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Introduce yourself and what you believe differentiates you from other candidates.
I was born and raised in Lexington, graduated from LHS, backpacked around the world, received a BA in anthropology from Columbia University, worked in New York, and returned in 2000 to raise my own family. I have spent my adult life working for sustainability, and social and environmental justice issues. Having lived and worked in cities from East Boston to Detroit, the South Bronx and Harlem, I have experienced many types of neighborhoods and have developed an understanding for the different approaches to planning. I have been a Town Meeting Member for Precinct 7 since 2018, attended Planning Board meetings for over a decade, proposed bylaws, collaborated on amendments, and done advocacy work on multiple Town Meeting articles regarding waste reduction, zoning and preservation since 2013. I have pursued sustainability issues for decades driven particularly by the disproportionate effect that Climate Change has on Black and Brown people.
What are the key issues you are addressing in your campaign?
What are the key issues you are addressing in your campaign?
I believe we should actively seek solutions and that through better planning we can prioritize affordability, sustainability, equity, and smart growth, not just density for density’s sake. The current Board promotes the idea that MBTA Communities housing is tantamount to affordable housing even though everyone should know that at least 90%, possibly as much as 95% of the housing will be market rate housing while seriously reducing green spaces.
What are your top policy priorities?
What are your top policy priorities?
Currently, we don't have a vehicle to get higher rates of inclusionary or affordable housing for our workforce (teachers, firefighters, police, and workers in the community), young people, first time home buyers and seniors looking to down-size and want to stay in their community. We need to create policies that will enable housing along transportation routes, allow for green spaces and protect our tree canopy, and enjoyable and vibrant commercial areas.
What message would you like to convey to the voters of Lexington?
What message would you like to convey to the voters of Lexington?
As a lifelong resident of Lexington, it will be my priority as a Planning Board Member to create new opportunities to make better planning decisions for both creating homes and doing it sustainably. We have a housing crisis and climate crisis, so we need to carefully assess, fully inform our constituencies, mark our progress and adjust for the zoning that will create better outcomes. I want to become a Planning Board member because I think we can improve our current procedures by listening, trusting and involving residents in the important job of planning and creating an environment where together we look at current policies that affect all of us.
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