How do our values align?

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Fairer Taxes

“End blight profiteering and reward those who invest in Holyoke, not those who sit on derelict lots.”

 

Blight speculation, or what you could call urban rot profiteering, is a practice of holding blighted properties, without developing them, in the hopes that they will appreciate due to investments surrounding the blight. This type of speculation is rampant in Holyoke, and it acts likes a parking brake on our economy. Speculating this way robs our city of economic activity because there is no intention by the speculator to develop the blighted property. My plan ends blight speculation, and changes the incentives to encourage new growth in Holyoke. I believe the only just tax levy is against undeveloped land value. Land is god given, but development of land requires the ingenuity of humans. When you tax property value, that is, both land and building value, you penalize that ingenuity and limit investment. By taxing only land value, you encourage limitless investment in Holyoke. But my plan does more. No longer will your well taken care of home or business be valued against the blight of the K-Mart Plaza, Mount Tom Park, or any one of the derelict industrial buildings in our city—a land tax levy in Holyoke would mean only land is compared, not the improvements. This would rebalance taxes across the city, putting greater burden on speculators, and give the average tax payer a break from increases in property tax bills.

 

Elmwood Forest

“Any decision on Elmwood Forest must respect our neighborhoods, our parkland, and the law.”

 

First, on this issue, we should all take a deep breath. Nothing has been decided about the construction of a sports center (i.e. a new Volleyball Hall of Fame multi-sport complex), and nothing has been proposed. I take pride in having a healthy relationship with Josh (the Mayor), and I trust we can make the right decision for Holyoke. In terms of the parcel in question, there are five lots of concern: to the west, two industrial plots adjacent to Universal Plastics on Whitney Farms Rd, and to the east, two residential plots that are flanked by Woodland St and South Martin St, with a strip of deeded park land between them. At a glance, these lots do not appear to be readily viable for combined use. Park land in Massachusetts is treated special by state law. This strip of deeded park land is not easily changed, and eliminating it would require action by the state legislature. Moreover, placing a sports complex in these five lots would require rezoning industrial park, park land, and residential together into commercial space. Yet, property is a civil right defined partially under land use law, and it is likely that our neighbors surrounding Woodland St and South Martin St have an implicit right to the zoning as currently defined.

 

School Zone Safety

“Every child deserves a safe walk to school — no excuses.”

 

My work office overlooks the intersection of Chapin St and Congress Ave. What I can tell you is that Chapin St is a relatively dangerous street for kids, and our newly constructed Peck School on Chapin lacks adequate signage and crosswalks for children walking in this neighborhood. We need to fix this. Getting our kids to school safely is one of the few responsibilities of local government, and we need to take this seriously. My concern extends to all of Holyoke. I have heard from Holyokers that school zone speed limits are often disrespected, putting our children at risk. I am supportive of a strict, no-tolerance policy for school zone enforcement, and would push for a safety review of all school zones in the city.

 

Affordable Housing

“Build more, tax smarter, and make living in Holyoke affordable again.”

 

Developing new housing stock is the only reliable way to improve the affordability of housing. A major theme of my campaign is to look outside the Commonwealth for solutions to municipal problems. I want to look to Austin, Texas, where local leaders brought down the cost of housing by opening zoning, allowing home owners to build limited in-law apartments throughout the city. We could do this in Holyoke. Further, when combined with my plan for fairer taxes, you won’t be taxed on the improvement to your property. This combined plan will create new units in Holyoke, which will bring down the average cost to rent. My fairer tax plan would additionally encourage new higher density housing downtown and by the river. Because my plan doesn’t penalize investment, only speculation, more capital would be invested into these larger multi-family units, further bringing down the average cost to live in Holyoke. Lastly, Holyoke City Council gets in the way of development far too often. In construction, time is money. When projects get delayed by City Council’s bureaucracy, they become more expensive and less likely to get completed—this red tape discourages development in Holyoke before it even starts. It’s time to trust the permit office to get the job done right and get City Council out of the way of progress.

 

Officer Training

“Support our Police with more training and less burnout, making a safer Holyoke for everyone.”

 

Mental health, intellectual disability, and substance abuse emergencies can be delicate but volatile, and my time spent on the Community Services Board in Virginia taught me that you require law enforcement in many of these situations—a social worker can often be inappropriate. However, what I learned from law enforcement is that they are not always prepared to handle the diversity of diagnoses that can present with special needs populations. What I heard law enforcement ask for is more training to prepare themselves for these complicated health events—this experience informs my stance on law enforcement as a whole. Holyoke Police are understaffed, and I’m worried about burn out on our force. Again, we need to humanize our first responders. They live in our community and are our neighbors. Moreover, first responders are exposed to our traumatic events on a daily basis, and this takes a toll on these public servants. Law enforcement have some of the highest rates of suicide, divorce, and alcoholism—we need to see their struggle, and the sacrifice they make for our communities. I want to find ways to give officers less time on the beat and more time training. This means we need to expand the force—more officers mean less burn out and more time for staff development. This investment ultimately leads to a safer, more connected Holyoke.

 

Municipal Fiber

“10-Gigabit municipal fiber will make Holyoke a 21st-century economic powerhouse.”

 

A 21st century Holyoke requires 21st century telecommunication. Full stop. We need to realize how behind we are. Laboratories in Japan have achieved petabit per second transmission speeds—a million times faster than the typical fiber optic internet available. Today, cities such as Chattanooga, Tennessee and Salisbury, North Carolina have deployed 10 gigabit a second fiber optic systems, future-proofing their telecommunication needs. I am supportive of municipal fiber, but I want to look to outside the Commonwealth to those cities with ultra-high bandwidth—updating to 10 Gigabit municipal fiber would light speed our economy, and would turn Holyoke into one of the biggest technological hubs in the Northeast.

 

Combined Stormwater/Sewage Overflow (CSO)

“It’s time to stop dumping human waste in the Connecticut River — starting with CSO #21.”

 

Here in Holyoke, we have a historical combined sewage and stormwater system. That means, when it rains heavily, our sewage treatment plant can’t handle the overflow, and raw, untreated sewage is dumped into the Connecticut River, negatively impacting downstream communities that rely on the river for their own drinking water. We need to end the disposal of human waste into the Connecticut River. We need to fix Combined Sewer Overflow #21. While I am supportive of the current proposal to fix CSO #21, I would be open to any alternative plan that addresses this environmental nuisance. The fact that this problem wasn’t 100% solved in the Aquarion contract drama of the 2000’s is something we should all be concerned with today. Let’s be clear: we’ve done great work in Holyoke addressing this issue. In the 1990’s, Holyoke would discharge up to 850 million gallons of untreated sewage into the river a year. Today, we’ve reduced our overflow to 70-80 million gallons a year. Yet the EPA and the Commonwealth demand we take further action (and we are in fact obligated to do so by legal agreement). Combined Sewer Overflow #21 is responsible for the bulk of our remaining overflow, at around 60 million gallons of sewage a year. This fix needs to be prioritized if we are to avoid fines from the EPA. While this will still leave us with up to 20 million gallons of overflow a year still discharged into the Connecticut, addressing our last major overflow will be a good faith act which will buy us time to address all remaining miles of combined sewer. From here, to minimize the impact to ratepayers, I would support a multi-decade plan to replace all remaining CSO.

 

Noise Complaints

“Enforce noise fairly and smartly — with the right tools and common sense.”

 

I have heard from Holyokers that noise violations are commonplace, but I understand that Holyoke Police don’t carry decibel meters in their vehicles so that they can effectively enforce noise ordinance. I worry about unnecessary over enforcement, and I think some noise complaints are different than others (a kid’s birthday is very different than a college party). I believe the noise ordinance requires updating and funding. The ordinance needs to recognize the difference between a minor nuisance and a complete disrespect for hard working adults and napping children. Funding the ordinance would be required, as law enforcement would require their own decibel meters.

 

Blight and Vacant Property Fee: Section 18-35 of City Ordinance

“Update blight fees for the 21st century and make neglect pay its fair share.”

 

Section 18 to 35 of Holyoke’s Code of Ordinances controls the registration of blighted and vacant properties, and regulates a fee blighted property owners must pay to the city to cover the impact of these dangerous buildings. These fees haven’t been updated since 1997, and do not reflect the current economic impact of these properties. Based on inflation, these fees should be more than double what they are today. I support updating these fees to discourage Blight Speculation in Holyoke, and fixing increases in these fees to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index.

 

Street Safety/Potholes

“Fixing potholes isn’t a money problem — it’s a detection problem, and smart solutions can keep every street safe.”

 

We need a new solution for locating and fixing potholes. We shouldn’t need to have a parade in order to take care of this problem. Here’s the deal: fixing potholes is not a budgetary problem, but a detection/reporting problem. The cost to fix a pothole is nominal—they are left unaddressed because the city isn’t always aware that one needs to be filled, and Holyoke has no good reporting tool. I want to look to Ontario, Canada, where in Richmond Hill they implemented a low cost smartphone AI application implemented on city vehicles. In this approach, using the camera, accelerometer, and GPS of the smartphone, artificial intelligence was able to pinpoint 95% of potholes in the city. This is only one approach. Cities from San Antonio to Memphis have implemented limited low cost detectors that have led to substantial improvement in pothole reporting. While these are technological solutions, I am open to alternative program ideas that would solve this persistent safety issue for Holyoke drivers.