The Peabody Democrat said he would discuss the Senate version of the Commonwealth Investment and Competitiveness bill this morning at the North Shore Chamber of Commerce Economic and Public Policy Breakfast Forum in Danvers.

The Senate is expected to debate the economic-stimulus bill tomorrow. The House has already passed its version, which does not include the flood mitigation money for Peabody. If the Senate passes its version, it would go to a conference committee.

Berry has been pushing for money for Peabody since the April Fool's Day flood of 2004, which put Peabody Square under water for more than a week. Television and newspaper photos of people negotiating downtown Peabody by canoe were prominent for months afterward.

Business leaders and city officials have said the repeated flooding of Peabody Square and the widespread publicity have dampened investment in the downtown.

About a year ago, Gov. Mitt Romney vetoed $5.7 million in state aid earmarked for flood control in Peabody from a supplemental budget. The money would have been used as matching funds to secure a $22 million federal grant to pay for an overall flood-control plan for the downtown.

Following that unexpected veto, Berry negotiated with Romney administration officials, agreeing that a smaller, $2 million appropriation would help the city begin flood control work. The new thinking was that Peabody could begin flood work by matching the money with Community Development Authority grant money.

But attempts to include the $2 million item in a supplemental budget have failed.

"I do think it's an economic development issue," Berry said yesterday.

"I'm trying to facilitate this thing," he said. "We are getting a lot of new housing downtown and more people downtown. It's time to mitigate those flooding problems."

The $2 million would be earmarked for widening of the North River, where several other small streams converge just east of Peabody Square.