Opportunity
Creating economic opportunity for our small business community and all residents by investing in infrastructure, tourism, and education. Overview North Adams is ripe with potential and actionable opportunities to give our residents, small businesses, and visitors a broad variety of jobs, businesses, attractions, and experiences which they can be proud of and want to connect with. Since the closing of the factories, opportunity is something North Adams hasn’t seen enough of. It’s time for us to leverage our resources, skills, and passions to build a thriving city. Small Business Support We have several key areas we can invest in and focus on which will help provide these opportunities for all of us including better supporting our small business community and Chamber of Commerce to create a flourishing and resilient economy. Invest in Tourism We can invest in and embrace tourism as a major source of jobs and economic activity. We can allocate and refocus city staff on embracing tourism and building stronger partnerships with organizations and companies in the region to encourage tourists to visit and spend their money in our community. Connection to Education We can partner more closely with MCLA to better connect the college, its students, and alumni community with our downtown and foster a culture of connection, support, and opportunity. A stronger connection will lead to more graduates wanting to stay in North Adams and will help build a stronger workforce and economy. Infrastructure We can invest in and encourage the development of our regional infrastructure to bring more people to North Adams through trail building, repairing our bridges and flood chutes, supporting robust transportation options, and reconfiguring our downtown to maximize its success.
Community
Building safe housing, education, and care support for North Adams residents. Overview North Adams has a beautiful community. But our community faces serious challenges from housing affordability and availability to mental health and addiction crises, to a lack of well-paying jobs. Let’s not bury our heads in the sand; let’s face our challenges head-on and do something about them. Housing With more focus on rehabilitating vacant and underutilized buildings, writing new legislation which makes it easier to develop safe and affordable housing, and even changing our property tax structure to lessen the burden on homeowners who are fully utilizing their properties and stimulating the market to generate new housing, we can make a significant difference. Involvement With more community connection opportunities and inclusive policies, we can get our residents excited about helping to build a better North Adams. Education & Care We can work, support each other, and celebrate together to make sure our community members are loved and supported and get access to the education, care and companionship they need. With increased focus on inclusive and trauma-informed educational opportunities, we can give our youth the best possible shot at living successful and joyful lives. With more focus on partnering with education and healthcare providers and attracting professionals to the region, we will make sure our community has the support it needs to succeed.
Progress
Moving North Adams forward through stronger city planning, partnerships with small businesses, and producing celebration and connection opportunities. Overview North Adams is already a cool city, but we can do even better. Through the revitalization and beautification of our downtown culture district, we can create a bustling atmosphere that residents, small businesses, and our visitors are proud of and want to engage with. Partnerships Through stronger partnerships with our region's tourist destinations including MASS MoCA, Clark Art Institute, and our city’s hotels, we can create a well-trodden path which brings our visitors not only to a couple of destinations, but right into the downtown of our city where they can shop, eat, and help support and grow our local community and economy. City Planning Through a renewed focus on city planning, staffing our planning department, and partnerships with other organizations, we can identify key opportunities and fundraise for responsible change, beautification, and redevelopment which will bring North Adams back to a state of energetic buzz. Celebration Through downtown events such as the Fall Foliage Parade, First Fridays, Downtown Celebration, North Adams Pride Night Celebration, Motorama, Luminama, the Northern Lights Ball, the Eagle Street Beach party, and many more, we can create an atmosphere of fun and involvement which will bring us together.
ABOUT ME
Putting My Experience
to Work
Small Business Founder - Non-Profit Worker - Community Leader
I am deeply passionate about North Adams and want to use my future seat on the North Adams City Council to continue to make a positive impact by developing responsible and inclusive policies, generating opportunity, bringing people together, and helping to build a vibrant city.
​
I was born and raised in Massachusetts. I studied International Relations, Business, and Political Science in Virginia, Europe, and Asia throughout my undergraduate and graduate degrees. My career has varied from directing an acting school to managing local and national marketing partnerships to producing inclusion programs at major Tech companies and nonprofits. This diverse career has taken me across industries and the world, with the common thread being a focus on community development and advocacy.
After time spent living and learning in other cities and towns, I was eager to move back home to Massachusetts, where I could dive into the beautiful City of North Adams, and leverage my experience, passion, and vision to fix up old buildings, create businesses and nonprofits, develop spaces for residents to gather, foster a bustling downtown small business district, contribute to the workings of government, and make a positive impact on his community.
FOLLOW ANDREW ON SOCIAL MEDIA