For families to invest in our city I believe there are five main goals we have to achieve:

 

1) A SAFE Springfield that attracts people to live, work & enjoy

LIVE

“For a family to invest in a home in Springfield they need to know that the neighborhood and City that they choose to live in is safe.”  

WORK

“Businesses that are looking to open or relocate want to be positioned in a place where their employees and customers feel safe.”  

ENJOY

“In order for residents and visitors to enjoy the many cultural and entertainment assets that Springfield possesses they must feel safe.”

• ENFORCEMENT: More police on the streets in every neighborhood (There cannot be an oversaturation of Police in the downtown area to protect MGM at the expense of our neighborhoods!)
• COMMUNICATION: Build strong relationships with community centers, small businesses, civic associations and citizens in the neighborhoods that they are patrolling
• SMART POLICING: Prioritize neighborhoods and times of day to provide addtional patrol to high crime areas

 

2) An inclusive, accountable & transparent City Government

 

INCLUSIVE

Every citizen in our great City should feel that they are represented by our government.

ACCOUNTABLE

“Every elected official, appointed official and the entire city administration must adequately address concerns or issues as they arise.”

TRANSPARENT

“Ensuring public trust requires a transparent City Government that provides clear information on all issues in a timely manner, solicits input from citizens and engages discussion prior to decision making.”

 

3) First class schools for our children to attend 

---A large majority of young families that I speak with decide to leave our City because they are not comfortable sending their children to our schools.

---Every school in our City should be achieving at a high level giving parents a variety of choices of high performing schools to send their children to. 

---Engaged students make successful students.  The focus of education needs to be placed less on standardized testing and more on incorporating the child as a whole more heavily into the curriculum, including the arts and music.

---Identify and retain good leadership at the administrative level.

---Engage parents/caregivers and community stakeholders.

---Make sure our students are learning the skills necessary to compete in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) areas which currently are the fields with the most job vacancies in Massachusetts.

---Increase internships with area businesses and promote community service projects.

4) Sustainable economic development that creates good jobs, diverse housing options, civic pride & more tax revenue.

“Economic development needs to happen in all corners of our City. Our citizens need good jobs and we need to partner with developers and business owners to drive sustainable development that has a positive impact on this city.”

“Market rate housing in our downtown that attracts young professionals should be a focus along with affordable housing for our working class residents, seniors and veterans.”

“Make revitalizing downtown a priority along with enhancing our entertainment district to attract more patrons from the surrounding communities to frequent area restaurants and businesses.” 

• Develop a city wide economic development plan and work that plan
• Partner with developers, local institutions, employers and other groups to create, market and fill market rate units in our downtown that will bring some spending power and energy to our downtown
• Work hand and hand with the BID to market our downtown as a place to enjoy
   

  5) Trust and faith in a budget that spends our hard earned tax dollars properly to enhance our city

 "When a person decides to invest in our city, buy a home and pay taxes they need to know that their tax money is not being wasted and that at the very least, they are receiving adequate city services.”
 

"Monitor funding from MGM and ensure that citizens know how all revenue from MGM is being spent."