I was in my native Springfield, Mass., and nearby Northampton, for a couple of days (Saturday through Monday), and walking and riding around, it became clear that Syracuse could learn a lot from the Pioneer Valley.

Northampton is undergoing a lot of changes right now, but I'll share a short bit of history of downtown to give it context.

In the mid-1980s, downtown Northampton was dead. There were a few shops open on Main Street, but nothing special. With nothing there, rents were cheap, but people had to travel to obtain items they needed. And then the artists moved in, as often happens when you get a place with very cheap rents. They built a community, they made art (and music). And where there's art, rich people frequently follow. Main Street filled up in a hurry, and by about 1995, there wasn't a vacant store front in sight. If one place went out, it was snatched up in hours.

In the past few years, rents – especially business rents – have skyrocketed, and it's bringing more chains to Northampton. But still, there are very few vacancies, and there's lots to do.

Northampton's downtown consists of about a quarter-mile of Main Street, and then shops and restaurants that extend a few blocks in each direction. There are half a dozen places to buy coffee within three-minute walks of each other; four places to get sushi; at least a dozen and a half independent, creative restaurants; four bookstores (new and used, all independent); and plenty of other stuff.

This success comes from two things: Artists and musicians being encouraged to live there and make a living at their work without having to travel; and the city's welcoming of the Smith College community into the commercial aspect of the city, even though most students live on campus.

Minus a lot of artists living and plying their trades downtown, Syracuse certainly has an active, walkable downtown, from Hanover Square stretching to Armory – especially in the summer, when Clinton square is full of festivals. And while we don't think of Salina Street as a place to hang out (short of the Landmark), there are definitely places to shop and eat.

One of the major obstacles to pushing the envelope a little on downtown is Interstate 81, which cuts off the university from downtown. If the elevated part of the highway were removed, there would be a flood of people from campus walking down the hill and patronizing downtown business – and more businesses would likely spring up along the walking route.

But we really should talk about Springfield, because it has so much in common as a city with Syracuse.

It's slightly smaller – where Syracuse is about the 91st largest demographic area in the country, Springfield is the 109th. Both cities have similar media structures (though Springfield has fewer major network affiliates), and both are mixed economically and racially. Springfield has three small private universities and a community college, while Syracuse has a large private and a small private university, a couple of small public universities and a community college. Both have AHL hockey teams that play downtown.

I rode my bike yesterday morning through my alma mater's campus, and then pointed my bike toward downtown. I hadn't yet seen the Dr. Seuss memorial exhibit, which sits on the Quadrangle, the area between the main library branch and the museums. And while I didn't go downtown from there, the whole of downtown is walkable from there, two blocks away, and it extends about six blocks north-and-south, and two blocks east-and-west. The riverfront, which is cut off by the elevated Interstate 91, is also developed with a park, restaurants, the Basketball Hall of Fame, and some businesses.

And the bus station in Springfield is downtown, so the hub-and-spoke system makes more sense there than it does in Syracuse, which has a transit center in a pocket on the north side, and clogs up downtown's streets using the area as its hub.

I think it's time for the mayor and common council to get in the car and take a little road trip.