When we last left off with the Charter Review Committee, the plan for their Nov. 23 meeting was to tackle Articles 6 and 7 of the Greenfield City Charter. However, they only got through part of Article 6, which lays out the structure, powers, and responsibilities of the city’s various departments, boards, and commissions. The…
All posts tagged Otis Wheeler
The City Council partially reverses itself on Accessory Dwelling Units.
Also on the agenda for the November 18 City Council meeting was yet another revisitation of Greenfield’s Accessory Dwelling Unit zoning ordinance. What’s the issue? For the full backstory of Accessory Dwelling Units in Greenfield and the ongoing discussion of them around town, check out this post. If you just need the tl;dr1 version, an…
The Ways & Means Committee votes for a single tax rate for FY21.
About half of last night’s meeting of the Ways & Means Committee of the City Council was devoted to discussion of the the city’s tax classification for the coming year. Every year, the City Council needs to vote on what the property tax rate for the city will be—as well as how it will be…
Previously, on Greenfield: Accessory Dwelling Units
I have felt for a while that news coverage of politics and current events would benefit from the “Previously on…” segments that happen at the beginning of every episode of serialized TV shows.1 I think this is especially true at the local level, where so much of the context for any particular issue can get…
Should Greenfield landlords be required to have vacant rental units inspected?
A significant portion of the Appointments & Ordinance Committee’s November 11 meeting was devoted to a proposed ordinance that would require vacated rental units in Greenfield to be inspected by the Board of Health before they can be rented out to a new tenant. Under the proposed ordinance, if the BOH finds the unit to…
It seems like millenials and seniors are looking for mostly the same stuff in downtown Greenfield.
Following the publication in The Atlantic last week of Alana Semuels’ article about Greenfield and its fight against big-box retail, I have a bunch of interesting conversations and debates on the topic. I shared a Facebook post by Precinct 7 Councilor Otis Wheeler responding to the article. According to Otis, What if the prominence of…