The Town allowed Graziano Gardens to abuse our family for 23 Years, we are asking for your help to support our Family by Boycotting Graziano Gardens and all businesses that provided the materials that they sell ... it’s the only way to stop the abuse of other Family’s and Property Owners in the future. It’s not a Farm it all comes off of a truck! It’s a Retail Garden Center and Retail Christmas Shop … that is what the Business Permits say, and all of the businesses are on Residence “A” Land which is Single Family Homes only! It’s time for the Attorney General’s Office and the Governor to get involved in a serious investigation of the Town, PeoplesBank, and the Attorneys involved.

I am writing this now because the last time I made a “Public Push” to resolve and end the abuse my family and I have been subjected to our dog was killed the night before our Son’s big 16th Birthday! We were forced to give up and leave the Town and our family home due to the abuse and harassment we have been subjected to. We need your help to get the Attorney General’s Office to investigate the Town, PeoplesBank and other named in this website. I have been told that until I got the Attorney General’s Office and Others involved at the Government Level nothing would ever be done to stop the abuse. Attorney General Martha Coakley’s Office in 2010 refused to investigate anything; in fact sending a letter stating that: “ … any additional correspondence from you concerning this subject will be placed on file without any additional response.” Every level I have written to asking for help has refused despite East Longmeadow’s know issue with a certain “element” being prevalent in the Town.

No Site Plans, No Parking Plans, No Traffic Studies have ever been produced for when the Businesses operating there were established, and the ONLY Special Permit Ever Produced was for a Wood Frame Addition! The Town has NEVER provided the “Business Special Operating Permit”

Enough is Enough! Why this is very important to you!

A small Family Farm is not a 30,000 Sq. Ft. Retail Garden Center! (Approximate, as there is no actual measure)

             No Parking, No Buffering, No Special Permit, No Traffic Study and No Right to be here!

My name is Chuck Hindes, and I grew up here on 5 Revere Street in East Longmeadow. My parents bought the home in 1955 when I was born. My father and I did all of the custom woodwork and hauling all of the dirt and rocks to make the terraces with a pickax, shovel and a wheelbarrow. I moved out when I was 23 Years Old when I got married. When my father passed away in 1998, I couldn’t sell the home there were too many good memories. So, I came back to my “Family Home” to build a home for my family. I came back here with my wife and our 5-year-old Son so he could have the same great experience I had growing up here. We put a lot of money and a lot of work into the home and planned to live here the rest of our lives … our “Forever Home.” Well, that was the plan, but when you refuse to give your home away; well, the Town will show you that they have a very different agenda, and that you don’t have Rights!

The Problem: Graziano Gardens and Graziano Brothers Landscaping

Graziano Gardens was already a mess before the “Castle” and when I talked to attorneys about it, they said that it would be a short trip to court to fix that. Well, it has been a 23-Year fight with the town of East Longmeadow to preserve our Rights as long-term property owners. The Town and PeoplesBank has thrown everything that they can at us, including the East Longmeadow Police to make sure that we have no Rights, and never get to enjoy the home we loved. This web site tells the truth about what has been done to our family, and what was still being done to our family until we sold the home in February of 2022. Could East Longmeadow be the Dirtiest little Berg in the Commonwealth?

The Town allowed the Grazianos to build a Huge Retail Garden Center Complete with a huge Retail “Castle Christmas Shop” on Residence “A” Land (Single Family Homes Only) in the middle of a Residence “A” Neighborhood directly in front of our Family Home destroying the Residential Value of our Home, and 23 Years of our lives as well.  The Town has violated our Rights as Long-Term Property Owners and Violated our Civil Rights, as well as our Right to have proper Public Hearings; to say nothing of endangering our family. They have refused to acknowledge or Rights for over 23 Years! It is time to tell the truth about all of the Elected Officials and Town Employees and other “entities” that operate in the Town; including the East Longmeadow Police that have harassed and threatened us because we would not give our property to the Grazianos and stood up to the Town.

When I went to attorneys about the situation here with Graziano Gardens and their Landscaping Business they operate prior to moving here, I was told that it all appeared to be illegal, and a short trip to court would cure the problem … well, not in East Longmeadow!  We feel we were basically told to sign our property over to the Grazianos, and get out: “If you don’t like what’s going on here then get your f@#king ass out of our neighborhood, you don’t belong here!  Please continue to explore our website and see what you think.  Would you want this done to your family?  Remember if the Town can do it to us after all that we have done to fight this, they can and will do it to any property owner in the town!

We are asking for your help to us get justice for the 23-Year assault on our family that drove us out of our Home. We were driven out of our Family Home because the Town refused to acknowledge our Rights and enforce the Zoning Bylaws of the Town! 

SPOT ZONING & The Destruction of our Family Home

I was told told that when the Town granted Business Permits for a Retail Garden Center, then a Retail Christmas Shop complete with a Business Office the Town created “Spot Zoning” here, not only ruining the the quality of our lives endangering our family, but also ruining the Residential Value of our property! The Town allows the Grazianos to use our Side Residential Street as Access/Egress Road for their Customer Traffic and the huge Tractor-Trailer Trucks that deliver the goods that they sell. This was not only a safety hazard for our family it was Reckless Endangerment of a Minor. Of course, when the Grazianos hire the attorney that was working on the defense of one of the principals in the Bruno MOB Hit, and all your attorneys run away … well, what would you expect? Welcome to the ‘Little Town of East Longmeadow!”

The Business Permits say: Retail Garden Center, Retail Christmas Shop and No Special Permit stating what was allowed has ever been produced for it! The only Special Permit that has ever been produced is for a “Wood Frame Addition.”  Dominic Lombardi (the original owner) had a small Family Farm open from Memorial Day to Labor Day.  Lombardi didn’t sell Christmas Trees, have a Christmas Shop and he didn’t have a Commercial Landscaping Business either … he had a Real Farm with a tiny Farm Stand!

We tried to add a Business Component to our property, we have have two lots and this would allow someone to operate a small noninvasive business like Picano Landscaping on Redstone Drive.

The Town denied our request to convert our property to Limited Business while at the same time allowing our neighbors across the street at 283 Elm Street to operate 2 if not 3 businesses out of their Residence “A” Property: “Complete with Parking in the Rear,” and we have a Huge Retail Garden Center, with a Huge Outside Sales Area at 280 Elm Street and a parking lot 100 feet from our three-season porch.  Yet the Town won’t allow us to do anything with our property. The Town has even hassled us about selling our car on our own lawn!  Used the police to threaten me for taking pictures of the damage and nuisance for our attorney (who have all run away).

Graziano Gardens has made an absolute Pig Pen out of the street, they don’t maintain the their property, the paint is peeling on all the buildings, the tree belt is a mess, dumpsters with trash all over the place! The huge delivery trucks and Customer Traffic smash up our property and the Town does nothing to stop it or compensate us for the costs of repairs to our property!

In 1999 we were told that this was nothing more than a “Land Grab” then our next Attorney said that: “This is nothing more than an Engineered Land Grab, period;” and just recently to quote the latest statement by a Realtor: “Bottom line, you’re screwed. You’ve got a single family house abutting a commercial use.”