NEWSLETTER
 
VOL VIII, Issue 2  Printed Compliments of Pioneer Valley Montessori School  February, 2003
 
President 
Clodo Concepcion 
413-783-4807 

Vice President 
Richard Greenberg 
413-782-9300 

2nd Vice President 
Willis M Schoof 
413-782-9850 

Secretary 
Ruth Moorhouse 
413-783-4887 

Treasurer 
Ann Hadank 
413-783-1811 

Directors 
Helen Boyle 
413-783-3828 

Walley Brown 
413-783-4378 

Judy Fleury 
413-782-7236 

James Gregory 
413-782-3422 

Denise Kelcey 
413-783-1438 

Ted Knee 
413-783-1982 

Carol Lewis Caulton 
413-783-9513 

Edmund Mack 
413-782-0576 
Ann Ryan 
413-782-4370 

Ex-Officio 
Jean Masse 
413-782-0339
From The President

Hi everyone, now that winter is almost over, and since we had no meeting in January, we have to once again get on with the business at hand. To keep you informed of what is happening: 

The Crime Watch met a few times, and the signs are already up at Senator, Mallowhill, and Groton Streets. 

The new buildings on Parker Street are almost completed, and are partially occupied. Time for C&S to move the trailer and put in some landscaping. It certainly would improve their reputation. 

The Ginger Blossom is almost ready to open and another new store is coming to the same shopping area. It appears that the Goodwill is going to share the building with a Family Dollar Store, now under construction. Each will have half of the building. This is good news, we need more businesses in the area. 

We like to take this opportunity to wish Roland Masse, and Ed Mack a fast and full recovery, they both have taken sick, and after calling them I have been told that they are doing well. Good luck guys. 

AARP Meeting.

The next AARP meeting will be held on Thursday March 6 at the Good Life Center, 1600 West Columbus Ave., Springfield, MA, at 1:00 pm. We will be entertained by the Golden Blue Ribbon Singers. Everyone is invited to attend and enjoy an afternoon full of fun 

BOMBSHELLS
Clodo Concepcion reported that the liaison meeting with Mayor Albano had revealed a potential bombshell.  The mayor suggested that the 16 Acres Center Fire Station might be abandoned. While the Mayor suggested the property would be incorporated into the shopping area for the purpose of constructing an enlarged Big Y, on Friday Big Y announced they will be taking over the Cooley Street Foodmart and abandoning the Big Y at the Center.  Whatever use is to made of the property, it is not likely to be a bigger Big Y.  (Editorial comment: wouldn’t it be nice if all of the structures now on the site - including the cell tower,  the Big Y sign, the telephone poles and wires and the Alibi’s sign - were bulldozed and a new structure erected, with architecture signing and landscaping in keeping with the historic early New England traditions of the Center).
CONGRATULATIONS

Kevin Noonan, Executive Director of the Open Pantry, notified us that the final count of food collected for the Thanksgiving Food Drive was 4,000 pounds. We also want to thank the students of Duggan Middle School, who conducted their food drive after Thanksgiving.. Good job done for all the food you collected!!!
Meetings

The board met February 5 at the Children's Study Home 91 Old Acre Road at 6:30 pm. 

Georganne Hoyman of the Department of Public Works was present to discuss automobile and pedestrian traffic at the center, She will look into potential improvements and report back to us. 

Wally Brown reported that Peter Sygnator of the East Forest Park Civic Association was selected to be the Neighborhood Representative on the License Commission. The Ginger Blossom has applied for an all alcohol license for the new restaurant. This was controversial and the Board accordingly extended an invitation to Mr. Chen to come to the February meeting to explain his intent and to determine if he would be willing to limit the license to table service as opposed to a bar. (Editorial Comment: There is some concern that Alibis, which had gained the organization's support by representing that its license would be part of a restaurant, was now operating a bar without any food service. Some of the members present felt that we do not need two bars in such close proximity.) 

DUES

An ad hoc committee was appointed to investigate the organization's dues structure and to report back in March. 

REGULAR MEETINGS
The regular monthly meeting will be held on February 18 at 7:00 pm at the Church in the Acres. At this meeting we plan to present Paul Caron with an award from the Sixteen Acres Association.  The guest speaker will be Mary Ellen O'Shea.  She will be talking about the Springfield School System. We hope to see you at this meeting.

In March we will have representatives from CHIP (Child Identification Program).  This program is used to identify children from zero to twenty one and is very helpful if children disappear. The information obtained can immediately be put to work to help locate missing children.

In April we will have Dr. Anthony S. Caprio President of Western New England college as our guest speaker.
340 Cooley Street   *    Box 264      *  Springfield, Massachusetts 01128