To the editor:
When my wife and I came to town in 1984, the annual budget of the city was about $25 million. Today, how about $93 million? The median income was $26,000. Today, it’s $145,000. Our house cost $49,000. Recently listed single residency homes in Ward 2 often approach the $2 million mark. Apartment rentals in the 1980s generally averaged around $600 a month. Try and find one in Ward 2 less than $2,500.
Changes over the years have complicated the Newburyport landscape in many startling ways. The question you may ask yourself is whether city government has kept pace, or is it falling behind?
In my years of paying attention to local government, I have never witnessed the level of dysfunction that currently exists at City Hall. It is clear that animosity is the rule: the mayor and several councilors are no longer on speaking terms, coordination in terms of addressing important issues has virtually ceased, controversies, scandals, vitriol and lawsuits are front page news. This is not healthy.
During the last election cycle, Stephanie Niketic came within a dozen votes of winning the Ward 2 seat. It’s a shame, given the political landscape of the last couple of years, that she was not representing us on the council, so I’m urging friends and neighbors to turn out this time and pull the lever for Steph.
Anyone reading her weekly newsletter cannot help being impressed with her grasp of local issues and letting facts speak for themselves. I’ve heard talk that some people feel she is too “detail oriented,” a policy wonk. I wish we had more people on the council guilty of those sins!
Ward 2 will soon be facing major issues. New England Development is at it again negotiating with the mayor about constructing a condominium project directly on the waterfront. We will need a councilor who knows the ins and outs of zoning, rules and regs, and the tools the city can utilize to make certain any project on the waterfront is done properly and ethically. Niketic is the person to do that.
It is no longer enough to base one’s campaign on the premise “I love Newburyport.” What is required now is hard work and professionalism, qualities she has demonstrated over and over again, both in the private and public sectors. Ward 2 deserves no less.
James Roy
Newburyport
© 2023-2025 Committee to Elect Stephanie Niketic