Deborah Riley for Quincy Ward 6

Most recent update on the Squantum school project. Framing and sheathing and windows, Oh My!
Expect a lot of activity in the summer months with school out.

So many moments moved me it’s hard to pick one:
1. The chorus singing “What I Did For Love” from one of my all time favorite musicals A Chorus Line 🎶
2. Seeing one of the students with a “First Generation” sash 🎓
3. The students who spoke so movingly about their family’s journey to the U.S. for them to have the opportunities we take for granted 🇺🇸
4. The student officers cheering when the city council was introduced by council rep David Jacobs ❤️
5. David’s speech comparing life lessons to driving lessons 🚗

The Quincy City Council will be recognizing Chef Laurence Louie, owner of Robato in North Quincy, at our meeting on a Monday, June 15 at 7:30 pm!

Quincy’s own Stan Grossfeld did a great feature article on him:

He didn’t win ‘Top Chef,’ but Chef Louie is still tops in Quincy - The Boston Globe Laurence Louie, owner of Rubato in Quincy, was runner up on Top Chef.

On the border with ward 6. Sharing councillor Hubley’s community meeting

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1ByEbihSyL/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Congrats to Laurence Louie for making it to the Top Chef finals! Your story is what makes Quincy great. You are a winner in our hearts
Thank you for making us all proud to be a part of your community ❤️

Setting the record straight on the Early Intervention Center in Squantum:

I walk and bike around the city a lot, and now that I’m an elected official, I will often go around to check out issues, complaints, concerns brought to me in my role as the Ward 6 City Councillor.

About 2 weeks ago, I started hearing from a number of parents whose children received Early Intervention Services at the Molly Hirshberg Learning Center in Squantum. I am familiar with the site, but I must admit, I wasn’t sure exactly what went on there. It was often referenced as a daycare center and In recent years I became more aware of the amazing work that has been carried out there for over two decades.

On May 22, I visited the Early Intervention Center on Moon Island Road on a scheduled tour and this past Friday, June 5, I was fortunate enough to see first-hand the families and children being served on my morning walk of Squantum and Squaw Rock. I wish I could have taken pictures to share but, understandably, privacy laws prohibit it. They sang a little “goodbye” song calling out each child’s name to signal to them it was time to go and ease their transition. It was a beautiful moment.

Early Intervention services are provided to children from ages 0-3, at no cost to families, who have developmental delays or disabilities. Non-profits receive state subsidies to provide these services, which are hardly enough to cover the actual costs of quality services by qualified professionals. Aspire is the designated provider of these services for children in Quincy, Milton and Randolph. Once the children reach age three, they enter into the local school system for continued services, so it is critical that they make as much progress as possible in these early years of development.

The long-term lease of the Moon Island Road buildings was gifted to the non-profit Aspire Health (formerly South Shore Mental Health) for the early intervention program 25 years ago. They did not pay rent allowing them to put more resources toward program services. The Veteran’s Post next door, another non-profit also does not pay the city any rent for their facility.

In 2022, the city pledged the building to The Massachusetts Native American Tribe as part of an agreement to honor the original inhabitants of the region for Quincy400. The Patriot Ledger reported that the city was working to relocate the current occupants. What followed was demands to vacate, deadlines set, legal challenges about the lease terms, and delays because the relocation fell solely on Aspire to find new, suitable space. The city was not providing any support to relocate them until recently.

In the last couple of months, the city offered space at the Wollaston Congregational Church, a property the city purchased last April for $1.1M because the congregation could no longer sustain itself and the property. The space offered was not suitable for the program without a substantial investment in improvements. Aspire had to raise funds for 4 years to retrofit the current space. They did not have the time or the financial resources to make that location work.

In early 2026, Aspire vacated the smaller, front building which had been used for administrative purposes. That building is now vacant and available to the Tribe for immediate use. The rear building provides services to 80-90 children with 14 different programs. They have rooms for family consultation, a space for parents to observe their children through a one-way glass interacting with other children, kitchen space, child sized toilets, adaptive play areas, and shaded outdoor play space. The parents praise the social interaction and support the program provides to families of these most precious children. On my walk on Friday, I was able to meet some of the children and parents. Many were parents who had spoken at the June 1 City Council meeting (1:40 mark). They are advocating for their children, not being used as pawns for political purposes. I encouraged them to take advantage of the open forum to tell their stories firsthand. I was pleasantly surprised to see how many came out especially parents whose kids had been there many years prior.

The parents received official notification dated May 28, 2026 after hearing rumors of the planned move. There was a subsequent Q&A follow up communication sent out as well. Anyone who has kids knows that scheduling around kids activities, especially in the summer, is like planning a space shuttle launch: carefully mapped out and coordinated. A 30 day notice is not sufficient under the circumstances.

Aspire CEO, Susan Coakley has been working hard to get the organization’s financial house in order. Like many non-profit organizations that rely on state funding, their expenses outpace those sources of revenue. The deal they had with the city at Moon Island allowed them to put more funding toward the program. Now they must direct their financial resources to leasing office space instead.

In addition to the Early Intervention program, Aspire offers services to assist those with mental health and substance use disorders, some of which is in the new Miller Street location. It is completely understandable that the parents do not feel these two very different services should be sharing the same space. Additionally, the new space has only a small room to conduct their programs. It cannot accommodate the supplies or the volume of children the current space does. Some families will be encouraged to make use of in-home support, losing a key social component that the families expressed to me was important.

The current programming is scheduled to end on June 26. I have asked the mayor’s office to grant them an extension through the end of the year. That will give everyone more time to transition, it will take advantage of the beautiful weather and outdoor space given that it’s unlikely anything urgent is planned in the coming months at the site. Some children will reach their age 3 mark and transition out.

The mayor’s office is telling me that the mayor plans to meet with the Aspire CEO although nothing is scheduled. I have spoken to her myself. She’s accepted the displacement and is trying to make it work in the Miller Street space they recently leased. This wasn’t with the assistance of the city as some have proclaimed and the program isn’t temporarily in Braintree, another false statement. It must take place in one of the 3 communities served, that’s a state requirement.

I have ignored many nasty and untrue comments made about myself and my fellow councillors over the last 6 months. I have endured hate filled posts, emails, and public comments from people who I don’t even know, and they certainly don’t know me. Childish cartoons have become normal behind the veil of the keyboard. This isn't about me, about the most vulnerable of God’s children. For them I am speaking out and subjecting myself to the inevitable loud critics.

From an administration claiming to be so strongly faith centered, this is anything other than “what Jesus would do”. The priorities in this city need a major adjustment. Parties, parades, statues and grand announcements need to be replaced with humility, compassion, and shared responsibility for those who, through no fault of their own, need the community to support them. Instead of giving tax breaks to billionaires, let's get our values straight at city hall.