I agree that downtown Northampton needs a makeover, but it is short-sighted to devise a plan without looking at the larger picture. Main Street serves a particular function in this city. As a commercial zone its primary purpose is to provide venues for stores, restaurants, entertainment and offices. People go there to shop, run errands, eat, meet with a lawyer or therapist.

While a plan for Main Street needs to be climate conscious and safety-focused, it has to acknowledge realistically what is entailed in the ways people use the area, and who the users are. 

I am more concerned, however, that the discussion on tackling traffic safety, environmental responsibility, etc. takes place with no attention paid to how the issues at hand are rooted in the city as a whole.

Do we want fewer cars downtown? The plan essentially promotes the alternatives of walking or biking, but there are other options. I would point to the disgraceful lack of convenient public transportation in Northampton and surrounding communities. Why not investigate environmentally sound ways of moving people around the entire city, including to and from Main Street, such as fleets of (electric) multi-passenger vans? Creating bus routes with suitably spaced boarding/drop-off points and offering schedules with frequent runs will encourage usage.

Do we want more greenery? Find areas that can be utilized as pocket parks. Turn the existing city parks into multi-function green space rather than just sports fields for teams. Support the creation of gardens of native plants; promote more meadows, fewer lawns.

Do we want more bike lanes? Consider placing them on less-trafficked streets that will not be negatively impacted by their addition. Compromises must be made by all constituencies when change occurs. But the current plan is narrowly conceived and depreciates the importance of a vital, readily-accessible-to-all commercial area to a town like Northampton. More troubling, it overlooks the fact that the problems being addressed are in fact problems endemic to the city as a whole that will not be solved by a downtown renovation.

Stephanie Schamess

Easthampton

]]>