Al fresco graduation in Paradise City

There is something to be said about just getting things done. It's not always easy, and this is an impasse that The Literacy Project seeks to address. In fact, on June 1st, they are holding a graduation ceremony at Greenfield Community College for folx who have just completed their GED through programs they have in place. We chat with outgoing executive director Judith Roberts, Kat Brenton and Amos Johnson who'll be graduating this week, and their keynote speaker, Tim Lovett, who is a graduate of the program himself, about the importance of keeping education open to everyone. It's happening in Northampton, where the 3rd Summer on Strong begins today, shutting down a portion of the street to instead offer outdoor dining, music, and entertainment all summer long. We interrupt them in the middle of setting up to talk about the power of eating local with Jeremy Werther of Homestead and invite Deb Flynn of Eastside Grill and Amy Cahillane of the Downtown Northampton Association along to look at how community has made this festival happen in more ways than one. And not to double down on Northampton, but it's happening in their City Hall as well. For our third installment of "Meet the Mayor", we get to hang out with Gina-Louise Sciarra. Now that the Bombyx debacle has mostly died down, we get to ask her about the redesign of downtown, the IHEG liquor license problem, and the finer points of city budgeting.