Opinion: Mr. Density and Mr. Infill

A great New Yorker cartoon in 1997 showed two thuggish men standing in a bookshop while the clerk says to the manager, “A Mr. Barnes and a Mr. Noble would like a word with you.”  Today two thuggish men, Mr. Density and Mr. Infill, are visiting Amherst and would like a word with us. Some are welcoming them as agreeable visitors. Both the Chamber of Commerce and the Business Improvement District are happy to see them. Builders and developers embrace them warmly. Amherst Forward jumps for joy. 

They have a premise with which I disagree.

They have a priority which distorts the principles of the Master Plan.

They have a power that supposes their premise and their priority will carry the day.

Their premise … is that more housing downtown, in bigger buildings …, will stimulate Amherst’s economic health and cultural vitality.”

Their premise, stated explicitly, is that more housing downtown, in bigger buildings with ground floors devoted to commercial businesses, will serve to stimulate Amherst’s economic health and cultural vitality.

Experience and common sense both challenge this premise. Amherst’s economic health and cultural vitality depend on its being a destination — for those drawn by its unique cultural and historical character, for those visiting our colleges and university as parents, visiting faculty, and students, and for all attracted by its blend of cultural, retail and eating opportunities. Some of these come to live here long-term — to raise families and to participate in the town’s civic life. Others come for the short term — as graduate or even undergraduate students and untenured faculty. Many of these keep their personal and cultural roots elsewhere. The commercial establishments that rise post-pandemic, just like those we had pre-pandemic, will cater to the short-termed. So will downtown housing. This will be a huge depressant on the kind of downtown we need to bring young families — our most-needed demographic — to Amherst. It will make downtown less desirable for visitors who choose to shop our retail stores, eat in our varied restaurants, and take in a show at the Amherst Cinema, all while parking downtown.  Housing downtown will strangle the Town of Amherst and replace it with the City of Amherst, which is what Mr. Density and Mr. Infill want.

Mr. Density and Mr. Infill have a priority: economic growth. And they have a primitive metric for assessing it: tax revenues. The Master Plan of a decade ago also wanted economic growth via greater density and infill, but it emphasized that these were the means of preserving open spaces in our town. It also emphasized historic preservation and preservation of the character of our community. Mr. Density and Mr. Infill don’t pay much attention to those sections of the Master Plan. Their priority both neglects and distorts the priorities we all hold for our community.

But they don’t much care. Their model of economic growth takes on the worst trait of capitalism: growth feeds on growth. Boltwood Place, Kendrick Place, One East Pleasant Street will be joined by other thuggish five-story buildings, even though none of them has thus far provided what was promised. Their commercial spaces are either empty, home to make-do temporary enterprises, or used by companies that do not generate walk-in business. They are economic failures, just as they are architectural failures. The shadows they project on our downtown streets replace the folks who once walked on them. But Mr. Density and Mr. Infill have a solution. Build more of them.

Others are not so sure. Some who oppose them want to use the “Voter Veto” provision of the Charter to ask voters about the greatly enlarged Jones Library that the Town Council approved earlier this month. That provision was designed to be virtually unusable, so I am dubious about it, as I write. But a much more modest and useful proposal is also being considered by the Council, a moratorium on new construction for six months, until a revised Zoning Bylaw is in place to provide guidelines to builders and developers and, perhaps, take historical preservation and community character into account. 

The Chamber of Commerce and the Business Improvement District have announced their opposition to the moratorium. This is not a surprise. I strongly support it and challenge the Town Council to support it as a common sense measure in the long-term interest of the Town. The Chamber of Commerce and BID should also support it as being in the long-term interests of their members.

As the Councilors struggle with the Zoning Bylaw, they should strive to establish provisions which require density, infill, historic preservation, and community character to be woven together: Buildings and their surrounding spaces define, support, and enhance one another. 

Variety, human scale, streetscape, rooflines, and skyscape are essential elements of planning. 

Street life and small businesses are the lifeblood of downtown. With such provisions in place we can welcome Mr. Density and Mr. Infill to town.

Michael Greenebaum was Principal of Mark’s Meadow School from 1970 to 1991, and from 1974 taught Organization Studies in the Higher Education Center at the UMass School of Education.  He served in Town Meeting from 1992, was on the first Charter Commission in 1993, and served on several town committees including the Town Commercial Relations Committee and the Long Range Planning Committee.