This past week City Council voted on the use of Community Preservation Funds money to fund a portion of the design of the Columbia Rail Trail. The matter was brought forth by the City and, as required, was first placed before the Community Preservation Committee. The CPC asked many important questions and, although some of these were not completely answered, did approve unanimously the use of these funds for the costs of some of the design work as requested. The Council, upon the advice of the Westfield Planner, Engineer and Solicitor also voted to pass this funding source, allowing the use of $250,000 of Community Preservation funds for design work for the Columbia Rail trail. The total of City funded monies for this project is now over $5,000,000.
There was a proposal on this week’s Special City Council meeting agenda regarding the creation of a Medical zone. This will affect neighboring residents and the council felt that to undertake discussion of the matter without a draft proposal would be unwise. The proposal to place in sub-committee was voted down due to a lack of detail provided by the proponents. In the past, there has been discussion of creating a Hospital or Medical zone around the Noble Hospital campus but the proposal always been rejected.
Kristen Mello, a Westfield resident, in my opinion, is a true Community heroine. Kristen is concerned about the health of our aquifer and the protection of our City’s drinking water. She has questioned the wisdom of the use of crumb rubber, thought by some to be a carcinogenic substance. As the saying goes, no good deed goes unpunished. Simply for raising concerns about the quality of our City’s water and the possibility of contamination of our aquifer from the crumb rubber material used as padding for the Roots Athletic Center soccer fields she received a very stern letter from the Law Firm (Crevier and Ryan) representing Roots Athletic Center, Inc. Excerpts of the letter are below:
Please accept this correspondence as notice that you…are to Immediately cease and desist from any further use, dissemination, or publication of any printed material claiming that the use of crumb rubber as the in-fill material at the athletic fields of the Roots Athletic facility at 181 Root Road, Westfield Massachusetts poses the health and safety hazards noted…
Kristen is extremely brave and she will be a formidable opponent to the Goliath that is Crevier and Ryan and Roots Athletic Center. Stay tuned for part two of this story.
The Westfield 350 group continues to meet regularly to plan our City’s anniversary set for 2019. The actual anniversary of our founding will be May 19, 2019. Peter Miller, Westfield’s Director of Community Development, and I chair a smaller sub-committee to plan Special projects. We have our next meeting scheduled for Thursday, August 24. The ideas for Special Projects to date range from creating a time capsule, creating a commemorative coin, sponsoring the creation of a 350th anniversary quilt, a city-wide scavenger hunt and dozens of other ideas. If residents have suggestions for activities to mark the anniversary please reach out to the Westfield 350 committee via Facebook or by contacting me or Peter Miller at City Hall.
I would like to thank Patrick Berry and the Westfield News for allowing Councilors to submit columns every few weeks to the newspaper. It has been a wonderful way for most of us to communicate with residents. As the Fall elections draw close, the Westfield News will no longer accept articles from Councilors in deference to campaign regulations.
Best wishes for all for a safe and enjoyable balance of summer.
Mary O’Connell
Ward Four City Council
