Holyoke, Massachusetts

7 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 3, ISSUE 10 right at the health center or at the hospital.” With more than 200 stores, and over 40 restaurants, the Holyoke Mall provides another main source of employment in the community. “Even though malls have been suffering over the last couple of years, they’ve been really smart and created more of a destination and more family entertainment,” Vega maintains. The legalization of cannabis in Massachusetts brought another opportunity for Holyoke to strengthen their commercial and manufacturing sectors, making it as easy as possible for those who want to open cannabis operations in the community. Vega recounts, “We have a very easy entry into starting your process, and we currently have about 500 people that work in the cannabis industry, between cultivation and retail. That’s new in the last two years.” Admitting that the introduction of cannabis brought some initial uncertainty for some residents, he says, “This community was built on manufacturing, and that was really the view that we took. Yes,