Bar's mask-optional night draws national backlash

From Greenfield News

• City Council weighs yearlong data center pause. Greenfield's City Council took up a citywide, yearlong pause on new data center construction after a councilor's monthslong research surfaced a private equity firm's interest in First Light Power's hydro assets, with one councilor calling the industry 'a total economic bubble.'Greenfield News
• Human Rights Commission elects new vice chair. Greenfield's Human Rights Commission elected Kathleen Kenny vice chair as its chair confirmed a plan to shrink the seven-seat panel to five following repeated quorum failures, and welcomed new member Zoe Smith, a Greenfield police officer and 20-year paramedic.Greenfield News
• Council queues fiscal 2024 audit review after warning. Greenfield's Ways and Means Committee is set to hear from the mayor and finance director on a fiscal 2024 audit that flagged a material weakness, as councilors also weigh a new rental registry ordinance and a $580,000 GSET budget increase.Greenfield News
• Facilities director details fix for aging stadium lights. Greenfield's newly revived Planning and Construction Committee heard that roughly 50 of Veterans Field's 350 stadium lights are out, weighing a costly LED overhaul against cheaper interim repairs, while a Title IX-linked field house boiler failure remains unresolved.Greenfield News
• Conservation Commission seeks more CPA funds for land. Greenfield's Conservation Commission moved to resubmit a Community Preservation Act request for its land fund, with roughly $472,264 in town CPA money available this cycle, eyeing what it could cost to remove a derelict cabin and unlock an 11-acre land donation.Greenfield News
• Planning Board takes up citywide data center pause. Greenfield's Planning Board and Economic Development Committee weighed a proposal to pause new data center applications for up to a year while the city writes permanent standards, as a resident warned local action alone will not stop the industry.Greenfield News
• Cultural district panel funds new tourism postcards. Greenfield's Crossroads Cultural District Committee voted to spend about $200 printing new Visit Greenfield tourist postcards after a pilot pie potluck event drew visitors who found it online, including a New Jersey couple who altered their Vermont road trip to attend.Greenfield News
• Assessors confirm new TIF talk for downtown project. Greenfield's Board of Assessors said a new tax-increment-financing deal is being discussed for a development across from City Hall, though the board itself does not vote on TIFs, and entered executive session on real estate and abatement matters.Greenfield News
• Finance panel presses schools on special ed staffing. Greenfield's school finance subcommittee pressed staff on special education staffing gaps and a proposed nurse leader post, after learning Greenfield aides take nine years to reach pay levels neighboring districts offer new hires immediately.Greenfield News
• Cultural Council opens fiscal 2027 grant cycle. Greenfield's Cultural Council closed out a forfeited $750 arts grant and opened its next funding round with $20,075 available, as a departing member pushed to explore stock donations and other tax-deductible giving before his term ends in December.Greenfield News

Today in Greenfield

• Lesbian bar's mask-optional night sparks Greenfield backlash. A Greenfield lesbian bar's decision to make masks optional one night a week has drawn national criticism from disability advocates, with coverage from Legal Insurrection, The Free Press and New Boston Post.Legal Insurrection

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