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Background: Andre Green knows how hard-working families in Cambridge are struggling. He's seen it first-hand. As a former fifth-grade teacher and a Department of Youth Services case manager, Andre has a ground level understanding of the issues facing our most vulnerable citizens. He knows what can happen to children who live in neighborhoods that are unsafe because there are too few police officers on the street. He has watched students struggle when bloated school administrators waste funding that could be better used providing essential services. And he's seen how hard it is for parents to provide for their children when their taxes keep going up and up. His commitment to public service is born of these experiences. Currently working as an IT consultant specializing in non-profits and schools, Andre spends his days immersed not only in the cutting edge of high tech that is increasingly Cambridge's life blood, but also the social compassion that is Cambridge's soul. But more importantly, Andre Green has been there himself. The child of a single parent who worked overnight shifts to put him through school, he knows firsthand the struggles that Cambridge's working class endure to provide for their families. And, as the first person in his family to graduate from college (which he did at age 19), Andre knows the difference that a quality education can make in the life of a child. With your support, Andre will fight to make sure every child in Cambridge receives the city services they need to grow up to be healthy, productive citizens of this great city.
“I'm running for City Council based on the radical notion
that the purpose of the Cambridge City Council is to govern Cambridge.
I believe most Cambridge residents care more about snow removal than a
City Councilor's stance on Cuban trade policy. I believe Cambridge voters
are more worried about rising crime rates than the Cambridge Nuclear
Disarmament Commission. I believe that - especially in light of the
massive increases in property taxes - when it comes to City government,
Cambridge residents have been paying entirely too much for too little.” Top Priorities: Quality of Life and Public Safety: Meanwhile, basic city services deteriorate. Crime is up, especially in neighborhoods like East Cambridge and Area 4 that can least afford it. Meanwhile police hiring is flat. A strong proponent of community policing, Andre will work to hire more police officers and put them on the streets where they belong. Residential streets went all winter without a proper snow plowing (and even some that were plowed found the snow merely piled up in driveways). And throughout the city you can find potholes that should have been fixed months ago. Cambridge deserves a City Councilor who will devote as much time to seeing that citizens get the services they pay so much in taxes for. Traffic, Parking, and Transportation: We also need to re-look our relationship with the MBTA. We should encourage Subway expansion wherever feasible, and hold the T more accountable for delays in service, capital projects (like the Green Line), and handicap accessibility. Municipal Finance, City Budget, Assessments, and Property Taxes: Every time we raise property taxes, we make it more expensive to live in Cambridge. Spending that money on “affordable housing” is akin to give yourself a transfusion of your own blood…with a leaky tourniquet. Though it won’t gain any of us politicians headlines, the best solutions to housing often don’t involve government doing more, but rather doing less, and letting the market do more to lower artificially high housing costs. The cheaper we make it to own and/or build in Cambridge, the cheaper we can make it to live in Cambridge. Land Use, Planning, Economic Development: Human Services Programs: Secondly, Cambridge has done extensive work to make it easy to be poor in Cambridge, we need to do more though to make it just as easy to stop being poor in Cambridge. Gentrification need not be the enemy in Cambridge; a human service program that saw economic development for the residents as an integral part of alleviating poverty could go a long way towards ensuring that all Cantabrigians can partake of rising prosperity in the city Open Space, Parks, and Recreation: However, as in most things the money is there. A shift of a mere 10% of the Cambridge’s Community Preservation funds would go along way to preserving and perhaps expanding Cambridge’s valuable open space I also support a shared-use Dog park plan similar to the one implemented to national applause in Brookline. Mr. Green has not yet provided statements on the following topics, but has promised to do so shortly. Energy, the Environment, and Public Health: Housing: Arts and Public Celebrations: University Relations: Civic Participation: Cambridge Public Schools: Other: |
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Page last updated October 02, 2006 | Cambridge Candidates |