City Council Ward 1 incumbent looks on as candidate Nicholas J. Morganelli Jr. speaks during a forum Oct. 23. Photo by Dennis Hackett)
By Dennis Hackett
Staff writer
WESTFIELD – With the city elections fast approaching on Nov. 5, candidates for Westfield City Council Wards 1, 2 and 3 met for a forum at the Westfield Senior Center Oct. 23.
The event was sponsored by The Westfield News and the Greater Westfield Chamber of Commerce in partnership with WSKB Radio and Westfield Community Programming Channel 15. The forum was broken up by ward and each of the candidates delivered an opening statement, responded to a series of questions and concluded by giving a closing statement, beginning with the candidates from Ward 1, the incumbent Mary Ann Babinski and current at-large councilor Nick Morganelli.
Babinski and Morganelli were asked about their thoughts on how the city is handling clean water in the ward, the potential change of zoning on the north side of the ward to prohibit development, the issue of traffic congestion at Massachusetts Turnpike Exit 3 and their top priority if they are elected.
Ward 2 City Council incumbent Ralph J. Figy, at left, with candidate Juan Navarette. Photo by Dennis Hackett)
Through her discussion of each question, Babinski made it clear that preserving natural resources and the environment were important parts to her campaign platform. “What I get concerned about is air emissions from cars stalled on the highway in front of schools and the kids are breathing in from the vehicles,” she said in response to dealing with the traffic congestion at Exit 3..
Morganelli stood firm on the clean water issues in the city and said, “I do believe that finding a second source of water is very, very important. We can’t have all our eggs in one basket, we need another source.”
Both candidates made it clear that their intention was to have an open dialogue with the citizens of their ward for one of their top priorities.
“We need to make people feel comfortable that they are part of this city government, that we are a community that cares about everybody and we want to give them a voice,” Babinski said.
Morganelli echoed a similar sentiment when he said, “I really want to advocate for the best quality of life you can have here, and that includes working together with the residents, the mayor and the city council to get the job done.”
Ward incumbent Ralph J. Figy and candidate Juan Navarette faced questions about establishing a hospital zone at Baystate Noble Hospital, solutions to off-campus parties from Westfield State University, and changing zoning laws for the location of marijuana establishments in Westfield.
Figy explained that he was in favor of looking into expanding the zoning for marijuana dispensaries but said he did not think downtown would be the appropriate place for them. “By adding licenses I don’t think we’re going to add revenue. The marijuana pie is only so big, and if you have 6, 7, 8 distribution points, you’re still going to have the same amount of money but from different sources,” he said.
On the topic of off-campus parties, Navarrette said he was in favor of cracking down on the students. “If it’s a problem for the neighbors, then there should be an enforcement to find the people hosting the parties and leasing the apartment and having it go back to them. It’s not your property, you should respect the landlord’s property as your own,” he said.
Figy said one of his top priorities is the infrastructure of Ward 2 and maintaining it for years to come.
“We have hundred-year-old water pipes, we have hundred year old sewers, our roads appear to be a hundred years old. I think we need to develop some sort of systematic approach to start renewing some of these water and sewer lines before we have total failure,” he said.
Navarette closed by saying that he wanted to get the community more involved in the electoral process and voice their issues to their city councilors.
“People need to come out more than just on Election Day, everybody needs to be able to voice their concerns with their city councilors. You should be talking with your elected officals about what your concerns are going forward,” he said.
Ward 3 candidate Bridget Matthews-Kane is running unopposed and faced the same questions as Figy and Navarette with the addition of a question about how she will respond to speeding in her ward.
She echoed similar sentiments brought up by the Ward 2 candidates for the questions but said she would start slow when it came to tackling the issue of speeding downtown. “I would want to start with adding signage so people know what the speed limit is, if we were to do anything it would have to be incrementally.” Said Matthews-Kane.
Matthews-Kane said her unique experience growing up in Westfield and moving around the country can only benefit the city once she’s elected.
“I grew up here so I know the city intimately but I’ve also lived in other areas of the country and the world so I know how other communities work and we can bring ideas from there back to Westfield,” she said.
The candidates for Wards 4, 5 and 6 will be taking part in a forum at the Senior Center Oct. 28 and there will be an at-large forum Oct. 30 at Westfield Technical Academy. Both forums begin at 6:30 p.m. and will be recorded and run on Channel 15.
