Join us for Community Conversations February 4th Bombyx
When Meg was knocking on doors in her campaign for at-large city council, she heard many of you say that your voice doesn't seem to matter in our city. In fact, many of you said you don’t feel heard at all.
Meg heard you, and you made your voice heard at the polls. As your newly elected at-large Northampton city councilor, Meg wants to make listening to you an essential focus of our work together on council. She hopes part of our council conversations will always include, “Have we met with residents most impacted by this action? What did we hear?”
This is the first of a series of community conversations and listening events Meg will host in 2026. We need plenty of opportunities for everyone to be heard and to have a voice in how our city works.
What’s on your mind about Northampton? What works well? What could be improved? What really needs fixing? Maybe it’s potholes or roaming turkeys, maybe it’s the budget or schools or climate or mobility? Maybe you’ve got ideas about housing or land use or traffic calming?
In addition to sharing your concerns, we will share information on our city’s ‘chain of command’ so that you know who to contact for what issue and how best to get a response. We’ll discuss building networks for advice and support from others who share your concerns, both citywide and in your ward.
Come early for pizza and casual conversation at 5:45. Then, from 6:30- 8 pm, we’ll gather to learn, share our issues, our needs, our hopes and our dreams (or aspirations) for our city and to discuss strategies on how to work together to build solutions.
This is a great opportunity to add your name to Meg’s growing newsletter and email list so that you can learn about, and weigh in on, decisions being made in the city before they’re a done deal. You’ll also be in the front row seat to hear about future “listening events” throughout the year.
$5 suggested donation. NOTAFLOF.
Click photo to get tickets at Bombyx
so now what?
Starting Day #1...
Guest columnist Meg Robbins: Northampton Votes Change
By MEG ROBBINS. November 16, 2025
It’s more than a week after our Northampton municipal elections, and the enormity of how you cast your ballots is still sinking in. You have entrusted me, as one of your two at-large city councilors, with actively bringing your voice, your concerns, your knowledge and skills into our governance. With a vote difference of less than 1% you very nearly elected a new mayor. Over 200 of you chose to leave your mayoral dot blank rather than filling it in for the incumbent.
You have voted for change and a giant step away from decades of legacy politics. You have called for city and ward forums on issues that impact you, and for using that data to actively inform council and mayoral decision making. You voted for transparency. You want to know a lot more about why, who, how and how much. You want to work with us to identify what our real essential priorities are, and how best to implement them. You believe that our children need us now. Right now.
Most heartening is that you voted for across-the-table genuine out-of-the box problem solving, and against power through politicking. You want to be part of creating a vision that includes all of us and a plan on how to get there. You want to see our mayor and council pull back from protecting their political legacy and engage in a new era of working with us and not at us.
That honest effort starts on the very first day our City Council meets to elect leadership. We no longer use council seats as kingmaker pathways. We continue with protocols that body can put in place to ensure we stay focused on votes rooted in constituent evidence and data-based best practice and move away from those founded on personal opinion or agenda.
I am enormously grateful to the seven-ward efforts so many of the hundreds of Support Our Schools members respectfully and clearly made to help us sit up and take action because our children need us. They talked with thousands of residents. They heard the disconnect voters had with the way things work. We would not be having these conversations without their grass roots dynamism.
Thank you for creating this opportunity to reshape how we work together to represent our unique and gorgeous community. This sea change to inclusion, transparency and focus can happen only when those you have just empowered as mayor and council read the room, count the votes, and feel the mandate you have made to push our City Hall doors wide open.You want our city to earn back your trust. Let’s do it.
Meg Robbins won election to an at-large council seat on the Northampton City Council in the Nov. 4 municipal election.
We Won!
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for stepping up for one of the most contested elections in recent city history. I am so grateful to you all for investing your hope in change candidates, and a seismic shift in well-heeled legacy politics.
- We won a seat at the table on critically current issues that impact us all
- We will be included in what those outcomes look like.
- We will be a deciding part of THE conversation in how we plan for OUR city's future.
Participatory democracy is us. Let's go!
Northampton City Election 2025
Pulling Together for a Community-Centered Northampton
Our Northampton is a beautiful, embracing and forward -thinking community. Times have changed for our city. While that is predictable and welcome, perhaps our biggest challenge in recent years has been the loss of community voice and inclusion in city decision making. Old and new, we all bring a wealth of skill, talent and commitment to shaping how we want our city to be.
While chaos reigns in Washington, our little city needs more than ever to practice what we preach.
We have so much potential in Northampton to make precedent-setting change with a ripple effect. Creating a walk the talk progressive Northampton is an important step forward.
Meg is fundamentally committed to working with our whole community to focus on what really matters- and to put those goals into action. That means you!
