Coffey, Dennis 03.09 - University of Massachusetts Lowell Libraries

in. That you know, we do have an asset here and we have a resource. And so I hosted
the first visit from the National Park Service staff, (A: Okay) because no one else in the
CDA cared.
A: Really.
D: Yup. I met the guy. I think he came up on the train. He came from Washington. He
wasn’t from the regional office.
A: He wasn’t from the, no.
D: And I forget his name now. You know, nice, nice young man. He was just a staffer
you know, a researcher or something or other, you know.
A: Was he around for a number of years?
D: No, no. Oh no. (A: No?) No. He just came up on that one visit. I met him at the
train station, brought him over, we sat down with Pat for an hour probably, and then we
walked around town. And then we went back and I introduced him to Jim Silk and
people at the CDA. (A: Yah) And you know, we had a little brief sit-down with some
folks there. And then I walked him back to somewhere, or got him a cab, or whatever.
And he said, he said, “This is really a unique situation.” And I said, “Well yah, we think
so.” And he said, you know, “I have to go back now and right a report to my bosses.”
And he said, he said, “The thing that impressed me most is that this is a big urban city,
but we walked around and it was like a small town. And you know, “People said hello to
you.” And you know, he was really impressed with that and the community. And he
obviously went back and wrote a very positive report, because a couple of months later
Paul Cronin was able to host a Congressional panel, subcommittee of the Interior
Committee, up at city hall. Armand Lemay was the Mayor. (A: Okay) I wrote
Armand’s speech.
A: Oh really.
D: Frank, Frank Keefe said to me, he said, “I didn’t know you, I didn’t know you were
able to think in French-Canadian.” [Both laugh] You know, and Armand delivered the
speech perfectly, you know. And somewhere in that speech I had Armand say you know
we’re glad you’re here, to Congress, you know we’re glad that the National Park is taking
the interest in this, but what we’re telling you is true. This is our community. We do
have a history. We do have culture. We do have arts, and we do have this and that. You
know, and you know, we’d love to have you involved in this. But even if you don’t
come, it’s still here. We’re not inventing something,” you know. This is not Sturbridge
Village, or Plymouth Plantation. This is real, you know. And, and I forget what word we
used, but he delivered it just perfectly. And I think that peaked their interest you know,
because they said, “Oh, this isn’t just an angle to get federal money.” And that was the
real message we wanted to get across. And so we were fortunate of course that both pols
were able to carry that message back to Washington. And I think the relationship with
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