Mayoral candidates address Ward 3 concerns

By Owen Boss

Staff Writer

NORTHAMPTON - The city's mayoral candidates fielded a series of questions specific to Ward 3 Monday night and offered opposing views about how best to develop the neighborhood and how to keep the city's budget balanced in the years to come.

Challenger Michael R. Bardsley and five-term incumbent Clare Higgins were both audience members during the debate for the position of Ward 3 city councilor before taking the stage at Bridge Street School. Once in the spotlight, they found themselves answering many of the same questions.

Both candidates recognized that a substantial decrease in state funding forecasted over the next term will bring with it tough decisions for whoever is elected mayor.

Higgins said she doesn't expect another override in the near future, and she vowed to closely examine every department for potential cutbacks in order to balance the city's budget.

"We're looking at every area (of the budget) and no area is sacred, including personnel," Higgins said. "And I think the big challenge next year will be to keep the health insurance prices as level as possible."

Bardsley, who said he supported hiring a grant-writer to aggressively pursue any funding that could be made available to the city, committed to working one-on-one with companies looking to come to the city.

"I've written up a plan to bring in, at least on a part-time basis, a grant-writer because I don't think we are aggressive enough about going after funds that exist," Bardsley said.

He said he thought the city missed opportunities to acquire funding that would support environmental energy and the arts.

Also raised at the debate was growing concern among neighborhood residents that development of open space would be done quickly in an attempt to create a new source of tax revenue for the city.

In response, Higgins said she expects Village Hill Northampton, a development on the grounds of the former state-hospital, will provide ample space to develop "green, small-footprint" housing. Bardsley, who said he would look elsewhere for future developments, said more time must be spent focusing on how to develop structures in the city that will benefit the community in the next 100 to 150 years.

Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com