Kirkbride Buildings - Historic Insane Asylums Forum

WXOJ-LP, 103.3 FM, Northampton, Valley Free Radio
Community Radio Hour, hosted by Mary Serreze

Interview with Mark Roessler and Mike Kirby, independent journalists, on the Kollmorgen deal at Hospital Hill

http://communityradiohour.blogspot.com/ ... -plan.html

Interesting stuff. I haven't listened to all of it yet, but I'm so struck by how things can always get worse. I mean, it was sad that Old Main was destroyed to make way for a planned mixed use community. But now that's being swept aside all of a sudden so that Kollmorgan can build a new facility with a huge parking lot?

The planned development was so important that an historic building had to be demolished, but not THAT important because they just dropped it in order to keep Kollmorgan around. It shows just how small a role ideals play in politics and city management.

Something that I didn't remember until that CAC meeting is that Kollmorgen as a Military contractor will require a fenced perimeter, probably topped with barbed or razor wire... they're expanding, taking more assembly in-house (thus the need for a larger facility including a parascope assembly tower). Though the plan is to shroud the facility with trees, their fence is going to be a prominent artifact within the local spacial conscious, much in the same unapproachable way the asylum was. If the parking lot will need to be fenced in as well, than those in the city whom wished the asylum to be swept under the carpet will have won a serious victory since the Memorial Complex section will be completely cut off.

Those are the facts,
this is my opinion:

I don't have a problem with Kollmorgen. They were searching for a new location and it didn't need to be Northampton. I really don't like the games they've played throughout this entire process, and frankly I think they would be better served both in location and in traffic headaches by moving further up 66... but I am by no means an expert in this field.

I have a problem with the lack of effort and energy actually dedicated to Memorialization, both on the part of City Hall/CAC as well as interested citizens. We seem to be talking a lot about what is right and wrong with Redevelopment without getting our hands dirty in exploring history, taking responsibility for writing a history for this story so that the city might at least come to understand itself a little better.