Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Local nonprofit to renovate Woolson Building

The announcement that Springfield Housing Unlimited (SHU), a nonprofit company owned by Springfield Housing Authority (SHA) and Housing Vermont, has signed an options agreement to purchase the Woolson Block, located at 39 Main St., was made at the Springfield Selectboard’s meeting Monday.


www.eagletimes.com


10 comments :

  1. The renovation is part of the downtown redevelopment plan? More low income housing is part of the downtown plan? That's not the vision I have for Springfield's future. I can't see this drawing good businesses or workers for those businesses to Springfield. Bad move!

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  2. More rehab purveyor occupants drawing in troubled outsiders. Maybe the the commercial space on street level can have a headshop that sells bongs, cigarette papers, diabetic syringes(wink, wink), pipes, etc and a massage parlor next door. Just what Springfield needs: more "people on the dole" industries and more troubled people flocking to Springfield. What could possibly go wrong? Remember how great building a prison was going to be for the town? How has that nightmare worked out for the community? Insanity is repeating the same mistakes over and over and expecting different results. Welcome to Springfield! The town tops the list for towns bent on self-destruction while a few are lining their pockets.

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  3. Springfield doesn't seem like the best place for "youth in transition." Proximity to downtown drug deals, etc. Unless heavily supervised, how will this housing help already-compromised youth?

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  4. A depressing day at Springfield VT at the Woolson Building at Main Street and Park Street. Is it convenient for the light and the camera(s) for any people from the Woolson Building of any drug(s)? Sad day indeed!

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  5. Too bad. Low income housing is not the solution to poverty, better incomes are. Sadly, the political left (with some exceptions) has abandoned the idea of improving the economic circumstances of the poor and working class and is now in the business of subsidized warehousing. The political right has never given a damn. The problems of Springfield are the problems of America: rabid idealogues bent on pursuing their agendas without thought to the consequences. Or is it just simple callous greed?

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  6. chuck gregory4/15/16, 7:28 AM

    You might want to read, "No Country for Old People" about poverty, housing and the elderly in America: http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2016/04/america-no-country-for-old-people.html

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  7. In another article currently on the blog, the Woolson Block is listed as "Action Step #2" of the selectmen's so-called strategic plan for the downtown area. I am referring to it as "so-called" as I have stated many times in this forum that more public housing in the Square is not a solution for improving downtown and attracting new businesses/residents.

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  8. Springfield just can't help itself when it comes to winning the race to the bottom! Since when did becoming the dumping ground for every misfit, nitwit, deviant, and derelict become the key objective in the strategic plan? The town continues to do its best to foster an abysmal future. But I guess it plays right into the re-election plans of Emmons and Forguites, who must be banking on such nonsense for attracting a new voting base for them...

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  9. I completely agree that this is "no country for old people." My 84 year old mother is moving in with me as she can no longer afford to live in the house my late father built, and cannot afford a retirement community. Many seniors are not so fortunate. The issue at hand, however, is subsidized housing for young and presumably able-bodied people. Do I think they should be thrown out on the street? Absolutely not! What I am suggesting is that there are better alternatives to warehousing the poor and disadvantaged. Better jobs, better health care, job training that leads to an actual job, and not a dead end. We as a society need to completely rethink our views and policies with regard to labor, business and the citizenry at large. We are in the 21st century, yet many of our attitudes and policies are rooted in the 19th. That having been said, as citizens, we must also adopt attitudes and behaviors that conducive to a civilized society. Many of the Woolson Building's former occupants did not. And that is the problem.

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  10. chuck gregory4/16/16, 11:53 AM

    6:39, you seriously ought to consider getting onto one of the town committees. Had I known who you are, I would have invited you to the private showing of "Where to Invade Next," (still playing at the theater for a couple more days). Michael Moore visits countries where workers don't need to work a second or third job even though they work in a pencil factory, where workers by law must be on every company's management council, get 13 months' pay for 12 months work, get 8 weeks paid vacation, are entitled to the world's best public school education no matter which school their child attends; where bankers go to jail en masse for crippling the economy; where every woman has the rights every man does and has unfettered access to and use of ob/gyn and family planning services; and where government respects the dignity and meets the needs of both young and old.

    People like the idea of thinking outside the box, but to do that you first have to look outside the box. "Where to Invade Next" gives you that look. See it and then talk with one of the people who attended that private showing.

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