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The Westfield News Serving Westfield, Southwick, and the surrounding Hilltowns
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www.thewestfieldnews.com WEDNESDAY, JUNE 14, 2017
VOL. 86 NO. 140
“Patriotism consists not in waving the flag, but in striving that our country shall be righteous as well as strong.” — JAMES BRYCE 75 cents
Franklin Street ‘road diet’ will modify flow By DAN DESROCHERS Staff Writer WESTFIELD—Many residents may have seen the sketching of traffic lines on Franklin Street recently. Well, by tonight those should be fully painted lines, giving traffic some new direction on the busy street. According to Mark Cressotti, city engineer for Westfield, Franklin Street is undergoing a “road diet,” which essentially is a slimming of existing lanes that allows for additional traffic flow improvements on a roadway. The process is being
done to better accommodate different modes of travel, especially bicycle. “This is sort of a continuation of an effort we did on Court Street and West Silver Street,” Cressotti said. According to Cressotti, the roadway will be reduced from four travel lanes for motorized vehicles to three. One of those three travel lanes will be a multi-turn lane, similar to what is seen on North Elm Street. “Given the traffic volumes that you experience on Franklin Street it’s something that can be achieved,” Cressotti
said. “The multi-turn central lane is removing the passing lanes, so we are just merging that function and that accommodates for additional pavement for bike lanes.” The work on Franklin Street will allow for a continuation of a connection to the Columbia Greenway, as well as to Westfield State University. And eventually, Cressotti said it will reach downtown. Painting is expected to be done at night tonight, and Cressotti said that this should not impede rush hour traffic.
City council meeting preview, June 15, 2017 By DAN DESROCHERS Staff Writer WESTFIELD – The Westfield News spoke with At-Large City Councilor and City Council President Brent Bean ahead of the Thursday, June 15 city council meeting, to try and help readers and residents be more prepared and informed going into the meeting. The discussion will be an ongoing one ahead of city council meetings. This week, the meeting may be a little lighter than usual but there are still some important topics expected on the docket. These topics include land acquisition for the city, as well as certain parcels possibly changing use. There are also some items that will need city spending and reappointments, too. However, the budget will not be focused on quite yet. “Budget is still a couple weeks away. We’re in the process now of doing individual department hearings,” Bean said. “In the next couple weeks we’re inviting departments in.” According to Bean, some of the significant items that will be coming from Mayor Brian Sullivan are related to land acquisition. The first is a request for an appropriation of $35,000 Bean said, to “transfer within departments” to purchase what was formerly So’s Restaurant on Elm Street. “Right now the city is taking every opportunity that arises as we enhance our inventory of cityowned properties,” Bean said. The use of the land, if successfully acquired, is not known according to Bean, but he suggested that commercial or parking developments could be in the future. “For $35,000 it’s a great opportunity to re-energize that part of town,” he said. In addition to the location on Elm Street, Bean said that the council is being asked to OK $55,000 to be used for the purchase of the former Romani Bowling Lanes on Church Street. The land is expected to be turned into parking at some point, with a short-term solution being provided in the fall and a longer-term solution in the form of a potential parking garage. Bean said this would be the final piece needed for demolition of the property. Another purchase that is being asked of by the council that isn’t from Sullivan is that of a police cruiser for the city’s police department. The cruiser, which costs $26,400, is being funded from the “a reserve for unforeseen” and from the city’s towing account, as well. See City Council, Page 3
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Sketching on Franklin Street that shows the eventual line painting.
Department budget reviews continue Karissa Foley of Westfield samples Strawberry Skyr at the Mayval Farm tent at the Westfield Farmers’ Market. (WNG File photo)
Strawberry Festival among market vendors Thursday By LORI SZEPELAK Correspondent WESTFIELD-The 155th annual Strawberry Festival takes place on the lawn of the Episcopal Church of the Atonement on Thursday evening, joining the vendors of the Westfield Farmers’ Market. Strawberry Shortcake and Strawberry Sundaes will be served from 5 to 7 p.m. for $5 each, and proceeds will benefit the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Westfield’s initiative to provide healthy food to children and their families. See Festival, Page 3
Group Encourages ‘Cruising’ the Westfield River By LORI SZEPELAK Correspondent WESTFIELD-Phil Sousa remembers the pollution that choked the Westfield River when he was growing up off Meadow Street in the 1940’s and 50’s. “The colors of dye from the old paper mills and the sewage flowing into the river bothered me greatly as a child,” said Sousa on Tuesday afternoon. Under the sweltering heat at 1 p.m., Sousa was overlooking the Westfield River near the Great River Bridge and admiring how pristine the river looked. “When I was a kid we fished off the old bridge but the smell was so bad we always released the fish back into the river,” said Sousa. On June 17, Sousa will once again coordinate the logistics for the annual Westfield River Canoe/ Kayak Cruise, sponsored by the Westfield River Watershed Association. Sousa has been a member of the association for “many” years. “Today’s water flow is 668 cfs (cubic feet per second) which is within the 350 cfs to 750 cfs needed to conduct the event,” said Sousa. Cubic See Cruising, Page 7
By AMY PORTER Correspondent WESTFIELD – At the second Finance Committee budget hearing on Tuesday, chair Robert A. Paul, Sr. said that all of the City Councilors have had access to all of the city budgets by line item for two weeks. He said each department head would be asked to make an overarching statement, then all of the councilors would be asked if they have any questions. In attendance, besides committee members Dave Flaherty and Matthew T. VanHeynigen, were Councilors William Onyski, Cindy Harris, John Beltrandi, Mary O’Connell, Mary Ann Babinski, and Andrew K. Surprise. Paul said the Finance Committee has also been reviewing the budget, and may also make some overarching statement. “I will also ask any person(s) responsible for their department if they have closing statements,” Paul added. First to be heard was city engineer Mark Cressotti, who said his department improves the city, and resources are used to advance city designs. Currently in the design phase are the Columbia Greenway Rail Trail and Western Avenue. Cressotti also said some budget items have been lowered and moved to the Department of Public Works, for example the maintenance of the planters, a $40,000 item now in DPW. “Successful cities do plantings of inner cities. Some people may say it’s excess, but necessary to make the city a vital place,” Cressotti said. “I think it’s a nicety, not a necessity,” Flaherty commented. He said he was also concerned that last year, a big construction budget of $300,000 was allocated, but not fully spent. Cressotti said there were “some glitches last year.” He also said money in the construction budget generally gets moved to Purchase of Services to be spent. VanHeynigen asked how the $400,000 request this year is going to be spent Cressotti said the priority is the $250,000 for Columbia Greenway, required by July 1 for a $6.2 million match from the federal and state gov-
ernments. Also, $70,000 is for the Western Avenue design work, which will be going out to bid this summer. $50,000 is for traffic signal analysis. Cressotti said he would also like to upgrade the paving maintenance system. Paul and Flaherty asked more questions about which programs were tied to which line items. Flaherty said he was concerned about funds being moved from approved line items. “You need to use some bit of caution regarding some of these things. It’s conceivable that we could overreach, particularly in the construction process,” Beltrandi said. “I’m leaning towards making the department $0,” said Flaherty, adding he would put the money in Free Cash for approval as items come up. “With all due respect, you can’t micromanage departments in that way,” said Public Works director David Billips. Cressotti said he came before the Finance Committee multiple times as issues came up. “I do appreciate that you’re doing your due diligence. We’re passing the city on to that next generation. That’s where we’re trying to go. We need to invest in where we’re going,” Cressotti said in closing. Later in the agenda, resident Dan Call asked to be heard by the Finance Committee on the Columbia Greenway, saying he would be out of town for the public hearing. Call said the $250,000 being requested for Greenway North is very important. “I’m the one that’s been tracking (numbers) since last August, when Westfield was pushed from 2017 to 2019. I go to all the meetings, it’s a learning process,” Call said. He added that the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission has 42 communities with projects. “We’re looking at $6.2 million (in matching funds), which looks really good for 2019. It has to happen. We need to be there for it. If we’re not, we could get pushed from 2020 to 2022. Westfield needs to say we are approved and ready,” Call said. See Budget Reviews, Page 3
City engineer Mark Cressotti was the first of several department heads to go before the Finance Committee on Tuesday. (Photo by Amy Porter)