The New York Times has an article about melting glaciers. It\u2019s a complete bummer. They\u2019re melting faster than Mitch McConnell can deny they\u2019re melting.
\n<\/br>
\nMaybe the sea will rise three feet by 2100. Or maybe six feet. Trouble if you live near the sea.
\n<\/br>
\nAnd SLATE magazine published a series by Timothy Noah about the growing gap between the wealthy and me.
\n<\/br>
\nI\u2019m feeling like I\u2019m losing my world. Like they\u2019re telling me: \u201cIt\u2019s my way or the highway.\u201d And I should pack my bags.
\n<\/br>
\nWhich is why I selfishly want to hang on to Great Barrington. With all its blemishes. Maybe that makes me a foe of progress, a short-sighted stand-in-the-way of the future kind-of-a-guy? I\u2019ll own up to my serious shortcomings. I clearly don\u2019t get it.
\n<\/br>
\nI went to a couple of meetings. The first one started with this visioning kind of thing: \u201cWhat do you like about the Town?\u201d the moderator asked us. \u201cAnd now what don\u2019t you like?\u201d
\n<\/br>
\nI\u2019m afraid that what I like will be gone, and what I don\u2019t like will multiply. What I like is imperfection. The random. The quirky. Much like the odd and eclectic group of people you find in the laundromat at seven in the morning. The woman making her weekly pilgrimage with laundry for two and the thick historical novel she reads. The Mexican-Americans who\u2019ve balanced their laundry bags on their bicycle handle bars. The single mom with a bunch of kids clothes.
\n<\/br>
\nWell, Great Barrington\u2019s a bit like the laundromat. Railroad Street has gone from being Barrington\u2019s block of iniquity to its Columbus Avenue. And there is nothing like the view down from the top of Railroad Street as the sun sets on our small townscape.
\n<\/br>
\nWhen I first heard about Downtown Revitalization, I was under the impression that a perfect storm of imperfection made reconstruction necessary. There was the slide show of crack after sidewalk crack, each one capable of inflicting harm. And, in fact, it was only a short time later when someone called out to me from a passing car, and without seeing where I was going, I hit a small pit besides the now-closed Reid\u2019s Cleaners and went flying, scraping my knee. I took it as a sign that Herbie Reid wasn\u2019t happy with how our New York Giants started the season, but it could have been more. Anyway, it was the parking lot not the sidewalk that did me in. So I\u2019m all in favor of patching.
\n<\/br>
\nThen it was the trees. Poised to fall and crush not only cars, but any one of us. And it\u2019s true our trees are in trouble.
\n<\/br>
\nThe trees not only poised the immediate threat of coming down, but the even worse threat of staying up. Too tall, they would block the ability of firemen to get to an upstairs fire.
\n<\/br>
\nSo how about slowly replacing the trees one-by-one over the next few years.
\n<\/br>
\nThen, for me, the most compelling reason to re-do Main Street: the aging infrastructure beneath the street. One hundred year old sewage pipes. If ever there was a good reason to tear up Main Street from Taconic to Cottage, pipes-about-to-burst is the best.
\n<\/br>
\nBut I recently learned that that\u2019s not the case. A recent test revealed the pipes are old but fine.
\n<\/br>
\nSo a project of necessity is really a project of choice.
\n<\/br>
\nAnd that makes a very big difference. And raises a whole lot of interesting questions about not only what we choose, but how we make our choices.
\n<\/br>
\nI\u2019ve been stopped by many townsfolk as I take my walks about town. Retailers, customers, former town officials, and some dreamers. The dreamers want to use this opportunity to think bigger about preparing the town for the future \u2013 transportation alternatives: vans, small buses to lessen the need for cars, a green parking garage, closing Railroad Street to all auto traffic except for deliveries and emergencies to make a pedestrian mall.
\n<\/br>
\nMany retailers are very frightened they won\u2019t be able to survive the dislocation of two summers of torn up streets and sidewalks. They speak of how badly merchants were hurt in Lenox. Some retailers seemed resigned to the fact that this is a done deal. And some are reluctant to speak up.
\n<\/br>
\nI\u2019m afraid to stay silent.
\n<\/br>
\nQuite frankly, I was a bit creeped out by the new improved Lenox. Too neat, in an Invasion of the Body Snatchers kind of a way. As if the aliens captured the form but not the spirit of a small New England town. Last time I was there I wanted to tell my friends it was a trap, and we should run, but the food at Nudel was so good I calmed down. But I never fully relaxed.
\n<\/br>
\nAnyway, let\u2019s speak up before they tell us it\u2019s Their Way & The Highway.
\n<\/br>
\nThe Berkshire Record, Thursday November 18, 2010. \u00a9 Mickey Friedman. All rights reserved.
\n<\/br>
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