Losing is tough. When I lose, the feeling of failure and inadequacy is temporary: I turn to reflection, in search of learning and growth. Losing Northampton’s mayoral primary isn’t just a personal loss but a loss felt by many, challenging our understanding of who we are as a community. Yet I believe wholeheartedly that what we did in this campaign was important and will have a lasting impact.
Northampton knows itself to be a progressive city. We are recognized far and wide as a community that’s strong on climate justice, a safe space for all, and staunchly anti-racist. That’s certainly why my family and I moved here: to join a community that blends ideals of equity and justice with bursts of academic rigor and true respect for the land. We delight in sharing these strong values with our neighbors.
Indeed, for most voters, the outcome of our preliminary election was not an experience of loss but rather one of bold victory. Many felt they had two progressive candidates in the race, giving left-leaning voters a sense of choosing between the greater of two goods rather than the lesser of two evils, that we could simply choose the candidate who had spent more time in municipal government, without sacrificing even an ounce of our progressive ideals.
But as with any city of paradise, there lies almost imperceptibly a danger of complacency. We cannot accept the notion that we are sure to be moving in the right direction — as though change really could roll in on the wheels of inevitability. If we’re sincere about our goals, we must actively and continuously build a future that brings safety, dignity and prosperity for all. What does that future look like in Northampton?
Our municipal budget is the clearest indicator of our priorities. Indifferent to our slogans, signs, and marches, it plainly reflects our city’s focus. One expects to see progressive values in the figures, clear data showing that those with privilege are diverting resources from themselves to those with needs. The truth is our budget is short on that commitment.
A progressive budget would not show over $500,000 in municipal spending on nonrenewable energy, or new purchases of nonelectric fleet vehicles. After making a climate emergency declaration, our budget would show municipal action with necessary scale and speed. And our budget would have more than dollar metrics but intentional data on overall community health.
It would show investment in our schools, a place for imagination and social repair. We would claim the 3% cannabis tax revenue to expand preschool, after-school, and summer programs; raise teacher salaries; and modernize curriculum to include coding, green sciences, and union training at Smith Voc.
Our budget would acknowledge financial barriers to civic participation by providing a stipend for committee service, to uphold the power of representation and practice radical inclusion and disability justice. Administrative codes would allow committees to choose residents to serve as chairs, ensuring transparent processes led by those most affected by our choices.
Neighborhood representation would oversee zoning to prevent profit-driven developers from stripping land of her resources and history. We would correct the terrible state of our current affordable housing developments, where complaints about flooding and mold fall on deaf ears.
Together with regional coalitions we would build a “Housing First” community so that we can provide permanent housing for those facing systemic housing instability. For those facing mental health crises, we would invest in transitional housing like the residential facilities available for recovery that follow a social model, promoting dignity and autonomy.
And finally we would reduce spending on police, as political activists of color have urged us to do for decades and as our own police review commission recommended, trusting the lived experience of those who are most familiar with our carceral and punitive system. We would fully fund the Department of Community Care, improving quality of safety and overall community well-being.
To be truly progressive, we must possess a deep understanding of how race and class greatly impact every domain of life. As such, our leaders must represent the many, not the few — those for whom prosperity, longevity, and retirement are within reach as well as those who can’t imagine living past tomorrow. It isn’t passion that reflects our intentions, and it is not found in amenity: justice is found in bold actions, uncomfortable change, and mutual progress.
As a community, let us humbly and honestly pursue equity, shaping what it means to be progressive, right here at home.
Shanna Fishel, of Leeds, is a social worker and community organizer who ran for mayor of Northampton this year, losing in the preliminary election in September.