Councilor Magrath-Smith

10/19/2026

The package of 44 zoning changes sent to Ordinance was tabled as we waited for the Comprehensive Plan to be voted on by the Planning Board and shared with the community. Here’s your chance to weigh in as you consider the zoning proposals in front of us. Hope to see you at the forum.

10/19/2026

Final paving from the Combined-Sewer Overflow Separation Project (Phase A) will be happening this fall for three streets: Woodbine, Meadowview, and Hillview. A small section of Bemis will be done. See below for information from DPW. Victoria Houle is the city contact if any residents have questions. The remaining streets affected by the project will be paved in the spring. It has been a looooooooong project. I think we are all happy to see the end in sight for our Phase A neighbors. For Phase B streets - a public information session is coming your way soon.

10/17/2026

Wisteriahurst and OneHolyoke hosted a wonderful event tonight. We cozied up and watched Nosferatu, a silent film from the 1920s. They served popcorn and gummy eyeballs and a “blood” punch, and we got to visit the Memento Mori exhibit, too (all about Victorian mourning customs). It was a lovely evening. The Director said she’s thinking of hosting more classic and silent movies there and I think it’s a great idea. What movies do you think they should show??

10/13/2026

Today was Holyoke’s first official celebration of Indigenous People’s Day. I grew up, like many of you, with a highly sanitized version of Columbus’ 1492 expedition, and it wasn’t until I was an adult that I understood what was lost in such an incomplete education. Not only was the brutality of Columbus’ crew (and the colonization that followed) missing from my schoolgirl’s understanding of what actually happened, any understanding of the indigenous people who have been here for thousands of years was missing as well.

Below, the land acknowledgment from HCC, with my gratitude to all of the research they did and stakeholders they reached out to when creating it. We should know our history. We cannot fully understand our present without it.

HCC Land Acknowledgment Statement

Holyoke Community College acknowledges that our institution and community inhabit land that was once and still is the homeland of Indigenous peoples. The area commonly known as “New England” was, at the time of first contact with Europeans, the homelands of millions of native peoples whose numbers were reduced by European diseases, warfare, and unscrupulous land acquisitions. We honor the earlier inhabitants of the Connecticut River Valley, the Pocumtuck, the Nonotuck, the Woronoco, and the Agawam nations, among others. We acknowledge the surviving Native nations, which include the Nipmuc and the Wampanoag, the Mohegan, the Pequot, the Mohican, and the Abenaki.

The College community must go beyond a statement alone to reconcile this history. We pledge to maintain respect for Indigenous peoples. We are committed to increasing college-wide programming that informs and educates our community about Native contemporariness, histories, cultures, and sovereignty. HCC’s land acknowledgment statement is a living document to living cultures.

Pronunciation Guide: (Source: Springfield College. Used with permission.)

Pocumtuck [poe-come-tuck]
Nonotuck [non-oh-tuck]
Woronoco [wore-oh-no-co]
Agawam [aa-gah-wahm]
Nipmuc [nip-muck]
Wampanoag [wamp-ah-nawg]
Mohegan [moh-he-gahn]
Pequot [pee-kwaht]
Mohican [moh-hee-kuhn]
Abenaki [a-ben-a-kee]

Moment of Gratitude:

Thank you to the ARIR - Acknowledge & Respect Indigenous Residents Committee for their incredible work and support.

Thank you to Rhonda Anderson (Inupiaq Athabaskan), Western Massachusetts Commissioner on Indian Affairs, founder and co-director of the Ohketeau Cultural Center and the Native Youth Empowerment, for her valuable insights as we created our land acknowledgment statement and resources list.

NORTHAMPTON — A sponsor of legislation to have Massachusetts recognize Indigenous Peoples Day, Sen. Jo Comerford, D-Northampton, this week made an annual appeal for her colleagues to act soon on the measure that has been stalled in the state Legislature. As Comerford renewed her push for the legis...

10/11/2026

Over the past few days I have heard this argument several times: “Why would we develop Wyckoff Country Club into housing? Why don’t we just develop downtown with more housing?”

First, the city does not own Wyckoff. It is private property. The city can require an owner to follow our ordinances, but we can’t prevent them from doing what is allowable on their properties. There isn’t a “we” here. The Council can vote yes or no if a zone change is proposed. Without a zone change, the project could potentially proceed with little Council input (beyond actions like accepting new roads as public ways). The owner of Wyckoff Country Club would have to conform to the requirements of the RA zone (single family, 20k square feet parcels, etc.). Again - this project is in the most beginning of stages. There is a still a lot to pursue and question.

Secondly, Holyoke has another 250 units of new housing coming online downtown over the next three years. Our community just added Library Commons on Chestnut and the new homes on Jackson Street and the South Holyoke homes, and Essex Village across five sites around the library neighborhood. Council also just permitted new townhouse-style apartments that are being built on Dwight St. next to the community garden, which is down the street from the two new tiny homes. On High Street, we have seen two buildings that had apartments vacant since the 1930s come back online. We are rebuilding downtown, and will continue to. I think many people are not aware of the housing that is being built downtown. Take a drive through the Library neighborhood and down Dwight and the end of High Street by Pulaski.

10/10/2026

We have all heard the arguments and concerns about downtown safety and cleanliness. It’s a multi-layered problem, and we need to keep creatively tackling it from every angle. But I will kindly suggest that you are part of the solution, too. Don’t wait for downtown to be perfect to go down there – because it won’t be able to come back fully until people are patroning businesses that open downtown. We have so many businesses try in Holyoke and fail because people aren’t willing to support them because they’re waiting for all the conditions of success to be there before they’re willing to step below Northampton Street. And that isn’t fair and it isn’t practical. Go shop at Cornucopia. Go have a meal at Fame. Go get a tattoo at Puzzle Peace Tattoo on High Street. Sign your kid up to train at Train42. Bring your grandkids to the Children’s Museum. We are all a part of bringing back downtown back to good. Is this the ONLY thing we need to do? Absolutely not. But downtown is something we own together as a community, and we all have a part to play. What's your favorite downtown business?

10/09/2026

I have gotten a number of calls and emails about the proposed subdivision on the Wyckoff Country Club property, and I wanted to share what I know so far.

There is a pre-application meeting happening on October 15. This is an interdepartmental meeting of all relevant departments who come together to hear a proposed project and consider what it means for the city moving forward. There will be representatives at the pre-application meeting from various departments, including planning, engineering, building, fire, and conservation, amongst others. I will be there as well.

I have gotten questions about if this is connected to the zoning changes proposed by the planning board – no, it is not.

I have gotten questions around if the Council will seek to prevent this from coming by denying a zone change. Outdoor recreation is only allowable in our zoning ordinances in a zone for single-family residential homes. The subdivision proposal, which will be officially shared with the city on the 15th, is for 125 single-family homes. As such, it is an allowable use under our current zoning ordinances.

This will be proceeding as an interdepartmental project – including going through planning board. It will be a public process, and the public has every right and should avail itself of its ability to participate in the process. This is a large project - the largest subdivision proposed in Holyoke in decades.

People should be asking questions about protecting our environmental resources and natural assets. There was a wetlands delineation done last year. We need to ensure that it is respected and followed.

People are right to be concerned about traffic patterns. We need to ask questions around access to 141 and the Bemis neighborhood.

This is just the beginning of the process. I could imagine it taking quite some time, and I could see the project change significantly based on input from departments and the public as well as financial realities shaping the final plan.

I will let you know more when I know more.

Councilor Magrath-Smith

10/07/2026

Proud to be a part of this announcement. This Monday, Holyoke celebrates Indigenous People’s Day for the first time.

10/06/2026

Great news about money coming to Holyoke for economic development downtown.

HOLYOKE — Small business owners gathered at Old San Juan Bakery on Oct. 2 to learn about the state funding they will receive to bolster their operations.

10/05/2026