City Councilor Meg Robbins
Reminder Publishing file photo
NORTHAMPTON — Recently elected At Large City Councilor Meg Robbins is looking to change the way the city communicates with constituents through her new event, “Hey Northampton, What’s on Your Mind?”
The first community conversation for city residents will be on Feb. 4 at Bombyx Center for Arts and Equity and will be hosted by Robbins. The event invites Northampton residents to the community gathering to share the successes and challenges they’ve faced with the city.
According to Robbins, the goal of the event is to provide residents with a chance to discuss ways to improve interactions between city officials and residents and to facilitate greater engagement of residents with the city.
“I think all city councilors should be doing this,” Robbins told Reminder Publishing. “I’m an at large city councilor, so I feel an enormous responsibility for what at large means, which is, how do we connect with the people who live in our city and who have feedback and really good ideas often, who we don’t have regular places for them to be able to contribute that. So, it seems to me it makes perfect sense to have regular gatherings and certainly to find other ways to connect with the people who live here and say, ‘how are things going? What’s up? What do you need?’”
Doors for the event open at 5:45 p.m., and pizza and soft drinks will be served. The group meeting will take place from 6:30-8 p.m. Robbins said she will see how this first gathering goes before committing further, but the plan is to make it a regular community event if all goes well.
Robbins further explained that this event is also an effort to make good on her campaign commitment of ensuring residents a solid role in city decision-making.
“When I was campaigning, I heard way too many residents tell me that their voice didn’t seem to matter in our city. In fact, many said they don’t feel heard at all. I am committed to making listening to the public and following through on suggestions, thoughts, and concerns an essential part of my work in the council,” said Robbins. “It’s always amazing to knock on doors, and all you do is say, ‘hey, what’s on your mind?’ People tell you, and what’s on their mind is often the key issues that are there for a lot of other people in the city, but they don’t know where to go or what to do with it.”
Robbins said she doesn’t think the city has a current system in place where residents can effectively communicate with city officials about issues before the city or City Council acts on them. These community gatherings would look to keep the public more informed and connect them throughout the municipal process.
“It really does behoove us as elected officials to let people know what’s coming down the pike before it’s a done deal, and to say, ‘hey, we want your input on this,’” Robbins said.
She said that she hopes this gathering will be the first step in building a community that resolves problems and in city decision-making.
“I would like to see City Council deliberations always include the questions, ‘Have we met with the residents most impacted by this action? What did we hear,’” said Robbins.
Bombyx will record the meeting and make it public following the session. Robbins said that following the meeting, she will share information about the issues presented, next steps to take to resolve some issues and plans for future meetings.
There is a suggested donation of $5 to cover the cost of the venue, but tickets are available at no cost. Advance registration is suggested. Tickets are available at https://bombyx.live/events/hey-northampton-whats-on-your-mind/.
Those who have questions or want to receive follow-up information after the meeting should contact Robbins at robbins4council@gmail.com.
“It’s not going to be like your usual town hall. It’s a working event, so it’s really going to help people identify how we contact the people who we are looking for information and help,” said Robbins. “Then, be able to identify what key issues are for folks, and then identify other people who are concerned or involved in the same thing, and start building coalitions in wards, neighborhoods, and basically have people be more informed about why things are happening and be able to contribute the way they see it should be happening.”
