Dear Mr. Norman, please stop resisting commercial development in Greenfield. Our city’s budget needs an infusion of money that can be acquired by broadening our tax base with new commercial business. This will help to pay for our new library, our new fire station, an anaerobic digester for our sludge disposal, and the maintenance and repair of our infrastructure, which includes our aging water mains and the ongoing need to make our sidewalks and all municipal buildings accessible to all.
My husband and I moved from Beverly to Greenfield 18 months ago to help a family member diagnosed with a serious health problem. When we moved in 2017, we were discouraged by two realities. One is the high property tax rate. Greenfield’s is among the highest in Massachusetts, and in at least one recent year, it was the highest. In 2017, Greenfield’s tax rate was $21.73 per $1,000. Beverly’s was $14.28 per $1,000. This means that in Beverly we were paying $1,173.51 less for our 3 bedroom split level ranch on a private 3/4-acre lot than we are now paying in Greenfield for our two-bedroom condo with no land.
The second reality we find discouraging is the lack of shopping options. Greenfield is an inconvenient place to live because residents must travel at least 30 minutes to find the variety of retail stores needed when shopping for affordable practical items. These circumstances can be especially problematic for the poor, for busy families and for the aging.
Like downtown Greenfield, Main Streets across America still struggle because years ago malls drew business away from the centers of towns. Unfortunately, there is no magic bullet to fill empty storefronts in a downtown. Now malls are suffering because of online shopping. But even with online shopping, brick and mortar stores will always be in demand because online shoppers will sometimes want to shop in-store, and some people will always need to and other people will always want to shop in-store. The modern brick and mortar store no longer looks like a mall or a traditional downtown. Now it looks like a big box, and it usually attracts smaller boxes that are sometimes contained in a long, strip-like structure.
Mr. Norman, you are a successful entrepreneur. According to your website, you are still actively involved with your enterprise and you continue to sell your books. I don’t know if you are being paid for your work here in Greenfield or if you are trying to protect your reputation or both, but I disagree with your tactics of digging up technicalities and using the legal system to cause delays. And now that I am a taxpayer in Greenfield, I don’t like that you are costing our city money in legal fees and lost revenue.
“Sprawl” became a dirty word in the 1950s when it was paired with “urban” by opponents of housing and business development that spread beyond city centers into rural areas. Sprawling towards available land is a response to demand for housing and commercial business. There is nothing wrong with sprawl per se because it is simply a matter of supply and demand. And Greenfield lacks a supply of retail business for practical shopping needs.
New retail stores in Greenfield will attract shoppers to spend money at those new businesses as well as at existing businesses. This in turn could encourage new industrial development. New businesses will also be contributing new tax dollars that will supplement our tax base, which funds the budget that will be paying for the looming expenses outlined in the first paragraph.
Mr. Norman, this letter is not an invitation to respond because you have already made all of your points more than once. Instead, this letter is a request to please stop resisting commercial development in Greenfield.
Joan Milnes lives in Greenfield and enjoys shopping in Athol, Hadley, Northampton, Holyoke and Leominster because, in her opinion, Greenfield is a retail desert.