Candiates address Golden Agers

By G. Michael Dobbs

Managing Editor

SPRINGFIELD Fran Benoit knew she had a captive audience and took advantage of it at last Wednesday's candidate's forum at the Springfield Golden Age Club.

Benoit, the president of the senior citizen group, pleaded with the candidates for mayor, City Council and School Committee to help the group find a home of its own outside of the downtown. The group used to meet at the former Springfield Civic Center and has met for the past five years at the Good Life Center on Columbus Avenue.

Seniors are concerned about parking and safety issues at the current location, Benoit said. The club used to have a membership of over 1,000 but is now just over 500 members, Benoit said.

Just over 20 seniors attended the two-hour forum that allowed candidates three minutes to speak. There were no questions from the audience and no debating between candidates allowed.

The candidates spoke in the order in which they checked in with club officials. Mayor Charles Ryan spoke first and emphasized the progress made in restoring the Police and Fire departments from the cuts made to them during the Albano Administration.

Under his tenure, 40 positions have been restored, the city has a new police cadet class for the first time in nine years, the Masreco Street Fire Station in Pine Point has re-opened and a location has been selected for a new fire station in Forest Park.

Ryan noted the addition of surveillance cameras and a gunshot detection device that is the first of its type in the state.

"We will continue to do everything we can to even the scales [between law enforcement and criminals]," Ryan said.

City Councilor Domenic Sarno, who is running against Ryan, was next. Sarno said, "Public safety is the paramount, number one issue."

He said he is glad the Ryan Administration "hears us now" about crime.

Sarno said he would hire 50 additional police officers, create a quality of life flex squad and build his city budget around public safety.

Incumbent City Councilor Jose Tosado said the city must pay attention to social issues and stressed his support for ward representation on the City Council. He said ward representation would increase voter participation in the city.

Incumbent City Councilor Bruce Stebbins reminded the audience that this election is important, as the City Council that is selected will be in place when the Finance Control Board leaves the city. Stebbins added he would like to see the Golden Age Club linked with the Department of Elder Affairs budget.

City Council candidate Clodo Concepcion is one of several established neighborhood activists running for the Council this year. The president of the Sixteen Acres Civic Association said he was proud to be a senior citizen and that he would like to work to restore Springfield to the way it was 51 years ago when he first came here.

Concepcion refused to make any campaign promises. "What you see is what you get," he said.

City Council candidate John Lysak also said that public safety is a high priority with him and recalled how as a child he could safety walk from his family home in Pine Point to the former Rialto Skating Rink on Walnut Street.

Lysak is the person behind bringing the Guardian Angels to Springfield and has called for the formation of an auxiliary or reserve police unit.

City Council President Kateri Walsh said what she shared with the audience was experience.

"I have a Ph.D in life experience. I'm the mother of seven and the grandmother of seven," she said. "What connects us today is out love for the city of Springfield."

She said that among her accomplishments was pushing for the creation of a public speak-out at Finance Control Board meetings. If re-elected she would work for a restructuring of the payment schedule of the city's $52 million loan from the state.

City Councilor Bud Williams said that he would like to see the city return to "real community policing" as Boston has done with walking patrols in each neighborhood. He also called for increased street lighting and noted the high cost of assisted living for seniors.

"Affordable housing for seniors is the next frontier," Williams said.

City Councilor Rosemarie Mazza Moriarty said that if re-elected she would work to bring biotech businesses into the city to provide jobs that would build and protect the middle class.

School Committee candidate Christopher Collins told the seniors he has worked in the school system since 1970 when he was hired as a janitor. After obtaining his degree he retuned to the district as a teacher in the Liberty and Armory Elementary Schools and then served as an assistant principal and finally as a principal at the Warner and Mary Lynch Elementary Schools.

Collins, who is the brother of Timothy Collins, the president of the Springfield Education Association, said the success of the country relies on the public school system and students must be taught as "full people" not just prepared to take the MCAS.

Current School Committee Member Antonette Pepe recounted some of her accomplishments on the Committee including introducing school uniforms, making sure $400,000 of equipment at Putnam Vocational High School was working, successfully lobbying for school supplies for homeless students attending the city's schools, and leading the fight for improved cleanliness in the schools.

Alluding to her often-controversial style, Pepe said with a smile, "I didn't run to be popular. I'm popular at home."

City Councilor James Ferrera said that he hasn't been afraid to step up and ask tough questions during his time on the Council. Ferrera said he has worked in getting street lighting in the city improved and has questioned the use of city-issued cell phones.

City Council candidate and Pine Point activist Gloria DeFilipo recounted that she decided to stay in Springfield after receiving a degree from Springfield College.

"I chose to live in Springfield. I found opportunity here," she said.

She said she wants to apply the experience she has acquired while on the Pine Point neighborhood Council to the City Council and added the neighborhood councils around the city have been under-utilized.

City Council candidate Karen Powell said the city has many positive attributes that needed to be properly marketed to help bring residents back. She would like to see economic development efforts that would create greater links between the city's hospitals and the University of Massachusetts for biotech businesses.

City Council candidate Patrick Markey is a Springfield native who left the area to pursue his education in law and served in the U.S. Department of Justice, but decided to come back to his hometown to raise his family.

"We wanted our kids to have what we had," he said. Markey's wife is also a Springfield native.

Markey has served as the chair of the Library Commissioner and as City Solicitor.

"Springfield is at the cross-roads. Your decision is vitally important," he said.

City Council candidate Morris "Mo" Jones wants to be brought back to the Council and didn't mince any words about the present Council.

"They are the worst City Council in the history of Plan A [government]," he said.

He noted the councilors who were in office during the Albano Administration "are still on the Council and they are still doing nothing."

City Council candidate Peter Lappin has been prominent in city Democratic Party politics and has served as a state representative. He expressed concerns over economic development issues and pledged to be "on call for you 24 hours a day."

City Council candidate Charles Rucks is a Springfield native, Navel Academy graduate, and Marine Corps veteran who returned to the city after a career in the private sector. He said he was shocked to see the condition of the city and formed a non-profit organization, Springfield Neighborhood Housing Services, to address the problems of blight.

"I served my country. I served my community and I'd like the opportunity to serve you." Rucks said.

City Council candidate Vera O'Connor is also someone who left the city, but came back. After living in Florida for four years, she returned and currently serves on the Library Commission.

"Springfield is not the worst place to be. There's always room for improvement unless you're in heaven. There's no perfect place," she said.

O'Connor would work to bring in new business and make housing affordable for the elderly.

City Council candidate Hamilton Wray described himself as a senior citizen and expressed his dissatisfaction with the current City Council.

He said that he has some friends on the Council, "but the rest of the them have got to go."

Wray was critical of the privatizing of certain city jobs and called the trash fee "crazy."

"A change has to take place," he said.

Incumbent City Councilor Timothy Rooke picked up on Wray's comment and said with a smile, "I hope you throw the other guys out."

Rooke spoke of the $69 million the state promised to reimburse the city for school bussing but has never paid and how this money could be used to retire the $52 million the city owes the state. He is working to see if this is a possibility.

Noting problems brought on by absentee landlords, Rooke is also working on a permit landlords would have to have that would help ensure responsible practices.

Incumbent City Councilor William Foley underscored his habit of attending functions through the city during his 24 years of public service on the City Council and School Committee.

School Committee candidate Orlando Santiago said he was not a politician, but "the Lord put education into my heart."

"Education means a lot to me," he added.

A retired corrections officer, Santiago and his family have volunteered to remove graffiti and said he wants to continue his public service on the School Committee.

He said there is something wrong when the city spends $246 million and there is a 50 percent dropout rates and over 20,000 truancies.

School Committee candidate Edward Pagliaro was the final speaker. He said the city must produce a better-educated student to enter the workforce and school facilities need to be continually improving. He said he would be a "tireless worker" to secure state and federal funding.