Dan Allie
Keep your eyes on the Road, your hand upon the wheel.
This morning, as chairman of the Westfield Republican Committee I had the privilege to present awards to local citizens whose contributions have enriched the lives of others in the community, at our annual Lincoln Day Brunch at East Mountain Country Club.
The honorees were Bill Garen as Veteran of the Year, Dawn Carignan-Thomas for Leadership in the community, both from Westfield, and Gene Theroux of Southwick for Outstanding Community Service.
In his Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln needed to explain to the people, who had grown weary after years of war, why the Civil War must continue. If you ask someone today, many will say, “to end slavery” or “defend state’s rights”. The main reason that so many gave their lives was so “that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom . . . and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
“Four score and seven years ago” refers not to the Constitution, but rather the Declaration of Independence.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, and endowed by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.
Our rights, freedoms and free will do not come from the state, but from God. They are merely affirmed in the Constitution. Every soldier swears an oath to defend the Constitution. Many people do not understand these truths, and can be swayed by persuasive arguments, or their own opinions. Any right given to you by the state, could easily be taken away, by the state.
At our last council meeting, two important issues were discussed. The first was my motion advocating for the right of property owners within 300 feet to be notified by mail by their government of a proposed zone or parcel change.
My Abutter Notification ordinance is now in the Legislative & Ordinance committee. Zone changes can have an enormous affect on the quality of life in neighborhoods, businesses and property values. Too often people have no idea there has been a zone change, until after it happens. This is wrong and needs to change. Wake the kids and phone the neighbors. I need people to attend and speak at public participation at the L&O and council meetings. Contact city councilors and write letters to editor. Your Voice Matters.
The other issue was a motion by Councilor Harris to eliminate the right of the council to extend time for people to speak during public participation. I believe the council does not have the authority to eliminate this, or that the city could defend this in court. Public participation is protected free speech under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the Massachusetts Open Meeting Law, and City Council Rules.
Public participation is entirely within the Council President’s discretion. The Attorney General encourages public bodies to allow as much public participation as time permits. Public participation is limited to 15 minutes, which may be extended upon a motion made, seconded and voted by the majority. Each person may speak for three minutes, unless a motion is made, seconded and voted by a majority, to allow that person an extension of time. The motion was withdrawn.
Thank you to everyone who had attended the school committee meeting considering redistricting. Many of us were glad to see the option of immediately closing Russell School and moving students into other schools, taken off the table. There is no room to move students to other schools. Parents and students absolutely love Russell School and their teachers, and have been pushed around enough by the city.
Some people expressed the opinion that the city should abandon the Cross Street location, and get on with a new location. I appreciate the effort of the lady with the clipboards Diane Hodges, who wants people to ask the City Council for more funding for education.
We should be clear on this point. The City Council cannot initiate spending. Only the mayor can initiate spending. Each year, the mayor requests city departments submit budgets based on needs, wish lists, and budget realities. This year, the school budget is $2.9 million short.
Revenue to the city from new growth is between $800,000 and $1,200,000 each year. New homes starts, wages and property values have been flat for years. According to Councilor Dave Flaherty, “The city should consider reducing the growth in the city budget, and look for new revenue sources and development, because even with a zero increase in levy limit next year, taxes could go up 3.42%.
The city government is working hard to balance taxes, spending and stabilization funds, while providing funds for education and other city services, including maintaining roads. In December, the City Council voted 12 to 1 to not raise property taxes for the first time in 9 years. It was the right thing to do because many people cannot afford ever-increasing property taxes.
It should be obvious to everyone, that if we fail to control spending growing faster than our ability to raise taxes, or residents’ ability to pay taxes, that we will have an issue, unless we see an increase from local aid, free cash or an increase in revenue.
What may not be obvious to everyone is the huge amount of education and transportation funding being spent by state and city on other items, instead of first funding schools and fixing roads.
Abraham Lincoln said, “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.“ But that doesn’t’ stop some in government, or politicians and the media from trying to keep people in the dark.
Last August, the Mass Board of Education awarded a New Hampshire company $150 million to develop online standardized testing. Cuts in Local Aid education funding have cost Westfield $5,000,000 over the last six years. Common Core has given monopoly control of textbooks, standardized testing and teacher certification, and billions of tax dollars over to Pearson, a British company.
Is it any wonder our state is short on cash? Legislators have time to introduce rattlesnakes into the Quabbin, but have not figured out how to collect sales tax from Internet sales. The state spent $200 million on a health connector website, $200 million more on a second website after the first one did not work turning 400,000 lives upside down, and did not so much as buy a Band-Aid. How does the state waste money like this and then justify eliminating funding for the Quinn Bill, which now costs Westfield taxpayers $775, 000 every year. How does any of this help teachers, police, firefighters or taxpayers?
I was grateful when Governor Baker restored $100,000,000 in Chapter 90 funding for roads, on his first day in office. Westfield received $660,000. After all, I worked for months in 2014 on a local ballot question to inform Westfield voters that these funds had been cut by our last governor. While it is disheartening to hear local politicians take credit for these funds, it was very disappointing to learn that not a dime went to fix our roads. Instead those funds were spent on the bike trail. Papermill Road was paved with supplemental pothole money Governor Baker provided, after a bad winter.
In January, the council voted 8 to 3 to reject the state’s “Complete Streets” program. This program was launched in February 2016 by Governor Baker, and immediately proposed in Westfield. I worked for 10 months to expose and defeat this policy because buried within its 64 pages was language that took control away from local officials, and added costs to all projects, public and private. Everything the government does, already costs too much.
While Governor Baker should be applauded for increasing local aid for education, and releasing 500 million dollars in Chapter 90 funds since taking office, it was extremely troubling to learn that the Governor’s proposed “Act Financing Improvements to Municipal Roads and Bridges” includes removing “an existing requirement that an appropriation be made by the local legislative body.”
We just learned that the Department of Transportation awarded 3.3 million dollars for extending the bike trail and replacing the old rail bridge, north of the twin bridges. I have no issue with the bike trail, but it is difficult to justify the state spending millions for “a Bridge to Nowhere,” that only a small number of pedestrians and bicyclists can use, when many Westfield roads are in deplorable condition. Bicyclists do not pay registration fees, tolls, excise or gas taxes, which fund our road repairs.
The state and federal government spent 88 million dollars on two bridges, water cannons that cannot be used, and one of the most convoluted traffic patterns. Now the city will spend 300,000 dollars to replace handrails that fell down less than three years after being installed.
I ask the Governor to reconsider this legislation, since his administration’s stated goal is to “work closely with cities and towns to improve transportation infrastructure” by ““strengthening the state’s relationship with the Commonwealth’s cities and towns, through “Chapter 90 funding allow(ing) municipal leaders who best know the needs of their communities to make crucial capital improvements. What leaders are they talking about? It is certainly not the City Council.
If people are upset with government, and had enough not getting services you are paying for and not having enough funding. Start with Boston!
