1. Strengthen Economic Development

Bringing jobs to Lowell and the revitalization of downtown is essential for our City’s growth and development. 

The Lowell Innovation Network Corridor or LINC project offers a transformational opportunity for Lowell.  It will bring more than 600 million dollars of private investment and up to 2000 good jobs into our downtown. 

This project will bring business, employment, housing and tax revenue to the city.  It could be the biggest thing to happen to Lowell since the National Park in the 70’s. As a City Councilor, I will work with UMASS Lowell and all other stakeholders of this project to make sure the city’s interests are heard and the LINC becomes a reality!

I also support the creation of a Business Improvement District or BID District in our downtown. Such a district would raise funds from downtown property owners to keep downtown welcoming for residents and visitors alike. 

The broken window theory suggests that small signs of disarray and neglect increase the probability of crime and vagrancy.

On the contrary, small beautification projects promote an orderly environment and deter crime. 

Everyone loves ribbon cuttings and new business, but I believe the addition of a BID district designation will help both long time business owners and new owners alike.   

2. Quality of Life in our Neighborhoods

As a mother raising two young boys in Lowell, I am deeply invested in making our City a safe, vibrant, and comfortable place for all families. I want to ensure our children have access to protected green spaces, safe streets and walkable neighborhoods.  This includes fixing our sidewalks, supporting projects that will calm traffic and reduce speeding on our streets, improving our parks, and supporting public safety workers like fire, police and EMS. 

Traffic and Speeding are a big concern for all of us in District 3.  One of the major contributors of this problem is the new traffic configuration at the Lowell line on Andover St.  The shift to 4 lanes of traffic encourages people to speed up and pass before the merge, creating a traffic accelerator. It creates a dangerous situation for cars and pedestrians, not to mention that it makes the adjacent bike lane almost unusable during high traffic times. My husband and I actually brought a petition to the Lowell City Council more than a year ago asking them to address this situation, but no action was taken.  As your councilor, I will fight to make modifications to this intersection and introduce speed control and traffic calming measures on Andover St. and throughout the district.

3. Public Health and Safety

For the past 5 years I have been a champion for public health as a member of the Lowell Board of Health.  Our board works with the City’s Health Department to protect and promote the community's public and environmental health by ensuring safe housing and food, managing environmental health risks, controlling infectious diseases, and providing community health assessments and services.  During my tenure, we helped Lowell to navigate successfully through the COVID 19 pandemic, arguably the most difficult health crisis for our community in a generation.  

Most recently, I spent the past year working closely with concerned neighbors, local leaders, and advocacy groups to address a dangerous and often overlooked issue: the use of Second-Generation Anticoagulant Rodenticides (SGARs). These poisons are aimed at controlling rodents, but they can also devastate our city’s wildlife, contaminate the food chain, and put pets at risk. The good news is that safer, effective alternatives exist.  I drove the effort to ban these substances in Lowell, and have visited the boards of neighboring communities to drive wider support of this ban. 

In an effort to support this change statewide, I spent the day at the Massachusetts State House on July 24 advocating for Bill H.965, which would ban the use of all rodenticides across the state. I was proud to stand alongside partners from the MSPCA, Mass Audubon Society, Lowell Loves Wildlife, the Sierra Club and many more during a successful Lobby Day to help push this legislation forward. I’m especially grateful to Rep. Vanna Howard and Rep. Hawkins for co-sponsoring this bill and to the entire Lowell delegation for their strong support as well as Sen. Edward Kennedy for the Senate version.

Homelessness is another public health issue that the city struggles with.  In my time as a social worker and with the Hunger and Homelessness Commission I have seen first-hand the challenges and threats to public safety that homeless encampments pose to public health. I support the procedures we have in place to try to bring these people the help that they need and put them on a path to self sufficiency.  As a member of the City Council I will use my experience to help manage this problem.  

In the long term, I believe that homelessness is a regional issue.  Right now, other communities direct their homeless population to Lowell because we have the shelters and services to help. While I support programs that provide a path to shelter and self sufficiency for the homeless population, Lowell should not be expected to bear the burden of this issue for the entire region.  As a councilor, I will drive the City leadership to fight for more resources from the state and other local communities to help address this difficult challenge. 

4) Open and Honest Government

The decisions made by our City Council that affect all of us should be transparent.  The Council Rules are there to make sure that decisions aren’t made without proper notification to constituents.  Those rules should not be “suspended” carelessly.  The people of Lowell deserve to know what is happening in their community and have a chance to react before it happens.

The lack of transparency on our current council was never more obvious than last summer when they refused to give the people of the third district the right to vote for their own representative.  Despite the fact that the state legislature quickly cleared the path for a special election to replace retiring councilor John Leahy, and that many residents, including me (see picture) expressed their desire to choose their own representative, the majority of this council, quietly and without explanation, forced their choice upon us with 18 months remaining in the term.

I’ve never been afraid to make tough decisions. I’ve done it on the Board of Health. But I won’t make them in the dark.  

As your City Councilor I can promise:

  • Transparency

  • Accountability

  • A voice you can count on.

I can’t guarantee we’ll always agree, but you will always know where I stand, and why.  

I humbly ask for your vote to bring my public service to a new level as your City Councilor representing District 3.