So what the the heck is going on here - a public park that belongs to all residents of the city is paved and the soccer field is now not open to the public?
Here is a birds eye view of the park before the paving and fencing (click to enlarge)
And here are some (non birds eye) shots after the paving and fencing
The Fall River property info on the location which shows it is city property
Below: City property map of the park and google map - before the paving
I have been told that the pavement was intended as a parking facility for the soccer field, which is now not open to the public. What happened here? How was this done without any public input? That was rhetorical because clearly Bob Correia doesn't prefer public input before changing public land.
68 comments:
and what asphalt company was paid to do this without going out to bid????
Where does one get a permit to play soccer?
When I went, there was not any information on where to go to get a soccer permit.
I'm sure a contribution to the Correia for Mayor campaign can get you some field time. Should we be surprised by this, it's standard operating procedure for this mayor/dictator.
It appears that this was done so that people can have more parking for the Church feasts, events, and soccer games. That is WRONG!! Many acres of park land have been lost in this city. People do not want to walk a few blocks to an event. Too bad.
Now for the big questions:
1. Did this go out to bid?
2. Why was it done? (we know the reasopn already, but the mayor's office should say it)
3. How much did it cost?? Could this have saved a job?
4. Name everyone that bid on the project...make all the bids public.
One last thing....some of us were told that this was also done to garner votes from that parish...mmmm???
Mayor Correia Asks for $225,000 Transfer for Street and Sidewalk Repair Plan
Fall River - Mayor Robert Correia today announced phase one of a comprehensive plan to repair the most egregious potholes and defects afflicting the city's streets and sidewalks. The Mayor will submit to the City Council for tonight's meeting a Council Order in the amount of $225,000 to be transferred from the Stabilization Fund earmarked for Street Repair to the Department of Community Maintenance (DCM), Capital Account. This phase would include the repair of potholes, sidewalks and utility fixtures through private contracting as well as additional equipment and overtime pay for DCM personnel operating the city's pothole repair machine. The DCM's Street Division, along with the Engineering and Planning Divisions, will be mapping the entire city for areas needing attention.
This program is a multi-pronged approach to begin tackling the poor condition of Fall River's roads and sidewalks. Three weeks ago the City Council unanimously adopted a resolution sponsored by Councilors Leo Pelletier and Cathy Ann Viveiros recommending that the City hire a private contractor to repair the existing potholes. DCM, in conjunction with the Engineering and Planning Divisions, assessed the labor and material costs associated with this proposal. Upon review of all factors, including repeated patches of the same troublesome areas, the Mayor came to the conclusion that it would be best to supplement DCM crews with outside contractors in order to stay ahead of the brutal winter season that literally crumbles the city's infrastructure.
"I respectfully ask the Council to support the transfer and this program, which merges the infrared repair concept I introduced with the private contracting suggested by the Council. I have concerns with the current process of pothole patches that last no more than three days to four months. Phase one of this program will fix close to 500 potholes for a period of three to four years. It gives the City greater leverage for the money spent, which also means that after this year's winter we won't have 900 potholes again. Once this work is completed I will ask DCM to evaluate the results and look into a potential phase two launching next year," added Mayor Correia.
The transfer in the amount of $225,000 would be appropriated as follows:
- Two separate pothole contracts to augment the city's new pothole truck. These contracts will be specifically infrared repairs administered exactly in the same fashion as the new pothole truck, providing a quality, long lasting repair to troublesome pothole locations. (Approx. 5 days, 65 potholes for each contract) $15,000.00 each
- One contract for a "Velocity Feed Patching System" which will repair raised utility fixtures such as manhole covers, wide expansion cracks, and misaligned wheel chair ramps. $10,000.00
- The purchase of a four-ton trailer mounted asphalt reclaimer hotbox to allow additional hot repairs in conjunction with the pothole repair truck. $32,400.00
- To provide additional funds to the Street Division to be used for overtime and additional asphalt material for the pothole truck. $20,000.00
- One contract for the strategic repair and replacement of sidewalks throughout the city. This will be based on safety concerns first. $60,000.00
- Some mill and overlay paving of selected streets, which have been delaminating or are in desperate need of partial lane and/or limited street repairs for approximately 6,000 square yards. $72,600.00
With the exception of the paving contract, DCM will need to procure all services with a November start date. If the Council approves the transfer, paving can begin immediately through the existing paving contract with J. H. Lynch and Sons of East Providence, RI. All work would be finalized before the beginning of the winter season. Depending on the construction area, night work may be considered to lessen the impact to motorists.
This is for street paving, and pothole repair, not for the paving over of a public park.
EXACTLY SO WHO PAID FOR THE PAVING OF THE PARK???????????
omg this paving is a joke, if he wanted to pave some thing go flatten a house and pave the lot, this is a local park poeple are always in there, I am sure everytime he went by on the highway and looked down at the little poeple he though" how do they run around with no homage to the major?" "hhmm if I had a dollar for ever one down" and now you have more asphault and less park, I have it is connected to the overflow?
does the city charge itself for the stormwater fees on this surface??
Miller Green all over again.
Anon 14:26 posted a lot of info that has nothing to do with this post. Or does it?
Is Anon 14:26 trying to tell us the money was out of one of these accounts, which in turn means it was illegally done?
Tell us more Anon 14:26, we are all ears.
Tom Paine, I brought up the park paving tonight at the mayah's little shindig.
He said it was in the works before his tenure because people were parking in the church parking lot and endangering the kids who went to school there.
The city put out a bid and chose the company. The paving was done with development money.
He says nothing was amiss. He also seemed upset that no one has called his office about it. I think he thought he was being attacked or something. He was defensive.
Thank you for asking the question SKoorey! He failed to explain how fencing in the soccer field and putting up no trespassing signs helped the parking situation. Also, it blows my mind that his excuse was basically 'we paved the park to make parking for the park."
Thank you Steph. This city continues to cut out, pave over, and destroy parkland. His excuse does not wash. With that kind of thinking we should pave over a lot of our parkland so that all our children are safe throughout the city.
It was not only the oddness of the logic, but it was the idea that the church was telling the city what to do. Why didn't they just ticket people, tow people, or leaflet cars to let them know not to do that?
Does the church get to tell the city to pave parks? Who is in charge here? I am so confused!
Here is the real scoop. The church has functions such as a feast. They talked to Bobbyand he saw this as a way to garner support in the upcomming election. He did them a favor.
The funny thing is Charlotte has search for the expenditure and has come up blank. Did the city bury the money in some street paving account???
The mayor said the money came from community development funds.
so it was bid on and paid for 2 years ago but just paved recently??? "not my fault blame the previous administration"
Well I guess we should contact some lambert people.
My biggest complaint with the way Fall River is run is that elected officials need to hold themselves up to a higher ethical standard. They NEED to make sure that event the appearance of unethical behavior is not happening.
In this city, elected and appointed officials go about their lives and don't even consider how it will look to the average Joe. They don't realize that when they do stuff like paving a park that people need to know AHEAD OF TIME that it is going to happen and why. Information should and needs to be shared with the community. Without this part of government responsibility, the public can and will assume all sorts of nefarius motives.
It is literally their JOB to make sure we know why they do what they do. Explaining it afterwords, with a snide comment about how nobody called my office to ask about this, makes it sound like it is the public's job to find out this stuff when it is the Mayor's job to give us the info.
The redevelopment board is famous for this. So much backroom stuff happening there it is boondoggling.
I come from an Open government culture. Fall River does not have those standards. It needs to adopt them but quick and serve the people.
The people who work in city hall do not work for the mayor, after all, they work for the people. They all need to realize this. Including the mayor himself.
and what do the neighbors think since it is a city public park??
How much city money did they spend on paving a park instead of fixing a pothole?? 30k??
and why didn't the mayor or patten know how much they budgeted for the number on line item of health care? I thought that was such a big issue with the unions yet they don't even know the numbers??
Skoorey is correct there is absolutely no transparency and we have to question every transaction.
When the owner of Bella asked the Mayor on Monday night to inspire the citizens to become involved in volunteerism and help us help ourselves, the Mayor said he had no money for advertising that.
That was his reply.
It is his new standard reply for everything.
He has a department head who could organize, for no money, the populace ala Obama. They do not know how, and see every idea as costing too much money. Even free things like this.
That says a lot, doesn't it?
But the city clerk can hold a fundraiser at govt ctr to raise 100k for a childrens christmas
parade????
PRIORITIES
Bob Correia paved paradise and put up a parking lot. Then he took all the trees and put them in a tree museum and he charged the people a buck and a quarter to see them. Then he taxed the rain that fell from the sky. Then he paved more parks and put up more parking lots.... Then he named schools after high school dropouts, then he took away honors from veterans that marched in horrific death marches in World War II.
so can I still use this public park, who do I call to get into it/?????
You can probably sit on the little patch of non-fenced grass that is left, also you could probably still have a nice picnic on the hot asphalt: But as far as using the public soccer field - last time I checked, there is no info on where you can get a permit for use so you are not a TrEsSpAsSeR on public park land.
Community Development Money...so I wonder if the fedral govt knows that we use federal money to pave a park....Where is the line item in CD accounts?
Did the park commission vote on this??? Where are the minutes??
Does this effect Article 97??
http://www.mass.gov/envir/mepa/fourthlevelpages/article97policy.htm
The more I think about this the worse it gets. His rational is bogus. Picture this:
Hello, is this the mayor's office. I am calling because I live near North Park and when there is a little league game I have to park 2 blocks away from my house. Can you pave part of North Park? Gee that is great Mr. Myor....and what did you say...by paving North Park the kids will not have to cross President Ave. That is smart thinking Mr. Mayor, maybe we can get rid of a lot of grass in other parks too and that way we save on cutting the lawn..and while your at it, cut some of those ugly trees down!
Thanks Mr. Mayor, now we will have parking in all our parks.
I thought cd rec money was being preserved because of the economy??
Tom, how much of the park was paved? By the look of the pictures, it seems to be everything but the soccer field. How many spaces would you say they made?
http://usmayors.org/usmayornewspaper/documents/03_18_02/cdbg_week.asp
Community Development Recreation, Fall River, MA
Community Development Recreation (CDREC) has been funded by the City of Fall River through the Community Development Agency for twenty-seven years. Prior to receiving CDBG funds it was a Model Cities project.
CDREC is a recreation/prevention-based program that recognizes that a safe and nurturing environment is necessary for youth to explore their talents and build self-esteem. CDREC works in conjunction with the neighborhood associations, community service and health agencies, as well as public and parochial school systems to further expand opportunities for Fall River youth. Through an endeavor with Adsum Incorporated and People Incorporated, CDREC is able to provided increased access programs for youth with developmental disabilities by providing support staff and transportation.
CDREC provides year-round recreation, educational and cultural programs for Fall River residents with particular emphasis on socio-economically disadvantaged youth. Its goal is to provide a variety of programs ranging from participatory sports and creative classes to educational presentation and theatrical/musical performances. CDBG funding provides these subsidized services for those who would be unable to afford to participate in these programs. CDREC is based on the idea that people of all abilities should have access to recreation, cultural and educational opportunities no matter what their gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status or disability. Its programs help improve the quality of life for families in Fall River
http://www.frysa.org/
"FRYSA plays its games on the grounds of the Frank M. Silvia School"
How is that relevant?
The freaking tree huggers are at again.
Add Open Governmenters to that...
they had to repave it, after they dug it up to put the new power for the new field lights(which isn't cheap) what did you expect them to do.
I guess the flint does not have enough gangs, so lets push the ones using parks out, hmmm play soccer or join a gang I will play soccer, join a gang or go to city hall and get a permit to play soccer when all your life you could play for free in a public park?
Jim Nordon,
They could have re-sodded it so grass could grow again. This was an intentional taking of public lands to be used for parking for a private organization
Hmm, Too bad he didn't pave Pulaski Park. Tha park is the breeding ground for the gangs... THe initiation happens every weekend in the basketball court 2:00 am style... Call the police, you say... we have, we do... One must wait for a stabbing or gunshots to have priority.. y the way why is the POlice Compalint line automatted? Press one, and so forth... Oh yes, Bobfather has cut our safety sector. Pave CITY HALL...
I am totally confused . . . I went by the park today and there is this big fence around the soccer field that says you need a permit to use it. There are no instructions on who to get the permit from.
As Shamrock has posted in the photos, it is a NO TRESPASSING sign.
So it it a public field, or just the tiny spot on the far right with the swingset?
yes frys plays at silva school, so who needs father travassos park paved , who plays there with a permit ???????
Does Northwest Soccer club get a permit to use fr travassos park??
http://northwestsc.org/21601.html
Travassos Field, Fall River Ma.
From Providence take 195 East to exit 6 – 7, stay on your left to exit 7 then take a left at the light, then at the second set of lights take a right onto Pleasant St., go straight ahead about 2 miles on your right you will see Bank of Fall River, then take the next right onto Boutwell St.,at the bottom take a left onto Alden St. then take the first right at the corner of Espirito Santo Parochial School and the field is at the bottom.
From 195 West, 24 North & South take exit 7 – 6, then take exit 7 to Pleasant St., at the end of exit take a right, then at the next set of lights take a right onto Pleasant St., go straight ahead about 2 miles, on your right you will see the Bank of Fall River, then take the next right onto Boutwell St., at the bottom take a left onto Alden St. then take the first right at the corner of Espirito Santo Parochial School and the field is at the bottom.
I just came back from Father Travassos Park. The last time I was there, about a month ago, there were kids playing basketball. Noticeably absent today were kids playing basketball. I realized that this is probably because the basketball hoops have been removed.
Are they turning that into parking too?
who was Father Travassos? Does this have any resemblance to the David Miller Green fiasco? Where is the Travassos family in all of this? We need more information as to who ordered this asphalt paving and signs put up to use the park. That is ludicrous.
skoorey said...
When the owner of Bella asked the Mayor on Monday night to inspire the citizens to become involved in volunteerism and help us help ourselves, the Mayor said he had no money for advertising that.
That was his reply
I to am baffled by stock answers from his highness, (I'm genuflecting as I type so excuse any errors). Barry Richards interviewed corriea just before the cuts to public safety in March. The unions held a rally outside city hall then as well. Questioning the mayors ability to stand with city workers. Barry told the mayor that union members asked where was the mayor at that rally? Mayor Lang stood by workers to be laid off, Fall River workers felt slighted by the administrations unwillingness to stand with them and lead. Lead by example, rally with the troops to show disgust with the state for the 9c cuts. The mayors answer was: "well they didn't invite me". Real leadership that gets things done,the mayor hasn't a clue about anything including leadership. I'm still scratching my head over that answer and it's been 4 months.
Union Man..try and figure this out.Last week our mayor, along with other, were in New Bedford to talk about commuter rail. Here is his quote from the H.N....by the way I have spoken to 2 people present and was told he did say this:
“If anyone doesn’t understand how critical the rail is to our future there must be something mentally and physically wrong with them,” Correia said
He just called people with mental challenges or physical challenges morons!! Wow...how does he get away with being such an incompetent
Once again the opengovernmenters twist the facts to suit their agenda. The are two entities that bring people into an already congested neighborhood, the church/school and the park. The church/school did its' part to deal with the problem by providing parking for its' users. The park didn't provide parking for players and fans of the leagues that use the park.
When there is a scheduling conflict and games are scheduled at the same time events are going on at the church/school the park users use the church parking lot and the people attending events at the church/school have no place to park. THAT is why the church complained leading to the building of a parking lot for park users. It has nothing to do with politics or providing more area for church feasts.
I am a proud "opengovernmenter" as you call it, and you should be one too.
Open government is the law. We pay the taxes, they do the work, they let us know what they are going to do, what they are doing, and what they have done. It is called America.
It is a good thing. A very good thing.
As far as the congested neighborhood, the park was there first, then came the church and school.
For Tom Paine, with love.
http://www.heraldnews.com/news/x769900228/Park-project-draws-praise-from-officials-questions-from-public
"As far as the congested neighborhood, the park was there first, then came the church and school."
Really? The park is over 100 years old? The original church building is now part of the school complex. Also the school is the oldest Portuguese parochial school in the country and is nearly as old as the parish. Father Travassos for whom the park is named was the longtime pastor of Espirito Santo.
Sorry, the parish and school were there long before the park was created.
Just wondering if anyone else received the bulk mail postcard for the fall river industrial park?
There is a website which appears to be non-existent much like electbobmayor.
www.fripa.org
the tagline is Fall River Industrial Park-we're working for Fall River.
On the cover is an ad for the Annual Fall River Criterium which was already held on August 16th great marketing.
it also reads:
The event is a huge boom for local tourism and hospitality
re: www.fripa.org
You don't understand. This was a FALL RIVER marketing campaign. The Fall River way is to always send the mailing AFTER the event, and never have the website or anything else ready on time. If the event was planned correctly, it could never be held in Fall River.
Is anyone going to Fall River Celebrates next weekend ?
and who is paying for this all private money from the companies in the industrial park that are putting fall river to work?
all 9000k jobs for fall river residents ???
not to mention they used an out of state printer instead of fall river workers.
and ms medeiros is actually the human resources person at hatch technology why omit that she works for the biggest opponent ( for karam) of the strip club in the industrial park.
http://www.heraldnews.com/homepage/x769900228/Park-project-draws-praise-from-officials-questions-from-public
"In 2007 the city obtained a nearly 100-foot easement from the church that allows paving from Everett Street into the park. That enabled the city to widen a pathway around the park between two mills where the only prior access had been from Alden to Dean Street"
this easement does not appear to be listed witht the fall river register of deeds??????
Tom Paine said...
"Community Development Money...so I wonder if the fedral govt knows that we use federal money to pave a park"
I find it funny that you object to this but didn't object to Community Development Money being used to pay for a press secretary for the former Mayor. Oh that's right it was because it was St. Eric of Poulin patron saint of Fall River's online whackos.
ooh somebody is a little upset they got caught fibbing again.
if it was used as a vote getting tool than it was a campaign contribution and play for pay.
What does Eric Poulin have to do with a paving project and why are these whackos obsessed with him? Is this part of the smear campaign I have been hearing about? The Karams, the Hurricane, former Lambert cronies like Mike Moran etc. uniting to try to soil Poulin's reputation. Very interesting. This is the one City Council candidate that I am definitely voting for.
And anon whacko, I remember reading about that whole issue and mayor's staff were paid with community development money going back to karam butt boy carlton viveiros and it was never an issue until eric poulin ran for office and then they said part of his salary couldn't be paid with the funding. That was also interesting too but too bad none of the dirt thrown at Poulin has done anything to silence him but I'm sure the Karam/Hurricane "we own this city/do you know who we are/kiss our asses" crowd will keep trying.
Give it your best girls.
The city is trying to make it sound as if the easement for the church was for an access road, when the easement was for the CSO project. The CSO project was scrapped due to costs according to the city and now they have used the easement to satisfy the church. If this was no big deal, why the secrecy? If this was legit, there would have been plenty of press coverage for the mayor.
the qoute in the paper states this easement allows paving???
In 2007 the city obtained a nearly 100-foot easement from the church that allows paving from Everett Street into the park
why are other easments listed with the registry of deeds not this one???
reality check is right...if this was above board the mayor would have been taking tons of pics,,,,err i mean his pic taker / driver
and if this is not recorded in the reg of deeds it is plain bu!! crap
That's a really good question. I'm related to Father Travassos, he was my grandfather's uncle. Plenty of us around and I'm upset to learn that the park is not be used for its original intend. Feel free to correspondent with me via:
Ibel2002@aol.com
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