Councilors Hope to Persuade Comcast to Keep Office in Haverhill

Haverhill’s Comcast office at 66 Emerson St. (Photograph by Frank Komola.)

City councilors have given Mayor James J. Fiorentini a mission: persuade corporate executives at Comcast to keep an office in downtown Haverhill.

The company announced plans to close its 66 Emerson St. office in early April.

Councilor Mary Ellen Daly O’Brien said it’s unlikely Fiorentini will be able to reverse Comcast’s decision.

“They’re doing it for a business reason,” she said, pointing out that the company is also closing an office in Lawrence and opening a larger, full-service office in Methuen.  Councilor Joseph J. Bevilacqua cited WHAV’s story about the planned closing when placing the item on Tuesday’s agenda. As previously reported, the new office, which will be known as the Xfinity Store, will be located in the plaza at 70 Pleasant Valley St.

But Councilor William J. Macek urged the mayor to remind Comcast representatives that “their contract will soon be up for renewal, and we will remember this.”

Macek said the city pays the company “a nice little chunk of change,” and deserves to have a local office where residents can pick up and exchange equipment.
Daly O’Brien suggested asking Comcast officials to make arrangements for residents to pay bills at local businesses.

3 thoughts on “Councilors Hope to Persuade Comcast to Keep Office in Haverhill

  1. “City councilors have given Mayor James J. Fiorentini a mission” –

    Wrong guy. Brian Dempsey has taken over $3K from CONcast, call him and his office. The entire telecon industry is a sham, their lobby, especially here in MA rules. Over $100 to CONgress in just the past two cycles with Markey and Neal slopping the money up. CONcast of course has the record YoY for worst customer services ever, why bother fixing something when you’re protected and can profit from such shit service?

  2. Come on Jack didn’t you watch the mayor last week? Crime is down and Haverhill is moving on up.
    Like the cable company is going to be bullied by Mistah Mayah.. this is the real world Jimmy, but go ahead and tell them why they should stay.
    What is the chamber of afterhours partying doing about this? Maybe the newly hired John Guerin can remodel it and make it the chambers private club?!? Better yet I’m sure they can attract a nail salon or dollar store to that location.
    Whatever you do, keep the pillsbury away or it will become more quality market rate housing… we all know what happens next.

  3. “They’re doing it for a business reason,” Oh, is that the reason?

    Comcast is moving their offices in Haverhill and Lawrence for liability reasons. We learned from an independent, unbiased company last week that Lawrence is one of the most dangerous cities in the entire country. We also learned that the crime in Haverhill is significantly higher than is being reported from the mayor’s office.

    Comcast is just another company that has noticed the welcome mat the mayor has laid out for criminal illegals to flock to Haverhill turning the city into a VERY dangerous place. They are now simply making decisions accordingly to protect their interests.

    When are the liberals who promote sanctuary city policies going to admit you can’t have it both ways? You can’t encourage thousands of criminal trespassers from other countries to move illegally into our communities and then not expect there to be societal and economic consequences. Unlike Lawrence and Haverhill elected officials like Dan Riveria and Andy Vargas who publicly promote welcoming criminal illegals to their respective cities, the people making decisions at Comcast have a fiduciary duty to protect the interests of the company, which means protecting their customers who visit their stores from the possibly of harm from these criminals. Consolidating of services is just an added economic bonus for Comcast.