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Just Like You, We Call This Home. 25 University Drive • Amherst, MA 01002 • 413.549.4971 • encharter.com the end of last year and the Town is now em- barking on developing a way-finding program to make our downtown easier to navigate,” Kravitz adds. “Right now, if you’re in the center of town, it’s not clear where Emily Dickinson’s House is; it’s not obvious how to get to the Eric Carle Museum, or the Yiddish Book Museum. So, we’re going through a process to design way-finding signage to help people when they’re in town. If the internet on your phone goes down, you’ll be able to figure out how to get somewhere.” Bockelman goes on to update us on some more projects: “The elementary school has been put on hold for the time being as we sort through additional options.We are happy the library has been added to the waiting list for State funding in future years. The Triangle Street roundabout, a major reconfiguration of a major downtown intersection is expected to be finished before Labor Day. Two other capital projects are still working their way through the planning process: a new fire station that would replace the central fire station in the center of town, and a new public works building. Those are still on track to get funding in outgoing years.We have committed significant public in- vestment in a couple of our parks with a major investment in our Town Common. It needs a lot of attention and the town has allocated funding to begin the process of rehabbing it. It’s a very large space in the center of town that hosts AMHERST, MASSACHUSETTS events every weekend. It’s a beloved, historic part of the fabric of our community.” “So, this speaks to a tremendous amount of development activity in both the residential and economic areas of the town,” Bockelman proffers. “Much of it is driven by the quality of the town, and the strength of our location, and having the University of Massachusetts, the flagship campus of the State University system, here in town.” For the long-term, Bockelman says that be- cause Amherst has always preserved and in- vested in its agricultural land, with many area farms still operating, future development will be concentrated in the village centers and downtown. But first, the new Town Manager wants to get people talking. “Next week, we’re doing a forum on improving parking, looking at different approaches to expand parking op- tions in town,” he reports. “The week after that, we’re hosting a forum on how we want the downtown to look. That could result in revising the zoning or, at least, having an agreed-upon conception of what we see the future of the downtown as being.” Bockelman believes strongly that those types of conversations are necessary. “I think there are competing visions of what the downtown should be. Are we a traditional college town, a burgeoning city, or something in between?