A Letter in Support of Manisha Bewtra for Mayor

I am voting for Manisha Bewtra for Mayor. Manisha stands out among several qualified candidates because of her background as a city planner. Melrose is a wonderful, thriving, and growing community. Manisha will help us continue that trend, while also helping us to maintain economic diversity. Being a desired community is positive, but our increasingly expensive housing market runs the risk of pushing people out and keeping others from accessing the amazing amenities here such as our schools, our easy transit access and accessibility to Boston, our incredible green space, and our vibrant downtown.

In her work at the Massachusetts Housing Partnership, Manisha provided assistance to cities and towns to plan for and develop affordable housing. Currently Melrose does not meet its affordable housing requirement. Because we do not meet that requirement developers, using Chapter 40B, can bypass local zoning in order to develop affordable housing. This means we lose control over how our city grows. Manisha’s experience in planning and zoning and affordable housing will help us tackle this important issue in a way that makes sure seniors and people on a fixed income can stay in Melrose; young people who grew up in Melrose and want to raise their own children here can afford to buy their first home here; and groups of people who have historically been locked out of Melrose because of unjust housing policies can begin to get a foot into our community and access to the amazing amenities that we value and take pride in. If we work within our city government to address affordable housing we will have control over how our city develops protecting both our green space and the unique historic buildings - two of the things that make Melrose so special.

The Melrose motto of “One Community Open to All” is hopeful and something we as a community strive for. In order to live up to our motto we need to have leaders who are willing to make sure that Melrose is accessible to all people. Past housing policies, such as redlining, have kept our communities segregated and it is through creating access to affordable housing in communities with good schools and good public transportation that we can begin to address racial wealth disparity as a nation. I want Melrose to live up to that motto of “One Community Open to All” by addressing the issue that has kept us closed - housing. Manisha is committed to that and can help us live up to that motto.

Manisha will be a mayor who can see the big picture. The issues that we face as a nation can and should be addressed at the local level. Manisha has the experience, background and vision to think globally and act locally. I urge you to think big and vote for Manisha on September 17th.