Last weekend, one of the biggest snowstorms to ever hit the Commonwealth of Massachusetts dumped upwards of two feet of snow on Westfield and other places across the state. Many coastal towns experienced severe power outages much as we did after the October 2011 snow storm. Some are just getting their power back on after a week without heat or electricity.
Around here we were fortunate. If there were any power outages at all they were quickly dealt with by the Westfield Gas & Electric. The Westfield Department of Public Works and the city contractors did their very best to clear the snow as expeditiously as possible. I commend Mayor Dan Knapik for his efforts to keep citizens notified of progress using Face Book. Luckily, we have been helped by a week of sunny warm days to aid in the snow removal.
Governor Deval Patrick gave the controversial command that all motorists needed to be off the roads by 4 p.m. last Friday or risk an expensive ticket for impeding snow removal operations. While I disagree with the hour of 4 p.m. (I think 7 p.m.M would have been more appropriate to allow people to get home from their jobs), it is believed that that order was helpful in keeping traffic to a minimum. I do hope the courts will look leniently on those who received tickets as they were making their way home from work.
Public safety personnel, police, fire, and Noble Hospital staff performed their jobs admirably under difficult circumstances. I had some personal experience with that.
On Saturday morning, before I’d had the chance to get outside and begin to snow blow my driveway, my wife and baby and I were hanging out in the living room when I looked out the front window and saw a Westfield police cruiser coming up the road. The officers got out and began climbing over the snow banks coming toward my house. I told my wife that the police were out front and wondered if something had happened to one of my neighbors. I went to the front door, opened it, and yelled a greeting to the cops, whom I knew. The conversation went something like this:
Me: “Morning guys, what’s going on?”
Them: “Are you alright? We got a 911 call!”
Me: “From where?”
Them: “From your house! It was a 911 hang up call.”
Me: “Not from us! We’re all fine. There’s no problem…”
That’s when I paused and witnessed my 18-month old son toddling through the room with our cordless phone in his hands. He was babbling to himself and pressing buttons like crazy.
(Oh bleep!)
Me: “Guys, it looks like my son got a hold of our phone. It must have been him. I am so sorry! (Quinn, you’re grounded!)”
You might say, “Well, it could have been worse.” It was. Did I mention that when I answered the door I wasn’t wearing any pants? Nope. Just my Patriots sweatshirt and some boxers. I must have been the vision of loveliness standing there in my front door. One of the police officers, a friend, whom I’ve known for a long time said, “I’m just glad I didn’t have to give you mouth to mouth!”
That was my experience with the police during the storm. I’d like to say how much I appreciate their rapid response and I want to apologize for the false alarm. We’ve since moved all our phones to higher, and hopefully inaccessible, locations in the house.
Speaking of phones… (Did you wonder how I was going to transition from this story to a serious topic for this week’s column? I did.) I wanted to publish an updated list of information you may use to contact your public officials in Westfield, Boston, and Washington, DC. Things are really starting to get busy on Beacon Hill and on Capitol Hill and I thought you might like to have a list of current government contact information. Please feel free to use these numbers and addresses.
Mayor Dan Knapik
Email: [email protected]
Westfield City Hall:
59 Court Street
Westfield, MA 01085
Phone: (413) 572-6200
State Senator Mike Knapik
Email: [email protected]
Knapik’s Boston Office:
State House Room 419
Boston, MA 02133
Phone: (617) 722-1415
Knapik’s District Office:
57 North Elm Street
Westfield, MA 01085
Phone: (413) 562-6454
State Representative Don Humason
Email: [email protected]
Humason’s Boston Office:
State House Room 542
Boston, MA 02133
Phone: (617) 722-2803
Humason’s District Office:
64 Noble Street
Westfield, MA 01085
Phone: (413) 568-1366
Governor Deval Patrick
Email: mass.gov/governor
Patrick’s Boston Office:
Office of the Governor
State House Room 280
Boston, MA 02133
Phone: (617) 725-4005
Fax: (617) 727-9725
TTY: (617) 727-3666
Patrick’s Springfield Office:
Western Massachusetts Office of the Governor
State Office Building
436 Dwight Street Suite 300
Springfield, MA 01103
Phone: (413)784-1200
United States Senator Elizabeth Warren
Email: http://www.warren.senate.gov/
Warren’s Washington Office:
Russell Senate Office Building
2 Russell Courtyard
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-4543
Warren’s District Office:
1550 Main Street, Suite 406
Springfield, MA 01101
Phone: (413) 788-2690
United States Congressman Richard Neal
Email: http://neal.house.gov/
Neal’s Washington Office:
2208 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-5601
Fax: (202) 225-8112
Neal’s District Office:
300 State Street, Suite 200
Springfield, MA 01105
Phone: (413) 785-0325
Fax: (413) 747-0604
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not the staff, editor, or publisher of the Westfield News.
