Years lived in Maine:    20
Please feel free to attach additional sheets when necessary.
1. What experience, motivation, and leadership style will make you effective on the city council?    Serving six years on the Portland School Committee and two years as an AmeriCorps Vista volunteer has provided me with the experience in community and public service to be an effective trustee of the Portland Water District.  I am motivated by interactions with other involved and active citizens, and was often complimented as a school committee member for being one of the few who always returned calls and e-mails.  My leadership style is to evaluate information I receive, ask questions when I am uncertain, and collaborate with my peers to devise solutions to known problems.  As much as 2007 was a difficult year for the Portland School Committee, I am proud of the role I played as its Finance Chair in uncovering financial discrepancies, bringing them to the public light, and recommending personnel and policy changes to get Portland Schools back to solvency.  My leadership style is to not necessarily rubber stamp proposals or accept information without question, but to ask hard questions to receive hard answers, even if they are answers you don't want to hear, to be transparent with the public about its business, and to work collectively to developing solutions, priorities and strategic plans.

2. If elected what would be your top three priorities?  How do they affect young people?     My top three priorities generally would be to deliver on the Water District's promises to a.) deliver clean, quality water, b.) protect the environment, and c.) keep rates affordable.  There are some specific areas that I think merit looking into pertaining to these goals.  I would take a second look at fluoridated water and the increasing amount of newer scientific evidence raising questions about whether fluoride is harmful or beneficial to human health.  Since younger people will drink fluoridated water for longer overall time in their lifetimes than older people who drank non-fluoridated water until several years ago when Portland passed a referendum, this issue has a direct impact on the future health of young people.  I would like to support and assist the City of Portland in replacing its outdated water pipe infrastructure  to protect the environment and eliminate sewage overrun during heavy rain, and to improve the livelihood of countless people who suffer from excessive leaking in their basements.  There are also mixed priorities in the District's management of Sebago Lake.  People can't get ankle deep in the water to launch a kayak even though  bacteria from human contact can be easily filtered, while at the same time motor boats drive around leaking gasoline with MTBE into the water, with MTBE being a difficult substance to filter.  We should not cater to the tourism industry in contradiction to what makes scientific sense about human health and water pollution.  I also think that keeping rates affordable is important to keeping overall rent costs affordable for low-income tenants, many of whom are young people.  I would also look into the use of alternative energy sources such as hydro-power, to keep the Water District's overall operating costs to a minimum.

3. Please talk about one positive and one frustrating change that you have seen in your city and your neighborhood over the last year.  In my neighborhood specifically (the Old Port), I think the City Council has made positive change in scrapping the archaic system of how liquor licenses used to be granted in the Old Port.  Portland is the one place where young people from all over the state of Maine move to, to give Maine one last chance.  If they find that Portland lacks, or doesn't support city nightlife and entertainment, then they end up moving out of the state.  Portland's support for the needs and lifestyles of young people directly determines whether Portland is escorting people out of the state of Maine, or retaining them.  It is Portland who plays the most important role in keeping young people in Maine.  In the same regards, I think the City  Council is chasing its own tail in trying to prohibit smoking in outdoor patios of bars and restaurants.  Doing so will lead to more congestion and impeding of foot traffic on public sidewalks and increased litter of cigarette butts that could be better contained and cleaned up by the establishments themselves.  The issue also seems to be a big distraction from more important matters.  These are some issues that impact my neighborhood. 

4. What other responsibilities do you have?

       Work:  Self-employed house painter and musician, with ability to be flexible with my schedule.

       Personal life:  Not married, no kids, live alone.  My personal responsibilities are to myself and my own happiness.  I have a lot of freedom and energy to contribute to public service, and lacking familial responsibilities I prefer to put my available time to productive use for my community.

5. Please evaluate the 2007 rate structure implemented by the Water District?  The water rates were increased for the first time in twelve years in 2007, by more than 3% to cover increased operating expenses.  In comparison to the rapidly increasing property taxes and energy costs, the rates still appear to be fairly reasonable and affordable.  In fact, they are among the lowest rates in the country.  In contrast, the sewage rates set by the City of Portland (not the Water District) are among the highest rates nationwide.  Most criticisms I hear from people are not specifically about the rates themselves, but what they are getting (or not getting) for their rates—leaky basements, sewage overrun, etc., etc, with most of the problems actually attributed to the city's management of sewage, not the water district's management of water delivery.

Residential:  The water rates are fairly low and are based on the actual costs associated with the delivery of clean water.

Commercial & Industrial:  Like the residential rates, they are assessed based on the actual costs of delivering the service, with the assumption that the rates are lowered as the quantity increases because the cost goes down when water is delivered in bulk.  There is still subsidization of commercial and industrial water rates that is on the books since the 1990's, resulting in lower rates that do not necessarily completely cover the costs associated with the service.  The Water District set rates in 2007 to help bridge the gap between residential and commercial customers, decrease the subsidization, and intends to continue narrowing that gap in the future--a direction I support.

6. What are your thoughts of PWD rate structures? Do you believe in a progressive or regressive rate structure?   They seem fairly reasonable right now, but increased costs in people's budgets elsewhere (taxes, energy, travel, etc.) still make the rates difficult for people to pay, especially lower income property owners.   The rates are however, as I mentioned in question 5, among the lowest nationwide.  I definitely support progressive rates over regressive rates.

7. What is your position around residential users subsidizing industrial and commercial users?  I think industrial and commercial users should bear the costs for their use of and impact upon public resources.  Residential subsidization of industry and commerce amounts to a form of corporate welfare, an unfortunate reality that continues to pervade our government.  I support the Water District's efforts to align the rates for both residential and commercial users to the actual costs incurred to deliver water to the customer, without subsidization for industry.

8. What do you think about the Water Trustees pushing the policy that would automatically make an individual who qualifies for the CMP low rate income qualifier also qualify for a low income water rate? Why?  This seems to make sense as the conditions and reasons for which one would qualify for and benefit from a low rate for electrical costs would seem to apply equally for water rates.  Electricity and water are both pretty much fundamental needs in modern life.

9. What is your philosophy around business and the threats around of them leaving Portland if water rate structures increase?   It's passive aggressive.  The truth is, moving a business can cost a huge amount of money and there's never a guarantee that where they move to isn't going have higher taxes one day also.  Corporations exist at the pleasure of the public, not the other way around.  They exist under the authority of and in service of, the public trust.  Corporations that bully governments don't earn my respect.  They can leave, others will replace them.  Too many politicians pander to corporate interests as a matter of course.  It takes a backbone to see through their threats, and I've found that usually the threats are empty passive-aggressive attempts to get their own way.  With among the lowest water rates in the U.S., these threats are obviously shallow and manipulative.  Go ahead—take your business to where the rates are two to five times higher!

10. One of the Water District’s stated goals is to make the organization more environmentally friendly? What steps would you take if elected to reach this goal?  Please review my answers to question number 2.  In summary, some steps I would take would be to re-evaluate fluoride use, upgrade water pipes, address motor boats on Sebago Lake, and look into hydro-power.

11. What is you stand in the Sebago Lake debate – do we increasing the % of the lake for recreation or do we increases the % protected as a water source? Why?  I think that the % of the lake used for recreation vs. water source is immaterial if the District's management of the protected water portion is not based on sound science.  100% of the lake could be a “protected water source” but how effective is that designation if boats with MTBE are still allowed to ride around the lake.  I would like to address how the District manages and regulates the protected areas, and how that would impact the appropriate % of the lake to maintain as a protected area.  I don't think that the needs of the tourism industry come before the health and water needs of the population of the greater Portland area.

12. What do you think about about the PWD selling access to private companies like Poland Spring?  Additionally, what are you thoughts about letting other water municipalities tap into Sebego.  I do not favor private companies profiteering off of a public resource.  I am not opposed to collaborating with other municipalities to meet their water needs as long as associated costs aren't shifted over to Portland residents.  People need water.  We should be open to working with other municipalities for the delivery of water to populations, as we currently do so with Standish.

13. What is your position on the Portland Water District contracting with an outside insurance company to offer services like the 2006 mailing around water line breaks?   No position at this time.  I would like more information about the arrangement before outlining a position.  Generally, I prefer to avoid contracting services out unless it is very clear that the service can't be provided as effectively or well in-house.

14. What steps would you take to reduce the discharge of wastewater into Casco Bay from our East End Sewer Plant?  This is primarily a city of Portland issue, as the city manages sewage waste and the Water District manages water.  However, the city of Portland does contract with the Water District to manage the East End Sewer Plant.  The District should continue to collaborate with Portland to invest in upgrading all facilities to meet a high environmental standard.