Precinct 7
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 arrived in Lexington with my husband, David, in 1998. We promptly fell in love with the Town and all that it has to offer. Our three children, ages 25, 22 and 18, attended Estabrook, Diamond and Lexington High School.
Professionally, I am an energetic and thoughtful leader and team player with a passion for work that promotes health and wellbeing. As the executive director of Lexington Community Farm, I have the pleasure of leading an organization that produces local food for all, including those in need, offers great nature-based classes to youth and families, stewards healthy and productive farmland leased from the Town, and contributes to the local economy.
In the past year, I’ve picked up two new activities – pickleball and ceramics. One is a social form of exercise and the other I find meditative.
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 worked as a lawyer for 15 years, primarily serving people of limited means with chronic illness or disability. Early on, I consulted with individual clients on matters that involved their basic needs. Compassion and patience were invaluable as I dealt with powerful, government agencies that stood in the way of my clients’ needs being met.
As my experience grew, I mentored colleagues, engaged in state policy advocacy and developed programs to enhance my team’s skills and make changes to the systems.
I applied those leadership and organizational skills to a human services and then a special needs organization, before joining LexFarm’s as its executive director. As a leader, I’ve learned that navigating change requires listening, asking questions, communicating, working collaboratively, building trust and learning to compromise. These skills and experience have served me well in my first term as a Town Meeting member.
What is the most important issue in this election to you personally, and what ideas do you have about how to address this issue?
Our town’s commitment to affordable housing will be tested (again) this year. Passage of Article 33 would authorize the Select Board to sell, lease or otherwise dispose of a parcel of land so that it can be developed into affordable housing. The parcel, located on Lowell Street near the northeast corner of North Street, offers a unique opportunity, as it is town-owned land.
While the need for affordable housing across the Commonwealth is significant, the affordability gap in Lexington is even greater. There are residents who are extraordinarily burdened by their housing costs, and long-term employees in town unable to afford to live here. If we want the town to be more welcoming to people of varying economic means, we need to support measures that would bring greater diversity in housing.
I believe there are three things necessary to pass Article 33: 1) transparency about goals, size and process; 2) meetings for nearby residents to learn about and discuss the project; and 3) a theme that grounds all conversations regarding this and future projects – affordable housing respectfully integrated throughout the town benefits all of us.
Several years ago, there was a rule change at the state level that would have adversely affected services I was then providing. I connected with similarly situated organizations to discuss how together we might address this change.
One of the organizations had a leader who liked to forge ahead on his own, often failing to communicate with the group before he reached out to others “on our behalf.” It wasn’t clear whether his interests were aligned with ours, or whether he was trying to garner some benefit unique to his organization.
I engaged in individual discussions with him, and shared some of the concerns that I had. We talked through the substantive issues, and while we had differences, we also found common interests that would be enough for us to work together.
Collaboration of any kind does not mean that all the parties agree about every aspect of an issue. What it does imply is that they have identified where they can agree and how they can work together to pursue their aligned interests.
I have had the privilege of serving on Town Meeting for Precinct 7 for three years. I would be grateful for the opportunity to continue to serve.