Memorial Drive
Turn Chicopee’s gateway into a destination — safer travel, updated zoning, and new investment along the corridor.
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The record
Accomplishments from Sam’s service on the School Committee and the Chicopee City Council, where he serves as Vice President.
School Committee
- Worked with the superintendent and assistant superintendents to secure funding to build STEAM labs in every elementary and middle school
- Personally nominated superintendent, Dr. Marcus Ware
- Initiated the process for Moreau Drive and Litwin School neighborhood safety, with a unanimously approved motion for a MassDOT traffic study to extend the 20 mph school zone to Moreau Drive and Olko Circle
- Voted no on the purchase of the MassMutual complex for School Department headquarters
- Initiated the process for construction of the new Anna E. Barry Elementary School
- Worked to get A/C and updated HVAC at Litwin School
- Pushed to end the school mask mandate, citing 61.5% parent support; the committee voted 12–1 to end it on February 28, 2022
City Council
- Serves as Vice President of the Chicopee City Council
- Vice Chair of the Finance, Rules, Zoning, and Human Resources & Communications committees and a member of Public Works for 2026–27; chaired the Communications Committee in 2024
- Sponsored a resolution urging the state to modernize the Chapter 90 formula so Chicopee receives increased funding for roads; the resolution passed 10–3
- Sponsored a resolution whereby the City communicates its support for the Commonwealth’s State Auditor’s efforts to audit the State Legislature; the resolution passed 10–3
- Filed the School Efficiency Order asking the School Department to redistrict, with a goal of saving up to $5 million a year in transportation costs; the Council voted 13–0 for a joint meeting on redistricting
- Successfully sponsored a single-use plastic bag ban
- Successfully sponsored and passed three resolutions to combat littering
- Delivered the first upgrades to Williams Park in 20 years — pickleball courts, stone dust paths, mulch, and a slide
- Worked with DPW on an engine-brake ban for Burnett Road, passed unanimously in June 2025
- Initiated a concept analysis for Burnett Road to mitigate traffic and speed problems and make it pedestrian-friendly
- Sent a resolution to MassDOT and our state delegation urging a review of the I-291 entrance ramp from Shawinigan Drive
- Added flashing crosswalk signs and signage throughout Burnett Road and Ward Six neighborhoods
- Supported increased funding for the Chicopee police to help keep our ward and city safe
- Filed an order to revitalize Memorial Drive, passed 10–1, and refiled it in 2026 to bring the state delegation to the table on the UMass corridor study
- Spoke out against fencing off the 57-acre Slate Road conservation corridor and pushed to protect it permanently with public access
Leadership in tough times
Calm, resolve, and respect
In late 2024, after a routine vote to send a controversial development proposal to a subcommittee, Sam received calls threatening to hurt or kill him. He didn’t back down, and he didn’t answer anger with anger. He spoke out publicly, stood by the process so neighbors had more chances to be heard, and called on everyone to disagree respectfully.
The Republican’s editorial board wrote that it was “a credit to him” that he struck “a tone of both calm and resolve,” and that it wished his message “could reach all Americans.”
“We have the liberty to agree and to disagree respectfully. Men and women have fought and died for this right. We do not have the right to threaten those with whom we may have a difference of opinion.”
Sam Shumsky, quoted in “We all share a duty to ‘disagree respectfully’,” The Republican Editorials, Dec. 8, 2024
What’s next
The work ahead
Roads and crossings
Win a modern Chapter 90 formula that brings more road money home, finish the Burnett Road redesign, and keep expanding pedestrian safety across the ward.
Value for taxpayers
Push for transparency and spending that comes back to residents as services, schools, and infrastructure.