Opinion

GurujiMa: Walk for peace In Gaza

On Saturday, May 18, the Village of Light Ashram in Leverett is sponsoring a Walk for Peace in Gaza.This walk, beginning at the Leverett Town Hall and ending at the Peace Pagoda, is meant to include everyone. It is a testimony of the heart that seeks...

Sasha Kopf: Vote in favor of a new fire truck for Hadley

On May 21, Hadley voters will be asked to approve funding for a new ladder truck for the Fire Department, to replace the 24-year-old truck that is no longer able to adequately meet the town’s firefighting needs. The department’s aging ladder truck...

Kate Todhunter: Gratitude for NHS event with Holocaust survivor

I would like to publicly express my gratitude to Professor Henia Lewin, as we marked Yom HaShoah or Holocaust Remembrance Day. Last April 11th, during Genocide Awareness Month, Northampton High School junior Maayan Seltzer organized a schoolwide event...

Jennifer Ablard: Improve the existing bike routes

Instead of adding more bike paths that will need to be maintained, how about maintaining the roads for the existing designated routes? The South Street route is more treacherous than ever. Giant potholes and debris make riding (and driving ) more like...

Sam Hopper: Mayor’s budget role not dictated by Northampton charter

I have a deep appreciation and respect for people engaging in the democratic process, having had the honor of serving constituents in western Massachusetts as a legislative staffer. In my role of connecting people with their government, I witnessed...

Hannah Shira Huynh: Public money for public schools

We’re not only students, we’re the future of Northampton. As an 8th grade student at JFK Middle School, I can confidently say a large public school budget is essential for maintaining a thriving educational environment. These teachers not only...

Kevin Lake: Demonstrating the world as we wish it to be

When former City Council president Bill Dwight wrote a column recently to explain the present school funding situation Northampton, I was grateful that someone had put in the time to find and present the facts, the numbers and the history. It’s not a...

Andy Morris-Friedman: The only safe chicken is a masked chicken

By ANDY MORRIS-FRIEDMAN

 The latest medical hoax, the worst hoax perpetrated on the American people in the history of our once-great country, dwarfing all other hoaxes except the 2020 election, is the bird flu.First it was COVID, now bird flu. In the pecking order of...

Guest Columnist Jonathan A. Wright: School spending hike a tough budget lift

By JONATHAN WRIGHT

 We live in a hot time with many pressures on resources at every level. That said, the current budget circumstance in Northampton was completely visible to the naked eye last year and carried warnings for the fiscal 2025 budget.This is due to a...

Arlene Kirsch and Hugh L. Guilderson: Students deserve better from UMass chancellor

We are dismayed that UMass Chancellor Javier Reyes thought his job included calling in police to arrest peacefully protesting students, and community members who were there quietly to observe and support the protest. It seems he doesn’t understand...

Skyler Chapin: Thank you for appreciation, but we need respect

It's a shame that the word appreciation is used for this thing we call “Teacher Appreciation Week” because it's such a horrible word. Don’t get me wrong, appreciation is great. I appreciate a nice day, kind weather, and a movie that doesn’t...

Christopher Lucas: Choose educational investment, not austerity

As a parent of a Northampton elementary student, I respect letter writer John Frey’s emphasis on fiscal prudence [“School Committee must practice prudent fiscal management,” Gazette, May 10]. However, focusing solely on our city’s AAA bond rating...

Renee Denenfeld: Gratitude for a great food drive

I’m feeling much gratitude today for the Northampton Survival Center and our community for a successful Post Office Food Drive. The event felt like a big party with great music, delicious snack donations from local restaurants, well organized guidance...

Columnist John Sheirer: Eclipse eclipsed expectations

By JOHN SHEIRER

During the afternoon of May 10, 1994, I stepped outside into reduced light to see silvery, crescent-shaped shadows shimmering dreamily beneath a mid-sized maple tree. Then on August 21, 2017, I joined my wife Betsy near the Smith College greenhouse...

Guest columnist Gwen Agna: Why I voted for school board budget

By GWEN AGNA

I write, on my behalf and only my behalf, to clarify my reason for voting for the level services budget for the Northampton Public Schools.I did not vote for it because I think there are millions of dollars being socked away irresponsibly by our...

My Turn: Quabbin region will never see any bounty

By MIKE MAGEE

 Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Never again should the residents of the Quabbin region be fooled into believing that they will see any benefits from the Quabbin Reservoir.In the 1930s, the state took the entire towns of...

Frank Higbie: Don’t cancel student debt

I visited Northampton on the first weekend of May and picked up a copy of the Gazette and a front-page article about the pains of student debt caught my attention. All too often I read similar articles about today’s snowflake generation pleading for...

Guest columnist David Narkewicz: Fiscal Stability Plan beats school budget overreach

By DAVID NARKEWICZ

Since leaving office I have avoided the public spotlight, but recent controversy regarding Northampton’s budget and the city’s Fiscal Stability Plan compel me to offer some historical perspective.When I was sworn in as mayor in 2012, our finances...

Columnist Bill Newman: Laurels and the laureate

By BILL NEWMAN

This column is about my daughter Jo, her daughters Kobin and Ramona, a horse named Lady and the U.S. Poet Laureate, Ada Limón. And it also isn’t.Kobin is five, almost six. Ramona is three, close to four. Jo, the girls and their dad, Jo’s husband Dean,...