Haverhill City Councilor Michael S. McGonagle, chairman of the council’s Public Safety Committee.
While not directly related to an ongoing police investigation of Saturday’s shooting incident near Swasey Field on Blaisdell Street, several Haverhill city councilors have proposed installing cameras at the city’s major parks and other areas as a means to “combat illegal dumping and other illegal activity.”
Councilors Michael S. McGonagle and Thomas J. Sullivan, as well as Vice President Melinda E. Barrett, are expected to ask Mayor James J. Fiorentini Tuesday night to purchase “enough cameras to install at all our major parks and recreational area as well as other areas of the city,” according to agenda materials released Friday. Several years ago, cameras, monitored by police, were installed at the route 110 rest area near the Methuen city line when it was reopened by the city. Years earlier, it was closed off to vehicles in response to complaints of illicit activities in the park’s wooded area near the riverbank.
WHAV has requested further comment and details from McGonagle, chairman of the council’s Public Safety Committee. He was not immediately available.
Also on the council agenda, a public hearing is scheduled on a special permit application to expand the former Regan Ford auto dealership to, in part, include a new Subaru franchise. The application by Haverhill Realty LLC, Manchester, N.H., received a favorable recommendation by the Haverhill Planning Board, subject to filing for a notice of intent with the Conservation Commission, according to minutes of the planning board’s April 13 meeting. Under that notice, according to Conservation Department Enviornmental Health Technician Robert E. Moore Jr., “the Commission may be in position to manage a stormwater peer review,” conducted for a storm water management design’s compliance with local regulations.
In February, 2015, as WHAV reported, AutoFair Ford of Haverhill was granted a new Motor Vehicle I license by the Haverhill License Commission, for its purchase of the former Regan Ford, 501-503 Broadway.
As usual…reactionary government. Responding to events after something happens, instead of providing leadership in advance.
Councilors….if recent city crime statistics mean anything… taxpayers in Haverhill would get a much greater return on investment by installing cameras in city fire stations than in public parks.
Does anyone else find it amusing that the mayor is “outraged” and has stated “public safety” is his number one concern? He didn’t seem to concerned when 30 Haverhill EMTs conspired with each other to commit a felony and steal over $54,000.00 from taxpayers by signing documents that they took State mandated EMT refresher training when in fact they didn’t, potentially putting lives in danger, and the mayor allowed them to keep their jobs.
Cameras will not deter shootings…..only police presence will. Bicycle and beat work best.
I agree with Rich – half of these morons who ruin our parks and make them unsafe all look the same anyway – with the same garb on.
Arrest them – and take away their EBT cards when arrested – once those are taken away they won’t know what to do.