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Showing posts from December, 2023

Enfield Can’t Outsource Its Conscience

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  Community Conversation forum May 7 2025 Sometimes you have to explain yourself. At the Community Conversations last night, I was slightly angry when speaking about the waste outsourcing issue—especially when I demanded the release of the “damn” consulting report. That was rude of me, and I felt bad afterward. Still, my anger over outsourcing comes from years of experience. I don’t fault the Council Republicans or Mayor Ken Nelson, who received my quiet anger, for investigating outsourcing. It’s the government's job to explore options. Many towns outsource; many reject it. But if this town thinks residents will approve it in a referendum, they’re not reading the room. Anyone who’s worked for a sizable company likely knows someone affected by outsourcing. Few speak well of it. As a former tech reporter at Computerworld, I covered IT management, which often meant reporting on outsourcing. Companies rarely wanted to talk. My job was to find the IT workers losing their jobs and repor...

PZC approves 70-unit housing development in Thompsonville

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  Screen shot from PZC meeting. Site plan of Impact Residential project. Despite parking concerns, the Planning and Zoning Commission approved a 70-unit housing development on the former Strand Theater site. The Commission voted 5-2 Thursday. The action allows Impact Residential to proceed with its project, which includes 56 units of affordable housing. The project met opposition due to fears of increased on-street parking, with opponents including Mayor Ken Nelson. At its Dec. 4 meeting, the Council rejected a grant application that would have assisted developer Impact Residential. Nelson suggested allocating the grant to a "parking structure" instead. "We have to address the parking, which is already a problem, and we just can't make it worse," Nelson said at the earlier meeting. But at Thursday's meeting, PZC Chair Lewis Fiore, highlighting the area's designation as a Transit Oriented District (TOD), argued that rejecting the project would undermine t...

Rebuilding Thompsonville will take housing and new ideas

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We're on the cusp of doing something extraordinary with Thompsonville, but we're also steps away from making some bad decisions.  Thompsonville needs help. It has a high percentage of absentee owner buildings. When I graduated from Enfield High School in 1972, some properties that were in bad shape then are still in bad shape. Thompsonville needs investment and housing conversions to condos. We need more owner-occupied. The train station and improved bus transit will help a lot.  The town has already invested considerable effort in revitalizing Thompsonville.  Higgins Park, and their busy schedule of seasonal events, may become a traffic generator for new retail in Thompsonville. The Freshwater Pond improvements are stunning. I walk my dog weekly in the area, and she loves it, and so do I. It's beautiful.  However, these efforts to transform Thompsonville into one of the city's most attractive neighborhoods and an investment hub could easily unravel. Achieving a posi...