NORTHAMPTON — Far more people spoke to workers’ issues than any other topic in a series of public forums about the city’s downtown, according to information compiled by the City Council Committee on Community Resources.
The committee heard from about 70 people on the topic of workers’ issues during the forums, according to its report, but that wasn’t the only issue discussed.
Several other topics also emerged as particularly controversial — panhandling, parking and downtown vacancies among them.
The figures, said Councilor Dennis Bidwell, are not “a rigorous, qualitative analysis,” but they offer “a flavor” of what the committee has heard over the past several months.
Since these are only some of the issues the committee heard about in testimony given by some 230 people, committee members said they will need time to go over all of the points and come up with possible recommendations to make to the full council.
“We’re going to whittle down this list to things we feel like we can spend more time on,” said Chairwoman Gina-Louise Sciarra.
“I’m not quite sure how to dive in,” Bidwell agreed at the top of the meeting.
Panhandling, Bidwell said — “because we heard so much commentary” on it — seems to be an issue that warrants investigation, while parking issues are already being attended to at the council level.
“I think we’re always open to new, creative solutions,” Sciarra said of the enduring panhandling issue, which she said is hard to address without treading on constitutional rights.
And as far as workers’ issues go, Councilor Maureen Carney said she hopes to bring a wage theft ordinance to the council this fall. The proposed legislation, which is still in the drafting phase, would likely link restaurant licenses to wage and hour law compliance.
Councilors agreed they’d like to discuss with the Downtown Northampton Association and Greater Northampton Chamber of Commerce ways to bring more events into the downtown area, as well as with arts groups to see how they may be more supportive of the arts community. Both of those were areas people asked the council to bolster within the series of public forums.
Some who testified said the city isn’t supportive of the business community, but councilors said they hope this process will show otherwise.
“I’d like to think this process and some of the outcomes of this process will counter that perception,” said Councilor Alisa Klein.
Councilors also discussed downtown rents, which — based on input from Economic Development Director Terry Masterson — are not high when compared with cities like Hartford, New Haven and others.
Since the issues that rose to the top are not new ones for the city, the councilors said they want to be sure they’re not duplicating efforts and that any recommendations they do make to the full council are a good fit.
Still, councilors were concerned about taking on more information given the mountain they’ve already gathered, and so agreed on making a short list of questions to ask City Solicitor Alan Seewald and others about what might be legal and appropriate.
“We have to ask for some really concrete guidance from the stakeholders,” Klein said.
Amanda Drane can be contacted at adrane@gazettenet.com.