Public Safety Committee Meeting February 10, 2021

City Council

Holyoke Massachusetts

Notice of Committee Meeting

There will be a regular meeting of the committee on

Public Safety

Meeting to take place remotely on Zoom Meetings on Wednesday 2/10/21 at 6:30PM

Per order of the Chair: Terry Murphy

*** Meeting will take place remotely and can be accessed via www.zoom.us Meeting ID:

829 1009 5389 Meeting Passcode: 411051 or by call in at 1 (929)205-6099 with same Meeting ID and Passcode. ***

Item 1: 5-21-19 Murphy, Bresnahan – Ordered that the mayor, the law department, police chief, building commissioner, board of health director and any other parties that might help in a discussion for the city to take action against the owner of the following properties: 173 Elm St/365 Appleton St and 556 S Bridge Street.  The properties appear to be owned by the same landlord and rate the highest number of police calls for residential properties in the city.  

Item 2: 5-21-19 Murphy – Ordered that the committee reviewing the status of dangerous buildings provide the city council a report of all  buildings now marked with a red X, including ownership and if there are plans for those buildings in the near future. Also, if possible, an estimate of what it would cost to demolish each of these buildings. 

Item 3: 6-16-20 Murphy – Ordered that the public safety committee meet with the director of the board of health and representatives from Holyoke Health Center, including Darrin Beek, as well as Jose Bou as a representative from the school department, to discuss any ideas to improve the environment within the four lower neighborhoods where statistics indicate the highest levels and most severe cases of asthma.  Asthma has also negatively impacted school attendance. Ideas to be discussed could include planting many more trees in each neighborhood; getting real-time air tests throughout the city by seeking volunteers who would use asthma inhalers embedded with GPS trackers to identify the most polluted neighborhoods.

Item 4: 1-5-21 Hernandez – Ordered, Study on the possibility of single lane parking or a no parking zone near narrow and/or s shape turn on O’Connor Avenue to allow large such as emergency, fire trucks, DPW, to obtain enough clearance to get through at all times.

Item 5: 1-5-21 Hernandez – Ordered, Constituents have brought to my attention the dangerous speeds that vehicles are traveling at when taking a left onto Hampden Street coming up from Lincoln. Can a stop sign for pedestrians walkway be installed preferable with lights in the middle to create a sense of urgency on slowing down as many constituents use this crosswalk to get to one of the bigger shopping centers in the area, Stop-n-Shop.

Item 6: 2-2-21 McGee – Ordered, that the DPW report before the public safety committee to address the city council chamber back room area (mainly addressing upgrades and fixing the odors associated with the area).

Administrative Assistant: Jeffery Anderson-Burgos. The listing of matters are those reasonable anticipated by the chair which may be discussed at the meeting. Not all items listed may in fact be discussed and other items may also be brought up for discussion to the extent permitted by law. Also one or two items may require the committee to enter into executive session at this meeting. Agenda subject to change up to two business days (48 hours) prior to posted meeting time.