American Legion manager voices concerns over Front Street

By Etta Walsh
Correspondent
CHICOPEE – Wayne Stec has an idea for Front Street, currently undergoing an $8.4 million reconstruction – make it a dead-end near the Rte. 391 overpass and turn it from “a dumping ground and speed strip” into a passive area maintained by the neighboring American Legion Post 452.
“Now’s the time to do it,” said Stec, who manages the post and is a past commander there.
Stec said he and other post officials have complained for years about conditions at the end of Front Street.
The street, which previously connected Chicopee and West Springfield, was closed when Rte. 391 was built.
Now the area, which sits under the 391 overpass, attracts people who dump trash, particularly hard-to-dispose items such as mattresses and broken appliances, Stec said.
It also attracts speeders, who use the area for a shortcut to West Street, and encourages loiterers, he said.
“God knows what goes on there at night,” he said.
The Legion post has put up with the conditions for several years, paying extra to haul away others’ trash placed in the post’s Dumpster, and keeping an eye out for speeding drivers, who endanger pedestrians, he said.
“They took out our guardrail, once,” Stec said.
At last week’s Ward 2 neighborhood meeting, to inform residents about several ongoing and planned projects, including the Front Street reconstruction, Stec pleaded with city officials to address concerns at his end of Front Street.
“Would you please end Front Street there, to address these problems?” he urged.
Stec said he has sought permission for years, from both city and state officials, to block off Front Street near the Legion post.
The Legion will maintain the area, if blocked off, including installing video surveillance cameras that will discourage illegal dumping there, he said.
“If we can see who’s doing it, the police can issue citations,” he said.
Blocking off the area won’t affect neighborhood traffic to any great extent, he said. Instead, it will discourage those whose behavior disrupts the neighborhood, Stec said.
The reconstruction of Front Street, on a two-mile span that runs from Depot Street to Oak Street, is expected to take two years. It is a “curb to curb” reconstruction that will replace some sewer and water lines.

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