WESTFIELD – The Westfield Commission for Citizens with Disabilities last night approved small changes to a letter it will be sending out to Ward 2 City Councilor Ralph Figy regarding a lack of handicapped parking spots on Elm Street.
Commission Chairwoman Madeline Nicoletti said she reached out to Jeffrey Dougan, assistant director for community service in the Massachusetts Office on Disability, who said he knows of no other city or town within the Commonwealth that doesn’t have handicapped parking on it’s main streets.
The issue came about after a Planning Commission meeting which addressed the proposed Senior Center.
“A gentleman with ALS came to us and asked how he could go about getting a handicapped parking space on Elm Street,” Nicoletti said of the incident which spurred the letter to Figy. “He said he would park behind the Westfield Gas and Electric building, but the walk would tire him out so, that he wouldn’t have the energy to go inside to pay his bill.”
Nicoletti added that the citizen, who chose to remain anonymous, is aware that he can use a credit card to pay his G&E bills from home, but he wants to “remain as independent as possible for as long as possible.”
The commission approved the letter to Figy, but not before making slight edits to language in the second paragraph regarding potential legislation requiring handicapped parking spaces.
Comissioner John Velis stated that the sentence in question wasn’t accurate.
“I don’t think it’s misleading, but the fact of the matter is that it (the legislation) hasn’t happened yet, and as of now, it’s not enforcable,” Velis said. “We don’t want to give off the impression that it’s a foregone conclusion, that it’s been formally adopted.”
The newest member of the commission, Agma Sweeney, stated that the language shouldn’t be the issue.
“Don’t even bring up the legislature. It’s more ‘Westfield wants to be ahead of other communities in terms of accessibility,'” she said. “We’re very forward about bike trails and walkability and accessibility (in the city), but it was overlooked. Nobody mentioned in public hearings that theres no accessable parking all along the incredible improvements that we’ve done (downtown). I think it was just an ommission.”
The changes were approved unanimously by the commission, which also consists of Andrea Pianka, Norman Smith, and Matthew Reinhagen, in addition to Nicoletti, Sweeney, and Velis.
Smith was also nominated and voted in unanimously to return to his former post as secretary last night by the commission.
