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 2001 with my husband and two young boys. We moved here for the warm and welcoming community, excellent schools, and great local resources like the library, the Hayden Recreation Center, conservation areas and Town Center. We truly love living here and are so glad we made this choice for our family.
Over the years, I have been fortunate to be able to do a range of volunteer work. My work in Lexington includes:
• Town Meeting Member, 2021-2023.
• Board Member, Lexington HS PTO, 2013-2017.
• Board Member, Clarke MS PTO, 2011-2013.
• Co-Founder, Clarke Green Team, 2010-2011.
• Member, Lexington CARES, 2005-2006.
• Bridge School Library Volunteer, 2003-2010.
In addition to my work in town, I have also volunteered as part of a national voter telephone hotline answering election-related questions such as, how do I register? Where do I vote? How do I sign up to vote by mail? Etc. This work has been challenging at times, but also incredibly rewarding.
When not volunteering or working with my husband to manage our small business, I enjoy playing pickleball with the Lexington Pickleball Club, walking our dog, baking, and knitting.
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?
My most directly relevant experience that prepares me for re-election to Town Meeting is the past three years of serving on Town Meeting. There is a steep learning curve to understanding how Town Meeting works as well as learning how to best advocate for residents and issues.
To help climb this learning curve, I was fortunate to be part of a study group that was a mix of experienced TMMs and ‘newbies.’ We met weekly leading up to TM as well as during TM to discuss issues and share research. I found these sessions extremely valuable both in helping me understand the specific motions being voted on at TM as well as the mechanics of TM.
I have an analytical mind that has been bolstered by my training and work in computer science and marketing. I leverage this background, and my MBA, to approach complicated issues from multiple vantage points, giving me a holistic framework with which to analyze town projects and budgets.
What is the most important issue in this election to you personally, and what ideas do you have about how to address this issue?
One of the key issues I want to work on in Town Meeting is the problem of housing. We all know that our town, indeed our entire state, suffers from an insufficient supply of housing in general and, importantly, a lack of affordable housing. With the median price of homes sold in town being well over $1 million last year, it is getting increasingly difficult to find a reasonably priced home. Often those who work in Lexington can’t afford to live here. And our children, many of whom would like to come back to Lexington to live, are simply priced out.
I believe we have an obligation to help provide affordable and safe housing for all our citizens. Last year, Town Meeting voted for zoning to create districts throughout town where multi-family housing can be built. This will allow builders to create multiple smaller, somewhat less expensive homes in these districts. Questions remain about how to implement this zoning in a way that benefits both existing and future residents, but there is no doubt that it will increase and diversify Lexington’s housing stock.
Another way Town Meeting can contribute to more reasonably priced housing is to put more rigorous limits on zoning to create disincentives for builders to tear down older homes on small lots. Tighter zoning will enable families with smaller budgets to buy older homes instead of seeing them added to landfill. While diversifying our housing stock will not necessarily create affordable housing, it will help reduce the median price of housing and will hopefully make room for our teachers, firefighters and children to live here.
It will be important for members of Town Meeting to understand the impacts of these and other zoning decisions to minimize unintended consequences. We must make sure to take into consideration the needs of existing residents while also welcoming new residents.
Creating more housing, and more affordable housing, are difficult and complex issues. I support both and am excited to work on this as a member of Town Meeting. I will work to address the inequity of our housing situation while balancing it with the many wonderful qualities of Lexington that we all enjoy.
A number of years ago, when our children attended the Bridge School, the School Committee proposed a redistricting plan that would have significantly impacted our neighborhood. The plan would have sent the children to Fiske, which would have also changed their middle school. While Clarke is within walking distance of our neighborhood, the children would have had to be transported to Diamond. Also, a large number of the children were rising 5th graders, which would have required them to first switch to a new elementary school for a year and then to a new middle school the following year.
While our neighborhood’s preference was to not be redistricted at all, a group of us worked with the School Committee to come up with a new, compromise plan. In the new plan, our neighborhood was moved to Harrington, which fed into Clarke instead of Diamond. In addition, all 5th graders were able to stay at their existing elementary school.
Creating the new plan required a great deal of work for everyone involved, but it was definitely worthwhile. The compromise plan served the town’s need to mitigate the overcrowding at Bridge while also recognizing what was important to our neighborhood.
I have appreciated the opportunity to serve the residents of Precinct 4, and the entire town, these past three years. I educate myself on the issues and take my Town Meeting responsibilities seriously. I hope the voters will return me to Town Meeting for another three years. Thank you.