to take everyone on a tour and to welcome lieutenant governor back to Battleship Cove all this time a little bit fewer children running around and no one has to spend the night on the battleship but we are incredibly

grateful here at Battleship Cove for this investment from the state and from the Partnerships that we've had both with the city here with the mayor and all of our city councilors all the way up through the state house with the governor's office as well as with our good friends in the Senate and the house and all of the Fall River delegation for all of the work they have done for here at Battleship Cove since 1965 the

battleship Massachusetts and Battleship Cove has been synonymous with Fall River but it's more than just Fall River it is the state of Massachusetts and it represents the history of our veterans on a national scale since 1965 we've had over six and a half million visitors that have come through our doors that have seen the history have set foot in Fall River to experience what we have to

offer and including our wonderful lieutenant governor more than one million children and their parents have slept aboard our Battleship since our overnight program started in 1930 slept in 1972. so this investment here are for our state peer here with our partnership with DCR will allow us to continue to be an economic driver and an anchor upon a hundred percent intended in the greater

South Coast Area and the state of Massachusetts it will allow us to continue bringing this history and this experience to all of the children and the families that travel up and down the east coast to come visit us and it allows us to keep honoring all of our veterans and all of the sacrifices that they made so thank you so much for coming down today thank you so much for

all of your hard work we are incredibly grateful thank you so I know we've got a few more minutes we're happy to take any questions if there are members of the press over here sure

yeah we were just talking about that uh while we were touring the facility you know it really has a foothold here battleship is synonymous and having strong local connections strong leadership to be able to track tourism where folks are coming from have a more strategic Outreach effort we want to do that at the state level as well I think Fall River is on the map already and our

goal will be to make sure we're helping accelerate the pace of visitors who are coming to Massachusetts and then we'd like to think we can fight over them once they get here right how do we work together to make sure there's a comprehensive strategy tied to marketing and promoting the uniqueness of Massachusetts you can't see this anyplace else all right that's it yes

yes we've been doing a significant amount of work on our ships here again thanks to a lot of Partnerships we just wrapped up a 1.5 million dollar project on the battleship which was funded in a large Portion by arpa funding from the state which would not have happened without that funding we painted the entire Hull of the battleship Massachusetts from the main deck to the water line we've been addressing steel

and metal wastage we are currently replacing lifelines every single one of our ships right now has major projects from electrical work to deck replacement to painting going on we just opened this brand new Hangar here Memorial Day which was funded by a wonderful Grant from the Massachusetts office of travel and tourism is a matching grant that allowed us to bring our helicopters out of the

weather under the Braga Bridge into this Hangar here and allows us to preserve them and undertake that preservation work that's needed so we have been running full stop for the past two years and even through covid when we were down to volunteers it was amazing work that we've done and it's all thanks to the Partnerships we have from the city level all the way up to the state