Once again the ABSENCE of a POLICE presence on Main Street would have averted this problem !! ...(full comment)

Get rid of benches because people are using them? Maybe we should get rid of Main Street altogether. It seems like the road is being used too much. There are too many dangerous and disruptive cars on it. Tear it all up! Most of the panhandlers don't bother anyone. They sit to the side and don't even say anything. If passers-by are bothered, it's their own guilt. The worst are the clipboard jockeys. They're the ones who actually get in the way. ...(full comment)

We made one of these for my wife's family. The thing I like best about it is how it can help someone who is new to the family feel more "in" the group. So often, the shared stories are alluded to in just a word or two, and to an outsider, it sounds almost like code-talk. Playing the game demystifies those references and the newcomer feels more a part of the family. ...(full comment)

What a pathetic attempt to address this outrage. Sadly, we conservatives have come to expect no less from The Gazette. A top IRS official takes the fifth in Congressional testimony (http://apnews.myway.com/article/20130522/DA6E7MA81.html) and it's not mentioned. Try pleading the Fifth in an IRS audit and see how far it gets you. The IRS demanded that pro-life groups submit their prayers for review (http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/05/17/congressman-irs-demanded-to-know-content-of-pro-life-groups-prayers/) and it's not mentioned. The IRS asked pro-life groups to "explain their prayers" outside a Planned Parenthood building (http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2013/05/17/the_irs_asked_a_pro_life_group_to_explain_its_prayers_outside_planned_parenthood.html) and there is no mention of it. The heads of the IRS knew of the targeting of conservative groups for OVER a year - and did NOTHING - and there is no mention of that either, in the editorial. The IRS is THE ONLY body where you are guilty until proven innocent. Yet, during all of this, liberal groups, including a group raising money for Obama's uncle (here illegally, by the way) got tax exempt status in 30 days. Some conservative groups have been jumping through IRS hoops for over three YEARS. Funny how the editorial fails to mention that. Now we have IRS managers coming out and stating that the orders to target "Conservative" and "TEA Party" organizations "came right from the top." Again, not mentioned. It's so sad, but not unpredictable, to see such a weak and pathetic attempt to address the IRS scandal by The Gazette editorial board. Can't make their side look bad, ya know! What ever happened to honest journalism? ...(full comment)

Congratulations Hatfield in making the right decisions! Looks like they've finally wisened up to Mr. Smith's crap. ...(full comment)

Well said, Dorrie Brooks. It is too bad that we have to keep digging in to our local pockets to make up for the crazy tax cuts and spending plans in Boston and DC. But what's the alternative to an override? There isn't one, other than to cut the already bleeding school budget yet again, fire more teachers and police, and basically rob from our kids. Our parents paid much higher local taxes than we do, and were happy to do it because they knew that good schools and good government are what this town and this country are all about. ...(full comment)

Funny, there are just as many panhandlers and loiterers in downtown Greenfield yet I spend more time and money there and in Easthampton than I do in Northampton these days. Northampton just isn't very convenient for families. And apart from ordering take-out and buying the occasional high-end gift, it doesn't offer much that I need anymore--at least in the core of the downtown. Given the nature of the remaining shops and the composition of the crowds, Northampton increasingly has the feel of a regional tourist destination with a few (albeit important) remnants of a community center. ...(full comment)

Turn the corner onto Gothic Street and you will discover that there are a dozen (or more) new benches alongside the new parking garage. I was wondering about these... Expensive and unlikely to be used. But there they are. ...(full comment)

I think quality housing is desired by students. However as a community we have to take steps to ensure that we are looking at the health of the entire community. That is what a master plan strives to do; nothing nefarious. In fact, just the opposite. One piece though that often gets waylaid is how to coordinate overall community planning in a fair market economy. That's a stumbling block. I think we should ensure that current rental housing in Amherst is maintained to a standard that enhances our town and neighborhoods while maintaining diversity of town/gown age/youth and household incomes. ....does nobody else see this as similar to the race of the middle class to the "suburbs"? Sounds like "flight" to me. And what happens to the cities, the towns, that are discarded? We throw words around quite eloquently "diversity", "inclusive" "sustainable", "green", talk about "footprints" etc but what does all of that really mean? Why not take care of what we HAVE, improve it, make it desireable; rather than throw it away and build "new and improved"?? I agree that a lot of the off campus housing is not comparable to the standard of living to which many of the students are accustomed nor what their parents want to pay for. It's not what I would choose to live in and most certainly it would be rare to find any of these landlords living in the conditions they "own". We have too many slum lords raking in quite a bit of money from housing that is more convenient to the University....but they've been allowed to own property, profit, and negatively impact entire neighborhoods with student "ghetto" housing. All in the name of "fair market"....one could however liken it to privately-owned company housing. Students are a captive population to some degree. $400-$800 a bedroom for some truly appalling housing and NO money put back into the property. I think as a community we are complicit in this. Our downtown and surrounding neighborhoods are suffering from this. This idea to discard the old, let it deteriorate and build "new" stretching further and further out from towns/cities is a cultural problem. Let's come up with a solution to the problem not just walk away from it and start something new. ...(full comment)

Oh those duplicitous Republicans. I am so glad that Democrats like Anthony Weiner, Eliot Spitzer, the late Ted Kennedy, and of course that paragon of virtue and rolemodel of fidelity President Bill Clinton, were able to take the moral highground, and never succumbed to temptation. It's refreshing to read a letter to the editor composed with supporting facts and figures. ...(full comment)