SUPPORTING SENIORS

We can do more to support our seniors, helping them age in place, keep their homes, and giving them better access to community services. 

I've heard from countless seniors, "We need a place for coffee and conversation.  We need a place to do things."  I couldn't agree more.  We need a senior and community center of some sort.  The options are endless: senior yoga, inter-generational cooking classes, art classes.  I strongly support a space that seniors can use.

Fortunately, we have an option on the horizon. I joined the Council in voting for a long-term lease of the Freemason’s property off Main Street. A group of stakeholders is investigating our options for a new facility.

We can and should increase funding for Yarmouth's STAY program.  And we may be able to engineer creative, forward-looking tax incentives with the State to help seniors stay in their homes - which is good for them and good for the fabric of the community.

We also need more help.  Many seniors wrestle with social isolation, decreased mobility, increased medical needs, and difficulty keeping up their homes.  We hired a Senior Services Advocate affiliated with the Southern Maine Agency on Aging (SMAA), bringing additional manpower to the task of coordinating the web of services available to many of Yarmouth's seniors.

Education

The school budget is going to be under pressure as our student population grows and (thankfully) grows more diverse. I will continue to defend Yarmouth’s investment in great public schools.

The 21st Century economy demands a 21st Century education.  Yarmouth’s schools are the best in the State and the pride of the Town.  We all have a collective interest – financial, traditional, and moral – in keeping them that way.

Yarmouth is using every dollar efficiently.  Yarmouth has the leanest administration (the lowest ratio of central office staff/students) in the region, including Cape, Falmouth, Cumberland, Scarborough, and RSU 35.  Yarmouth has the highest percentage of staff devoted to academic instruction.  Overall, we spend less per pupil than most of our peer schools, and our per-pupil spending is not keeping up with inflation.

This past year’s school budget debate was bruising. I opposed the budget cuts the Council demanded but in the end I voted for the budget. The Council requires compromise and I know that people of good faith were on all sides of the issue. Further, the School Committee did an outstanding job with the (reduced) funds the Council gave them.

As difficult as this spring has been – i.e. months without in-person learning due to COVID-19 – the fall will be the real test.  In the best case scenario, each student will have had a stable home, helpful parents, reliable broadband, and a learning style receptive to remote instruction.  Sadly, many of our students will have lacked these pillars and will have fallen behind (e.g. kids in abusive, toxic, and/or stressed homes; kids with IEPs or special needs; ESL students).

In addition to creating academic and emotional issues, COVID-19 will cost money when it cmes time to restart: Facemasks, plexiglas shields, hand sanitizer, cafeteria restrictions, greater cleaning, staggered bus routes, staggered schedules, new in-class and online materials, and professional development.  We will need the Emergency Fund that I helped champion (please vote for it) to respond to COVID-19. 

Livability

We all want to preserve and revitalize Main Street - keeping it intimate, walkable, human-scaled, and vital.

Our restaurants and shops have been hit hard by COVID-19 but we can all do our part to help them. And looking ahead, from the sprucing up of 317 Main to the new Village Green Park, this is an exciting time to reinvigorate the Village “brand."  (Ask me about grass berms.).

For Route 1, I'm pleased to see us moving toward pedestrian-friendly, close-to-the-road designs. It slows down traffic and helps integrate Route 1 into Yarmouth (instead of being a fast drive-through mini highway).  It's more walkable, intimate, friendly, people-centric.

Thoughtful people have begun looking at the railroad tracks crossing Main Street as a possible rail-to-trail.  I’m interested.  Bringing more walkers, joggers, and bikers into our Village could activate the space and bring business (from bike shops to ice cream shops to restaurants) to Main Street.

ENVIRONMENT

From LED streetlights to making it easier to recycle at the transfer station, let’s save money and the environment.

We’ve made real progress on environmental matters - including approving a switch to LED streetlights to lower our carbon footprint and save money. We also voted to source our municipal electricity from a solar farm. These are real accomplishments.

Looking ahead, it should be easier to recycle than to throw/incinerate.  At the transfer station, there's a pending proposal to introduce a second hopper for recycling.  I'm 6' and can hoist recycling through the windows of the silver bullets but it's not so easy for shorter folks.  The marginal nuisance is surely discouraging some people.  And because a hopper could compact recyclables, it'd mean fewer expensive truck runs.  Recycling more could save the town money and reduce our carbon footprint.

Ocean acidification is killing the clams and warming is driving the lobsters north.  This is a local issue.