CommonWealth Beacon: Lawmaker representing Randolph seeks to loosen Gateway City eligibility criteria

By Hallie Claflin at Commonwealth Beacon & Chris Lisinski

A new bill would open the designation to more communities, including Boston and a town of less than 5,000 on Martha’s Vineyard

IN 2017, the town of Randolph met two of the three criteria set in state law to qualify as a Gateway City, a designation that comes with state funding opportunities. The community was just shy of the population requirement but had a median household income below the Commonwealth’s average and a rate of educational attainment of a bachelor’s degree that was also below the state average. 

The 2020 US Census provided hope that a few hundred new residents would be counted so the city might reach the population minimum. But the results came back showing Randolph was just 16 people short of the required 35,000.  

The town appealed to the US Census Bureau, making the case that some properties were not counted properly. But it was futile, not only because Randolph’s population dwindled further after the pandemic, but also because its median income later rose slightly above the state average.  

But census counts and income thresholds haven’t stopped state Sen. Bill Driscoll, who represents the town, from trying to secure its Gateway status. Now, he has introduced legislation that would revise the eligibility criteria of a Gateway City – something previously attempted but never done successfully on Beacon Hill since the Legislature officially codified the designation in state law in 2009.  

“We’re on all the same types of lists in terms of educational issues, public health issues – but we are not a Gateway City technically,” Driscoll said of Randolph. “I think it’s worth talking about.” 

Gateway Cities are midsize urban centers that anchor regional economies around Massachusetts. Collectively, these communities have shared economic struggles, and many suffered from the decline of manufacturing in the decades since World War II. They are also home to 40 percent of the state’s foreign-born residents.   

The term “Gateway City” was first coined in a 2007 report by MassINC, the nonprofit civic organization that also publishes CommonWealth Beacon, and originally described just 11 cities outside of Greater Boston that were, and still are, struggling regional economic centers. 

In 2009, lawmakers adopted the designation and defined Gateway Cities as any city with a population greater than 35,000 but less than 250,000, a median household income below the statewide average, and a rate of educational attainment of a bachelor’s degree or higher that is below the state average. This expanded the list to include 15 additional cities, including ones just outside of Boston even though they do not anchor the regional economy. 

Today, there are 26 Gateway Cities, including places like Holyoke, New Bedford, and Lowell, that meet the criteria set by the Legislature. But as these former industrial cities have worked to revitalize their local economies and reinvent themselves over the last few decades, defining them has become more challenging. 

To the benefit of Randolph, Driscoll’s new bill would add two additional criteria – having a population that’s at least 40 percent people of color and having 15 percent or more of households that identify as speaking English less than “very well” – to the three that cities must currently meet. Municipalities meeting any three of the five categories would be considered a Gateway City, making them eligible for certain grants, tax credits, and state funding for economic and community development.  

Driscoll’s proposed bill would add eight new communities to the list, according to a CommonWealth Beacon analysis of data from the most recent five-year American Community Survey, which covers 2019 to 2023 and provides an up-to-date snapshot of population data across the state.  

Those communities are Randolph, Weymouth, Southbridge, Framingham, Marlborough, Milford, Tisbury (a town of less than 5,000 on the island of Martha’s Vineyard), and perhaps most controversial of all, Boston. The largest city in New England would qualify as a Gateway under the proposed legislation – meeting the minority population, median household income, and English-speaking requisites. 

Driscoll said Gateway City status should be given to communities with those trying to make their start in Massachusetts – regardless of the minimum population – and the two additional criteria help to capture that.  

“I want to make sure that we’re capturing the essence of what this designation means,” Driscoll said. “Starting a life here, starting a business here, a population that is newer to Massachusetts – trying to support them in a way that I think fits with the spirit of the original law.”  

Driscoll added that he’s not yet committed to what exactly the five new criteria should be, and there needs to be further discussion with the communities that could qualify so the Legislature can cast “the appropriate size net.” But he hopes his bill can revive the conversation on Beacon Hill.  

“There’s at least a handful of communities that I think should be eligible for this type of funding,” Driscoll said. “My intention is to cast a wider net.” 

Ben Forman, research director at the MassINC Policy Center, said they never intended Gateway Cities to be based on a deficit formula, and the designation was meant to be given to centers of economic activity. 

“Our whole argument for strategically focusing on these places was because they have important assets to the state. You don’t graduate from that. If you’re a regional economic center, you should hopefully remain a regional economic center,” he said. “The whole point of this was to draw investment to regional economies outside of Boston.”  

There are two current Gateway Cities – Salem and Methuen – that do not qualify for the status under the state’s current criteria. Methuen’s median household income has just surpassed the state average. The most recent ACS data shows that nearly 50 percent of Salem residents have a bachelor’s degree or higher, a bit more than the statewide average.  

Under Driscoll’s bill, Methuen would still meet three of the new five criteria, but Salem would not. 

There is no mechanism in state law to regularly review each city’s eligibility to ensure they meet the three criteria. But Driscoll’s bill would not only allow the secretary of economic development to certify which municipalities qualify after each decennial census, but also give the office the ability to move a community on or off the list at any point mid-decade using annual estimates from the Census Bureau.  

The Legislature has on some occasions recognized “similarly situated communities” for certain grants or funding opportunities. These are municipalities that lack the population of a Gateway City but otherwise meet the state’s criteria.  

Driscoll believes adding two additional criteria will prevent communities like Methuen from toggling in and out of the status every year or two based on a strict set of three criteria, and will allow communities smaller than 35,000 that are still home to disadvantaged populations to benefit from the state funding.  

“I think that’s something we need to consider. Is 35,000 the right number? Or should we even have a floor?” Driscoll said. “Let’s continue to figure out what the right metrics are and how to how to modernize this.” 

Chris Lisinski contributed to this story.