• Elect a Mayor who puts Framingham interests first, ahead of developers and outside interests who have poured $54,000 into Sistsky's re-election campaign. None of Geoff's donations have come from special interests, compared to 80% for Sisitsky.

• Elect a Mayor who brings new ideas, new energy and a new direction to Framingham governance.

• Reverse 4 years of declining student performance, caused by more than $18 million in Sisitsky cuts to local education funding. Late buses, weakened classroom support and stalled pre-K expansion hurt all students, and raise costs. In the last 2 years, 200 experienced teachers out of 800 have quit, and principal turnover has been high, with 8 principals out of 13 departing the schools.

  • THE SOLUTION is to return to the schools $18 million Sisitsky shifted from the schools to the city general fund, where it is sitting unused.

• Protect our neighborhoods from over development such as Sisitsky tried to force on Nobscot village and now threatens a Stearns Reservoir community.

• Reverse costly deterioration of city infrastructure. The repair backlogs are huge: water & sewer system - $200 million; roads - $100 million; roofs - $100 million. Skyrocketing water & sewer bills are caused by Sisitsky raising water & sewer rates to fund the work. His approach requires another giant increase in 2 years!

  • THE SOLUTION is to fund the work by using an approach Brookline used to solve their $200 million high school expansion problem: move the payoff date for the city pension liability from 2030 to 2040, freeing up $10 million/year for infrastructure work. This approach will save Framingham households on average about $350/year.

• Jump start the stalled environmental effort. No new solar projects have been started in 4 years, and Sisitsky passed up $2-3 million/year in utility savings.

  • THE SOLUTION is to go at full speed on solar installations before the federal incentives phase out at the end of 2027. We can do 10 new solar installations/year and reap most of that lost savings! ​

• Expand Senior Services, not cut them like Sisitsky did. 20,000 seniors deserve better, as the Callahan Center cannot thrive under Parks & Recreation direction.

  • THE SOLUTION is to carry out a long overdue review of senior services and at minimum create a new Senior Services department reporting directly to the Mayor.

• Jump start economic development in the city.

• Reform city budget management to lower costs.

• Manage all of these improvements with no new taxes

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Vote for Geoff, because he has practical, cost effective solutions

See the Issues page for more information on that.

 

Vote for Geoff, because his experience matches the task

See how Geoff's background puts him in a great position to bring those solutions to fruition. Go to About Geoff for the full story on that.

 

Vote for Geoff, because he has in depth knowledge

In support of an effort to bring much better government to Framingham, Geoff has also spent the last two years explaining what the city's problems are, and how we can solve them in his Substack newsletter: The Framingham Observer. Go to Facts for the full story on that, including a list of basic facts every voters should know before voting on November 4.

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It's time for a totally new approach which focuses on being up front about the problems we face, rather than hiding them, and shakes off the lack of vision, indecision and poor planning of the current administration.​

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That means a complete change in city leadership and picking up the pace on solving problems. Practical solutions exist and can be rapidly deployed, with no new taxes and real cost savings.

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More details on Sisitsky administration failures

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1. Education: The Mayor cut vital local funding for education by more than $18 million in 4 years, causing late school buses, slow progress on pre-K expansion, weakening of classroom support and now staff cuts. [$18 million of the money cut from the schools is sitting in the city general fund, unspent.] Classrooms are much more difficult to manage, which affects ALL students, and 200 experienced teachers and 8 principals have quit in the last 2 years. Student achievement in English Language Arts has declined in each of the past 4 years, for every grade tested by MCAS: 3,4,5,6,7,8,10 as shown in the state reporting here. See: Mayor Creates An Alternate Reality for the State of the Framingham Public Schools

2. Infrastructure: Roads, school roofs, the water & sewer system continue to degrade, with a very expensive $400 million maintenance backlog still rising. The water & sewer system was described by the head of Public Works as a 'ticking time bomb'. All recent roof replacement projects have been emergencies: Farley, Blocks Juniper Hill, Memorial Building. Almost all school roofs are well past their expected useful life. The roads need about $8 million/year in maintenance to stop them deteriorating further. Yet the Mayor has allocated less that $4 million/year for the last 4 years. That is a road to more potholes each year, and much more expensive future major road repairs or replacements. The Mayor's near term neglect makes the long term costs much higher, and the average road condition in Framingham is getting worse each year. Who can be happy about that?

3. Environment: The Climate Action Plan effort was begun in April 2021. In the last 4 years, it has not produced a plan. Zero progress has been made in that time on new solar roofs or solar canopies at city buildings, which could bring in $2-3 million/year in utility savings as well as combat climate change by reducing the city's carbon footprint. See: Framingham Mayor Rejects Millions in Utility Savings in Fiscal Crisis With the recent passage of federal legislation now sunsetting federal credits, critical to financing solar installations, on December 31, 2027, the city needs to go gangbusters on solar installations. Painfully slow progress has also been made in expanding curbside composting, which could reduce the city trash stream by 40% and save more than $700,000/year. Two years were wasted on studying the problem, when a pilot could have been launched in a few months. See: Framingham's Curbside Composting Program Launches After Two Years of City Administration Obstruction

4. Zoning, Residential Development & Neighborhoods: Compliance with the MBTA Communities Act was completely mismanaged, with the Nobscot community being especially mistreated by the Mayor, and the city getting zero credit for all of its prior multi-unit residential development. The compliance burden is double what it should have been, with the Mayor upending the process by submitting his own compliance plan to the state, usurping the City Council's authority, and putting the entire development burden on downtown. See: How Framingham's MBTA Communities Act Response Ran Off the Rails & Another Developer Rides Roughshod Over a Quiet Residential Framingham Neighborhood

5. Economic Development: Economic development has largely stood still for the last 4 years and only recently has the Framingham Economic Development Corporation been formed. The hope going forward is that Framingham EDC will be as successful as its Marlborough counterpart. However, the Framingham EDC is not integrated with city government like it is in Marlborough, where both Mayor and City Council President are members. That integration is important and is a change which needs to be made as a priority. Geoff worked his entire life in the private sector, largely in high tech, but also in the real estate and media communications sectors. That brings a much broader perspective to bear than the current Mayor who worked entirely in the public sector.

6. Planning & Financial Management: The Mayor has no goals or priorities and is operating without a strategic plan. For 4 years, the budget process has been adrift. The Charter-required 5 year capital plan was abandoned last year, and the FY25 budget created a fiscal cliff which tripled the use of free cash to $10 million in the FY26 budget. The Mayor also predicts more budget cuts for the schools in FY27 in this video.

7. Community Center: The 25 member advisory committee has operated for more than a year with almost no meetings, no effective leadership and no tangible results. Almost $15 million in federal ARPA funds have been committed to the purchase, demolition, window and roof work. A further $17 million is needed for HVAC replacement, plumbing and electrical upgrades and ADA compliance. It is the largest project in the city operating with no publicly supported plans and no oversight from the City Council. This is project is out of control. See: How the Framingham Community Center Project Ran Aground

8. Senior Services: The population of seniors is expanding, and boosting use of services provided through the Callahan Center, yet the Sisitsky administration reduced staffing at the Callahan Center. That makes no sense at all. The senior population is more than 20,000 in the city and needs to be treated much better than this. Further, Senior Services is organized under Parks, Recreation & Cultural Affairs. That does not  make any sense. What would make sense is to change this reporting structure, so that the Director of Senior Services reports directly to the Mayor, and to expand Senior Services after a much needed review of the city's commitment to seniors. Geoff has a special interest in improving Senior Services and already successfully advocated for a major improvement in the Senior Tax Deferral Program in 2019-2020. The $40,000 income cap was raised to $60,000 and the interest rate on deferred taxes lowered from 8% to 1% as a result of his efforts.  [Many seniors on fixed incomes find it hard to make ends meet and could lose their homes in the worst case scenario. They often have a major asset in their home which could be tapped through a Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) to provide cash to pay bills and avoid the defaults which could cost them their home. The city's Senior Tax Deferral Program provides such a HELOC solution, allowing seniors to tap the equity in their homes up to half their home value at a great interest rate of 1%.] Inflation has been substantial since that change was made, so it is time to raise the income limit to $72,000 like Boston did, and have that income limit also apply to the water & sewer discount program. Further, that water & sewer discount should be increased from 25% to 30% to bring it in line with best practices elsewhere.

9. Communications: In way too many situations, the real state of affairs in the city has been hidden by the Sisitsky administration. That includes many topics discussed above. The City Council and the community deserve to be provided the facts on what is happening in the city and when questions are asked, they need to be answered honestly.​​​​​

 

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