In order to promote civic engagement of Chinese Americans, CALex (Chinese Americans of Lexington) held a Candidates Forum at the Lexington Community Center on Saturday, February 2nd, 2019. Six candidates were invited to the forum. During the 2-hour forum, all the candidates introduced themselves to the Chinese American voters, elaborated their reasons to be elected and answered questions from the Chinese American community. At the end of the forum, CALex encouraged the fellow Chinese American voters to actively participate the election and hence get their voices heard on several controversial topics in the town of Lexington.
The annual local election will be held on Monday, March 4th. Each major committee of the town of Lexington will have some members to be re-elected. These committees play a critical role in the future development of Lexington. For the Board of Selectmen, Suzie Barry (current chair) and Joe Pato (current selectman) are campaigning for the two three-year positions and two other candidates are running for a single one-year position. Similarly, for the town planning committee (which is in charge of the planning and design of the town), two candidates are trying to win the single open position.
During the candidates forum, pre-collected questions were answered by each candidate. Some highlighted questions are:
- How to manage financial expenditures and property taxes to ensure appropriate and sustainable development of Lexington;
- Whether we should support or oppose the establishment of marijuana dispensary;
- Opinions and suggestions on zoning bylaws.
This CALex-hosted Candidates Forum facilitates a face-to-face communication between the candidates and the Chinese American voters. It should boost mutual understanding so that Chinese American citizens will not only be more likely to cast a vote but also vote with higher confidence in the upcoming election.
As a reminder, for those Chinese American citizens who have not yet registered, if you want to participate in the local vote on March 4th, you must complete the voter registration by 8pm on Tuesday, February 12th, either via online registration at https://www.sec.state.ma.us/OVR/, go to Town Clerk’s Office or send an email. For voters who are unable to vote on March 4th, the last date to submit an absentee ballot application is March 1st.
Here is the video recording from the event along with Q&A timeline.
Q&A Timeline:
CALex introduction.
5:00
Meeting format introduction.
5:55
Question 1. Could you introduce yourself and tell us why you are running for this position?
20:55
Question 2. What is your opinion on town budget, spending, tax and long-term sustainability? For example, what are your thoughts on Lexington High School potential rebuild?
33:30
Question 3. What is your opinion on zoning, special permit and dense residential building? how does that fit in the big picture (school crowding etc.)? Also, how should Board of Selectman and Planning Board work together to ensure healthy development of Lexington for the long term? Could you use “0 Grove St project” as an example?
52:26
Question 4. Do you support or against Marijuana dispensary and why? For Selectman candidates, in your opinion, what would be the impact on our town, and for Planning board candidates, what are your thoughts on the impact on zoning?
1:00:25
Question 5. In light of DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) in our school system, what do you hope residents, especially Chinese American community can help/contribute to/or make big impact in your area. Could you give some examples of specific measurements?
1:13:16
Question 6. Close and summarize/reiterate the top 1 or 2 things on your to-do list in your term (3 or 1yr) should you get elected. Feel free to comment on longer term goal if you like.
1:24:00
Introducing Eileen Jay, TMMs and TMM candidates.
1:27:55
Floor questions.