Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.
Date: 6/11/2021
HOLYOKE – Five of Holyoke’s six mayoral candidates gathered for a virtual forum to discuss environmental issues.
The forum, which was moderated by longtime local activist John Rivera, invited all candidates to participate in the forum. The forum was co-sponsored by the Environmental League of Massachusetts, 350 Mass Action, Neighbor to Neighbor Action Fund and the Massachusetts Sierra Club. The first hour of the forum gave candidates the opportunity to give opening statements and then asked candidates a variety of questions that had been developed beforehand. The last half hour of the forum allowed participants of the forum to ask questions to the candidates.
Candidate Devin Sheehan was the first to give his opening statements. Sheehan, who is a longtime member of the Holyoke School Committee, said the forum would allow candidates to “hit the tip of the iceberg” in discussing issues facing Holyoke. Candidate and City Councilor Rebecca Lisi was next to give her opening remarks and stated that she’s been an advocate of green energy in the city for years and was excited to help Holyoke build bridges.
Candidate Dr. Gloria Caballero Roca said she was running because she wanted to see “a more diverse public service” within the city and environmental change was a priority of her campaign. Candidate William Glidden said he felt as though the COVID-19 pandemic taught many lessons, which they should not forget and he felt strongly about working with local organizations to learn the problems and find solutions. Candidate Joshua Garcia said he felt as though health began where people lived, learned and played, which could be resolved to understand data and solutions to improve the quality of life for all residents.
When asked about a plan to create and protect open green space in Holyoke, specifically pertaining to the Whiting Reservoir, Caballero Roca said she hoped to expand farming abilities through open spaces in the city. Sheehan said he felt that a community preservation act to both preserve and access open space should be established. He said the reservoir, while not used, has not been decommissioned as a public water supply that should continue to be preserved and referenced the process West Springfield had just undergone to preserve Bear Hole.
Garcia said he felt the city had to do what they could to preserve what they had, and it was critical to preserve such resources for the city to grow in the future. “What we have left is what we have and we need to do what we can to preserve and protect,” he said. With regard to the reservoir, he said the city was fortunate to have the reservoir and he felt it was incredibly important for current generations to maintain what generations before them had established.
Lisi said she also felt it was important to preserve open space within the city, as it was becoming more valuable than developmental properties. She said she agreed with regard to CPAs being used to bolster work being done by local groups to preserve open land currently. With regard to the reservoir she said the space should be reserved for a green space that allows for passive recreation such as walking, biking and hiking. Glidden said he agreed that preserving open space was vital for the city. When he addressed the issue of the reservoir he said he had grown up walking the reservoir and felt it was something that made Holyoke special. He said he felt it “would be short sighted of us” to put developments in that compromised the water supply for short term economic benefits.
Candidates were then asked about if they would support a new code that would bring the state closer to net-zero emissions with regard to new construction. Lisi said she was an early supporter of similar policies and she would be “happy to support the city adopting a local commitment to ensure we are reaching the net-zero and emissions energy goals the state” had set. Caballero Roca said she felt it was crucial to “observe and enforce” robust building codes to both address blight for the health and quality of life of residents. She also said she wanted to ensure that landlords in the city were held to a standard of air quality standards within the buildings they owned.
Glidden said he would support a local commitment to reaching the net-zero emission goal by 2050. He said while there were some good things being done by the HG&E, there was still a lot to be done and they needed to do this by “breaking through the political dysfunction” within the city.This could be done, he said, by finding common resolutions and working together. Sheehan said he felt it was important to look at the 2050 goal. He added while he had not yet read all the proposed code, he felt it was important to reduce the impact of buildings in the city and hoped to reduce the carbon impact of both new and old buildings without too much of an impact to business owners. He said it was difficult to say he would adopt it “100 percent in Holyoke” as it was still being worked out, but he was willing to discuss the topic and work with the City Council on the matter.
Garcia, who was the last candidate to answer the question, said he felt similarly to the other candidates and he wanted to ensure Holyoke had “some sort of energy reduction plan” to reduce the city’s carbon footprint. He said while the “intention was there” he agreed with Sheehan that he wanted to ensure the policies came out and were beneficial to all those in the city. He added that due to the socio-economic status of the community, they needed to be careful to ensure no harm was being done while implementing such policies in the community.
When asked about the plan to reduce the amount of trash and recycling produced in the city, Sheehan said he agreed that the amount of waste had increased within the city. He said he felt as though they should look at other cities and promote compost within the city to reduce the waste and cost of waste collection within the city. Lisi said she also agreed there was a lot of trash being produced in Holyoke, but emphasized that currently the city was providing free trash and recycling pickup. She said while the city was facilitating composting, there was no way to provide curbside services presently and thought that would be a great service to reduce waste. Additionally, she said she hoped the city would transition away from single-use plastic bags and had previously filed two orders to ban such plastics in the city. Lastly, she led the effort in Holyoke for extended producer responsibility, which placed responsibility on producers of products to extend the life of the product, meaning consumers wouldn’t replace items and create less waste.
Caballero Roca said she hoped to partner with a company that turned waste into energy, as well as educating and empowering the community to create a path to manage the city’s waste. Glidden said he also supported extended producer responsibility, which Lisi had advocated for and led. He said he felt it was unjust for the burden of increased costs for recycling. Garcia said he was in favor of supporting Lisi in her support of banning single-use plastic bags. He said while the city was fortunate enough to receive no-cost pickup for their waste, it was impacting the city. He said he wanted to preserve “the current luxury of the ability to get rid of trash with no fees,” and wanted to do more research for management practices with regards to waste elimination and municipal resources.
When asked by a city resident during the live question and answer portion how the city would reduce emissions when they were struggling to address current issues such as blighted buildings, Lisi said she didn’t believe there were many buildings that needed “to come down.” She said historical preservation would help reduce their carbon footprint as they wouldn’t produce additional carbon when tearing down the building and using carbon in addition to the carbon that was produced with the building of the structure when it was initially constructed. Garcia said he felt there was an “inoperability” problem within city departments, preventing problems impacting community and residents health from being solved. He said while he thought it was great to preserve old buildings, there were a variety of safety issues some buildings provided and there should be greater collaboration within the city to address such issues. Caballero Roca said she felt it was important to pay attention to landlords and blight removals. She said she will work the community and ask residents where they were hurting, “for the community and by the community.”
Glidden said he was also in favor of historic preservation. He said over the recent years people have found creative uses for Holyoke’s current infrastructure but more could be done. Sheehan said he was okay saying “I don’t know” and he felt it was “an aggressive goal.” He said he felt as though he would need to consult with others and felt that urban voices weren’t heard when the goal was set, but he planned to work with business owners and leaders within the city to mitigate such a goal.
When asked how they planned to engage non-english speakers in these issues that “tend to be looked at in a more academic lens,” Glidden said he would want to know what services would be most useful to non-english speakers to help them engage in city services and make programs accessible. Garcia said growing up in Holyoke he understood there was a disconnect and people who didn’t understand the role of local government. He said whoever the next mayor was going to be, he believed strongly in establishing neighborhood associations – which would help residents better understand decisions impacting their neighborhood – that it would give them an opportunity to have their voice heard and be included in decisions.
Lisi said every person in the city or community understands and were living through such issues and “the academic lens comes in to provide the understanding or why.” She added that it could feel as though the issues experienced by residents could feel as though they were a result of personal failures, but community building would help deal with some of the root causes of such issues. Sheehan said he felt community engagement and surrounding “yourself with people of the community” was essential for finding solutions. He added that he would make a commitment to surround himself with Spanish speakers and have grassroots community groups to engage in such issues. Caballero Roca first answered the question in Spanish and then said she felt it was important to realize that everyone needed to work together with the people of Holyoke. “The more we engage with the community, the more we learn from the community, the better we’ll do for the community,” she said.