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Rivera calls for trash fee boycott



By G. Michael Dobbs

Managing Editor



SIXTEEN ACRES In the crowded hall at the Church in the Acres on July 18 the only thing that was hotter than the sweltering air was the temper of the 200 residents who had come to talk about the trash fee instituted by the city's Finance Control Board (FCB).

And by the cheers and remarks made by the residents, the majority seemed to approve State Representative Cheryl-Coakley Rivera's call for a city-wide boycott of the $90 annual fee and the start of a lawsuit against the city.

The state representative representing the neighborhood, Sean Curran, was less warmly received for his remarks.

"Breaking the law is not the solution," he told the crowd to jeers.

"They broke it first," shouted one resident.

The meeting was sponsored by the Sixteen Acres Civic Association. Association President Clodo Concepcion said that while he was 100 percent against the FCB, he was not in support of the trash fee.

"When you're sick, you've got to take some medicine," Concepcion said, "but too much medicine can kill you."

Rivera said she was not appearing as a state representative, but rather as a resident of Springfield.

"I'm here to say that enough is enough," she said.

She emphasized her support of Mayor Charles Ryan, a member of the FCB, but that she didn't agree with him on this issue.

She asserted that if residents don't pay the fee, the FCB will be forced to find the money to help fill a $4 million budget deficit through other means.

She called the $135,000 salary of FCB Executive Director Philip Puccia " outrageous," and said she "wished someone on the FCB had the decency to come here and explain it [the trash fee.]"

Ryan did not attend the event, but Michelle Weber, his chief of staff did attend as well as City Solicitor Edward Pikula.

Coakley-Rivera passed out a spreadsheet that showed some of the funds that have come to the city in the past three fiscal years. She cited funding for schools, the District Attorney's Office, State Police over-time, the Shannon Gang grant and a public safety grant for Forest Park.

She noted the city received $22 million more than Boston for the public schools.

"We need a trash fee to buy books? I don't think so," she said.

The trash fee would drive out residents and be a deciding factor in keeping new residents away, she added.

Coakley-Rivera also called for a new residency requirement for all new city employees. She said the influx of new employees into the city's neighborhoods would have a more positive impact on the city's finances than a trash fee. She added that 90 percent of a person's income is spent in the community in which they live.

Coakley-Rivera vowed to go to every neighborhood to promote her boycott and lawsuit against the fee.

Pikula explained the fee would be paid by quarterly installments and that the city would have the legal option of placing a lien on a property if the property owner did not pay the trash fee. He said that residents could have a private firm collect their waste if they do desired and not pay the city for the service.

He said he understood there would be exemptions and discounts in the program, which have not yet been announced.

***

Also attending the meeting were City Councilors Tim Rooke, Rosemarie Mazza-Moriarty, Kateri Walsh, and Domenic Sarno, School Committee member Antonette Pepe, and Candace Lopes representing State Senator Stephen Buoniconti.

Rooke said the City Council would meet to discuss alternatives to the trash fee and to consider recommending amending the trash collection program to save both the city and residents money. He noted the Council has yet to be told all of the details of the trash program.

He said he did not support a boycott and added that the real problem was the amount of Additional Assistance which are discretionary funds the city receives from the state.

He said that former FCB member Thomas Trimarco, who is now Secretary of the Executive Office for Administration and Finance, has helped Springfield and other cities and towns by increasing Lottery funding.

The city received $44,382,546 in FY07, as compared to $28,974,118 in FY 05. Rooke said that new amount is "still less than what we got in the past."

At the root of the situation, he said, is that the city needs to find another revenue source for $4 million.

Rooke called for "less rhetoric and more leadership to get us through this."

***

Speaking to Reminder Publications the day after the meeting, Curran said, "It is unacceptable for an elected official to break the law. No one agree with the trash fee, but we have duties and one of those duties is to uphold the law."

Curran said that he is seeking ways to repeal the fee and repeated what he told the audience the previous evening: he wants to see seniors exempt from the fee and he wants to see the fees for the pick-up of bulk items eliminated.