Northampton Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra hosted a “Party for the Prelim” on Sept. 3 at the Florence Civic Center to ramp up support and rally voters ahead of the preliminary election coming Tuesday, Sept. 16.
Reminder Publishing photo by Trent Levakis
NORTHAMPTON — Incumbent Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra hosted a “Party for the Prelim” on Sept. 3 at the Florence Civic Center to ramp up support and rally voters ahead of the preliminary election coming Tuesday, Sept. 16.
Sciarra is currently in the mayoral race alongside other candidates Jillian Duclos, Dave Dombrowski and Dan Breindel. The top two vote getters from the preliminary will face off on the November ballot in the general election.
“As mayor, my vision for municipal government is to be the best partner our community can have, so collectively, we can do the most possible for each other. That means taking care of the fundamentals — schools, roads, sidewalks, water and sewer infrastructure, and public safety,” said Sciarra during her address to the crowd in attendance. “And that means looking for opportunities to pair our community spirit with outside funding and address our toughest challenges — including houselessness, climate change, online retail and housing costs — without further burdening taxpayers.”
Sciarra’s remarks outlined her accomplishments since taking office in 2022, including the establishment of the Division of Community Care, which will be celebrating its second anniversary at the end of the month. She added the program has established robust, trauma informed training and protocol that has given the program a strong foundation as they have assisted over 1,300 individuals in that time experiencing homelessness, emotional distress, difficulty meeting basic needs, struggles with substance use and conflict.
Sciarra continued to note some of her other accomplishments made during her term as mayor.
“I’m not going to bombard you with numbers today, you can go to glsciarra.com for that. But we have made historic, record investments in our public schools. We have vastly increased funding for roads and sidewalks, with new paving projects underway right now,” Sciarra said. “We are expanding our Fire/Rescue Department with eight additional hires this fall. We are on the verge of upgrading over 100-year-old infrastructure under Main Street.”
She also mentioned her role in helping start the Climate Action and Project Administration Department to reduce energy use in municipal and school buildings by about 20%.
Sciarra also spoke on the Picture Main Street project, saying the project will address traffic safety issues for pedestrians and bikers, improving wheelchair accessibility, expanding the tree canopy on the street, supporting outdoor dining and other downtown business all while giving the people of Northampton more reason to get out and enjoy the city.
Sciarra said that Northampton is at its best when community members are stepping up for one another and working together to find the resources to turn ideas into reality.
“But you can also see how much easier it is to get something done when state government and federal government partners with us, than when they don’t. Strong fiscal management may not be the most exhilarating part of this vision, but it’s a critical component,” said Sciarra.
“If we do kick-the-can budgeting, making commitments today that we can’t pay for tomorrow, we’re going to blow through reserve funds, not be able to address capital needs or emergencies and be left with huge deficits that mean drastic cuts in staff and services or asking the voters to pass more frequent and much larger overrides that are not sustainable. Strong fiscal management is a shield, protecting residents from being forced to make impossible decisions between out-of-control cost increases and decimating essential services.”
Sciarra added with state and federal support less reliable than ever, that the city must be ready to shoulder more responsibility locally.
Guests in attendance to speak about their support for Sciarra were Northampton-based civil rights field director and grassroots organizer Javier Luengo-Garrido; Executive Director of Cancer Connection Chelsea Kline; and Northampton High School senior and member of the Climate Emergency Coalition and the Northampton Youth Commission Amelia Durbin. Each speaker talked about why they would be backing Sciarra once again in the upcoming election.
In closing, Sciarra asked voters to put their faith in her once again for the upcoming election and that the people of Northampton need to stick together and bring positive energy in the face of much negativity in the world.
“Every day, like many of you, I wake up. I stare into the abyss that is my phone. I want to pull the covers over my head and pretend I made different life choices. And then I snap out of it, I suit up, I drink some strong coffee and I give everything I have to the city and community I love. And I couldn’t do it if you weren’t there doing it with me,” Sciarra said. “I’m asking for your vote on [Sept.] 16 so we can keep doing this work together.”
