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City Hall
License Your Dog
by Press Release | Mar 10, 2010 11:37 am | Comments (0)
“Mistakes were made, and I made them”—Parking Commissioner Bill Letendre
by Mary Serreze | Mar 10, 2010 11:19 am | Comments (0)
Bucket loader appropriation fails to gather necessary 2/3 support of City Council
A resolution before Council last Thursday to transfer $134,000 from the Parking Meter Reserve Fund to pay for a John Deere bucket loader for the Parking Division ended in a stalemate.
[Video clip courtesy of Northampton Community Television]
Continue reading ‘“Mistakes were made, and I made them”—Parking Commissioner Bill Letendre’ »
Public Session, Thursday March 4 at Council Chambers
by Mary Serreze | Mar 9, 2010 3:29 pm | Comments (0)
Speakers at public comment session at Council Chambers on March 4 spoke on the bucket loader appropriation, the landfill resolution, the maverick subcommittee sex ads and drugs discussion, and other topics. We know you don’t have anything better to do! About 53 minutes long.
Video clip courtesy of Northampton Community Television.
City Council gives preliminary OK to Coca Cola Tax Break
by David Reid | Mar 7, 2010 8:25 am | Comments (1)
A similar, much larger tax deal fizzled in 1997 when Coke missed promised hiring goals.
NORTHAMPTON – A small but significant property tax break for the Coca-Cola proposed plant expansion here is one giant step closer to reality after the City Council voted 8-0 on a first reading for the measure March 4. A second vote is expected March 18.
Continue reading ‘City Council gives preliminary OK to Coca Cola Tax Break’ »
“Committee on Public Morals” criticized at public session; LaBarge issues statement
by Mary Serreze | Mar 5, 2010 3:53 pm | Comments (11)
Citizen Mary Kasper, speaking at public session at the March 4 meeting of the Northampton City Council, issued a fiery rebuke to the Committee on Social Services and Veterans Affairs. (NCTV video) (Related story on MassLive.)
Landfill resolution before City Council
by Mary Serreze | Mar 4, 2010 10:40 am | Comments (0)
City Council President David Narkewicz (photo) and Ward 4 Councilor Pamela Schwartz will introduce a resolution at Council tonight which advises the Board of Public Works (BPW) to suspend further action on expanding the city’s regional landfill. The resolution calls for a public planning planning process to determine how Northampton will manage its solid waste when the current landfill cells will be closed and capped, which DPW staffers estimate will happen sometime in 2011 or 2012.
Continue reading ‘Landfill resolution before City Council’ »
Ward 3 Councilor Angela Plassmann defends her anti-pot crusade
by Guest Columnist | Mar 1, 2010 2:19 pm | Comments (16)
Ward 3 City Councilor Angela Plassmann has asked Northampton Media to publish an entry from her website where she defends her bid to raise fines for public marijuana use in the Paradise City. A video clip of a Social Services and Veterans Affairs committee meeting where Councilors Plassmann, Tacy, and LaBarge discuss not only pot fines but a smorgasbord of law-and-order issues is making the rounds on the web, and has drawn a lot of criticism and commentary.
Here’s Plassman’s response:
Continue reading ‘Ward 3 Councilor Angela Plassmann defends her anti-pot crusade’ »
Drug Sniffing Dogs, Gating the Meadows, etc…Comments?
by Mary Serreze | Feb 27, 2010 10:10 pm | Comments (41)
NM recently uploaded this video to our Vimeo Channel. It shows the City Council Committee on Social Services and Veterans Affairs discussing a range of issues including pot smoking, escort ads in the Valley Advocate, and public access to Northampton’s Great Meadows. It’s drawn a lot of attention and commentary on both the MassLive Northampton forum and on Facebook. Time to bring it back home. Readers, what do you think? Please keep comments civil and focused on the issues. Thank you—MCS.
Hotel Developer: Project Not Dead
by Mary Serreze | Feb 17, 2010 2:15 pm | Comments (1)
Photo: Shardool Parmar addresses the City Council, Summer 2009. The proposed hotel project has been controversial from the start.
The developer of a 112-room Hilton Garden Inn Hotel and parking garage planned for downtown Northampton is saying that reports of the project’s death are greatly exaggerated.
Continue reading ‘Hotel Developer: Project Not Dead’ »
Hotel Project Dead
by Press Release | Feb 12, 2010 4:09 pm | Comments (2)
On February 10, 2010 the Pioneer Valley Hotel Group requested another extension of sixty (60) days in order to fulfill its obligations under the existing Request For Proposals (RFP) and Purchase and Sale Agreement with the City of Northampton. The City has declined to grant any further extension to this long delayed project.
Continue reading ‘Hotel Project Dead’ »
$134K Bucket Loader, Procured Without Contract, Sent Back to Dealer
by Mary Serreze | Feb 9, 2010 11:21 am | Comments (0)
A brand-new, $134,000 John Deere bucket loader, model 444K, which until yesterday was stored at the city’s downtown parking garage, has been sent back to the dealer. The machine, procured by the city’s Parking Division through a non-typical process, has been at the center of a power struggle within the 2010 City Council.
Continue reading ‘$134K Bucket Loader, Procured Without Contract, Sent Back to Dealer’ »
Alex Ghiselin: Let Hotel Project Go; Start Over with New Public Spirit
by Mary Serreze | Feb 8, 2010 2:32 pm | Comments (2)
“It was the old way of doing business and it shows…”
Speaking at public comment session last Thursday at Council Chambers, former city councilor Alex Ghiselin once again urged Northampton Mayor Mary Clare Higgins to stop granting buy-sell agreement extensions to the would-be developers of a Hilton Garden Inn Hotel planned for a prominent piece of city-owned property downtown.
Continue reading ‘Alex Ghiselin: Let Hotel Project Go; Start Over with New Public Spirit’ »
Bucket Loader Brouhaha
by Mary Serreze | Feb 7, 2010 10:44 pm | Comments (4)
Video by Northampton Community Television
Last Thursday, the Northampton City Council discussed a motion to transfer $134,000 from the Parking Meter Reserve Fund to the Parking Division Capital Vehicle Fund to pay for a bucket loader that Parking wants to use for snow removal in its downtown lots. Sound routine? Don’t start yawning yet.
Continue reading ‘Bucket Loader Brouhaha’ »
Be All That you Can Be
by Mary Serreze | Feb 5, 2010 9:22 am | Comments (0)
BPW Votes to Hold Off on Landfill Expansion Application
by Mary Serreze | Jan 27, 2010 9:18 pm | Comments (0)
On Wednesday night after a turbulent public comment session, the Board of Public Works voted to hold off on issuing a special permit application for the expansion of the city’s regional landfill on Glendale Road.
Continue reading ‘BPW Votes to Hold Off on Landfill Expansion Application’ »