There is no argument that could be won for Brockton's lack of open and transparent government, except for the opposite of the benefits of posting records online – it is as simple as a few strokes on a computer keyboard: There is no excuse that outweighs the benefits…

• Improved access to information about local government.
• More political accountability.
• Possible increase in civic participation.
• Less time spent responding to requests for documents.
• Improved communications and less misunderstanding about governance issues.
• Increased ability to compare with other municipalities.
• Market the municipality to outside interests.

Read the report here

Brockton's political ideology of today does not want you involved – As the City of Champions we must lead not by name alone but by example and empower our citizenry so that the collective will can boost Brockton out of our current state of mediocrity. Politicians know that information is power and with the citizenry empowered the power is diluted to the many instead of the few. We must strive for excellence in transparent and open government. As a city councilor I will not play the role of a politician when it comes to information, I will play the role of statesman and keep the politics inside the council chambers and share all that I know. Your VOTE on November 6th is the beginning of Brockton's transparent government.

Since the beginning of our colonial days, the east coast has a history of setting ethical standards for the rest of our country. It is the utmost importance of any group, private or public to self regulate so that the misuse of power and position will not lead to corruption or unaccountable action.

Today, Brockton has no ethical standards on the books except for that of Massachusetts’s law. We have seen over the course of time questionable actions of individuals involved in Brockton politics and most recently we witnessed individuals participating in a political activity while wearing their government issued uniforms, an action of un-ethical proportions.

The right to endorse a political candidate is a protected right under the law and individuals should be encouraged to participate in the political system. Ethics laws are in place to forbid and discourage officials from using government property including uniforms in conjunction with individual political support because of the perception and the authority in which those government uniforms portray in society. It is this action that is illegal and unethical which must not be over looked.

There should be severe consequences for anyone found to have broken the public trust. Now is the time for Brockton to lead with ethics and not with petty political unethical actions.

As I have mentioned before I truly believe that our city ordinances should be made more available to the public, not just through the library but by being posted on the city website. We have to ask ourselves why aren’t they more accessible when many other cities already post theirs, and especially if we are truly “the city of champions”.

We must continue to enforce city ordinances with all due speed and nothing short of a total willingness from all citizens and government departments. We have the laws in place at the state and municipal levels to enforce a citywide clean up. Once we begin this new policy we will then begin to change socially how people act towards our great city.

I would even go as far as suggesting compiling an abridged version of city ordinances that pertain to property, neighborhoods and social behavior to be distributed to anyone buying property in Brockton. The more we all know, the more we are all accountable for changing our city physically and socially into a better community.

If you've had the fortune of reading Brockton's "Comprehensive Policy Plan" one would realize that it is dated 1998. That is, the city is working off a plan almost 10 years old. The policies within the plan for the most part read exceptionally well and many should be included in the new master plan. The problem is not that our master plan is 10 years old but rather the only implementation is a catch phrase "we will continue to work with people...". A master plan without specific implementations is doomed to fail from the beginning.

Cities which have thriving downtowns and overall growth usually incorporate specific implementations into their master plans. This style of planning creates a timetable for action and accountability for execution of the plan, from maintaining green space to replacing old water and sewage pipes when a street is to be newly paved. Once implementation is specific and clear to all government and private parties involved, the "Master Plan" becomes the blueprint we can rely on.

The City presently looks to update our master plan by reaching out to urban planning experts from around the state and also from individuals with or without any urban planning knowledge. We must create a zoning plan that will attract small business and investment in capital improvements of the downtown areas's aesthetics while encouraging entrepreneurs and increasing our economic value. At the same time, if we plan for urban pedestrian areas we will then start to attract the young successful families looking for city life just outside of Boston which will increase the visibility of the downtown as a place for commercial, social and economic gain.

City Council has approved the "Downtown Brockton Smart Growth District" zoning, derived from the Massachusetts General Law Ch.40R. This can be a useful policy to attract young urbanites looking for the city life in a suburban setting close enough for a commute to Boston or Providence providing that is the goal. If we carefully examine successful inner city planning Brockton will benefit from this zoning change, but if the goal is simply to collect payment from the state for building more affordable housing, than this could lead to a tremendous amount of increased poverty for a period of 30 years and longer. We must all look at this plan very carefully.

Brockton’s greatest asset could be the downtown area but today it is one of our worst examples of neglect and mismanaged thinking, zoning and planning. It doesn’t take much to understand that downtown was once a thriving mini city after viewing some of the late Stanley Bauman photographs or talking with those citizens who remember those glory days.

Though the days of trolleys, theatre goers, bustling shoppers, and crowded restaurants is over, it is not too late to rethink and re-plan a downtown comparable to any of our thriving cities across America. Within the urban planning field it is well known that cities are graded on their downtowns. Our knowledge of the once vibrant downtown is vastly moving from memory to history, lost with those whom never experienced the years of its greatness.

The list of necessary items is long but attainable, provided we accept a new attitude and a new mindset... that a thriving downtown is necessary for Brockton’s rebirth.  We should use our resources in directly investing in new entrepreneurs, increasing open space and borrowing from other cities' designs which encompass mix-used spaces that have proven to work. 

I for one would like to explore the idea of transforming the “star market” zone into a world class botanical garden – city square, which would undoubtedly increase the residential and commercial value of property in the area and spark a major rebirth movement where public activities could thrive, from farmers markets to artisan events.

Any rational person knows a safe community has and maintains a professional and current police force. There is no one solution to crime and violence. Every city policy and action has and will continue to directly affect the issue of safety. We must continue to request Federal and State assistance while searching throughout the law enforcement sector for techniques that are proven to work, all while working under our present budgetary constraints.

We must begin today to plan for an up to date Police Headquarters with state of the art technologies so that we have the advantage over new crime. We must continue to search out new ways of fighting crime; from video surveillance, to cops walking the beat, bicycle patrols and undercover patrols, from neighborhood crime groups to improved communications, from increasing police presence to rapid response times.

The city must continue to target high crime areas and take a "no excuses" approach to anyone breaking the law, no matter how small that infraction may be. We must put an end to the lawlessness of "we can do whatever want in Brockton" by enforcing city ordinances and taking actions against anyone found breaking the public trust. Together we can fight crime by changing socially how we expect a city to behave.

Brockton has one of the state's largest municipal budgets. For far too long we have been told that Brockton has no money, with a $304 million dollar budget we have a third of a billion dollars of resources to accomplish the task at hand. In any massive budget there are pockets of un-checked and sometimes, needless wastes or under utilized funds. We must continue to go through the budget line by line with a thorough cognizance of an efficient government.

This fiscal year our political leadership chose to simply plug the $3 million dollar deficit with stabilization funds. Yes, one could say this action balanced our budget and the methodology at reaching this goal would tell us this is honest, but this is not the truth. Because we did not find a positive influx of funds to alleviate this shortfall needed and with these same monetary obligations still existing within next years budget, we will start in the red with a $3 million dollar deficit on top of the already growing city obligations. This $3 million dollar deficit was not solved, it was carelessly passed onto next year’s budget so that the complacency of our leadership in solving these problems could be hidden and our budgetary problems compounded into an ever-greater deficit next year.

I believe that it is in best interest of the city not to push these deficits onto future years, which have already been proven to have negative results and fully deal with them today. If we continue with this pattern of pushing our fiscal problems onto tomorrow our whole city will suffer the consequences in economic development and social growth and our youth will learn that shortfalls don’t have to be solved until future generations.

Since the beginning of this project I have been unequivocally against allowing the construction of a Natural Gas Fired Power Plant. The negatives outweighthe positives and the technology of today enables us to create energy in new environmentally safe ways. The fact is - we are at a point in history which marks the beginning of the end of the fossil fuel era; although we will for decades maintain our temptation to use fossil fuels in conjunction with the human luxuries devised under old technologies. We have the ability now with 21st century technology to create energy without the harmful effects of yesterdays means so that tomorrow will be truly cleaner than today.

The Proponents will tell us that this plant will be "clean" energy, but contrary to their well devised public relations blitz, popular knowledge understands that all fossil fuels emit pollutants when burned. This fact is well document by scientists on either side of the issue and our own Federal government released reports dating back to the 1960's stating this well known fact. Today we now know that the Sun sends enough solar energy each day to fulfill our planets energy needs for 8 years. From window power to bio-mass, and go-thermal extraction to solar and water power, technology today has advanced enough to finally begin the switch to renewable energy.

The proponents talk about the need for energy, that shortages will follow in the future, and yes this could be true provided we do not take a progressive stance on conservation. Right now there is a bill in congress that if it becomes law, our country will be required to switch over to compact fluorescent light bulbs enabling the country to shut down an estimated 80 coal fired power plants. It is this balance between the quest for new energy sources and the shutting down of old polluting sources that we must strive for.

Brockton built New England's largest solar array field on a brownfield site just a few years ago. With this step as a community have already made the choice to champion our energy needs with green energy. It is time for Brockton to seriously consider our role in leading Massachusetts into the next technology of energy creation and not take giant steps backwards. This is exactly why I and all of us should be against building power plants with yesterdays technology.

As I stated earlier Brockton has already made a choice to invest in the future with our solar array field. Now is the time, while fossil fuel prices are volatile and while the supply lines are dependant on foreign lands, for Brockton to move forward in minimizing our dependency on diminishing oil and gas supplies. It is fact, fossil fuels are finite, they are depleting and the problem will grow large as our population and energy needs grow.

By minimizing government spending on fossil fuels and by implementing renewable energy sources such as solar arrays on under utilized roof tops of our municipal and school buildings, Brockton wins on all accounts. Even placing a well planned green space on the tops of our flat roofed schools can save our city 10% to 15% on those specific heating and cooling bills, and there are organizations that can and will help us. The renewable energy industry is one of the fastest growing economic sectors in the country. With a clear plan towards a green philosophy, Brockton could increase its economy while increasing private sector employment.

As a member of the International Cinematographers Guild since 1995, I have first hand knowledge of the values and concerns union workers face. There is no question the number one concern today is health insurance and pension plans. One of the founding principles to any organized work force is to ensure a quality of life for its members through obtaining a livable wage that is representative of the work performed, and to provide retirement funds as well as access to decent health care.

For far too long I have heard from many within the city that things can’t be done because of “the unions" – this belief is simply not true, a myth that works well under a complacent political leadership. There is a balance and often a compromise on both sides of any industry in which employers and employees benefit from one another.

Union values are based on highly skilled professional workers who strive to excel in the execution of the job at hand. For it is the employer that provides the foundation of the work and the employee who performs the work while both parties together form the direction.

Union labor does not and never has swayed away from new techniques or new technologies while collectively bargaining new agreements as the underlying work transforms. Creating new jobs and transforming old ones to fit the needs of a changing progressive city should be the formula while Brockton seeks out progressive solutions to its problems, and unions can and will help us.

It is time for people to break the myth that unions hold us back, for it is these same individuals that Brockton must work with and listen to on creating a new plan for our city’s modern rebirth – we must work together under the philosophy of “profit with principle”.

From the days of the Little Red School House to one of the nations largest High Schools, Brockton's history is forged under the knowledge of an impeccable education system. I for one have had first hand experience having attended public schools in the city for 12 years. As a young lad on the quest for knowledge Brockton excelled in providing more than adequate facilities and educators that forged the foundation of knowledge in my own value system. In any large established organization, such as the Brockton School system there are always means for improvement.

Today we are building new schools to provide for an ever growing population while today we continue to receive accolades for the education we provide with our aging facilities. We must always continue to search for the best educators and maintain championship schools. I do believe it is time to re-evaluate our school system and find ways to redirect funds directly into the classroom and into rebuilding many of our school grounds which are in a state of disrepair. We can ask student after student, a well kept school is a better learning school.

Brockton's school system is a city onto itself and the School Committee should maintain a close relationship with the City Council if we are to move forward with progressive education. The time has come to evaluate our promotion system as well as our bureaucratic policies surrounding our school system. The final question we must ask ourselves is; with students year after year attending many of our nations top colleges and universities, does Brockton have what it takes to provide for these past students to thrive in tomorrows society.

Brockton has one of the largest Housing Authorities per capita in the east coast which is tantamount to a collection of poverty. We need to ask ourselves why; while other communities have increased there overall economic value by increased quality housing, Brockton continues to build anything anywhere. We must encourage sound liveable housing construction that adds to our aesthetics of our already established neighborhoods by focusing on building smart with green construction trends such as energy star rated materials to landscapes that show a sign of care. This will lead to the attraction of individuals with larger incomes adding to our economic pool and social values.

Brockton should favor architectural construction and not only contractor construction if we are to add to our real estate value. If we today put a conscious effort into promoting building green in our new housing market we will begin to attract young urbanites from Boston looking for that suburban bedroom city. And we should implement a plan for incentives and promotion of purchasing Brockton's "fixer-uppers" so that our aging real estate value will maintain market value. If we begin to increase the quality and value of our housing, we then can translate that into maintaining low if not lower property taxes.

Many communities that maintain and add to their livability and aesthetics have architectural review boards. This is one avenue Brockton should under take so that bad planning and careless construction will not continue to plague the city with lower grade housing construction to putting raised ranches sideways on inappropriately sized lots. Brockton's rich architectural history can be seen throughout the city which at one time increased our city's quality of life. The time is upon us to return to the era of quality housing by raising the standards of construction and following our residential zoning requirements for minimum size lots.

Brockton’s demographics have changed tremendously in the last 20 years. Since the beginning of the baby boom era Brockton has moved slowly and in most recent years rapidly into a diverse city with people from all cultures and races. We see first hand with our every day experiences the city’s increase of foreign-born individuals.

As an American with Descendants who immigrated from places like Poland, Ireland, England, and Sweden to the unfamiliar land of America I have sympathy for those immigrants today who are trying to make a better life for themselves in Brockton.

I believe there is a trend with immigrants today, not all but many whom hide within a cultural isolation within their newfound country. We must encourage American assimilation while adding to America a new cultural understanding. Though America does not have a true national language, it is appropriate to follow our founding father’s words while growing our own national knowledge of the benefits of being multilingual.

The more we accept and understand our new immigrants as Americans into our culture through the well established legal means the faster they will become citizens of America while contributing to our countries vast and rich diversity. If the goal is to be an American than no one should shy away from being an American.

“The young do not know enough to be prudent, and therefore, they attempt the impossible – and achieve it, generation after generation.” - Pearl Buck

This saying is truly timeless. If we were to look deep enough we would find within every generation groups of youth that have impacted directly and indirectly society at every level from national to local values. Quality leaders know the importance of the inclusion of today’s youth, for these young citizens are our leaders of tomorrow.

We must include if not infuse young people into all the processes that which make up our community and continue to offer at championship levels sports and extra curricular activities that fill youths lives today. If we are to expect nothing short of excellence from this colossal group of young individuals then it is up to us, the leaders of today to provide the necessary items that such a group needs to survive and the only way of knowing what this is might be is by listening to our youth.

As I have stated before, every action and policy affects all aspects of Brockton life, this is true for our Elderly population. We must remember at all times that we too will some day live to be the elders of our community and our actions towards the elderly today will directly educate the young of today on how to treat us, the elderly of tomorrow.

We must continue to increase the overall safety for our elders while increasing the bridge of understanding between the young and the old. The young today benefit from the experiences and knowledge of yesterday’s youth, that is the elders of today.

When Daniel Waldo Field bequeathed the land, which encompasses Brockton’s National Historic Park, he envisioned a Park of great natural pleasures cared for by its citizens in a timeless way. If anyone hasn't read his biography I urge you to lend a copy from the library. Field himself helped in the design and stocking of the parks original wildlife.

Today, DW Field Park looks and feels more like a lightly groomed track of woods than what many urbanites would consider a suburban city park. When compared to other National Historic Parks our 740 acres falls far below the average par with regards to facilities, wildlife, botanicals and any true concise growth plan.

It is time for us to formalize a plan to revitalize our park system with the creation of a lasting and coherent program. First I believe we should move the park facilities back into the park, building a state of the art environmentally friendly green building that can house operational personnel, educational facilities, as well as self sustaining green space that can be used to seed the rest of the park and possibly all of the green space in the city, just like the Boston Nature Preserve. If you have never visited the Nature Preserve in Boston, I urge you to make a day trip, it is self explanatory. Presently the park department is located on meadow lane, far removed from any park itself, a sign alone for reform.

Building a new infrastructure for our Park is a hefty goal, private and public funds are available and are numerous for the right idea, we need to be relentless in finding these funds. Once we have set our goal for a new infrastructure we then can begin to plan a new park, one with a fully beautified appearance and activities never before seen at the park, nature walks, canoes and rowboats, mountain bike trails, the ideas are endless. Another avenue of rebuilding the park is to foster relationships with universities in the area in which the park could be used as the backdrop to their classrooms.

The time has come to fully rethink how to tackle a beautification of D.W. Field Park, with the first thing on the agenda being a rebuild of the median strip on Oak Street between porter ponds, the energy and design put into those planters should be rewarded with an excellence of physical appearance and not a row of signs padding ourselves on the back.

Driving through Brockton one quickly becomes aware, first hand of the dilapidated condition of our paved roadways. This is no insignificant matter, for if our citizenry begins to request property tax abatements due to the lack of quality roadways, our city could hit a total financial bottom.

We should ask ourselves why did our leadership allow for funds to be spent on an outside engineering firm to provide us with a comprehensive assessment of our street when in fact we have the experienced engineers already on payroll, and why was this report not made readily available to the public. In my opinion a miss management of city funds that could have gone to funding paving the streets.

As the cost of oil continues to skyrocket, repaving our streets has become and will continue to become a financial burden on our city, although a must do in order to increase our quality of life an appeal of Brockton as a city.

Today there are many new technologies and advances in materials devised to last longer and lessen the environmental impact of the surrounding environment. We should search out these new advances and acquire the knowledge to us them.

We have all seen the newly paved street within short period of time being torn up to dome kind or another groundwork. This is a needless wasteful oversight. We must formalize an efficient and effective system in which all parties involved in roadway infrastructure can communicate together to create a plan for weeding out this style of road management so that we do not tear up our newly paved roads minutes after their face lift.

One of the most apparent disappointments in Brockton is the overall condition and general appearance of our community’s green space. All of Brockton’s public land and property desperately needs to be beautified: our parks, city commons, median strips, and store front landscapes must improve in regards to overall aesthetic appeal.

Yes, these elements within our community are cosmetic, and some would argue that this issue is not a priority for our citizens of Brockton. I beg to differ. Our city's green space and storefronts represent the face of Brockton. This is our first impression we have as a city and community to the rest of the commonwealth and the world.

The present day condition of Brockton’s green space is reflective of the lack of integrity that this city embodies. It is a tangible consequence to the underlying complacency towards the quality of life within this city. Median strips might be small plots of grass in the middle of the streets; but the care and concern that is applied to the maintenance and upkeep of this land represents the ideologies and philosophies that, we the citizens of Brockton, embrace and apply to our own lives as well as our community.

This is why I believe that this issue is a priority to the success of Brockton. As a community we have to embrace a different attitude and general consciousness that will allow us to recognize and understand the importance of the beautification of Brockton.

We need to strive for excellence as individuals and as a community. If we can beautify our streets, we can take that same philosophy and apply it to all aspects of Brockton city living.

If we take this common goal and make the streets of Brockton beautiful and safe, make the expectations we have for our public schools higher and start becoming a city and a community in which people want to live because of our conscious efforts, all of Brockton will win and we will be the greenest, healthiest city in the state.

As an essential part of any community’s thriving neighborhoods, playgrounds are not only for children to learn, socialize and play but a place for all ages to relax and enjoy physical activity.

Today however, many of Brockton’s 30 plus playgrounds are in very severe and rapid decay. From over grown tennis courts to cracked basketball courts, to broken glass fields and rusted covered fences to benches and jungle gyms that simply don’t exist or barely exist. Brockton’s appearance as a playground friendly city is few and far between.

This summer I had the opportunity to help assemble the new jungle gym play area at the Ash Street playground. A wonderful gift to the city and yet, the plastic barrier around the play area could not be completed due to the lack of planning ahead in which one might have thought to drill holes for the metal stakes. To date the barrier is still unfinished causing wood chips to spill onto the walkway, maybe an oversight, but the poison-ivy which surrounded the area, represented the total complacency this city has on getting the job done.

Playgrounds are not city extras they are city assets, when properly designed and maintained add to our quality of life, property values, and are directly representative of our community values. We must rebuild our playgrounds and not just a coat of paint but with lasting efforts.