Lou Casagrande, surrounded by family, friends and the Board of Selectmen, received a citation for his service to the town.
Reminder Publishing photo by Sarah Heinonen
LUDLOW — Residents wanting to use Veteran’s Memorial Park engaged in a contentious conversation with the Board of Selectmen at its July 9 meeting. The group had staged the Color Ludlow with Love event at the park in 2023 and sought to do so again on Sept. 14.
The controversy stemmed from a policy that the board is drafting on public use of Whitney and Cady Park, also known as West Street Park. No other parks had been included in the drafted rules.
Kelly De Gobbi and other members of the group asked why approval of their event had been tabled more than once as the policy was worked out. Board of Selectmen Chair Derek DeBarge assured them that they were not being targeted. He later explained to Reminder Publishing that an incident at the park during last summer’s See You at the Library event. Brave Books, a conservative organization founded by actor Kirk Cameron that “celebrates a return to American, constitutional and biblical values” requested use of the park and said the event would not be religious in nature. Despite this, an unauthorized person began “preaching” from the gazebo, DeBarge said. Because the town owns the park, he said this was a violation of the separation of church and state.
The incident “ruined this for everyone,” DeBarge told De Gobbi. Moving forward, the space would only be used for town-sanctioned events. Board of Selectmen member Manuel Silva described the park and gazebo as “sacred” because it is a memorial to veterans. Agreeing, Board of Selectmen member Antonio Goncalves told the group, “There’s a million organizations that nobody would want to see in that space.”
The group continued to advocate for use of the park, saying the other parks and fields suggested are used for soccer and football on Saturdays in the fall.
At one point, a member of the group said not allowing certain spaces to be used for free speech was un-American. DeBarge told her, “We are not stopping your free speech,” and said the town is allowed to designate which of its properties are for public use.
Board of Selectmen member James Gennette disagreed. He said there is no accepted policy on the books prohibiting the park’s use.
“But we don’t have one that allows it either,” Goncalves responded. He said there had to be rules in place. “You don’t just come onto town property and have a party without me telling you what the rules are,” he said.
Silva acknowledged that the “Community Parks Use” policy should encompass more than two of the town’s parks.
After nearly an hour of debate between the selectmen and the residents, Silva and Goncalves said they were not ready to vote, and the policy was tabled once more. Gennette and Silva then voted to allow the group to use the park this year. DeBarge voted against the measure and Goncalves abstained. With the fifth member, William Rosenblum, absent, the vote passed.
Goncalves later said it had been “a nice, spirited debate,” while DeBarge expressed frustration that the board had not been more prepared for the meeting and a vote.
ARPA
With the clock winding down, the Board of Selectmen debated what to do with its remaining $550,000 of federal American Rescue Plan Act funding. Town Administrator Marc Strange explained that the town needed to have the money committed to a vendor by Dec. 31 or it would be rescinded.
Strange said that the town had “lucked out” that its ARPA-funded projects had come in at or under budget. When asked, he said there was not enough time between then and the deadline to use the money for full engineering designs of either Veteran’s Memorial Park or Whitney Park. Silva asked if small projects at Whitney Park could be tackled using the funding. Strange said the park needs bleachers, but Gennette said he would not want to complete work and tear it up when the park’s designs are finalized.
“The buildings at Whitney Park are decrepit. The tennis courts at the high school are terrible,” said DeBarge, also noting that the library needs “a retrofit.”
Gennette said the money should go to the Hubbard Memorial Library, which saw 8 inches of water flow into the building on June 14. “They’re underwater, literally,” he said. Linda Collette, chair of the Library Board of Trustees, said $11,000 in books were damaged and had to be thrown away. Tarps are covering other books for protection and the lower level of the building is off limits to patrons, she said.
A list of projects will be voted on at the July 23 Board of Selectmen meeting.
Public hearing
Rico Federico came before the board for a public hearing on reopening Sewall Street Auto Center, 330 Sewall St., which was located at the site five years ago. Other businesses have operated there in the intervening years.
Federico said the business would be strictly devoted to detailing and selling up to five vehicles at a time. Two abutters addressed the board, stating that Federico had been selling vehicles without a license. They also made complaints that he parked cars on lawns and was “running a junk yard” when previously in business. One of the neighbors said Federico banged on cars at all hours of the night and painted them, resulting in the aerosolized paint blowing into his bedroom.
Goncalves told the residents that noise violations should be reported to the Police Department and the Planning Board and the building inspector should be made aware of unauthorized activities at the site. Gennette suggested the neighbors “communicate” with Federico directly. The business license will be voted on at the July 23 meeting, once all abutters have been properly notified.
Lou Casagrande
Lou Casagrande was honored by the Board of Selectmen for his lifetime of service in the town. DeBarge read aloud some of Casagrande’s achievements and the ways he has contributed to the town, including serving in the military in the 1950s, earning a master’s degree in education and being a founding member of the Basketball Hall of Fame.
Casagrande, who was named the grand marshal of the town’s 250th Commemoration Parade in June, worked as a guidance counselor at Ludlow High School for most of his career, but is best known by many in town as “coach.”
Surrounded by his family, Casagrande listened with tears in his eyes as people spoke about how he had touched their lives. He coached baseball, taught catechism and was a Parks Commissioner throughout the years.
Casagrande choked up, but said he was “honored and humbled. I have a been a good and proud resident of Ludlow for 92 and a half years.”
DeBarge presented Casagrande with a citation and said, “We’re very proud to have you as our grand marshal, very proud to have you as the embodiment of Ludlow.”
