Posted by JeffSingleton - Sun, Aug 19, 2007, 4:55 A

Loitering

Loitering/police station:

I actually thought PCD’s first post, using comparisons between Northampton and Greenfield, was very well done! He touched on key issues including social class and its impact on development strategies that are very real and need to be considered seriously. He was not attacking teens or poor people or section 8 housing but he was saying that if you have too many people just loitering, drunk, doing drug deals, etc you reach a tipping point that undermines the social and economic life of the community.

On a more specific level, I thought that Mark1’s comments about some of the past policies of the town was very good. Allowing storefronts to be used for housing is a real loser, for example, and we should end it. It also seems to me that reducing the number of absentee landlords is important alhtough I am not sure what the community.town government can do about it

Clegg’s comments about abusive behavior next to one ot the parks are appropriate. And I think Blacksnake’s concerns about loitering are also very appropriate. At some point if too much of this stuff goes on you reach a tipping point. If there is not one already, there should be some sort of downtown organization including small business, government, the social service agencies and activist residents (there are quite a few of those) that deals with these issues. I hate to propose another bunch of meetings for the same people to go to but I think this would be helpfull,

Finally, I am very concerned with the proposed new police station being moved to the top of the hill in Turners. It seems to be a done deal. Maybe it is the right thing but I feel the police station committee essentially made that decision outside the context of development strategies for downtown Turners and with little if any real public discussion of the pros and cons. The police station committee will be making a presentation to the Finance Committee this Wednesday tentativel at 6:30.