Northampton Reprecincting Committee Releases Draft Map of Changes

Reprecincting Press Release for Public Meeting of 27 April 2011 Rev A Reprecincting Map Draft 25 April 2011 Here is a complete YouTube video of the Reprecincting Committee’s meeting on April 20. This video is 2 hours 27 minutes long and was recorded by Adam Cohen. See also: Video: Reprecincting Committee, April 13, 2011; Ward […]

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Arnie Levinson Running for Ward 3 City Council Seat

Hancock Street resident Arnie Levinson is challenging Lisa Fusco for the open Ward 3 City Council seat. A special election is scheduled for August 2. Levinson’s website states: …When my wife Marilyn and I moved to Ward 3 about 15 years ago, we did so because it was unique. No other ward can boast of […]

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Video: Smith College Engineering Students Say Solar Power Viable on Landfill Site

Here is a complete YouTube video of an April 19 presentation by students in the Smith College Picker Engineering Program Senior Design Clinic. They presented their analysis of renewable energy potential at Northampton’s municipal landfill. This presentation is the product of a year-long study that researched wind, solar and biofuels on the landfill as it […]

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Metropolis: Why are predictions on the Future of Architecture always so wrong?

We appreciate Paul Goldberger’s essay in this month’s Metropolis, “Rose-Colored Glasses”. An excerpt: What intrigues me is how little real curiosity about the present most futurists seem to possess. They miss its nuance and complexity. They seem to grasp none of the richness, not to mention the subtlety, of the way in which a vast […]

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Update: Planning Board *Approves* Seton Parish Site Plan, Restricts Oxbow Soccer

Update: On April 18, Northampton Senior Land Use Planner Carolyn Misch confirmed to us that, contrary to the result shown on the Seton Parish Site Plan video below, “the board’s decision (3-2) stands as an approval since it was a majority of the board present.” Here are two YouTube videos covering the complete 4/14/11 meeting […]

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Video: Conservation Commission Rebuts Dawson, Discusses Plassmann

Here is a complete YouTube video of the 4/14/11 meeting of Northampton’s Conservation Commission. This video is 1 hour 47 minutes long and was recorded by Adam Cohen. Highlights: 0:51:45-1:01:32 Members of the commission craft a letter to the Gazette that responds to a March 17 guest column by Alexandra Dawson. She had written: The […]

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Video: Reprecincting Committee, April 13, 2011; Ward 4 Has Excess People, Ward 2 Too Few

Here is a complete YouTube video of the 4/13/11 meeting of Northampton’s Reprecincting Committee. This video is 49 minutes long and was recorded by Adam Cohen. The committee’s maps, documents, membership and meeting schedule are online here. Much of the committee’s work, shifting census blocks between wards and between precincts, may take place at its […]

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At-Large City Councilors Will Step In Until Ward 3 Seat Is Filled

The Ward 3 Neighborhood Association advises: To: Members of the Ward 3 Neighborhood Association From: Jerry Budgar, President and Owen Freeman-Daniels, Vice President Re: City Council Representation For Ward 3 Date: April 9, 2011 Councilor Angela Plassmann’s recent resignation leaves Ward 3 with no formal City Council representation until a special election to fill the seat […]

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