Lisa Gordon believes her personal background, active leadership in civic affairs in Newton, and professional experience demonstrate why she will serve Newton well as its next Ward 6 Councilor. (That seat, which is elected by the voters of Ward 6, is currently held by Brenda Noel, who is not running for reelection. The Preliminary Election will be on September 12.)
Ms. Gordon was raised in Newton, attended the Newton Public Schools, and returned to Newton to raise her family. In her 20s she led an anti-racism organization helping to fight racist murders and discrimination against the Bangladeshi community in East London. Like her, her two children are graduates of Newton South High School. She is an active member of the civic community in Newton, having co-founded Friends of Newton Centre, co-founded Signs of Gratitude, co-organized the Newton Eats event fighting food insecurity in Newton, served as a member of the Newton Centre Task Force, and overseen the acquisition and care of the Artful Piano on the Newton Centre Green. Currently, she is Executive Director of the Acton Food Pantry, serving 300+ families every week.
Ms. Gordon said she is pleased with many of the recent infrastructure improvements in Newton, such as the creation of bike lanes, making it easier for kids to bike to school, and better crosswalks, which improve pedestrian mobility and safety. At the same time, she believes that we have a lot more work to do to improve our streets and sidewalks, and this will be one of her priorities on the City Council.
Ms. Gordon strongly supports the environmental work the City is doing to address climate change and reduce reliance on fossil fuels. She stressed the importance of addressing the needs of our residents and businesses as we do this work, recognizing, for example, that cars play a necessary role for many Newtonians in their daily lives, especially for seniors and young families. Similarly, she says that since local merchants believe convenient parking is crucial to their viability, we must address their concerns so that residents do not drive to shopping centers and avoid local shops, thus increasing car usage, hurting independent local stores, and depressing the commercial tax base.
With respect to development, Ms. Gordon believes that we currently have a wonderful mix of locally-owned businesses in Ward 6. She supports vibrant village centers with thriving small businesses, public meeting areas, excellent lighting, and safe and connected walking paths with careful and thoughtfully planned mixed-use areas. She believes that it is important that the City maintains strong oversight over development so the City, and not developers, get the final say in what gets built. In regard to rezoning, she believes that it is important to set numerical goals – the number of housing units we are looking to build – and understand what infrastructure is needed to meet those goals, in order to properly evaluate the proposed zoning code.
Lisa Gordon seeks to continue using her experience and local knowledge to be an effective advocate for residents’ needs as their Ward 6 Councilor.
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