The Critical Importance of Community

OPINION: By Lisa Cohen

I make no secret of the fact that I am a (recovering!) city-mouse. While I grew up in the

suburbs of Long Island, NY, my parents were city people and we spent nearly every weekend

going somewhere in Manhattan. At the age most kids are when they start to learn to drive, I

was taking the train and subway into the city and spending the day in galleries and walking

around Greenwich Village and Soho.

When I moved to the Boston area in 1990, I could hardly believe it was even considered a

city: Compared to Manhattan, Boston felt like a town with a few big buildings. No one was as surprised as I was that I fell in love with Hardwick and convinced my husband Neil that we needed to buy a home there and work on our plan to move our lives there from suburban Boston.

Now, we own 54 acres of land, have two tractors, chainsaws, a tiller, and a chipper and know

how to use them.

Six years ago, when we purchased the property in Gilbertville that we call StarField Farm, I

knew that I would have to work hard to become part of the Hardwick community. And I dove head first into volunteering for something I knew involved the whole town: The Hardwick Community Fair. And because I do tend to jump in with both feet, in short order I found myself on the board as the Secretary of the fair.

We joined the Hardwick Farmer's Co-op, shopped for food from our neighboring farms, supported the local businesses. And then, when covid hit and lockdowns happened, I volunteered to start an email listserv so people in the community had a way to easily reach out and communicate with one another.

I am not at all unusual in any of this. What I have learned in living in Hardwick is that we are a

community of incredibly capable, creative, and hardworking people who give back to the town in many ways, large and small. It’s one of the things that has struck me about Hardwick. Just recently, when I was ill with covid and needed someone to pick up a prescription for me at the CVS in Ware, nearly a dozen people offered to help. Others dropped off soup and baked goods along with their well wishes.

This is what it looks like to live in a strong community.

Even the businesses that operate in a community work to become part of its fabric. They don’t see the town simply as a resource to be exploited for their profit. Folks who work in and with the town are more likely to know many of us by name or shop, eat, drink at local places rather than drive around in black SUVs with tinted windows and armed bodyguards.

I have grave concerns about the culture of our community and its future in the face of the

massive changes that will come if we allow Commonwealth Racing to build their horse track

and wagering enterprise here.

Yes, Hardwick needs development. But it needs development that fits the character of the

town, not development that is forced upon us from an industry that has never cared for the

communities they build in, no matter where that may be. We only need look at what is

happening in Everett and Springfield now in their battles to force the gambling industry to fulfill their promises to their host communities. Please, don’t let this happen to Hardwick.

Please vote NO on January 7th .

Lisa Cohen

(Gilbertville)