I will keep the city’s commitment to make all city buildings and operations carbon neutral by the end of the decade. 

I supported the Sustainable Northampton Comprehensive Plan and its component plans that have come before the City Council. I helped enact zoning regulations that encourage green residential buildings. Most recently, the Climate Resilience and Regeneration Plan was endorsed in February and aims for all city government buildings and operations to be carbon neutral by 2030 and for the city as a whole to be carbon neutral by 2050. It also calls for incorporating equity and the climate resilience and regeneration goals into all city decisions and plans. The plan is strong, but it is not enough. 

One of my top priorities as mayor would be to work to achieve these goals ahead of schedule. I will work to accelerate the adoption of community programs to increase the availability of clean energy, not only for governmental use, but also for community use. For example, in addition to encouraging residents to adopt clean energy practices on their own, in collaboration with other municipalities and members of our community, we can invest in green power generation to increase the availability of green energy to private and commercial landlords, electrical vehicles, and public charging stations, to name a few. Exploring these and other mitigation opportunities with urgency should put us on a realistic path to make Northampton carbon neutral before 2050. 

Of course, the City of Northampton cannot stop climate change on our own. We need strategies for coping with the effects, prioritizing support for those in our community who are most impacted by climate change. The Community Resilience Hub will be a critical resource for the unhoused community and those most vulnerable to the climate extremes and storms that come with climate change. The Hub can also serve as a daily resource center and climate-controlled space, as well as an emergency shelter for anticipated climate crisis events. 

An important part of our resilience to our changing climate is working to upgrade our old infrastructure to handle greater stormwater volume and flood risk. It is essential that we keep our stormwater and flood control capital improvements on schedule and that all road rebuilding incorporates underground upgrades.