Like many of my neighbors, I’m concerned after reading your recent story on the plan by mostly unelected local and state officials to radically redesign downtown Northampton. I’m sure these public servants are trying to do the best job they can. But this is a big deal. Even with public “informational” meetings — Zoomed or not — why not put the plan to a binding vote by residents? We live here, so why shouldn’t we actually make the decision?
We can all agree there are serious concerns about pedestrian safety on Main Street which need to be addressed. But the notion that eliminating parking spaces, limiting traffic to one lane each way and adding two bike lanes would also help meet “climate goals” is certainly questionable. Exactly what climate goals? The traffic is not going to disappear, if only redirected. And while I enjoy riding my bike, I’m not riding down a congested Main Street now or ever, and suspect most parents won’t allow their kids to either.
Moreover, the contention that the plan would “revitalize” the downtown economy seems spurious at best. I often speak with visitors to Northampton — day-trippers, Smith College parents, guests at local hotels and AirBnBs. None have ever said they’d like to bike downtown and most said they simply walk there after parking in the municipal lots or where they’re staying. Their most common complaint involves the absence of several music venues here before the pandemic.
What is certain is that for residents routinely driving through town to go to the supermarket, the gas station, or the post office, or perhaps to the malls in Hadley or to work or school in Amherst, the proposed redesign would likely make such trips especially onerous. And what of the trucks and vans that park in the median as they deliver to the downtown merchants and restaurants? Or the piles of snow the town plows deposit there after their first runs in a storm? Let the people decide.
Don Michak
Northampton