Vote for Tom for Wayland Select Board on Tuesday, May 10th
Tom on the issues
FISCAL PRUDENCE
We can’t spend what we don’t have. I seek to appoint Finance Committee members who are dedicated to a responsible balanced budget, maintaining the town’s excellent bond rating to reduce costs of financing, wisely maintaining the Cash Reserve fund, effectively supporting quality town services for residents, and avoiding property tax increases that create too much of a burden for residents.
Each year Wayland, like so many towns, faces budgetary challenges and difficult choices. I will continue to participate in thoughtful deliberation and work with residents, and board and committee members, to help create a budget that effectively represents quality town services and puts our needs before our wants.
I support Select Board efforts to explore and implement creative budget cutting strategies. These include collaborative purchasing, consolidating work and departments, and collaborating with comparable municipalities.
DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND BELONGING
A person’s mindset about equity and inclusion starts at home. I was fortunate to have been brought up in a family that believed in respect for all persons, no matter their background, skin color, or sexual orientation. These values were the basis for my active support of the Human Rights, Equity and Inclusion Committee that the Board of Selectmen created in 2021.
As we state on our town website, this effort is one way to “affirm that the Town of Wayland is an inclusive community that has, as one of its core values, the freedom from discrimination, disrespect, bigotry, other forms of microaggressions, macroaggressions, hatred and oppression, and to reaffirm the Town’s commitment to upholding and defending the rights of all individuals to enjoy the free and equal exercise of their human and civil rights and privileges”
Further, it was an honor to serve as Board of Directors Chair of the Boston Young Men’s Christian Union. One of Boston’s oldest service organizations, it was created to provide the young people of Boston with opportunities for self-improvement and healthful recreation, at little or no expense. The building, located at 48 Boylston Street, now provides 46 units of affordable housing, including 25 targeted to those who have experienced homelessness – serving some of the most vulnerable in a gentrifying neighborhood. Substance abuse counseling is also provided, as well as a dog day care and grooming venture that provides job training and employment opportunities for residents and clients.
Professionally, I am a longstanding advocate for diversity in the often-hidebound law industry. I helped to start the Women’s Initiative at my firm and served as a panel member in May of 2018 on a program called Increasing Diversity in the Law Firm for the Massachusetts Bar Association.
AFFORDABLE HOUSING
Wayland’s latest effort to address affordable housing needs, River’s Edge (now called Alta Oxbow) is well underway with first units opening this summer. I have supported and helped guide this project over many years as a resident, and then as a member, vice-chair, and chair of the Select Board. The MA Department of Housing and Community Development has approved Alta Oxbow’s 55 affordable units and the town’s local housing action plan, increasing Wayland’s affordable housing to over 10%. Learn more about the project.
Even though we have reached our state mandate, I will continue to advocate considering other property in town for affordable housing, to help those searching for housing stability, and to encourage diversity of residents who can afford to live in our community.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
As a Select Board member in 2010, I supported the establishment of the Economic Development Committee (EDC). One of EDC’s primary projects, the one-of-a-kind River’s Edge project, is now reaping large rewards for the town: approx. $2 million in land sale proceeds, $4.6 million in MassWorks funding, a $3 million+ contaminated site cleanup, and upon completion, the town will receive a projected $750K to $1 million in additional net annual real estate tax revenue every year.
Looking ahead, an upcoming goal is revitalizing our Wayland Center Route 20 corridor, to expand our commercial tax base while maintaining and supporting the character of our town. With both of these projects, economic development done well is an important key to boosting tax revenues and lessening residents’ tax burdens.
Small economic development can also be important. The empty gas station at Main Street and Plain Street in Cochituate has been a high-profile location to encourage to get improved. While any tax benefits may be small, the value to the surrounding neighborhood vitality is high. Economic development is a critical piece of both Wayland’s financial health as well as the vitality of our town for residents.
SENIORS
Council on Aging staff perform great work on a daily basis. They provide programs and outreach services that improve the quality of life and promote independent living for Wayland seniors. However, the amount of town space available for these services is woefully inadequate. I have worked hard to develop a Council on Aging Community Center that will offer the opportunity for people of all ages, especially seniors, to work, play, and strengthen their connections to one another.
PLAYING FIELDS
Over 6,000 children, adults, and seniors use Wayland’s recreation sites annually. The town simply cannot currently meet the demand at its present field capacity. I have always been a supporter of thoughtful recreational planning, and, as BOS chair, have fostered constructive discussions to improve a consensus among residents on ways to meet this need. I am currently leading the charge to design and construct new grass fields throughout town beginning with the upcoming article at Annual Town Meeting to fund construction of a grass field at the ideally situated Loker Conservation and Recreation Area.
ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION
As my former congressional intern boss, United State House Speaker Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill often stated, “All politics is local.” To confront the dire and ever growing global climate crisis, it is imperative that efforts to reverse the problem begin at home in communities like ours. This is exactly why I supported Article 19 at the 2021 Annual Town Meeting, a resolution to declare a climate emergency, and why I fought for a full-time Wayland sustainability director. I will continue to steadfastly support our town’s Energy and Climate Committee, which has done extraordinary work over many years in helping ensure Wayland is less reliant on outdated energy sources.
