North Andover GOP 2021 Newsletter, Town Election Edition
Friends,
There is a great deal going on not only in our town, but in our state and nation that is troubling to us all. As the town election is coming on March 30th, we are going to focus on local issues in this edition. Specifically:
Town election and candidates
Royal Crest Redevelopment
Development Moratorium
First, great news! The North Andover Republican Town Committee can now take online donations via our website. To contribute please go to: https://www.northandovergop.com/contribute. We are looking to do outreach as the pandemic ends to build our base in town. We’d like to send mailings and do door knocking and we need funding to do it.
Town Elections: The town elections will be held on March 30th at the High School from 7AM to 8PM. Mail in voting is again allowed for this election and the town clerk sent out mail ballot applications to every household with the census paperwork. Already over 3,000 ballots have been requested. Roughly the number of votes we typically see in any average town election cycle.
The following seats are up for election:
Town moderator: Mark DiSalvo is running unopposed for re-election
Housing Authority: Max Butterbrodt running unopposed
Select Board:
Joe Finn:
Joe has come into the race to halt the unsustainable high density housing development in our community which is rapidly transforming the character of our town. Joe is filing a 2-year moratorium on high density housing development for this year’s town meeting.
Website: https://finnfornorthandover.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/finn4selectboard
Citizen: https://www.wickedlocal.com/story/record-citizen/2021/02/02/local-election-joe-finn-enters-north-andover-select-board-race/4356480001/
Patch Article on Moratorium: https://patch.com/massachusetts/northandover/select-board-candidate-finn-calls-pause-apartment-building
Dick Vaillancourt Candidate for re-election
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rvaillancourt67
Janice Phillips
Janice was Democrat of the year in 2020 and managed Christina Minnicucci’s State Representative campaign. https://www.eagletribune.com/news/merrimack_valley/janice-phillips-named-north-andover-democrat-of-the-year/article_63227e66-b3a7-5882-8957-f876948ee5b6.html.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/janiceforna
School Committee
Rebecca Stronck: Rebecca is an accountant, lifelong resident of North Andover. She and her husband have 2 children in the Sargent school. Rebecca believes we must get our kids in school as soon as possible and believes the school committee needs to communicate more effectively and be more transparent.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/electstronck
Patch: https://patch.com/massachusetts/northandover/candidate-profile-rebecca-stronck-n-andover-school-committee
North Andover Citizen: https://www.wickedlocal.com/story/record-citizen/2021/02/16/election-rebecca-stronck-talks-north-andover-school-committee-bid/6765308002/
Rebecca on NBC discussing return to school (1:06): https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/photographers-year-of-covid-project-asks-kids-what-are-they-missing/2318879/
Andrew McDevitt: Candidate for re-election. From his patch profile Andrew believes getting our children back to school is our most pressing issue.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AndrewMcDevittForSchoolCommittee
Patch: https://patch.com/massachusetts/northandover/candidate-profile-andrew-mcdevitt-n-andover-school-committee
Dave Brown: Dave is currently a part time engineering teacher at Andover HS, and does management consulting. He and his wife have lived in North Andover for 20 years, and his 3 children are all graduates of North Andover High School. Dave believes increasing school funding is out most pressing issue.
Website: https://www.davebrown4naschools.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1153927511722733
Patch: https://patch.com/massachusetts/northandover/candidate-profile-dave-brown-north-andover-school-committee
Pam Pietrowski: Pam is an English Language Learner teacher in Haverhill public schools. She and her husband have 2 children in the High School and one in Atkinson. Pam believes out most pressing issues are providing accessible education for all students and increasing school funding.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PamForNASC
Citizen: https://www.wickedlocal.com/story/record-citizen/2021/02/09/election-pam-pietrowski-running-north-andover-school-committee/4451469001/
Patch: https://patch.com/massachusetts/northandover/candidate-profile-pam-pietrowski-n-andover-school-committee
Joe Hicks: Joe is a Social Studies Instructional Coach at Salem (MA) High School. He and his husband have 3rd grade twins in North Andover public schools. Joe believes our pressing issues are how we return to school, part of which is when. He sees the pandemic and return to school as an opportunity to transform the district.
Website: https://www.joehicksfornaps.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joehicksforNAPS
Patch: https://patch.com/massachusetts/northandover/candidate-profile-joe-hicks-north-andover-school-committee
Additional Resources
The candidates in contested elections all presented their cases at North Andover CAM for their Meet the Candidates video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpK_JcbXdjM
The League of Woman’s Voters held a Candidates Night that all candidates for Select Board and School Committee participated in that can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoQKyTO1lLk
The North Andover RTC is not endorsing any candidates in this cycle. However, it should be noted that Joe Finn and Rebecca Stronck are the only candidates running for any office that are not registered Democrats.
The town election is Tuesday, March 30. If you cannot vote in person you may request a mail in ballot here: https://www.sec.state.ma.us/ele/elepdf/2021-Vote-by-Mail-Application.pdf
Royal Crest Redevelopment
Royal Crest is looking to redevelop their site and have partnered with Trinity Financial in a proposal in front of the North Andover Planning Board. They have a professional development team, lawyers and a public relation firm to promote the project and their best interests.
There are currently 588 units in Royal Crest
The proposal is for 1,641 units including student apartments (280% increase)
Plus:
Hotel – 102 Rooms
Retail Space – 70,000 sq. ft.
Office Space – 124,000 sq. ft.
Breakdown of Proposed Housing:
40B Development - 96 Affordable & 289 Market Rate Units
Market Rate Multi Family Buildings – 608 Units
Over 55 units - 135
Three Bedroom Townhomes – 263
250 Student Housing Dorms - 1,000 beds for Merrimack College
For more information visit:
https://www.developmentna.com/
https://www.facebook.com/NoAndoverCommunity
Development Moratorium
Select Board Candidate Joe Finn has introduced a plan to bring a citizen's petition for a housing moratorium before North Andover's Town Meeting.
For the past few years, multi-family housing has been a discussion in North Andover. Every time we turn around there are hundreds of units being built. Where are the small single-family homes most residents would love to live in? Where are the affordable housing units? How many rental units do we need?
The density and volume of these multi families are not necessarily about need or what's best for the town, it's about maximizing profit for developers. Maybe, if we take a pause, we can find a way to build affordable homes for our seniors, small single-family homes for our children starting out and affordable housing that works for everyone.
https://patch.com/massachusetts/northandover/select-board-candidate-finn-calls-pause-apartment-building
https://www.developmentna.com/blog/take-a-pause-on-multi-family-housing
https://finnfornorthandover.com/development-moratorium
Please follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GOP01845
Check our website for frequent updates, and sign up for our mail list: https://northandovergop.com/
Please sign up on our website to volunteer for current and future campaigns: https://northandovergop.com/volunteer
As mentioned above we can now take donations via the website: https://www.northandovergop.com/contribute
Thank you,
CJ Gangi, Chairman
Karin Rhotin, Vice-Chair
Kevin Dube, Treasurer
Ted Tripp, Secretary