Some of you are questioning my recent vote of the ‘Pay To Play’ Ordinance. For those of you who asked me directly, I thank you. To others I offer
you the following: I respectfully bring to your attention that I, as an elected official to the School committee for 14 years, a current member of the Governor’s Local Government Advisory Committee now in my 4th year, President of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees, and in my current capacity as Alderman of this extraordinary urban district, have never voted in favor of a motion which, as one voting Alderman who voted in favor of it stated, “Let’s pass it, and then we can figure it out.” The night of our vote I pleaded with my colleagues to put it back into committee for further discussion. Following my research, both within and outside of our community, some of my reservations relate to the fact that the employees of construction companies/architects, etc. are exempt from this Ordinance, the Director of Planning has expressed his concern in that this brings ‘politics’ to his and the Zoning/Planning Boards level (something that never should become a part of their responsibilities), the fact that a project could be approved and then sold to a “contributor” following construction with no consequence, the fact that long awaited liquor licensing applicants are not included in this Ordinance, the unknown of how to handle a non-elected candidate’s campaign account, etc. Again, I have gone on record as stating I AM in support of being the FIRST community in Massachusetts of adopting such an Ordinance. I will NOT however “pass it and then figure it out.” Let’s get it right the first time, our community deserves nothing less.