A local Emmy-winning filmmaker is hoping to counter misconceptions and spread positivity about Northampton’s Picture Main Street project.
Filmmaker Thomas Draudt created a video series called “EQUAL=STREETS, Pioneer Valley: Conversations On Strong” series, currently available through Easthampton Media’s YouTube channel. Picture Main Street is Northampton’s plan to redesign Main Street to be more people-centric by narrowing vehicle lanes, adding bike lanes and widening sidewalks. Construction for the $29 million project is slated for completion in 2028. Draudt produced and hosts the series, which features interviews with Northampton residents who share their views on why they feel the project will benefit the community.
In one episode focused on accessibility, Northampton resident Amy Sugihara, who uses a wheelchair, shows the viewer how difficult it can be to navigate around Main Street, pointing out cracked curb cuts and long crosswalks that make it difficult for drivers to see her.
“Navigating the downtown is very, very difficult — sometimes dangerous, treacherous,” she said. “I often don’t come to the downtown independently because it is not very navigable in its current state.”
Draudt, who studied at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in the ‘80s, has more than 45 years of experience in filmmaking. He began his career as a producer at what was then-called Northampton Cable Television (now, Northampton Open Media). From there, he shifted into producing corporate video work in the Springfield area before moving to San Francisco in the 1990s to create commercials for companies in the Bay Area, including The GAP and Levi’s.
In the early 2000s, he moved to Boston and pivoted to producing and/or directing TV shows, including “This Old House,” “How Stuff Works,” “The WORKS,” “SuperFetch,” “DOGS 101,” and “This NEW House.” For his work on “This Old House,” Draudt has won an Emmy award and received several other Emmy nominations.
Draudt, who currently lives in Easthampton, lived in Northampton again for two and a half years after relocating from Boston. He learned about Picture Main Street not long after moving to the area because he’s a cyclist and fan of the local rail trails.
“The thing I like to say about cyclists out there is that they’re riding around with money to spend,” Draudt said. “They want to go to a coffee shop. They want to go get a beer. They want to get a pastry. They want a burrito. Why is this so difficult for them to get into the town?”
Through conversations about the project and the town’s infrastructure, Draudt said he was surprised to discover that there was so much pushback from the community. When he was a UMass student, he said he viewed Northampton as a progressive, environmentally-conscious place, so opposition to a project that had sustainability as a main focus seemed unlikely.
“At the end of the day, it’s a climate crisis project. These kinds of projects are being made because we are in a climate crisis, and we need to look at other ways of transportation besides automobiles, which are just choking this earth, so [Picture Main Street] just seemed like a good fit,” Draudt said. “When I saw the pushback, I couldn’t believe it, and it made me want to dig into the subject more so I understood it better to make sure that I wasn’t missing anything.”
Critics of Picture Main Street worry that the project will hurt downtown businesses’ foot traffic during the construction period, create congestion, impede emergency vehicle access, is untested, or is otherwise unrealistic.
Earlier this year, both advocates and opponents of the project ramped up efforts to either promote or change the plan before it’s set to begin next year. Skeptics of the plan, Save Paradise City, has advocated for a trial run of the project and raised concerns about safety and accessibility of the project and suggested changes.
However, Draudt said his research only strengthened his conviction that the project would be a benefit. With that, he, along with former City Council candidate Benjamin Spencer and Tina England, created the “Yes! Picture Main Street” campaign, which aims to counter negativity and misinformation about the project.
Draudt said he didn’t want to just “yell at the mayor” or another elected official — “They don’t need any more of that.” Instead, he decided, “This is my time to give back to the community, start to-do projects with my toolkit that I have — two cameras and a microphone.”
“Let’s do something that we can paint a better and more informed positive picture of this thing [with], and if it helps [Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra], great; if it doesn’t, we still believe in it anyway,” he said.
Draudt filmed his videos in August and edited them in September over a four-week period. His original plan was to shoot an interview series about Picture Main Street in Easthampton Media’s studio, but circumstances led him to a location with more direct relevance to the project: Strong Avenue in downtown Northampton. In the summer and fall, the street is accessible only to pedestrians. Draudt said he wondered how people weren’t drawing comparisons between and what is slated to happen with Main Street.
As Draudt sees it, one of the biggest impediments to public approval for Picture Main Street is a general fear of change, a distrust of government institutions and misunderstandings about what the project will entail.
“It’s really an information issue,” he said.
“My solution to everything is video because that’s what I know how to do. I don’t know how to do a lot of other things, but I figure, this is my expertise. I know how to tell a good story,” he said.
Another element, he noted, is nostalgia for a time when downtown Northampton itself was different — when the Calvin Theatre was operational and Pearl Street was an active nightlife destination.
“I get that,” he said. “I moved back here because I liked a lot of that vibe, but this is a different time. The shops have to understand that they’re not going to get that kind of traffic like they used to, because people aren’t going downtown to buy a hammer anymore, not going down to buy shoes; they’re not going downtown to do the things that they did back when people are saying that was so great.”
In this day and age, he said, “We need a walkable city. We need a town square, a safe place to walk and [to] have other ways of getting there besides driving a car.”
Beyond that, he said, “It’s about handing future generations something positive and well thought out. It’s our responsibility.”
His hope is that his video series will present a positive look on the benefits that Picture Main Street aims to bring, including better walkability, increased accessibility for disabled people, a better look and better traffic flow.
“I want to see families cycling downtown together,” he said. “I want to see them go into Herrell’s … on their bicycles and buying ice cream cones and hanging out in front. I want to see people hanging out on the street with these wide sidewalks and enjoying themselves, and they’re not next to Jersey barriers.”
“I want to look like we belong in a civilized, orderly downtown, that we’ve slowed the cars down and allowed other modes of transportation — primarily walking, secondly, cycling, thirdly, [buses],” he continued. “It’s equitable. It makes sense. It doesn’t hurt anybody. The traffic flow is going to be even better. So I look forward to — even though I might not be around for it — for the day when that image comes to life.”
To watch “EQUAL=STREETS, Pioneer Valley: Conversations On Strong” series, visit youtube.com/@EasthamptonMedia.
