NORTHAMPTON — Voters in Ward 3 will see a City Council race on the Nov. 2 ballot between five-year incumbent James Nash and challenger David Kris.
Ward 3 is the city’s southeast corner, running north-to-south from Riverbank Road to the Holyoke town line. The western border is Old Springfield Road, the eastern border is the Connecticut River, and landmarks include the Northampton Airport and the Three County Fairgrounds.
Kris, of Eastern Avenue, is a sous chef and renter. Formerly homeless, he said he is deeply concerned about housing affordability in Northampton.
“What’s important to me is taking care of the people who live in the city now, and that people who have lived here for decades … can continue to live here,” Kris said.
Kris lived in Northampton for about five years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, then spent several months in Southampton during the lockdowns, he said. He returned to Ward 3 last year.
Many teachers in the city, Kris said, do not earn enough to live here, and the city should consider efforts to “limit the upfront cost” for new tenants moving into apartments.
He is a supporter of alternatives to policing, including the Department of Community Care, and earned the endorsement of Northampton Abolition Now, a group that advocates for a reallocation of Police Department funding into social services.
“Having a system designed around care, and actually helping folks, would be phenomenal,” Kris said. “You can’t just say the Police Department is doing a great job. The evidence doesn’t bear that out.”
He said that, even if he loses his challenge to incumbent Nash, “I’m going to continue working on (alternatives to policing) after the election. We have a lot of folks in Northampton who need help.”
The city should spend some of its $21.7 million in COVID-19 relief funding on addressing long-term problems like climate change by retrofitting buildings to make them more energy-efficient and building more solar energy infrastructure. He said frontline pandemic workers, including gas station clerks and coffee shop workers, should receive premium pay, as well.
“People really want to see a change in the city of Northampton, around a multitude of issues and topics,” Kris said. “I’m a new generation, with a different experience and a new set of eyes.”
The former president of the Ward 3 Neighborhood Association, Nash has spent most of his professional life working with special needs students and founded CareerWorks in 2001. CareerWorks describes itself online as “a personalized career consulting service for students with emotional, cognitive and/or physical challenges.”
Nash, of Montview Avenue, won the Ward 3 seat in 2016 after Ryan O’Donnell vacated the position to assume an at-large councilor role. He has served as chair on the Zoning Revisions Committee and the Passenger Rail Advisory Committee, and serves on the Transportation & Parking Commission.
Nash said that his personal feelings on an issue are far less important than creating opportunities for residents to speak out. He said that to raise awareness for issues in the past, he has sent out mass emails to constituents, knocked on doors in the ward and left flyers on cars.
“It’s really important for all of the public to weigh in,” Nash said. “The city works best when you get everybody involved early, at the committee level. Once something gets to the (full) council, it’s very hard to change.”
The Department of Community Care, he said, is “positioned to succeed. It has plenty of money in its startup budget.” The new department received a $424,000 allocation for the current fiscal year; many activists had urged the mayor and City Council to double the funding. Nash said he is looking forward to reading the department’s community needs assessment.
On the issue of housing affordability, Nash said it’s a nationwide problem that can only be truly solved by building tens of millions of new units. The city’s planned Community Resilience Hub offers a chance to connect people with housing and other resources that could improve their lives, he said, and he is “still hoping” it will go in the old Roundhouse building.
“There are services out there, but a lot of times, people don’t know about them,” Nash said. “We’re doing everything we can. I’m all for affordable housing, and new ways to increase affordability.”
He said one priority for spending federal COVID-19 relief money is establishing municipal broadband internet service. Nash and Kris both support Question 1, which would allow the city to take the next steps toward municipal broadband.
“I’m a candidate who gets things done, has progressive values and really works on community building,” Nash said. “Call me. I’ll meet you for coffee. I’ll call you on the phone. I’ll meet you at your door.”
Brian Steele can be reached at bsteele@gazettenet.com.