Commissioners recommend referring plan to co-name Route 9 'Sojourner Truth Way' to City Council amid debate

Bill Newman summarized language from the commission’s reports recommending co-naming parts of Route 9 (from downtown Northampton through Florence) as "Sojourner Truth Way," saying the idea has been included in prior reports and could be forwarded to the City Council for implementation. "We said... conaming a Route 9 from downtown, including Elm Street and Locust Street up to Florence... that be codenamed as Sojourner Truth Way," Newman said, adding the commission adopted the recommendation in its reports.

Several commissioners supported referring the proposal to the council for next steps. Commissioner Garrick Perry urged that the body agree on moving the recommendation forward and identify council sponsors to carry it. "I would actually like to have a discussion with everyone else here about... presenting this to the city council," Perry said.

Other commissioners questioned whether a co-name would materially benefit Black residents. Renika (Speaker 7) said co-naming could be "performative" and asked how the change would "positively affect the lives of black residents and workers in Northampton." Marsha Morris (Speaker 4) echoed concerns that naming alone could be symbolic without substantive reparative actions. Supporters countered that naming can coexist with other substantive steps and that the city council and implementation committee would determine how to proceed. The commission agreed to ask Councilor Perry to introduce the idea to the City Council as an implementation question rather than an immediate ordinance vote.