What's Up With Greenfield?

Today I dashed off a letter to the editor at The Recorder after reading more about the city/town thing. I reused a few pieces of last week's post.

To the editor:

For some reason, Mayor Forgey and her personal lightening rod Ms. Marrocco have decided to make political waves by declaring Greenfield a city, which it technically is in the eyes of the commonwealth. But as Barbara Tillmanns pointed out in a letter to The Recorder, the charter expressly confers the name "Town of Greenfield" on the municipality.

Forgey and Marrocco already have dismantled "www.townofgreenfield.org" in favor of a citified web address; hapless visitors to the old site only get a message stating "No web site is configured at this address." No explanation, no link to the new site, nothing. Yet, dozens of sites on the web continue to point to the old address, including Yahoo!, The Recorder, the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce, and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (Mass.gov).

The new website is lovely, but could someone explain how it will help Greenfield if no one can find it? In trying to make a point--that this decision has been made, and if you're not on board you're out of luck--the Disconnected Duo have only made things worse for Greenfield. Governing by decree didn't work with the bus stop, and it's not working here.

Importantly, the question of whether Greenfield should even change the charter remains to be considered. My dictionary defines city as "A center of population, commerce, and culture; a town of significant size and importance." Greenfield's population of 18,168 ranks it as the 100th largest city or town in Massachusetts, behind such powerhouse municipalities as Wareham, Somerset, and Milford (but dozens of residents ahead of Hudson, Norton and Rockland).

City? Come on. Boston is a city. Philadelphia is a city. Even Worcester is a city. I've lived in cities. Cities have been friends of mine. Greenfield is no city.

Sincerely,

Bill Denneen
Greenfield