Opinion
Kevin Collins: Election season open
In case you missed it, election season in Amherst opened last Monday, July 3 when nomination papers became available. And nomination papers due, Tuesday, Sept. 19, b y 5 p.m. The clock is running! Are you?Mark your calendars:Last day to register to...
Dave King: What about warmongers in McGovern’s own party?
The Gazette recently published an article quoting U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern excoriating the Republican Party [“McGovern unleashes scorn on GOP,” June 24]. It is true the leadership of that party are sociopaths, bent on immiserating the most vulnerable...
Darcy Dumont column: More staff needed to accomplish Amherst climate goals
By DARCY DUMONT
Does Amherst have the staffing to accomplish our 2025 (25% reduction from 2017 levels), 2030 (50% reduction) and 2050 (carbon neutrality) greenhouse gas emission reduction goals? No, it does not.It has become clear that the climate emergency is...
Kent W. Faerber: Fourth of July event a rare treat
Huzzahs to Rey Harp and the crew of the Amherst Recreation Department, Cinda Jones and The Mill District, UMass, the Amherst Community Band, the Amherst Police and Fire departments, and all the countless others who worked so hard, together, to make...
Margo Culley: Affirmative Action decision a heavy blow
Though I am a white woman of a “certain age,” I took/take the Supreme Court’s decision on Affirmative Action as a blow to the head and heart. Growing up in a mostly all white community in Fairfield County, Connecticut and attending a majority all...
Amherst-UMass deal is good start, but more needed
By JOHN VARNER
The deal recently announced between UMass and the town of Amherst is a promising start, and the university and the town deserve credit for reaching it [“Town, university strike new accord,” Bulletin, July 7].However, when viewed in the context of...
Richard S. Bogartz column: Knowing what you don’t know
By RICHARD S. BOGARTZ
Let’s consider ignorance. Nothing pejorative. Just literally not knowing. We can use recent news examples.When Yevgeny Prigozhin was marching on Moscow and seemingly threatening civil war, Vladimir Putin’s removal, and the breakup of Russia, on...
Kathryn Sternstein: Lawsuit endangers town curbs on large-scale solar
I am writing in support of Jill Buchanan’s column “Trying to muscle big solar into Shutesbury forestland,” [Recorder, June 12]. She wrote about the lawsuit filed against her town by the large multinational solar company AMP Energy and W.D. Cowls, a...
Guest columnist Michael Seward: Using ‘health, safety and welfare’ to block real progress
By MICHAEL SEWARD
‘To protect the public health, safety, and welfare” is an abused phrase. It is used against the public health, safety, and welfare of those who need homes, and it is used against the public health, safety, and welfare of everyone on the planet under...
Guest columnist Sarah Matthews: FirstLight sweeping public comment aside
By SARAH MATTHEWS
An opinion piece was recently published in this paper by an executive at FirstLight Power, the company that owns the Turners Falls Dam and Northfield Pumped Storage Hydropower Station [“Setting the record straight on flows and fish passage...
Guest columnist Richie Davis: Noble experiment built bridge across political divide
By RICHIE DAVIS
Coming together immediately after the pivotal 2016 election, 60 residents of Leverett — where nearly three-quarters of voters rejected Donald Trump for president — gathered to consider how to respond to the obvious chasm in political and cultural...
Columnist Johanna Neumann: Solar on warehouses should be next big step
By JOHANNA NEUMANN
In the wee hours of the morning of April 14, when it was forecast to be a record-crushing 95 degrees, I met my intern Erica in the parking lot of the Big Y in Palmer. Together, we carpooled to Somerset, on Massachusetts’ south coast for a 9 a.m....
Guest columnist Lawrence Pareles: How to help housing crisis? Build more dorms
By LAWRENCE PARELES
I am writing to offer a new and innovative solution to address the housing crisis, particularly in college towns and cities: encouraging and assisting colleges and universities with building more dormitories to accommodate their students. With the...
John Montanari: Questioning the ‘experts’
The authors of a recent letter to the Gazette say that only professional educators should determine school curricula and which books should be in school libraries, and that the rest of us should just shut up and mind our own business [“Why let anyone...
Mary Crotty Sharma: A disgusting display of waste
I read the June 1 article with the headline “Earth is ‘really Sick Now.’” It is such a troubling thought … though far from news. It brought to my mind something I feel quite concerned about as part of this university community. The annual spring couch...
Adam Siegel: Be more chill — don’t scare off visiting celebrities
Hey Amherst, next time Harrison Ford shows up on the Common (never), or another such celeb (rarely, but occasionally) don't be foolish. Leave them alone. Be more chill, neighbors, you'll scare them off again!Adam SiegelAmherst
Guest columnist Eric Cochrane: Opposing new Amherst housing isn’t progressive
By ERIC COCHRANE
On June 11, I received an email from the Progressive Coalition of Amherst, requesting people sign a petition opposing a zoning ordinance proposed by council members Mandi Jo Hanneke and Pat DeAngelis that would allow for more affordable housing in...
Guest columnists Mandi Jo Hanneke and Pat DeAngelis: The missing middle in Amherst housing
By MANDI JO HANNEKE and PAT DEANGELIS
Amherst needs more housing. We need housing for the students who liven up our town, for families who send their kids to our public schools, for retirees who wish to age in place, and for service workers who want to live near where they work.To address...
Matteo Pangallo and Nettie Harrington Pangallo: Why let anyone challenge books in school?
We write as the parents of two children in the Amherst-Pelham Regional Schools and two longtime educators. The proposal before the Amherst Regional School Committee to adopt new rules limiting the challenging and banning of books from our public...
Ben Palkowski: Hats off to Hadley police
As the calendar turns to June and construction season ramps up throughout the region, I would like to express my gratitude to the men and women of the Hadley Police Department for their great work in keeping us safe and moving along Route 9 amid the...
