I encourage you to complete this survey.

PRESS RELEASE
FOR RELEASE ON JULY 14, 2010

For More Information about this Press Release Contact:
Teri Anderson, Community & Economic Development Director
413-587-1253
tanderson@northamptonma.gov

Northampton Farmers Market Committee Conducts Customer and Public Survey

The Farmers Market Subcommittee of the Northampton Agricultural Commission has created an online survey for customers and for the general public to gather information on how Northampton Farmers Markets can better serve the community. The 15-question survey seeks to learn how often people shop at the markets, why people shop at the Farmers Markets, other locations people shop for locally grown food and plants, which existing features customers enjoy at the markets and which new features might be desirable.

"This survey will help us learn from our customers, generate new customers, and support the long-term health of the markets", said Maureen Dempsey of Intervale Farm in Westhampton, a regular vendor at the Saturday and Wednesday markets.

The Farmers Market Subcommittee is charged with evaluating existing markets in the City and to make recommendations on how the growth and sustainability of the markets can be promoted. The Committee will also recommend a policy for use of City property by Farmers Markets. Merchants and Farmers Market vendors will be surveyed later this year. The Committee consists of farmers, market managers, residents, businesses and city government representatives.

Everyone is encouraged to complete the survey.

The survey will be available online from July 15, 2010 to August 15, 2010 at: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/farmersmarkets

For those who don't have access to a computer, a paper copy of the survey can be obtained at the Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday Markets or at the Northampton Community and Economic Development Office in City Hall (413-587-1286).

See also:

CISA: Farmers Markets in Western Massachusetts 

 

        

It is my pleasure to share this press release with you:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Jerry Budgar
(413) 584-2964

WARD 3 NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION TO SPONSOR WARD 3 VEGETABLE GARDEN TOUR

Local residents will have an opportunity to celebrate the agricultural and food-growing heritage of Northampton and talk with farmers and gardeners about growing local food as the Ward 3 Neighborhood Association sponsors its Ward 3 Vegetable Garden Tour on Saturday, August 7 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The self-guided tour will showcase seven diverse gardens and small farms in Ward 3. Some gardens are located in the meadows and floodplain and others represent urban gardening where small spaces can be transformed into substantial food-growing operations.

The selection of gardens in the tour ranges from one featuring heirloom tomatoes and seed collection to others focusing on fruit and berry production, utilizing raised beds built from recycled materials, and growing with mulch or plastic to retain warmth and moisture and reduce weed growth. Many of the gardens employ sustainable and organic techniques that are rapidly growing in popularity.

“We think this event will give people an opportunity to see Ward 3 in a way they might not have known it before,” notes Jerry Budgar, president of the Ward 3 Neighborhood Association and one of the individuals whose gardens are featured on the tour. “While many think of us as an urban ward in the city’s core, we love the fact we have this magnificent agricultural land and soil located so close to the city center. The juxtaposition makes Ward 3 a very unique and wonderful place to live. Our area of the city is undergoing a revival and expansion of agriculture and food production, and we want to showcase some of these efforts with this event.”

Those participating on the tour will be able to talk with gardeners and farmers about the food varieties they grow, get tips on methods to encourage healthy plant growth, and discuss ways to fend off such negatives as animal pests, insects, and airborne viruses and bacteria.

Tickets for the Ward 3 Vegetable Garden Tour, with a map and garden descriptions, are available at the A2Z Science Store on King Street, Deals and Steals on Pearl Street, and Serio’s Market on State Street. Tickets will also be available at upcoming Saturday and Tuesday Farmers Markets in Northampton. Tickets are $8 if purchased in advance and $10 if purchased on the day of the tour.

Further information about the Ward 3 Vegetable Garden Tour can be obtained from Tour Chair Joanne Mackiewicz at (413) 374-0550, Lola Reid at (413) 584-9463 or at the Ward 3 Neighborhood Association website at www.WardThree.com.

        

Here are upcoming events and meetings of interest to residents in Ward 3. Please click the event titles for additional information. You may see some events listed twice since they are both on my calendar and the calendar of the Ward 3 Neighborhood Association.

        

A well-attended meeting last night at Bridge Street School provided a good venue for residents in the North Street neighborhood to express their hopes and concerns to the Department of Public Works. Key issues included truck traffic on inappropriate streets and the general condition of the road. The DPW outlined options and tradeoffs to be considered in the upcoming reconstruction of North Street. These included the number and width of sidewalks, the quality of materials used for curbing, and the cultivation of tree belts.

Here is a complete blip.tv video from the meeting. It's 1 hour and 44 minutes long. The audio is a bit rough for the first two minutes but improves as fans in the background were turned off.

 

These charts displayed by the DPW show areas where the sidewalks might be extended. This might result in a loss of greenspace and trees, however.













Here are the handouts that were provided by the DPW to attendees:






In the traffic study below, some residents expressed concern that the traffic counter was not well placed to record trucks using streets like Lincoln Avenue and North Street to access Industrial Drive.





It is my expectation there will be additional public meetings before reconstruction work takes place. I will inform you about them. In the meantime, please continue to send me your questions and comments.


See also:

Transportation and Parking Commission: Traffic Calming  

June 10: Attend the North Street Road/Traffic/Tree Meeting - Download Flyer

Mayor: Conz Street Slated for Reconstruction This Year, North Street for Next Year

        

I'm sharing this announcement from the Ward 3 Neighborhood Association. Please help pitch in for a more beautiful ward!

Neighborhood Clean Up and Party

Place: Bridge Street School
Date: June 16
Time: 6:00pm

I would like to call a meeting for Wednesday, June 16, at Bridge Street School at 6:00pm. At this meeting we will announce the dates for our ''kickoff'' and the location for a little party once the work has been completed. Areas to be addressed include:

• The Holyoke railroad bridge area,
• The Conz street Walter Salvo-Cahill apartment area,
• The bike path in the areas from Woodmont to Damon road, and
• The portion of Main Street that is in Ward 3.

This is an ambitious undertaking so we need your help in organizing this event and asking for volunteers. We hope to divide the day with the cleanup from 10 to 11:30 followed by a party with refreshments from 12 to 2.

I personally want to thank the members of our leadership team Michael Bardsley, Angela Plassmann, Valerie Lavender, Boss Hill, and Owen Freeman-Daniels for help in organizing these projects. However, there is still much more work that needs to be done and we need your help and suggestions; so please attend this upcoming meeting.

For questions: Arnold Levinson at toarnie41@yahoo.com

May your days be sunny and bright and the wind at your back......Arnie

        

Here for your review are documents related to the proposed 2011 fiscal year budget for Northampton's public schools. I encourage you to send me your questions and comments. -Angela

Northampton Public Schools FY2011 Proposed Budget: Executive Summary (PDF)

Northampton Public Schools: Superintendent's Proposed Budget, 2011-2012 (PDF of slideshow)

Northampton Public Schools Budget for FY2011: Line Item Budget (PDF)

Projected Class Size, 2010-2011: Northampton High School and JFK Middle School (PDF)


See also:

Northampton Community Television: Video of the Joint Meeting of the Northampton City Council and School Committee, May 27, 2010

Mayor's Budget Proposal for the 2011 Fiscal Year; May 25 Hearing

        

Here are upcoming events and meetings of interest to residents in Ward 3. Please click the event titles for additional information. You'll see some events listed twice since they are both on my calendar and the calendar of the Ward 3 Neighborhood Association.

        

Please give this project your support:

Paul’s Memorial Garden Project

 

In loving memory of Paul Yeskie, Sr. & Paul Yeskie, Jr.,

Victims of the Northampton Arson Fires December 2009

 

 

DATE: Saturday, June 5th, 2010 11 AM - 3 PM

 

PLACE: Meet at the Main Entrance of Smith Vocational School, Northampton

 

Please join us to make this garden a reality. Bring plants, seeds, tools or just yourself. The organic vegetables grown will be donated to Meals on Wheels and others, just as Paul Yeskie, Sr. did during the last years of his life.

Dear Northampton Community Member,
 
    It was just five short months ago that our City called the "Paradise of America" was reeling from serial arson. My loved ones Paul Yeskie, Sr. and Paul Yeskie, Jr. were the two victims of the fires. The father and son died huddled in each other’s arms unable to escape the blazing inferno their home had become as a result of this senseless and horrific crime. The loving outpouring of community support was so healing to all touched with loss. As I personally attempted to heal, I recalled many fond memories of being with both Paul and his son Paul Jr., again. Paul Sr. had taught me how to garden many years ago so I remembered us being at his garden. My memories of his son Paul Jr. were of his cute, quirky, warmth and the immense generosity of his spirit. He gave me a beautiful wooden box he had made for me once. Another anecdote from the wake was the time he told his boss he didn't have to pay him this week because he had won big at the Three County Fair races over the weekend. So it was in those fond memories of the two, that the seeds of The Paul's Garden Memorial Project were sown.

    I decided to continue growing vegetables just like Paul Sr. did and donating the harvest to The Meals on Wheels program like he had also done for years. The generosity of Paul Jr’s kind nature and his respect for his elder that seemed not of this era, were a perfect remembrance of him. Below is an update on how the project has continued to blossom and how we could use the support of your organization and the entire community in this effort.  
 
    Paul's Memorial Garden Project~Growing Food & Teaching Peace is in its infancy and like all newly born it needs a lot of tender, love and care. Above all it needs the generosity and compassion from the Northampton community that we witnessed after the tragic fires that took the lives of these two men that Paul's Garden commemorates.  
 
    Smith Vocational High School embodies that spirit of community. They have generously offered to host the project by providing a beautiful 10,000 sq ft piece of land to grow this garden design to nourish and heal. Horticulture & Forestry Director John Kelley and I collaborated to bring this vision of growing food and teaching the principals of "do no harm" in organic agriculture for Smith Voc students as well as workshops for the entire community. I co-authored a curriculum called Wake Up & Smell the Soil: Conscious Careers in Agriculture to teach organic farming practices to the students at the school who are part of the Future Farmers of America program. The curriculum also looks at the carbon footprint of food and educates all Smith Voc students on why local is good! The educational component of this program couldn't achieve the funding it needed to get off the ground this spring. It is our goal to launch this aspect of our project in the fall.

    When I saw what the student’s had made and left on the site long before anyone knew what the land would be used for it seemed fitting. This circle shows how all life in our community is interconnected and we can strengthen each other!

    Right now, we need the Northampton community to come together and support us to grow food and distribute the majority of the harvest to the Meals on Wheels Program in Northampton. We would appreciate your contributions in any form: monetary donations, plant contributions, your time and energy to nourish the community with local, organic agriculture that has the power of sustaining land and sustaining people. Visit us via our Facebook Page Paul’s Garden Memorial Project or @ site.paulsgarden.net.

JOIN US FOR PLANTING, FUN & GROWING FELLOWSHIP!

JUNE 5^th, 2010

11 AM THE MAIN ENTRANCE OF SMITH VOCATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
 
In Deepest Gratitude,

Bernadette Giblin
Founder of Paul's Memorial Garden Project

        

I'd like to call your attention to this article in the May 27 Gazette:

Renewed police effort tackles misuse of Northampton Meadows

...Earlier this month, Northampton and Environmental police stepped up patrols of the Meadows to send a message: Keep out.

Working with a neighborhood group, police have streamlined the process for issuing trespassing notices, and can arrest anyone who returns and violates those notices.

"Anybody going in there after 9 or 10 at night really has no business there," said Ward 3 City Councilor Angela Plassmann, who lives in the Meadows on Fair Street Extension. As a candidate last year, she vowed to address problems with bonfires and all-terrain vehicles in the Meadows.

Warm-weather weekends have for years brought streams of ATVs and other traffic to the neighborhood, Plassmann said. Farmers are fed up with finding crops damaged or stolen, she said...

In addition to the property damage vehicles and revelers cause, Plassmann said litter, including drug paraphernalia, is concern.

She also noted property owners could be held liable if someone is hurt or killed on their land...

Click for the full article
(a subscription may be required)

        

Please download this flyer (PDF) and post freely!





See also:

June 10: Informational Meeting on North Street Reconstruction (date changed)

Mayor: Conz Street Slated for Reconstruction This Year, North Street for Next Year"
Laura Hanson will be meeting with North Street residents to begin the process for the reconstruction of North Street in Fiscal Year 2011 (July 2010 - June 2011). North Street is expected to cost over $600,000; the project will use the lion’s share of our 2011 Chapter 90 allocation.