On March 8 I read with great interest the latest comments from Sarah la Cour in the Amherst Bulletin. I was ready for the next installment of “BIG” for our little town. I was waiting for the next notice involving more canyons to line our quaint downtown streets.
But much to my surprise, la Cour talked about charm, parks, green spaces, colleges, farming spirit, warmth, and character. What was described was quite different from previous discussions of new four- and five-story apartment buildings and parking garages.
I understand the need for more places for people to live in our town but I have never liked the idea of a town that is so expensive that the workers who service our town can’t afford to live here. We have “charmed” them out. We have built big apartment buildings with no parking, and so the town has made more streets permit only. We have been sold on the need to diversify our “tax base” so that our taxes are stabilized, but of course the need for services has increased so there’s no savings in my tax bill. What about yours?
I do understand that la Cour has a job that mandates the idea of business growth and I understand that time doesn’t stand still even for “quaint” places. As the population changes and grows, change will happen, but it was nice to see this refreshing column, which talked about our town as the folks who live in it want to see it.
We are never going to see much growth until areas outside the downtown are used, unless we want to destroy residential areas close by. Available space just isn’t enough to see much in the way of growth here.
North Amherst is seeing a burst of growth and we will see how that works out. Neighbors there didn’t much like the idea but it is now a reality. What I don’t think (almost) anyone wants to see is downtown canyons of big apartment buildings with first floor spaces so expensive that none of the existing businesses would be able to buy into those spaces.
And so we drift along at the mercy of powers of the moneyed, which I believe tricked us into plans we didn’t want to happen but were powerless to stop. How did that happen? Were these new buildings purposely designed to be ugly. Inspiring charming small town architecture they are not.
My guess is that most of us didn’t want them there.
Paul E. Cohen
Amherst