For candidate Tina McBride, running for Planning Board goes back to her childhood in East Lexington. Growing up with five siblings in an 1,100 square foot house on the edge of the Great Meadows, McBride said that working-class families like hers were “pretty standard” in her neighborhood.
“Since that time, I really feel like we have seen such a hollowing out of that middle,” said McBride.
McBride is running for Planning Board alongside three opponents, two of them incumbents. If elected, she hopes to continue supporting issues that promote working class housing and address the density issues that she calls a “crisis” in Lexington and greater Boston.
By the time she moved back to Lexington to raise her family in 2000, McBride, a baby boomer, noticed the familiar Cape-style homes were coming down at an “alarming” rate.
“In Lexington, as you know, property values continue to go up and up and up,” she said.
This is when she began supporting demolition delay efforts for houses that met the town’s “cultural inventory” criteria — homes deemed either historically or culturally significant.
“Those delays worked for a little while, I think, but not as long as you would hope to protect that missing segment of housing,” McBride said.
In 2013, she started regularly attending Town Meetings and in 2015, McBride joined a team of people working to get the demolition delay extended. She said they found between 80 and 100 houses going down per year in Lexington.
“Those are starter homes,” she said. “Those are homes of people who are just starting new families and don’t have a lot of money and are trying to get into Lexington. That means they were cut out of that equation, and they were being replaced with homes that were two or three times the size.”
The 2015 extension effort failed, but it sparked the flame that led McBride to run for Town Meeting, and she has been a member for Precinct 7 since 2018. McBride thought others in the community felt the same at the time, but not enough.
“People kindly said, ‘Oh, it’s just ahead of its time,’” she said.
McBride hopes that this year is the time. More recently, she is focused on supporting efforts that slow down the rate of houses increasing in size, like last year’s Article 40.
“The average size home — not the smallest, not the biggest — the average size home in Lexington is being built right now at 6000 square feet,” she said citing public building records, “so it tells you, we have an issue.”
McBride supports Lexington’s effort to address affordable housing, including the MBTA Communities Act — a law requiring towns near public transit stations to change their zoning laws to allow by-right multi-family housing — but said the pacing and lack of compromise pose concerns for her and others. The MBTA Communities Act, she says, is attempting to create dense housing “where a lot of previous attempts have failed.”
“And so these dramatic changes are suggested and people say, ‘I don’t want it so dramatic. I want a little bit farther back’ and no one can agree. So nothing happens. Right? We’re stuck. Compromise is impossible on both sides, because both are asking so much.”
Although many “latched” on to the idea that the MBTA Communities Act was going to create more affordable housing, McBride is less convinced. She describes the current process of creating affordable housing in Lexington as “death by 1000 cuts.”
“So we’re going to get 10 percent inclusionary housing, but we’re not going to get affordable housing from this,” she said. “And so here we are. We’re probably going to get a lot of very large, expensive apartments. It’ll always come in probably just under what’s required to get our 10% inclusionary housing. And that’s hard.”
McBride is running to represent the people who moved to Lexington with a vision of the town that is currently changing. She hopes to reconcile the different visions on the Planning Board, and help recarve out that middle that was a reality in Lexington when she was a child.
“I think that when you get to Lexington, for whatever reason you’ve come, it’s something you’ve worked very hard to attain, and you want to be here,” McBride said.
McBride hopes that if elected, she can bring compromise to Planning Board and focus on finding a route towards affordable housing with the right speed—and proper warnings.
“I think in Lexington, we are pretty progressive and I think the majority of people want to do the right thing,” she said. “And I don’t think there’s any stop signs, I think there are yields and merges that need to happen.”
Near the end of speaking, she reflected back on the Lexington that her parents raised her in.
“There’s so many families that don’t have access to Lexington now, because the demographics have changed so dramatically,” McBride said. “I feel very strongly about it and that, you know, [today], my parents would not have been able to live in Lexington.”
Learn more at https://www.tinamcbridelex.org/home
As a former Lexington Planning Board chairperson and currently a Lexington Permanent Building Committee member I encourage you to consider Tina McBride for election to the Lexington Planning Board. Tina will work diligently to ensure that the recently passed Article 34 MBTA Multi-family housing act will serve its intended purpose to provide new housing choices for our next generation, work force and seniors.
I endorse the candidacy of Tina McBride for Planning Board, who is in favor of a more participatory process associated with the impacts of Article 34, the MBTA zoning change. She supports a process that is open to compromise and refinement, and aimed at more effectively addressing the intent of the zoning change, which is to be more inclusionary. We would be well served by a vision which is sensitive to multiple objectives, certainly for more housing, but designed with sensitivity to the context where it will be developed.
As a resident trained in architecture, and an abutter to the Marrett Road Article 34 MBTA zoning change, I was dismayed when I learned about its potential impact on our neighborhood. While single family houses have gotten larger and higher, this zoning change would allow up to 60’ in height (up to 5 stories plus roof top equipment), much higher than the buildings in our town center. I also understand that the zoning change doesn’t address the size of the units, so they may be so large as to be unaffordable by most homebuyers. The houses on Downing Road are part of the Fair Oaks historic area, where in recent years, larger houses have needed specific Historic Commission approval relative to height and demolition approval. I learned about the specific, as-of-right impact that Article 34 would have on our neighborhood only days before the town meeting vote last April, and only because a neighbor had put a flyer in my mailbox with images and the facts. I am not opposed to building new housing in the area, but the 60’ allowance on this relatively small footprint is out of proportion with the adjacent housing stock, which allows only 40’ (2.5 stories) as a maximum height. While I signed a petition to allow for more detailed and locational review by adjacent residents, this approach was not accepted by Town Meeting, which approved the proposed Article 34. Tina McBride is recommending a holistic review of the proposed changes, including multiple objectives, open communication with residents aimed at productive compromise, and locational sensitivity, beyond density alone as the goal.
While Lexington has a high turnout for presidential elections, there is a low turn out for our local elections – which actually have a significant impact on our daily lives here in town. Lexington is a microcosm of the world and, while the town does a lot well, there is much room for improvement as developers have a growing impact on the town, the environmental impact of climate change continues to increase, and the need to protect diverse voices becomes increasingly intense as national politics becomes more divisive and extreme. I’d like to see some new energy and perspectives on our Planning Board. I know Tina McBride personally and she is passionate, dedicated to a better Lexington, and persistent! Tina is committed to making positive change in Lexington. Vote Early and Vote for Tina McBride for Planning Board!
I was very excited to learn that Tina prioritizes finding more paths for people of moderate income to live in Lexington. As a retired Lexington teacher I appreciate the benefits of a diverse community- diverse racially, economically, ethnically to name a few. The way to increase diversity in Lexington is to make it an affordable place for more to live. We pay our teachers well in Lexington but the only way I was able to live in the community where I worked and raise my daughter here was to have bought a home with a very small footprint nearly 30 years ago. We need to make it possible for our town employees to live where they work and enjoy all the many benefits Lexington has to offer. I believe Tina would work toward this goal.
As a former Lexington Capital Expenditures Committee member and professional planner, I strongly encourage you to consider Tina McBride for election to the Planning Board. Tina has the trifecta of: a forward-looking sustainable and inclusive vision for Lexington which includes a deep understanding of Lexington zoning and planning history; the demonstrated dedication to background preparation with planning and other information resources before reaching decisions, on all the community initiatives she has been involved with; and the ability to actively listen to the concerns of Lexington’s residential and business communities.
Tina McBride is committed to Lexington’s planning goals for inclusive, affordable housing. For many years, Tina has worked tirelessly to research, pursue and present innovative and attainable approaches to planning that will bring diverse housing stock to Lexington. Her vision includes housing for Lexington seniors as well as families seeking access to homeownership in our community. Tina’s well-thought-out vision for future development focuses on sustainability, economic development and honoring Lexington’s Comprehensive Plan. As a longtime Town Meeting Member, Tina equally values input from residents and other stakeholders when important decisions are being made. Please join me in voting for Tina McBride for Planning Board.
As a former Planning Board chairperson and member of Town residential committees, I strongly support Tina’s candidacy. With her deep roots in Lexington and her involvement in Town planning and development issues over the last decade, she is well prepared to take on this responsibility. She brings energy, a broad perspective, and an appreciation for the importance and complexity of sustainability as a guiding principle.