Infrastructure

Our roads in Amherst are in terrible condition - already, we need about $40 million dollars in repairs, and only about $2 million per year is budgeted. We desperately need a new South Amherst Fire Station and DPW building. I see these three items as top priorities. It is unfortunate that so much of our available funds for capital improvements are already committed to the oversized and unnecessary $46 million library expansion and renovation project, which will severely hamper our town’s ability to fund the priority projects that I have mentioned. I will, however, do whatever I can to stop any further spending on the library project beyond what the town has already committed, and I will strive to ensure that plans for future projects are based on a realistic estimate of the financial resources we have available while still meeting the needs of the town. Additionally, as a town councilor I would strive to augment our town revenue for our many infrastructure needs by seeking increased investment from our local institutions of higher learning, UMass Amherst and Amherst College.

Support our Schools

Ensuring a fully funded school budget would be a top priority for me as a councilor. Our schools have faced enormous budget cuts in the past two years, leading to devastating cuts to special education, world languages, and music, among other areas. This is completely unacceptable. Given the challenges of school funding in general as well as the challenges specific to Amherst, prioritizing and valuing public education requires a town council that is willing to advocate for its schools. Here are some things I would do as a town councilor:

• Fully funding the schools requires listening to our school superintendent and School Committee about what the schools' needs are. I would seek to improve communication between the school committee and superintendent and the town council about budgetary needs as early as possible in the budget cycle.

• Ensure funding for a competitive and living wage for educators, which will help us to retain skilled and talented professionals in the district.

• Take a lead role in advocating at the state level and with our state representatives for more state aid to our schools and a revision of the charter school funding formula that reduces the financial burden of paying for charter schools on our district.

• Advocate strongly with UMass and Amherst College for payments to the town that can be applied directly to funding our schools.

Racial Justice

• Fully funding the town’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) office in the town budget.

• Work with local immigrants' rights groups to protect undocumented community members.

• Applying a racial justice lens thoroughly and consistently to all town projects, programs, and policies.

• Divesting town funds from weapons manufacturers and other industries that do not align with our values.

• Support for the work of CSSJC (Community Safety and Social Justice Committee) by implementing and funding its proposals and initiatives, as well as ensuring that it has enough members and meets with town council regularly.

• Support for the Amherst Black Reparations Committee and its recommendations.

• Support for the Black Business Association of Amherst Area’s initiatives and priorities.

• Use of the town census form to collect data on the most commonly spoken languages in our diverse town, to enable the town to consistently provide accurate and high quality interpretation and translation of town documents, its website, and its public meetings.

Given the national political climate, I think it's more important than ever to continue and strengthen our racial justice work at the level of our local government and community. As a councilor, I would prioritize the following:

• Create a robust Community Advisory Committee for Community Choice Aggregation energy

• Contracting a waste hauler for the town, including compost pick up and a pay as you throw fee structure, to significantly reduce overall trash and resident costs

• Solar bylaw that prioritizes solar on rooftops, parking lots, brownfields, multi use agricultural land - not clearcutting forests

• Net zero energy for all new town buildings and additions - no exceptions

• Solar canopies on the High School parking lot and other municipal lots in town.

• Divesting town funds from fossil fuel companies.

• Collaboration with our state legislative delegation on important bills that would fund local climate action.

Climate change is an existential issue for humanity. Unfortunately, the measures taken by our government at the state and federal level are nowhere near what is needed to respond to the crisis. I believe that our local government, as the level of government most accessible to the people, can play a key role in filling the gap between what is being done and what is needed to bring about a just transition off of fossil fuels and to build climate resilience.

As a councilor, I would first be extremely attentive to ensure that our climate action initiatives/policies move along at a much quicker pace than they have been and that they are adhered to. Some examples are:

Finally, I believe we need more funding/personnel for the Amherst Sustainability Department in order to take advantage of state and federal funding for climate initiatives and as I councilor I would advocate for a larger budget for that department. This would also allow the town to spend more time and resources on implementing our Climate Action, Adaptation and Resilience plan.

Addressing Climate Change by Acting Locally

Community Safety

I support funding CRESS (Community Responders for Equity, Safety, and Service) to be fully staffed and operational 24/7. I think that CRESS is an innovative program that speaks to the need for community responders for situations such that do not require an armed response, such as a mental health emergency or wellness check. When CRESS becomes fully operational, I think that the council should reevaluate the size of our current police department in relation to the actual community safety needs of Amherst with an eye to freeing up funds that can serve some of the other urgent needs our community is facing.

I also would work hand in hand with CSSJC to ensure that a resident oversight board is established to ensure that public safety services are being provided in a way that contributes positively to the effort to eliminate systemic racism in Amherst.

Family Friendly Amherst

As a working mom with two kids, making Amherst more family friendly is a key priority of mine. First and foremost, we need to fully fund our public schools, paying a living wage to all school employees and not keep cutting positions. I support building a BIPOC led youth empowerment center as a place for our older children to go for resources, recreation, socializing, and to learn about social action. I would also seek to increase the programming offered by the recreation department for kids at an affordable/subsidized cost - the existing programs are great, but there’s not enough of them!

Another thing I would strongly advocate for is to make our streets more friendly to children and families by placing simple, cost effective traffic calming devices such as speed bumps or tables and stop signs in neighborhoods with a lot of kids or pedestrian traffic. Speeding is a huge problem in our residential neighborhoods. I also would advocate for building more sidewalks, especially along East Pleasant street, where many children (and just residents in general) walk to school, town, etc.

I also am concerned with the lack of affordable housing for families (and just in general) in Amherst. We should create more affordable housing using all the tools at our disposal such as private/public partnerships, a higher threshold for inclusionary zoning to kick in, or having a local transfer tax.

Participatory, Inclusive and Transparent Local Democracy

I know firsthand how hard it is to be a working parent that cares deeply about my community and doesn’t have the time or ability to meaningfully participate in the decisions that affect me and my family. If I were on the council, I would advocate to have meetings at reasonable times and of reasonable durations when working people can participate.

Currently, one of the main ways open for residents to participate in government is through boards and committees, but there is a lack of transparency in who is appointed to them and why. As a councilor, I would advocate that we make public the list of applicants to these boards, a step that other towns like Northampton have already taken, so that town council can make an informed decision when approving appointments.

I would also push to use all forms of 21st century communication (text, apps, email, robocalls, social media) that allow for a two way communication between town government and residents.

I will support the creation of a participatory budgeting process so that town residents can have input into the budget at its earliest stages of creation to ensure that funding reflects our values and priorities. In this process, proactively reaching out to the full diversity of our community with respect to age, gender, income level, race, sexual orientation, gender identity, and language will be key.

Finally, I will advocate for a policy to increase and encourage the participation of all residents regardless of their dominant language by offering interpretation and translation at all town meetings in the most commonly spoken (non-English) languages in our town.