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Pluta learns success, challenges of urban living

Date: 4/14/2010

April 14, 2010.

By G. Michael Dobbs

Managing Editor

NEWS ANALYSIS

HOLYOKE -- It was the second time Ward Four residents took the mayor on a tour of their neighborhood and like Michael Sullivan before her, Mayor Elaine Pluta saw first-hand the successes and challenges of living in an urban core area.

Issues from abandoned buildings to cleaning out storm drains were discussed by the group as they walked from the City Library down Chestnut Street to Suffolk up to Pine Street and back to the library via Essex Street on Wednesday evening. The tour was part of the neighborhood crime watch activities in the ward.

Pluta and the residents were accompanied by City Councilors Aaron Vega and Tim Purington as well as Ward Four School Committee member Cesar Lopez, Tim Price of the Department of Public Works and Sgt. Dave Menard of the Hampden County Sheriff's Department.

As the group neared the corner of Chestnut and Suffolk streets, Pluta was asked questions about the renovation of the Victory Theater and the former Holyoke House hotel. She said work is progressing on assembling the funding to reopen the theater as a performing arts center and there has been interest expressed by a management company to become the receiver for the Holyoke House to facilitate a major rehabilitation of the building into apartments.

Going up Suffolk Street, Management Assistance Program Director Mitchell Moskal pointed out one of the receptacles designed to separate trash from materials that can be recycled. He said any resident interested in having one on their property can do so by signing a contract promising they would empty the unit on a daily basis and additional information is available through the mayor's office.

As in other cities, the complexion of the neighborhood changes from house to house, street by street. There are carefully tended yards at one home, while down the block there is an abandoned building. Some sidewalks and gutters are spotless, while others have litter.

The residents on the walk not only knew their neighborhood intimately, but clearly care for it.

Lopez pointed out a trouble spot in the neighborhood, an abandoned five-story apartment house at 185 Pine St. From the rear, one could see how the wooden porches have rotted, but Lopez said that didn't deter thieves from stealing cast iron radiators from the top floors. He said he is "constantly" calling the police to address the drug deals that take place at the location. Pluta said she would bring the address to the Vacant Buildings Committee and begin the process of taking the building for back taxes.

The alleys in the neighborhood also present a special challenge, Price explained. They are not owned by the city, but rather by the abutters. This creates a trash and dumping problem, as legally the city cannot remove materials from the alleys, he explained.

The group walked down several alleys and their owners have obviously cleaned some, while others are regularly used for illegal dumping. Looking at the alley behind 218 Pine Street, one could see a pile of mattresses. Menard, who coordinates in part a clean-up program in the neighborhood, said he recently removed five mattresses from the location and a month later there were 15 more.

As the group progressed up the alley, it met a homeowner who was cleaning her back yard. She explained she had caught people stealing copper pipes from her roof.

Menard spotted a used syringe stuck in a crevice of a concrete wall in the alley. He carefully removed it so it could be properly disposed of.

The syringe was not far from a newer home where it was obvious the owners had made an investment. There was a new chain link fence and gate so the family could park their vehicles there. Children were playing in the large back yard.

Passing by an apartment building at 149 Essex St., one resident said she calls the police regularly about drug deals she sees at the block. She pointed out a nearby city surveillance camera that she thinks would give the police a clear view of the events there.

"They [the police] don't touch this area," she charged. "You're left to hang."

Unlike the first tour of the neighborhood over a year ago, no police officials accompanied the group this time.