BRIAN HOOSE
Hello Ward 3,
A lot has happened since I last wrote to you: the BID, the budget, and Cross St School being the biggest.
But, first I want to apologize to the residents on Franklin St., Congress Court, and Allen St. for the delays in your projects. As you may be aware there has been a change in leadership at the DPW. Casey Berube has taken over as Acting Director and may need a bit of time to adapt to all the functions at DPW. But, with the help of the Mayor, your projects are still being worked on. Second, I heard there was celebrating on Chestnut St., as that house was torn down. As well, Dana St. is happy that the cleanup has been done. Third I want to thank the people at the Water Resources Dept., for showing me around. They are a great bunch of very friendly and cooperative people. I also visited our IT Center. Again, a great group of people doing a great job of keeping up with all of our computer/tech needs. Next, the Gas Light District (Franklin to Court St’s, and Elm to Washington) has started. And, the PVTA has begun their end dealing with the Flahive building and its tenants working to find them alternative sites to live and set up their businesses. And Joe Mitchell, our new Advancement Officer has been hard at work looking to find a new developer for the Elm St.: shopping and parking deck project.
OK, on to the headliners: BID, the Business Improvement District. I voted with the rest of our committee to support those who want to end BID. While I wholeheartedly like a lot of what the BID does, the reasons for me were that no business should be forced to belong and have to pay even if they do not benefit from it. This is a problem created by state legislation. And, I would like to see more of our businesses; on Southampton Rd., Lower Main St., and elsewhere, participating. In response to some of the comments it is not up to the city to replace what the BID did. With all of those in support for the BID, I encourage them to bring together those who want to continue a lot of the projects. Those businesses, the banks, civic groups, and even the non-profits have the resources to come up with an alternative organization, and they can still apply for the block grants to help sustain it.
The budget: this is my first time dealing with enacting a budget. One problem was that we have put off expending funds to maintain things, and that costs. Another, back to basics is it costs to compete, and Westfield does compete with other communities. And, we forget that private sector costs, which dominate our spending, do not go down. And, for all their rhetoric to the contrary they will stick it to the taxpayer.
Luckily the overall economy is getting better: Mass. unemployment is down, consumer confidence is up, the market is still near all time highs, and even with the occasional down days, it is still positive on continued growth. But, as with the federal government I see too many games being played and denial of needs required to compete in the 21st century. A for instance: Siemans has installed a $24-25 million dollar system and there was a needed to expend funds for a contract with them to maintain it. Problem: it is their system, and it is designed for them to maintain it, as do many businesses. The suggestion is to hire locally to maintain it to lower costs could result in violating the warrantee. At best they could get tired of waiting for us (over year) to close the deal and raise their price. Another is to not fund the last quarter of our employee health care insurance to somehow be in a better position to deal with tax rates. This for me is not a responsible way of doing things. But, the budget got passed, though we have another meeting to deal with those measures left out before the end of the fiscal year.
Lastly, Cross St. I have toured some of our schools, and frankly some are in pathetic condition with desks in the hall, asbestos floor tiles from a time when we believed that was safe. A lot of what is being said are, what I would call, semi-truths. The purchase was agreed to long ago, but now it is changing? While I too have my concerns, and will stay on top of my issues, I support the project. Not to do so could cost us a lot more. I am very happy to finally see those who favor the project coming to council meetings to present their side. It is so hard to take a stand when you only hear from one side of the debate. So this is a call to the rest of our voter taxpayers: It is your responsibility as voter taxpayers to participate, that was a fundamental of our American Revolution to restore the responsibility and authority of the people in deciding our own affairs.
Thank you for your time; stop and talk to me any time you see me your input is valued.
Brian Hoose
your Ward 3 City Councilor
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not the staff, editor, or publisher of this publication.
