Greenfield Pre-Election Status Check
I posted last week on the upcoming April 17 election for Town Council here in Greenfield. Though it's still a couple of weeks away, it seems pretty quiet. There are, after all, six candidates vying for two seats. The April 17 election is a preliminary election and will narrow those six candidates down to four. So far, I think Penny Rickets and Darlene Fleming are doing the best job in getting their names out.
Rickets had a "My Turn" column in this morning's Recorder where she talked about moving back to Greenfield after fleeing to Florida. Having made the Florida to Western Mass. move myself, I was interested to hear that she thought that Florida had too much sprawl. I certainly agree. However, that experience doesn't seem to change her opinion on growth in Greenfield. She is still unabashedly pro-Big Box.
Fleming is, too. They are both key players in the Citizens for Growth movement in Greenfield, which was successful in electing a pro-growth Council and passing a zoning change for the French King Highway, paving the way for a Big Box store there. Fleming had a story in The Recorder the other day, saying she was for the creation of an office park targeting biotechnology. I'm not sure I got the specifics of her idea, but that kind of economic development seems much more important for Greenfield's long-term health than a Wal-Mart, in my opinion.
Also in the news, Rickets goes after Marc Odato for missing School Committee meetings. I don't remember her being as vocal about Councilor Chris Joseph's absenses, but then again, she wasn't running for office then. Joseph's recent contrarian under-ride proposal sounds like something Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby would come up with. Or maybe he's just channeling his inner Grover Norquist. And, over in Ricket's home field of Penrick.com, Rickets and Fleming are having a love-in over how much they have Greenfield's best interests at heart in their run for Council.
Meanwhile, Mayor Christine Forgey makes light of megalomania in her Recorder five-minute interview this morning. When asked what she would do if she were queen of the world, she responded, "You mean I'm not?" And her Economic Development czar, Marlene Marrocco, got a big write-up in Business West where she said, "A few years ago, Greenfield was like a mound of clay with no real shape to it. The shape is starting to come together, but we have a ways to go." That didn't make Greenfield Energy Park Director Sandy Thomas too happy and she wrote in a Recorder My Turn of her own over the weekend, disputing Marrocco's claim that Greenfield was a formless void until she came along.
Bring on the lawn signs, it's election season.
Rickets had a "My Turn" column in this morning's Recorder where she talked about moving back to Greenfield after fleeing to Florida. Having made the Florida to Western Mass. move myself, I was interested to hear that she thought that Florida had too much sprawl. I certainly agree. However, that experience doesn't seem to change her opinion on growth in Greenfield. She is still unabashedly pro-Big Box.
Fleming is, too. They are both key players in the Citizens for Growth movement in Greenfield, which was successful in electing a pro-growth Council and passing a zoning change for the French King Highway, paving the way for a Big Box store there. Fleming had a story in The Recorder the other day, saying she was for the creation of an office park targeting biotechnology. I'm not sure I got the specifics of her idea, but that kind of economic development seems much more important for Greenfield's long-term health than a Wal-Mart, in my opinion.
Also in the news, Rickets goes after Marc Odato for missing School Committee meetings. I don't remember her being as vocal about Councilor Chris Joseph's absenses, but then again, she wasn't running for office then. Joseph's recent contrarian under-ride proposal sounds like something Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby would come up with. Or maybe he's just channeling his inner Grover Norquist. And, over in Ricket's home field of Penrick.com, Rickets and Fleming are having a love-in over how much they have Greenfield's best interests at heart in their run for Council.
Meanwhile, Mayor Christine Forgey makes light of megalomania in her Recorder five-minute interview this morning. When asked what she would do if she were queen of the world, she responded, "You mean I'm not?" And her Economic Development czar, Marlene Marrocco, got a big write-up in Business West where she said, "A few years ago, Greenfield was like a mound of clay with no real shape to it. The shape is starting to come together, but we have a ways to go." That didn't make Greenfield Energy Park Director Sandy Thomas too happy and she wrote in a Recorder My Turn of her own over the weekend, disputing Marrocco's claim that Greenfield was a formless void until she came along.
Bring on the lawn signs, it's election season.