Laurence Shaffer, second from left, of Larry Shaffer Associates Municipal Solutions, of Mount Pleasant, Michigan, David A Swirk, second from right, project manager of safety and training for Pioneer Valley Railroad, and Daniel W. Slowick, right, a fire consultant for Rimkus Consulting Group, of Framingham, join Westfield Mayor Daniel Knapik, center rear, and Westfield City Advancement Officer Jeffrey Daley, left foreground, during a meeting at 27 Washington Street to assist Palmer officials in a downtown revitalization program for their town. (Photo by Frederick Gore)
WESTFIELD – For a town that is attempting to bring casino gambling into its community, Palmer would seem like a town on the rise, with a bright future.
However, with no host agreement in place with Mohegan Sun as of today, the small town on the eastern end of Hampden county is actively hedging its bets and, regardless of the future of casino gaming in “the crossroads of New England”, is seeking to bring about similar changes to those which Westfield has put into motion within the past few years.
In a small meeting in the city’s de facto offices in the Courthouse Square Building on School Street yesterday, Laurence Shaffer, Daniel Slowick and David Swirk, members of the Palmer Redevelopment Authority (PRA), met with Westfield Mayor Daniel M. Knapik and Westfield Redevelopment Authority Executive Director Jeff Daley to explore ways to set in motion ways to improve their town of just over 12,000 residents.
The casual nature of the meeting was not one of backslapping laxity, however, as Mayor Knapik set the meeting’s tone early.
“Towns are more cumbersome to deal with than cities,” Knapik said in regards to their appointing of officials and the enacting of redevelopment plans. “It’s about looking at the assets (a town) has.”
Knapik would go on to summarize that the city has taken many lumps over the years to get to the current point in its own recovery, referencing a downtown fire which occurred when he was in college, which be became a blight the city’s downtown district for many years.
When addressing questions from the delegation about some of the big challenges Westfield faced when they embarked on their own redevelopment quest, Knapik highlighted the similarities between the two communities, and said that one of the biggest challenges was selling the city council on the need for a position they’d never had before, that being the chair currently occupied by Daley as the Executive Director of Westfield’s Redevelopment Authority.
“Palmer has real conservative bones, kind of tight with money, just like Westfield,” Knapik said. “So to convince the council on spending for a position they’d never had before (economic development officer) was quite an undertaking. But I told them, if we are half as successful as I think we’re gonna be, this will pay itself out. Unbelievably so.”
The appointment of Daley as the head of economic development for the city has seen the city put forth massive improvement plans, namely an intermodal transportation center and parking garage on a vacant lot on Elm Street. But Daley himself is quick to point out that Rome wasn’t built in a day, nor is Westfield and nor will Palmer be.
“We’ve come a long way in three years, but it’s been baby steps,” Daley told Palmer’s representatives. “You have to generate taxes through filling blocks of property, and to do that, you need a vision, and someone who is focused on this (economic development) all the time.”
When the topic of casino gaming surfaced later in the meeting, Slowick voiced his concerns.
“(Mohegan) is concerned with what happens at Mohegan, not what happens on Main Street,” said the fire consultant for Rimkus Consulting Group, insinuating that the PRA needs to be proactive regarding the interests of the town.
The PRA is confident that if Mohegan decides to cut their losses and not put a facility in Palmer, the town can still utilize the large parcel of land where the prospective casino would be located for other opportunities.
“You aren’t a real estate company,” Daley said. “But you almost have to think like one. You need to take a parcel and say ‘what could we do here?'”
