WESTFIELD – The Board of Public Works voted Tuesday night to renew Westfield State University’s application to hang nine banners, seven along Western Avenue and two on Elm Street, but the board divided on a one-year application for additional banners commemorating the 175th Anniversary of its founding by Horace Mann.
BPW Chairman John Sullivan said the WSU application for renewal of the permits of the existing banners was not controversial. The request for additional banner permits for the anniversary celebration was, however, a concern to residents of the city and Western Avenue in particular.
Commissioner Jack Campaniello argued that the additional anniversary banners are being erected in front of the university in late March and will be removed in December when all of the banners are taken down.
Sullivan said that he would vote no on the motion for the six anniversary banners.
“I’m going with the neighborhood on this one,” Sullivan said.
The board held a public meeting on the banner application at its Feb. 12 meeting, attended by a dozen residents. Neither Ward 4 Councilor Mary O’Connell, who has been a strong opponent to WSU applications for as many as 35 banners, nor Kenneth Magarian, who has represented the university, were at the hearings.
O’Connell said that she and Magarian have worked together on the issue and reached the six additional banner permits for the anniversary.
“It was contentious last year when we did this so neither Ken nor I attended the hearing this year,” O’Connell said. “I did work with Ken and tried to be flexible because it is their 175th Anniversary. The university originally wanted a lot more and we reached a compromise on the six, with four of those to be erected in front of the Horace Mann Center along Western Avenue.”
The motion to renew permits for the original nine banners was approved by a 3-0 vote, while the petition for the additional anniversary banners was approved by a 2-1 vote.
