Springfield, Worcester and Boston city council presidents meet - CBS 3 Springfield - WSHM

Springfield, Worcester and Boston city council presidents meet

Officials from the state's three biggest cities came together in Springfield on Monday afternoon to discuss issues facing their communities and ways to help one another.

"Whether it is Boston, or Worcester or Springfield City Hall, the problems are very similar and the approaches may be a little different and that's why we're sharing intelligence with each other on how we are confronting or solving different problems," said Boston city council president Steve Murphy.

"Hopefully, we can recognize some of the best practices that they are doing and duplicate them here in Springfield," said Springfield city council president James Ferrera.

Murphy shared an idea about advertising on their city's websites to bring in revenue.

"We are putting out to bid for people who are giving products and services the ability to go up and advertise on the margins of our website," he said.

Their new initiative is expected to bring in $4 million to $6 million. And while the money wouldn't be quite as high here in Springfield, Ferrera says it's an idea he will definitely be looking into.

"Our city's website is an award-winning website, and we have a lot to offer," said Ferrera. "That is definitely an initiative that we have to look at."

Worcester's city council president shared advice with the group about crime-fighting initiatives.

"We have the summer impact - we put an additional 18 officers on the streets anywhere from three to five times a week and it's had a great impact on the city fighting crime," said Worcester's mayor and city council president Joseph Petty.

"We need to look at that and try and model their programs after what we could be doing here in Springfield," said Ferrera.

And when it came to talk of casinos, Springfield was the one with the leg up. Officials in Boston said that they could learn a thing or two from the city of homes, which is further along in the process.

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