If you follow local politics, you probably know Cindy Arens as a climate crusader. Arens has been a member of the Sustainable Lexington Committee since 2019 and its chair since 2022. She’s also a founding member of the Lexington Clean Heat Alliance, a HeatSmart Energy Advisor, and a member of the Town’s waste reduction task force. Parents might know her as one of the founders of the school Green Teams — volunteers who get their hands dirty helping kids recycle and compost in the school cafeterias.
Arens says that while environmental issues are extremely important to her, she’s running for Select Board to try to address many interrelated problems — from public transportation, to bike and pedestrian safety, to affordable housing.
“There are a lot of things that are sort of tied to climate change,” she says. “We need to get better public transportation here, whether that’s MBTA, or expanding Lexpress, or maybe even doing some sort of collaboration with the 128 Business Council — private businesses that run shuttles. Can we optimize what’s going on there?”
“The high school is a huge project that’s coming up for the town, and I think that we need to make sure that we build the best, the healthiest, most productive building that we can, but make sure that we’re saving some money too, lowering the cost upfront and lowering the cost operationally, with all of the different tax credits and rebates from the federal government, from the state, from Eversource, from MSBA, which is the organization that’s putting some money in to help with the high school project.”
“Finally, we need more housing. If we have better transportation and more housing in our town, we’re going to be more connected,” she says. “It’s going to be better for business. It’s going to be better for the people living there — more restaurants, more of the things people want.”
Arens believes that advocating for these policies locally can also have an impact at the state or even national level.
“Lexington has been a leader in a lot of things,” she says. “Some of the things that I’ve been involved in — for example, specific rules about lab and life sciences buildings, which are very energy intensive, how do we make them healthier and help lower emissions — some of that work and that thinking is now reflected in the state building code.”
“The more communities that start looking at these things and start doing things, or start speaking out, the more the state pays attention,” she explains.
Asked about what differentiates her from the incumbent, Jill Hai, Arens points to her experience as an engineer and her ability to get things done.
“I feel an urgency, and I think that my training and my corporate background — being an engineer, wanting to look at data, and being very analytical and practical — this has helped me dig in and understand complicated things and find solutions that aren’t necessarily the ones that are the most obvious,” she says.
“Somebody described me as an engineer with a heart — and of course, all engineers have hearts, but those are the two things that drive me — understanding data and working for people.”
Read about Select Board candidate Jill Hai here. You can learn more about Cindy Arens at her website, cindyarens.org, or in this Letter to the editor announcing her candidacy.
I’m voting for Cindy because I believe that we need a Select Board with a majority of members who will be climate leaders and Cindy is an unparalleled sustainability champion.
I also wholeheartedly support Cindy because she is one of the most effective leaders I’ve ever worked with. She has an outstanding ability to take projects from initiation through to completion, keeping track of the details and the bigger picture.
Cindy’s skill set is unique: she is personable, a good listener, and a creative thinker, while also being extremely thorough, flexible, and efficient. Her knowledge on the topics is first rate, and she’s going to put her all into this role. Lexington will be lucky to have Cindy as Select Board member!