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The Westfield News Serving Westfield, Southwick, and the surrounding Hilltowns
— DOROTHY L. SAYERS
www.thewestfieldnews.com
75 cents
WEDNESDAY, MAY 17, 2017
VOL. 86 NO. 117
“I always have a quotation for everything — it saves original thinking.”
Lights are back on at Roots By DAN DESROCHERS Correspondent WESTFIELD—In spite of several residents speaking in opposition, the city’s planning board approved a repetitive petition from Roots Athletic Center for the use of outdoor lighting. The planning board held a public hearing on the outdoor lighting used on the outdoor artificial turf fields at the athletic center on Root Road. The application for the lights was previously denied by the board and according to board chair Philip McEwan, Roots was applying again for the use of the lights. Changes were made to the lights in
order to attempt to alleviate concerns of residents, who claimed that light pollution was disturbing their residences, and these changes were relayed to the board in hopes of allowing their use again. Before the hearing occurred though, the board needed “all but one member of the planning board” to vote in favor of the hearing before it continued, according to McEwan. The vote was unanimous to continue. According to Michael P. Ryan, attorney and representative that spoke on Roots’ behalf at the hearing, three significant changes were made to the lighting to address concerns.
According to Ryan, there were zero foot-candles—a measurement of illumination—measured at several of the property’s boundaries on two separate occasions, shrouds were installed on all of the lights and the hourly usage was reduced from until 10:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. from December to February. Despite the remedies done though, residents were concerned. Among the worries was that only half of the lighting was installed thus far, according to the representatives of Roots at the meeting. Residents spoke out See Lights, Page 5
Roots lights from the McCarthy home vantage point, Oct. 21, unknown time.
City council committee takes action on several items ahead of Thursday city council meeting
WHS principal Charles Jendrysik, MGM VP of workforce development Wanda Gispert, WPS superintendent Stefan Czaporowski, MGM workforce development manager Renata De Almeida and WTA principal Joseph Langone. (Submitted photo)
The omelet station at the breakfast. (Submitted photo)
MGM speaks to culinary arts students about career opportunities By AMY PORTER Correspondent WESTFIELD – MGM representatives were treated to breakfast at Tiger’s Pride on Tuesday morning prepared by the culinary arts students at Westfield Technical Academy and Westfield High School. The students in turn were treated to a presentation by Wanda Gispert, vice president of workforce development for MGM Springfield and Renata De Almeida, workforce development manager, on some of the employment opportunities that will be available after MGM Springfield opens its doors in September of 2018. The meeting was the result of a conference attended by WTA principal Joseph Langone and student services coordinator Rob Ollari in March, at which they met the MGM pair. WPS superintendent Stefan Czaporowski then invited the team out to Westfield for a meeting with Mayor Brian P. Sullivan, where they made plans for the breakfast.
Langone said the energy at the breakfast was amazing. “Everyone was very pumped,” he added. He said all of the students brought their A+ game. They had a pastry station, omelet station and fruit table on which a chainsaw-carved ice sculpture stood. Langone said it was a joint effort between Westfield Tech culinary instructors Phil Mucciaroni, Eric Rogers and shop assistant Stacy Boisseau, and Westfield High School’s culinary program under family consumer science teacher Margaret Toomey and principal Charles Jendrysik. “The ladies raved about the breakfast,” Langone said. They noted the level of expertise, the quality of the service and the food, and said the students were on track for the type of people they want to hire. One of the reasons for the excitement in the room was the announcement that MGM will be looking to hire 3,000 people when they open. He said 30% of the jobs will be in
gaming and 70% in the hospitality and entertainment fields, which will involve a lot of family friendly venues such as bowling alleys and movie theatres. One-third of the jobs will be in the culinary and hospitality fields, where there will be 1,000 positions available. MGM plans to open 18 restaurants, Czaporowski said. They have a contract with Springfield to hire one-third of the employees from the city, but know that they are not going to be able to supply all their workforce needs from Springfield. Most of the high school students they addressed on Tuesday are not old enough now to work for MGM, as employees must be at least 18 years old, and on the gaming side, 21 years old. “It was very important for me and Stefan to make sure our kids had an opportunity to hear what was coming,” Langone said. On the superintendent’s part, he was pleased that Gispert and De See WTA Students, Page 7
By GREG FITZPATRICK Correspondent SOUTHWICK – The Town of Southwick held their Annual Town Meeting in the Regional High School auditorium on Tuesday evening. Numerous registered voters attended the meeting and voted on the 28 warrant articles presented. Mentioned in a previous article by the Westfield News on May 15, there were a select number of articles that gained more attention than others. Article 17, which was the vote to take $1,000,000 out of the Community
Preservation Committee Fund, was given much discussion prior to the vote. Christopher Pratt, the Chairperson for the Conservation Commission, expressed his passion for the $1 million that would go towards the $5 million that needs to be raised in order to preserve the North Pond property. “We are extremely in favor of this project,” said Pratt. “If this was denied, the land wouldn’t be for public use.” Marcus Phelps, who is a member of the Community Preservation Committee, addressed the residents, especially geared towards individuals who live or
use North Pond on Congamond Lake. “It’s a very important piece of property,” said Phelps. “It’s the last remaining lakefront property on North Pond.” Franklin Land Trust has been spearheading this project along with North Pond supporters in Southwick and were pleased to have been in attendance to see the decision in their favor. “We’re very pleased, that was a big hurdle,” said Rich Hubbard, the Executive Director of the Franklin Land Trust. “I was blown away by the support See Town Meeting, Page 2
See City Council, Page 5
Legislative & Ordinance Committee members William Onyski, Ralph J. Figy and Mary O’Connell. (WNG file photo by Amy Porter)
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Annual Town Meeting passes all articles
By DAN DESROCHERS Correspondent WESTFIELD—Several items came from the city council’s legislative and ordinance committee with recommendations yesterday, just ahead of city council’s Thursday meeting. Committee members voted on six items heading to city council, including the approval of a lease on a new fire apparatus for the Westfield Fire Department, a donation for field lights at two city parks and changes to abutters’ notifications for zoning changes, the last of which came with a caveat. For the fire apparatus, the committee was voting to make a positive recommendation to city council on Thursday to allow Mayor Brian Sullivan to agree to a five-year lease for the vehicle. According to committee chair and ward two councilor Ralph Figy, any leases beyond three years the mayor must get permission from city council. “If this doesn’t go through then [Westfield Fire Chief Mary Regan] has to go for additional financing,” Tammy Tefft, director of city purchasing, said at the meeting yesterday. Tefft said that the additional financing would come from the changes in interest rates currently negotiated in relation to the lease. More specifically, Tefft said the city had until Friday to get the vehicle at the currently lower rate. The total cost of the vehicle in question was estimated at around $700,000 according to an April 24th article in The Westfield News, with financing coming from the Westfield Fire Department’s ambulance budget. The committee gave a unanimous positive recommendation to city council for the purchase. For field lighting, the committee was determining whether they should recommend an acceptance of a donation of field