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 has always been my home. From Hancock Nursery School and Bowman Elementary to Clarke Middle School and Lexington High School, where I met my future husband, Adam Blauer. Adam lived on the other side of town and attended Estabrook and Diamond. After getting married and living in a few other places, we were fortunate enough to purchase our own home here in 2011, just a mile down the road from Adam’s parents.
My dad grew up in Lexington too, and my grandfather not only served as a Town Meeting Member for multiple terms in the 1960s but also as Chairman of the Appropriation Committee and multiple other financial committees over the course of 20 years.
I am proud that our children are fourth generation Lexingtonians, and just the same as anyone, we only want the very best for them. Running for Town Meeting is one of the ways I can contribute to ensuring Lexington remains a wonderful place to live for generations to come.
Why are you running for Town Meeting?
Since having children, Adam and I have been very involved in our town’s community of young people. I volunteered as a LexFUN! board member for over five years, was an active Room Parent and fifth Grade Graduation Committee member and am looking forward to coaching Little League Softball this Spring. Adam has coached lacrosse for the last seven years and is now the Boys’ Director of Lexington Youth Lacrosse.
The town is poised at an inflection point across two important topics—the new High School and the MBTA Communities zoning—that both directly affect the children of Lexington. In this election every vote will count and so I am running to be a Town Meeting member to advocate for the best interest of the students in Lexington as well as to represent those in Precinct 7 (Estabrook district). I feel there has never been a more important time to take community involvement to the next level.
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 am currently the Global Footwear Design Director of Chuck Taylor, managing a team of nine designers who create the product that drives Converse’s $2 billion business. I think creatively and problem solve in a team environment every day, listening to many opinions and helping to make sensible decisions based on a mix of art and science to move the brand forward. I hope to apply this same approach to collaboration while serving on Town Meeting.
What is the most important issue in this election to you personally, and what ideas do you have about how to address this issue?
My key issue is the quality of our schools and as mentioned above, I feel the two main topics we face today are interconnected on this point.
It’s been established that the current Lexington High School has reached the end of its life with inadequacies, disrepair and overcrowding that negatively impact both teaching and learning. Bloom—the selected plan for a new high school—is a thoughtful and elegant design that is also the fastest, most efficient, lowest cost option (and compliant to receive $100 million reimbursement from the MSBA). This is the plan that our students in Lexington deserve, and one that will help uphold our town’s long-time legacy of excellence in education.
Some are concerned that Bloom won’t be large enough to accommodate the increase in students that will inevitably come with the influx of MBTA-zoned multi-family housing developments. In fact, Bloom will provide 125,000+ square feet more learning space than the current LHS and is designed with built-in flexibility to accommodate 3000+ students. Nevertheless, this is why I support Article 2–to scale back the rezoning so that we can more confidently proceed with the High School Building Project and plan the town’s growth more responsibly going forward.
On February 14th, the Appropriation Committee published a mic-drop memo on the MBTA Zoning Impact highlighting that “the increase of expenses for the schools will exceed new tax revenues by an amount in the range of $4 million to $12 million for every 1,000 new dwelling units built in the overlay districts.” With nearly 80% of our town budget allocated to schools, this can only mean that the quality of our school system will suffer as we seek to confront these funding gaps.
For these reasons, I support Bloom AND Article 2 to preserve the quality of our schools.
I would be truly honored to represent the residents of Precinct 7 and want to thank them in advance for coming out to vote in this critical election. I am committed to staying engaged on every issue with open lines of communication so that everyone in the neighborhood who wants to be is kept in the loop and has their voices heard. Please visit www.hellokatie.com for more info and feel free to reach out with any questions or perspective you wish to share. Thank you!