This commentary is by Nick Santoro, Marilyn Griffith and Alicia Ayles, all residents of Rutland.
At a community meeting Aug. 11 in Rutland’s gym at St. Joseph’s College, there were many stupendous ideas expressed on ways to spend the initial $4.4 million in Covid funds that will be coming to Rutland City.
Rutland Free Library needs money to modernize the building and its technology.
Main Street Park needs a new gazebo, electricity and bathrooms.
Downtown needs vital attention. Blighted buildings need to be disappeared.
City parks need maintenance and repairs.
The Department of Public Works needs a new building.
Some streets need extra funding to be fixed properly.
In our way of life, the motto of “victory to the individual over the odds that beset him” (carved into the white stone above the old Marble Bank) acts as a gyroscope for our behaviors and settling upon how to spend our own “free” Covid relief dollars means deciding how does a city of individuals come to make a sensible community decision on how to spend a seeming windfall?
We don’t really understand what took place between Heartland Corp., Rutland Free Library, Rutland City and Heritage Credit Union because we were not privy to the internal discussions and exchanges that took place. We do understand that the ire of Rutland’s citizens sizzled red hot, and whatever engagement happened fizzled flat like an opened beer left overnight on a kitchen countertop.
In light of the Covid money coming, in light of Heritage Credit Union’s success at the behest of mostly Rutland County residents, in light of a bank not wanting to be a landlord, in light of the Heartland Corp. not having the wherewithal to buy the St. Joseph’s College property and never having started construction, it’s time to get serious about Rutland City owning its own land.
Heritage Credit Union’s presence dominates the space in Rutland’s gym with its impressive insignia. Because the city owns the gym now, the size and placement of the bank’s symbol seem to indicate a profoundly deep connection between the bank and the city. Does it reflect reality?
The community of Rutland deserves to own this last large piece of land that was well cared for by the nuns and priests, and still retains aspects of its unspoiled sanctity. Money is certainly needed for all the projects mentioned at the meeting Aug. 11, especially for the old library building that serves so many of us.
Some part of the Covid money needs to be used to cut a deal between the owner of the college property (Heritage) and Rutland City.
Now is the time for the hometown bank to provide a providential way for its hometown to own its own land for the 25-plus years of loyalty and support from individuals in this community who created the bank’s very existence and success.
The land will provide a platform for education, arts, crafts, lectures, healing, child care, eating, athletics, music, performances, walking, meditating, dreaming, communication, etc. The land’s use will reveal itself over time. This land is more than just property for profit. It is part of the fabric of this community. Rutland City owning this land is a big deal.
Rutland does not need an outside commercial concern purchasing its last sizable piece of precious and, in this case, holy land. Creating ownership for Rutland City with the resourceful financial and legal minds at Heritage Credit Union and City Hall is a matter of will born from the heart.
This fecund land is filled with heart, compassion and love. This is a pregnant moment for the bank and the city’s leadership to midwife this natural event. In simple terms, it’s a carpe diem moment. It’s time to “seize the day” and make it happen for this community and the individuals who comprise it.
