Recently, I’ve learned that two fine institutions that have been in our downtowns for long periods of time - Michelson’s art and framing store in Amherst, and the Academy of Music in Northampton – are closing. What do these have in common, besides my personal regret? It’s tough to be in business. It’s particularly difficult if what you are selling has a rather small audience (original art and custom framing, or non-blockbuster films), has a lot of competition (framing and movies), and is definitely discretionary spending. It seems that Amherst has not been able, despite the noble efforts of many people for years, to emerge from the shadow of Northampton on its own as an “arts town.” There are an increasing and interesting variety of art on display; but how much is actually purchased?
Northampton has become an “arts town” through concerted effort over decades by many people, not all of whom live in Northampton (Rich Michelson, for example, lives in Amherst). Much of the art is sold to people who live somewhere else, and come their either intending to buy something they have heard is on show, or willing to seriously consider purchasing something they happen to see.
In December, people in our business community, presented to the Select Board what they most need from the town. The first item was an efficient and logical permitting system for new businesses. The third was to promote downtown. The second will sound familiar: more parking. Jonathan Tucker, the Town Planner, says “parking is the oxygen of business.” That statement has been made before, and it is still true. It’s not good enough that those of us who have lived in town for decades can always find a place to park (if that’s even true); given the nature of downtowns in the early 21st century, visitors have to be able to find a place to park within reasonable proximity to their destination.
People no longer find essentials in downtowns; those are at the strip malls and big boxes. We don’t have to like it; I remember living in downtown Amherst when it had one grocery store, two hardware stores, three shoe stores, two places to eat breakfast or get ice cream, and a few clothing stores, including a place I could buy cotton underwear. But those days are gone. The question now is whether we are going to support a downtown that does more than serve the large numbers of students who are nearby and find it convenient to eat, shop, and party in.
Why should those of us who don’t own businesses downtown care? We can care about the welfare of our neighbors who do. We can have civic pride. And, at the most crass level, we can want the businesses to carry a bigger share of the tax burden.
For them to do that, they need to have more customers, which means more people have to be able to park their cars and go into stores and restauranats. At the Select Board, John Coull, executive director of the Chamber of Commerce, criticized one major attempt to make that possible, the parking garage. He was quoted as saying “we spent so much money to get a park, as it were, that isn’t being used as a park ... It cost so many dollars and provided so few net extra parking spaces.” I was chair of the parking garage committee, and I agree. At the time, having an attractive pedestrian area there seemed like a good idea to many people, and we couldn’t have gotten a more dense parking lot through Town Meeting, even with the support of many town committees, including the Select Board. We did what we could.
But it’s not enough. Downtown needs more parking. Does the current Select Board support it? Do its members support downtown at all, in reality, or just in rhetoric? In this time when all we hear about is budget cuts, what are the town’s leaders doing to improve things for the future? Two seats on the Select Board are up this year, and two incumbents are running for re-election. The degree of support for downtown business should be prominent among the issues being discussed.