23 March, 2011
Would you like to work with a group of your fellow residents to help improve Hopkinton's downtown? Are you looking for a way to give back to your community? Becoming a member of the Downtown Revitalization Committee will allow you to do both. While many daily activities of local town government are conducted by full-time paid professionals, unpaid volunteers are vital to staff town committees and commissions that help establish policies and priorities, administer by-laws, and conduct various activities.
Would you like to learn more about what the Downtown Revitalization Committee does? HCAM News visited with Chairman Peter LaGoy and some of the members of the committee at one of their recent meetings. LaGoy spoke about his motivation for joining the group and what he hopes to accomplish.
"I joined the Downtown Revitalization Committee because I live downtown and I work downtown," said LaGoy. "There's a huge potential for growth in the downtown area, both asthetically and in terms of some of the businesses that might locate here if we were a little spruced up."
According to Lagoy the committee is a group that is focused on trying to improve the downtown which is defined as the Wood Street/Main Street intersection to the west, to Ash Street.
"We do a range of activites focused on the downtown," said LaGoy. "Whether we are tyring to help the library with their siting, or from our perspective seeing that they stay in the downtown area, to helping with the Common and encouraging activities at the Common. We work on physical activities and we try to work a little on social activities as well."
Susan Marshall, Adult Services Librarian, is a member of the committee. Marshall says that by working downtown, and being a relatively new resident of Hopkinton, joining the committee gave her the opportunity to participate and get involved.
"I realized that the downtown is the heart of the community, and I wanted to be able to contribute to that," said Marshall. "We've started to make improvements and I want that to continue."
The committee meets once a month, but LaGoy says the time committment can be more than that if you want to give more. According to LaGoy, there are no strict criteria for members. The group is just interested in people who are active and who are interested in the downtown area.
"Obviously, people with experience, such as urban planning, would be wonderful," said Lagoy.
It's been well worth that time that we have contributed," continued Marshall, 'to me, anyhow. I am just really excited to be a part of it."
LaGoy has worked on the committee for a number of years and has been able to see some real progress made. In addition to what has been accomplished by the committee, such as new benches, planters and the traffic beacon for pedestrian safety, there has been progress by some of the businesses in town as well, like the rebuilding of Bill's Pizza.
"I feel that in some small way, we have helped some of that progress," said LaGoy.
Current committee members are listed below and there are currently three open positions on the committee.
Committee Members:
Claire Wright, Historic District
Kenneth Driscoll, Parks & Recreation
Joseph M. Markey, Planning Board
Deborah S. Brug, Member at Large
Bridget Perry, Member At Large
Pat Mangiacotti-Prucher, Member At Large
Kathleen Dragin, Member at Large
Peter LaGoy, Member at Large
Susan Marshall, Member at Large
Thomas Nealon, Member at Large
Andre Griben, Member at Large
If you are interested in helping with more progress, and would like to serve on the Downtown Revitalization Committee, send an email to selectmen@hopkinton.org.
