Holyoke City Councilors discuss vote on ‘Ezekiel’s Plan’ for safer streets

HOLYOKE, Mass. (WGGB/WSHM) - Two months after a shooting in Holyoke took the life of an infant. City councilors voted on Ezekiel’s Plan on Tuesday evening, an initiative to curb gun violence in the city, named after the shooting’s young victim.

The $1 million safety plan calls for the hiring of five additional police officers, bike patrols and a new city-wide surveillance camera system.

Holyoke city councilors took up Ezekiel’s Plan on Tuesday night, the plan named after the infant who was killed when a stray bullet from a gunfight struck a pregnant woman and killed her baby.

The $1 million public safety plan calls for a city-wide camera system connected to ShotSpotter. The addition of five police officers and a slew of community outreach initiatives.

The plan sparked debate amongst city councilors.

“Ezekiel’s Plan itself is good law enforcement sense,” expressed City Councilor Joseph McGiverin. “It’s well thought out and it’s geared to the safety of things that should be happening.”

“This is something simply we cannot afford on a whole bunch of levels,” explained City Councilor Kevin Jourdain. “We already have a 2 to 3-million-dollar structural budget deficit. If we were to approve this later tonight, dollar for dollar, this is going to get added to taxes.”

Holyoke Mayor Joshua Garcia told Western Mass News another concern he’s heard about the plan is the possibility of over policing and he disputes those claims.

“This plan doesn’t mean over-policing,” said Mayor Garcia. “It means building up the adequate capacity we need at the department so we can keep up with the responsibilities of that department.”

Garcia added that if Ezekiel’s plan is implemented, residents could feel the positive impacts in the city over the next year.

“We need to do more than just having just a reactionary position,” added Mayor Garcia. “Whether it’s on the board of health, police, our building department. We need to take on more forward-thinking effort.”

The city council did not reach the majority of votes needed to pass the $1 million budget needed to fund Ezekiel’s Plan but they did vote unanimously to reconsider the plan at a later date.