We all need housing; Northampton needs a lot of housing. The people who work here should be able to afford to live here, particularly the people that make our city function. My work on the Housing Partnership has shown me what can be done by city council to promote and grow affordable housing. If elected, I would work to:

• Support initiatives to build more affordable, workforce, and middle-cost housing, and support existing affordable housing

• Create a municipal rental listing service, allowing renters to apply to available units at no cost

• Offer municipally-owned high-speed internet, and improve existing municipal services like water, sewers, roads, sidewalks, and schools

• Ensure that legislation banning broker's fees from renters is honored, and enact more support for renters

• Hold public housing officials accountable to those living there

Walk, wheel, drive, bus, or bike–we all need to get around. Roads and sidewalks need to be well-maintained, as a matter of accessibility, of justice, and of practicality. Ward 3 in particular has suffered recent and ongoing pain points surrounding sidewalks and snow clearing. I want to push the city to:

• Repave and renovate sidewalks, particularly in areas hit hard by tree roots and frost heaves

• Improve snow clearing, particularly on curb cuts, at bus stops, and on bike trails, so people aren’t trapped in their homes after a storm

• Provide easy and clear ways to report issues or problems, and communicate updates on what is being worked on and reports about what has been done

• Fully fund and staff the DPW

A government should serve its people, doing things at a scale that individuals can’t. City council is no exception. Their decisions should support the common good, be easy to participate in, and respond to the needs of the people who live and work here. From my experience as a citizen engaging with city government, there are several gaps in usability and transparency that could be patched. To that end, I plan to:

• Follow up on city studies to implement changes recommended by studies and data, including affordable housing, climate resilience, and policing

• Push on home rule petitions that have gotten stalled at the state level, including enacting ranked choice voting, and allowing non-citizens and 16- and 17-year-olds to vote in municipal elections

  • Initially, banning broker's fees was listed here; this has been enacted statewide as of the latest state budget!

• Ensure constituents reports of issues are documented and responded to

• Fully fund the city budget before funding capital improvements

• Modify the charter to allow city council to make increases, not just cuts, to the budget

• Support government workers and unions, including living wage with cost-of-living increases, rights to organize, and rights to strike

• Act as a conduit of information to inform you of what city council is doing

I hope I don’t have to elaborate on the importance of supporting kids, their education, and their wellbeing. Critical to that is supporting school employees. Teachers and staff can’t bring their full care and attention to kids when they’re worried this will be the year their position is axed, or they need to pick up a second job to make enough money to get by. I've worked as educational staff, struggling with low budgets and administration that did not respect my perspective; I don't want that to be the case in our schools. For these reasons, I want to:

• Fully and strongly fund our public schools, providing a living wage to teachers, support staff, and everyone who works there

• End the pattern of yearly cuts to staffing, and work to restore cut positions

• Advocate to and with our state and federal representatives to improve funding coming from the state and nation

• Legalize organizing rights, such as right to strike, that are currently not allowed by law

The shops, restaurants, venues, and other businesses downtown bring revenue to the city and joy to our lives. And I have a personal stake: I work there. With a thriving downtown, the city does better, as do the people in it. In order to encourage that success, I plan to:

• Fight against storefronts remaining vacant, through methods like imposing vacancy taxes to commercial landlords and using those funds to provide grants to local businesses

• Give extra support to businesses during the Picture Main Street process of tearing up the street to fix the sewers and improving the layout of downtown

• Maintain green spaces, including thoughtful tree planting and pruning, municipally-funded clean-ups, and access to clean green spaces

Ward 3 is too big for one person to know all of; I need to hear from you to know what I’m missing. Similarly, you need to know what I’m working on, and what the city at large is doing. So I'm going to do the following to keep those lines of communication open:

• Send out a monthly newsletter, updating you on my progress and what’s coming next

• Update this website, making note of successes, setbacks, and changes

• Hold regular open office hours in a free-to-access space

• Set up meetings at other times and locations on request

• Respond to emails, texts, and phone messages within two days (and let you know if that response will take longer)

• Stand by my principles, and keep my mind open to change