Braintree Candidate Profile: Anthony Preston For Town Council

BRAINTREE, MA — November's election will bring some new faces to the Town Council. There's 17 candidates running for nine seats, and five of those races are wide-open.

District 5 is among those open races and is where Anthony Preston will square off against Meredith Boericke. The seat became open after Town Councilor David Ringius decided to run for an at-large council seat.

Patch asked the candidates to answer questions about their campaigns and will be publishing candidate profiles as election day draws near. Here's a little about Preston before the Braintree town election on Nov. 5.

Previously on Patch:

• Braintree Candidate Profile: Thomas Reynolds Jr. For Mayor
• Braintree Candidate Profile: Charles Kokoros For Mayor
• Braintree Candidate Profile: Timothy Carey For Town Council
• Braintree Candidate Profile: Lawrence Mackin For Town Council
• Braintree Candidate Profile: Julia Flaherty For Town Council
• Braintree Candidate Profile: David Ringius For Town Council
• Braintree Candidate Profile: Steve Sciascia For Town Council
• Braintree Candidate Profile: Gisca Bonhomme For Town Council
• Braintree Candidate Profile: Donna Connors For Town Council
• Braintree Candidate Profile: Meredith Boericke For Town Council
• Braintree Candidate Profile: John McKinley For Town Council
• Braintree Candidate Profile: Shawn Cody For Town Council

The single most pressing issue facing Braintree is ____, and this is what you intend to do about it?

The single most pressing issue facing Braintree is our lack of planning. Systematically, we’ve felt the impact of large developers encroaching on our neighborhoods. Our classrooms are overcrowded and in need of crucial upgrades. We’ve heard the passionate voices of our senior population who have been left unrepresented. And we’ve added to an already overwhelming traffic issue across the town. Our lack of planning has resulted in muddied communication, failed projects and broken promises.

Despite the challenges we are now left with as a community, the love and passion we all share for our town has triggered a united voice - a voice of the residents.

With growing concern of the direction our town is heading in, over 900 residents came together in March of 2019 to protest the proposal for a comprehensive zoning plan, sparking a fire that has brought all of us here today expressing deep concern.

Braintree came together not as just a town, but as neighbors who want what is best for the place we are so proud to call home. I’ve seen this first hand while going door to door around District 5. One of many examples comes from a young couple I met on Tenney Road just behind the Thayer Public Library. As the young family went on about their excitement moving a small child to our town they both paused and asked me, “What can we do to get involved? We moved here because of the tight knit community and already feel it’s slipping away.” Young. Old. Male. Female. Lifelong resident. New resident. The concerns of Braintree crosses all demographics and affect the lives of everyone around us.

Our community and its local government become most effective when we are all able to work together. With voices from all different members of our community we can reshape the direction Braintree is heading in; we can work hand and hand to preserve our town character; and we can build a vision for this great town. But it all starts with planning, and planning doesn’t end with just talk, it ends with action.

As your town councilor I promise to be your voice at the table when planning for our future. I will maintain open and clear lines of communication from Town Hall to your doorstep, because your voice matters.

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

Braintree has been the foundation of my life. As a kid raised in Braintree, I understand the importance of growing up in a town like ours. Riding my bike down to the High School with friends, sledding at Liberty School during a snow day, swinging a golf club for the first time with Bob Beach, countless summer days at Sunset Lake, hanging out at Double GG’s on half days of school, playing Baseball on Hollingsworth Field, waking up at 5:00am to tie my skates while wearing Braintree Blue, and watching the Braintree Day Parade are only to name a few of the great privileges of growing up here. I take pride in bleeding Braintree blue.

I have attended our schools. I was fortunate to receive a wonderful education that has served as the foundation of my academic and professional career. Knowing, experiencing, and appreciating the education system in Braintree will help me continue to support our students, school employees and administration.

Being brought up here has given me some really great opportunities, starting with my very first job at Hot Market Design right here in District 5. I’ve seen first-hand how the small businesses in town step up to the plate and energize our local economy.

I have lived government and politics not just learned about it. I have been fortunate to have mentors who are now executive leadership on the state level and they have taught me the value of compromise while not surrendering. They have encouraged me to challenge them and not agree with them at face value. This will continue to be a principal that guides me in always putting the interests of my fellow neighbors first.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform

The central theme of my campaign is preserving our town character while forging a path towards the future. There’s no doubt in anyone’s mind that we’re at a crossroads in Braintree. Are we going to maintain our small town feel or are we going to move in the direction of a large city similar to Quincy?

From my perspective, preserving town character must include the following:

Overdevelopment

The ripple effects of overdevelopment span from our first responders to our water and sewer system. The addition of high density complexes are a direct threat to our schools and neighborhoods. Before we sprint towards these complexes, we must focus on fixing current problems such as our schools and traffic. Braintree cannot afford this burden, especially in residential areas.

Growth is important, but we cannot live beyond our means. We take pride in being a welcoming community, but we cannot do so without taking care of what we have first. Our future should not be a detriment to our current and future residents, which is why I’ve taken the pledge to hold the line on overdevelopment until we have started to fix what is already in need of repair.

Education

Like many families in Braintree, my parents moved my brother, sister, and I from Dorchester and rooted us here in Braintree because of our great education system. Braintree consistently ranks amongst the highest MCAS scores across the state and that’s something to celebrate. This is possible because of our schools environment. From my fellow classmates to the teachers who guided us through the years, there was never a day I didn’t feel the support I needed. My teachers always pushed me to do the best I could, and because of their consistent support and inspiration, I am where I am today.

That said, our schools could use improvement. Although the laundry list may be long, the most frequent concerns I hear when talking to residents are upgrading our infrastructure and condition of sports fields, increasing security measures, introducing new technology to the classroom, providing an appropriate number of maintenance staff, and making sure all is done with the taxpayer in mind.

At the end of the day, I want each kid to receive the first class education I did. As your Town Councilor, I promise to work with the School Committee and local PTOs to secure funding for these improvements. Our town has taken steps in the right direction. We just received a $31 million grant from the Mass School Building Authority to build a new South Middle School, while also working to complete an $80-plus million renovation at East Middle School. We need to continue being aggressive in this pursuit, because our kids deserve the best.

Economic Development

Our town must move forward in creating a small business friendly environment, starting with our town squares. From empty storefronts to buildings that have been vacant for decades, we have an opportunity to revitalize how Braintree is seen on the economic front. Small to medium size businesses bring life to our centers of town, while also providing alternative sources of revenue. As a town government we need to give them the resources to continue being successful in our community, because the continuation of our town’s instability poses a major threat to their livelihood. By taking care of the small businesses throughout town, we can reinvigorate the life of our town squares.

As your councilor, I will work towards developing a program incentivizing small to medium size businesses into joining our town. To accomplish this we need to build an environment that businesses would be comfortable joining. At the end of the day, we need to convince them why they should come here instead of places like Boston, Lowell, Quincy, and Worcester.

To start, we need to identify locations for companies that would minimally impact our neighborhoods and traffic while also being accessible. For medium sized businesses, good areas that meet these standards are Wood Road and Forbes Road. Unlike places such as the RMV, these areas are commercially driven, but would also have a minimal impact on our neighborhoods.

Additionally, I will work to form a task force that would identify innovative companies throughout MA, where they have planted their company, why they planted their company there, and what we can do to adjust and fit what similar companies are looking for. The members of this task force would include residents and town officials. We absolutely need to have resident input to make sure there is as much transparency as possible during the process. After the task force has identified these items, we can move forward and actively seek out companies who are looking to relocate, providing employment opportunities as well as a service to the community.

55+ and Veteran Preference Housing

We have a duty to take care of those who helped make Braintree the great place it is! We need to locate an appropriate area and work to responsibly build 55-plus and Veteran preference housing. To make this happen the Town Council will need to work with the residents, the Mayor’s office, and a contractor who is selected through a competitive RFP process. An ideal area for a project like this is 90 Pond Street. There is enough land to accommodate the facility and we do not need to purchase it from a private owner. Before any steps are taken, a study would need to be completed from a non-bias third party to identify any impacts it would have on the surrounding area (traffic, water, sewer, Police, Fire, etc). Also, if 25 percent of the units are affordable housing, all units would count towards reaching safe harbor, if we are not already there as of now. This is the safest alternative to meeting safe harbor and putting 40B behind us as a community, while also following through on our promise to take care of an aging population in Braintree. I do realize that many 55-plus developments are like resorts with clubhouses, pools, and other amenities, but based on what I have heard from our constituents in Braintree, a basic 55-plus development would be highly sought after for those who want to remain in Braintree.

First Responders

Braintree takes pride in those who keep our community safe. We have a duty to equip them with the proper resources. Through conversations with our first responders, there seems to be some clear areas where the Town Council can help:

1. Construct a plan to build a new fire department and put together a task force to study the financial and department implications of introducing an ambulance service.
2. Provide our first responders with world class training and new technology.
3. Work with our police department to minimize speeding and reckless driving throughout town, starting by implementing a town-wide hands free ordinance. Unfortunately, we’ve experienced two recent accidents involving children and drivers. We need to make sure this doesn’t happen again in the future.
4. Increase details during high traffic periods of the day.

Master Plan

Before we do all the above, we need to construct a Master Plan to act as a general guideline for our town’s future. Currently, it has not been updated for 21 years. Although there is a lot of relevant information housed in that plan, we need to update it and make sure it fits the current needs of our town. We MUST give residents a working role in the reconstruction of the Master Plan. A well rounded Master Plan is a product of many different voices working together. Our Master Plan is the mission statement to our quality of life. At the end of the day, the choices we make in the next two years will affect our quality of life for the next fifty.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

From my time in our school system to my missionary work around the world, I’ve had the privilege to work with people from all walks of life. Over the years, I’ve served Hurricane Katrina victims in New Orleans, tended to a community in need in North Carolina, and helped educate children and rebuild portions of their orphanage in Costa Rica. Seeing the appreciation of a community from doing something as simple as painting a house, or digging deep into chronic poverty has pushed me to continue giving back. During my time in college, I was able to continue those efforts by tutoring teenagers at the Lawrence Boys and Girls Club, and volunteering at the Lawrence Habitat for Humanity re-store. Through those experiences, I have learned the power of lending a hand. These experiences have given me a good perspective of our town’s resources. We have the capability of being self-sustaining and fix what needs repair; it would be irresponsible not to do so.

My work in state government, serving nearly 350,000 Veterans across the state, and the people I’ve worked with along the way have given me a passion for public service. From veteran constituent work, to the nearly $100 million budget that I help construct, I work to make sure each Veteran and their family members receive the benefits they have earned.

As your Town Councilor I will take the skills I’ve learned through my volunteerism and professional career to give you a voice at Town Hall. Being a Town Councilor doesn’t just mean you get a comfy leather chair during a Council meeting. It means rolling up your sleeves and working with your neighbors to understand and advocate for what’s important to them.

What's your favorite thing about Braintree?

Passion. That’s what I love most. This Braintree passion has been a part of my life for decades. From playing on Braintree sports teams to coming together as a community voicing concerns over issues we’re facing, we have passion and people care about what’s going on. Growing up in a neighborhood with people who care has given me appreciation for Braintree. Weather it’s lending a hand during a snowstorm or hanging out on a hot summer day, our community isn’t just any other town. We lean on one another; we support one another; we stand together; and that’s what makes me proud to call Braintree home. Someday I hope to root a family here, and I know if we preserve our town character and fight for the sanctity of our neighborhoods, they will get the same great experience I did.

What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

I'm running because I love this town. I love waking up in Braintree knowing I’m going to go down the road and see my neighbors as I grab a cup of coffee; I love that those who lived here their entire lives are welcoming to those who have just moved in; and I love the fact that our town has a great opportunity ahead of us. As a community, we always come together.

Being your Town Councilor is a responsibility and commitment I would be honored and lucky to have. It is not lost on me that having the trust of my neighbors to elect me as their representative is a privilege, and not to be taken for granted.

I want you to know that as your town councilor I promise four things; availability, urgency, transparency and accountability. A town councilor needs to be available to those they serve, they need to have a sense of urgency in helping them, they need to be transparent during the process, and they need to be accountable for the decisions coming out of Town
Hall.

I respectfully ask for your vote on November 5th for District 5 Town Councilor.