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DOWNSTREET.NET (THE PAPER) NOW AVAILABLE

Chamber of Commerce Clout
Behind City Planning Decisions

By Edward Shanahan

Now available - downstreet..net (the paper) at selected locations in Northampton and Florence, including Forbes and Lilly libraries, Bird’s Store, Florence Video, and Collective Copies in Florence, Broadside Book shop, Half Moon Books, Gabriel Books, and the Old Book Store downtown, and, course, Bookends in Florence.

The initial issue of downstreet.net (the paper) contains the complete series of stories that was reported on the proposed Beaver Brook development in Leeds, tracing the odd circumstances by which the land was acquired and examining the city planning process for reviewing and passing on the subdivision plan. more>>>

BACK FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE WORLD
PATAGONIAN TRAVELERS RETURN
WITH PHOTOS OF SCENERY AND WILDLIFE

We were fortunate to be able to travel in Chile for two weeks in March. Most of the time we were in Patagonia, a vast, largely unpopulated region of striking natural beauty with two mountain ranges--the Andes and the Coastal Range--ancient glaciers, dramatic waterfalls, and wildlife that many of us have only seen before in zoos—rheas, condors and quanacos, for example. It was late summer in Chile and the weather ranged from warm, sunshine in Santiago to cold, high wind far to the south near Punta Arenas where the Magellanic penguins live by the strait (and the explorer) from which they take their name.

Chile’s territory is located in three continents: South America, Oceania, and Antarctica. In South America, its coastline is 2,700 miles long though the country is never more than 110 miles wide. The Chilean landmass is smaller than any other South American republic except Equador, but it is larger than any European country except Russia. In the Antarctic, its territory is a triangle stretching to the South Pole, and in Oceania, its presence is Easter Island, the most isolated bit of land on earth.

While we are inexperienced photographers, our digital camera captured some of beauty and majesty of the landscape, groups of guanacos and penguins and a grey fox, that though considered a member of the resident wildlife, readily posed for photos and took, as payment, cookies tossed by grateful tourists. We offer a few of our photographs here. see photo gallery>>>

ownstreet.net has been on-line since early February 2001, and we're happy to report good traffic (over 10,000 hits as of this writing) and enthusiastic response from readers. We are posting new stories and commentary every week or so to make sure that when folks return to the site, they see fresh and provocative stuff. We'd like to see more letters to the editor; surely everyone doesn't agree with us. We'd like to post commentary and features written by others, but you have to send it to us. And we'd like to hear from you (click on "Contact" above) if you want to be put on our e-mail list so you'll be notified each time the site is updated with new material. (To find earlier stories, click on the archives.)

—Ed Shanahan