Some emergency assistance to help cover snow removal costs might be more welcome at this point, but city officials and members of the downtown business community in Salem are looking forward to the release of Gov. Mitt Romney's fiscal 2006 budget that is expected to include $3 million for a major renovation and expansion of the courthouse complex on Federal Street.
Sen. Frederick E. Berry, D-Peabody, Friday told the Salem Partnership that he expects the startup money to be included in the budget Romney will release today. It will allow planning to begin for the project, which is expected to cost more than $100 million when completed, but will provide much-needed space for a court system whose facilities were designed for the needs of the 19th century, not the current one.
Of course, historic preservation is a key component of this project. The money spent not only will provide for the rehabilitation of the court buildings, but allow for the incorporation of the 200-year-old First Baptist Church into what will be called the J. Michael Ruane Regional Justice Center in honor of Salem's veteran state representative who retired this year.
Ruane and Berry, the Senate majority leader, have been dogged in pushing the Salem project on an administration that has many other applications for courthouse renovations on its plate. While much work remains to be done, Friday's announcement was another piece of good news for a city whose downtown revitalization effort is becoming a model for the kind of urban "smart growth" long championed by the Romney administration.