You may have read enough by now about the cherry trees chopped down on Warfield Place, but this piece isn’t really about that: it’s about a principle of government.
Do we want a local government that listens to local people who are directly involved in what it does, or a government that does whatever the head of a department wants?
First, remember that Warfield is not a high-traffic thoroughfare used by many. If the Department of Public Works decided to fix all the potholes on South Street/Route 10 (which is still quite bumpy) and a group of citizens who live on the street protested at the inconvenience, the public good would come first. Warfield Place is different. It’s a very short street used almost exclusively by the people who live there. They loved their trees.
So we have just been treated to the spectacle of the DPW making “improvements” to a small street, “improvements” no one who lived there had ever requested and most experienced as an act of violence to the place they lived.
There was no public hearing before the event. Residents were informed shortly before work was scheduled to begin. There’s a big difference between “informed” (DPW Director Donna LaScaleia’s word in her public statement) and “consulted.” A resident’s account in the Gazette emphasized the neighborhood’s shock at the news. The subsequent outcry delayed the work: 2,000 people signed the petition to hold off — quite something for a town of 30,000! That was ignored.
The city moved in with a shocking display of force, as if confronted by dangerous terrorists. Here’s how one neighbor experienced it: “We, on Warfield Place, are sickened by the violence of what was essentially an armed attack by the City on its citizens — almost half of the Northampton police force descended on the street, fully armed and wearing flak jackets. There were state police, squad cars and a fleet of bucket trucks.” Ms. LaScaleia’s first act was to rip the religious cloths off the trees — surely a demonstration of anger at being opposed.
And all this in violation of a temporary restraining order that the residents’ lawyer was filing in court, and was being signed by a judge. Why the rush? Why the force? To discourage citizen participation in decisions that concern their streets, their homes and their well-being?
But the DPW knows best! say some. (Not people on Warfield.) George Orwell illuminated this attitude years ago, using Edward Lear’s poem “The Pobble Who Has No Toes.” While the Pobble is in the water, some creatures eat his toes off. When he gets home, his aunt says: “It’s a fact the whole world knows / That Pobbles are happier without their toes.” Orwell concludes: “the whole theory of authoritarian governments is summed up in the statement that Pobbles were happier without their toes.” Substitute cherry trees for “toes” and people for “Pobbles” and you’ve got it.
Marc Warner’s letter in the Gazette displays that theory perfectly. He “fully supports” the city’s paving over Warfield Place and adds, “The city cannot be anarchic, with city government yielding to every loud voice.” So if a group of citizens advocate for something or oppose something that directly affects them, that will be “anarchy” and they will simply be “a “loud voice.” This candidate for mayor is actually promising not to listen to us!
He adds another revealing statement: “Someone must be in charge.” Sure, Marc, you’re the one who decides and never mind what the people who elected you want. Then he turns demagogic: “that person must act for the good of the city and with fairness for all.”
We’re supposed to believe “the good of the city” required that a small street used only by its residents be repaved and its trees destroyed because the ones “in charge” said so? He ends with an interesting redefinition of “fairness to all”: it means “whatever my unelected officials and I decide.”
Is this the kind of government we want?
Communities are bonded by mutual interest and respect. Neither was shown in the Warfield Place horror. This, while the City Council did and said… what? We need a change in the charter so the DPW can’t do things like that. We need a City Council that doesn’t just make noble statements about “Big Issues,” but pays attention to the concerns of people directly affected by city actions. We need a mayor who takes these concerns seriously. Think of it when you vote in the next municipal election. Ask hard questions and demand answers.
David Ball lives in Northampton.