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Managing Editor SPRINGFIELD Supporters of Mayor Charles Ryan had to run a gauntlet of about 100 Springfield police officers and fire fighters in order to attend Ryan's re-election campaign kick-off last Thursday night. As people tried turning into the parking lot of St. Anthony's Church on Island Pond Road, officers walking a picket line stood in front of the cars and shouted at the passengers. "Don't give that money to that man. He's not supporting us," one man shouted. As this reporter tried to turn into the parking lot, a protester put his hands on the car and shouted a question several times through the passenger window: "Do you support city workers?" Some passing motorists ignored the protesters while others honked their horns in solidarity. A passing fire truck sounded its siren, and protesters urged the driver to park the rig in the entrance of the parking lot. Standing on the sidelines speaking to the press was Officer Thomas Scanlon, president of the Patrolman's Union. He explained that union representatives had met with Ryan all day Thursday and there was no substantial progress on the issues of wage increases and health insurance. Scanlon said the contract with the city expired under the administration of Mayor Michael Albano and that police have been working without a contract for three years. Scanlon said that Ryan had initially promised to fight for additional state aid to help fund such items as a new contract. Ryan had said he would go to court if he had to, Scanlon added. Now Ryan blames the Financial Control Board for lack of progress and Scanlon called on him to "come out from behind the Control Board." While Ryan maintains the city presently doesn't have the money the police officers are seeking, Scanlon noted that there is funding for hundreds of thousands of dollars in paying consultants for reports on the city as well as $300,000 to pay former Police Chief Paula Meara to leave her job. He said the officers are "concerned about making ends meet." "They're trying to be as reasonable as possible," he added. "All we're asking is to be treated fairly." In talks with the city's teachers' union, there had been an emphasis in trying to resolve that contract before the beginning of the school year. Scanlon said that because the officers can not strike, there is "no sense of urgency" in coming to a new accord with their union. With the mayoral race heating up, Scanlon said that no decision has been made as yet on an endorsement. He said that if School Committee member Thomas Ashe wanted to sit down and speak with the union, they would listen. No endorsement would be made out of spite, Scanlon emphasized, but rather on the merits of what a candidate said. *** Inside the church hall about 300 people gathered to support Ryan, and the police protest was discussed. Ryan's son Tim, former City Councilor and chair of the Police Commission, told the supporters that the problem started with the previous administration and that his father had shown his concern about city unions by saying "no" to state officials who wanted to "wipe out" collective bargaining and civil service protection as part of the bail-out plan for the city. "He refused to knuckle under to the hardball politics of Boston," Tim said of his father. The police concerns are "legitimate gripes, but the protest is misdirected," he added. When Charles Ryan took the stage, he said that he "wished it [the protest] hadn't happened. It didn't need to happen. [However] it's not the end of the world." Ryan said the city was in the process of "rebuilding the police force" and that he was "pleased and impressed" with the work that Acting Commissioner William Fitchet has done do far. Ryan said a day does not go by without thinking of the "bravery" shown by police officers in this "troubled city." He said he had thought there was going to be a "break-through" in talks with the police union that day. Ryan said his run two years ago was motivated by a "sense of sorrow ... mortification that a city so great was brought down to the gutter." He said that he did not "sell out the working men and women" of the city in his efforts to negotiate state aid for the city. He blamed City Councilors Kateri Walsh and Daniel Kelly for the ultimate failure of Ryan's efforts to secure a $20 million grant from the state. The two councilors received state-wide press coverage with their contention the city didn't need the money. Ryan said the city's deficit has been reduced from $40 million to $6 million and that has been achieved through cost-savings efforts as well as instituting new efforts to collect back taxes. He noted that $15 million in "deadbeat" taxes have been collected. He charged the way that the Albano administration had run the city was "scandalous." "It was a shadow [government], an illusion, a phantom," he said. Ryan also noted the accomplishments of Patrick Sullivan, the head of the city's Park Department whom he promoted to be in charge of all city buildings. Ryan said that Sullivan had streamlined the way works orders are processed and the "long journey" has begun to improve the city's school buildings. He said he wondered what his opponent has done while on the School Committee and said that the sprinkler systems in the school buildings had not been checked for 15 years despite regulations that required them to be checked annually. | ||||||
