Romano
Lengthy statement targets opponent
For the fourth time in four years, Maria A. Romano seeks a seat on the Board of Selectmen, this time supported by a nonbinding ballot question about the Mass. Corridor project, which she long has questioned. She opposes veteran incumbent Kevin Greeley.
The 63-year-old owner of a residential remodeling company offered lengthy and sometimes feisty responses to basic questions that YourArlington asked of all candidates for key offices in the April 6 town election. A resident since 1980, she made these major points:
* She wants a seat on the board to “increase communication” and “create common-sense plans through compromise …. My business skills will allow me to ask the right questions, get the facts and make prudent decisions.”
* She opposes consolidating town finance departments.
* The town’s greatest challenges are creating revenue and improving infrastructure. As to the latter, she continues to call for the “right plan” for the Corridor project, one proposed in 2009 by the East Arlington Concerned Citizens Committee (EACCC), as well as a yes vote on the ballot question asking the public whether it favors continuing to have four lanes on Mass. Ave. in East Arlington.
* She would address these challenges by listening.
For details explaining these main points, see the full text of her remarks below.
Background in town issues and before
Her background qualifying her to address town issues includes membership in Town Meeting, the Mass. Ave. Corridor Advisory Committee, the Leaf Blower Review Committee and chairman of the EACCC.
A native of New York, she first an educator there, using her master’s degree in education to teach students from nursery school to adults in various city and state programs.
After she moved to Arlington, she opened a day care/nursery school. She added licenses for construction supervisor and home improvement to a master’s in interior and structural design, founding M. A. Romano Construction. As president and owner, she has successfully operated her company for more than 25 years.
“I love my work, the families I serve and the finished product I produce,” she wrote. “For me, my company is an American dream come true.”
Read more on her website at http://onearlington.com/.
Full text of responses to questions
Why do you want to become a selectman?
I want to serve on the Board of Selectmen to work with residents and businesses to increase communication, create that bond and build trust. I want to create common-sense plans through compromise. I believe in democracy — I believe in the people of Arlington.
I see the need to handle all town projects, big or small, more efficiently. Time wasted is money lost. I have seen a disturbing pattern of misdirected goals and decisions made without necessary facts, or in spite of the facts. My business skills will allow me to ask the right questions, get the facts and make prudent decisions.
People in town said, “Thank you for running.” You give us a choice in this election. My 25 years of managing peoples’ monies on their projects, my skills of delegating and bringing people together fosters trust in achieving the right goals.
I have a passion to fight for what is right. I will try with all my heart to be that new selectman, the new kid on the block, with a kinder, gentler tone of respect.
My formula in life is: Knowing you do not have all the answers and you need to listen to others; evaluate all possibilities; by accountable to others and be true to yourself. I want to serve Arlington with this formula. I speak my mind, but always from the center of my heart.
Let’s work together. We have a great town. I hold tremendous respect for the residents, the volunteers, employees and elected officials. As I said at the League of Women Voters debate [Feb. 26], it has never been what can Arlington do for me. It is what can I do to help Arlington.
With regard to finance consolidation, I have opposed current fiscal reorganization. As a Town Meeting member, resident and business owner, I asked the following five questions at an open forum [Dec. 3, 2012]:
* How many inefficiencies or unnecessary duplications were identified?
* Are the inefficiencies catalogued by department?
* What is the cost associated with each inefficiency or duplication?
* What were the recommended solutions and their associated costs?
* What alternatives other than the consolidated finance department were considered?
Town Meeting approved the study but asked for answers. Mr. Greeley implied these questions are not important. After two years of discussing consolidation, we are no closer to determining a common set of facts or answers to these questions. I suggest we work on an improved application that the entire Town and School Department can use.
It is a waste of money to force our town to consolidate the finance department because it is what my opponent wants. The Finance Committee had the wisdom to vote “no action” after realizing questions asked of them were not answered and could not be answered. The study was biased and simply not necessary.
The goal of the proposed reorganization was to move power from the people to the Board of Selectmen. This is not a worthy goal. This is not my Arlington — the Arlington I spent half my life in. We have a town Manager Act giving us checks and balances. Keep our elected positions and respect the wisdom of our voters to continue to elect qualified people in key positions, such as the treasurer and town clerk.
What are the key challenges Arlington faces?
The greatest challenges ahead for Arlington is: first creating revenue and protect budget second: protect and improve infrastructure of our town.
The projects ahead of us, such as Mass. Ave. Corridor East, Symmes, Mill Street [Alta Brigham’s], Mass. Ave. in the Center all have a tremendous effect on creating revenue and building a strong budget and maintaining our infrastructure.
Success of our infrastructure is determined by project choices we make for Arlington.
The master plan will serve us better if a comprehensive evaluation and cost-benefit analysis of all these projects are a part of the initial process.
All of the above are critical game changes on our revenue and infrastructure. We need a strong detailed plan to fix the burden of traffic and utility use. My approach is to ask all the tough questions before projects are designed and built.
Projects must be a jewel for our town, not a hardship. Symmes, Mill Street, Mass. Ave. East are great-needed projects, but we must lay them out carefully for the present and future residents and small-business owners. The town must serve the majority without bias.
A — Mass. Ave. Corridor Project
We need to fix Mass. Ave., not ruin it. It is a fact that with the right plan in place. Arlington will get the money — IT IS THAT simple — despite fearmongering from my opponent — just the facts. Romano works with facts, not Kevin Greeley. I got it, Mr. Greeley likes the town plan — I support the Right plan. Mr. Greeley wants to take away a travel lane for 98 percent of the users. Romano wants to keep four lanes.
FACT – Our plan met all state and federal requirements. Mass. Ave. would have been repaired with their money not Arlington’s money.
FACT — Four years ago, Mr. Greeley stopped listening and stopped doing his job. As Chair, Mr. Greeley never looked at our plan. All he could say was that our plan asked bikes to be licensed.
FACT — This is one very small part of our well researched, well analyzed plan.
Question: So why not license bikes for everyone’s protection. It was one of our bylaws for years. Oh yes, I forgot Mr. Greeley doing his job so why would he know that such a bylaw exists.
The money for this project comes from Congress and Federal Highway, [and officials] must make certain to spend it correctly. Spending these funds is to foster clean air. Remove a travel lane, and traffic is slowed, as agreed by my opponent, and you have cars idling in congestion. This is not clean, and not green. The town did not ask to study side-street impact, lane-merging causing backups and emergency response time impact.
So, how can your plan ever come close to being right for Mass. Ave. and the neighborhood? We must do things right in the business sense, using common sense and starting with fresh ideas (an egg) and develop it soundly to achieve a solid plan, or do what the town has done for over 10 years and create a plan filled with scrambled facts and flaws.
Since August 2012, Federal Highway has been asking the town to conduct full and proper analysis of its three-lane plan compared to a four-lane plan, and the town has yet to complete this analysis. FIX MASS. AVENUE — DON’T RUIN IT.
B — SYMMES:
My opponent said money was lost on Symmes project because the real estate market failed. I say the town lost money because under his leadership, he failed to properly vet all options, opportunities, the market, builders and developers to ensure our town be protected from any problems that could develop in the market.
Unfortunately, the evolution of the Symmes project is an example what not to do. Don’t make a promise you can’t keep. I would have pressed for continued dialog with medical institutions to rent some of that 14-acre development. The town did not explore this sufficiently.
Symmes is centrally located—it would have been a perfect match for Mt. Auburn Hospital, Mass. Gen. Hospital to launch a satellite facility. Result: strong tax base and relief for taxpayers.
My opponent said they were not interested. Then why are there satellite facilities in many towns around us? It took Mt. Auburn one year to set up in Waltham, 10 minutes from us. One year, and money being made for Waltham, not 10 years with major loss as Symmes has been. How hard did we try? In these instances we must push until we get the plan that is best for Arlington.
C — MINUTEMAN REGIONAL VOCATIONAL TECH SCHOOL
My opponent had 24 years to help correct in any way the unfair money spent on Minuteman Vocational Tech by Arlington. The fact that not a single solution was ever proposed to Town Meeting is quite simply appalling. Remember, Arlington spends one-quarter to one-half million dollars each year on Minuteman. In my opinion as a business owner responsible for protecting the spending of people’s money, this makes no sense.
How would you address these challenges?
I would address these challenges by listening. I am a leader who listens and acts with common sense and integrity. Do you want a leader for three more years who stopped listening and therefore stopped doing his job, or a town leader and business leader who listens to all ideas and options, and generates plans and projects to serve the majority, and who thinks about consequences before anything is implemented, not after. A “Band-Aid” fix is the frequent solution of our present Board of Selectmen.
Tone:
You know my business sense, my money sense, building skills through common-sense plans. As your selectman, I want to change the tone in Arlington Town Hall to one of respect for one another.
When I am in a meeting and I hear a head of a committee speaking with a sharp tone and disrespect to an elected official, I am saddened. When I see an elected official speaking disrespectfully to a resident at a Board of Selectmen meeting, I get upset and angry. We must teach our children well. We must set the example of how, together, we get things done. Always through civil discourse. It will be one of my priorities.
Asked to provide any comments beyond the above questions, Romano wrote:
We must as a Town work together with facts instead of fear. I will not substitute the truth in dialogue with bullying. There is no place for this in our Town Hall.
Town election information
This story was published Friday, March 29, 2013. Comments are welcome, posted to the link below. You must sign your full name.
It is part of an ongoing series to provide basic information about key candidates in the April town election.
All major candidates for seats where there is competition have been sent a similar set of questions. Some where there is only an incumbent have been sent questions to renew their connection to the public.
