How's it like living in Greenfield,ma ? (Beverly, Amherst: affordable houses, employment)

[westernmass101]

Greenfield has become less popular. Ever since 2000 the place has lost it's identity. It struggles with crime, budget, and also the idea to be declared a city. However, people do say it has become the equivalent of Springfield yet smaller. I personally have had family live there. They liked it and loved the community. But, since then it has become negative. They do have a good downtown, so if your planning on moving try finding something around there. But, be careful the taxes may increase just to solve budget problems.

[teachertype]

Originally Posted by NJ Bear

Surprised no one else picked up on this, but despite claims to the contrary Greenfield still sits on the west bank of the Connecticut River -just like it always has!!

What I said in the earlier post is the Connecticut River doesn't pass through Greenfield, and it doesn't. It's not a recreation asset for Gfld as an earlier poster said.

The recreation areas are further south. For example, Hadley has the UMass crew boating area and boat dock on the rail trail right by the Coolidge Bridge. Northampton, and more so Easthampton, have dock areas for boating on the Connecticut, like the Oxbow Marina area.

The Connecticut goes around the barren eastern side of Gfld along the railroad tracks, what you see on a map is also the Power Canal which is sort of part of the Ct and which is an asset for Turners Falls not Gfld, then it turns south through Deerfield.

You can't really even see the Connecticut River from Greenfield. The impressive scenic views of it are to the south. Farmers in Hadley and Deerfield use the CT River as a source of irrigation water. I'm not aware that Gfld uses the Ct River for anything.

There is some nice river recreation in Greenfield, canoeing and the yearly Green River Festival etc., but that is on the Green River not on the Connecticut River.

Again, regarding previous posts, there is no state forest in Greenfield. Nice try though.

[Pland27]

Regarding teachertype's claim that the CT River is not a recreational asset for Greenfield, that is an out and out fabrication. I've spent some hourse hiking along the river and started on the trails from the lower Poet's Seat parking lot. The river doesn't runb directly through any town in the area that I'm aware of, but it does run adjacent to most, as in Greenfield.

[VlyRoadKid]

Very FEW towns have the CT River running directly through them; in fact, it usually divides one town from another, as with Northampton and Hadley, or Greenfield and Turner's Falls, which btw, is much worse than Gfld in terms of lack of culture and aesthetics! However, there is a great recreation area there called Barton Cove, with canoeing, camping and just upstream is Northfield Mountain's Quinnetikut (sp?) river boat and a hiking/ski area.

Sure, there are problems here. I'll never forget those murders, but many other towns have them too, such as Northampton, for all its hip pretentiousness. And there is as big a drug problem in N'ton and other towns among kids and adults as there is in Greenfield.

Is it possible teachertype might be more down on Gfld. since he/she is one of those teachers who got pink-slipped as a result from the budget disaster? Then be mad at the good-ol'-boy network that brought it on! However, even before that, the teachers and administrators in the Gfld. shcools had only themselves to blame for the mass exodus of kids. Parent input was not welcome and thousands of dollars were wasted on stuff that did NOT help the students, such as new office furniture! I yanked my kid out of the middle school and put him in a charter school, which turned out to be a hangout for so-called teachers who really didn't want to teach!

All over Mass., and indeed, the U.S., school systems are being shortchanged by the gov't and subsequently failing their students...and the parents think they can do nothing about it. As both a parent and a retired teacher, I can say that, aside from the schools, more redneck-types than usual and some gang-activity, Greenfield is pretty nice, especially if you live in the more residential neighborhoods, or in the more rural areas to the north.

[hampshirelabrat]

Originally Posted by VlyRoadKid

aside from the schools, more redneck-types than usual and some gang-activity, Greenfield is pretty nice,

That sums up my experience of Greenfield: failed schools, more redneck types than usual and gang activity.

There's a lot of drug & alcohol treatment centers and residential halfway houses in those older houses in Greenfield. That's why there's so many down and out characters, low-life types and crazies there.

I stick to the Amherst, UMass, Hadley, Northampton, Huntington-Worthington corridor. It's the best of W. Mass.

[franklincounty]

Hey "Teacher"Type: Again, regarding previous posts, there is no state forest in Greenfield. Nice try though. -- Highland park is town-owned. Sorry. Doesn't make any less nice though.

[mikisza]

i don't know how old you are, but i can tell you from a 'younger' person's point of view (i'm 20) greenfield is the pits. i've lived here my whole life. there is nothing here. the movie theater is gross and hardly has good movies, you've got a choice between the 99, mc donald's and applebees for restaurants, and the stores are all overpriced and few and far between at that... really there's just generally nothing going on. that's why i'm moving across the country by the end of this year. i can't wait to get away from here. this would be the place to marry your cousin (besides nearby athol or orange) - and that should say it all.

someone said earlier -- i don't remember who, but they said ''it's an alright place to live but you work elsewhere, hang out/socialize elsewhere, and go to school elsewhere'' and that's true to a T. everything IS elsewhere. greenfield is not where you want to end up.

[atlaw]

massachusetts is not where you want to end up

[teachertype]

Originally Posted by CaseyB

I don't know of any evidence that shows the Greenfield schools to be in receivership, or even considered to be an underperforming school system.

I provided abundant evidence but you deleted it. The Greenfield newspaper at The Recorder - Greenfield, Massachusetts has an archive with a search function for any poster who wants facts about the matter of Greenfield's Public Schools and state receivership.

[CaseyB]

As I told you, you can't just copy and paste snippets without providing a source for the material. That is considered to be a copyright violation on this website.

As far as the request for receivership was concerned - asking for it and getting it are 2 different matters.