We need to stop these hauntings
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By G. Michael Dobbs
Managing Editor
A while back I wrote how I've been seeing "ghosts" ...not the ones that turn up on "Ghost Hunters," but another kind.
I've been working this week on completing a book collecting postcards from Springfield. It's been a fun but demanding project and I've enjoyed it.
You see a lot of ghosts images of places that are no longer there.
Working on such a book illustrates just how short a lifespan the landmarks in our lives can have.
I always find it intriguing that Americans love to go to Europe to see buildings and institutions that have lasted centuries, but we routinely demolish our past in the name of profit and progress.
Then we complain mightily how we lack the traditions and commonalities that can unite us as a city or region or nation.
Duh!
Now some things must come down. The York Street Jail is an example. Some things didn't need to come down. St. Joseph's Church in the South End of Springfield is one of those.
Jim Boone, a knowledgeable local historian, lent me a postcard showing a Victorian mansion that was owned and demolished by MacDuffie School in the 1980s. The Springfield Preservation Trust opposed the demolition but the Massachusetts Supreme Court ultimately ruled against them.
What a waste.
Although the Urban Land Institute correctly noted the richness of the architecture and housing stock in Springfield, the postcards I've seen show what is missing.
We can't afford to lose more of our history, more of our character in this area. The city of Springfield has to make some serious choices about the renovation of the former Court Square Theater block and the preservation and future use of the Old First Church. These decisions will be among the most critical Mayor Domenic Sarno will be making this year as they will have an impact for years to come.
Making the former McKnight home into the Mason Square Library would not only preserve a historic building, but also put a much-needed library back into a community.
And with the ongoing consolidations in the Diocese, any number of communities could be affected by those decisions. Considering what happened with St. Joseph's, I wonder how the Diocese will handle other church closings and how those buildings and properties will be used.
I look over in Chicopee and I see how the Bissonnette Administration is trying to find a good re-use of the old library building. Downtown Chicopee may be on the verge of an urban revival, if the condominium conversion of part of the Cabotville Industrial Park actually becomes a reality. More downtown residents could pump more dollars into a downtown retail and service economy.
But that revival isn't certain.
People like to think that today historians and preservationists have taught the general public the importance of keeping and re-using our older buildings. I think that is one of those lessons that must be taught and re-taught.
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I was greatly disturbed that not every mayor, every town manager and every Board of Selectmen did not participate at the recent summit on homelessness in the Pioneer Valley.
Now granted, one can't expect everyone to actually be at the event, but what bothered me was that several people expressed concerns to me that some local government leaders don't believe they have a homelessness problem in their community so why bother to participate?
It's Holyoke's problem. It's Springfield's problem. If some of our residents lose their homes, they can get services from those towns.
This kind of elitist claptrap shows just how small minded some of our big thinkers really are.
Our economies are linked together in this small valley. What hurts one community impacts upon another.
Perhaps some towns are going to erect a fence and have checkpoints to keep out homeless people, not realizing that this soft economy and the mortgage crisis is creating homeless people right within their communities.
It's time to stop being parochial and do the right thing.
This column represents the opinions of its author. Send your comments online to Reminderpublications.com or to 280 N. Main St., East Longmeadow, Mass. 01028.
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