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.
Dawn moved to Lexington from Arlington when she was five, and met her future husband while in second grade at the old Franklin Elementary School. While attending Lexington High School she was Class Treasurer and helped start the school’s renowned debate team. Dawn graduated from Wheaton College with a degree in American history and American government, and holds a Graduate Certificate in Administration and Management from Harvard. After her first child was born, Dawn began regularly attending Select Board and School Committee meetings, a practice she still maintains to this day. Dawn has served in Town Meeting for 30 years.
A mother of two and dedicated Boston sports fan, Dawn’s husband is a retired public elementary school principal and teacher. She is the daughter of a Navy veteran who helped create and pass the landmark Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Act. At heart, Dawn is a small business advocate.
Why are you running for Town Meeting?
As our 250th celebration approaches, it is more clear than ever that we have serious challenges in Lexington and need strong leadership to represent the needs of residents. Dawn grew up in Lexington, and chose to stay here and raise her family. She is always going to fight to ensure her neighbors get the same opportunities that her family had.
Throughout this campaign, Dawn has gone door-to-door to listen to residents about the issues that matter to them. They are looking for Town Meeting to address the consequences of passing the zoning bylaws under Article 34, ensure we build broad-based support for a new high school, fight to make Lexington more affordable, and engage with them in a meaningful way. Dawn will address these needs while she works to stimulate the local economy and reduce the burden on taxpayers.
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?
Dawn’s passion has always been to serve the needs of Lexington residents. After her children were born, she began to regularly attend Select Board and School Committee meetings to learn how they worked to support Lexington’s residents, a practice she still maintains to this day. In 1994, at a time when Lexington faced a similar population boom we see today, Dawn was first elected to serve in Town Meeting. She has worked advocating for the needs of her fellow neighbors as a member of the Hastings Reopening Task Force, the Bridge PTA, the Town Celebrations Committee, and eventually as chair of the Town Meeting Members Association. Since then, Dawn has campaigned and has been enthusiastically re-elected to Town Meeting every term. Bringing together diverse coalitions around countless issues and projects have been the hallmark of Dawn’s contributions to help create the thriving community Lexington is today.
When working effectively, Dawn believes Town Meeting should be listening to residents about their concerns and creating policies that reflect our shared community values. One of the founding members of the Lexington High School debate team in the 1970s, she learned the value of understanding opposing viewpoints as much as her own. Dawn is always willing to engage with residents and take the time to understand their perspectives. Her political intuition and broad knowledge of the community has delivered proven results for residents seeking to make an impact or propose new policies. As a representative in Town Meeting, Dawn has stayed true to that guiding principle as she consistently builds diverse coalitions of support around key issues.
What is the most important issue in this election to you personally, and what ideas do you have about how to address this issue?
Throughout the campaign, Dawn has gone door-to-door to listen to residents’ concerns. The impact of Article 34 on our town is the number one issue on their minds. Dawn is fully committed to meeting and exceeding the multifamily housing requirements of the MBTA Communities Act.
In 2023, before Town Meeting passed the zoning bylaw that allowed for 10x the housing units of by-right multifamily housing required by the state, it was Dawn who worked to build a coalition of support around a responsible amendment that would meet the requirements of the MBTA Communities Act while managing the Town’s growth. Despite unanimous opposition from the sitting Select Board and nearly unanimous opposition from the Planning Board, the McKenna Amendment fell only six votes shy of passing. Now, we all see the consequences of Article 34 beginning to strain Lexington’s essential infrastructure.
The Fire Department requires significant investments be made in critical fire and emergency services to meet the town’s growing population. Our water and sewer service is reaching maximum capacity in areas where the larger housing developments are being built. And, we are facing the very real possibility of a $700 million high school being overcrowded before we even break ground on a new building.
Dawn is again leading a group to bring forward a Special Town Meeting Warrant Article that will cement Lexington’s commitment to the MBTA Communities Act in a responsible manner. And, she will vote in favor of that Article if re-elected to Town Meeting.
Dawn is committed to working to make Lexington more affordable. Over the last 10 years, the town’s budget has ballooned from $199 million to over $311 million. The town continues to rely on residential taxpayers to pay over 75% of that bill annually. With the new high school project, residents can expect to see their taxes increase up to 10–14% more to meet the cost, and it is clear we are pricing seniors and working families out of Lexington. Dawn has a proven track record as someone who uses her entrepreneurial skills to grow revenue in Lexington while reducing the burden on taxpayers.
For 20 years, Dawn served as a member or chair of the Tourism Committee. She led the charge to create a public-private partnership that built the new Visitors Center as Lexington’s economic development hub. Dawn developed the award-winning Liberty Ride trolley tour of Lexington and Concord at a net-zero cost to taxpayers. Through her efforts, our town was able to develop a visitor-based economy that tripled the revenue it generated from the hotels and meals tax, which helped lessen the burden on residents. Dawn’s commitment to investing in economic development opportunities and her entrepreneurial spirit are necessary assets in Town Meeting as Lexington continues to face the financial consequences of the new zoning bylaws.