Brief thoughts on some of the events making news
from around Franklin County and the North Quabbin area:
As we head toward Valentine’s Day, it looks like Greenfield will soon be installing surveillance cameras on the Town Common to protect against vandals, especially at Christmas time. A town councilor has drafted a resolution calling for security cameras after the creche, put up annually by the Keep Christ in Christmas Committee, was vandalized for at least the third year in a row.
The council’s Community Relations and Education Committee voted unanimously to recommend the resolution, written by Precinct 4 Councilor Wanda Muzyka-Pyfrom.
While no big fan of surveillance in general, we have to grudgingly agree with Muzyka-Pyfrom who said, “We are long overdue for cameras on the common.”
The mayor and council have yet to figure the costs and give final approval.
While the cameras may deter future creche vandalism or help capture vandals, we would also agree with Councilor Ashli Sempel who said the cameras should be installed for the benefit of all the organizations and people who use the common all year long.
The new, 104,000-square-foot Franklin County Courthouse on Hope Street in Greenfield, now officially dubbed the Franklin County Justice Center, opens today.
Three years and $66 million in the making, the new building replaced a venerable but outdated 20th-century courthouse that no longer served the needs of 21st-century Franklin County.
The return downtown of courthouse workers and clients, with what Clerk of Probate John Merrigan estimated as an $8 million payroll, is being hailed as a potential economic boon for the downtown, despite a parking crunch the centralized courthouse will create until a new parking garage is built off Olive Street in the next three or so years.
The modern courthouse has been designed to accommodate a restorative justice system, but may well also provide a little restorative business to downtown merchants who have missed lots of their daytime customers while the court operations were housed for three years on Munson Street.
We haven’t had that much snow this winter, but that has never stopped the Greenfield Winter Carnival from providing lots of cold weather celebration for Greenfield area residents.
The three-day carnival did just that this weekend in its 95th year, with popular features like the Parade of Lights, fireworks, ice sculptures, sledding, snowman building, K-9 keg pull, cardboard sled races, music and other entertainments indoors and out.
It’s wonderful to see that the town’s Parks and Recreation Department can pull off such a great mid-winter diversion each year.