Precinct: 4
Tell us a little about yourself. You can include your personal background, family, outside interests that are important to who you are as a person and a candidate.
I moved to Lexington in 1965 and have 2 daughters who went through LPS. I grew up in New York City. I appreciated Lexington’s conservation land, the treed environment and the support of the community for education. In 1965, Lexington was a much more affordable community than it is now. Unfortunately, the very qualities that made Lexington attractive to me have contributed to the current lack of affordability.
How has your past experience — whether in your professional life, elected office, or as a community leader — prepared you for a role in Town Meeting?
I have been a Town Meeting member since 2000. I have been on various committees to interview candidates for town positions, such as Supt. of Schools and Police Chief. I have been on the tree committee, which helped to establish the first after school program for elementary aged children, and was active in the PTA when my children were in school. My professional experience was in IT, and I helped bring the first Apple computers to the Bridge School. I have been chair of the TMMA and I am currently involved with Lexington@Home, a local organization that is trying to help older residents stay in their homes as long as possible.
What is the most important issue in this election to you personally, and what ideas do you have about how to address this issue?
The most important issue Lexington (and the rest of the planet) can address is climate change. We need to maintain the tree canopy, and continue to find ways to reduce fossil fuel use. In addition to requiring new homes to be fossil fuel free, we need to encourage the installation of solar panels and the siting of structures so that they can take advantage of solar energy. At the same time, projects such as Tracer Lane, which involves cutting down a 1,000 tree forest to install solar panels, need to be stopped. Town Meeting also needs to consider the implications of rezoning, such as the MBTA rezoning of over 200 acres, which it passed last year. Permitting the by-right construction of about 10,000 new housing units has major implications for infrastructure and schools which were never considered by Town Meeting.