Smith, Pillsbury Unveil Their Plans To Improve Town of Framingham

Selectman Jason Smith and Town Meeting member James (Jim) Pillsbury are the two names on the ballot for a 3-year term on the Framingham Board of Selectmen. Smith is seeking his fourth term as a Selectman.

The town election is Tuesday, April 7.

Framingham Patch asked the two candidates a series of questions. The answers to each question will be published this week, as the candidates submitted them, this week from Monday through Friday.

Monday’s question: What are 3 biggest issues facing the Town of Framingham? What can you do as a Selectmen to fix the problems? Click here to read the candidates’ answers.

Tuesday’s question: What can you do as a Selectman to economically revitalize neighborhoods in Framingham (ie Nobscot, downtown, Saxonville, etc)? Click here to read the answers.

Wednesday’s question: Do you support selling the Memorial Building for a possible Mass Bay College campus? Why or Why not? Click here to read the answers.

Thursday’s question: Both the Town and the Schools are facing infrastructure issues over the next decade. Talk about your vision for Framingham and how the municipal and school sides can work collaboratively. Click here to read the answers.

Today’s question focuses on what each candidate could do over the next 3 years to make Framingham better.

Framingham Patch asked the candidates: What do you love about Framingham? What can you do as a Selectman to improve the town over the next 3 years?

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Pillsbury: ”I love my neighbors even though some have come and gone. All who live on my block are great neighbors as we all have respect for one another and live and let live.

First, everything I could possibly spend money on is in Framingham, from fine dining to Friendlys, my granddaughter’s favorite restaurant; to building supplies; to health care to every type of grocery store, including organic, I’m within 5 miles of everything.

Second, I love the fact that I can see a great band or kids play at Amazing Things downtown and be home in 10 minutes.

Third is the location, even with all the major detours and road work that have engulfed my commute, my part of Town moves well. I love the fact that we finally have some diversity at Town Meeting, after all, this Town is a melting pot of many different ethnic backgrounds and it makes me glad to see everyone that lives here has the opportunity to be represented at Town Meeting.

As a Selectman I would promote the use of Bowditch, The Common and Garden in The Woods as much as possible. The Bowditch complex is terribly underutilized and has never been as family friendly as the old field complex was.

I would bring back the Flag Day parade and make Memorial Day more of a town holiday where more people engage in the reason for the holiday.

I would bring back the stage on the Common, promote more family days at Cushing Park, and work with the ethnic groups to stage events downtown.

I would bring back Green Up Day, as it was years ago and have DPW more involved with pick up.

I would also use the large electronic traffic signs to let people know when to vote.

I would work with the Church leaders and non-profits like Tri County United Way to address the homeless population and find ways to help feed the hungry.

I would also look for Town owned land that could be turned into neighborhood vegetable gardens for families to supplement their food budgets”

Smith: ”Framingham is a great community, but it has the ability to do so much more. We need to continue our focus on improving our schools, stabilizing our finances and creating economic opportunity throughout our community. While I am proud to serve as one of your Selectmen, I cannot do it alone and need the continued input and assistance of residents.

Over the past few years, we have responsibly balanced our budget, invested in long range planning and saved for a rainy day. We have limited tax increases to approximately one percent per year for the average residential taxpayer for the past three years. We have reduced our health insurance costs by 17 million dollars over the next five years. And we now project our budget and revenue forecast five years ahead. All of this while providing additional funds for our schools and repairs for our roads. The Board continues to advocate and work with our State Legislators for Framingham’s fair share of funding for our schools (Chapter 70) and road and bridge repairs (Chapter 90).

We have also made progress in growing our commercial tax base. We supported significant expansions and relocations for TJX, Jack’s Abby Brewing, Danforth Green, Genzyme, and others that have created more local jobs, increased local tax revenue for vital municipal services and improved our community. We have made our town more business friendly by expediting permitting, providing targeted tax incentives and responding to their concerns.

Our town employees here in Framingham are amazing, caring and thoughtful individuals. They work hard to keep Framingham a great place to live, learn, work and play. Our schools and our teachers are some of the best in the country and state.

The Framingham community always gives back, even when times are tough. I love that about our Town.

I have served on numerous boards and I continue to coach in numerous youth organizations here in Framingham, a place I am proud to call my home. I have volunteered for a number of different organizations and I have never seen so many caring and thoughtful people than I have here in Framingham.

The Callahan Sr. Center provides great services for our senior citizens as they have been instrumental in making Framingham the great community it is today while our children are the bright futures of tomorrow.

If re-elected, I will continue my work in these and others areas in an effort to make our
community a better place in which to live, learn, work and play.

I ask for your vote on Tuesday, April 7th as it would be my honor to continue to serve on the Framingham Board of Selectman.”