1. Education: reverse the slide in student performance

   1. Complete the transition to inhouse school busing to restore our basic ability to get kids to school on time and prevent the rising education damage from late buses and the expensive remediation this causes.

   2. Expand pre-K to handle all 4-year-olds in the city to cut the very expensive cost of downstream educational remediation. This expansion would use space at the old Marian High School and/or the Farley school to provide classrooms.

   3. Boost compensation for classroom aides in the school system by 20% to solve the current critical staff shortage, cut the use of more expensive outside contractors, and help boost student performance by strengthening classroom support.

   4. Fund these improvements by returning taxpayer funded support of the Framingham Public Schools (FPS) budget back to the sound level it was at before the Mayor took office and made all his cuts. That means restoring support to the FY22 level adjusted for inflation as shown in the green curve in the chart on the right.

   5. Expand Keefe Tech by adding more space to handle the 300 kids currently on its waiting list, boosting job opportunities for kids with a High School education and solving the capacity problem at Framingham High School in the least expensive way.

   6. Expand the Thayer program in the high school, which serves students who have had difficulty succeeding in a traditional academic program, by moving its campus from the small building on Lawrence St to Farley or the former Marian High School. This move would also help relieve overcrowding at the High School.

   7. Get parents into the educational loop so they know better how their kids are doing.

2. Infrastructure

   1. Attend to maintenance for roofs, roads, water & sewer in a timely manner, so we don't build a backlog as we have right now, which stands at more than $400 million.

   2. Fill the many vacancies in the Department of Public Works, so we use inhouse crews to do roads and water & sewer repairs, rather than expensive outside contractors.

   3. Lower the cost of water to residents by paying for water & sewer system large capital projects from the tax levy, which is tax deductible, rather than from fees, which are not tax deductible.

3. Environment

   1. Rapidly expand solar installations on school roofs and in school parking lots, reaping more than $3 million/year in utility savings​.

   2. Ramp up curbside composting to cut the trash stream by 40%, saving $700,000/year.

   3. Focus on better tree management across the city, to preserve trees, and expand tree canopy, especially on the southside, to reduce summer temperatures there by 10 degrees and eliminate heat islands

   4. Adopt the Opt-In Specialized Building Code which requires newly constructed buildings to not use fossil fuels, or use fossil fuel systems but be pre-wired for hookups of heat pumps and electric appliances and install solar panels where the solar aspect is suitable.

4. Zoning, Residential Development & Neighborhoods

   1. Adopt an MBTA Communities Act compliance plan following the Wayland model, to reduce the financial impact on the city by a factor of 2 compared to the current approach, by getting credit for prior development.

   2. Push for an initial maximum building height of 3 stories in the Central Business District (CBD) to lower the impact of new development on the schools, water & sewer infrastructure, road condition and traffic congestion, and to ensure that more large Modera-style apartment buildings don't invade the CBD.

   3. Adjust that CBD plan to possibly increase building maximum height in some very specific appropriate higher density areas. 

   4. Push development of a plan which integrates downtown with the Farm Pond area.

   5. Make open space management a key factor in all decision making.

   6. Protect neighborhoods from over-development.

   7. Encourage more formal development of neighborhood groups, such as those already in Nobscot, Saxonville and Coburnville-Tripoli to better protect neighborhoods and give more  useful organized community feedback to government.

   8. Expand the Planning Board to include at least one architect.

5. Economic Development​

   1. Expand the Framingham Economic Development Corporation members to include the Mayor and the Chair of the City Council.​

   2. Ensure that the EDC has the right resources to function properly.

   3. Help create an update economic development plan for Framingham.

6. Planning & Financial Management: bring best practices to bear

   1. Update the city strategic plan every 6 months to ensure it is a useful guide to progress.

   2. Bring in the state Division of Local Services to do a top to bottom financial review of the city's operations.

   3. Reform the entire cityside budget process to align with best practices as exemplified by the school district budget process. That includes monthly reporting to the City Council on budget spending including end of year projections, to ensure that spending is on track and any emerging problems are rapidly identified and handled.

   4. Provide quarterly reporting to the City Council on the state of city infrastructure and progress towards annual goals.

   5. Ensure that property taxes keep pace with typical inflation, so we don't erode the workforce and services.

   6. Push for more rapid development of the Saxonville Mills Building as an arts/commerce/recreation center.

   7. Push as hard as possible to change the management of the Metrowest Medical Center from the Tenet group, which seems committed to running this facility into the ground.

7. Senior Services​

   1. Increase support for senior services to keep pace with the growth of the senior population.

   2. Change the reporting structure for Senior Services so it is no longer under Parks, Recreation & Cultural Affairs, but is a direct report to the Mayor.​

   3. Conduct a major review of Senior Services, focusing on health, housing and transportation, with the objective of improving and expanding services.

   4. Implement the recommendations of that review.

8. Community Center

   1. Greatly improvement the planning and management effort:​​​​​

      • Reduce the unwieldy size of the advisory committee from 25 to less than 10.​

      • Investigate community centers in surrounding municipalities to gather information on what makes them work well.

      • Improve the survey by expanding the free form input section.

      • Explore if the pond access of the building could allow development of summer swimming and a beach.

      • Produce a set of requirements from that effort including the results of the survey.

   2. Use part of the building to expand pre-K capacity for the school district to finally include all 4-year-olds in Framingham

   3. ​Finalize the planning options based on all of the above efforts, complete with costs for each option.

   4. With community support, bond the remaining development required. A small debt exclusion could be feasible here. 

9. Communications​

   1. Improve communications to all groups, including:​

      1. City Council​

      2. School Committee

      3. Boards & Committees

      4. Departments

      5. Community

      6. Business sector

   2. Special attention has to be paid to the impoverished flow of information to the City Council which has been left in the invidious position of being kept in the dark on important matters, or excluded from considerations they should be involved in. Basic reporting on the state of education, infrastructure, environment, workforce and more has never been done at a level which would allow the City Council to function properly.​

   3. A major focus, central to good communications, is the role of truth in driving discussions of issues central to the improvement of Framingham. There has been way too much hiding of the real state of affairs, to avoid the uncomfortable but necessary debate which is critical to the development of a healthy municipal culture which encourages city staff and the community to speak out on what needs to be fixed and how that can be done.

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