There seems to be little disagreement as to the facts in the case:
When the new $73.9 million, 104,000-square-foot courthouse opens on Hope Street in Greenfield this October, there will be a serious parking crunch in that part of downtown — at least until a hoped-for parking garage is built around the corner, on Olive Street.
Parking will be scarce on the east end of Main Street because it always has been at a premium and because the courthouse expansion took out about 80 spaces behind the building on what had been the courthouse parking lot. Also, the plan calls for bringing to Hope Street the Housing and Juvenile courts, which for years have been in a separate leased space farther west on Main Street.
The court’s nearest neighbor, the Greenfield YMCA, is worried enough about interlopers that it is considering hiring a security guard for its parking lot adjacent to the courthouse.
What’s a community to do?
The proposed parking garage is the long-term answer.
The best-case scenario is that after three rejections, the town will finally win a state grant this summer to help build a proposed 358-car parking garage to alleviate the court crunch — and add extra downtown parking for patrons of the stores, restaurants and arts venues trying to make a living downtown.
Court administrators note that it’s not the state’s practice to provide parking for courthouses, and they are quick to add that planners felt the town would have built a garage by now. We aren’t sure what went wrong those other three tries. But this time, state Senate President Stanley Rosenberg has been helping to shepherd the town’s application through the state economic development agency, so we have good reason to hope the grant will come through this time, if not on time.
So that still puts a permanent solution, in all probability, at least two years out.
So in the meantime, what’s a community to do?
We weren’t impressed with Mayor William Martin’s response to that question this week. He said he didn’t see any medium-term solution, and weakly suggested “we may have to develop one-way streets,” as though courthouse patrons could put their cars in holding patterns like so many airliners circling a crowded airport. Presumably, creating one-way streets in the residential neighborhood near the courthouse will create more daylong on-street parking spaces. But how many? Where? What are the specifics behind the notion?
More discouraging, Martin said his Parking and Traffic Commission has been reviewing the situation for several months. Several months? And the best idea we have is one-way streets?
Well, there appear to be other leaders applying themselves to the problem, too, which is nice to see.
Harry Spence, the court administrator for the Mass. Trial Court, said the state will look into delaying the consolidation of the Juvenile Court and Housing Court into the new building as a way to reduce the demand for parking.
Register of Probate Court John Merrigan, who has been on the local advisory committee that guided planning for the courthouse, says he has been talking to area property owners who might be able to carve out some pockets of parking. He also said there has been some discussion among courthouse employees about scheduling court functions in some way to spread out the demand for parking.
More than one person has suggested the state establish some sort of shuttle service from the municipal lots behind Wilson’s department store to the courthouse — a solid idea if someone could find the money for a couple of years.
Some of these ideas, maybe all, and others, could head off the looming crunch. We’ve heard there may be a meeting brewing, hosted by Greenfield Savings Bank, where various stakeholders and local leaders will come together to discuss this common problem. We were happy to hear the news, and hope it works — not just because we are in the neighborhood and would also like to see any parking crunch eased, but also because we would love to demonstrate that the community of Greenfield comes together to find solutions when faced with problems. That’s how the town will win this case.