Northampton feels safer with Sciarra as mayor
As longtime residents and lesbian moms, we’ve had the privilege of raising two wonderful kids in Northampton who graduated from Northampton Public Schools. We treasure the fact that we feel safe here. Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra has continued to expand the welcoming nature of our city. It has not been an easy task with COVID and now under the challenges of the Trump administration.
Our mayor and City Council have amplified these feelings of safety through their open and affirming proclamation for immigrants, transgender and gender diverse individuals in our community. Mayor Sciarra has demonstrated her skills as a steady manager through turbulent times and we need that even more today. She has brought quiet innovations to our community including working with many others in our community to increase affordable housing, creating the Department of Community Care, offering free transportation to seniors, increased property tax exemptions, and a new Climate Action office that decreased city energy use, increased funding to improve our roads and sidewalks, and so much more that often goes unnoticed.
Our mayor also has demonstrated that she cares deeply about our schools. With federal money for education drying up, she has steadily increased the portion of our city budget for schools each year, more than any previous mayor. And we would all agree, it is not enough. Every community in Massachusetts is facing these same threats to public education. She has focused on the long game and is working closely with our state legislators to change the state formula to bring more funding to our city’s public schools. We want her to listen more to the people in our community who are advocating for more funding and the need to explore other solutions to improve our schools for next year and in the years to come.
We want a mayor who can listen and hold the complex and often conflicting needs and priorities for running a small city. We believe that Mayor Sciarra is that person and we strongly support her candidacy for a second term.
Joan Tabachnick and Jane Fleishman
Northampton