Northampton Redoubt

Municipal investments gone bad

As the city of Northampton prepares to enter the bond market to finance its new police station, some cautionary tales seem worthy of consideration. The city plans to sell municipal bonds and pay interest to investors in order to build the station, then pay down the...

Dow Chemical and the world's water

Only 2.5% of the world's water is suitable for drinking. The following video is not an endorsement of Dow Chemical and its corporate citizenship. It presents nonetheless an interesting view of where the world is with regards to potable water, this as the city of...

Area bloggers keeping busy

Northampton blogger Mike Kirby continues his work on the Heritage Bank scandal and has released Part Three of, "The Fall Guys" on his blog Kirbyontheloose. Mike also reports that Doug Kohl has filed with the city for permits for 23 townhouses and a duplex on...

Panhandler X

Panhandling. What to make of it. I don't know, the issue strikes very close to home, or should I say homelessness. It is difficult for me to write about it here, but once upon a time in the mid 1990s I had an in-your-face experience with panhandling and...

Can the can

From the Economist.com: "The idea that graffiti-spraying and other forms of low-level delinquency promote further bad behaviour has now been tested experimentallyA PLACE that is covered in graffiti and festooned with rubbish makes people feel uneasy. And with...

Universal Human Rights Day

Celebrate the 60th Anniversary of Universal Human Rights Day Saturday, December 13, 12 noon On the Steps of First Churches 129 Main Street, Northampton (In case of inclement weather, inside First Churches)Organized by the Pioneer Valley Coalition Against Secrecy...

Notre Dame to return Dec. 13

Hello everyone, We're still hard at work here at Notre Dame, finishing up our designs for Northampton, but we want to remind you that our studio will soon be returning to Northampton to present the results of our work from this semester. We'll be giving our...

A class divided

The following link is to Frontline's, "A Class Divided." In 1968 after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Jane Elliott segregated her Riceville, Iowa third grade class for two days, based on eye color. Elliott ran the exercise each year...

Northampton sustainable

The following came out over the Paradise City Forum listserv the other day. Apparently Northampton is near the top of the heap when it comes to its sustainability efforts. It is not clear what the highest achievable score is, but Northampton efforts are outpacing the...

Considering SPRAWL

Much has been written on how the introduction of the interstate highway system in America in the 1950s induces sprawl development. In fact the interstate highway system was constructed in part to secure the country's defense capacity. The city of Northampton has...

Mr. Kunstler, is all infill good?

Last August Northampton Redoubt interviewed James Howard Kunstler, noted author, social critic and a leading proponent of New Urbanism. He spoke on infill development, specifically as it pertains to the thirty-one unit Kohl condominium proposal off of North Street in...

Your vote counts

PLEASE vote for The Garden: A Center for Grieving Children and Teens, Northampton, MA as your choice to receive donations from a local food co-op! Voting ends on Sunday, February 1st. ONE vote per computer. The Garden provides support to children and families who have...

A mayor's gambit

I've written here before about the political activity that transpires in Northampton's public school system. Northampton mayor Mary Clare Higgins, a former day care teacher with the defunct Hampshire Community Action Commission, makes regular forays into the...

NEAT meeting tonight @ JFK

Can you say, blackball?Below is a letter sent to me by a neighbor via email regarding tonight's NEAT meeting at JFK Middle School. I've registered myself twice at the NEAT website for email updates, but strangely none have been forthcoming. Okay, so perhaps I...

Northampton's new landfill flare

New landfill flare. On September 22, 2008 the Mass. DEP sent to Stantec a Notice of Noncompliance: NON-WE_08_4018 (PDF). Apparently, Stantec signed off on the "complete" installation of the new methane gas flare even though it was not fully installed because...

Valley Art Share

Valley Art Share is a new website created to help you stay connected to the arts in the Pioneer Valley. It is designed for local artists, organizations, galleries and art lovers alike. As a member of Valley Art Share you can: upload your work, connect with other...

Legal services wink-blink

There was another moment during Northampton's last city council meeting where if you'd blinked you would have missed something important. Let's see if you caught it. With the council's focus on the proposed Business Improvement District, the BID, it...