Search for The Westfield News
WEATHER TONIGHT Clear and Cool. Low of 48.
The Westfield News Serving Westfield, Southwick, and the surrounding Hilltowns
www.thewestfieldnews.com WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014
VOL. 83 NO.205
Shawn Allyn
Hal Etkin
Anthony Gulluni
Brett Vottero
Westfield News sponsors DA forum tonight By Peter Francis Staff Writer WESTFIELD – The race to replace new federal district judge Mark A. Mastroianni as Hampden County District Attorney continues in Westfield tonight. The four Democratic candidates for the job – Hal Etkin of Longmeadow, Brett Vottero of Springfield, Anthony Gulluni of Springfield and Shawn Allyn of Agawam – will be sitting side-by-side for a forum sponsored by The Westfield News Group and the Greater Westfield Chamber of Commerce at the Westfield Women’s Club at 28 Court Street. The debate, to be moderated by WNG President Patrick Berry, begins at 7:30 p.m.,
and will give the four candidates an opportunity make their case to voters and to take questions regarding their platfoms for combatting crime and enforcing the laws of the Commonwealth in Hampden County. Etkin and Vottero, 56 and 53 respectively, have spent considerable time working in the DA’s office, with Etkin serving seven years as a prosecutor under former Hampden County DA Matthew Ryan from 1984 to 1991, and Vottero spending 30 years as Assistant District Attorney under both Ryan and his successor William Bennett before leaving the office in 2008. Though the two most experienced men in this race gained a large amount of their experience under Ryan and Bennett, it is the
youngest candidate in the running, the 33-year old Gulluni, who has been given Bennett’s endorsement, and who has spent the past six years as an Assistant DA under Bennett and Mastroianni since being admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 2008. Rounding out the field is the 44-year old Allyn, a defense attorney from Agawam, who has also garnered significant endorsements, most notably those of State Representative Benjamin Swan (D-Springfield) and several civil rights organizations. With no Republican or Independent candidates in the running, the September 9 primary will essentially serve as the District Attorney election.
By Carl E. Hartdegen Staff Writer WESTFIELD – City police have responded to a larceny report and are investigating the theft of tons of copper from the former Old Colony manufacturing plant on Turnpike Industrial Road. Det. Lt. David Ragazzini said Monday morning that the reports had been filed online a short time earlier by a representative of Cenveo Inc., the Connecticut based company which acquired the plant in September, 2013, when it bought the bankrupt National Envelope Company. Cenveo laid off about 200 local workers when the plant closed in June. Ragazzini said that the larceny report filed online was very brief and reports only that 2-3 tons of See Copper, Page 3
See Senior Center, Page 8
MIKE BURNS
MARK CRESSOTTI
Disturbance proclaims return of students By Carl E. Hartdegen Staff Writer WESTFIELD – City police responded Sunday night to a call from a Mechanic Street resident who reported, at 11:14 p.m., a very loud college party at an apartment nearby. Officer Seth Florek reports that “noise from voices and a radio could be heard from several hundred feet away” from an apartment at 38 Mechanic Street but when he arrived “several of the guests refused to open the door.” Although the door stayed shut,
Florek reports that he could hear yelling from inside and noted that, when he heard somebody scream “if they come in here I am going to stab them”, he called for additional officers. “This disturbance tied up all police officers that were working”, Florek reports. The party ended when about 125 guests were dispersed but the disturbance continued for a short time longer, Florek reports, because “the party guests left yelling and screaming (while) See Disturbance, Page 3
Kyle P. Murray
— Gertrude Stein
75 cents
Planners approve Springfield Road project By Dan Moriarty Staff Writer WESTFIELD – The Planning Board voted 6-0 last night to approve a commercial project at 99 Springfield Road, the site of a former automobile dealership. The board approved a special permit, site plan and stormwater management plan requested by Julie and Nabil Hannoush for the proposed reuse of the former Balise dealership as a retail complex. The couple, represented by Rob Levesque of R. Levesque Associates, had requested the permits from the Planning Board to construct an additional retail space on the 11.36-acre site at 99 Springfield Road. Development, which totals 53,435-squarefeet, includes construction of three new buildings to house a variety of businesses, such as See Springfield Road Project, Page 8
Committee to give trash container lease another look
Board OKs senior Tons of center fire service copper stolen from shuttered plant
By Dan Moriarty Staff Writer WESTFIELD – The Water Commission voted last night to fund installation of a larger water main to provide sufficient flow for fire service at the Senior Center now under construction on Noble Street. City Engineer Mark Cressotti presented the project, and the funding request of $48,900, to the board, explaining that the water line improvement is part of a much larger project planned in the future, but that the fire flow is needed much sooner for senior center. The current water line serving Noble Street is “inadequate” for fire protection, mostly four-inch line and will eventually be replaced as part of the Old Town Improvement Project. The scope of the Old Town project is to replace infrastructure, including water lines, where needed, and install new curbing and pavement. Cressotti said water mains have been replaced on other streets near the senior center. There is a 12-inch main on Lindbergh Boulevard and an eight-inch line under McKinley. Cressotti said that the eight-inch line will be extended 225 feet along Noble Street to the senior center site. A sixinch line will be installed across the parking lot of the center and connect to an existing four-inch line providing water to Murphy Circle. “It will create a loop and improve water pressure not only to the senior center, but also the residents of the senior apartment complex,” Cressotti said. “I’ve been told they cannot open the doors (of the senior center) without fire protection. They need fire flow for occupancy.” “The senior center is under construction now, and will be opened at this time next year,” Cressotti said, “so we need to improvement the water main on Noble Street.”
“It is awfully important to know what is and what is not your business.”
James A. Roberts
By Dan Moriarty Staff Writer WESTFIELD – The Legislative & Ordinance Committee of the City Council will review a resolution submitted by Mayor Daniel M. Knapik to lease 13,000 trash containers needed to launch the city’s single-stream recycling program. The City Council voted at its Aug. 21 meeting to send the resolution authorizing the city to enter into the five-year-lease-to-own to the L&O for further review. The L&O is slated to meet tonight at 6 p.m. in the City Council Chambers to discuss the issue. The lease, with TAMMY TEFFT Municipal Capital Markets Group, Inc., will enable the city to convert the present 96-gallon solid waste containers into recycling containers. Resident will be given a new 65-gallon container for their trash. The funding for the lease-to-own agreement is currently in the Department of Public Works budget, so no appropriation was submitted to the council as part of the lease agreement. See Lease, Page 3