I, too, love libraries and am thankful for the one we have in Greenfield. I agree that it could use some updates. But, at the risk of being called “thick skulled,” I do have a couple of big concerns.
My first concern is the exorbitant cost. Yes, getting the state grant (our taxes) is great, but asking for an additional $10 million in local tax dollars is just outrageous. Fundraising for it seems unrealistic and our taxes are already too high.
We have a lot of basic issues in our town that could be addressed with that money. Secondly, it seems this grant request was putting the cart before the horse with no solid plans in place beforehand and now pressure to do something.
Moving the fire station doesn’t seem practical and doesn’t make sense and neither do the choices of locations to move it to. There are too many unanswered questions and concerns to consider before going forward. Plans for upgrades could and should be much more conservative. Take the grant money and spend it on upgrades and stop dreaming of pie in the sky, or as Mayor Martin said about the parking garage, the Taj Mahal.
Patricia Wood
Greenfield