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.
• Lexington resident since 1975, on Wachusett Drive (48 years) and Waltham Street (2 years), both within Precinct 4
• Ph.D. Stanford University
• Former management consultant at Arthur D. Little, Inc., and in private practice
• Two children attended Lexington schools (Bridge, Clarke, LHS)
• Two grandchildren soon to enter Lexington school system
• New pickleballer, author (five published novels), and amateur flute player.
Why are you running for Town Meeting?
Lexington has benefited from the professionalism of town managers and staff and from residents who give their time on committees and boards and in Town Meeting. We receive excellent basic services, plus amenities enjoyed by residents and visitors alike, including a vibrant town center enhanced by recent additions of cafés and bakeries. As we are reminded each time we visit the center, and especially during Patriots’ Day celebrations, and now in particular as we prepare for Lex250, Lexington is not only a community; it’s a destination that uniquely commemorates the founding of the nation.
At the same time, however, we confront significant issues related to the LHS rebuild, expansion of multi-family housing in our MBTA zoning districts, trade-offs affecting town investments, and town affordability. I have spoken out on matters that I thought were important and now seek to have a more direct say on decisions that affect our town.
I’ll do the homework to educate myself on the issues while also listening to the debates at TM and considering inputs from constituents and other TM members. I believe that I can make a positive contribution as a Precinct 4 member of Town Meeting and I ask for your vote.
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’ve advocated at Planning Board meetings on matters important to residents on unaccepted streets such as Wachusett Drive, and I’ve advocated at Town Meetings against extension of demolition delays for houses listed by the Historical Commission. Although I’m strongly in favor of protecting our town’s historically significant houses through fair and effective means including demo delays, I believe that homeowners should have more say in the designation of their houses as historic.
From my career as a management consultant, I bring analytical abilities to assess complex issues, along with experience performing due diligence on benefits, reasonableness, and cost.
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 two most significant issues in this election are the LHS rebuild, and growth of multi-family housing under the MBTA zoning bylaw.
I’ll focus my comments below on the LHS rebuild, except to say here that I support a pause in MBTA zoning district developments as proposed by Article 34 (formerly Article 2) and I will vote accordingly if elected. Please see my election website for more details on this issue, at https://shapiro4lextm.us/.
I support the LHS rebuild and the debt exclusion that will be required to pay for it.
I support the fastest and least disruptive rebuild option C.5b Bloom (new building in sports fields).
And I will vote in Town Meeting for Article 97 legislation that’s required to relocate the football and other athletic fields to allow for LHS Bloom construction.
According to project manager Dore+Whittier at the public meeting on February 6, 2025, the most recent cost estimate for the project including LHS rebuild, field house renovation and expansion, and administrative central office space, is $662 million, or $553 million net of anticipated incentives and rebates. An additional rebate of $31 million from the federal Inflation Reduction Act would further reduce the total to $522 million but federal funds are no longer being counted on, for obvious reasons. Although these are very big numbers, D+W has noted that our cost will be comparable to that of other recent high school rebuilds in Massachusetts when the latter are adjusted for size, scope, and inflation.
As we move to the next design phases for LHS Bloom, ongoing cost assessments will be increasingly detailed, and essential for value engineering to manage costs as effectively as possible. We stand a better chance of passing the debt exclusion in late 2025 to the extent that Lexington residents are persuaded that our new high school will have what we need – but not more than what we need — to achieve our town’s educational objectives.
My bottom line: Bloom was selected after careful and deliberate consideration and it’s our best choice for a new LHS. We need this project. What was described at the public meeting on February 6, 2025 looks terrific. Let’s get it done.
I’ve found that I can learn new things by listening, so I’ll want to hear what constituents and others think, and understand their reasons. If in the end I still have a different view on the topic, I’ll explain why and share the information that I have, to see where we may share common ground.
I also welcome opportunities to collaborate where possible. For example, along with neighbors on Wachusett Drive, for over a decade I advocated at Planning Board meetings against a PB policy that subjected unaccepted-street homeowners who sought to substantially renovate their properties to what was called a Street Adequacy Determination, a process that generally led to a PB mandate to widen & repave the street. In June 2023, the Planning Board finally and correctly decided to eliminate this requirement except for projects that would produce increased traffic.
Separately the Planning Board member who had most strongly supported this policy proposed an amendment to an article before Town Meeting, an amendment that would help residents on unaccepted streets to obtain mortgages. Despite our earlier disagreements, I joined him in emailing TM members and others in favor of his amendment.
I ask for your vote at Cary Memorial Building on Monday, March 3rd (or sooner, if you vote by mail) to serve as one of your Town Meeting members for Precinct 4. For more info about my background and views on issues in this election, please visit my election website: https://shapiro4lextm.us/