With the April Showers, and a last minute snowstorm out of the way, May is upon us, and with it new growth in nature, and in Westfield. I’m happy to announce several new businesses are opening in the downtown Westfield area in the next few months, and this couldn’t come at a better time! As Ward 3 Councilor I’d like to welcome “Skyline Trading Company” to Ward 3. Skyline is a Wine and Craft Beer Bar and Bakery, which also sells homebrewing equipment, and will be located at 124 Elm Street. Across the street“Book Club Bookstore& More” will be opening at 2 Main Street. Another bookstore “Mostly Mystery”, which specializes in rare books, and provides manuscript writing services and workshops, will be locating on Prospect Hill. Last, but not least“TwoWeeks Notice Brewing Co.”, which as the name notes is anano brewery, that already has some award winning beers, will be opening their doors at 66 South Broad Street. Welcome to all these new businesses, I’m excited to see the positive changes, especially related to culture, arts, and economic vitality that all of you will bring to our beautiful little city.
Maintaining focus on Arts and Culture, I want personally invite all Westfielders down to the Westfield Woman’s Club, today, Saturday April 30th, for “ARTICULTURE”, the inaugural event organized by ArtWorks | Center City Westfield, and hosted by our friends and partners at Westfield On Weekends. This event is a day of homegrown artistic expression, and will feature seventeen bands, dozens of painters, photographers, and crafters, as well as several authors. Events for Families will run from 10:00am to 2:00pm, Adult oriented programming is scheduled from 2:00pm to 7:00pm,and 7:00pm to 10:00pm is directed at Teens and Younger Adults. All of the various artists are either from Westfield or the surrounding area. Everyone involved is donating their time, and some are donating a portion of their profits to help fund the initial startup of ArtWorks.
I am delighted to assist this group to develop and thriveas a member of their steering committee.ArtWorks | Center City Westfield was formerly the Westfield Arts and Cultural Forum. The long-term goal of ArtWorks is to bring smaller art displays, spoken word, and music events to downtown Westfield on a regular and continuing basis. The expectations are that this will create a greater sense of community, and will bring more pedestrian traffic to downtown Westfield, which will help existing businesses thrive, and encourage new businesses to locate in downtown Westfield. I encourage everyone that attends this event to go out between the acts you want to see, and visit some of our local Westfield shops and eateries.
A very large Thank You goes out to the dozens of people who helped make this happen. I particularly want to thank Cheryl Crowe, Bill Westerlind, Jay Paglucia, Tom Sawyer, the Polo Family, Bob Plasse, Diana McLean, and all the folks at ArtWorks and WOW. I know I’m leaving some names out, forgive me if I didn’t specifically name you, and know that this thank you is directed towards you as well.
At the City Council in the next few weeks budget season will be upon us. I’m asking Westfield residents to please come to some of the City Council and Finance Committee meetings. I know it is asking a lot for people to make time in their busy schedules to get out to the Council meetings, but it is important forcitizens to be involved. Everytime the public ignores what happens in federal, state, and local government, we always end up with higher taxes. Make your priorities and your voices heard, by attending some of these meetings, and contacting your Councilors.
As you may have heard, extending the length of terms for the Mayor and the City Council were recently addressed. This should not be a priority when taxes are raised on a yearly basis, and I don’t see the need to do this, as it would remove some of the accountability the two-year election schedule provides. I am against the Council making this change on its own, and have advised my colleagues that this question should be put on the ballot for a vote by the general public, if it is to move forward. Toaddress that accountability gap, I have submitted a successful motion to ask the Legislative and Ordinance committee to investigate adding term limits to the ballot, should any question related to extending term lengths be put forward.
Road patching season is also upon us. If you live in Ward 3, and your street is in particularly bad condition, please contact me, and I will ask the DPW to make your street a priority. I want to publicly thank DPW Director Dave Billips, Casey Berube , and the entire Department of Public Works for quickly addressing some items that I asked them to investigate and fix in Ward 3. They are responsive and responsible to the citizens of Westfield. Dave and Casey, I’ll be sending you another list of items soon, so watch your email inboxes! If you live in Ward 3, and have any issues with the city that you need assistance with, please contact me at (413) 570-0899, or [email protected]. I also host regular monthly office hours at the Westfield Athenaeum in the Elizabeth Reed room,on the Second Monday of each month from 11:00am to 1:00pm, and on the Fourth Monday of each month from 3:30pm to 5:00pm.
Get out and enjoy the warm weather!
Andrew K. Surprise
City Councilor – Ward 3
