ITEM FILE PHOTO
Tom Walsh.
BY ADAM SWIFT
PEABODY — With heating and cooling issues in the Registry of Motor Vehicles at the Liberty Tree Mall in Danvers causing it to close for a week, one lawmaker is urging the state to consider a move to Peabody.
On Thursday, state Rep. Thomas Walsh (D-Peabody) sent a letter to Registrar of Motor Vehicles Erin Deveney asking her not to renew the lease with Simon Property Group, the mall’s owner and to consider a branch in his district.
The timing could be right for a move, with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s lease with Simon expiring at the end of June.
“North Shore residents deserve more than what the Danvers facility has provided,” Walsh said.
Deveney said no decision has been made yet on a renewal of the current three-year lease.
“As the lease with the Liberty Tree Mall comes up for renewal we are looking at the needs of customers and at the RMV’s operational needs,” she said. “No decisions have been made concerning whether the current lease will be renewed.”
The branch reopened on Wednesday after being closed for a week because of heating, ventilation and air conditioning problems.
Walsh said alternative sites are available in the area that would better provide for residents’ registry needs.
Even more frustrating than the physical deficiencies at the Danvers office, are the personal and economic losses that local residents have experienced when going to a closed facility, he said.
“When you think of the time and earnings lost by individuals who had to take a morning or an afternoon off from work, or those who needed to hire a babysitter while going to the Registry only to find it closed, you can understand their anger and frustration,” said Walsh.
In the letter to Deveney, Walsh wrote that Peabody is at the crossroads of Routes 1, 95 and 114 which would provide convenient access for North Shore residents.
If the transportation department doesn’t renew the existing lease with Simon, it would issue a request for proposals to find a suitable new space, according to Deveney.
