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05.22.2013 | NORTHAMPTON -- Seth Gregory on Wednesday sits in the spot where a bench was removed from Main Street in downtown Northampton to protest the benches' removal.

(Photo by George Lenker)

NORTHAMPTON — The hang-out mecca of Western Massachusetts suddenly became a hang-out ghost town last week when a half dozen much-frequented benches were removed from downtown's Main Street.

Six of the 16 public benches bolted into the sidewalk were carried off by workers for the Business Improvement District on May 15 at the order of Mayor David J. Narkewicz. They are currently being stored in the municipal parking garage. Narkewicz said he made the call in response to complaints from downtown merchants that many of the benches were being commandeered all day by a few people.

“We decided that as a test we’d remove them to see what impact that may have,” Narkewicz said. He did not say how long the test period would last.

In Springfield, a similar situation is still pending. The city removed park benches from Court Square in 2005 to facilitate the renovation of some buildings on the square. The benches are still in storage, according to Springfield Parks and Buildings Director Patrick J. Sullivan.

Narkewicz acknowledged that the issue is touchy. Northampton, he said, prides itself on being a community that respects the rights of panhandlers and other street people, but a few were abusing the public benches.

“This is an issue of folks using the benches to store stuff,” he said. “They were not available to the public.”

Daniel Yacuzzo, the director of the Business Improvement District, said the Department of Public Works passed the job of removing the benches to his organization because it was tied up with other projects. The benches were unbolted and carried off last week.

“I think it’s a starting place for a conversation about what the purpose of the benches is,” he said. “They’re for the comfort of visitors and those downtown, but they became a campground for the very few.”

Some veteran bench users had to resort to sitting on their haunches Wednesday. Ben Boliver, who has been homeless for more than three years, said he would rest on the benches as a break from crouching.

“Being diabetic, my feet would bother me sometimes,” he said.

David Smith, who lives at Soldier On, a homeless shelter for veterans, maintained that getting rid of the benches is the city’s way of ridding downtown of panhandlers.

“It’s hard enough to find something to do around here without not being able to sit down,” he said.

Sean Cooley sat on the Peacock Bench in front of Skera Gallery on Wednesday, holding a sign that advertised his homelessness. The bench, a private work of art, was not among those removed. Cooley said some panhandlers are more aggressive than he is and conceded that they can sometimes be troublesome. Still, the move made him feel unwanted.

Jena Sujat, who owns Pinch Pottery at 179 Main St., said the bench that was near her store was never available to passers by.

“The same people were on it every day,” she said.

Sujat said she knows people who planned their walking routes through downtown to avoid Main Street and its hoard of street people.

Sullivan, the Springfield parks director, insisted that the benches that were removed in 2005 will be put back in place as soon as the development project is completed. He did not have a time-table for that, however.

"We're hoping within the next two years," he said.

Homeless advocates have suggested the removal of the benches was an effort to sanitize Court Square of homeless people. Sullivan denied this.