Westfield State junior Makenzie Coburn and senior Devon Bates addressed the City Council about an anti-bullying event at Circuit Coffee on April 28.
WESTFIELD – Water and other serious topics were still on the mind of residents that spoke during the public participation at the City Council meeting on Thursday.
“I came to address the water issue. I heard some people weren’t for it,” said Westfield resident Estelle Streeter, noting that water is as essential as food and clean air. “No one can predict a drought. It could be next year, it could be 10 years. We can’t afford to be without water, and that includes water pressure, she said.
“Now we’re talking about May. We have to get moving,” Streeter continued, saying she didn’t want to see councilors using a lack of information or needing more time as reasons to vote against the water bond. “I live in Ward 1. These are the issues we need to address,” she said.
Christopher Clark, a Westfield resident attending the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, said he has discussed the water situation in Westfield with the university’s School of Public Health. Clark said they have expressed an interest in establishing a relationship with the Westfield community around the issue, and he is hoping to work with them on a community health study.
Westfield State junior Makenzie Coburn and senior Devon Bates invited the city councilors to join them at their anti-bullying event at Circuit Coffee, April 28 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Bates and Coburn said the event, which will be broadcast live on WSKB community radio, is being organized by WSU public relations students who have been working with the Springfield organization, “Unify against bullying,” all semester.
The last speaker, Holyoke resident Thomas Smith told the councilors that he appreciated their efforts to restore the Cross St playground, which was being addressed in several items on the Council agenda on Thursday.
“I ask city leaders to act immediately. People of the city have been victimized for six years. Some will remain victims for a lifetime after using their life savings. I will,” Smith said, adding, “I don’t think it’s too much to ask every department of this city to give a little bit of their budget, and to pool their money to restore it as soon as the soil is workable. Put the seed down before the winds of summer, when you’ll have to wait until fall,” Smith said.
