Prospect St, Northampton

This neighborhood is right on a heavily used street, so you hear cars driving by all hours of the day. It is also adjacent to swamp lands, meaning the mosquito population is heavier than in most areas.
There is a bike path adjacent to the road that runs out to Florence and a new one is being built that extends all the way into the center of town. With an excellent bus, so many bicycle paths, and "pedestrians rule the streets" attitude downtown, this is a cyclist's dream. I never use the car, because I can get anywhere I need to be in under fifteen minutes on my bike, and the grocery store is right around the corner.

In addition to the Super Stop and Shop around the corner, there is also a Blockbuster and a liquor store with a vast selection of beer and wine. The hospital is right down the road, as well as a synagogue and a restrictively overpriced YMCA. On a nice day, Child's Park is a wonderful place to have a picnic, but there is a restriction against sports that renders the vast fields useless for a good game of Frisbee or soccer. Fortunately, there is a much smaller park on a nearby side street that has a basketball court and all the space you need for a field sport. Just don't expect to sit in the shade when you want take a break.

The attitude of the neighborhood is firmly planted in the kind of suburban hellhole we see in Weeds, Desperate Housewives, and American Beauty. There is a general "keeping up with the Jones'" atmosphere that feels out of place in a progressive town like Northampton.