NORTHAMPTON — Mayor David Narkewicz and challenger John Riley agreed on a number of issues at their first and only debate Wednesday at JFK Middle School.
Both expressed pride in Northampton’s status as a sanctuary city. Both expressed concern with the possible negative effects of the soon-to-be-opened MGM Springfield casino. And both were supportive of the prospect of the recreational marijuana industry coming into Northampton.
At the same time, Riley also threw a number of rhetorical sharp elbows in the direction of the mayor, although Narkewicz refused to respond in kind, instead sticking to his administration’s goals and accomplishments.
The debate featured questions from the audience as well as panelists Stanley Moulton, the Daily Hampshire Gazette’s opinion editor, Natalia Munoz of radio station WHMP, and Jean Cherdack of the League of Women Voters of Northampton. Candidates chose to forgo opening statements to allow more time for questions, although both gave closing ones.
This is the second time Northampton will elect its mayor to a four-year term, a change that was ushered in under the charter change of 2012.
Narkewicz is running for his third term as mayor. Riley, the owner of Gabriel Books, is running for elected office for the first time. However, he did spearhead the unsuccessful campaign to overturn the city’s stormwater fee, an issue that he made note of in the debate.
“I was on the receiving end of the government,” he said.
He also said that the city solicitor had denied voters the opportunity to vote on the stormwater fee, and that the solicitor answers to the mayor.
“It was an arbitrary decision to deny us the vote,” Riley said.
Both candidates expressed their support for the Community Preservation Act.
“We’ve been able to really work on a host of projects,” Narkewicz said.
Riley, however, criticized the city’s use of CPA funding for Pulaski Park renovations, which he likened to a “glorious bus stop.”
He said he liked the idea of preserving open land with the funds, as well as spending the money on historic preservation.
A notable point of disagreement between the candidates involved construction of a roundabout at the Coolidge Bridge.
“I’m in favor of a roundabout,” Narkewicz said.
Riley, however, subscribed to a different view.
“I think it sounds like a nightmare,” he said, saying that he felt there would be too much traffic for such a structure.
The $50,000 legal dispute between the city and Forbes Library over the library’s independence from municipal control was another area of disagreement.
“No,” said Riley, when asked if spending the money was worth it.
“We support its (the library’s) independence,” he said. “We consider the Forbes Library to be the crown jewel of Northampton.”
Narkewicz, meanwhile, said his administration had been looking out for the taxpayers, who he said provide 95 percent of the library’s funding, and that the city had been asking for more transparency. He also said the city hadn’t tried to make the library a city department, but was seeking an operating agreement.
“At the end of the day we got an operating agreement,” he said.
It was also during Narkewicz’s answer to the library question that Riley asked the moderator to more strictly enforce the time limits for speaking.
On the issue of more security cameras downtown, Riley was adamant that he didn’t see a need for them and that he didn’t support their installation.
“This came out of nowhere,” he said. “There is no crime wave in Northampton.”
He also said that he didn’t support police body cameras.
Narkewicz, meanwhile, said the debate surrounding downtown surveillance had shown the strength of Northampton’s democracy.
“Our governmental system here in Northampton works really well,” he said, noting that other communities had just put up cameras without public input.
He also said that a ban was not necessary, which the City Council is contemplating, as any new cameras would have to be funded by the City Council, and signed off on by the city’s executive branch.
The election is Nov. 7.