Letter to the Editor: Candidate Wants Citizen’s Vote May 1

I hope I have earned your vote tomorrow.  Here’s why:

Economic Development and Endorsements by Planning Commissioners

I’ve been a planning commissioner for six years.  I’m the only candidate with development experience from concept to final site plan.  The Council sets the outline of the project but only the Planning Commission has responsibility for final site plan which is where you have make a project fit into a neighborhood.  On the Council, however, we’ve fallen short.

• We’ve been too tentative with developers, taking too much of what they want to give and not demanding enough of what we want to get. 

• We’ve refused to help developers set up community meetings as early as possible out of fear that it may look like we’re “endorsing” a project. 

I think getting community buy-in is paramount to the success of a new project and can help a developer become a neighborhood partner and not an adversary.   The recent Ped/Bike Plan shows just how badly things can go when citizens aren’t engaged early and communication fails.  I will help improve communications between government and its citizens.

I’m proud that six current and former PC members, including chairs and vice chairs, endorse me for Council: Maureen Budetti, Rob Meeks, Marty Meserve, Sally Phillips, Rob Puentes and Christine Sanders.  They wrote:  “[John] understands the development process from conceptual plan to site plan. He knows how to take the realities of the marketplace and reconcile them with the goals of the City. He has the wisdom to know when to say yes and the courage to say no.”  As a Council member, I will aggressively push to get the City what WE want not just what developers want.

Support for the Schools, a New High School, and Endorsement by the School Community

As a planning commissioner and as a parent of a 4th grader, I have fought for many school-related issues ranging from preservation of the day care program to aggressively pursuing interest-free bonds for the upcoming Thomas Jefferson Elementary School expansion.

I am proud to have the endorsement of some of the pillars of our current/future school community, including:  Susan Kearney, Greg Rasnake, Joan Wodiska, Kieran Sharpe, Charlotte Hyland, Rosaura Aguerrebere, Cecily Shea, and Justin Castillo.  You all know who they are and their dedication to the schools and our children.  No other candidate can claim such unanimous support.

In addition, I have the endorsement of six former school board chairs, whose decades of dedication to the City’s educational institutions helped create what we have today:  Ruth Brock, Kathy Chandler, Craig Cheney, Ron Peppe, Pat Riccards, and Jane Scully.

Our success with economic development efforts is needed to achieve a most pressing school requirement:  building a new high school.  George Mason is an aged, patched and band-aided 20th century facility.  It served our community well, but we are overdue for a 21st century building to grow our 21st century leaders: your children, grandchildren and neighbors.  As a councilperson, you won’t see me kicking the can further down the road – I will get the planning for it started NOW!  It will not get any cheaper, so let’s plan for it, let’s budget for it, and let’s get it done!

Our City faces many other challenges both known and unknown after May 1, including the possible sale of the water system, management of storm water, meeting our pension requirements, and wrestling with the state for tax dollars.  I believe my experience uniquely qualifies me to serve you on City Council and I am ready to face these challenge and turn them into opportunities.

When you go to the polls on Tuesday, please vote John Lawrence for City Council.

- John Lawrence