Northshore magazine showcases the best that the North Shore of Boston, MA has to offer.
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/565724
175 one that resulted in a new ap- proach to campaigning four years later, Baker says: Relax, be yourself, and wear jeans if you want to. After winning the election in 2014, those first weeks occupying the highest office in the state offered their own lessons. "One of the things about this job is you don't always know what you're going to be talking about," Baker says. Within weeks of his inauguration speech, vi- cious winter storms exposed the frailties of the MBTA, prompting a major overhaul of its management and finances. ("Sometimes Mother Nature throws you a curveball," he admits.) But Baker says he's still committed to the issues he outlined at the State House last January: addressing the Commonwealth's opioid crisis, fixing the Registry of Motor Vehicles, closing the achieve- ment gap in the education system, and strengthening the state's economy. "That doesn't solve all of our problems, but I think it takes care of the ones that people care about the most." It's been nearly a year since Baker's election, and while his job requires dividing time and atten- tion across the Commonwealth, he still has a soft spot for the North Shore. There's the familiarity of his home in Swampscott and the taken-for-granted conveniences that surround it, like its sidewalks. ("That may sound kind of silly, but you don't have to get in the car to go anywhere in Swampscott," Baker says.) There are the restau- rants in Salem and Newburyport. There's Lynch Park in Beverly, and the comeback-in-progress along the Gloucester waterfront. "There aren't a lot of places on the North Shore that I haven't been, and I like all of 'em," he says. "That sounds a little political, but it's true." photograph by Elise Sinagra