Final conditions set for waste station

from The Sun, October 2-8, 2009
By Aimee Henderson, Staff Writer
ahenderson@turley.com

HOLYOKE – The City Council voted 13-1 at its last regular meeting to accept conditions for a special permit recommended by the Ordinance Committee for a solid waste transfer station located at 686 Main St. Councilor Diosdado Lopez cast dissenting vote and Councilor James Leahy was absent.

The transfer station in question, to be set up and run by United Waste Management, Inc.
(UWM), has been seeking a special permit to operate in the city for nearly one year. The facility will consolidate garbage coming in from around the city and region to be transferred into larger units in the form of either trucks or trains.

The building itself is estimated to be 22,575 square feet, according to the company website, and take in as much as 500 tons of garbage per day. The facility will have a life span of up to 25 years.

Ward 5 City Councilor John Brunelle reminded the council of the several meetings regarding the transfer facility about the different aspects, and told them that the project would go forward “with or without” the council’s vote for the special permit conditions.

“This is our opportunity to put conditions on the special permit,” he said. “This is an opportunity for the city to earn tax revenue, to create jobs and hopefully relieve the burden we have on trash removal.”

The Ordinance Committee hosted 11 meetings regarding the transfer station, which totaled nearly 40 hours of public discussion. Since the project was approved, there have already been 42 conditions set by the city’s Boardof Health that the facility is to adhere by for operation. The council’s vote on Sept. 21 added eight more conditions.

City Councilor At-Large Rebecca Lisi said it was important to include the additional eight conditions on the special permit to make sure residents are protected.

“I do believe we need to pass these special permit conditions for operation to make sure the living conditions for our residents are safe,” she said.

The additional conditions included: The conditions of the Board of Health Site Assignment Decision dated Feb. 26, 2009 are adopted and incorporated into the special permit and a copy of the decision shall be attached to the permit as exhibit A; The conditions set forth in the host community agreement dated May 13, 2009 are adopted and incorporated into the special permit and a copy of the agreement shall be attached to the permit as exhibit B; All signs at the property shall comply with the City of Holyoke zoning ordinance; The special permit is non-transferable; The 24-hour emergency contact phone number required under site assignment conditions #6 shall be answered by a person at all times and not have an answering machine; The notification required under site assignment condition #10 shall also be sent to the mayor and ward councilor; The correspondence required under site assignment condition #41 shall also be sent to the ward councilor; and The facility shall install a scanning device to screen incoming trucks for radioactive materials.

Environmental and health concerns are addressed in the conditions recommended by the Board of Health. Scott Lemay, an official with United Waste Management, insists that the facility will be a quarter mile from any residence and will itself be located close to an old incinerator and sewage treatment plant, and that the conditions proposed by the Board of Health would be sufficient in ensuring that the facility is run in a way that is clean and safe.

Lemay also said such a station would bring revenue to the city, create at least eight on sight jobs and provide work for others in the fields of maintenance and repairs, more infrastructure such as sewers, increase business to local restaurants and establishments, and offer a solution to the problem of trash disposal as dumps and landfills inch closer to reaching their full capacity.

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."

Action urged on Holyoke's teen birth rate

from The Republican
Saturday March 14, 2009, 6:51 PM

By KEN ROSS
kross@repub.com

HOLYOKE - Community organizations and the city need to have a unified strategy for combating teen pregnancy, according to city officials and community leaders.

"City bodies are realizing this is a problem, and we want to come to a consensus," said City Councilor Rebecca Lisi this week.

She spoke last week at a City Council Redevelopment Committee meeting at which members agreed to meet on April 6 to finalize recommendations for addressing the city's high teenage birthrate.

"We have to get started," said Councilor Elaine A. Pluta.

The panel has been studying the issue for more than two years, according to Chairman and City Councilor Diosdado Lopez. The council first referred the issue to the committee in March 2007, he said.

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

At the meeting, councilors met with five health officials, some of whom work for the city or the School District, to discuss ways to address the issue. One possible solution suggested by several people was making sure that the district has a uniform sex education curriculum.

Terri Pudlo, a part-time health director in the district, said sex and health education lessons vary from school to school. Or, according to Mary Fago of the River Valley Counseling Center, the district's sex education curriculum "is not being implemented consistently."

She said the School District needs to decide "what is and is not appropriate to be taught" in sex education classes.

But Lopez insisted that the district cannot be blamed for the teen birthrate.

"I'm not pointing a finger at the school," he said. "I think as a whole community we have failed."

Lopez and others said they believe that a task force of city councilors and School Committee members needs to be formed to address the issue.

"I'm looking for some committee that will have some force to get this going," he said. "If we create a task force, we will just talk back and forth."

Councilor Peter R. Tallman agreed that school officials need to be involved in the process.

"That's a key part to this," he said.

But no matter who is involved in the process, all agreed that the city needs to do more to educate teenagers about the impact of having a child at such a young age.

"There needs to be more education," said City Councilor Anthony M. Keane.

Sandy Zieminski, the city's public health nurse, agreed, "We talk a lot, but I'd like to see action."

Other health officials who attended the meeting included Lesley Kayan, a senior community health educator from Planned Parenthood, and Laurie Beauchemin, a nurse at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield.

Protect health and safety of residents

Letter to the Editor
from The Sun, April 4-10, 2008

Dear Editor,

I recently took a tour of a waste transfer facility in Suffield, CT with Scott Lemay, the proponent of a proposed waste transfer station at 686 Main St. I was happy to learn more about the details of the matter and see a transfer station in action. While I still have many concerns about the health impacts of such a facility on our community and the neighbors nearest to the site, I believe that with due diligence we can implement the proper, reasonable protections that would make the project worthwhile for all parties.

Mr. Lemay was remiss in submitting his MEPA proposal without first seeking input from community members or the ward councilor, Diosdado Lopez. The opposition to the project has forced Lemay to recognize that Holyoke is an Environmental Justice community with high concentrations of poverty and minority populations that deserves a process in which we are involved, informed, and able to conduct a candid conversation with the proponent. On our trip, Mr. Lemay mentioned several times that he is now eager to talk with community stakeholders and work to negotiate the scale and scope of his project to better suit the city’s needs.

I urge my colleagues, the opponents and other stakeholders to take up Mr. Lemay on his offer to engage in an open, meaningful dialogue that will impact this project. The city must do its part to protect the health and safety of all our residents and that responsibility should not be taken lightly. With citizen participation however, we can ensure a transparent process and a public-private partnership with long-term benefits for the entire Holyoke community.

If you would like to be involved in this process, please contact me at 413-535-2492 or visit me on the web at: www.votelisi.com.

Sincerely,

Rebecca Lisi
Holyoke City Councilor, At-Large