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February 01, 2007
Springfield MA: Sheriff Michael Ashe's Builidng Plan Spurs Protests
Building plan spurs protest
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
By MIKE PLAISANCE
Springfield, MA Republican
SPRINGFIELD - Nearly 100 people turned out last night to learn about and protest the Hampden County Sheriff Department's plan to take over part of a state-owned building now used by Northern Educational Service Inc.
But Sheriff Michael J. Ashe Jr. said before the meeting the department wants to share the State Street facility with Northern Educational Service, not displace the nonprofit human service organization.
Northern Educational Service has occupied the W.W. Johnson Family Life Center at 736 State St. rent-free since October 2002, Ashe said.
The organization pays only yearly utilities of about $40,000 for use of the 1,300 square feet. The sheriff's department is caretaker of the state building, Ashe said. The department needs space for its inmate re-entry program, Ashe said, in which those leaving prison get services such as counseling and job and housing referrals.
However, in addition to losing space, having a law enforcement presence at 736 State St. would undermine the mission of Northern Educational Service, an official said during the meeting held at the site.
Among the organization's programs are counseling and other help for hundreds of people weekly, including street-gang members and drug users. Such people might avoid the facility if sheriff's personnel and vehicles are there, said the Rev. Talbert W. Swan II, assistant executive director of Northern Educational Service.
Swan said the desire of some people to avoid such attention was illustrated when a television camera crew arrived. He announced to the gathering that anyone who wanted to skip being caught on TV could leave the room and about a dozen did so. "That's a very real concern, so what we want to do is maintain the integrity of the services we're providing," Swan said.
Richard M. Johnson, a case manager with Northern Educational Service, said depriving people of services they need harms not only them.
"This puts the larger community at risk, because it means they're not getting the services they need," Johnson said. Alex M. Gonzalez, of Springfield, a 25-year-old father of four, said the organization's help deflect him from crime and jail. "If they take this away from us, then NES can't help someone like me," Gonzalez said. Others said the state should know that W.W. Johnson Life Center opened in 1985 specifically to provide services to black people. Ashe said he is "open and willing to listen" about sharing the building, use of which he hopes to resolve by summer.
"I've been working with NES to try to come up with a suitable resolution on the use of the building, and I know we will," Ashe said.
Posted by lois at February 1, 2007 05:25 PM