Leeds Civic Association members have been busy this summer and early fall attending meetings and speaking with city officials about the need to restore the 1880’s bridge to a walking bridge. Ward 7 city councilor, Alisa Klein has been helpful in getting the Hotel Bridge on the agenda at these city committee meetings and the city is in support of a restoration effort.
Since the bridge closed this summer, three newspapers have run articles about the Hotel Bridge. After the Sept. 16th front page Gazette article came out the LCA was contacted by the director of Workin’ Bridges, an Iowa based organization committed to helping communities restore their historic iron bridges. Workin’ Bridges’ engineers are experts in iron and passionate about saving historic bridges. We hope to have the Workin’ Bridges team visit the bridge, assess the scope of work, meet with city officials, and help us layout a step-by-step plan for restoration. In the mean time we will be consulting with UMass civil engineering professor, Sanjay Arwade. An application is being prepared to have the Hotel Bridge placed on the National Register of Historic Places which will then make it eligible for certain grants. A bike ride fund raiser for the Hotel Bridge will take place this coming Spring which will be organized by Alice Baedecker and Stephy Cho. Along with securing grant funding, support from the community is needed. A few fundraising ideas being considered are Hotel Bridge mugs, calendars, cards, shirts, and of course –good old individual contributions which can be made out to: LCA-Hotel Bridge Account and mailed to Florence Savings Bank, 85 Main Street, Florence 01062.
Out on a limb
Baby bear naps on a white pine branch on Grove Street.
Expert Iron Bridge Team, Workin’ Bridges, Inspected Hotel Bridge
The extreme cold temps that continued month after month this winter turned out to be lucky for Leeds in one regard; the Mill River stayed frozen long enough for the iron bridge restoration team, Workin’ Bridges, to get a close-up look at the Hotel Bridge. When Workin’ Bridges suggested they come to see the bridge while there was still ice, the preparations moved very quickly. The site-visit was coordinated and delivered in the span of 1 week. With the cooperation of the DPW and the City’s chief procurement officer, the LCA was allowed to front the portion of the Workin’ Bridges fee for the site-visit, and Workin’ Bridges was able to get their flights arranged to make the visit happen before temps rose and the ice melted. They climbed on and inspected the top chord, got a good look at the deck. Standing on the ice they could easily touch, measure, and photograph the components underneath. The site visit took place on Sunday, March 8th and there was a meeting with DPW and the LCA the next day. Workin’ Bridges will be sending their restoration recommendations and costs to the city in the next few weeks. Julie Bowers, WB project manager, will be returning to Leeds on June 1 for the Workin’ Bridges Town Hall style public meeting. She will lay out their findings and propose options for restoration. All Leeds residents are invited to come to this event and show support for restoring the oldest Pratt through truss iron bridge in the state…. which happens to reside in our village of Leeds! Little things and little amounts matter. Efforts by the LCA and volunteers over the past 5 years made the Workin’ Bridges site-visit possible. Four bicycle ride fund raisers occurred in the past 5 years, organized by Alice Baedecker and Stephy Cho. Several dozen Leeds hats, Hotel Bridge shirts, greeting cards, and mugs have been sold. All of the proceeds from these ventures were available in the LCA Hotel Bridge account when the time was ripe to have the iron bridge team assess our bridge’s needs. Thank you to everyone who contributed in these efforts or purchased an item. The LCA will continue to offer mugs, shirts and cards for sale to benefit the bridge restoration. Other fund raisers large and small are being planned. To find out how you can get involved please email: leedscivicassoc@gmail.com.
Pizza Party 2015 Photos
Photos taken by Pamela Cobb
Click on thumbnail to enlarge.
Remaining CPA Funds – New site visit
The Leeds Civic Association has been in discussion with the DPW to bring Workin’ Bridges, the organization that specializes in helping communities bring their bridges back into use.
The original 2011 CPA funds used to hire Stantec Associates to assess the bridge has a balance remaining of $5,292. Rather than use the funds for a public meeting by Stantec about their findings (which are available for free on the Northampton website), the LCA has suggested to the DPW and the Planning Dept that the money be used to hire Workin’ Bridges to do a site visit and an assessment on the Hotel Bridge. Their 2-3 day visit will also include a community town hall style information meeting about the bridge restoration, a meeting with DPW engineers and the LCA. Workin’ Bridges will also provide, within two weeks of their site visit, a Scope of Work proposal which will break down the repair work step by step and give a cost estimate for each repair. Having this information will be helpful when applying for restoration grants and holding fund raisers for specific restoration goals. The available CPA funds almost meets Workin’ Bridges’ fee. The balance will come from the LCA-Hotel bridge fund. Scheduling details for the site visit are in the works.
Phenomenon in Leeds
By “The Neighbor”
So many things have happened in the natural world of Leeds that one can get breathless – bird and animal sightings to the transformation of the Mill River from 7 inches of skateable ice to ice-free in less than 12 hours (Sunday 1/19). But maybe the most interesting occurrence happened back on an early January eve when several neighbors gathered around from 5:45-6:45 to view something called “light pillars.” These optical phenomenons are made in very cold temperatures when falling ice crystals are present in the atmosphere – needing some unusual weather circumstances to occur (too scientific to explain). Anyway, the setting sun and moon can generate these pillars in the sky and artificial lighting can create even greater, taller pillars. This is what the neighbors witnessed on that early January eve. Chartpak’s yellowish parking lot lights shot way, way into the sky as if they were giant stationary spotlights which changed in texture so slowly. Over near the Overlook Nursing Home (now called Highview of Northampton) the columns were white, emanating from the street lights. To look at them it felt like you could have been beamed up to a UFO. In fact, these pillars often generate UFO calls. Niagara Falls is one place in particular where they are regularly seen. While our Mill River dams and falls are no Niagara, it’s sure nice to know that here in Leeds you don’t have to be honeymooners or vacationers to see special things. All you have to do is take advantage of what we have and step out of your door into your very own neighborhood.
Click photo to enlarge
Mill River Ice Jams
[JAN 20, 2015]
I don’t know if anyone has been walking around the river, with the conditions so treacherous over the last two days. Sunday night I went out into my back yard on Main Street and found the entire river flowing across the rear portion of my property. This is the third time this has happened in the 14 years that I’ve lived here, once during Hurricane Irene, and another spring flood, but never in winter.
In the morning I walked up to the bridge to find a huge conglomerate of ice stuck on the Western bank around the Hotel Bridge, and a living room sized ice berg in the middle of the channel effectively directing the majority of flow under the main street bridge causing the flooding, the entire channel extending around the three parcels is completely blocked with ice. Again in my time here this is a first. We are hoping for a gentle warming and spring breakup, with no large rain events, otherwise we may be in trouble.
– Jason Johnson
Pictures showing the arctic landscape and volume of ice, (pretty) and pretty cool, take a look…
Leeds Bluebirds
A bevy of bluebirds at Sue Carbin’s window feeder dining on mealworms al fresco!
Early winter sky in Leeds
Restoring the Hotel Bridge to a Walking Bridge
Leeds Civic Association members have been busy this summer and early fall attending meetings and speaking with city officials about the need to restore the 1880’s bridge to a walking bridge. Ward 7 city councilor, Alisa Klein has been helpful in getting the Hotel Bridge on the agenda at these city committee meetings and the city is in support of a restoration effort.
Since the bridge closed this summer, three newspapers have run articles about the Hotel Bridge. After the Sept. 16th front page Gazette article came out the LCA was contacted by the director of Workin’ Bridges, an Iowa based organization committed to helping communities restore their historic iron bridges. Workin’ Bridges’ engineers are experts in iron and passionate about saving historic bridges. We hope to have the Workin’ Bridges team visit the bridge, assess the scope of work, meet with city officials, and help us layout a step-by-step plan for restoration. In the mean time we will be consulting with UMass civil engineering professor, Sanjay Arwade. An application is being prepared to have the Hotel Bridge placed on the National Register of Historic Places which will then make it eligible for certain grants. A bike ride fund raiser for the Hotel Bridge will take place this coming Spring which will be organized by Alice Baedecker and Stephy Cho. Along with securing grant funding, support from the community is needed. A few fundraising ideas being considered are Hotel Bridge mugs, calendars, cards, shirts, and of course –good old individual contributions which can be made out to: LCA-Hotel Bridge Account and mailed to Florence Savings Bank, 85 Main Street, Florence 01062.
Pumpkin Party 2014 Photo Galleries
Pamela Cobb Gallery
Nick O’Connor Gallery
Penny Geis Gallery