This past weekend my wife and I were privileged to attend both the Turkish Festival on the Common in West Springfield and the Armenian Festival in Springfield. The Town Common is a great asset for West Springfield in as much as it is the center of the Town and the center of Town activity. We here in West Springfield have significantly large populations of Russian and Viet Nam immigrants. West Springfield can put this diversity on display by encouraging these recent immigrants to host festivals on the Town Common as did the Turkish Community. If we have an asset worth talking about, we should put it on display. Let us be more of a welcoming town then we now are. West Springfield is not the center of the universe but it has many assets that can be put on display for all in the Pioneer Valley to take note.
As the center of commercial and industrial traffic West Springfield is in an enviable position by being located at the crossroads of New England---truck and auto traffic running north and south, east and west make West Springfield attractive as a strategic center of commerce. West Springfield is the center of rail transportation with The Boston and Albany RR running east-west through the Town and the New York Central running north-south through the Town in addition to one of the largest trucking terminals in western Massachusetts. The trouble lies with both the Planning Board and the Town Administration to capitalize on these assets. We don’t need any more 55 or older retirement communities—we need industrial parks and commercial areas that will provide jobs for our citizens and Tax income for the Town. Today, West Springfield, and specifically Riverdale St and Westfield St commercial areas, feature FOR RENT and FOR SALE signs; what is the Administration doing to encourage businesses to come to West Springfield? According to today’s paper it has taken BMW 2 years to move from the east side of Riverdale St. to the west side---this is hardly welcoming and accommodating to local businesses.
As for being a Welcoming Community on July 21 I wrote the Mayor’s office regarding a meeting place for the West Springfield Taxpayers Assoc. I received a prompt reply July 23 from that office informing me that the MOB will be undergoing repairs through the end of October. In a letter dated July 26 I acknowledged the Mayor’s letter and requested any available space in the MOB the last Tuesday of each month for 1.5 hours. No reply, August 12 I phoned the Mayor’s Office and requested a reply. The secretary said she would relay the message, but still no reply. We subsequently scheduled the President’s Conference Room at Holyoke Community College for the rest of the year and, if we needed, the space for the year 2009. So much for accommodating taxpaying citizens of West Springfield that do not always agree with the Administration. In addition I assure you and the Administration we are not a terrorist organization.
The West Springfield Taxpayers Association now has a web site www.wstaxpayers.com. We welcome all citizens of West Springfield to visit us at that site and share their ideas regarding West Springfield’s Administration with us. The main thrust of the web site is to create a media whereby the everyday resident of West Springfield can participate in Local Civics 101. Remember, under the present strong mayor form of city government only one mayor and 4 city councilmen are needed to make ALL decisions. West Sringfield is more citizen oriented then the present form of government provides. We need changes in the way we conduct town business. A good start is to examine our present form of government.
Victor Thomas, 67 Riverview Ave. WS
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