Letter To Editor: Powers On Why He's Running For Braintree Mayor

In a letter to the editor, Councilor Sean Powers tells voters why he's running to be the next mayor of Braintree. Powers announced last week he's running for mayor, following Mayor Joseph Sullivan announcement that he isn't seeking re-election.

I am running for Mayor of Braintree because I love and care about our town. I grew up here. I had the benefit of getting a strong academic foundation from the Braintree public school system. As a lifelong resident I know Braintree is a great place to live and I’m proud to call Braintree home. Braintree has an incredible sense of community. It’s a great place to grow up, raise a family and neighbors look out for one another. I saw the commitment in community service by our previous town leaders, and it inspired me to get involved at an early age to be a part of helping make Braintree what it is today. I have been involved in our town government since I was 18, serving as a town meeting member, school committee member at the age of 20 and then later as councilor at large. Our town has a historic opportunity to chart a course where new leadership will meet the challenges we face with determination and resolve. Our quality of life is the envy of the South Shore and each day we must get up and work to make Braintree even better. If elected Mayor, I will continue my commitment to the residents to remain transparent, accessible and accountable. The people deserve no less. Important and impactful decisions must be done with as much resident input as possible. I understand that people have many things going on in their daily life, such as raising families, going to work, paying their mortgages and bills, getting the kids to activities, running errands, and taking care of elderly parents. The demands of life may sometimes create challenges for people to be as involved as much as they would like. It is up to the next mayor of our town to develop and preserve a level of trust and transparency with the residents so they can be assured that the decisions impacting Braintree are being made with their best interests in mind.

Where I stand.

We are very lucky to have an amazing group of teachers, staff, and volunteers that work hard everyday to ensure that our kids get the best education possible. And we can’t forget the parents who have established a support system at home and the diligent service of our School Committee members as well. Our students and staff deserve buildings that reflect the level of energy and commitment that they show to meet the challenges they face each day.

Even though we have made great progress and strides, we still have a lot of work to do. We need to continue to have transparent conversations and open lines of communication with our students, parents, teachers and staff about the future needs of our schools — but also the current state of them as well. We need to also continue to hear directly from the those that are most impacted by our school buildings and their environments. No matter a students abilities or challenges that they may face, creating opportunities where all our students are set-up to achieve success should remain and always be our top priority.

Braintree needs to plan for the future, so that future growth, which is inevitable, is managed and works for the residents who call our town home. By managing our growth and development, we can preserve the character of our town and protect our neighborhoods. Nobody wants to see our town squares and The Landing turned into Quincy Center. I oppose the creation of any 40R zoning which will bring with it highly dense apartment buildings into our town that would further burden our infrastructure, resources and schools.

I respectfully disagree with Governor Baker’s housing bill currently being reviewed by Beacon Hill, which would among many things, lower the threshold of local votes needed to enact zoning changes from a two thirds vote, and also allow for certain uses by right without a special permit.
One of the strengths of Braintree is our great neighborhoods, where people feel safe and have a sense of community. That is why I support the Resident Zoning Working Group’s unanimous decision to request that the proposed comprehensive zoning ordinance be withdrawn so that our Master Plan can be updated first. I am proud to have worked with my fellow councilors to pass the Master Plan resolution that called for planning first, and zoning update afterwards. This put our Town Council on record as supporting that commonsense course of action. I was happy that the Council voted unanimously in favor of this resolution.

We need to identify and encourage responsible and thoughtfully executed 55 and over housing to help solve a housing need for residents that wish to downsize but stay in Braintree. This would free up inventory of housing for families without over pressuring our schools. Our community must establish an Affordable Housing Trust that will work to ensure we maintain our affordable housing threshold, which is required by state law. This will protect the town and allow us to deny 40B dense apartment buildings and developments so that affordable housing initiatives work for us and not for developers. But more importantly we can ensure that these developments won’t alter the character of our community.

While we consider managing future growth, we also need to expand our water capacity to meet our current water demands so residents aren’t forced to endure water restrictions.
Our location is one of Braintree’s greatest assets;12 miles south of Boston and accessible by major highways and public transportation, but it is also one of our greatest challenges.
Our community is faced with a high volume of traffic on a daily basis. It sometimes feels like it takes forever to just get around town. This is a quality of life issue. Time spent being stuck in traffic means time away from family and the things that are most important to us. That is why I support developing a town wide traffic management plan, to tackle our traffic issues head on. The master plan from 1998 calls for this. We need a community wide look at traffic, not just one intersection at a time, they are all connected.

I will continue to oppose the Holbrook Transfer station that will bring with it increased truck traffic carrying solid waste through our streets and causing safety and environmental concerns.
I continue to stand united with our residents and neighboring communities against the dangerous compressor station proposed on the Fore River that will bring with it safety and environmental hazards to our community, particularly our residents in East Braintree. In light of the new information and data that was recently released indicating that carcinogen levels are elevated, the DEP should go back a second time and review and deny the necessary permits.

Our small businesses, many of whom are owned and operated by our fellow Braintree residents, are the engines of our local economy. They are always the first to donate and lend a hand to those in need. It’s time we take back our town squares to make them more attractive destinations for our residents to enjoy and for merchants to thrive. Our squares have so much potential and it is exciting to think about all the positive things we could accomplish by bringing residents and business owners together to help take ownership of the future plans of our local economic centers.
One issue that is holding back our squares is access to parking for both customers and businesses. If elected Mayor, I will work to expand parking in all of our squares so that customers can conveniently park and frequent our town’s businesses. I will also establish a dedicated, economic development coordinator position, whose task it is to assist businesses looking to open in Braintree through the permitting process. This position will also work with regional economic partners to attract new businesses to our community who can then take advantage of our superior location to Boston, accessibility to public transportation and major highways, competitive electric and water and sewer rates. If elected, I will also establish an Economic Development Council that will be comprised of residents, business owners and town officials whose mission will be to effectively compete with other regions to encourage businesses that will benefit our community to relocate to Braintree.

Our public safety departments work hard each day to keep all of our residents safe. By giving them the tools and resources needed to do their jobs, we can continue to enhance our public safety. As technology and new methods are adopted, our police, fire and ems services should advance with the times. These types of programs are important and we must plan financially to implement them.

Braintree’s parks, playgrounds and recreation programs are a treasure that all of our residents enjoy. A dedicated capital plan for our parks and playgrounds will allow us to identify short term and long term needs so that we can plan and budget for improvements. Our parks and open space are vital to maintaining our quality of life.

We need to do all this while being fiscally responsible to our tax payers, who at the end of the day are the ones that pay the bills. We owe nothing less to the residents of our great community. I am running for Mayor of Braintree because I wish to work with others to meet the challenges that lie ahead and continue to move our community forward. It’s our Braintree, and our future that we all care deeply about and I would be humbled and grateful for your support.