Vanessa Alvarado Engages, Questions, and Listens

A Letter to the editor from Josh Olivier-Mason:

I am writing in support of Vanessa Alvarado for Board of Selectman in the upcoming election on April 3rd.

Vanessa Alvarado is the right candidate for Board of Selectman because she is committed to that ideal: empowering members of this community to take part in determining the present and future of our town. I was first introduced to Vanessa through our children. I’ve since gotten the opportunity to see her at work as a public servant. Here, I’m not specifically referencing her years on the Finance Committee or as a Town Meeting member; to that end, I have been impressed with the support and statements of endorsement Vanessa has received from long-time residents, Town Meeting members, and other community leaders. The public service I’m referring to here is what Vanessa does so intentionally and frequently that it can seem effortless. She engages. She asks questions. She listens. I’ve seen it at her “meet and greets” or “office hours” at Cafe Nero; I’ve experienced it at pizza-movie nights, with children playing noisily in another room. Though her understanding of our town and the issues facing it is extensive and nuanced, Vanessa wants to know what we think: her neighbors, her fellow community members. Others have written about her commitment to inclusion. It is evident from her platform, which calls for the reinstitution of the Economic Development Committee, and for creating programs that would draw on the knowledge and expertise of our senior residents. Too often, our elected leaders, even at the local level, lose sight of the need to engage with the entire community they represent.

That emphasis on inclusion should not be taken lightly. Recently, a letter to the editor of the Reading Post endorsing John Arena mentioned that Mr. Arena is “careful to note that he did not even consider this sort of public-spirited work until his children had been successfully launched into adulthood.” The not-so-subtle implication of the letter writer is that Ms. Alvarado and presumably other women (and men?) with young children should wait their turn on the sidelines. Setting aside the oddly antiquated view of parenthood (there are plenty of parents consumed with the lives of their adult children), this sentence speaks to a politics of exclusivity. We have seen similar rhetoric used in the past to keep eminently qualified candidates out of leadership positions.

I hope that in this moment of political excitement and engagement, Reading residents will remain active after April 3rd. Certainly, if Vanessa Alvarado is elected, they will have someone on the Board of Selectman who wants to hear from them.

Joshua Olivier-Mason, High Street