NORTHAMPTON — Dan Breindel’s candidacy for mayor started with a singular neighborhood problem.
A resident of Phillips Place near downtown, Breindel took issue with plans by the O’Connell Development Group of Holyoke to build a five-story, 54-unit apartment complex across the street from his home. When Breindel reached out to the city to express his concerns, he said he felt ignored.
“It became very clear very early on that the city wasn’t interested in helping,” Breindel said in an interview. “The more people I talked to, the more I met people who had this exact same situation and had not gotten any help … it became clear my experience was far from an isolated incident.”
Breindel began tuning into city council meetings and speaking during public comment periods, often joining in with others who spoke about the various discontents they had with the city. Then, on June 18, Breindel announced during a council meeting he intended to run for mayor, saying the city needed someone who would listen more to city residents.
In announcing his campaign, Breindel becomes the fourth mayoral candidate this election season, joining Jillian Duclos, Dave Dombrowski, and incumbent Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra.
“We need somebody who is running for mayor that is saying, we need to reestablish this feedback loop,” Breindel said during the meeting. “I would love your support. I would love your help to fix this city.”
Originally from New York, Breindel worked in broadcasting at several local radio stations in Brooklyn and Westchester County, as well as an artist and entrepreneur, before moving to Northampton in 2019. Breindel credited his time working in radio for fostering his interest for local politics and government.
“We’re so nationalized these days with how we appreciate and consume news, people don’t realize these issues are just as affecting on the local level and can be changed and managed where we can have more of a voice,” Breindel said.
In addition to opposing the O’Connell development, Breindel has also taken a position on other hot-button issues within the city, telling the Gazette in an interview that he opposes the city’s Picture Main Street project, which looks to begin construction in 2026 and will remake the city’s downtown at a cost of $29 million, mostly paid for by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.
“It’s a ton of money, and there hasn’t been nearly enough public input,” Breindel said. “You have accessibility and safety issues that have gone unsolved just to make way for this project. To me, that screams mismanagement.”
Breindel also criticized the city’s approach to school spending, aligning himself with those who have sparred with the Sciarra administration over the school district’s last two fiscal budgets, which increased spending but have led to reductions in staff and other services.
“We’re a city that has a lot of money, and we spend a lot of it on consultants. We waste a lot of it on bad ideas,” Breindel said. “To me, that is all born out of a central misunderstanding of how you serve the public, which is if you have a government that is accessible to the public, they will tell you what they need.”
With four mayoral candidates, a preliminary election will be held Sept. 16 to narrow the field to two candidates in the municipal election on Nov. 4. The last preliminary election for mayor in Northampton occurred in 2021.
A series of candidates also have filed nomination papers to run for various city council and school committee positions, promising a much more competitive election season than two years ago, when most candidates ran unopposed.
Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.
