Business View Magazine | June 2019

374 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE JUNE 2019 place to live? LaChapelle: “Our tax rate is extremely low ($15.45 per thousand). We’re a very thrifty city and our housing market and commercial properties show that. Housing stock is tight, but we’re working to put more housing units throughout the city, as well as opportunities for accessory dwelling units. We’ve had a lot of success with that. Additionally, we have obtained money to add onto the Valley Bikeshare program that will be putting electric- assist bikes throughout the city. By linking to five other surrounding communities, it makes the Valley Bikeshare program in Easthampton, not only a wonderful recreational opportunity, but a true commuting tool for folks to get to Holyoke, a larger city to our south, as well as to South Hadley, Amherst, and Northampton. “We’re just starting to prepare a Downtown Strategic Plan that will focus on the potential reuse of three elementary schools that will become available in 2023. The total redesign of one of our main thoroughfares is now 25 percent done and will be funded through the Massachusetts TIP program in 2022. It will bring a main retail corridor into a Complete Streets program that encourages pedestrian and cycle traffic and connects to the mill district. We’re also in the process of acquiring 11 acres on the side of Mount Tom; it will be one of the few vantage points looking out onto the Pioneer Valley that will have a handicapped accessible trail and connection to the popular New England Scenic Trail. We’re very proud of that. “We passed a public ballot to consolidate our pre-K through 8th grade schools into one. We’re in the plan/design stage and are set to go out to bid on that project in August of this year. That will be a state-of-the-art campus for 1,000 of our school children in a beautiful area just outside our downtown, surrounded by protected environmental areas and wetlands with a gorgeous view of the mountains. Our high school students are also in a new building that was finished in 2013. So, you’re looking at a small city where every one of our public-school students will KEEP YOUR PRODUCTION LINES PRODUCTIVE CNC lathes, Milltronics, OD grind, deep hole drill, surface grind, welding, bridgeports, manual lathes www.easthamptonmachine.com easthamptonmachine@gmail.com for quick quotes REVITALIZING THE AMERICAN DREAM OF FREEDOM AND PROSPERITY THROUGH MANUFACTURING ✓ custom production tooling ✓ speedy emergency part replacement