Displaying items by tag: City Council

Friday, 27 October 2017 03:23

Issues

Clean and Well Kept Streets

I care very much about the quality of our Centralville Neighborhood. We have waited far too long for all of our streets to be identified and respected by our city. We all want and deserve clean, well-lit and safe streets. I will make it my prerogative to make available the overdue road repair, utility maintenance and street cleaning and to provide the needed funds in the city budget to make these repairs mandatory and regular occurrence in our section of Lowell. 

Public Safety

In the last several Years we have seen the continuous brown outs of our district's fire apparatus and coverage. In this time when our neighborhood is growing, not only in population, but also in the number and size of properties, it is increasingly important that we have a fully staffed, fully updated and fully prepared Fire Department. Additionally, our Police Department needs to be upgraded and we need to have more coverage in Centralville. I will work to make sure that both department are properly budgeted and supplied effectively to combat all the public safety issues facing our community. 

Economic Development

Economic development is essential to the future of our city. Our ability to encourage quality economic development is based in the opportunities and infrastructure we provide to prospective commercial taxpayers and companies.
I believe our Centralville section of the city needs to start a new conversation about our future and how we go about enticing wanted and needed development and revitalization. We need to focus on infrastructure improvements instead of just looking for the next luxury project. Our district is ripe for economic development and I want to work with our neighbors, business owners, and community groups to make that a reality.
I've seen first-hand the success cities like Boston have had with developing empowerment districts for their growth. I want to look at some of those models for Centralville to make a better, more intelligently-planned future for our neighborhood.


Preventative Maintenance

We need to add funding for preventative maintenance for all municipal buildings, especially ones that are located in our district, that have been neglected. I will work to put this needed funding into the city budget immediately. We can no longer afford to use our properties as disposable entities. We need to be able to maintain and restore legacy and historic buildings to their original or to an updated capacity. Our district Fire/Police Stations and School buildings need to be updated and continuously maintained. On day one I will introduce a resolution in City Council to add these needed and long overdue projects as a line item into the FY 2023 and 2024 budgets.

Under-employed and Homeless Epidemic

We as a community face more than our share of transiency and homelessness.  Not only do the encampments project a disregard for our natural and historic areas, but the poverty-stricken people whom inhabit them have been left behind by our city. 

As an employee of a non-profit firm that works with underemployed and unemployed mentally and physically disabled adults, I have seen first-hand the need for workforce training and education, and I've seen how helpful these programs can be to support a vulnerable class within our community.

As your district city counselor I will work with our various community agencies who have already started this important work. I will strive to bring and increase the funding and resources needed to establish new employment opportunities and employment skills training in our community. I will advocate for a public/private initiative for the city to provide economic stability to people who need it. Additionally, I will endeavor to establish a new center for homeless services and jobs training center in our own Centralville neighborhood. We need to be able to face our failings, and help the homeless, mentally ill, and our disabled, especially our veterans and service community members. There will always be afflictions and epidemics that will face our community, however, we need to work to eradicate as much as humanly and humanely possible.   


Municipal Governance

The first step in better municipal governance was the creation of these new City Council Districts and establishing a hybrid City Council. This change will give us the ability to affect the way we run our city and will let many of the street by street.  Each of our neighborhoods has its own set of needs; street repair, lighting, recycling and trash disposal, sewerage waste disposal, and other quality-of-life issues, and as your Centralville District 2 City Councilor these quality-of-life issues will always be addressed quickly and by someone who lives within our unique geographical area. 

Additionally, I believe that as our city grows, so increases the need to have a strong elected mayor as the municipal executive. The current City Manager is appointed by a majority of the city councilors and is therefore not directly responsible to the people they serve. This transition would better suit our ever-evolving and growing population and I will work to make sure this is addressed as your first Centralville District Councilor.

 

 

Published in Issues
Monday, 09 October 2017 16:10

LTC-Lowell Sun City Council Debate Questions

Lowell Sun - LTC 

City Council Candidates Debate

Marty's Responses

 

Question 1:

 

 

Question 2:

 

 

Published in Media