GREENFIELD — The city has received $66,018 from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s Shared Streets and Spaces Grant Program that will help it support an outdoor dining plan, creating places where diners can socially distance while enjoying their favorite eateries.
“I was thrilled to hear Greenfield has been awarded this grant, and these funds will help support the actions we’ve taken so far to support downtown business and restaurants,” Mayor Roxann Wedegartner said. “We will be able to expand on these efforts with this funding, increase pedestrian access and work toward making downtown Greenfield even more welcoming.”
Similarly, just last week the Greenfield Business Association (GBA) also announced that it received $10,000 through MassDevelopment’s Commonwealth Places COVID-19 Response Round: Resurgent Places grant program to help businesses buy equipment needed to reopen outside. The two grants strengthen local businesses’ abilities to adapt to the COVID-19 restrictions and were sought and secured by Greenfield Community and Economic Development Director MJ Adams and GBA Coordinator Rachel Roberts.
Adams said the city worked with Hope & Olive as part of its “pilot project” by getting input about necessary equipment and other issues. Greenfield also worked with Green Fields Market, discussing licensing for outdoor dining areas with gates, which the market has on Sears Avenue. Besides those two eateries, the city is working with The Hangar, Brad’s Place, Ice Cream Alley, Main Street Bar & Grille and Hawks & Reed Performing Arts Center.
Some of the equipment the grants will help provide include moveable planters, like the ones at Hope & Olive, patio fencing, temporary accessible ramps and temporary speed bumps, Adams said. All of the outdoor equipment restaurants are able to use thanks to the Shared Streets and Spaces grant is owned by the city, which will store all of it this winter and bring it back out again in the spring.
“Outdoor dining has been an economic lifeline for some of our restaurants,” Adams said. “Greenfield can partner with and support our creative and resilient businesses and align with the community’s goal for a vibrant, lively downtown. The COVID-19 pause is just that — a pause for safety as Greenfield invests in its future.”
Reach Anita Fritz at 413-772-9591 or afritz@recorder.com.