Issues
Affordable Housing
Over the past decade, housing prices in Medford have doubled. This is pushing out young people and low-income workers. Long-term residents and retirees cannot afford to live in the houses they own. We need more affordable housing.
1. Affordable housing staff. For years, Medford City Hall had only one staff member overseeing the City's affordable housing efforts; by comparison, Somerville has about 30. I commit to supporting a growing City Hall staff of affordable housing professionals, with the goal of creating an Office of Housing Stability in Medford. I will consult directly with the Office of Planning, Development, and Sustainability to ensure that they have all the resources they need to work most effectively on addressing our city’s housing demands.
2. Nonprofit support. Medford has for far too long left various actors involved in housing justice unengaged with our community. I will forge new partnerships with such entities, such as community development corporations and various nonprofits, and invite them to play a role, alongside the City, in the housing solutions that the community needs.
3. Revenue towards the Affordable Housing Trust (AHT). Affordable housing is difficult to pay for. The AHT is a fund that can be used to support affordable housing projects. Medford only implemented one in 2023. The next step is to build up revenue streams to put money into the AHT. Once state law allows the City Council to do so, implementing a real-estate transfer fee that does not affect average homeowners would be another critical funding source, and I will work to ensure its passage.
4. Put affordable housing near the Green Line extension. In keeping with the MBTA Communities Act, we need to encourage and attract affordable housing developers to build affordable housing near the new Green Line Extension. I am committed to this process, and I will work in my capacity as a Councilor to determine what residents’ concerns are, what the City Council’s responsibilities are, and consult with those most knowledgeable to ensure that Medford takes advantage of this opportunity to produce housing that is convenient and accessible to our GLX terminal.
5. Support ongoing projects. Because affordable housing is so difficult to build, ongoing projects can often collapse due to a lack of support. I will support the current affordable housing (40B) projects, such as those being developed along Riverside Towers, Walkling Court, and Fellsway.
6. Expert outreach to explore further options. Beyond what the City has been working on to address the housing crisis, I will reach out to those beyond city limits and be involved in communications with those who have used additional solutions (for example, community land trusts, co-housing, tenant-owned cooperative housing, and social housing) to address housing needs. Council needs to learn what has and has not worked for other communities to determine what would be best for Medford.
7. Rezoning. Zoning reform in Medford will allow us to build affordable housing in places it is not currently allowed — above shops and restaurants in Medford Square, in high rises, and so on. Changing our zoning in these areas to allow more housing will, among other things, provide more housing and increase revenue.
Economic Development and City Budget
To get the Medford we want, the City needs more funding — to pay teachers, to pay additional affordable housing planners, to pay for social services. Financially, Medford is in a poor state. We need to broaden our tax base and rework our budget.
1. Commercial development. Medford needs to broaden its tax base. While Cambridge has benefitted from its wealthy tax base and Somerville from commercial development on Assembly Row, Medford has been struggling. The City’s commercial tax base currently sits at 12% of its annual revenue when it should be closer to 30%. We need to develop a mix of dining and entertainment around Medford Square and Riverside Ave. We should encourage further development projects around Mystic Ave, Route 16, and the Mystic Valley Parkway. We need to drive forward the ongoing Transforming the Square projects. And we need to especially work to make the permitting process for opening a business and keeping restaurants open late at night easier.
2. Budget transparency. The source of many of the city's problems is a lack of funding. There is little ability to remedy this, however, given that the details of our city’s finances are unclear. Residents need to be able to see, with absolute clarity, how their taxes get used by the City. We need to create a clear and transparent budgetary process and an Open Data Policy, enabling both the public and experts to be able to look at our finances with a fresh set of eyes.
3. Long-term city staff. City Hall is operating at skeleton capacity, and we are losing our most talented city staff members to higher-paying jobs elsewhere. Medford needs to build up and support its most skilled staff members in City Hall, rather than relying on outside contractors for so many essential services.
4. Education and infrastructure investment with new tax revenues. The Fair Share Amendment was passed last year by the voters of Massachusetts so that millionaires would pay an extra tax that could go towards infrastructure repairs and education. Funneling that money towards Medford would be a vital means of repairing our roads and funding our schools. This will require collaboration with our state representatives, who are currently fighting to prevent further tax cuts in other areas that would effectively render the Fair Share Amendment moot. Failing at this, we need to pursue other measures, such as a Prop 2 ½ Override, to direct the appropriate funding towards our schools and roads.
5. Union support and increased minimum wages. Workers need basic protections that, in the modern economy, cannot be guaranteed without both unions and increased minimum wages. As long as any employer has the option to underpay their employees, every employer will be incentivized to pay as little as possible. We need to support local unions, which guarantee extra representation to workers, and we need to work towards increasing the minimum wage from $15 to $20 per hour.
6. Institutional partnerships. Medford needs greater focus on partnering with outside institutions, such as nonprofits and community development corporations. This can help connect the city and shoulder the costs of specific projects. Medford needs to particularly focus on a productive working relationship with Tufts University.
7. Commercial vacancy taxes. Many commercial properties are sitting empty in Medford, while the city government has demurred on taking any assertive action, since these buildings are privately held. To prevent speculative squatting, we need to implement a commercial vacancy tax, and we need to actively court potential buyers so that thriving businesses can move into Medford.
Green Medford
Keeping Medford green and sustainable means preserving our open park spaces, encouraging further infrastructure that can support sustainable energy practices, and instating a carbon-neutral requirement on all new developments. Council needs to work collaboratively with Medford residents towards making our own Green New Deal.
1. Electric vehicle charging stations. Electric vehicles will not solve every environmental challenge, but they are an important stepping stone to fighting climate change. I will support the development of new electric vehicle charging stations around Medford and the adoption of electric vehicles by the City of Medford’s fleet.
2. Carbon reporting for proposed construction. We need to implement carbon-neutral requirements for new, heavily resource-demanding structures. I will work to ensure that the City makes reporting on carbon emissions from such new buildings obligatory, as we work towards carbon-neutral development.
3. Building energy disclosure ordinance. Limiting carbon offsets in old buildings, which typically rely on gas, is more challenging than new developments. To gather the extent of the problem, we need to require old buildings to report total emissions to a local planning board.
4. Solar panels. We need to work with Medford’s Energy and Environment Committee to promote policies that encourage the installation of solar panels in our neighborhoods.
5. Green space projects. Encourage development projects that incorporate green and open space, especially in the Community Preservation Committee.
6. Tree canopy fund. This fund, recently implemented in Cambridge, would require property owners to either plant a new tree or contribute to a tree fund prior to cutting down trees in the city that contribute to the overall tree canopy.
7. Green jobs training ordinance. Bunker Hill Community College has green job training programs for high school graduates, which will help with employability in an economy that will see huge investments in green energy in the future. Medford can help to facilitate its residents’ and employees’ admission and attendance to these programs, with the potential to implement our own as our city staff develops.
Inclusive Government
The 2016 elections spurred grassroots political organizing, and many community groups have sprung up in Medford since then. But we still have a long way to go in including the voices of all residents in our city government. Medford needs more people actively involved in local politics.
1. Inclusivity. We should work to make Medford a safe, welcoming community to any and all races, ethnicities, sexualities, and gender identities; visible or invisible disabilities; life experiences; and socioeconomic backgrounds. It is the duty of the City Council to both pass hard laws and create an atmosphere to reflect this.
2. Interview requirements for first-time applicants to city boards. The first time I applied to one of Medford’s city boards, I carefully prepared a resume, hit the “submit” button, and heard nothing back. It was only after networking that I was able to get a reply. This practice does not promote inclusivity or even outside thought. If elected, I will pass a requirement that all city boards interview first-time applicants.
3. Active outreach of disenfranchised communities. Medford has active immigrant communities, but few show up to city council meetings. We need to not only welcome everyone, but engage in active outreach. This can be done by using our community liaisons (individuals that the city normally employs for multilingual services) to recruit to citizens city boards, diversifying communications lists, advertising and simplifying the process of joining city council meetings, and identifying and reaching out to community leaders not typically engaged in Medford politics. This is especially true when engaging in community outreach efforts for feedback.
4. Multilingual and clear city announcements. Not everyone speaks English as a first language. Right now, a community liaison is needed to translate documents into multiple languages — one liaison per language, typically. This is a time-consuming process, since the liaison is often unavailable; as a result, announcements are usually just released in English. Automated translation technology — and, when available, multilingual subtitles — ought to be made available to translate time-sensitive announcements, even without a community liaison, such as events and surveys, and boards need to be required to release event announcements and surveys in multiple languages. We need to further ensure that all announcements are clear, concise, and easy to understand.
Mental Health
Medford needs more modern policies to support the mental health of its residents.
1. Greater nonprofit support in Medford. Medford has a single community social worker who is stretched thin in her job. Medford has very few systems used to support the homeless, instead choosing to refer people in need of social services to neighboring municipalities. We need greater nonprofit support.
2. Decriminalization of plant-based medicine for therapeutic uses. Following the examples of Somerville and Cambridge, our own Senator Jehlen’s work at the state level, and the FDA giving these medicines breakthrough therapy status in light of the scientific evidence, I will work to reschedule plant-based medicines for therapeutic use in Medford. Medical studies have suggested that these are effective means of treating PTSD, and their decriminalization would both accelerate further studies in this area and allow a potential path to alleviate the mental burden of those suffering from this disorder, such as veterans of war and first responders.
3. Ongoing utilization of virtual and hybrid meetings. As the pandemic weans and we return to normal life, so have the discussions regarding the use of virtual meetings for city boards and meetings. We ought to continue the use of virtual and hybrid meetings, both to include participants that may be unable to attend or may feel unsafe attending and increasing overall transparency.
Education
1. Competitive compensation. As a member of the Medford City Council, I will work to ensure that those who provide our public educators are provided with the salaries they deserve. The most important way Medford City Council can support its schools and teachers is to work to increase revenue for the budget so that we never have to cut services or lay off teachers.
2. Supporting the Medford School Committee. Aside from the important role of providing a budget, the City Council has very few hard powers over Medford Public Schools. As a Councilor, I will work with my colleagues on the Medford School Committee and Medford Public Schools Administration to ensure an educational system that keeps Medford students successful and safe.
Charter Review
The City's Charter is the governing document of Medford — determining, for example, how many City Councilors we have, what powers the Mayor has, and the budgetary processes. Changing the Charter has the potential to make City Council more diverse and less prone to gridlock. The current Charter gives few concrete powers to the City Council, which leads to a poor relationship between the Mayor and the City Council. It is not comprehensive and, in many areas, simply defaults to state law. We need a Charter that can create a long-term, productive working relationship between all actors in City Hall.
1. Public involvement. In 2022, the Mayor created a Charter Study Committee to recommend changes to the Charter. The committee will incorporate expert and public feedback to recommend a new charter, coming up with recommendations on the number of Councillors, Ward-based versus at-large representation, and term limits. If elected as a City Councillor, I will continue to work with the Charter Study Committee to ensure that public and expert feedback is incorporated into the Charter Review process.
2. Implement feedback. Changes to the Charter need to be approved by the City Council, but City Councils often refuse to vote on essential and needed changes to the City's charter, especially when those changes affect elections (e.g., term limits, changes from at-large to ward-based representation). Because the Charter Study Committee is composed of Medford residents and experts and will incorporate feedback that is in the best interests of our community, I commit to standing by and voting for their ultimate recommendations.
3. Regular review. To keep the City's Charter up to date, we need regular charter review periods written into the City's Charter.
Transportation
Medford needs a comprehensive redesign to improve our traffic, public transportation, parking, and the state of our roads. This will cost money, and it will be implemented as revenues for the city increase and funds become available. Which areas of a comprehensive transportation platform are implemented at any given time need to balance the demand for particular items with the cost of those items. See also my blog post for more details on the research and formulation of this transportation platform, as well as my environmental platform, which covers related aspects such as the electrification of Medford’s car fleet.
1. Repave our most critical roads. Many of the most-used roads in Medford, notably Main Street, are in poor condition and need repaving. This will be aided by an upheaval of our old pipe infrastructure, which frequently leads to roads being dug up and repaved in a patchwork manner, negatively impacting them in the long-term.
2. Fight to reduce plane noise. MassPort and the FAA redirected airplanes coming into Logan to fly directly over Medford instead of more varying flight routes, though this was for consistency rather than safety. As a result, airplanes flying into Logan are particularly audible in certain areas of Medford, like Lawrence Estates. Medford needs to continue to lobby flight authorities to vary their airplane routes more to not disproportionately affect Medford in the way that they currently do.
3. Consistent enforcement of traffic laws. Medford needs methods of consistently enforcing traffic laws for both drivers and cyclists. There are methodological and technical strategies to doing so that would not necessarily require more staffing in the Medford Police Department. These methods include the installation of traffic cameras in red lights, speed traps for larger numbers of cars without necessarily ticketing them at dangerous roadways, stopping and ticketing bicyclists that break traffic laws, and revisiting parking enforcement policies to ensure that meters are more often used in Medford.
4. Infrastructure that leads to safer roads. Speed limits of many roads in Medford are not consistently followed, which often leads to car crashed. There is a need to put more speed bumps, speeding signs, raised crosswalks, and rumble strips on roads in Medford where crashes frequently occur.
5. Bike paths that work for everyone. A balanced plan for bike paths in Medford will address the needs of both cyclists, who do not feel safe biking through Medford, and drivers, many of whom drive large vehicles out of necessity and feel that narrower roads would be unsafe. Medford cannot go with a piecemeal plan for bike path implementation. The Medford Bicycle Advisory Commission released a master plan that addresses the bike paths of every applicable road in Medford, and it can be accessed here. We need to implement this plan while fixing roads as funds are made available to do so.
6. Improvement of bus stop placement. As the MBTA changes its bus routes, Medford City Council needs to place bus stops at areas along new bus routes that will be most convenient for residents.
7. Transit signal priority. These tools, when installed on buses, can modify traffic signals when buses are running late, to ensure faster timing of public transportation through Medford. This is one of the aspects of the MBTA controlled by municipalities and presents an opportunity for Medford to directly improve our bus times.
8. More bike racks. Investing in more bike racks presents a low-cost way to support biking infrastructure around Medford.
9. Redirection of traffic patterns. Traffic is currently directed to go through Medford Square without bringing extra commerce. Traffic patterns and parking through Medford Square need to be revised and rethought. This is a longer-term initiative that will coincide with Medford’s Transforming the Square initiative.