THE EVERETT ADVOCATE – FRiDAy, DECEmbER 12, 2025 Page 23 THE HOUSE AND SENATE: There were no roll call votes in the House or Senate last week. This week, Beacon Hill Roll Call reports local senators’ roll call attendance records for the 2025 session through December 5. The Senate has held 116 roll calls in the 2025 session. Beacon Hill Roll Call tabulates the number of roll calls on which each senator voted and then calculates that number as a percentage of the total roll call votes held. That percentage is the number referred to as the roll call attendance record. Senate rules allow a senator, who is not physically present at the session in the Senate chamber, to vote remotely from any location inside or outside of the Statehouse -without giving a reason for his or her absence from the Senate chamber. Sometimes a senator is not able to attend only one or two sessions during which roll calls are held, but since there are sometimes multiple roll calls on each one of those days, the number of roll calls they missed can be high even though they only missed one or two sessions. Thirty-four (87.2 percent) out of the 39 senators did not miss any roll call votes and had a 100 precent roll call attendance record. Five (12.8 percent) out of 39 senators missed one or more roll call votes. The senator who missed the most number of roll calls is Sen. Lydia Edwards (D-Boston) who missed 23 roll calls (80.1 percent roll call attendance record.) Edwards did not respond to repeated requests from Beacon Hill Roll Call asking her why she missed so many roll call votes. There were only four other senators who missed one or more roll call votes including Sen. John Velis (D-Westfi eld) who missed 20 roll calls (82.7 percent attendance record). “As a major in the Massachusetts National Guard, Sen. Velis is currently on an active-duty deployment to the southern border,” responded Velis’ offi ce. “Due to the senator’s deployment, he was not able to participate in roll call votes during two Senate formal sessions in November.” Sen. Mike Barrett (D-Lexington) missed 2 roll calls (98.2 percent roll call attendance record) and Sen. Adam Gomez (D-Springfi eld) missed one roll call (99.1 percent roll call attendance record.) Neither one responded to repeated requests from Beacon Hill Roll Call asking them why they missed roll call votes. It is a Senate tradition that the Senate president only votes occasionally. Current Senate President Karen Spilka follows that tradition and only voted on 30 (25.8 percent) of the 116 roll calls while not voting on 86 (74.2 percent) of them. SENATORS’ 2025 ROLL CALL ATTENDANCE RECORDS THROUGH DECEMBER 5, 2025 Here are the 2025 roll call attendance records of local senators through December 5. The attendance records are based on 116 roll calls. The percentage listed next to the senators’ name is the percentage of roll call votes on which the senator voted. The number in parentheses represents the number of roll calls that he or she missed. Sen. Sal DiDomenico 1 0 0 percent (0) ALSO UP ON BEACON HILL CITY OF EVERETT - LEGAL NOTICE - ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS 484 BROADWAY, ROOM 24 EVERETT, MASSACHUSETTS 02149 To Whom It May Concern: This notice is to inform you that a public hearing will be held on Monday December 15, 2025 at 6:00 PM, Everett City Hall, 3rd Floor George Keverian Hearing Room. All interested parties may attend and opinions will be heard regarding the following petition. Whereas a petition has been presented by: Property Address: Map/Parcel: Building Permit: Zoning District: Property Owner: Proposal: The subject property is comprised of two separately assessed parcels: 535 Ferry Street (which also includes the building addressed as 533 Ferry Street) and 539 Ferry Street (which also includes the buildings addressed as 537 Ferry Street). The combined property will have a total lot area of 15,100 square feet. The applicant proposes to demolish the existing buildings at 535, 537 and 539 Ferry Street and to renovate and expand the building addressed as 533 Ferry Street. As proposed, the resulting structure will have two commercial units and sixteen dwelling units, with a total gross floor area of 17,916 square feet. The ground floor of the proposed structure will contain 2,130 square feet of commercial space at the front of the building (along Ferry Street) and residential units at the back of the building. The second and third floors will contain additional dwelling units. Seventeen parking spaces are proposed. Reason for Denial: The existing building is nonconforming as to the side setback along Ashton Street. Pursuant to Section 6.B.5 of the Zoning Ordinance, a side setback is required, because the abutting lot to the north along Ashton Street is “used for one or two family or three family dwelling use.” The existing structure is only set back one foot from Ashton Street, and the applicant proposes to maintain this existing setback. Accordingly, a special permit from the Zoning Board of Appeals is required to alter, expand and change the use of the preexisting nonconforming structure, pursuant to Section 3.C of the Zoning Bylaw. It is the determination of this office that no front setback is required, because the residential units on the ground floor of the building will be at the back of the building and will not front on Ferry Street. Please also note that the project will require site plan review (Section 19) and compliance with the Transportation Demand Management Ordinance (Section 35). Zoning: The Zoning Ordinance is silent on this matter therefore it is not allowed. REBECCA EDMONDSON KOREM - Chairman ROBERTA SUPPA - Clerk of Board of Appeals December 05, 12, 2025 533-535 and 537-539 Ferry Street A0-04-000050 and A0-04-000052 B-23-838 Business Anthony DiPierro and Ciriaco DiPierro HOME ENERGY ASSISTANCE – The Healey Administration announced that the Trump Administration, after a month-long delay, released federal funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and that all applications can now be processed. LIHEAP is a federal program, referred to as the Massachusetts Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP) in Massachusetts, that helps more than 150,000 Massachusetts households, representing over 300,000 people, aff ord to heat BEACON | SEE PAGE 24
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