The recent guest column [“A walking manifesto,” Sept. 16] by Claudia Lefko misses the mark on several points. Picture Main Street is not an “either or” proposition. We cannot reallocate the funds to local neighborhood projects outside of downtown. These are state funds for a specific project. Also, Picture Main Street puts pedestrians front and center. It has wider and better protected sidewalks and makes street crossing considerably safer.

I served on the Transportation and Parking Commission for several years and sidewalks came up a lot. There is genuine interest in improving the legacy of Mayor David Mustante’s, “the Walking Mayor” investment in our pedestrian infrastructure. In my experience this is true across the city and in every department. I used to chat with city planner Carolyn Misch years ago when she would walk her kids to the crosswalk as they left for school. There is no anti-pedestrian bias. There is, however, an inbuilt problem for the city’s sidewalks.

Over 100 years ago when Northampton was building the downtown as we know it the primary means of transport was walking and horses. We didn’t have the same kind of pedestrian horse interaction that we do now because horses are pretty much “self driving.” Consequently, the city wasn’t planned with sidewalks in mind. The downtown neighborhoods often have street-fronted houses, not massive expanses of lawn, thankfully. The publicly owned strip is narrow. It’s also filled with trees, fire hydrants, telephone poles, and other so-called “street furniture.” In many cases, building ADA compliant sidewalks would mean taking land from residents, it would mean the removal of mature trees, it would mean relocating telephone poles and other infrastructure. In some cases it would mean grading the slope between the house and the street to accommodate the sidewalks but even that might not be possible so retaining walls would need to be built.

Even if we could magically move the state project money to some imagined sidewalk improvement plan it wouldn’t go very far at all. Also, my wife and I, sometimes with friends and sometimes on our own, spend time walking around neighborhoods close to the city center. While imperfect, these neighborhoods are generally quiet and safe. They’re also charming and lovely. We have a lot to celebrate here in Northampton. I’ve lived in a few places but none so walkable as Northampton. We have great department heads and hard working boards and commissions, Planning and Transportation and Parking Commission included. We have a great project in Picture Main Street, one years in the making that’s had many opportunities for public comment. The best thing about Northampton is that our best years are ahead of us. Indeed, save Northampton’s historic Main Street. Save it by designing it for the walker, the cyclists, the businesses and the residents that depend on it.

Adam Novitt lives in Northampton.