Charles Bozzello: It’s time to reimagine future of town of Ashland

To The Daily Sun,

Since announcing my candidacy for the Ashland Selectboard, a number of longtime residents have charmed me with stories of Ashland’s former glory. While I have greatly enjoyed these trips down memory lane, they have also emphasized a sad truth: the quality of life here is not what it used to be.

We can do better. With the right initiatives, we can reimagine a thriving community for all residents. That is exactly what I intend to do if I am elected as town selectperson.

Before we can fix our current situation, we need to understand how we got to this point. For starters, I’m told it used to be perfectly feasible to live in Ashland without owning a car. Everyday necessities and services were available within walking distance on and around Main Street. Those businesses then provided opportunities for employment. Throw in affordable local taxes, and it’s easy to see how Ashland was a very desirable place to live.

As many residents have lamented, this nostalgic depiction of Ashland is not our reality. Today, there is very little work available within the town, particularly for those pursuing higher paying jobs. Young workers and families typically leave for better opportunities elsewhere.

For your everyday goods and services, you have to drive to one of our surrounding communities, many of which have outpaced Ashland’s development. The need for additional parking facilities has put economic pressure on parts of the town as automobiles become essential to the Ashland lifestyle.

In years past, Ashland had a strong industrial foundation that absorbed a large part of the local tax burden. Since these businesses typically provided for much of their required infrastructure, including electricity, there was little financial burden on the town itself. This was a win-win scenario for the residents. It created a balanced and prosperous community.

As companies left town, this balance was altered. Not only did large employers disappear, but so did smaller businesses that depended on the robust local employment. As a result, local taxes began to disproportionately burden residents. A period of unrelenting pressure for tax increases ensued. Understandably, new business investment became uncompetitive. Residential properties were divided into multiple units to better afford higher tax rates. More residential units increased the amount of services the town needed to provide, thus driving taxes even higher.

This sequence of events repeated and became a debilitating cycle. To this day, the cycle advances slowly but surely. It will not stop or reverse itself without intervention.

Fortunately, Ashland already has the resources it needs to rebuild. This includes major roadways that provide easy access, a centralized location in the state, available land to support development initiatives, an attractive lakefront, and a number of unused structures that have the potential to be repurposed for contemporary business development.

What we need is the leadership to successfully reimagine our economic potential. Countless other communities have done so and thus escaped this vicious cycle. Now, it’s time for Ashland to do the same.

Charles Bozzello

Ashland