1. Education: reverse the slide in student performance

   1. Expand pre-K to handle all 4-year-olds in the city to cut the very expensive cost of downstream educational remediation. This expansion would use space at the old Marian High School and/or the Farley school to provide classrooms.

   2. Boost compensation for classroom aides in the school system by 20% to solve the current critical staff shortage, cut the use of more expensive outside contractors, and help boost student performance by strengthening classroom support.

   3. Expand Keefe Tech by adding more space to handle the 300 kids currently on its waiting list, boosting job opportunities for kids with a High School education and solving the capacity problem at Framingham High School in the least expensive way.

2. Infrastructure

   1. Attend to maintenance for roofs, roads, water & sewer in a timely manner, so we don't build a backlog as we have right now, which stands at more than $400 million. 

   2. Fill the many vacancies in the Department of Public Works, so we use inhouse crews to do roads and water & sewer repairs, rather than expensive outside contractors. 

   3. Fund infrastructure projects by moving the city pension liability payoff date from 2030 to 2040, freeing up $10 million/year for capital investment. 

3. Environment

   1. Complete the Climate Action Plan. 

   2. No new solar installations have been started in 5 years. All 4 existing solar installations were approved and funded in March or July 2021, before Sisitsky took office. Rapidly expand solar installations on school roofs and in school parking lots to beat the December 31, 2027 deadline when federal solar credits disappear. We need to ramp up to 10 solar installations every year. 

   3. Ramp up curbside composting to cut the trash stream by 40%. 

   4. Focus on better tree management across the city, to preserve trees, and expand tree canopy, especially on the southside, to reduce summer temperatures there by 10 degrees and eliminate heat islands. We can jump start tree planting by aiming at 1,000 trees in the first year of my administration.

4. Zoning, Residential Development & Neighborhoods

   1. Develop reliable impact assessments for each development to make sure that the city makes money. Impacts on the water & sewer system, the roads and the schools have to be included in Planning Board review of all projects. 

   2. Oppose rezoning the Nobscot Edgell/Edmands parcel for high density development of the kind J&Co are seeking at 12 units/acre. 

   3. Work with the Nobscot community to reach a plan for that parcel which meets with their approval. That could include making the parcel open space. Let the community decide what is best.

   4. Protect neighborhoods generally from over-development.

   5. Push development of a plan which integrates downtown with the Farm Pond area.

   6. Promote development which favors more low cost, affordable housing.

   7. Make open space management a key factor in all decision making.

   8. Encourage more formal development of neighborhood groups, such as those already in Nobscot, Saxonville and Coburnville-Tripoli to better protect neighborhoods and give more  useful organized community feedback to government.

5. Economic Development​

   1. Work to make sure the City Council stops being an obstacle to progress.

   2. Ensure that the EDC has the right resources to function properly.

   3. Help create an updated economic development plan for Framingham.

6. Planning & Financial Management: bring best practices to bear

   1. Update the city strategic plan every 6 months to ensure it is a useful guide to progress, with clear goals and priorities.

   2. Act on the state Division of Local Services recent financial review of the city's operations.

   3. Reform the entire cityside budget process to align with best practices. That includes monthly reporting to the City Council on budget spending including end of year projections, to ensure that spending is on track and any emerging problems are rapidly identified and handled.

   4. Engage the option of moving the city pension liability payoff date from 2030 to 2040 to free up $10 million/year to invest in solving the major problems in the city. This would not impact retirees.  

   5. Insist on quarterly reporting to the City Council on the state of city infrastructure and progress towards annual goals.

   6. Ensure that property taxes keep pace with typical inflation, so we don't erode the workforce and services.

   7. Push for more rapid development of the Saxonville Mills Building as an arts/commerce/recreation center.

   8. Push as hard as possible to change the management of the Metrowest Medical Center from the Tenet group, which seems committed to running this facility into the ground.

7. Senior Services​

   1. Increase support for senior services to keep pace with the growth of the senior population.

   2. Increase the income limit for property tax deferral and water & sewer discounts to $72,000 from $60,000.

   3. Increase the senior water & sewer discount from 25% to 30%. 

8. Community Center

   1. Use part of the building to expand pre-K capacity for the school district to finally include all 4-year-olds in Framingham.

   2. Use part of the building to accommodate the High School Thayer program as needed.

   3. Use part of the building to expand Senior Services as needed.​

   4. With community support, bond the remaining development required. A small debt exclusion could be feasible here, and allows the community to weigh in. 

9. Communications​

   1. Special attention has to be paid to the impoverished flow of information to and from the City Council which has been left in the invidious position of being kept in the dark on important matters, or excluded from considerations they should be involved in. Basic reporting by the city administration on the state of education, infrastructure, environment, workforce and more has never been done at a level which would allow the City Council to function properly.​

   2. A major focus, central to good communications, is the role of truth in driving discussions of issues central to the improvement of Framingham. There has been way too much hiding of the real state of affairs, to avoid the uncomfortable but necessary debate which is critical to the development of a healthy municipal culture which encourages city staff and the community to speak out on what needs to be fixed and how that can be done.

   3. End the practice of city administration obstruction of Public Records Requests.

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