I cannot believe that the overtaxed taxpayers of Westfield are now going to foot the lawyer bills for KING KNAPIK because he still doesn`t think he is to blame for this disaster!! An honest apolligy at the beginning would have saved the taxpayers almost 100K. This pompass a– should be held accountable to the citizens of Westfield !! Impeachment proceedings should begin immediately before he runs the city down the toilet with all the upcoming lawsuits against him!! His retoric of”look what I have done for this city” is getting old. His quote should read”LOOK HOW MUCH OF THE TAXPAYERS MONEY I HAVE WASTED”!!! It is time for honesty and accountability from the Mayor`s office(IT HAS BEEN A LONG TIME COMING)
It was my understanding that with the new management of The Westfield News, changes were made to the PulseLine content, specifically that it would limit comments to local issues. Unfortunately that appears to have changed. There was a lengthy submission in Tuesday’s paper with broad statements about our national government and some of our citizens. Such comments seem better directed to the MassLive Politics Forum than our local newspaper.
What constitutes an eyesore? And who should be responsible for remedying the problem? As you drive down Springfield Road by Walmart, you can’t help but notice all the plastic bags and trash that have blown across the street. Should the Westfield DPW be responsible for cleaning up this mess? Wouldn’t it be more prudent if Walmart would take the initiative and clean up the mess that’s coming from its property? According to the Mayor’s office, this area is technically state right of way and CSX property near the railbed, so we try to work with MassDOT, Walmart and Sheriff’s Dept. to clean it up. We plan on having a group from the House of Corrections out their soon for grounds maintenance.”
Good morning, Westfield! I was just calling, I was just wondering how Mayor Knapik is going to pay his $52,000 worth of fines. Is there going to be another tax raise by any chance or is he going to pay it? I think the best thing for him is to get himself a real job, something that will pay him well and something that people will like him at, at that job. Because I don’t think he’s going to do any good in Westfield. I don’t want to live in a town that’s got a mayor that has been in court like that. I was just wondering, you know, how it is going to be paid off. I appreciate it. Thanks.
Mr. Knapik: please do not run for mayor again. We can’t afford the waste. $93,000 is a lot of money. And it sounds like the school superintendent and school committee want to play games. Citizens, please read, ‘School Budget Strategy Debated’ in The Westfield News. Thanks.
Yes, this is in answer to the letter to the editor about raising the minimum wage, how it will cause other people to raise prices in their businesses. That’s the biggest, bogus argument, period. Every time they want to raise the minimum wage, the conservatives or Republicans will say “it’s going to cause a lot of lost jobs, we’re going to raise prices.” I was a business owner. I had a store that was a little Walmart, really, and I always paid my people over the minimum wage and I never once had to raise a price. This is when I had a lot of competition and so forth. When you give people an increase in the minimum wage, they spend a little more money and they help other businesses. So, that is such garbage. You are preaching old school stuff, my friend. It’s not that way. That’s not the way it works. It’s been proven time and time again. Each time it is raised, the same argument comes up. That is poppycock. Take it from me. I was a business owner for 15 years and I know what I am saying. Not only did I in this town, which is mostly a Republican town, pay over the minimum wage, most of the other people did, too. So, you better check your history on this. Go back to when they start raising the minimum. Right now, we’re not asking for much. $10.15 whatever. That’s ridiculous that people are going to raise prices, close their businesses, fire people… garbage, pure garbage. Thank you.
Yes, I was reading The Westfield News Wednesday about the picture on the front page of the neighbors who are concerned in Southwick. I got a kick out of the buildings back there. He said those kind of animals are allowed there on over 40,000 square feet of land and property. And underneath there he said that property has 40,075 square feet. If I was those neighbors I would want to get that rezoned again and see just what the actual footage is. It seems kind of funny all of a sudden it is 75 square feet which is six by ten or twelve, whatever square. It just doesn’t make any common sense to what the building inspector said. If those people get together and hire a surveyor and if you come out under 40,000 square feet, then those people got to move those animals and stuff out. That’s what I would do. I wouldn’t believe that building inspector in Southwick anyway. Thank you.
It was my privilege to be a volunteer at the dog shelter of Westfield. Ken Frazer was the leader of over 100 volunteers and he taught us so much about caring for the shelter dogs and to always put the dogs first above our own needs. To give you an example of this man’s kind and caring ways, I came in early one morning to find Ken sitting in his chair holding a little sleeping dog in his arms and I asked him about the dog and he said that the dog had surgery that day and he came back to the shelter around midnight to check on him and give him his medications and he found him shaking and sick in the corner of his cage. After checking him out, he determined he was very scared. So he wrapped him in a blanket and spent the rest of the night in his chair. He was putting the dog first. He could also be tough and gruff when necessary, enforcing the state laws concerning licensing and rabies shots. The law doesn’t exempt friends of higher-up officials or any person that is just ignoring the state law about licensing their dogs. A dog has to be registered and licensed six months and older with rabies shots in place and that is done each year. Westfield needs Ken Frazer back at his job doing what he has always done best: putting the dogs first. Let’s all stand behind him and stop this injustice. Thank you.
Here is another supporter of Ken Frazer; the only person I ever met who is an advocate for animals, and not only talks the talk but walks the walk. Sure he can be gruff, and so can I when the time calls for it, but I volunteered at the Shelter at just about the time it opened and worked with Ken when he did not have 5 minutes to sit down on any given day. That phone would ring off the wall and he would go and pick up a stray dog, and I tell you that man has a gift. The dogs love him and will go to him when they won’t go to anyone else. I have been there and I have seen it. Who took his job away, and why? Step up to the plate and be transparent, stop hiding behind political stuff and stuff. It is time for this whole city to be transparent especially in light of our mayor and his behavior. Someone complained? Come on be real. A complaint and they tell Ken, who’s contract comes up in June to take administrative leave. Bologna. Someone in this city should have the guts to get on the front page of our Westfield News and tell the whole story and let Ken tell his part. I am not a kid and I only stopped volunteering and walking the dogs because of my age. At 77 I have slowed down a bit. But at whatever age Ken is he keeps on ticking, and every action he takes is for the betterment of our beloved animals.
Mr. Flaherty is in a unique, no-win position. He was wronged, with others, by the sitting Mayor of Westfield. He didn’t ask for the Mayor to break the law, actually its generally expected for the Mayor to not break the law I believe! Whether it is $40, $53, or $93 thousand dollars the City will have to cough up for this fiasco, the bottom line is that the taxpayers are getting screwed by their chief elected official. Mr. Flaherty in his role as an elected City Councilor (not a case-winning plaintiff) has a responsibility to save the City tax dollars. I hope the City can avoid using tax dollars for the legal fees and force the Mayor to pay out of pocket. He needs a lesson in responsibility, you break the law and you should pay, not the taxpayers. I didn’t break the law Mr. Mayor, you did. Plain and simple. I waited a day or two to gather my thoughts on the final decision against the Mayor of Westfield before emailing the Pulseline. First of all, the embarrassment cast upon the city, and its residents, is shameful. This is a black eye on our reputation which was shaky to begin with. Some residents feel that the court case never should have happened and I agree. The Mayor should have never stooped so low as to order removal of some campaign signs. Petty politics at its best. Mayor, you were recently part of an open house to show off the newly renovated City Hall building, maybe its time to renovate the reputation of the City of Westfield you have so badly tarnished. Signed, A 30-year, taxpaying resident.
I am sorry for the residents of Southwick in the area of 13 Point Grove Road. You are correct to be concerned. The smell from the chicken and goat manure, as well as the “aroma” of the goats themselves will insure that the surrounding property owners will not enjoy their own yards without the use of respirators with activated carbon filters. It will smell like high tide at an ammonia factory. You can forget about sleeping with your windows open in the warmer months. The roosters will be crowing all night long. And the wood pallets in the picture? Broken up for fire wood to heat the home. So you will be forced to listen to the noise of pallets being broken apart. And the stink of treated wood burning in a wood stove. Good luck to you.
I hope this mayor has embarrassed this city for the last time. He needs to man up and take responsibility for his illegal actions, and he needs to reimburse the city taxpayers for his defense costs. I’m disgusted with the city councilors who are sitting on the sidelines or looking the other way every time Knapik is found to have done something wrong. They should join together and sanction the mayor just like the NBA owners did when they sanctioned Sterling.
Hi! I agree with Councilor Flaherty. The City Solicitor should not be the one to make the decision about whether Knapik pays his, and I’m talking about his, legal bills. How can this person make an unbiased decision? This is this person’s boss we’re talking about. If that person makes the wrong decision, that person’s contract might not be renewed. That’s the way things seem to work here with the good ol’ boys of Westfield. Speaking of that, with our dog officer, it would be nice to know if they followed some kind of due process. Was he given written warnings? Was a log kept of his offenses? It sounds like he was just called in and let go for no reason at all. His contract wasn’t going to be renewed. I think as the taxpayers in Westfield, we pay these salaries – we should know what’s going on. Have a nice weekend. Thank you. Bye.
As an elderly resident of Westfield on occasion I have the opportunity to watch the city council meetings that are televised on channel 15. Tonight I just watched something that I thought was rather rude on the part of the city council. A gentleman by the name of Mr. Mills, who I do not know, was speaking and they didn’t seem to like what he said regarding certain issues, including the recent court case with the mayor losing and having these outstanding legal debts. They cut him off. They told him his time was up. I believe he does have the right of freedom of speech and then all of a sudden the screen goes blank and we’re watching little pictures of what’s upcoming in Westfield. If that is not censorship, I don’t know what is. They should be ashamed. That man has every right to speak. He wasn’t finished and I would have liked to hear the rest of his story. So, you know, how about giving people some time, more than, what is it, three minutes? It didn’t look like you had 600 people waiting in the wings to follow him. Thank you.
The DOMUS lady spoke a while at the council meeting. When a Mr. Mills spoke, time was called on him but it hadn’t been called on her. Also, I don’t feel Mr. Bean handled the situation professionally. Instead of diffusing the situation, he seemed hostile toward the man.
