Tierney: 6th District must stand intact

LYNN – The state?s 6th Congressional District is a compact region of contiguous communities with natural boundaries that share “commonality of interest” in areas including education, health care, transportation, veterans services, history and tourism. What?s more, it?s a district that has remained largely intact since the Civil War.That was the argument U.S. Rep. John Tierney, D-Salem, along with state Sen. Tom McGee, D-Lynn, and William Luster, executive director of the North Shore Alliance for Economic Development, made to the Lynn Business Partnership on Wednesday, as to why the 6th District should not be abolished but expanded to include another 77,000 residents.The morning meeting at Eastern Bank?s Lynn headquarters comes in advance of a June 20 public hearing at Lynn City Hall by the Legislature?s Joint Committee on redistricting. The committee is tasked with redrawing Congressional district boundaries to eliminate one Massachusetts district, reducing the amount of districts in the state from 10 to 9 and also redrawing state legislative district boundaries.Based on the 2010 federal Census, in which Massachusetts saw less growth in population than other parts of the country, the Commonwealth is losing another Congressional seat next year (its fourth seat lost since 1958) which will force the addition of about 77,000 citizens into each of the remaining nine districts, for a total of 727,000 in each.Luster gave a slide presentation depicting how relatively few changes have been made to the 6th District since the mid-1800s.?The rest of the state has changed dramatically over the years and we have not. And that becomes our argument on June 20, it?s that this district works as a region, works together and needs to be protected as we move forward.”Luster noted however that the task before the legislative panel is not simple.?Whatever is done there will be a ripple effect,” Luster said. “If, let?s say Lawrence is added (to the 6th District) with 70,000 people or Haverhill with 61,000, and perhaps a small town, that just means we?re taking from the 5th District and Congresswoman (Niki) Tsongas goes from needing 77,000 more in her district to 140,000 more ? That gives you an idea of how complex and difficult adding numbers to a congressional district will be.”Tierney said the 6th District is one, for many reasons, that belongs together.?Geographically we have a natural boundary to the north with New Hampshire, a natural boundary to the east with the ocean, a pretty good boundary on the west with the Merrimack River and shadow of Boston to the south. Historically the district hasn?t changed when all of the others have,” Tierney said.?Commonality of interest” among the communities of the 6th District is another major reason why the district, which closely mirrors the Essex County boundaries, should be preserved, Tierney said.?When you do a project in transportation, or something in health care, you see the effects throughout the district. ? When we talk about the National Park Service we talk about the Park Service from Lynn and Salem all the way up to Amesbury and Newburyport and into Haverhill.?When we talk about transportation, we talk about coming through Lynn and branching up to Newburyport and branching out to Rockport.?When you talk about our hospital systems, we are connected from Anna Jacques in Newburyport to the Beverly/Gloucester hospital to the Lynn and Salem hospital, and they all work together,” he said.Tierney said North Shore Medical Center, for example, would not want its campuses in Salem and on Route 128 in Danvers and on Lynnfield Street in Lynn split into different congressional districts. “(NSMC) sees all of these properties as one contiguous unit,” he said.And on education, Tierney said, North Shore Community College, Middlesex Community College, Northern Essex Community College, Salem State University, Merrimack College and Endicott College “all work corroboratively on a range of issues” inside the 6th Distr