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The Westfield News Serving Westfield, Southwick, and the surrounding Hilltowns
“Adapt or perish, now as ever, is nature’s inexorable imperative.” — H. G. WELLS
www.thewestfieldnews.com VOL. 84 NO. 234
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2015
75 cents
Repeal of city’s sex offender law proposed
2012 WNG FILE PHOTO
14-year-old boy drowns in Westfield River WESTFIELD, Mass. (AP) — Police say a teenager is dead after drowning in the Westfield River in western Massachusetts. Westfield police tell The Republican of Springfield the 14-year-old Chicopee boy was swimming with friends Sunday afternoon near the Great River Bridge
when he went under the water. The Westfield Fire Department, Westfield police and state police responded to the scene where the teen was last seen. Westfield Deputy Fire Chief Andrew Hart says firefighters searched in a boat while a state police helicopter flew over-
head. Rescuers found the boy about 20 to 30 minutes later and rushed him to Baystate Noble Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Police are not releasing his name until his family can be notified.
City Point Partners selected as the Owner’s Project Manager for the PVTA’s Bus Operations and Maintenance Facility BOSTON — City Point Partners today announced that they have been selected by the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority (PVTA) to oversee the design and construction of their new Bus Operations and Maintenance Facility on Cottage Street in the City of Springfield to replace their existing 100 year old facility. The new 280,000 sf, $70M facility will be built on an 18 acre site and will provide bus maintenance and storage for the PVTA’s Springfield fixed-route operation. The facility will be able to accommodate approximately 150 fixed-route buses including standard size diesel buses and articulated buses. Included in this new facility will be management office space, fuel bays, wash bays, bus and van storage bays, garage and body shop areas, parts storage, exercise rooms, locker rooms and showers, lounge, dispatch center, employee parking and green spaces. A new cell tower will also be installed onsite to support the PVTA’s IT communications. The new facility will seek LEED Certification under the US Green Building Council’s green building rating system. City Point Partners will provide Owner’s project management services advising with respect to the design, scope of work, cost estimating, construction manager at risk and subcontractor selection, schedule overview and performance monitoring. With their ridership predicted to continue its steady increase and a number of highprofile development projects in the Springfield area scheduled to be completed within the next two to three years, the PVTA is planning for a greater expansion of service and consequently will require larger facilities to support this service expansion. “We are very excited to be working with City Point Partners on this critical project. A larger operations center is a vital part of supporting the expanded service that our ridership demands,” said Mary MacInnes, Administrator, Pioneer Valley Transit Authority. “This is a very exciting time for the PVTA, “said Colleen Moore, President and Founder of City Point Partners, “both the public and private sector developments planned for the Springfield area will change the City of Springfield itself and the Pioneer Valley. We are confident that we will be able to help the PVTA meet the rising
PVTA COTTAGE STREET VIEW demand of their ridership which will result from these developments and ultimately stimulate increased economic activity in the region. We are very happy to be working for the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority.” City Point Partners has a growing Owner’s Project Management practice with multiple projects in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. About the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority The Pioneer Valley Transit Authority is the largest regional transit authority in Massachusetts with 174 buses, 144 paratransit vehicles and 24 participating member communities. The Pioneer Valley Transit Authority was created by Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 161B in 1974 as a funding source and to provide oversight and coordination of public transportation within the Pioneer Valley region. The 24 member communities throughout the Pioneer Valley include; Agawam, Amherst, Belchertown, Chicopee, Easthampton, East Longmeadow, Granby, Hadley, Hampden, Holyoke, Leverett, Longmeadow, Ludlow, Northampton, Palmer, Pelham, South Hadley, Springfield, Sunderland, Ware, Westfield, West Springfield, Wilbraham, and Williamsburg. About City Point Partners City Point Partners is a woman-owned owner’s project management firm serving clients in both the public and private sectors. The firm’s skilled team has experience in a broad range of projects including both horizontal and vertical projects with staff who are Professional Engineers, Licensed Construction Supervisors, Certified Cost Consultants, and Schedulers. City Point Partners is a WBE/DBE certified firm in Massachusetts and Rhode Island and DBE-certified in Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. For more information, please visit www.citypointpartners.com.
By DAN MORIARTY Staff Writer WESTFIELD – The Law Department has advised the City Council to repeal the sex offenders’ ordinance because of a recent decision by the state’s highest court. The Supreme Judicial Court, in an Aug. 28 decision, upheld a lower court decision ruling that a local law restricting where sex offenders can live in the city of Lynn exceeds the city’s authority to regulate where registered sex offenders can reside, a ruling that could have broad implications for about 40 other communities. The SJC in its ruling states: Conclusion. The totality of the 1999 statutory scheme, incorporating as it does a series of interdependent policies and practices specifically designed to protect the public from level two and level three sex offenders by monitoring and notification to the public, evinces the Legislature's intent to have the first and final word on the subject of residency of sex offenders. In addition, insofar as the ordinance effects a wholesale displacement of sex offenders from their residences, it frustrates the purpose of the registry law and, therefore, is inconsistent and invalid under the home rule provisions. Westfield is one of those communities which sets restriction of where sex offenders can live or even go under Chapter 10, Article III of the City Code of Ordinances adopted on Jan. 20, 2011. The ordinance prohibits a registered sex offender from “establishing a permanent residence or temporary residence” with 1,000 feet of a school and establishes “child safety zones” which includes schools, parks, both public and private, and playgrounds. Registered sex offenders “shall not loiter on of within 1,000 feet of any property on which there is a RALPH FIGY school, park or any private or public recreational facility.” The City Council sent the Law Department recommendation to the Legislative & Ordinance Committee for review and possible action. “Our legal department is recommending that we repeal it,” L&O Chairman Ralph Figy said this morning, “but that doesn’t mean it’s a done deal. “It’s in my committee and I will schedule for discussion,” Figy said. “I anticipate there will be a lot of discussion about it.” At-large Councilor Brent B. Bean, III, a former L&O Chairman, said this morning that the City Council members know the community better than the state Legislature and SJC. “I think we should be able to have a stricter ordinance than the state law because we do know our community,” Bean said. “What we have now is an opinion from the Law Department; let the court tell us we have to repeal it. I’d rather sit on what we have in place now. “If we do have to appeal, we’ll have to go back to the drawing board and write it differently or by doing some sort of overlay district,” Bean said. “We’ve gotten creative through the years to circumvent laws that come down from the state and federal govBRENT B. ernment.” BEAN, III
New regulations on sale of e-cigarettes kick in this week
Scenic beauty, wildlife, and visitors Jennifer Bulens and her daughter Izabel, 2 1⁄2, from Westfield, help feed some grateful ducks in Stanley Park while Mike DiSanto watches over grandson Ryan Demarais, 2, also of Westfield. See additional photos Page 3. (Photo by Marc St. Onge)
BOSTON (AP) — New regulations governing the sale of electronic cigarettes in Massachusetts take effect this coming week. As of Friday, anyone under 18 years old will be barred from buying e-cigarettes. The regulations also ban the promotional giveaway or free distribution of e-cigarettes and require that they be kept out of the reach of customers. Attorney General Maura Healey said the regulations also ban most sales of e-cigarettes except through face-to-face purchases and not through vending machines except in adults-only establishments. Other regulations requiring that the liquids and gels used in the devices be sold in child-resistant packaging won't take effect until March 15, 2016. E-cigarettes are battery-powered devices that turn nicotine-containing liquid into vapor that is inhaled. Though nicotine can be addictive, e-cigarettes lack the chemicals and tars of burning tobacco.
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