Pat Goggins’ Jan. 9 guest column perhaps gave us more of the real real story of downtown vacancies than he intended. Listing the many distinctive merits of Northampton’s downtown, many constant over the years, one might surmise that we would consistently have fewer vacancies, percentage wise, than the average small town. Yet, Cottage Street in Easthampton is thriving while Main Street, Noho looks like a potentially pretty smile with too many of its teeth knocked out.
Goggins says that “the prominent vacancies” (in Northampton) “each have their own complicated backstory.” So, what are their backstories? And who are those who actually do make them consistently representative of the unfortunate state of our downtown?
He goes on to write that “with one glaring exception, downtown property owners prefer occupied space.” Who is the “glaring exception?” Goggins himself might better explain why almost none of the many properties he contracted to rent for real estate owner Eric Suher years ago, have been filled.
A column disclosing a real story ought not remain behind shuttered windows of seemingly vacant store fronts; rather than tell us that they were being paid for by cannabis entrepreneurs awaiting state licensing, many of which went nowhere. Are those properties still “under contract,” or vacant? And what percentage of vacancies might they now add to the roster?
And while we’re on the subject of Main Street, has there been a timeline and financial collaboration demanded of Suher, from the city, to fulfill his responsibility to repair the seriously collapsed section of sidewalk at 56-58 Main St. that he owns, and that has been of dangerous concern since last June?
To borrow a line from Bill Maher, “I don’t know it for a fact, I just know that it’s true,” … that the “real story of downtown (Northampton) vacancies” is neither transparent, nor reassuring.”
Lilly Gaev
Northampton