1. In one paragraph please give a brief biography.
http://eric.buddington.net/council.shtml
I grew up in Glastonbury, CT, and went to Wesleyan University, where I got a B.A. in Earth Science. After spending a year doing research with the U.S. Geological Survey on the forests of central Massachusetts, I moved to North Adams in 1997. In the time I have lived here, I have worked as a computer programmer and as a musician. I bought a house in the High St neighborhood about four years ago.
2. What is your vision for a reinvigorated North Adams 10 years down the road?
My vision for North Adams in ten years is a sociable downtown filled with locally-owned businesses, a significant central park, and limited car traffic on Main St, to make the area friendly to pedestrians. I expect to see local art and live music overflow the galleries and coffeeshops and have a greater place in the look and sound of downtown.
We will have benches on Main St.
I expect North Adams to find better security through long-term planning, which will ensure wise use and protection of land and water and streamline commercial and residential development as well.
Fuel prices will continue to rise, and we will respond by improving mass transit and expanding our green businesses to generate more solar electricity and heat, while employing local businesses to increase our energy efficiency.
The City will computerize its recordkeeping, which will keep taxes low while increasing the number of citizens who are informed and involved in local government.
3. What is the roll of the city council in North Adams government and how should a city councilor’s vision of North Adams come into play in the course of governing North Adams?
The City Council must create the large-scale and long-term goals for the city. We need to keep a set of local laws that are as simple as possible, governing the essential aspects of property owners and residents, without getting in the way of daily life. Day-to-day decisions need to be left to the Mayor and our various boards and commissions.
To that end, the Council should end its practice of hearing individual taxi license applications; this is an administrative detail best left to the executive branch. On the other hand, the Council should be far more involved in the budget process. It should also establish clearer laws regarding the establishment and running of businesses, as our current regulation tends to be far too personal (as indicated by the fiasco of Chris Tremblay's sign from several years ago).
The vision of individual Councilors should show itself in the measures they propose, as well as by the discussion and votes of the Council. Some candidates for council have advocated acting outside of their role as Councilors; this is good as long as it does not become an attempt to turn the Council itself into an executive branch of government.
4. Give concrete examples of how you would tackle three or more of the following issues.
Poverty In North Adams
The way to combat poverty in the long term is to provide everyone, especially children, with security and a good education, and to provide adults with useful business training. We need to increase our efforts towards strengthening community to provide this security, and the Council can do this by ensuring that every neighborhood is near a park, community garden, and other social space. MCLA is already an excellent school that provides workforce training as well as an undergraduate education, and the council can form a stronger union between MCLA and local businesses.
Housing in North Adams
We have many conflicts between tenants and landlords in North Adams, and tenant-landlord problems are often difficult to resolve in the courts within a reasonable time frame. The city needs to clarify the rights and responsibilities of tenants, as well as landlords, and make sure that violations face immediate, but not severe, consequences.
Engaging the people, skills, and talents, of North Adams toward a better North Adams
North Adams has a vast reserve of underused energy, and a more accessible City Hall will make it available. The Council itself should:
1) Repeal the "Cardimino rule", which limits citizen input at Council meetings.
2) Make the council agenda public on the City's website as soon as it is available.
3) Post useful minutes (and audio/video recordings, when available) to the website for all council and committee meetings.
h. Engaging with and utilizing the neighbors and the region surrounding North Adams
North Adams should cooperate with other towns in the northern Berkshires for the disposal of hazardous household waste (batteries, electronics, lead, mercury, etc). Our current, occasional efforts are ineffective, which puts our soil and water at serious risk of contamination from improper dumping.
The City faces serious challanges managing its information; it is currently unable to provide meaningful access to any electronic records. However, other towns in the area are managing the same kinds of information - ordinances, financial data, property records. We should collaborate with our neighbors to share ideas and technologies.
