Precinct: 9
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 am a 52-year Lexington resident. Jeanne Canale is my wife and I have a daughter and two grandchildren who are in college. We enjoy gardening and tending to our house and yard. We enjoy traveling and meeting new people. At Northeastern University I taught engineering and career development and ran the Electrical Engineering Co-op program. In retirement, I teach Computers and Technology courses at the Community College level.
I have been active in community affairs all my life. I started as member of the South Lexington Civic Association where I became Chair. I ran successfully for Town Meeting and Planning Board and became involved in regional planning issues. I co-founded Freedom’s Way, the management entity for the Freedom’s Way National Heritage Area. I am a co-founder of the Battle Road Federally Designated Scenic Byway Committee that oversees the Byway.
I enjoy hiking, cross-country skiing, and biking in New England and in foreign countries. My running stopped after arthritis affected my knees, although I did run for the BAA Running Club for many years. We enjoy exploring the New England Biking trails and hiking through local and regional parks.
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 1987. My role as a Lexington community activist prepared me to see Town Meeting’s activities from the perspective of everyday residents. As a regional activist, I could better understand how person in other communities viewed local political issues. As a Planning Board member, I could use my planning skills to understand and communicate with fellow Town Meeting members on potential longer-term effects of Article passage. From my regional planning perspectives, I could add how Lexington fits into the Greater Boston region with all the attendant roles and responsibilities.
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 pressing issue to me is the alarming trend of demographic change in the economic status of Lexington residents. With increasing mansionization, Lexington is losing lower cost housing that is replaced with very high-cost larger housing units. We have a definite need to provide more lower cost housing choices. Lexington needs to ensure we are not cost prohibitive to middle and working-class families, and we need to have more evenly distributed demographics among wealth/income dimensions. We should provide housing opportunities for many Lexington workers who can not afford what is being built or replaced. Recent efforts such as the MBTA housing laws provide potential, but the sites are mostly privately controlled with little that the Town can do to ensure affordability in these new units.
Article 33 is a no-brainer as a first step in creating lower cost housing choices. It is already Town owned, so we have ultimate control of any development. Being town owned means that there will be robust public input on any development of housing on this site. This parcel is located within walking distance of shopping and grocery stores, so it will be “smart growth” despite a residential location abutting some commercial stores. We have only about 5% of our housing affordable to working class persons. We have way more persons working in Lexington than this 5%. I suggest we pass Article 33 and convince the Select Board to listen to public input and create a scenario that will actually allow housing to be built here.
The Planning Board always needs to understand different viewpoints in approving or recommending projects. The perspective on how a project affects Lexington’s future plans is a key component in balancing divergent perspectives. A developer typically wants to maximize profits, nearby residents are concerned about quality of life. And residents in general, are concerned about costs and benefits of a particular project.
A successful collaboration is the development at 186 Bedford Street.
The developer wished to tear down a historic structure and build a commercial/residential development similar to one in Westwood. It would have been totally inappropriate at this location. Some Planning Board members, Town staff, and some residents believed the initial proposal was acceptable. Local and not so local residents felt that the proposal was inappropriately too large and intensive for this site. My perspective was to get to a win-win situation whereby all stakeholders could be pleased. Despite pressures to give the developer everything asked, I and others held out to compromise on key elements to ensure an eventual successful outcome project.
I am excited to be a Town Meeting member, and I welcome any one to contact me about their particular interests. I ask for your vote.