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Date: 6/4/2019
CHICOPEE – Two more candidates have officially started their campaign to succeed Richard Kos as mayor of Chicopee.
John Vieau
“I want to do what’s right for this city that we love. I feel like this is something I have trained for my entire life,” said John Vieau, current Chicopee City Council president, during a speech at his mayoral campaign kick-off on May 29. Supporters filled the Chicopee Portuguese American Club on Exchange Street as Vieau officially launched his bid to be mayor.
Vieau has spent 16 years as the City Councilor for Ward 3, the last three and a half as its president, and was on the planning board for the five years prior to that.
“I believe he’s a good guy,” said Frank Garrow, who attended the kickoff with his wife, Ellen Garrow. The couple are Ward 3 residents. Frank said he has known Vieau for a long time and that when they’ve called him, he has taken care of their concerns.
Peter Baruffaldi is another resident who said he has known Vieau for years. He said they used to play basketball together.
“[Vieau] went out of his way to help me with a problem and it wasn’t even his district. Now it’s my turn to help him,” Baruffaldi said.
“He has so much heart,” said Susan Knightly, the Chicopee Cultural Council chairperson.
Most of Vieau’s fellow city councilors came out to support him.
“I instantly threw my support behind him. He’s been a big mentor for me,” said Ward 6 Councilor Derek Dobosz. “I know he cares a lot about the city.”
Councilor-at-Large Robert Zygarowski described Vieau as “level-headed,” and “an asset to the city.”
Shane Brooks, the councilor for Ward 2 and the City Council vice-president, told the crowd that Vieau “has volunteerism in his blood,” citing his position on the board of Lorraine’s Soup Kitchen.
Frank LaFlamme, councilor-at-large, said Vieau had the near unanimous support of the City Council. Ward 1’s Joel McAuliffe is supporting Vieau’s opponent, Joe Morrisette, a former police officer, and a current Chicopee Comprehensive High School vice principal.
“John is a great character,” said Veronica Perez-Tyburski. She is a friend and co-worker of Sherry Manyak, the executive director of the Council on Aging and Vieau’s life partner. Vieau went on to thank Manyak in his speech, for making him “even more aware,” of the needs of seniors.
While many people came out to support Vieau, some people wanted to hear what he had to say.
“We’ve heard good things about him,” said a Chicopee Comprehensive High School teacher who did not want to give her name.
Vieau spoke about improvements to the city during his tenure in the City Council, such as, the improved safety complex that will soon house a dispatch center and “Crossroads Fiber,” a municipal broadband system that is in its infancy.
Vieau also emphasized that he is a fiscal conservative, saying that he would be “frugal with your tax dollars.” He continued, promising to embrace new technology to “enhance the life of our streets while saving you, the taxpayers, money.”
Vieu said he would be a friend to start-ups and small businesses.
“New businesses mean new jobs,” Vieau said.
Vieau mentioned the opioid crisis in his speech, saying that it would be addressed, though he didn’t give any details on how it would be addressed. He also spoke about affordable housing and said, “Chicopee should be a city everyone can live in.”
“Team Vieau,” as the candidate called his campaign, hit the ground running the week before the kickoff with a stand-out with about 40 volunteers. There are also two upcoming fundraisers planned, including one at the Student Prince.
Vieau thanked everyone who attended the kickoff.
“I guess this is what Chicopee means to me. It’s about good people – who just want to do what’s right,” Vieau said in his speech. “That is why I want to be Mayor.”
Angela Breault-Klusman
Angela Breault-Klusman has been a city resident her entire life and said that she believes her entry into the race for mayor comes at an important time.
“Things are not right anymore in the city,” she told Reminder Publishing prior to the start of her campaign kickoff on May 24.
“I want to step in for the people,” she added.
Breault-Klusman is the owner of Dance Dynamics and is the former owner of a restaurant in Aldenville that had to be closed due to problems with the building’s condition. That closing of her business represented “a huge loss” for her family. She had to declare bankruptcy and her home is in pre-foreclosure.
Despite these challenges, Breault-Klusman has decided to make the race for mayor a contest between three candidates. This is her first run for office and she said that she is not concerned about the amount of money and the resources her opponents may have.
She said her candidacy would be a grassroots effort. “I’m just like everybody else living paycheck to paycheck.”
There are a number of issues that she would like to address through her campaign.
Trash removal is “huge,” she said in light of the landfill used by the city being closed. She believes the current system of the city supplying a small barrel for trash and a larger barrel for recyclable materials isn’t fair. She would like to see larger families have the option of buying a second trash barrel for their household.
She is not advocating any sort of trash fee to pay the potential increased costs of trash disposal.
She is also very concerned about the city’s schools. She noted she worked as a paraprofessional for three years and has four of her six children in the city’s schools currently.
“We don’t give the tools to our teachers,” she said.
Breault-Klusman would work with the city’s legislative delegation to get the schools additional funding.
“We need to fund our future,’ she asserted.
She wrote on her Facebook page about education, “I will make sure the future never has to look back on teachers leaving our schools because they are not funded correctly in our own community. That the children have the right resources to be able to accomplish all their own needs individually. I will promote trade schools along with the same energy we promote college children! Why? Because everyone has their own path in life.”
As mayor she would work with the police to make both the city and law enforcement more protected. “People need to feel secure on city streets,” she said.
She would advocate for every police officer wearing a body camera.
She does not want Chicopee to become a “sanctuary city.” She would rather see funding to help homeless and veteran populations.
For more information about her campaign go to https://www.facebook.com/electangela.