GREENFIELD — Those driving down Prospect Avenue, Hope Street or Prospect Street will see abundant green and red lawn signs lining the sidewalks, signaling support of either a “yes” or “no” vote on ballot Question 1 as the city’s biennial election draws near.
Residents will decide the fate of the 53 Hope St. parking lot on Tuesday, Nov. 4. A “yes” vote would reverse City Council’s July decision to allow Mayor Ginny Desorgher to sell the parking lot and seek a developer to construct housing or a mixed-use building at the site, while a “no” vote would uphold City Council’s July vote.
Despite differences of opinion on Question 1, the heated issue has not affected neighbor-to-neighbor relationships, residents say.
Prospect Avenue resident Ellen Lutz, who rents her home and displays a “No on Question 1” sign in front of her home, lives across the street and next to residents who display “Yes on Question 1” signs on their lawns. She said the neighborhood, as far as she’s seen, has been friendly, though she would ultimately find out on Halloween, when neighbors sit out on their porches, converse and give candy to children.
“There is differences of opinion — I don’t have enough interactions with my neighbors that I have noticed that there’s been any animosity,” Lutz said.
Lutz said that as a renter, she has seen the struggles to find affordable housing and supports a development on the site of the parking lot, with the hope that increasing the city’s housing stock would give renters a fighting chance of someday becoming homeowners. She added that she believes opinions on the ballot question are divided between those who rent and those who own their homes.
Another Prospect Avenue resident, Sandy Lenois, said she usually does not display lawn signs, but felt compelled to when the Hope Street conflict arose, as she does not believe a housing complex would be right for the neighborhood.
Lenois, too, said she has not noticed any tension in the neighborhood, explaining that her neighbors, regardless of their opinions on the ballot question, have been respectful and friendly with one another.
“People are entitled to their opinion. I don’t usually put a sign on my yard … but with the parking and the piping issues, I just feel like this is important,” Lenois said. “I am definitely for housing, affordable housing. … Voting yes on Question 1, it doesn’t mean that I’m against housing. It means that I just don’t want it in the parking lot.”
Other “Yes on Question 1” voters, such as Prospect Street resident Marc Odato, agree that residents are respectful of one another’s opinions. Odato added that he hopes to rescind the City Council vote because he believes development is being forced on the community and that residents are not being told its full extent.
“This used to be resident permit parking only,” Odato said, pointing to street parking on Prospect Street. “Now it’s resident parking only. … We were assured that once the parking garage was up, these parking spots would go away, and they didn’t go away. We were assured when the fire station went away that [the Hope Street lot] would go back to being a parking lot, and then that didn’t happen.”
Still, Odato exchanged pleasant words and niceties with his neighbor Judy Draper, a “No on Question 1” voter who lives across the street from residents with opposite views on Prospect Avenue.
Draper, discussing the Hope Street parking lot’s impact on her neighborhood, said regardless of her neighbors’ opinions, residents on her street have been as courteous and kind to one another as they always have.
“Just the other day, [my neighbor] finished a project in her house and invited us to come and see it. And so we always wave to her when she comes from work or goes to work, and we’re sitting on the porch, and that woman over there in that house, I mean, we’re … friends,” Draper said. “She’s in the process of looking for a new job, and she keeps us updated with her progress, and we’re always encouraging her. At first it was hard on my heart because I didn’t want them to be on the opposite side, but they are. But we’re all still people, and we’re all still neighbors and we’re all still friends.”
