Page 9 - BusinessWest August 19, 2024

“It’s like a menu — we have a lot of different flavors. And that’s what we want to see in Easthampton; it’s what has made us so attractive to the people who want to come live here; it’s not one size fits all.”
of Marketing for Sourcepass, a national man- aged-IT services provider, who has lived in the city for 20 years now.
He praised a succession of municipal leaders with continually building on the progress made in various realms to create a very livable city that is continously raising the bar higher — and then clearing that bar.
“Easthampton has continually invested
in ways that have been built upon itself,” he explained. “First it was a bike path by Millside Park, then it was ‘let’s clean up the back side
of the mills on Pleasant Street to make them more accessible along the bike path and Mill- side Park.’ Then, it was ‘let’s do the pond proj- ect,’ then Union Street. Everything we’re doing is smaller-scale projects, but when you take the aggregate of everything that’s happened over 20 years, one plus one has equaled three, and it’s brought an uplift to Easthampton in general.”
Mayor Nicole LaChapelle agreed, noting that,
in addition to new initiatives to support entre- preneurs and would-be entrepreneurs, the city
is making strides in several other areas as well, including infrastructure and an issue impacting seemingly every community in the region — housing.
Indeed, there are several intriguing projects in the pipeline — and in a variety of different settings, from former mill buildings to decommissioned schools to wide-open space, as we’ll see — although most are at least a few years away.
“It’s like ... hang on tight, housing units are coming, but they’re getting closer every day,” the mayor said, adding that there are a few hundred units of various types in the mix, additions that will cer- tainly provide some intriguing options for the growing numbers of people who want to call Easthampton home.
“It’s like a menu — we have a lot of different flavors,” LaChapelle said. “And that’s what we want to see in Easthampton; it’s what has
Stacey Blanco and her husband, who opened Hide’n’ Sneakz, are among a growing number of small-business owners in Easthampton.
made us so attractive to the people who want to come live here; it’s not one size fits all. You can live in a mill district and get that flavor or live in the middle of a pasture.”
For this, the latest installment of its Community Spotlight series, BusinessWest takes a hard look at Easthampton and the many
forms of progress taking place in this community at the foot of Mount Tom.
Easthampton
Continued on page 11
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