Richard T. Chu: Collaboration, transparency absent in Northampton city government

I read Gazette columnist Andrea Ayvazian’s piece (“Building solutions: Our collaborative spirit,” Sept. 21) with bemusement if not with dismay at the way she portrays the city as a city that has been collaborative or consultative in regards to its projects. She writes, “Easy solutions are not available, but solutions to the problems we face as a community are easier to settle upon when people join together, take hands, and work together. And people in Northampton know how to work together in a spirit of collaboration.”

In my experience, I have not seen the city function in a way that is democratic, transparent, and least of all, collaborative. An example is the Picture Main Street project. When a group called SaveParadiseCity presented an alternative design to Picture Main Street to the mayor and City Council in November 2023, the presenters were treated with contempt and hostility. One councilor even mischaracterized and accused the presenter as not wanting any bicyclists on Main Street (see “Don’t Debate Main Street Plan,” Gazette, Jan. 17). Furthermore, when a petition that opposed the project, signed by over 2,000 people, was sent to the mayor, the mayor acknowledged the concerns voiced by these people as saying that there was “no way” a trial run was tenable as petitioners’ suggested (“Debating Main Street Design,” Gazette, Aug. 11). 

Another example is the Resilience Hub. While it may be true that the city may have taken four years to “fundraise, identify, and purchase a suitable building for the Hub,” it did not consult the public whether the choice the city made in purchasing the Old Baptist Church made sense.

I am all for collaboration, if I see it with my own two eyes. What I have witnessed in the city of Northampton is that there is cabal of city officials with their supporters who makes all the decisions, without sufficient public input, and derides or vilifies anyone who does not share the views of the city.

Richard T. Chu

Northampton