DA Gulluni calls state’s courthouse decision a ‘miss’ for Springfield
By
SPRINGFIELD – Calling the new Springfield courthouse pick “a miss,” Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulliuni is asking the state to redo the bid process, even though that would mean extending the time it will take for staff to move into a healthy building.
Gulluni has remained mum since the state announced on July 2 it selected a proposal from the Liberty Junction team to construct the courthouse at 125 Liberty St. from the 11 submitted. Thursday, the district attorney told The Republican he disagreed with the choice.
During the year-long bidding process, Gulluni said he stayed quiet because he didn’t feel he should be involved in the selection and didn’t want it perceived he was trying to influence the process. He was surprised when the choice was announced, saying it was not a proposal he expected to be a frontrunner.
But now he is joining other Springfield officials and courthouse employees, including Mayor Domenic J. Sarno, Clerk of Courts Laura Gentile, Registrar of Deeds Cheryl Coakley-Rivera and multiple city councilors, to protest the decision.
“This is the wrong choice for Springfield. It doesn’t make a lot of sense,” he said.
The proposed location is a 20-minute walk from his offices on the top four floors of Tower Square, while staff can walk to the existing Roderick Ireland Courthouse at 50 State St. in three. Many lawyers’ offices and other courthouse support services that have built up around the courthouse will now be far from the chosen site and existing restaurants and business in the downtown will suffer, in his view.
“Other than Union Station, this project is on the wrong side of the tracks, literately and figuratively,” he said, adding it is not in an area people think of as the downtown of the city.