While the improvements to the town’s traffic flow proposed by the Montachusett Regional Planning Commission in conference with the Town Center Transportation Committee are still just a plan, we need to be mindful of the consequences if such a proposal were to be implemented. Further, it is important to understand the value of what will be disrupted: the General Store.
Aside from a combination restaurant, convenience store, winery, and bakery, the General Store serves as a meeting place for businesses, preteens, and teenage kids after school. The store is a small social center where people can meet and discuss, an entertainment venue, a visitor center, and most of all a cheerful place to punctuate a day. The town benefits from all of this, not only for free, but it also receives tax revenue. Not having a commitment from the town to preserve its much-needed parking is a strain on the business’s current and long-term planning. In short, the parking lot is much more than a town right-of-way.
The safety issues for seniors in constrained parking and cyclists entering and leaving the lot should also be discussed. But my hope is that the value of the General Store would be recognized and somehow become a constant in the town’s discussions for any traffic, pedestrian, or preservation planning.
Dan Kagan
Old Littleton Road
