Jim Bridgman

50 Years Ago

  • Faced with growing opposition to the proposed TOPCIS traffic control program for downtown Northampton, Mayor Cramer today announced that he will ask the City Council to rescind the vote of approval it gave TOPICS early this month. Cramer made it clear that he is still a firm supporter of the controversial traffic control program, but he acknowledged that the spreading opposition to the project had forced him to make another try at satisfying TOPICS’ critics.
  • An agreement was reached today in Hampshire County Superior Court which will allow the operators of the Sports Farms summer camp on Bridge Road to begin construction. Camp activity is expected by 1978. The settlement provides for moving an entrance road east to an abandoned roadbed further away from the home of Mr. and Mrs. John Dowling at 670 Bridge Road.

25 Years Ago

  • The Northampton City Council last week began discussion of the Community Preservation Act, a state program that allows communities to impose additional property tax to pay for open space, historic preservation and affordable housing. If the idea passes muster with the council, voters will get a chance to have their say in November.
  • A year after first asking, Dudley Bridges won approval from the Amherst Select Board Monday for the site he wants for a Civil War memorial. The memorial would be a structure on which to install six marble plaques bearing the names of more than 300 Amherst residents who fought in the Civil War, 21 of them members of units comprising African Americans.

10 Years Ago

  • A tractor mowing grass on Route 9 in Hadley Wednesday morning struck a utility pole and knocked it across the west-bound lanes, sending sparks flying from live wires. The incident occurred just west of the entrance to the Campus Shopping Plaza and the Courtyard Marriott hotel.
  • An ambitious initiative at the University of Massachusetts Amherst to accelerate data science and cybersecurity in the Pioneer Valley received a significant financial boost from the state on Wednesday. Gov. Charlie Baker awarded the $5 million grant to help establish the UMass Amherst Data Science/Cybersecurity Research and Education Collaborative on the flagship campus.