Merchants ask for and receive patrols
Date: 8/23/2013
By G. Michael Dobbs
news@thereminder.comCHICOPEE – Downtown retailers called for a visible police presence to help deter people who panhandle and drink in public at a downtown development meeting on Aug. 15.
Less than a week later, Mayor Michael Bissonnette announced an officer on a bicycle will be patrolling the area.
At the meeting, Kenneth Williamson, owner of Williamson’s on Exchange Street, said that 93 percent of his business comes from out of Chicopee and his customers ask if their cars will be safe while they are shopping.
“What’s happened to this city?” Williamson asked. “Why is it dirty?”
He cited rubbish in the street, buildings with graffiti, and the deteriorating mural on the side of the Market Square Shopping Plaza as problems as well as the “brown bag army” of people who line up at the rear of Cabot Liquors to buy alcohol in the morning and then find a place to drink.
Other merchants described how they have had to post no trespassing signs on their properties and have employees ask people to move along.
Williamson and others called for the return of regular walking patrols, something Chicopee Police Capt. Daniel Sullivan, representing Police Chief Thomas Charette, would bring back to the chief.
“I can’t understand why we can’t have a walking beat,” Williamson said.
Sullivan explained the patrols now in downtown use the tactic of “park, walk and talk,” in which the officers are not just supposed to ride through the area in a cruiser but get out and speak with residents about problems.
He added the Police Department has a “zero tolerance” rule on open containers.
Several of the business people said they don’t see the cruiser patrols or the officers walking round. One woman, representing Polish National Credit Union, said she has seen men watch people using the ATM and then approach them for a hand-out.
Williamson said that downtown has an advantage of being easy for out of town customers to reach.
Bissonnette had called the meeting to inform downtown business and building owners of several developments.
He said the re-dedication of the Davitt Bridge would be on Veterans Day in order to give the relations of Father William Davitt – the Chicopee resident who was the last American officer to be killed in World War I – time to make plans to attend.
Bissonnette noted that originally the bridge was not scheduled to be completed until next year, but by convincing state officials to increase the work week from 40 to 60 hours and several other factors, the bridge was rebuilt well ahead of the original end date.
The business owners were told about a first time event, a Halloween Walk, scheduled for 4 to 7 p.m. Oct. 28 and were asked to participate in the family activity. Bissonnette said flyers would be distributed to public school students about the walk, which will include a luminary walk on Exchange Street.
Bissonnette said he and his staff are “trying to rebuild the small business base in downtown.”
He added, “We need you guys to be the eyes and ears as well.”
Bissonnette said that he has been looking at possibly forming a Business Improvement District for downtown and that he is working with ROCA, an agency in Springfield, Boston and Chelsea.
Jack Jacobs, director of Business Development and Major Gifts for the organizations, explained the program targets young men from the ages of 17 through 24 who have been in trouble with the law, had issues with drugs or alcohol, have not completed high school and can not hold a job.
The program is now coming to Chicopee where Jacobs said they believe there are between 20 and 25 men who fit the profile he cited.
During the four-year program the men receive a General Educational Development, job skills training and help for substance abuse. Participants also do community service work, which Bissonnette said could be used in the downtown area.
The program is scheduled to begin in the city next year.
Bissonnette said the final phase of the Market Square parking lot will soon be underway and the Department of Public Works has designed a plan that would move a crosswalk closer to the Market Square Shopping Plaza so pedestrians coming from the other side of the Davitt Bridge could cross Front Street more safely. Bissonnette said the bus stop at the side of the plaza would be moved to the back, therefore eliminating an on-going traffic concern.
