Due to Northampton’s looming budget shortfall, it has been widely reported that Bridge Street Elementary School is at risk of closing. We appreciate that the closure could save $400,000, but it goes against some of the better goals of the Sustainable Northampton Plan, which include getting people out of their cars and encouraging them to […]
Infill
Final Sustainable Northampton Plan Now Ready to View
The Northampton Planning Department has released the final version of the Sustainable Northampton Plan. This version includes pictures. You may download it here (PDF, 1.75MB).While the pictures make the report look more handsome, we were disappointed that they don’t do more to clarify the text. The part of the Plan that would benefit most from […]
Northampton Redoubt: Videos and photographs of a walking tour of North Street Northampton’s Mill Yard Brook and vernal pools
Daryl LaFleur kindly granted us permission to reprint his article from today’s Northampton Redoubt. If you use Firefox and the videos don’t play, please try viewing this page with Internet Explorer.Sunday, March 09, 2008Videos and photographs of a walking tour of North Street Northampton’s Mill Yard Brook and vernal poolsDouglas Kohl granted me permission to […]
Photo Essay: 10 Reasons People Like Trees Around Them; Will the Sustainable Northampton Plan Put Urban Trees at Risk?
In Livable Streets, Donald Appleyard lists 10 reasons people like trees on their street (p.66). We’ve woven those reasons around some new pictures of the trees around North Street and the woods behind…1. They provide shade.2. They make the street more alive by their movement and richness.3. They are soothing to the eyes.4. They purify the […]
Planning Board to Hold “Sustainable Northampton and Big Picture Meeting” on March 6
Northampton’s Planning Board will hold a meeting/working session to discuss how to implement the Sustainable Northampton Plan. The meeting will take place on March 6, 6-8pm in the City Hall Hearing Room, 210 Main Street, 2nd Floor (enter via the rear door). The agenda includes: Review of Sustainable Northampton Implementation Process Review of Sustainable Northampton […]
Vancouver Sun: “Call it EcoDensity or EcoCity –either way it’s a hard sell”
In Vancouver, residents are concerned that ‘densification’ will harm cherished neighborhoods of single-family homes… Call it EcoDensity or EcoCity –either way it’s a hard sell (2/19/08)There have been more than a few rhododendrons come down in Vancouver in the last 30 years — literally and figuratively — and in their place have sprouted monster homes, […]
Downtown house on “dead end street” in “rural setting” flies off market
The Gazette reports that residential real estate sales in Northampton are slow, but you wouldn’t know it if you were the seller of a certain single-family house on Bradford Street. According to the Multiple Listing Service, this home went on sale on February 8 and is now under agreement, just 12 days later. What makes it […]
Scientists Assist Efforts to Build Urban Tree Canopy
Scientists at the University of Vermont are helping cities measure and increase their tree canopies, AP reports today: “The benefits [of urban trees] are many. First, there’s the environmental. Trees cool things. They remove particulates in the air. They’re linked to mitigating storm water flows, which is an enormous problem in all urban areas because […]
Paved Surfaces, Salt and Water Bodies: A Bad Mix
This news item from the February 17 Republican underscores why it’s a bad idea to locate paved surfaces near bodies of water… Road salt taints 9 home wellsTests of private home wells along Route 10 have shown that three in Westfield and six in Southampton are contaminated by road salt, officials said yesterday…All of the homes […]
Snow and Slush Expose Limits of Storm Drains
If infill is to mean adding more impervious surface to the already built-up areas of Northampton, this will increase pressure on our man-made stormwater drainage system. The limits of this system were on display this week, as snow, sleet and nearly 3 inches of rain came to Pioneer Valley. Today’s Gazette reports: Water, water everywhere […]