City Council meets again on Monday (due to the July 4th holiday this past Thursday).
Last month the City sponsored a meeting at South Middle School regarding the Western Avenue construction project. The sense of frustration felt at the meeting by residents was apparent, with one woman saying “You told us you were giving us new sidewalks and now you are going to rip apart our entire neighborhood”. That statement nicely summed up the feelings of many in the audience.
There are many questions that have yet to be answered but one of the first is what the total cost of the project is. We have yet been unable to determine the final price tag on this construction but my guess is that it will be on the north side of ten million dollars. The city administration continues to pledge to us that the cost will remain at two and a half million dollars – this is not a realistic figure, in my opinion. The price tag question is similar to the tree removal issue. At the start of the unveiling of this project we were told that not more than a dozen, perhaps fifteen trees, would be removed. Once we have moved along with re-designs, etc., the number of trees to be removed is closer to a hundred.
The question now is, “What can residents do to voice their opinion (pro and con) on this project? The answer is – tell the Commonwealth how you feel. There will now be a series of public hearings scheduled to listen to testimony on the construction. Residents should watch for notices of these public hearings in the local papers.
The Mayor’s budget was passed by a narrow margin by the City Council last month. We were tasked with review of the numbers presented to the council but by this close vote of 7-6 we chose to vote on the budget with no analysis. It was unfortunate that this was the outcome of the vote as the Finance Committee had done much to review the figures with department heads during many meetings in the month of June. Several councilors did not have a chance to review the reasons for the Finance Committee’s recommendations prior to casting their vote on the budget. I think a full discussion of the budget would have also been informative and helpful to residents.
Dave Flaherty has put together a very easy to understand budget video that can be found at: http://www.cityofwestfield.com/2014-budget/
The upcoming meeting of the City Council will be our last until August 15. This break in our schedule will give council subcommittees a chance to review items in their committees and move towards preparing these issue for council review. For example, one of the committees on which I sit is Natural Resources and we have an item in our committee relative to review of the local tree ordinance and tree planting schedule for the city. Other items in subcommittees include requests for zone changes, personnel appointments, stormwater review, and traffic studies.
As we begin the summer holiday season I hope that all residents will enjoy the resources our area offers and make the most of this warmer season.
Mary O’Connell
Ward Four City Councilor
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not the staff, editor, or publisher of the Westfield News.
