La Prensa endorses Clare Higgins
November 1, 2009
Northampton Mayor Clare Higgins has engendered a lot of anger among the voters of Northampton. That's not surprising, given that any hard-working and smart politician eventually gets on many people's nerves, especially after nine years as mayor.
She has said 'No' many times, has seemed tired, annoyed by dissent, even dismissive. Voters, in turn, are now ready for payback.
That would be a mistake.
Despite the gruff demeanor at times, Higgins is also a genuinely compassionate woman who actively engages with Boston and D.C. politicians to secure ways to improve the quality of life of all people, from those who support her to those who don't even vote and even those are gleefully seeking to get her out of office.
The race for mayor is one of substance over style. Higgins is all substance, her opponent represents a vacuous trend.
Higgins doesn't say what people want to hear, she says what they have to know.
That is why we support Clare Higgens for mayor.
Her opponent, on the other hand, has built a campaign on what people want to hear.
Nevermind that just saying No to budget cuts isn’t based on reality, Michael Bardsley has sucessfullfully managed to transform himself into an agent of change, a local Obama candidate, promising to change how things get done in City Hall. This, despite the fact that he has been part and parcel of City Hall as City Councilor since the early 1990s.
Bardsley is running a campaign built on anti-Higgins sentiment, so he doesn't need to provide details -- all the hot air is enough to lift his candidacy high enough so most people do not even question his track record or exactly how he is going to work to keep Northampton strong, get things done, knows who to call, how to handle a dire fiscal crisis and the other myriad of issues that land on a mayor's desk every day, seven days a week.
We are also concerned that his campaign has drawn the more extremist supporters who are thrilled with just being able to vote out of office a woman, especially a gay woman. In a town that is - erroneously -- known for being safe haven for women, despite the killing of an abused woman by her tormentor in front of the police station in the 1990s -- Bardsley should have actively rejected any support from sexist and homophobic voters.
Change is good when it is about moving forward. When it’s all about stomping on someone out of anger, then it recalls the worst days of our history.
Higgins best one for Northampton
By The Republican Editorials
October 30, 2009, 5:00AM
Northampton voters will decide between five-term Mayor Mary Clare Higgins and her former political ally City Councilor Michael S. Bardsley in Tuesday’s election.
Since there is little substantive difference between the two progressive candidates, both of whom began their political careers in 1993 as Northampton city councilors, the campaign has boiled down to a question of personal and political style.
Bardsley claims Higgins has stayed too long at the dance and has subsequently lost touch with many of her middle-class constituents. The mayor, on the other hand, points proudly to a record of successes during a difficult fiscal climate.
Bardsley, 60, a retired public school teacher, has not offered a compelling reason to turn the mayor out of office.
Therefore our endorsement goes to Higgins, 54, who is one of the most experienced and successful mayors in the region. Higgins has achieved much during her terms in office – exhibiting strong fiscal discipline with the creation of a stabilization fund for budget shortfalls; demonstrating an eye for appropriate development by preserving 1,400 acres of open space and 1,800 acres of farmland; and focusing her attention on economic development including the reuse of land at the long-vacant Northampton State Hospital site.
Higgins also deserves much of the credit for Northampton’s overwhelming approval of a $2 million Proposition 2 1/2 override on June 16 – the first override to pass in the city since the 1980s. It is a tribute to the mayor’s leadership and communication abilities that 60 percent of Northampton voters backed the override that will add an average of $189 to their annual tax bills to pay for schools and essential public services including police, fire and public works.
Higgins has done a good job for Northampton. She’s earned a sixth term in office.
Daily Hampshire Gazette
Friday, October 30, 2009
In Our Opinion: Higgins for mayor
Come Tuesday, Northampton voters will choose between two candidates who have each worked long and hard, at times as allies, to make the city a better place.
The one most ready to lead Northampton into a new decade, we believe, is the city's current chief executive, Mayor Clare Higgins.
In a vigorous and fair-minded campaign, challenger Michael R. Bardsley has focused attention on Higgins' performance to an extent not seen in years of electoral mismatches. He is winning support from people who believe Higgins can be deaf to constituent concerns and from those who want city government to open itself to a greater degree of public inspection and community involvement. Bardsley has pledged to keep all city elementary schools open and close the landfill. Single-issue voters will have it easy Tuesday.
We wish to acknowledge that Bardsley, an at-large city councilor with a deep knowledge of the people and precincts of the city, could in time become an effective mayor, and even a very good one. But we believe his candidacy comes up short against Higgins' steady handling of the job's many complexities, chief among them the drive to support city services in a time of falling state revenues. With cuts in state aid to cities and towns looming, Higgins and her financial team are the best stewards of Northampton's finances.
On the chief issues Bardsley has raised, we believe he fails to make the case that the city should retire a leader as willing as Higgins to tackle and solve problems.
Consider several of the issues that have been campaign flashpoints.
THE LANDFILL. No one likes them, but we believe Higgins is giving residents the straight dope on what will happen financially if the Glendale Road site closes. Bardsley's call to use a closing as a moment to rethink the city's waste-disposal practices, including recycling, is appealing. But it would be swamped by the realities of waste production and does not speak to the financial impact for businesses and individuals when trash must be hauled out of town or out of the region. Higgins is right to call for Northampton to solve its own disposal problems, not ship them out of the city. The question to be answered is whether current technology and environmental standards can create a safe and cost-effective waste disposal center on that site.
GOVERNMENT PROCESS. Bardsley has raised questions about how decisions are made in Northampton. He opposed the pact governing Smith College expansion that Higgins negotiated in private with the school's president. Bardsley has also questioned how the city went about making land available downtown for a private hotel. The hotel debate played out over years of public meetings which gave residents fair opportunities to be heard. Though Higgins is faulted for missteps on public access, including the recent shredding of the City Council's executive session minutes, she was saluted by the group Common Cause in 2007, 2008 and 2009 for being an advocate of open government. She worked to put more documents and data on the city's Web site. And in budget season, Higgins has traveled into every city ward to offer briefings to small groups.
In one case, Higgins was slow to acknowledge a problem existed after it was revealed minutes of City Council executive sessions lacked information. In time, she acted to reform the process for keeping and approving the minutes.
CLOSING SCHOOLS. Bardsley takes an ill-advised position in vowing to keep all four elementary schools open. A mayor, though acting as chair of the School Committee, cannot make this decision alone, and not without knowing the financial picture the city will face next year. Higgins prefers to look at class sizes rather than the number of schools, and we think this is a position better able to safeguard the classroom experience for all.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. Bardsley is promising to reach out personally, as mayor, to encourage businesses to locate in Northampton. It's a good idea, but not one that comes with any guarantees, given our financial climate. We question whether, given his dismay over the downtown hotel project, Bardsley fully understands the compromises that must be made to woo new business to the city. Higgins created a stabilization fund that will help buffer Northampton to some degree from local aid cuts. The city is also now collecting local option hotel and meals taxes - a revenue source she long lobbied the Statehouse to provide to communities.
In our view, Higgins has earned a sixth term through her handling of the city's budget, her deep understanding of the moving parts of local and state government and her hard work. That's not to say she's perfect. Higgins admitted at a forum this week she can be impatient. She doesn't give lip service, she's occasionally abrasive and she doesn't sugarcoat reality. As a politician, her manner can be both confounding and refreshing.
But Higgins is a doer and a closer - and deserves another two years.
I missed the Northampton Mayoral debate focused on sustainability issues but quotes that I read afterwards has me optimistic about the direction Mayor Higgins is headed, and unconvinced that Michael Bardsley understands the current opportunities that are on the horizon regarding residential energy efficiency.
Higgins should be given credit for hiring Chris Mason, Northampton's energy officer, who is more connected to the issues that affect Western MA and our city, han many Staff at DOER in Boston. The ESCO project is important and also deserves credit.
Mayor Higgins mentioned her support for municipal financing to make home retrofits accessible to more people. This is excellent news that she is ready to implement this cost effective financing tool for Northampton homeowners (see more info on PACE below) This is truly productive thinking that will be embraced by all when the State makes it legal.
The little I heard of Bardsley's plan for 'greater leadership' on Green Energy issues included ramping up MassSAVE participation and employing a grant writer to respond to RFP to fund renewable energy and energy efficiency projects. In several months, Massachusetts will have the most dollars spent per capita on Utility energy efficiency programs- which MassSAVE is central component of. The utilities charge us rate-payers each month to fund this program. The city will be better served pursuing other options to increase residential energy efficiency- options that will add local jobs, result in deeper energy savings per house. MassSAVE is very important and successful at what it does. Lets let the utility companies fund and energize its outreach and recruitment in our town, and not allocate precious resources to this program when other creative solutions are soon to be locally available.
I like the idea of the City pursuing more grants for energy efficiency upgrades- Bardsley got this right. Indeed Higgins and the Energy Officer should be seeking partnerships with local experts in local businesses and at our colleges and university, to appeal for project specific funding via state and federal grants for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. However, as fundraising to ensure school budgets is not a sustainable option, nor is relying on ARRA (stimulus) funded grants to implement a sustainable structure to provide more energy efficiency projects in the City. This effort should be done only in conjunction with with a broader effort that seeks input from the local service providers such as energy auditors, insulators, architects, solar installers, and builders.
Daily Hampshire Gazette:
City needs Higgins' leadership and knowledge
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
To the editor:
Like many progressive voters in Northampton, I was torn about who I would support for mayor in November. I've followed Northampton politics closely since 1993 when Clare Higgins and Michael Bardsley were elected as the first out lesbian and gay man to serve on the City Council.
Two years later, they both helped a small group of us draft the Domestic Partnership Ordinance and get it passed by the City Council (the ordinance was never implemented since it was rejected at referendum by 87 votes that November). After that defeat many GLBT people got involved in local governance, with Clare and Michael leading by example. So in deciding who to support this November, I followed Michael's suggestion and set aside the personal relationships and focused on who would be best to run the city over the next two years.
The choice became clear. Clare has the leadership experience, in depth financial knowledge and respect from the powers-that-be in Boston that the city will desperately need. I don't always agree with her, but I always know where she stands - and I respect that, as well as her commitment to the city's best interest. Clare Higgins is who we need.
Mark Carmien
Florence
Choice between city's mayoral candidates clear
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
To the editor:
For two decades I have been friends with Michael Bardsley and Clare Higgins. I was Michael's campaign manager and we vacationed together for seven summers in Provincetown. Clare and I are equally close. I served on several boards representing her office. Both are good people, but the choice is clear.
Michael is a masterful politician: He knows how to exploit an issue, and has an uncanny ability to say just what voters want. But his tenure as council president was a disappointment - his peers complained about his lack of leadership, his indecisiveness and ineffective communication style. Only one of his fellow councilors supports Michael - the rest support Clare.
What has Michael accomplished in 16 years? Even his Web site is unsure. Attacking your opponents' performance is easy; providing solutions seems out of Michael's grasp. Northampton needs a strong leader. Clare has done a remarkable job despite two recessions. Northampton has an A+ bond rating and a downtown that sets the pace for western Massachusetts. Her strengths are evident during debates. She provides detailed answers; her opponent provides only negative attacks. Clare has been endorsed by Rep. Peter Kocot and Gov. Patrick. I am proud to support Clare.
David P. Stevens
Florence
Reader Supports mayor's vision of city's future
To the editor:
Michael Bardsley promises new ideas. I attended the Oct. 13 mayoral debate hoping to hear what those ideas are. Since Bardsley has been on the City Council for 16 years I thought he might have had some ideas that he felt the city should have implemented. I thought the debate would be a good time to mention those. Again, nothing. Instead, Bardsley spent much of his time listing the many challenges our city faces. We don't need a mayor for that.
The other topic that Bardsley continues to turn to is transparency. I find his approach both divisive and, frankly, silly. City governments are the most scrutinized of all levels of governments in the United States. We can attend City Council meetings and speak at them. We can watch (and re-watch) City Council meetings and School Committee meetings on public-access TV. We're able talk to our elected officials on our streets and around our neighborhoods.
When it comes to the budget, we hold our mayor to every nickel allocated. For 10 years, Clare's decisive guidance, strategic planning, cooperative implementation and innovative ideas have kept Northampton moving forward. I will continue to support Mayor Clare Higgins and her vision for Northampton's future.
Elan Barnehama
Leeds
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Peter Ives Endorsement of Clare Higgins.
Grateful for leadership shown by Mayor Higgins.
To the editor:
I have supported Mayor Clare Higgins in every one of her election campaigns since 1994 and I support her now. Working in downtown Northampton, I see the impact of her leadership every day. I am particularly grateful for the support she has given to many of Northampton's historic buildings through the Community Preservation Act money for the Academy of Music, Forbes Library, Historic Northampton and the First Churches.
I am grateful for her support of the Downtown Homeless Shelter, the Grove Street shelter and the Survival Center and Single Occupancy Housing Program through Shelter Sunday, and Safe Passage, through the Mayor's Hot Chocolate Run each year. I am grateful for the support she gives Northampton's Pride march, First Night, Four Sundays in February, the Veterans Day Parade and the fact that she can be seen at so many celebrations, ceremonies and community events. I appreciate the way she has tried to handle the tricky issues of parking, sidewalks, snow plowing, litter - balancing the needs for a dynamic business community with the needs of all on the streets.
And I appreciate her standing invitation to the special needs community to come to door of the mayor's office whenever they need help. And of course, she is an excellent administrator. It started over 20 years as the administrator of children at the Sojourner Preschool in the basement of the First Churches. The children taught her well. For these reasons, and so many more, I support her campaign to be mayor.
Peter Ives
Northampton
Daily Hampshire Gazette
October 5, 2009
To the editor:
Mayor Higgins offers leadership, integrity and the ability to make tough decisions during tough times.
This year we faced the largest budget deficit in our city's history. Clare led the way to close it: she cut where we could afford to cut; she saved over $1 million in health insurance costs and she proposed a property tax override saving dozens of teachers, nine police officers, and other critical services.
Clare has demonstrated the capacity to lead time and time again. Michael Bardsley, with all due respect to his years of public service, has not. During the months leading up to the override vote, he stood silent. Three days before the vote his letter to the editor appeared, the first part articulating all the reasons he would vote "no" then concluding that he would vote "yes". He failed to lead when we needed him.
Michael did not take a position during the 2004 property tax override campaign. When he does take a position, he frequently argues one side and then votes the other.
We need an elected leader who will actually lead, who is willing to risk the unpopular because it serves us better. We need leadership we can depend upon.
Pamela Schwartz
Northampton
Daily Hampshire Gazette © 2008 All rights reserved
Daily Hampshire Gazette
A remarkable place with a good soul
A couple of years ago, we returned to Northampton after three years in Albany. This allows me to simultaneously have the perspective of someone who has lived here since the 1970s and of someone who just recently moved here.
Northampton is a remarkable place. Coming back and looking at it afresh gives me the opportunity to think about how and why it got that way.
Over the years, we've known a lot of the people who have created the stores and restaurants that shape the experience of being downtown. We've known a lot of the people who have coached and volunteered and formed groups and committees to do all manner of things all over the city to make this part of the world a bit better. We've known a lot of the people who have used their professions as teachers and therapists and artists and doctors and lawyers and nurses and musicians and authors to make our city and the world a bit better. Our kids grow up thinking all this is normal.
Northampton has a good soul. That's why we're here.
Most of the time I've lived here, my career took me all over the country, so there was a lot I didn't see about the workings of our city. Now I've come to appreciate the framework that cultivates and sustains Northampton's good soul.
This framework is made up of volunteers on 30 city commissions and committees that steer everything from affordable housing to the arts to public works to zoning. This framework is also made up of those we elect as mayor and city councilors and school board members, and those they hire to do the work of a city.
We call it our city government, but it is really a huge web of people who work to sustain our city and its good soul. Every member on every commission is there because they want to do good for our city.
The same goes for every person in an elected position. Most are paid very little. City councilors get $5,000 a year, while School Committee members get $2500. The 24/7 job of mayor is paid the same as the national average for an assistant principal at a school or a 22-year-old engineer. All the commission members get zero. People do this work not for the money but because they want to do good things for their community. The results they've produced are truly impressive:
# Northampton is consistently rated among the top small cities in the nation.
# We are nationally recognized by the New York Times, AARP, National Geographic, CNN, Boston Magazine, Parenting magazine and others for being one of the best places to live. We have been the top community in Massachusetts' Commonwealth Capital initiative four out of the past five years, the top municipality in the state on sustainable development, zoning, waste management, land use, etc.
# Standard and Poor's this year cited our "good financial management" and "good economy" in affirming our "A+" bond rating even during a global financial crisis. We have open hearings and public meetings on anything you can think of - and we even expect cars to actually stop when we cross the street.
Try living away for a few years, then come back. Northampton has a good soul # and it works. In the '60s I used to think that those in government were the bad guys. Now I realize that, at least here, they're our neighbors and they care enough about our city to dedicate huge time and energy to it. There is no power elite. There's just us.
I am grateful to all of you who serve as part of this web of effort that has built and continues to shape Northampton, and especially I appreciate all of you whom we elect and who volunteer to serve directly in city government. Northampton's success is a loud testament to your efforts.
In this era when town hall meetings around the country turn ugly and when some people seem to feel justified in treating as enemies those with whom they disagree, you should know that Northampton is not like that. Northampton has a good soul. I know you usually hear gripes more than praise, and there are certainly areas where we who live here have disagreements, but all of us owe you respect and gratitude for the efforts you make and the great results you have produced. Thank you.
It is election season and there is much to be discussed. All of us, in our own behavior, share the responsibility of reflecting our city's good soul as we do so.
Northampton resident Kevin Lake was a management consultant and ran small nonprofits during his career.
Daily Hampshire GazetteWednesday, September 30, 2009
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Mayor Clare Higgins opens new campaign headquarters on Main Street
Northampton, MA, September 22, 2009 — Mayor Clare Higgins announced today the grand opening party for her new 263 Main Street campaign headquarters on Saturday, September 26, from noon to 2 p.m.
The new headquarters is next to Mama Iguana and across from the Academy of Music. The mayor, who is running for reelection, will be on hand to greet citizens and answer questions. There will be refreshments, games for kids, and fun for all!
Residents may also request a lawn sign, volunteer, or gather information at the headquarters, which will be open daily and on weekends. For more information about Mayor Higgins, go to the official campaign website at www.clareformayor.com. Contact the campaign at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Northampton mayoral contest shapes up: Three-way preliminary election slated for September
By Chad Cain
Created 07/28/2009 - 23:14
NORTHAMPTON - A preliminary election in the contest for city mayor will be held Sept. 15, when voters go to the polls to whittle a field of three candidates to two.
Incumbent Mayor Clare Higgins, 54, 106 Laurel Park, is facing challenges from At-Large City Councilor Michael R. Bardsley, 59, 50 Union St., and Conz Street resident Roy C. Martin, in his mid 60s, all of whom are seeking spots on the November general election ballot.
City Clerk Wendy Mazza confirmed that Martin collected the 50 required signatures from city voters, and had them certified Tuesday.
Bardsley has previously passed that hurdle. And while Higgins has yet to return her certified signatures to the City Clerk's office, she has until Aug. 11 to do so, Mazza said. Higgins said her signatures have been turned in to the registrar's office and now await certification.
The deadline to take out nomination papers to run for office was Tuesday no other mayoral candidates will be on the ballot for the Nov. 3 general election unless they mount campaigns as write-in candidates.
There will also be a preliminary election for the Ward 7 City Council seat currently held by Raymond LaBarge, who is not seeking re-election. Mazza said George Russell, 69, 7 Heffernan St., Eugene Tacy, 158 North Maple St., 53, and Deborah Jacobs, 65, 82 Grove Ave., all plan to run, and therefore that ward race will need to be narrowed to two candidates before the general election.
Northampton's city charter specifies that only two candidates may appear on the general election ballot for any one office. If three or more candidates seek the same office, a preliminary election must be held.
Mazza said she couldn't say what the cost of the preliminary election would be until she finds out the cost of printing the ballots, but for comparison's sake, she said the Proposition 2½ override vote cost about $20,000.
Martin is making an unprecedented eighth bid for mayor. He began his quest to be the city's top executive shortly after moving here some 17 years ago. He often shows up for the public comment sessions at City Council meetings, where this spring he questioned the city's expenditures and voiced opposition to the override.
He has never held elected office. In 2007, he received 3 percent of the vote, compared to Higgins' 59 percent, and in 2005 he was eliminated in the preliminary election.
Martin could not be reached for comment Tuesday, but his entrance into the mayoral fray will likely spice up what is already shaping up to be an interesting campaign season.
Higgins, a five-term incumbent who would like to stay on the job for a sixth term, views a preliminary election as another chance to discuss where the city has been and where it is headed.
"I'm not going to complain about an election. They give people a chance to weigh in," she said.
The mayor does, however, think that it's too easy to run for mayor.
"I think there should be a higher threshold for the number of signatures," she said.
Bardsley, who has been on the council for 16 years and at one time was a Higgins ally, earlier this year announced his intention to seek the mayor's post this fall. He has flirted with the idea of running for mayor over the years, but saw an opportunity this year because he retired as a longtime guidance counselor at Amherst Regional High School.
He could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Higgins and Bardsley have been holding various campaign fundraisers as they gear up for this fall's campaign, and both will likely get a jump on discussing the issues with voters now that a preliminary election is less than two months away.
Daily Hampshire Gazette © 2008 All rights reserved
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