NORTHAMPTON — Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra has been honored as the 2024 Elected Official of the Year by the American Planning Association, Massachusetts Chapter, an honor in recognition of the strides made by the city during the last year of her tenure.
“I am deeply honored by this recognition from APA-MA. This award reflects the collective efforts of our community, whose active participation and feedback have been invaluable in shaping our city’s future. Thoughtful, inclusive planning is essential to Northampton’s success, and I am proud of our work to create a strong future for our city,” said Sciarra.
The American Planning Association Massachusetts Chapter is a 1,100-plus member organization of professional planners and planning officials who serve Massachusetts communities in many ways, at all levels of government, the private sector and not-for-profit organizations. Its mission is to enhance and support planning in Massachusetts through education, advocacy, outreach, communication and provision of services and resources to members and the larger planning community in a manner that maximizes diversity, equity and inclusion.
Sciarra was credited through the recognition for the city’s strides in sustainability, climate resilience and social equity with work on an interconnected set of initiatives over the last year.
Through work with members of the community and building on the work done by her predecessors, Sciarra has established the Department of Climate Action and Project Administration, or CAPA, created a climate-focused stabilization fund, advanced affordable housing projects, moved forward plans for a Community Resilience Hub and shepherded the Picture Main Street project.
Each of these efforts has been instrumental in translating the city’s Sustainable Northampton Comprehensive Plan into actionable outcomes, with the Picture Main Street project specifically showcasing the mayor’s commitment to community input on safe, accessible and inviting public spaces crucial to the local economy and environment of Northampton.
“This is the work of years, if not decades, of our city’s planning department but also really in concert with our community,” Sciarra told Reminder Publishing. “It’s lovely to get this recognition but I just want to acknowledge this is really the work of our planning department and many, many more including a lot of people in our community.”
Sciarra also acknowledged collaborative efforts with Planning and Sustainability Director Carolyn Misch and her department in facilitating community conversations. She added these dialogues have been crucial in gathering diverse perspectives, allowing the city to craft well-informed policies that reflect the community’s needs and aspirations to build a shared vision for the city’s future.
“The success of our planning initiatives is also a testament to the importance of a robust partnership with our state and federal government leaders. When all levels of government work together to achieve shared goals the results can be amazing,” Sciarra said. “There are all of these different external and internal pressures that kind of make someone in leadership say, we need to meet this moment and address these issues.”
While her tenure as mayor has thus far gotten the ball rolling on a handful of different initiatives, Sciarra said listening to constituents and what they express about different issues has been crucial in prioritizing different efforts.
“I think it’s always important to listen to everybody in the community. Things are always shifting and changing, and sometimes people’s priorities change, but I think it’s important to hold true to the values that have been expressed by the community for years and years about what they want to see happen,” Sciarra said. “I think it’s important to remember a city has to serve everybody and never lose sight of that. It can’t be necessarily an either or, you have to figure out how you can serve all of the constituencies and their needs.”
