Ward 1 candidates spar on issues

By OWEN BOSS
Staff Writer

NORTHAMPTON — Ward 1 incumbent Maureen T. Carney thinks the city has a revenue problem; her opponent, Andrew J. Vidal-McNair, believes it has a spending problem.

That was just one of many issues the two candidates for city council disagreed on Thursday night, including how to attract new businesses to the city and where best to cut at the city’s budget, at a debate that drew a crowd of more than 30 to City Council Chambers.

For the first time in four years, Carney, 52, of 13 Church St., has competition for the council seat. She used her opening statement to defend her record and blast Vidal-McNair for running what she called a “negative campaign,” and for advertising on his Web site that she doesn’t care about ward residents.

“He has even gone door-to-door telling people that I don’t go to City Council meetings, and if Andrew had checked he would know that I have a 94 percent attendance record,” she said, adding that “you would have to be a gymnast” to understand his position on an override passed in June.

Vidal-McNair, 33, of 58 Gleason Road, said the current economic climate requires a fresh approach to solving some of the city’s financial problems. He vowed to keep all public schools in the city open and to establish a Ward 1 community organization to clarify issues specific to the neighborhood and to step up in the instance of insufficient funding.

“I have worked hard going door-to-door listening to residents’ concerns and expectations, and I will reach out to the community for advice and will vote in your best interest,” Vidal-McNair said.

Candidates’ responses to questions from members of the League of Women Voters of the Northampton Area, which sponsored the debate, as well as those from audience members, emphasized the differences between them, such as their stance on a meals and hotels tax passed by the council earlier this year.

Vidal-McNair said he approved of the council’s decision to pass the hotel tax but disagreed with the meals portion of the legislation because it placed an unfair burden on both residents and visitors to the city. Carney, who voted in favor of the motion, said the price increase to restaurant-goers is minimal and both taxes will bring the city much-needed revenue.

Despite calls from the audience for a clear stance, both candidates declined to specify where they stand on a proposed landfill expansion, but agreed that the city has to do more to encourage residents to recycle and make a concerted effort to limit the amount of waste they produce.

When asked what they thought were the most important issues facing Ward 1 specifically, Carney said she would focus on congested traffic and issues with the neighborhood water system, and Vidal-McNair said his top goal was revitalizing the empty storefronts on King Street.

Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com.