Letter: Skate Park's Sign of the Times
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To the Editor:
One of the first things that John Barrett did when he became mayor was to change the road signs from "Entering No. Adams" to "Entering North Adams." He felt that because Williamstown that had more letters than North Adams, but it wasn't abbreviated, then North Adams shouldn't be abbreviated either. And he's right.
In speaking with Dan Bosley about this recently, he said that a mindset like this instills pride in a community when it has an identity
This is relevant today because North Adams just opened the coolest skate park in Western Massachusetts and right in front, in capitol letters, it reads N ADAMS. That's not even an abbreviation of North Adams, it's a misspelling of North Adams.
When this was posted on social media recently, two camps formed. One camp made up of predominately long-term, native baby-boomers of North Adams who grew up spelling every word out properly were hurt by it and the other camp made up of a younger generation, some native to North Adams and others not, who grew up misspelling words for convenience sake felt that it wasn't a big deal.
Well it is a very big deal if you lived in North Adams through the dark years in the 1980s, when Phil Grande stated that they should flood North Adams so that Williamstown can have waterfront property, or in the 1990s, when Yankee Magazine wrote, "North Adams — the gateway to nowhere." Then just last month when the kids' artwork got painted over on Marshall Street. And now N ADAMS.
Don't get me wrong, I love the fact that North Adams has a younger generation who are very excited about our city and there's a vibe in town that has never been there. It's also great that for the past 5-6 years North Adams has gotten some good press and it really feels that we're coming out of our shell and all of those mean-spirited remarks are a thing of the past. But we need to keep our formal name of North Adams.
But the two camps can compromise as there is a solution. First off it will cost only $500, (a few people have offered to pay for this), to fix this. A local stone engraver has stated that he would get a 1-inch slab of matching granite that fits perfectly, carve NORTH ADAMS into it and secure it over the N ADAMS sign. Then one side of the sign will read NORTH ADAMS and the other side will stay N ADAMS. It will be symbolic in a way.
This will make the old guard very happy while the younger crowd can stay ambivalent and it won't cost North Adams a dime.
David Willette
North Adams, Mass.
David Willette is an outdoor writer and on the board of directors of the Hoosic River Revival. He was born and raised in North Adams.
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