Daniel Wininger was 100% right in his recent letter “We better get Picture Main Street right” (Gazette, Oct. 7). We need a plan that we can trust to work in the real world. Getting the Main Street redesign wrong is an option Northampton cannot afford.
On Oct. 14 some concerned citizens hosted a public discussion at the Forbes Library where they presented two years of research pointing to the value of a trial run for a project as big as Picture Main Street. Then a dozen candidates for Northampton public offices voiced their opinions, pro and con, about doing a trial run here.
Susan Timberlake (running for Ward 7 councilor) received applause for her idea of a “table-top” trial run, an alternative way to test some elements of the design for safety before ground is broken. It would be a less costly and time-consuming alternative to an on-the-ground trial like the one that failed in August 2020. I suppose a “table-top” trial could be a physical model of the plan with model vehicles and figures to move around. Or it could be a virtual 3-D program. Or both. I hope Timberlake shares more details about her idea with the public soon, because citizens are already voting by mail.
I want to support candidates who will make some kind of Main Street redesign trial run a top priority. So we can get it right, and the new infrastructure will serve the city for another century or more. I don’t even want to think about the consequences of getting it wrong.
For the very curious, a link to the YouTube video of the Oct. 14 discussion is available on request from the organizers of the Oct. 14 discussion at saveparadisecity@gmail.com.
Jackie Ballance
Florence