The rumor reached me via a friend who heard it at a poker game: “The city fired teachers to create CAPA,” the Climate Action and Project Administration department. Whoa — what?!
Before I get into the actual history of CAPA, I’d like say how distressing it is to hear of misinformation infecting local discussions of city services. I understand that feelings about inadequate school funding are running high. I understand the frustrations: I’m a teacher, from a family of teachers, and my kids went through the Northampton Public Schools and felt the pain of budget cuts.
But what surprises me — maybe I’m naïve — is that among my neighbors, people would spread such stories when the facts of the matter aren’t hard to come by.
So here’s a timeline I hope will help:
2007 – Northampton is the first city in Massachusetts to hire an energy and sustainability officer.
2008 – The Sustainable Northampton Comprehensive Plan is adopted, and the Northampton Energy & Sustainability Commission is formed.
2017 – The city updates the Sustainable Northampton Comprehensive Plan with the Pedestrian & Bicycle Comprehensive Plan.
2018 – The City Council endorses the goals of a 2030 target for carbon neutrality in city operations and a 2050 target for net zero carbon emissions citywide
2021 – The city further updates the plan with the Climate Resilience and Regeneration Plan.
2022 – Mayor Sciarra is sworn in.
2023 – The mayor hires the city’s first Climate Action and Project Administration director. Two existing staff positions (the energy and sustainability officer and the chief procurement officer) will now report there, forming the CAPA Department, to help the city achieve its climate goals.
2023 – Funds from the American Rescue Plan Act are used to create a Climate Change Mitigation Stabilization Fund.
2024 – Dr. Ben Weil is named CAPA director.
Recently, on June 4, Dr. Weil made a presentation to the City Council Committee on Finance. At a time of so much stress on city finances, and such uncertainty nationwide about our economic and financial future, I found his report encouraging. A great deal of progress is being made at relatively little cost to city taxpayers.
I could see from the graphs in Dr. Weil’s presentation that little of the spending on capital projects in fiscal year 2025 consisted of city tax dollars. For most projects, most (and sometimes all!) of the funding — for example, for new EV chargers, City Hall weatherization, and projects at Forbes Library and Smith Voc — came from grants, the public utilities, and/or zero-percent loans being paid off in energy savings.
Now, of course there were city tax dollars involved, too. But they amounted to no more than 25% of the overall spending. That seems like a pretty good deal to me.
Those dollars went primarily to the Leeds School building. Even there, most of the project was grant-funded, with the city contributing only 35% of the total. Replacing the old boilers meant cutting the use of gas, greatly reducing carbon emissions, and saving about $23,000 a year in energy costs. It also means kids not having to sweat through June and September in overheated rooms that sap their energy and dull their wits. Most will have high-efficiency heat pumps cooling their classrooms.
It’s great to know that we have CAPA staff dedicated to bringing much-needed funds into the city — and that they’ve been so successful at it. Their task, of course, will become more difficult with the changes happening in the federal government. Protecting Americans from climate threats and helping us recover from weather-related disasters are, alas, no longer federal priorities.
What has not changed is the pressing need to cope with a warming planet. Here in Northampton, that means longer, hotter, more humid summers. Atypical winters. An increased risk of both drought (with possible wildfires) and heavier rainfalls (with more flooding). We know what’s coming. It has already begun. Let’s not get caught unprepared.
For now, the commonwealth, cities and towns, and everyday citizens need to be the leaders. It’s on us to protect local residents, local farms and other businesses, local infrastructure, and the local environment. We need to do this here and now, for ourselves and our neighbors, but especially for Northampton’s kids, in our role as stewards of the world they will inherit.
Linda Butler volunteers with the Northampton Climate Emergency Coalition.