This year’s First Night Northampton was a triumph. From midday until midnight, crowds of people swarmed downtown streets and sidewalks, moving seamlessly from one venue to another. In our case, this started with the Expandable Brass Band, followed by Roger Saloom, the Valley Guitar Orchestra, VLO, fireworks, and my granddaughter Lucy Platt’s trio at Bishops Lounge. All for the price of a button. Who could ask for more!

However, if the city plunges ahead with its “Picture Main Street” — regardless of warnings from residents and business owners of impending disaster — a very different picture of Main Street awaits us. Recall Damon Road over five years of reconstruction, the I-91 interchange at Route 5, or the endless upheaval of Route 9 in Hadley (including redundant bike lanes parallel to the nearby Norwottuck Rail Trail.)

The state Department of Transportation that brought those wonders to the Valley is set to inflict the same in downtown Northampton. Picture Main Street will be a jungle of contractor vehicles and equipment, excavations, piles of paving materials, orange cones, and removal of most shade trees in the path of the project. Along with local business failures, side streets swamped, emergency vehicles obstructed, and high noise levels — public events like First Night, Taste of Northampton, Pride Parade, outdoor arts and music festivals, and Academy of Music performances will be endangered. Downtown will be a wasteland to be avoided whenever possible, and the next mayor will inherit a city in crisis.

Rutherford Platt

Florence