Visitors recognize region’s potential

Date: 5/4/2021

There are few things as effective like the blinders we put upon ourselves.

Most of us do it every day. We see what we want to see and thanks to human nature many of our reactions are negative.

Consider for a moment, when you drive through your own town, what to do you see? Do you notice the nice homes, good schools, interesting shops and parks? Or do you see what you think is wrong with your community?

Is the travel mug in your car’s cupholder half full or half empty?

I was on a tour of the Silverbrick Lofts in downtown Springfield a couple of years ago and I was impressed with those apartments. I was told that one unit, which had an entrance to the street and two levels would run for about $10,000 in Brooklyn.

Holy cow.

I’ve had friends from New York City marvel at the housing stock in Springfield and neighboring communities.

People from outside our towns see something we don’t see: our region’s potential.  

Take Holyoke for example. Locals might grouse about the number of under-used or vacant factory buildings from the city’s manufacturing heyday. Outsiders see the huge development potential and the attractions of water power.

We’ve seen the ripple effect with entrepreneurs coming into a town, Easthampton for instance, and see how the available building stock has many opportunities. Now people look to the next town over, in this case, Holyoke, and see the potential there.

The pandemic has taught us one thing: many jobs can be done remotely and at home. So why live in a community with a high cost of living when you can tele-commute and live some place where your paycheck has more buying power?

Can’t telecommute? Well, that’s where a viable commuter rail system linking the east to the west comes in.

This region has so many advantages and we should recognize them ourselves.

I was thinking about this subject last Friday when I was having a cigar and a beverage at Smokey Joe’s in Springfield with some friends. Every week we solve the world’s problems in our conversations.

If the world would only listen to us.

A man and woman sat down next to us and started asking some questions about Springfield and the region.

The man was from Western Massachusetts but has worked in China for years. The woman was Chinese and was from Beijing. Both were businesspeople and were looking at local development potential.

What they asked were sensible questions about a variety of subjects. What they said came as sort of a surprise: they liked what they saw here and were quite enthusiastic about Springfield.

They liked the downtown, liked the increasing housing opportunities there and liked the proximity of Union Station.

And they thought Smokey Joe’s was a singular institution, which it is.

It was refreshing to speak to people who didn’t want to kick the crap out of Springfield or Western Massachusetts with the same tired talking points that are standard on social media.

As someone who has lived here for many years, bought a house and pays taxes and as someone who covers Springfield, I get it. We have many challenges that we can’t deny.

We also have much opportunity, as do the other communities we cover.

They said they would come back to Smokey Joe’s and I hope this is true. I would be very interested in learning if they have some ideas for our region.

In the meantime, instead of looking at what is wrong with our area, how about looking at what is right? I know, that sounds a bit naïve, but occasionally I can’t help be positive. Forgive me.