PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE MEETING CONSIDERS EXTENDED PRODUCER RESPONSIBILITY CAMPAIGN

from The Sun, June 12- 18


HOLYOKE- Wednesday, June 10th the Public Safety Committee met at City Hall to hear information regarding Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) an environmental policy approach in which producers assume responsibility for their products by financing the collection and responsible reuse, recycling or disposal of those products. Currently, taxpayers pay for the management of waste that is discarded.

"The taxpayers of Holyoke bear an unfair burden of costs associated with managing large and toxic trash items that cannot be broken down or recycled. We get hit twice; once for having to pay for handling such products and then again, when we cannot pull in revenues associated with recyclable products," said Lisi.

Councilor Lisi, along with Councilors Kevin Jordain, Diosdado Lopez, and Elaine Pluta filed the order at the April 21st City Council meeting for Lynne Pledger of Clean Water Action, an environmental advocacy group, to speak about EPR and bring how it could benefit the city. Ms. Pledger urged Holyoke to adopt a resolution supporting statewide EPR legislation and regulation. In the meeting, she explained that Massachusetts cities and towns collectively spend millions of dollars managing discarded items, many of which are toxic and/or designed for one-time use.

“Town government started paying for trash clean up more than a hundred years ago when waste was mostly coal ash. Now that trash is mostly products and packaging, we need a new system,” said Pledger.

Many Holyoke residents and members of Project GreenHolyoke, a subgroup of C.R.U.S.H. (Citizens for the Revitalization and Urban Success of Holyoke) attended the meeting in support of the EPR campaign and to speak in favor of the city’s efforts to adopt the resolution.

Carlos Vega of 51 Portland St. said, "By expanding recycling opportunities in the city, we would be able to cut costs associated with items such as computers and refrigerators that are extremely costly for the city to handle due to their large sizes and toxic parts".

The full Council will be voting on the EPR Resolution at their next meeting on June 16, 2009. For more information on the MA EPR campaign visit: http://holyoke.ning.com/group/greenholyoke/forum/topics/extended-producer

For an overview of the MA EPR campaign click on the link below:
/EPR%20overview%20w.%20LP%20contact%20outside%20pdf.pdf

Councilor Lisi’s Campaign Kick-Off: Bringing the Holyoke Community Together

HOLYOKE- At-Large City Councilor Rebecca Lisi drew a large and diverse crowd of friends, neighbors and community stakeholders to celebrate her 2009 campaign kick-off at the Delaney House on Wednesday, May 27. At the event, Lisi shared her vision for a revitalized Holyoke that builds on a strong sense of community.

“The hard work before us is rebuilding a sense of community and an environment of trust that includes the entire city,” Lisi said.

In her platform, Lisi marked her commitment to Smart Growth principles and mixed use development downtown, claiming that these policies can increase job and business opportunities by attracting private sector investments and creating areas of clustered housing, workforce, and transportation options. She also stressed the importance of taking steps to ensure that our schools can provide quality education to our students, as well as developing collaborative relationships with non-profits and community organizations that can help leverage resources and cut costs throughout the city.

Lisi believes that the city is heading in the right direction as evidence by a renewed atmosphere of hope and political involvement. Lisi is excited by the number of young and new citizens who are actively attending public meetings, talking about downtown development, and running for political office. She credited these positive changes to the efforts of CRUSH (Citizens for the Revitalization and Urban Success of Holyoke) of which she is a founding member, as well as other community events that have been bringing residents from throughout the city together to talk about a shared vision for Holyoke’s future success.

Lisi said, “The plan for the future is clear. Residents from throughout the city continue to identify downtown development, preservation of historic buildings, attracting green business and industry to the city, and appreciating our community diversity as ways to improve our quality of life in Holyoke. To move forward on these initiatives the city will need support from dense and intricate networks of community member involvement”.

Lisi begins her door-to-door campaign on June 1. For more information, visit: www.votelisi.com.

Holyoke approves plan to address teen births

from The Republican
Wednesday, April 29, 2009

By KEN ROSS

HOLYOKE - After two years of meetings, a unified plan to address the city's high teenage birthrate was finalized this week by city officials and community groups.

"This is great," said City Councilor Diosdado Lopez on Monday. "It's long overdue. It's an issue the city has been struggling with for years."

He chairs the City Council's Redevelopment Committee, which voted on Monday in favor of recommending a one-page document outlining a strategy for addressing the teenage birthrate. The recommendations will be forwarded to the council, which will meet on May 5 and must ultimately vote on the recommendations.

The panel has been studying the issue for more than two years, Lopez said. The council first referred the issue to it in March 2007.

Monday's document recommends the creation of a task force that will meet monthly and include representatives from the state, the mayor's office, the council, the Health and School departments, and religious community "in order to collaborate their time, effort, and resources in working to reduce the city's high rates of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases."

According to the most recent statistics, Holyoke's teenage birthrate was 95.4 out of 1,000 births in 2007, making it the highest in the state.

Lesley J. Kayan, the senior community health educator at Planned Parenthood's Springfield office, praised the council for taking action.

"I just think it's wonderful the City Council cares about this issue," she said. "They're being proactive and caring about these children."

Sarah T. Dunton, director of youth development programs at Girls Inc., agreed. "I'm hopeful. We know the issues. Residents of Holyoke know the issues. To put energy at this level is really important."

City Councilor Elaine A. Pluta, who attended Monday's meeting, hoped that the committee's work results in the creation of a task force.

"These are just recommendations," she said. "Hopefully, they (residents) will take the ball and run with it."

Councilor Lisi announces candidacy for re-election

from The Sun

April 24-30, 2009

Holyoke - After a successful first year serving the City of Holyoke as an at-large city councilor, Rebecca Lisi took out nomination papers for her re-election campaign for the position. , Councilor Lisi is committed to continuing to represent the diverse needs of the people and neighborhoods throughout the city with a strong and independent voice.

“I’ve worked very hard in this first term to learn about the different issues that have come through the Council and I have considered it my responsibility to publicly share that information with Holyoke residents, so that they can make educated decisions about how they would like to be represented on those issues,” said Lisi.

As in her last two runs for office, Councilor Lisi plans to pursue an extensive door-to-door campaign because she believes that good government requires reaching out and listening to the specific needs and concerns Holyoke residents. For several years, Lisi worked as a policy advocate and community organizer with Clean Water Action and understands that citizens need to be engaged in the democratic process for government to function efficiently and effectively. She is passionate about politics and is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Councilor Lisi is excited about the upcoming campaign season and is energized by the number of new and young candidates who are following her lead and finding local politics a valuable way to make positive changes in the quality of life for residents throughout the city. She hopes that as a new generation of Holyokers begins to take leadership in city government and work together with new ideas and guidance from seasoned mentors, real progress can be made toward revitalizing the city.

Lisi commented, “Holyoke’s future success rests on our ability to come together as a community and share our ideas, resources, and skills. As a founding member of c.r.u.s.h. (Citizens for the Revitalization and Urban Success of Holyoke) I have seen that we in fact have that capacity and I am confident that we are already on the right path”.

Councilor Lisi will be discussing more of her platform at her upcoming campaign kick-off event on May 27 at the Bungalow at the waterfront Tavern The Delaney House. For more information about the campaign and opportunities to get involved, visit www.votelisi.com.

Councilor Lisi Enjoys the Parade!

Hope that everyone had a wonderful day at the parade! It was great to see you all out there.

photo courtesy of Sweet Dog Photos