HOLYOKE – Holyoke saw major changes in 2014 from the sale of Mont Marie to the collapse of the Essex House.
The city will be among the communities to receive an annual payment from MGM Resorts International to help pay for any negative impacts the casino based in Springfield’s South End might create.
How those funds will be used in Holyoke is still yet to be decided, according to Mayor Alex Morse.
“Obviously it can help relieve some annual pressures on the budget,” he told
Reminder Publications.
Morse announced on Jan. 13 that Holyoke will receive $50,000 after the casino opens in Springfield and then over the following 15 years will receive $1.275 million.
Morse said city officials would be taking “a hard look” at how those mitigation funds could be allocated for the maximum results.
Morse also said MGM has agreed to hire “hundreds” of Holyokers for jobs at the casino. When asked how many, Morse said the number would be 300 residents. He added the jobs would be at “all different levels.”
So far, Holyoke the only non-abutting community to be voluntarily named a surrounding community in MGM’s casino.
Although the state official who is overseeing placing homeless families into motels believes the current number will be going down, two local mayors are concerned about the continuing impact of the policy.
Aaron Gornstein, the undersecretary for the Massachusetts department of Housing & Community Development, admitted to Reminder Publications last week the state has lost ground in its efforts to end the program of housing homeless families in motels.
“We were making great progress,” Gornstein said. He noted the Commonwealth’s plan was to end the program by June 2013. By early 2013 the program was down 30 percent.
Over the summer months, though there was a “spike in demand” due to what Gornstein listed as a variety of causes. He said “economic circumstances” caused the state to have no other option. Homelessness was the resulted of evictions due to unemployment, and domestic violence.
Additional concerns were raised throughout the year about the practice in Holyoke, especially when a fight broke out at the Holyoke Hotel.
Much has been accomplished to assist the Sisters of Saint Joseph (SSJ) of Springfield in funding the order’s retirement fund, but more needs to be done.
Parishioners throughout the Springfield Diocese contributed $625,000 in a special collection last November, the order recently announced, but as President Sister Maxyne Schneider told Reminder Publications, the order is planning in about a year to launch a major campaign to raise more money.
Schneider said of the special collection, “We are truly overwhelmed and deeply grateful to all of you for your generous response.”
The special gifts campaign, as Schneider described it, could only be used for two purposes: carrying on the mission of the order and the care of the sisters.
Considering the 242-member order has an average age of 75, Schneider said that retirement concerns are important.
Unlike Bishop Timothy McDonnell who has a mandatory retirement age of 75 – he has petitioned the Vatican for his replacement – Schneider said the sisters do not have to cease working at a particular age.
The order sold Mont Marie at the end of the year to a compnay that manages nursing home facilities.“Experience” seemed to be the theme of the evening at the first debate between candidates for Hampden Country district attorney.
Although the first debate between the candidates came early in the election cycle – on April 10 – it was clear that with a relatively large field the candidates want this head start to draw differences between each other.
Brett Vottero, Hal Etkin, Shawn Allyn, and Anthony Gulluni met to discuss issues and answer questions from a panel of Latino journalists as well as audience members at the Morgan School in Holyoke. The Massachusetts Latino Democratic Committee and the Chicopee City Democratic Committee sponsored the event.
All the candidates at this time are Democrats, meaning the race will be settled by the primary in September.
In reaction to the revelation that a Holyoke police officer and a firefighter may have been using the opiate blocker suboxone, Mayor Alex Morse said he would order the drug testing of all personnel in the two departments.
Morse said at a June 2 press conference that he “will not tolerate drug use of any form.” The cost of the broad drug testing was estimated to be $10,000, and Morse said City Council President Kevin Jourdain “is on board with allocating the resources” for the tests.
Neither Morse nor Police Chief James Neiswanger was forthcoming with many details in the case as they said the investigation is ongoing. Both refused to give the names of the first responders in question.
With an approval from the City Council, the Morse administration will continue its efforts to work with a developer to bring a retail center to the location of the Lynch School.
The council voted nine in favor and six against accepting the bid of $750,000 from Frontier Development LLC to buy the property on July 8. Frontier was the winning bid determining through a Requests for Proposal process.
School Superintendent Dr. Sergio Páez had included the Lynch School in his education plan and had asked the council to return the school to the School Committee, a move that was approved by every member of the committee except for Mayor Alex Morse.
The 13 new liquor licenses created by a bill passed by the Legislature and Gov. Deval Patrick will be the same in some regards, but different in one key way: they won’t be able to be transferred or sold.
Rory Casey, chief of staff for Mayor Alex Morse, explained to
Reminder Publications, most of the licenses will be would be restricted to certain locations within neighborhoods, although five licenses will be considered “at large.” New businesses will be sought in the Flats, Churchill, South Holyoke and downtown, Casey noted.
The emphasis, he added, is on restaurants, as opposed to bars, he added.
Casey said that High, Race and Suffolk streets are among the areas the Morse Administration hopes will be the locations for the new businesses.
“We’ll try to create a cluster,” Casey said.
The applications for the liquor licenses are now available.
City officials have begun a campaign to raise between $400,000 and $500,000 to repair and restore the signature stained glass windows that line the walls of the City Hall auditorium.
Mayor Alex Morse announced on Oct. 7 that former Mayor Elaine Pluta and former City Councilor Ray Feyre would co-chair the effort. While in office, Pluta started the discussion about the stained glass windows.
The building was completed in 1876 and the auditorium has 13 stained glass windows.
Morse explained that two of the windows have been removed and are Serpentino Studios in Needham for repair. So far, the restoration is being funded by $50,000 from the Holyoke Library endowment and a $65,000 Massachusetts History Grant.
There are two more legislative steps before a Polish Heritage Historic District can become reality, according to the chair of the group advocating for its creation.
Attorney Victor Anop explained to
Reminder Publications the Holyoke City Council’s ordinance Committee will vote in early January whether or not to recommend the district’s creation to the full City Council. The full council would then have the opportunity to vote on the district.
Anop and the district’s supporters and opponents met before the Ordinance Committee on Nov. 10.
“This is turning out to be a separation of the church and state issue,” Anop said.
The issue has come out of the effort to preserve the Mater Dolorosa Church, but Anop added that 21 property owners within the proposed district would benefit from the designation by being eligible for federal and historic grants.
As the demolition equipment is transported to Holyoke, questions remain on why it took city officials so long to demolish the Essex House.
City Council President Kevin Jourdain told
Reminder Publications he is considering an ordinance that would standardize the way the city handles abandoned buildings to provide greater transparency moving forward.
Part of the long-vacant building collapsed on Dec. 11, damaging a building that houses a beauty salon and sending nine families living in another building into temporary shelter.
At a press conference on Dec. 12, Mayor Alex Morse declined to find blame for the collapse, which he called “unfortunate but not unexpected,” and City Councilor Gladys Lebron-Martinez said, “It’s time to move forward – forget the blaming.”
