My wife and I moved to Tiverton 5 years ago, to start a farm. After seeing this beautiful town and meeting some locals, we decided this was a great place to start a farm and a family. What we didn’t realize was how the people governing feel about outsiders and businesses. Their solution to every problem is to raise property taxes.
I met a lot of people here and got involved in local politics. I realized the people in power are interested in helping other insiders, their social cliques and special interests. The TTA is fighting to lower taxes and good government for everyone, so I joined them. Since working with them, I have been the victim of hatred by the other side. Our goal is sensible solutions to help this town grow, according to the town plan.
First thing I did was get on the zoning board. If you want to see how neighbors are treated by government, zoning is the place. Over the past year, I’ve seen people insulted by the president and talked down to by several of the zoning board veterans. Don’t even try to show up without a lawyer! They believe they run this town.
I’m running for town council because I’m tired of people being bullied by town government. As elected officials, our job is to make this town better, not to bully and lord over people. Governing takes working together, despite political differences, to create intelligent solutions that work for everyone.
Our biggest problem today is capping the landfill. The only solution the town council can devise is raising taxes and trucking our trash to the other side of RI. As a farmer and a conservationist, I demand a better solution. I want to incentivize people to recycle and compost, cutting down on the amount of trash we produce. Unlike the authoritarians on both sides of the aisle, this should be completely voluntary. My plan doesn’t force anyone to participate, people can just pay to have their trash removed. Instead of raising everyone’s taxes to pay for those generating more trash, we should incentivize people to participate to save money. It’s better for the earth and it’s better for the people.
These are the kinds of solutions I will implement on the town council. Let’s not be afraid to do the right thing because it’s hard. I became a farmer because it was the right thing to do for my family, not because it was easy. I’m not volunteering for town council because it’s going to be easy. I’m running because we need sensible people who will put in the time and work together to help our community and make us stronger together.
