(Editor’s note: This article was expanded on March 12 to include responses that were published here and here after this first set was posted. It also includes a response via LincolnTalk from Board of Selectman candidate Jonathan Dwyer.)
There will be a moderated town-wide candidate forum on Saturday, March 11 from 10 a.m. to noon in the Lincoln Woods Community Center at 50 Wells Rd. in preparation for the March 27 town election. Each candidate will make brief opening and closing statements and take one or two questions in between.
In advance of the forum, the Lincoln Woods Advisory Committee asked everyone on the ballot to briefly answer two questions: What do you like best about Lincoln? What would you like to see change? Answers from some of the candidates are below (edited for space and clarity), in alphabetical order by their last names. Additional answers will be published as they become available.
Melinda Abraham (Bemis trustee)
What I like best about Lincoln: I love the amazing people who are quite engaged in the community.
What would I like to see changed: I’d like to see funding devoted to a community center and to a elementary/middle school.
Lynn DeLisi (Planning Board)
What I like best about Lincoln: Living in Lincoln is wonderful because it has a serene natural environment filled with wildlife of all kinds, beautiful farms, and with many well maintained paths through the fields so its residents and visitors can enjoy all it has to offer. Despite its rural atmosphere, it is still amazingly close to Boston for work and enjoying all the city has to offer.
What I would like to see changed: I look forward to facilitating the revitalization of a Lincoln Center where local residents can meet and share interests over coffee or meals and having many of their daily needs met. I would also like to see enforcement of our bylaws so that what I like most about Lincoln can be preserved.
Jonathan Dwyer (Board of Selectman, three years)
What I like best about Lincoln: What I like best about Lincoln is its quirky character. Does any other town have a July 4th parade with a half time? I think this means we have twice as many parades on July 4th than any other town in the country! Our police officers have to be prepared to subdue the armed and dangerous as well as evasive juvenile bull #27 that jumps over fences daily. Our high school wins state championships in sports, and has competed at the national level in speech & debate. Middle school lego robotics competed at national and international levels. Still, the 5-way intersection flummoxes. We are a very small town charmed by farms, an art museum, a state park (reservation), a national park, and our own Air Force Base and MBTA stop. That’s quirky. And I haven’t even mentioned the people!
What I would like to see changed: The change I would like to see in town is an even greater willingness to listen, understand each other, and get involved solving problems small and big. Although every one of us is busy, it would be great if more seek to know the issues and the complexities that prohibit simple solutions, from cutting down dying roadside trees (state law restrictions) to food banks and substance abuse program (yes, people in our community use these services), positive outcomes happen more quickly with greater involvement. And when change comes slowly, unexpectedly, or is undesired, at least more of us understand why.
Jennifer Glass (Board of Selectmen, one year)
What I like best about Lincoln: As many have been before me, I was first drawn to Lincoln by its combination of beauty and location. Having grown up in the Adirondack mountains, I cherish Lincoln’s quiet woods, hidden ponds, open fields and farmland. As someone who has lived in the Boston area for 30 years, I value the ready access we have to the city. For me, Lincoln is a remarkable combination of my rural Adirondack roots and Boston’s urban energy. My family and I feel extraordinarily fortunate to call it home.
Before we moved to Lincoln 10 years ago, Andrew and I often visited Drumlin Farm and the deCordova with our daughters, and so had found ourselves drawn to the town for a long time. We were fully prepared to enjoy it for the ease of Andrew’s train ride, the peacefulness of our street, and the charming vistas of sheep and cows swathed in morning mist. What we did not realize was how welcoming our neighborhood was, or how easy it would be to become part of the fabric of the community. After getting our daughters settled in the Lincoln School, a seamless, mid-year transition, I decided to jump into the civic life of the town by volunteering to serve on the Lincoln School Committee’s Class Size Policy Subcommittee. I did not imagine then that a decade later I would be finishing my third term on the School Committee and running for selectman.
Lincoln’s commitment to engagement inspires me. During my time on the School Committee, I have worked with thoughtful, creative, collaborative committee members and administrators. We push one another to clarify our thinking, and our collective experience and skills make us better than the sum of our parts. I have had the same experience with numerous other boards and committees on topics ranging from policy development to emergency planning, and from budget development to planning for a school building project. Being on the School Committee has taught me to see any given issue from multiple viewpoints, and to try to make sure that we fully understand the consequences of our decisions. It’s work that is both intellectually and emotionally stimulating and satisfying.
What I would like to see changed: As a selectman, I would not want to change Lincoln. Rather, I would want to work with my colleagues to strengthen the flow of open communication and collaboration between the Board of Selectmen and town citizens. This will allow each of us to view our particular interests within the broader context of the town and to function at our best.
We are on the cusp of decisions that have the potential to positively impact every individual in town and that will shape Lincoln for decades to come. These choices include: How do we maximize our investment in public infrastructure, such as our educational, recreational and community facilities? How do we ensure a vibrant town that serves and supports each generation? How do we meet sustainability goals? What is our town’s role within our wider region? How do we ensure that the tradition of engagement remains strong? These are complex questions that require regular, proactive communication among our citizens and all of the town boards and committees.
Ruth Ann Hendrickson (Water Commission)
What I like best about Lincoln: I like the fact that Lincoln has so carefully protected the watershed and swamps that supply our drinking water.
What I would like to see changed: I wish we had a “no lawn irrigation” ordinance.
Rakesh Karmacharya (Housing Commission)
What I like best about Lincoln: I like the small-town feel of Lincoln and the warm and welcoming community. I love living in an idyllic setting while still being able to commute to work in Boston.
What I would like to see changed: I would like to explore possibilities of increasing nontraditional affordable housing options in Lincoln while nurturing meaningful interactions within our community. On the one hand, there is a dearth of housing options in Lincoln for millennials and young families. On the other hand, we have some elderly members of our community who are trying to decide whether they can still safely live in their houses or whether they need to move to an assisted living facility due health and safety concerns. Is there a mutually beneficial opportunity for interested elderly members in Lincoln to provide a room or two in their houses to a young person or a young couple in return for help with some tasks around the house? This arrangement enables the elderly to continue living safely in their houses while providing new housing opportunities for young folks who are attracted to Lincoln.
John MacLachlan (Bemis trustee)
What I like best about Lincoln: My favorite thing about Lincoln is the sense of community although I was initially drawn to Lincoln by the open space and trails.
What I would like to see changed: I’d love to see the already impressive community become further engaged and to see more interaction between the relatively new residents with long term Lincolnites.
Fred Mansfield (Board of Health)
What I like best about Lincoln: Lincoln’s emphasis on land conservation and open space.
What I’d like to see change: I’d hope that more people would take an interest in town government by attending Town Meeting and voting in town elections.
Rick Rundell (Planning Board)
What I like best about Lincoln: What I love about Lincoln is the strong sense of stewardship for our shared physical heritage. In other words, people here really care about the community, about each other, and about the unique character of our physical environment.
What I’d like to see change: I would love to see even broader civic engagement from citizens of Lincoln across all of our populations. The more people who participate in making this town work the stronger we are as a community.
Laura Sander (Board of Assessors)
What I like best about Lincoln: I like best the feeling that Lincoln is an oasis of peace and calm. I find it refreshing to step off the train at the end of the workday and be in this place that we together as a community work to maintain. I find the access to the outdoors restorative.
What I would like to see changed: I would like to ensure that the oasis that we work hard to maintain is not an enclave that is separate from the rest of the world and its concerns. I appreciate the efforts many make to encourage diversity of people and thought and would like to see us work even harder to promote both.
Stanley Solomon (Bemis Trustee)
What I like best about Lincoln—While my wife Susan and I moved from Lexington to The Commons only about six years ago, I have been hiking and leading hikes in Lincoln for more than 40 years. From this, you might surmise that I rate Lincoln’s integrated conservation effort a gem. We see it as the town’s leading attribute.
What I would like to see changed—Town transportation, sewers, more restaurants, increased retail opportunities—these would all be nice to have, but they all come with consequences that, at best, change the appearance, operation and charm that Lincoln now exudes. From following LincolnTalk, it seems that a number of Lincolnites feel that spending one day a year on town government and/or two hours per election exceeds the time they have allocated to being Americans. I indeed would like to see this change.
Allen Vander Meulen (Board of Selectman, one year)
What I like best about Lincoln: The people—regardless of age, race, color faith or any other differentiator, we are all part of an unusually tight-knit and supportive community. This is part of what we mean when we talk of “the Lincoln Way.” You see this in how our town is run, where there is a focus on creating “win-win” situations wherever possible, and in being supportive to our fellow Lincolnites, whether newcomers or longtime residents. This is what has helped Lincoln retain its rural feel and small-town atmosphere despite the increasing suburbanization all around us.
What I’d like to see change: There is general (although not universal) agreement as to the goals and priorities we as a town must address in the next few years. Our differences mostly lie in the timing and sequence of what needs to be done, and in the specifics of how and what to accomplish with respect to each goal. So for me, the real question is not what to accomplish, or what to change, but how to get there.
The phrase “the Lincoln Way” has long been a call to action for us as a town, but the goal of a culture of inclusion and supportiveness that underlie what we mean by “the Lincoln Way” has always had gaps. Those gaps are becoming more apparent with time, challenging our communal understanding of what “the Lincoln Way” means.
How we come together to make tangible progress on the challenges in our immediate future will set the tone for our community’s conversations and leadership for the coming generation. I am convinced we must find new ways to include our neighbors who feel ignored, marginalized, or otherwise excluded from active participation in our community, so that they also can participate in the decisions and tasks before us. Otherwise, we will not be able to accomplish all that we hope (and need) to do. And so, we must reaffirm our commitment to “the Lincoln Way” and deepen and broaden our understanding of what it means.