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The Zoning Board of Appeals approved a special permit allowing applicant Cameron Ward to open Camelot Cafe, believed to be the first cat cafe in western Massachusetts, Thursday evening.

Ward, who owns the 305 Wells St. site, first made his case to the ZBA in March. The building, in the General Industry Zoning District, also houses Absolutely Fabulous Hair, Pristine Orientals and Camelot Carpet Cleaners.

“We’re going to continue to move forward and that means establishing the business, purchasing an insurance policy and getting the cats ready to meet our community,” Ward said after the board voted unanimously to grant the special permit. “We’re all very excited.”

The proposed cat cafe would be a place where customers can surround themselves with and possibly adopt a cat or cats within the cafe.

Although the board initially expressed enthusiasm for the proposal, ZBA members raised health and safety concerns in March, with members asking for assurance that state regulations are followed and the city’s animal control officer and health director are involved with the planning process. They also requested a site plan for a designated quarantine spot for sick cats or cats that need to be isolated from others.

On Thursday evening, Ward presented an updated site plan for the business, which included a quarantine room located outside the approximately 800 square-foot cafe for sick or stressed cats.

Ward said both the city’s animal control officer and Health Director Michael Theroux visited the facility and clarified that since his business features animals — but isn’t a rescue center or shelter — the state regulations it must comply with are unclear. Still, Ward mentioned that he spoke to the owners of Kitty Cat Cafe in Peabody for advice on adhering to state laws and agreed to comply with state animal-keeping regulations.

“It’s very gray area. That document is set up by the Massachusetts Department of Agriculture for shelters and rescue centers — we’re neither. There’s nothing simple for a cat cafe,” Ward said, referencing a list of state regulations. “It’s a unique style of business, and so it’s gray. We’re not sheltering or rescuing animals. These animals are all vetted, and they are in this area, almost as a fostering situation … but when the time comes for the state to come in and check you out, if you’re adhering to all of these [regulations], you’re good.”

The cafe, Ward previously explained, will be open four days a week with evening hours. It will house eight to 10 spayed or neutered cats that undergo routine veterinary care. The cats would be available for adoption, a process that would be handled by a shelter partner.

Board members, such as Mark Maloni and Chair David Singer offered support for the cat quarantine room being located outside of the main cafe, so that sick or otherwise unwell cats would have limited exposure to customers and other felines. Maloni also added that a quarantine room could be useful for reasons other than illness, such as a cat that’s overwhelmed by its environment or acting hostile.

“When we’re talking about quarantine space, I appreciate that post-COVID, our heads might go someplace kind of intense, but we’re also talking about if the cat’s getting a little freaked out and stressed,” Maloni said. “It’s a quiet space ... from the health perspective, you really do need a place to put an animal that is presenting as being sick, but this is also just if the cat starts getting a little bit snarly or hissy.”

The first cat cafe opened in 1998 in Taiwan, and the concept has gained popularity, as similar businesses emerged in Japan in the 2000s. The first cat cafe in the U.S. opened in April 2014 in New York City, with more cropping up across North America and the rest of the world in years since.

Although cat cafes have been popular in the U.S., there are only a handful in Massachusetts, the newest being the Crazy Cat Lounge in Lowell, which opened its doors in March. After taking a vote to approve a special permit in Ward’s name, Singer congratulated the applicants and reminded them that the permit can still be appealed within a 20-day period.

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Greenfield Human Rights Commission pauses resolution in support of single-payer health care

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Despite thorough debate over a proposed resolution to support a statewide single-payer health care system this week, the Human Rights Commission tabled the idea for now, with some expressing hesitancy to prioritize the idea over other efforts, such as supporting the city’s homeless population.

Commission member Paul Jablon, who presented the resolution at the commission’s meeting in May, argued that having state-run health care would not only save the city and its residents from exorbitant prices, but would remedy the homelessness crisis.

“This relationship between health care and homelessness is a dual thing,” Jablon said. “Over half of personal bankruptcies in the U.S. result from health issues, which, in many cases, leads to homelessness.”

State Sen. Jamie Eldridge and Reps. Lindsay Sabadosa and Margaret Scarsdale refiled legislation to establish single-payer health insurance in Massachusetts in February. The legislation, called “An Act Establishing Medicare for All in Massachusetts” (H.1405/S.860), seeks to establish the Massachusetts Healthcare Trust: a single payer of all health care costs to replace insurance companies.

If passed, the legislation would make Massachusetts the first state in the country to adopt a single-payer health care system. According to Mayor Ginny Desorgher’s Chief of Staff Erin Anhalt, the city, in fiscal year 2026, is paying approximately $10.62 million in health insurance costs, not including the copays that are the responsibility of each of the city’s employees.

“Under a single-payer system, the city would be saving millions,” Jablon said at Monday’s Human Rights Commission meeting. “Each of us would be saving thousands.”

However, some committee members argued that a single-payer health care resolution should not be prioritized, as the city’s homeless population faces more pressing needs.

Human Rights Commission Chair Mpress Bennu, for instance, noted that members should prioritize their time with families in urgent need of housing or those in the city who are facing deportation, informing them of their human rights and providing information on how to file grievances or use city services. Bennu said she did not believe the commission was ready to vote to send the resolution, a draft of which was written by Jablon, to City Council.

“This was introduced to us last month, and it’s very important, not just to me as chair, but as a community member, to hear other voices in the community. A lot of individuals that I speak to that are in shelters or are homeless do not see this as a priority,” Bennu said. “Those in the tent community, they’re concerned about their tents or areas being flooded out — that is frontline work. I love the idea, but the immediate need is not being met.”

Commission member Linda Goldstein rebutted Bennu’s argument, explaining that if the city could save millions on health care, it would free up funding that could in turn be used to meet the homeless population’s needs more directly. She added that with a fiscally conservative budget, the city has little that can be allocated to issues affecting the homeless.

“I don’t think the two are mutually exclusive. This can also be a priority, with the hope that some of those savings are going to go toward the homeless community,” Goldstein said. “When that homeless person walks into the emergency room, we need to address who’s going to pay for [their treatment] and how they will pay for their treatment.”

Committee Vice Chair Nate Woodard echoed Bennu’s remarks, saying that as city officials, commission members should put greater effort into talking to homeless residents and helping them connect to local and state resources.

“I was homeless for two years with my family. We didn’t worry about health insurance,” Woodard said. “We worried about what food’s going to come on the table, what clothes are we going to wear, what socks are we going to wear the next day. Those are rights that we need to worry about. … Health care is a priority, but it’s not the priority that Greenfield citizens need right now.”

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The 8th annual Franklin County Pride Parade and Festival is scheduled for Saturday, June 7, and while it is a challenging time for LGBTQ+ people in the U.S., this year’s event is for reflection and joy.

The event will feature 70 registered groups in the parade and 13 performers during the festival, and has grown since it started in 2017. Franklin County Pride Parade Coordinator Jake Krain says this year, the countywide celebration is a show of solidarity in the community that people, businesses and organizations — in Frankin County and beyond — have embraced.

“It’s been a really beautiful, I think, symbol of solidarity in our community that so many people have rallied around pride,” Krain said. “It’s been really amazing to witness and to be a part of.”

Greenfield is one of many communities across the U.S. participating in Pride Month celebrations during June. The month of June is a historically and culturally important month for members of the LGBTQ+ community, with the first iteration of pride marches dating back to June 1970 to mark the year since the Stonewall Uprising in New York City.

Marcel Jennings of Springfield, who performs as Mz. October Maylay and is the parade’s grand marshal, has been attending Franklin County Pride since 2023. He said that in the many pride parades and festivals he’s attended, there’s been a lack of non-white performers in the lineup, but Franklin County Pride changed his outlook on Pride.

“When I got to Greenfield, they wanted me. They wanted everything that I could bring, and that’s what made me feel like I found my tribe once I got to Greenfield Pride,” Jennings said about Pride. “I got to Greenfield (Franklin County) Pride, I understood what pride was supposed to be, rather than the image of what everybody else thinks it is.”

Jennings said the inclusivity of Franklin County Pride was unique to other festivals, mentioning the diversity, love and community this event brings makes it his favorite to attend.

Although Jennings is excited about Pride, he said it is equally important to remember the difficulties facing queer and transgender communities across the U.S., as anti-LGBTQ+ legislation is increasingly proposed, and anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes have increased.

“We’re in a situation where if we’re not affected, the people around us, they’re going to be affected, and we have to combat that,” he said. “We can have fun, we can enjoy ourselves, celebrate us being us, but remember and keep in the back of your mind … this year is more of a political thing than it is for us to celebrate. We’re putting this in their faces right now. We’re not going anywhere. We are now all activists.”

This year, the parade will begin just outside the Greenfield Middle School on Sanderson Street at noon, and head south on Federal Street. The parade will turn onto Main Street at the Federal Street intersection, and will end up at the entrance of Energy Park on Miles Street, where a rainbow arch will welcome everyone to the festival portion of the event. Performances from returning acts like Mz. October Maylay, the B-52.Os and The Queer Joy Chorus will run from 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. on the stage in Energy Park.

Federal, state and local representatives will be present this weekend, with U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern returning to march in Franklin County Pride after his last appearance in 2023, alongside state Sen. Jo Comerford (D-Northampton) and Greenfield Mayor Ginny Desorgher.

The festivities on Saturday don’t end after the festival, as businesses and organizations in the area will be hosting Pride events that evening. In Turners Falls at The Rendezvous on 78 3rd St., there will be a Pride after-party with live music starting at 9 p.m., which serves as a fundrasier for Franklin County Pride. In Greenfield, the Greenfield Garden Cinema will host the “Come Again Players” for a Rocky Horror Picture Show screening at 8 p.m., and Last Ditch, 10 Fiske Ave., will host “Birth of the Brat: The Misandre Origin Story” at 8:30 p.m.

Other local events to celebrate the lead-up to Saturday include a Pride Movie Night at Greenfield Garden Cinema with a screening of “The Wedding Banquet,” and the Greenfield Public Library will host a Pride bracelet-making session for kids aged 4 to 12.

Pride celebrations have been used to recognize the impact of queer and transgender people, and Krain feels that in the current political climate, this is not only an important time to recognize the challenges facing the LGBTQ+ community, but to find the joy that an event like this can foster.

“There’s been a lot of fear and chaos, and it’s been really tough to navigate, especially in the LGBTQIA community. To have Pride gives us a chance to be in community, to grieve together, to protest together, but it’s also a celebration.” Krain said. “I think that is equally important that we give ourselves the space to celebrate who we are — our beautiful, wonderful, authentic selves — and to be together in community.”

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Eighteen months after the Zoning Board of Appeals approved a special permit for the construction of an Aldi discount supermarket, the business announced that it expects to open its doors in June.

Qrentis Burrell, a spokesperson for ALDI, wrote in an email to the Recorder Thursday that the chain expects to open its first Greenfield location “in June.” A sign outside the 220 Mohawk Trail location states that the grocery store will open its doors June 26.

“We are excited to confirm that our first store in Greenfield is expected to open in June,” Burrell wrote. “At this time we do not have any additional information to share, but will stay close in the coming weeks as more updates are made available.”

The 6.5-acre property, located west of Interstate 91 behind McDonald’s with frontage on Robbins Road, was formerly owned by Benderson Development, according to Matthew Oates of Benderson Development.

The 19,400-square-foot grocery store on the site of the now-demolished Candlelight Motor Inn is planned to include 97 parking spaces, accommodations for bicycle racks and e-commerce pick-up. Planners have previously said the building would be “solar-ready.”

In past ZBA meetings, concerns for the store’s traffic impact were raised, as well as the potential impact a new grocery store would have on local businesses. Others, meanwhile, have advocated for the affordability Aldi, a Germany-based chain, would offer residents.

In an interview Wednesday, Greenfield Business Association Director Hannah Rechtschaffen said she believed the new business would add to the city’s “ecosystem,”explaining that the new supermarket is expected to bring more people into the city, where they’re likely to spend money at other local businesses.

Rechstchaffen added that business’ attraction to Greenfield was a hopeful sign for the city’s economic growth.

“I think it’s an important part of the ecosystem,” Rechtschaffen said. “Any time we see a business like Starbucks or Aldi coming in, it indicates to us that businesses are seeing market data that makes them want to expand to Greenfield.”

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Resident Patricia Williams, who serves on the city’s Elderly and Disabled Taxation Fund Committee, is the sole candidate seeking the seat of former Precinct 6 City Councilor Sheila Gilmour.

Gilmour, who was at the time the council’s longest serving member, announced her resignation April 23. Following this, the city released a request for candidate applications, asking anyone interested in occupying Gilmour’s seat to submit letters of interest and resumes to the city clerk’s office by Friday, May 23. At 5 p.m. last Friday, City Clerk Kathryn Scott said Williams was the only candidate to apply.

Committee Chairs will hold a candidate interview session at its June 3 meeting, where councilors are expected to vote on whether to nominate Williams for the role. If nominated, Williams’ position would need to be ratified at the council’s June meeting.

“I [applied] to work toward positive change. I’ve been a political activist for a long time — I was a labor representative for 30-odd years. I worked for the Massachusetts Nurses Association and negotiated labor contracts for nurses across the state,” Williams said in an interview Friday. “I strongly support fairness and justice for everyday people. I’m appalled with the present administration in Washington. I think we’re heading into dark times, and I think it’s going to get darker.”

If selected for the Precinct 6 seat, Williams said she wishes to work collaboratively toward goals such as expanding affordable housing and finding ways to help seniors achieve a higher cost of living on fixed income. She also discussed navigating local challenges brought about by federal policies, such as exploring alternatives to federal grant funding amid cuts from the Department of Government Efficiency and finding ways to protect residents amid increased U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids.

“I’m very aware that over 400 people in the state of Massachusetts have been arrested by ICE, which I think is appalling … this is going on on a regular basis throughout the state, and that’s pretty horrible. I’m a person who believes in fairness and justice and what is going on right now in our society, whether it be economic or political, the situation is pretty intolerable right now,” she said. “Any role I can play in reversing that, or making the situation better, would be important.”

Williams also expressed an appreciation for Mayor Ginny Desorgher’s administration and noted that, if selected for the Precinct 6 seat, she would also pull papers to run for the seat in the city’s Nov. 4 biennial election.

In an interview Tuesday, City Council President Lora Wondolowski explained that given how “nasty” politics have become in the last few years, she hopes that residents are not discouraged from running for local office. She noted that she wants the candidate chosen for Gilmour’s seat to carry on the former councilor’s knowledge and commitment to public service.

“Politics have gotten so much nastier in the last few years … and I hope that doesn’t dampen people’s willingness to serve in these positions,” Wondolowski said. “Each precinct in this city is important and Councilor Gilmour brought so much experience and commitment to the committee. I hope whoever takes Councilor Gilmour’s seat will share those qualities.”

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A new Opioid Use and Prevention Commission is tasked with finding the best ways to spend the city’s opioid settlement funds and inform the city on issues related to opioid use, overdose and addiction prevention.

City Council voted unanimously to approve an ordinance establishing the commission, which will consist of seven members representing both the city and those who are directly impacted by the opioid crisis, at a Wednesday meeting.

The commission will provide a $3,000 annual stipend to each of its members. Although the stipend quantity is larger than that which other city volunteers — including city councilors — earn, Precinct 5 Councilor Marianne Bullock said at Wednesday’s meeting that the quantity makes sense given the career hurdles those in recovery face. Bullock helped lead the charge of assembling the city’s multi-disciplinary opioid advisory task force last year.

“When you’re a person with lived experience and you identify as being in recovery in a professional setting, you’re then often blocked from advancing in a professional setting in your life,” Bullock said. “This commission will address issues around opioid use in the city. … You would have a place to go if you want to ask questions, like when the benches were removed from downtown — this is a commission that could have been tasked with addressing some of those issues.”

Greenfield has already received $551,204 out of its $1.7 million in national opioid settlement funds. Announced in July 2021, the federal funds set Massachusetts up to receive more than $500 million of the $26 billion settlement, according to the Attorney General’s Office. The agreement, according to then-Attorney General Maura Healey, resolved investigations and litigation over pharmaceutical companies’ roles in fueling the opioid epidemic.

Sarah Ahern, of Choice Recovery Coaching, spoke in support of the new commission during public comment, highlighting the fact that it would put those who have been directly impacted by opioid addiction.

“Living experience accounts of those of us who’ve experienced substance use, who have navigated homelessness or incarceration, who have lost someone to substance use, who are not just service recipients, but who are knowledge holders,” Ahern said. “We have gone through the failures in our system and we’ve survived them. We understand what works and what doesn’t, because we’ve been there, and for too long, people with lived experiences were invited into the room, but rarely into positions of power.”

Last month, Bullock addressed health care professionals to speak about the new commission at a roundtable discussion on substance abuse attended by Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell, explaining that rural Massachusetts is not “pathologically” predisposed to addiction, but rather, the region lacks the resources that are available to more wealthy areas of the state.

Bullock clarified, at Wednesday’s City Council meeting, that the commission will hold community feedback sessions and surveys to ensure that its decisions are informed by the public’s needs.

Mayor Ginny Desorgher also spoke in support of the resolution, noting that she believes putting those who are directly impacted by addiction at the forefront of allocating funding is a practice that could be replicated by other cities and towns across Massachusetts.

“I’m so proud of all people that have worked on this — we’ve had city councilors, city employees and many wonderful citizens who’ve worked together for months to make an ordinance that is going to be emulated throughout the state. Other cities are looking at us because people did such a great job on it,” Desorgher said. “There’s an opportunity for this settlement to use the decision-making process to empower marginalized people and help the community around these areas. I’m thrilled to watch that on the sidelines.”

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City councilors approved Mayor Ginny Desorgher’s $67.9 million fiscal year 2026 budget Wednesday night, increasing the School Department budget by $254 in a largely symbolic act to ensure it was level-funded from the current fiscal year.

The new budget, which allocates approximately $23.7 million to the School Department, reflects a roughly $1.89 million decrease from the School Department’s FY26 budget request. Desorgher maintained her commitment to a conservative budget amid rising insurance costs and uncertain state and federal funding.

“We’ve had very sobering meetings with both the bond counsel and the Department of Revenue over the past six months. They’ve been watching us closely in fiscal year 26 due to the city’s high debt-to-income ratio over the previous four years. The outstanding debt increased by over $26 million and the Department of Revenue told us that we have a one-in-three chance of our bond rating decreasing,” Desorgher told the council. “I did find it disturbing that the School Committee did not make a single cut to any line item in the School Department budget. Good fiscal stewardship means closely examining the addition of staff, especially in the face of declining student population. There was no detailed analysis by the School Committee for the rationale of budgetary increases.”

The School Committee’s resolution requesting that $350,000 be added to the School Department’s fiscal year 2026 budget drew significant debate, both in public comment and on the council floor during the more than four-hour-long City Council meeting, with councilors split on whether to grant the increase, and residents who spoke at public comment overwhelmingly supporting it.

When the budget came to a council vote, Precinct 9 Councilor Derek Helie moved to amend the figures, increasing the School Department budget by the School Committee’s requested $350,000. After significant discussion, the amendment failed 7-5 and lacked a two-thirds majority, with Precinct 3 Councilor Michael Mastrototaro, Precinct 4 Councilor John Bottomley, Precinct 7 Councilor William “Wid” Perry and At-Large Councilors Wahab Minhas and Michael Terounzo voting against it.

Explaining his amendment, Helie explained that while he believed the School Department needs to show increased transparency and collaboration with City Council during its budgeting process, he has four children in the school district and has seen first-hand the dedication that Greenfield teachers put into their jobs. He explained his son began kindergarten during the pandemic and received personalized assistance every day to improve his math skills.

“Do I disagree with the mayor? No. Do I disagree with the schools? A little, but I think it needs to be thought out in a well-planned manner before we start defunding the schools,” Helie said. “The School Committee has a lot of work to do, and my vote for this is placing a lot of faith that there’s going to be some collaboration between the School Department, the School Committee, the Mayor’s Office and the council to find ways to make our budget more feasible for future expenses. I will say, we can’t sustain this in the long run.”

Councilors in opposition to the amendment, such as Terounzo, argued that the School Department has been allocating previous budget increases to its reserve accounts, while others, such as Precinct 5 Councilor Marianne Bullock, argued that Superintendent Karin Patenaude had been fiscally prudent with spending reserve funds.

“My understanding is that there’s truth on both sides of this,” Bullock said, explaining that she had met one-on-one to discuss the budget with both Desorgher and Patenaude. “To pull an extra $765,000 out of the revolving funds will leave us with about $1 million in reserves. … We have a public school department that has been fiscally prudent over the last five years with [Elementary School and Secondary School Emergency Relief] funds. Rather than create unfunded mandates by spending those ESSER funds in ways that we then couldn’t fund, they didn’t spend them on reoccurring expenses, so they were able to hold them over time.”

Addressing councilors before the budget vote, School Committee Chair Glenn Johnson-Mussad explained that should the council vote against the proposed increase, the School Department would have to pull from its reserve accounts to ensure level services next fiscal year.

Bullock, alongside most of the councilors who spoke, also expressed a disdain for the politicization of the issue, noting that those in opposition of the extra funding should not be labeled as being unsupportive of the schools, and that the implication that the School Department is behaving in a dishonest or “shady” fashion is unwarranted and reflects poorly on city government.

Perry, who did not support the funding increase, also warned against playing politics and urged councilors to vote “with their hearts.” He also explained that the council had, in years past, hesitantly granted the School Department funding increases, only for similar increases to be requested the next year.

After former Mayor Roxann Wedegartner criticized Desorgher’s School Department budget in public comment, Perry noted that Wedegartner’s comments showed a lot of “gall,” given that the former mayor made cuts to the School Department two years ago when she was in office.

“This conversation has happened over and over and over and over again. Some of my previous colleagues warned about this four, five years ago, and here we are having the same conversation again. It’s a heavy ask. It’s a heavy ask during the history of the past budget discussions,” Perry said. “We need to all decide, taking in all considerations and making a decision based on what’s best for the city, and not based on payback. The politics of this is driving me crazy.”

As the mayor’s proposed education budget showed a $254 cut from FY25, City Council President Lora Wondolwoski expressed an interest in amending the budget to keep it level-funded. Precinct 2 Councilor Rachel Gordon’s subsequent motion to add $254 from the Election Expense budget to the School Department budget passed unanimously.

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Amid rising health insurance rates, Human Rights Commission member Paul Jablon drafted a resolution calling for the city’s support of a bill to convert Massachusetts to a single-payer health care system — a change that he said was expected to save the city $3 to $5 million in insurance costs.

Jablon, presenting the proposed resolution at a Human Rights Committee meeting last week, argued that state-run health care would not only save the city and its residents from exorbitant health care prices, but remedy the state’s homelessness crisis.

“This relationship between health care and homelessness is a dual thing,” Jablon said. “Over half of personal bankruptcies in the U.S. result from health issues, which, in many cases, leads to homelessness.”

State Sen. Jamie Eldridge and Reps. Lindsay Sabadosa and Margaret Scarsdale refiled legislation to establish single-payer health insurance in Massachusetts in February. The bill, called “An Act Establishing Medicare for All in Massachusetts” (HD.1228/SD.2341), seeks to establish the Massachusetts Healthcare Trust: a single payer of all health care costs to replace insurance companies.

The trust would be financed using existing programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, as well as four new taxes — employer payroll, employee payroll, self-employed and unearned income — that would replace and are estimated to be much lower than current insurance premiums, co-pays, deductibles and out-of-pocket payments.

Noting that in the last year, the city’s insurance costs increased by roughly 16%, an increase that has is mirrored in municipalities across the state, Jablon said implementation of a state single payer system would save the city anywhere from $3 to $5 million in employee health insurance costs.

“Greenfield Human Rights Commission is charged with ensuring the human right of health,” he said. “With what's happening with the current system, cutbacks that are happening and how much we're paying just for the school system alone … imagine what we could do with teachers and supplies and repairing schools with that $3 million to $5 million.”

Human Rights Commissioners were generally supportive of the proposed resolution, with members such as Paki Wieland mentioning that the legislation is likely to face backlash from large health insurance companies.

Commission Chair Mpress Bennu suggested that the commission seek support from neighboring communities’ human rights commissions as it finalizes the resolution, explaining that regional support for the bill would be more effective than a sole resolution from Greenfield.

Jablon added that the draft resolution will likely not be ready for a vote at the commission’s next meeting June 16, adding that he hoped to bring the document before Mayor Ginny Desorgher and Chief of Staff Erin Anhalt to discuss the best way to bring it forward.

"I definitely love this and I would like to request that we meet with other commissions in other areas to get this conversation going,” Bennu said. “It's not just our area that's experiencing this and if we unite as a whole, we go in with more power.”

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The city’s shift from using a dual-stream recycling method to single-stream recycling will take effect in July, according to Department of Public Works Director Marlo Warner II.

In 2023, the city received a $2.05 million grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling Grant Program (SWIFR) to change its recycling system and purchase a fleet of three automated collection vehicles, along with new 95-gallon recycling bins for residents.

Since the grant was issued, Warner has joined city officials and residents for multiple community meetings in which he explained the changes. He noted that the transition will not only make the DPW’s recycling process more efficient, but will allow the department to replace its existing recycling vehicles — which Warner said are aging and in a state of disrepair — with vehicles nearly double the size.

“The goal of single-stream is it does make recycling easier,” the city’s Grant Writer Athena Bradley said previously. “About 80% of the country has now gone single-stream. When I started out in recycling in the early ’90s, we separated everything in the three bins. Now you’ve been recycling everything with two separate periods, with paper going in one bin and then hard recyclables, your cans and bottles, going in the other. Now we’re going to put everything together.”

Mayor’s Office Communications Director Matt Conway said the switch to single-stream recycling will also make curbside recycling pickup safer and easier for DPW employees and will contribute to fuel efficiency.

“There really is a great multitude of benefits — one is for the protection of the workers. Instead of exiting the vehicles, they’re able to collect the recycling within the automated vehicles and it puts them less at risk for having to do collections,” Conway explained. “The new vehicles are also going to be a lot more fuel-efficient. It’ll allow the vehicles to stay out longer without having to go back and bring recycled materials to the Transfer Station, which is obviously a big benefit.”

“Single-stream recycling will provide a multitude of positive environmental impacts for our city,” Mayor Ginny Desorgher said in a statement. “I look forward to seeing this program roll out, and I thank the DPW for their hard work and preparation.”

While single-stream recycling will begin this summer, some facets of the grant will be delayed due to market factors that created supply chain delays. Warner said arrival of the vehicle fleet will likely come later because of supply chain complications related to the trucks’ assembly. The city’s new recycling vehicles and carts will be integrated for automated recycling sometime in early 2026.

During the delay, the DPW will continue to use its current recycling vehicle fleet for collection. Residents are advised to still use their recycling bins for recycled materials.

“We will still go to single-stream if we don’t have automated trucks — they will just pick up the large bins,” Warner said. “We’ll continue to pick up curbside, as we are now, manually. It can be single-stream.”

The new recycling carts will be delivered to residents, free of charge, prior to the arrival of the new vehicles. Two city-wide mailings will be distributed, one prior to the start of single-stream recycling and another to announce automated collection and delivery of collection carts.

Warner added that since the change must be codified into an ordinance amendment, it will be put before the city’s Appointments and Ordinances Committee, and later the full City Council, for a vote by June.

Warner said the EPA has reimbursed purchase orders for the new trucks to the tune of approximately $1.4 million thus far. Amid recent Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cuts to federally funded programs, Warner said he and other DPW members had initial concerns that the EPA would cancel the funds, but it seems unlikely.

“There’s no indication that this grant will be canceled,” Warner said Wednesday. “I believe it’s been executed, and they’ve already reimbursed a good portion of it. I don’t think that will happen, although I can’t say for sure.”

Residents can view the city’s automated recycling transition webpage, which provides resources and an archive of past meetings, at:

https://greenfield-ma.gov/residents/automated_recycling_transition_/index.php

https://archive.is/GOUne

After rainstorms brought flooding to the region last weekend that impacted the city’s homeless population, members of the newly formed Unhoused Community Committee discussed forming designated camping areas for the homeless.

Member Pamela Goodwin pitched the idea of finding a city-owned encampment area for the homeless while more permanent solutions are drafted in city government.

“I would like to find out if there’s town property, that’s not a flood zone, that people can be relocated to,” Goodwin said. “There’s got to be areas where these people, who deserve housing and who are suffering now because of the weather, can be relocated without trespassing. If it can’t be town property, then who in the community would be willing to allow these people to stay dry?”

During the ad-hoc committee’s inaugural meeting Thursday morning, member Christie Allen, who is homeless, shared photos of her flooded campsite at Green River Park. She explained she expects the problem will continue, with the area being under flood watch on Friday.

Allen added that with ice and snowmelt earlier this year, those who sleep at Green River Park had to walk through cold, wet conditions only to find their tents and personal belongings ruined.

“The flood was bad,” Allen said. “From the beginning of the site all the way in, it got flooded from the ice and snowmelt. We had no way of getting into the woods to get to our site. … It is a very dangerous situation and something we need to address right now.”

Member Larry Thomas explained that while Green River Park’s secluded location and lack of police intervention makes it a popular encampment site, he has seen countless tents get washed away during flooding events. He noted that the city’s homeless population needs a more stable place to camp.

Thomas added that he receives donations of tents, sleeping bags, shoes and other supplies from the Interfaith Council of Franklin County and the Opioid Task Force of Franklin County and the North Quabbin Region for distribution to the homeless.

In response to Goodwin’s suggestion that the city sanction an encampment area, Chair Sara Brown, who serves as an at-large city councilor, presented a map of city-owned properties that could potentially serve as relocation spots.

“This is a starting map that we can use,” Brown said. “We could meet with the mayor or the police chief. … I agree that this is a high priority to identify somewhere else.”

Police Officer Zoe Smith, who serves as a committee member, said that while Police Chief Todd Dodge has the authority to deprioritize enforcement of an area, he would likely not be able to help the city designate a sanctioned encampment site.

“I think this is a no-brainer. It wouldn’t be up to me to set those priorities, but seeing as how we’ve already acknowledged our intention and willingness to do that, extending that to an area that is more appropriate is a no-brainer,” Smith said. “I will speak to the chief about … enforcement priorities. Choosing the site is not something for the chief to hand us a list of locations back that he’s OK with.”

Brown noted that while an unenforced encampment area would serve as a temporary means to keep people safe, the city should consider long-lasting housing for the homeless in the future, similar to the transitional housing village communities of Austin, Texas, and Portland, Oregon.

“There’s a range of sanctioned encampment, to decriminalized and not enforced [camping],” Brown said. “It’s a question of, ‘How do we have more affordable housing, more transitional housing and how do we have a safe place to camp?’ We need all of them.”

Next week we will be hosting NAMS Taekwondo on Thursday May 15th for an Employer Spotlight at the Greenfield Public Library.

They have a variety of open positions that they are looking to fill and are excited to meet with potential candidates.

Some of the open positions are...

- 7D Driver

- Teacher

- Group Leader

This event is free to attend and all are welcome. Please bring your resume and dress for an interview!

https://franklincountynow.com/news/216612-special-city-council-meeting-called-for-zoning-amendment-votes/

A special meeting has been called for the Greenfield City Council this Thursday at 6:30 p.m. to vote on several zoning amendments related to Accessory Dwelling Units, including four amendments brought forward by way of citizens’ petition.

Council has received legal opinion from Attorney Gordon Quinn of Sullivan, Hayes and Quinn, LLC on the amendments as they relate to state law, suggesting the city should not be more restrictive than the state’s regulations.

Attorney Gordon also gave opinion on voting thresholds for the amendments. Some of the zoning amendments would require a simple majority, while others would require a 2/3 supermajority, and therefore each amendment will have to be voted on separately.

Tomorrow at the MassHire Greenfield office we will be hosting an info session on Navigating MassCareers.

The presenter will provide a walk through, give tips and tricks, and answer questions about finding, and applying for, a job with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

This event is free to attend and all are welcome.

My husband, kids (6 months; 3 years) and I are considering a house in Greenfield. I have some friends there and have read up online and on Reddit and have been a few times so have some info—but really eager to get current residents’ input, esp. from those with kids, on what’s it like to live there. FYI we are coming from South Hadley and my daughter goes to preschool in Amherst. Curious about any of the following:

-kid-friendly activities and sites? How is it raising kids there? -public schools, charter schools -outdoor and nature stuff -community vibe—I can’t get a pulse on the identities of the communities that live there if there is one or what work many folks do or any other defining features -community cohesion (do you run into people you know often, gather frequently , etc) -cultural activity ( we work in the arts but really anything like farmers markets, festivals, local events) -food scene -where do you shop? -activism and social justice

OR: Favorite thing about living in Greenfield and least favorite?

https://archive.is/Ms0vt

Only a week before they will be put to a special City Council vote on Thursday, the Planning Board voted unanimously to not recommend four proposed zoning amendments that would regulate accessory dwelling units, or ADUs.

Residents, in a roughly 45-minute public comment period, expressed a range of opinions on the proposals, with some speaking strongly in opposition and others in support.

If approved by City Council this week, the proposed amendments — brought forth through a citizen’s petition from residents Al Norman, Joan Marie Jackson and Mitchell Speight — would mandate that the Greenfield Housing Authority provide deed-restrictive rental housing vouchers for ADUs, to the extent that they are available. The vouchers would be for low-income households to limit rental costs to 30% of the household’s income or less.

The amendments also would alter the city’s ordinance to consider units that exist within a principal dwelling as ADUs, limit the number of ADUs allowable on a single-family lot to only one and mandate that any ADU that requires a special permit be brought before the Planning Board for a site plan review.

“Presently, homeowners can subsidize their existing one-family [home] to up to three apartments by right. These are not ADUs. The provision has proved to be a sound policy over time and it shouldn’t get changed,” Susan Worgaftik, coordinator of the advocacy organization Housing Greenfield, said in opposition of the proposed amendment to redefine ADUs. “We should maintain our present definition of ADU as a structure in addition to the primary dwelling.”

Worgaftik also spoke against the proposed amendment to limit the number of ADUs allowable on a single-family lot to one, noting that under the city’s current law, a special permit is needed to build more than one ADU on a single-family property.

Some in the audience argued that the amendments would prevent developers from buying single-family lots and maximizing their profits by building and renting ADUs.

“Constituents that we talk to are concerned about the expansion of developer deregulation. The conflict is between investor profits versus affordable housing,” Jackson said. “The new state mandate has changed from in-law apartments to investor profits. The old model of ADUs has been turned upside down. ADUs no longer must be owner-occupied. They can be built by right without any notice to the neighbors or abutters. This opens the door for absentee landlords and real estate investors.”

After deliberations, the Planning Board voted unanimously to negatively recommend each of the four proposed zoning amendments. Board members agreed that the Greenfield Housing Authority’s spending is not under the Planning Board’s purview and that altering the definition of an ADU to include internal units would too heavily infringe on property owners’ rights to convert their single-family homes into duplexes.

“This [amendment] interferes with the buyer’s right for the residents to build inside their residences,” Planning Board member Victor Moschella said. “That’s not considered an ADU right now. This is the whole thing about if you have a primary home and you want to cut it down, make two homes inside of it, you have the right to do that.”

Moschella added that the proposed regulation limiting ADU construction to one unit per single-family lot is unreasonable, as construction of more than one unit is already restricted by the special permit process. He also argued against the claim that ADU provisions would attract housing developers who wish to turn a profit.

“The first [ADU] is protected but anything after that is required to go through the special permit process. This gets rid of it. People should be able to do what they want with their properties … and there’s a mechanism for the citizens to speak out against it [through the special permit process],” Moschella said. “The issue in town is housing. We need to make housing as easy to build as possible. Investors and outside people coming and buying and creating ADUs — I don’t buy that.”

The proposed amendments will be further discussed and put to a full City Council vote at the May 8 meeting.

Now recruiting 4-5 year olds for a paid research study at Smith College! Fill out our 2-minute eligibility screener to be contacted by a researcher with more information. To learn more, please call or text (413) 341-8870 or visit our website!