RALPH FIGY
WESTFIELD – Residents of Cross, Gold and West Silver streets met at the St. Peter and St. Casimir Social House Thursday night to discuss the impact of the Columbia Greenway Rail Trail on their neighborhood.
Over 30 residents showed up at the meeting, hosted by Ward 2 Councilor Ralph Figy.
Ward 2 Gas and Electric Commissioner Ray Rivera, City Engineer Mark Cressotti, and City Councilor Cindy Harris were also on hand for the meeting, which proved contentious from the start.
Neighborhood safety was the hot topic on the evening’s agenda, particularly relating to the traffic of drunks and undesirables which residents of these neighborhoods say cavort about the unfinished trail, provoking their pets and engaging their children.
RAY RIVERA
“Since we live right next to the rail trail, we’ve been having that in our backyard,” said one woman. “I have inebriated people coming into my backyard and trying to talk to my son. My friend and I were walking the trail and were followed by a half-naked drunk.”
The woman stated that she returned home and called the police, who arrived, ticketed the man, and sent him on his way.
“Just a ‘the road is closed’ sign is not stopping these people from coming into our yards,” she said.
Cressotti addressed several of the disgruntled residents, who asked why the trail was set up directly behind their properties.
“The city owned the property that the rail is on. We didn’t own the property on the opposite side,” he said. “If you look at what is involved with putting the rail on the opposite side, you have a retaining wall on the right, you have a whole set of overhead wires, poles that need to be moved, with significant conducters on those.”
MARK CRESSOTTI
He also added that the project is set to be completed in November, and Westfield Police Sergeant Eric Hall added that the trail is closed for public use.
“Part of the issue is that nobody is supposed to be on it, absolutely nobody,” he said. “But if you think they weren’t there before that area was cleared, you’re greatly mistaken.”
Not all neighborhood residents in attendance are upset with the project.
“I think it looks great. Having the rail trail in our backyard will increase our property values,” said one man. “It’s a big change in our lifestyle. I like how it opened up from an old, unused railroad track into something for the city to use. In five years, I hope (people) feel different about it.”
Cressotti, Figy and Rivera also spoke to several residents regarding the implementation of additional fencing along their properties.
“(A person) will hire the contractor, but we can try to coordinate it so that the city is paying them directly so you don’t have to shell out the money,” said Cressotti. “The law department likes to see the work done before they approve payment for it, but we can try to work it so that, when the work is done, you submit the invoice, we get it and pay it directly.”
Some residents in attendance scoffed at the fencing and proposed planting of more bushes and vegetation, which Sgt. Hall said would present a whole new set of dangers and concerns.
“What was a more dangerous situation? If you can see someone approaching your property or if they can sneak down, grab your son and now you can’t see them?” Hall said. “I understand the privacy issue, but thats one of the things we always talk about, crime prevention through environmental design. The way you maintain your property, if you have big, giant bushes in front of your house, there is a place for someone to hide.”
Hall also said that he is confident that when the project is completed, the stream of unwanted and disorderly trail traffic will dissipate.
“When I was a community police officer at Whitney Field, we started holding more functions down there – carnivals, neighborhood picnics – the more use you got down there, the less that element wanted to be there,” he said. “The more legitimate use you get out of an area, the less illegitimate use you get.”
Hall encouraged residents to call the police whenever they are needed and that the Westfield Police Department has the authority to trespass from parks, which the rail trail will qualify as once it’s completed.
“We have to have some type of a reason, but when we find someone on the rail trail drinking or doing something they’re not supposed to be, we can immediately trespass them,” he said. “Law enforcement, as an extension of the city, has the authority to do it and we do it quite often.”
Neighborhood resident Harland Avezzie, Jr. was in attendance at the meeting, and voiced his concerns afterward.
“There’s a lot of issues going on. I understand everything that they’ve talked about tonight. I see it. I agree with it. My biggest issues are my privacy and my safety,” he said. “No matter what anybody says, for my issues, a fence and a bush isn’t going to do it.”
“If I’m responsible for my family’s safety, I have that. It is for whoever comes on my property at night, their safety is now the issue,” he said.
Figy encouraged residents to attend the rail trail meetings at the Church of the Atonement on the third Tuesday of every month.
“A lot of this stuff, this is where that needs to go, because they’re the driving force behind the rail trail,” he said.
