Interests

Things I will write most often about include:

Smart Growth This is a modern approach to developing land, an alternative to building fast and cheap.  Smart Growth reduces suburban sprawl and preserves open space.  Developments that feature Smart Growth are built around people, not cars.  Buildings are placed next to the street with parking behind instead of in front.  Land uses (office, retail, and residential) are mixed, which reduces the the length and number of trips — in other words, less traffic.  Billerica is in desperate need of a new direction in terms of land development.  Our town center is crumbling and horribly outdated.  Smart Growth is a key to Billerica’s renewal.

Billerica Politics In the winter and spring of 2009, I jumped into the Billerica political forum with both feet as I submitted two zoning changes to Spring Town Meeting.  I failed, but I learned a great deal about the guts of the Billerica machine.  My most important lesson: I do not want to serve public office in town, at least right now.  Board of Selectman Chairman Marc Lombardo called our political atmosphere — on record — a “blood sport.”  That description is fine for a Jean-Claude Van Damme movie, but not for a community that is trying to encourage citizens with a weak stomach (hello) to participate.  No thank you.  However, as a columnist, I will be watching and offering criticism.  In a constructive manor, of course.

Transportation Safety I bring my professional experience as a traffic engineer to this subject.  In a good economy, car crashes kill about 42,000 people per year.  They are the leading cause of death for many age groups, and a close second in others.  Cars are the threat to public safey that no one wants to talk about, since more restrictions on driving encroaches on everyone’s freedom to drive.  But dangerous driving is an extremely risky behavior and is the most likely thing that can hurt or kill us between the time we leave the house until we come home.  Distractions from electonic gadets grow larger every year as more technology becomes available.  If we don’t adress this issue, fatality and injury rates will rise again — sharply — when the economy recovers.  We need to find ways and the guts to take bad drivers off the road.