Page 39 - BusinessWest July 21, 2021

Small-city Living
Greenfield Makes Pitch as Destination for Remote Workers
By Joseph Bednar
At a recent briefing about potential east- west passenger rail service through Greenfield (see story on page 36), state Sen. Adam Hinds talked about how infra- structure investments — not just in rail, but in broadband access and other realms — feels like a “build it and they will come” moment.
“We’re keenly aware we are in a critical transi- tion, a moment of uncertainty, and it feels like we’re at a time when people are making choices about the potential to live in a region like this, or stay in a region like this, based on infrastructure development,” Hinds said, noting that ridership trends on current north-south rail would likely shift as other types of infrastructure, especially digital, come online.
“Our answer to a major disruption in our soci- ety and our Commonwealth is a major invest- ment to make the entire community stronger, that can allow anyone to work anywhere in the world,” he added. “We need to be getting it right as we think about recovering strongly.”
MJ Adams, Greenfield’s director of Com- munity Development, said
MJ Adams says Greenfield’s strides in municipal broadband will boost its potential for remote workers.
“We felt that, not just for residents but the business community here, we needed our
own municipal broadband. We didn’t realize how important that was until everyone was on Zoom.”
the city has already made strides in that all-important digital realm — strides that could help position the city as a destination for people who want to keep their jobs in larger cities, but work remotely while living in a place with rural appeal, small-city amenities, and, in their mind, better quality of life.
She was speaking of Greenfield Community Energy and Technology (GCET), Greenfield’s munici- pal broadband provider, which was created several years ago to meet a growing need.
“For people who require better high-speed connec- tion, they can actually do
development assets to their towns,” he wrote. “Reliable service, better pricing and cus- tomer service, local develop- ment, and control of critical infrastructure — this is what a municipal provider offers.”
Danielle Letourneau, Green- field Mayor Roxann Wedegart- ner’s chief of staff, told Busi- nessWest that the city had the foresight to establish this ser- vice well before the pandemic made it more critical. But now, it plays a role in attracting new residents and businesses that are navigating a new world when it comes to how, and where, employees want to work.
“We’ve set ourselves up
well,” Letourneau said. “We
are a small city with big-city
amenities. But we do have a rural feel. We even have several co-working spaces; we’re recognized already for that kind of thing as a way to attract people who want to move here.”
All these amenities open the city up for new arrivals, as well as people who grew up here and want to return and raise their own families here, especially those who can take advantage of new opportunities in remote work.
“Even before COVID hit, we looked at our- selves as being a pretty attractive city,” Adams said, and building out high-speed broadband was one way to build on that. “We were see-
ing ourselves as well-positioned for people who wanted a small-city feel but still wanted proxim- ity to big cities. And we were planning it before COVID arrived.”
Then the pandemic accelerated the remote- work trend, which dovetailed well with what the city was doing, she went on. “Businesses are
Danielle Letourneau calls Greenfield “a small city with big-city amenities.”
that here now,” Adams said. “When Greenfield started building out its broadband infrastruc- ture, that was prompted by experiences years ago, when companies turned down locating here because the internet was not very strong.
“So the city decided not to wait anymore and made a pretty big investment on the city side, making the decision that we’re not going to wait for a Comcast to come in and provide service; we felt that, not just for residents but the business community here, we needed our own munici- pal broadband,” she added. “We didn’t realize how important that was until everyone was on Zoom.”
John Lunt, general manager of GCET, agreed. In a Greenfield Recorder article in December, he touted GCET’s response to the pandemic — efforts that included no-charge connections for students attending school remotely — but said the utility’s role goes far beyond that.
“Revenues tend to stay local, and municipal broadband providers have become economic-
trying to understand how to make it work, but employees are also figuring out how it works for them. Here, they have an attractive way of life as they try to work remotely, farther afield from higher-priced communities in New England.”
Living Room
Chris Campany, executive director of the Windham Regional Commission in Vermont, told the participants in the passenger-rail meeting that “we’re seeing an odd inversion in Southeast Vermont where people are finding employment here but, because of our extreme housing scarci- ty, are living in Western Mass. There’s going to be a lag in the data availability, but it’s increasingly feeling like the exurban growth in the I-91 corri- dor has accelerated.”
Relocate
Continued on page 41
FRANKLIN COUNTY
JULY 21, 2021 39
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