January 2026: The road ahead

Hi!

Welcome to my newsletter, to be published monthly going forward. The task of an effective opposition is neither to mince words nor throw bombs: rather, it is to demonstrate why you (as a party, a coalition, a class force, etc.) should be in government instead. As such, I will be laying out my approach to the political questions and tasks of this municipal term, as though I had been elected in this cycle.

As a brief foreword, I continue to be concerned with undemocratic practices in our ward and city. For instance, the degree of open affiliation between former councilor Jarrett and councilor Davis poses significant ethical questions given the former’s standing contracts with the city (which also constitute the privatization of solid waste disposal in Northampton). The crises of bourgeois democracy and capitalist political economy at our local level are inseparable from the issues discussed in this newsletter, and I’ll have a lot more to say on that front in coming months as we continue to struggle for a more just, democratic and transparent city.

On this political moment

At the time of writing, three people have been publicly executed by ICE. Countless more have been kidnapped, tortured and disappeared. I am appalled at the lack of response from our city, which, per councilor Davis, comes from legal advice to “avoid drawing attention”. Our city has not updated its public protocols for responding to ICE in nearly a decade, and has failed to publicize legal and organizational resources that can help to protect our community. While I have a number of whistles and plan to distribute them throughout the ward in coming days, I am not a state actor. Mutual aid is not a substitute for a public response. Our city government is not acting with the necessary, proactive urgency to defend our most vulnerable residents from ICE terrorism.

IF YOU SEE ICE:

Call the LUCE hotline: 617-370-5023

Operates 6am-8pm daily with support for English, Spanish, French, Haitian Creole, Portuguese and Mandarin

At the same time, the extraordinary intensification of American imperialist aggression threatens the entire world. Our illegal MAGA-led government has its sights on not only oil and mineral resources in Venezuela, but crushing all sovereignty and self-determination in Latin America under its jackboot.

I delivered the initial statement of the Communist Party of Venezuela to an emergency rally on the day of the attack, which has been followed by a joint statement of 44+ Communist and workers’ parties in urgent condemnation of these events.

As with others in the peace movement, I urge our Congressional delegation to exert its full leverage over fiscal appropriations. We must abolish ICE and bring down this imperialist war machine. Northampton bears particular responsibility given the presence of L3Harris in our city limits. I continue to call upon elected officials at the local and state level to pursue all possible means of removing this war profiteer, which supplies ICE and the IDF alike, and preventing any future operations of the military-industrial complex in our city and state.

The Western Massachusetts CPUSA statement on these matter is available here.

Recent and upcoming council affairs

• While not directly a council matter, the first semi-public presentations of the CIP committee (now titled the Capital Improvement Advisory Committee) took place last month. This is an important concession we won from the 2025 election, in which the mayor and city solicitor argued that the public had no legal right to know about the planning of our capital spending.
  • Even still, it was a half-measure given that department heads presented on proposals that had already been finalized behind the scenes. Significant infrastructure projects were pushed through in the final meetings of the 2024-2026 term, including a roughly $9M geothermal project for NHS with short- and medium-term loans that will incur significant costs as recurring expenses in coming budget cycles.
• At its January 5th organizational meeting, the council elected WMALF- and SOS-endorsed Rachel Maiore as president — congratulations! She will work with Deb Pastrich-Klemer (elected as council vice-president over Garrick Perry in a 6-3 vote) to draft the body’s agendas and conduct meetings.
• The first full council meeting held on Thursday, January 15th saw discussion of FY26 free cash allocation and the reappointment of city solicitor Alan Seewald (a frequent opponent of Left, working-class, progressive and democratic movements in the city, as noted above).
  • I firmly reject all forms of chauvinism and call upon all members of the council to respect the body’s rules of order. Rules of order are not only about ensuring orderly, democratic operation of meetings, but also a matter of equity and dignity.
  • The lack of information on specific projects in appropriations requests, or to justify their separation from the FY27 CIP, is concerning. These details must be made available in advance to the public and councilors alike; no one should have to watch a full council meeting, sift through a CIP or wait for formal approval of minutes to learn more about these projects.
• The school committee voted 9-0-1 (mayor Sciarra abstaining) in favor of recommending a midyear appropriation of roughly $795,000 to meet urgent staffing and curricular needs. The recommendation will move to the city council, and our mayor and superintendent have a democratic obligation to present it as voted by the school committee. Mayor Sciarra’s logic for abstaining is inconsistent with that of her vote in FY25’s $600,000 appropriation request, and further reinforces the need for a stronger, more democratic separation of powers in our city charter.
  • As this is the second straight FY of emergency mid-year appropriations for the public schools, we should cast aside all rhetoric from supporters of austerity around “spending every cent we [sustainably] can” on our schools. Not only is additional revenue predictably available for school funding, as argued by SOS from the outset, but our notion of sustainability needs to be organized around our public services and the workers behind them. It is unsustainable to underfund our public schools and services!
• The first public look at the FY27 budget is slated for a joint meeting of city council and school committee on 1/29, 6:30pm on Zoom. The link is available here.

Recent labor news

• In mid-November, the nurses at Cooley Dickinson Hospital ratified a strong contract with Mass General Brigham after voting overwhelmingly (99%, with 75% turnout!) to authorize a strike for the first time ever. A belated congratulations to them — it is a massive step forward for the entire working class in Northampton and for all who depend on Cooley for medical care!

• Workers at the Northampton Starbucks were on strike for nearly a week last month, and the boycott continues until the company negotiates a fair contract.

That’s a (non-exhaustive) wrap for now! You can reach me any time by email or at (413) 404-0405. Stay warm, stay safe and stay in the struggle!

Until next month,

Luke