Holyoke Public Safety Committee Closes Dozen-Plus DPW Orders in Single Session

HOLYOKE -- March 9, 2026, Holyoke's Public Safety Committee cleared more than a dozen standing DPW and engineering orders Monday, some dating to 2022. Chair Anne Halhimer convened the March 9 session with Vice Chair Patty Divine, committee member Jenny Rivera, and Assistant City Engineer Victoria Hoo, who guided the panel through technical assessments on every item. The committee withdrew a four-year-old order for storm-warning lights estimated at $1,500 to $2,500 per unit, citing no available grant funding, and closed a longstanding sidewalk complaint on Northampton Street between West Glenn and Clark streets as complied with, even though the estimated $60,000 repair remains unfunded and outside the city's CDBG-eligible area; city attorney Besonette flagged a Massachusetts Office on Disability ADA grant program offering up to $250,000, with a May 2026 deadline, though Hoo said the city must first complete a prerequisite planning document. On Homestead Avenue at Holyoke Community College, the committee marked a pedestrian crosswalk order complied with after Hoo confirmed that a full signal upgrade would cost between $40,000 and $100,000, leaving the near-term solution as a low-cost spring "see-me flag" demonstration project. The center city connector project, a three-year construction effort beginning this spring, will install approximately 11 new street lights on Ray Street, closing that order as complied with.