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Powell runs for City Council

Karen Powell
By G. Michael Dobbs, Managing Editor

SPRINGFIELD Community activist Karen Powell has been in the thick of a number of political campaigns for over a decade, but now she takes on a new role of candidate.

Powell announced last week that she is running for a seat on the City Council.

Powel first became politically active with volunteer efforts on Ross Perot's president campaign and petition drives for Citizens for Limited Taxation.

It was the issue of a trigger lock ordinance that brought her and her husband Bob into local politics, though. During the Albano administration, an idea was brought forward to have mandatory trigger locks for every gun in the city. Karen recalled her objection to the ordinance was due to its inability to be enforced and the fact the trigger locks supplied by the city had identical keys one key could open any lock.

The Powells, though, truly came to prominence with their opposition to a proposed needled exchange program in the city again supported by the Albano administration.

Their organization, Citizens Against Needle Exchange or CANE, successfully convinced the majority of people voting on the issue in a non-binding referendum question to oppose the program touted to reduce the number of AIDS cases in the city.

The nearly two-to-one election result helped convince the City Council to vote against the proposal.

Most recently Powell was part of the management team behind the "Keep Springfield beautiful" campaign.

She was also a prime member of the team of activists who brought grassroots election techniques to the effort to elect Charles Ryan mayor.

Powell still supports Ryan and said although she likes City Councilor Domenic Sarno who is running against Ryan, "Charlie needs to stay where he is. He pulled the city out of a hole."

Unlike many current members of the City Council, Powell also is welcoming the extension of the Finance Control Board (FCB). Governor Deval Patrick has said he wants to keep the FCB in place until July 1, 2008. He is naming new members to the board and has said they will enact an economic plan he has developed for the city. Powell said the city still needs the group.

"We're not out of the woods yet," she said.

She and her husband own a small business and Powell is very interested in promoting economic development that would bring more small manufacturers to the city. She is also looking for ways to bring more vitality to the downtown area.

She is very concerned on the impact absentee landlords have had on the city's neighborhoods, as well.

Powel said she is "not a fan of the trash fee," and, although she understands the city needs the revenue to help balance the budget, she believes a greater effort to recoup money through more recycling would be better.

And while she is not against casino gambling, she said there is no place in the city suitable for such an enterprise. She said the site of the former Mountain Park in Holyoke would be ideal.

She said quality of life issues are very important in improving the city and preventing a further erosion of the middle class,

"A lot of little things will make a big difference," she said.