Hello Ward 3,
First off I want to thank you for being my good neighbors. Over the years you have gotten to know me from my walks with my dogs. First for 6 years with Mr. Bear, and now 10 years with Ollie. While out campaigning I have been deeply touched by how many of you remembered Mr. Bear who died in ’05. And, after this rough winter, knowing Ollie was over 11 years old, how you express your concern for her and happiness that she was still well. Anyway thank you for your kindness.
This first term as your Ward 3 City Councilor has been a pretty good one. Many of you are right in saying that things take time in Westfield, knowing that the pressure, but I was able to help the people on Chestnut St., by helping to get rid of that burned up house that was a hazard for them. As well, I was able to bring Junior Achievement to the now Westfield Technical Academy so that as our students develop skills, that they may learn about starting their own businesses too. Also, helping them to get the air plane repair program going was very important. As someone who was a substitute teacher for 15 years getting this high paying 21 st Century jobs in a field that excites the students to learn and do well was meaningful.
Another important task was to get unanimous support from The Council to contact the Governor to oppose a plan to regionalize Veteran Services. As a Veteran who brought Veterans’ services to HCC, a liaison to the then Cong. Conte, to represent difficult Veteran issues, and had a role in successfully increasing Vietnam Veterans benefits in the ‘70’s I know how important it is to have someone local to go to. And, honored to be asked by the family of Captain Vincent at his burial, I also had the opportunity to speak with the Sec. of Veterans Affairs and was reassured that that bill would not be signed.
I was pleased to have helped bring new businesses into Westfield, and to support the expansion of older businesses. Lamson Goodnow is a real coup, as it is a world famous producer of cutlery, and is looking to open a local store at their site. The Gas Light District in Ward 3 is coming along. The Rail Trail by the river is looking great with their observation decks nearly complete. I am pushing for a snackbar/restroom by the old railroad bridge, and an artist station. We are finally getting road and other improvements in the Whitney Park/Orange St area; Franklin St is getting the side walk replacements done. I am pushing to increase the number of walks to be next like those from Smith Ave to Hubbard St. and there is hope to get the road done as well. As a member of the Neighborhood Advisory Board for WSU I have been able to represent your concerns as neighbors to the University, and work with Community Policing to deal with disruptive students living in the downtown. We are working to make landlords responsible when there are parties with 100-200 students in their rentals, and to make students responsible for their behavior. In the first 2-3 weeks of their return Sgt. Hall reported giving out over $10,000 in fines and things have slowed down as a result.
It is important to do things while our economy is doing well: Westfield has an AA rating, and has been recognized by State and Federal leaders for our responsible economic activity. Free Markets are by nature unstable especially in our imperfect world. They go up and they go down; sometimes both at the same time, depending on where you are and what businesses you are in. But, compared to the rest of the world we are not doing too bad. And while no one likes to see taxes go up they were kept to an on average increase of only $40 for the ear. As many of you know I am a retired Assistant Supervisor in Direct Care for people with disabilities, thus with not much of an income thus I have a good reason to keep taxes low. But, this has been better than most years in the past, and we have been able to keep an emergency fund in good shape. Unfortunately life costs, and to get things done; for Westfield to be competitive we have to up grade our conditions, or be left behind. Too many older industrial cities failed do so and are in a real mess, and most costly to get out of.
OK, what is next? As said, I want to continue to work to improve our streets and sidewalks. Continue to work with our vocational school. And, continue to work to attract new businesses to Westfield. And, I want to setup a Ward 3 cyber business network. People who own businesses are too busy for more meetings, so we can share our ideas and concerns on line. I would like to look into rail service to Springfield joining with Holyoke, Northampton, and Greenfield, and maybe Palmer. As a gateway city to the hill towns this would be a boost. And, as the rail network connects East West to Boston and Albany, and North South to Canada and New York City we could benefit. And, I want to work with environmental people to maybe look at a nature walk along the river, and once again bring positive uses to Whitney Park. Oh, I want to thank Wil Rodriques, and Diana Mclean for their efforts to bring a playground there as well. We have some really good and talented people working for us and I want to continue to work with them to get things done.
Lastly, I want to ask you to vote for me on Nov. 3 rd . While I am a blue collar kind of guy, I believe as a Veteran with a degree in Urban and Regional Planning, been successful in protecting the interests of Veterans; successfully defended public higher education from bad legislation; as a Neighborhood Facilitator to create safer neighborhoods, and with 50 years of working to improve and preserve communities in which I live, that I am qualified to be re-elected. And, any help that you can offer is appreciated but most of all I would appreciate your vote.
Thank you,
your Ward 3 City Councilor,
Brian Hoose
