BrooklineHub Interviews with Tommy Vitolo and Rebecca Stone

I love to cook!

– Rebecca Stone

RS: I love to cook! For years I’ve been a volunteer home recipe tester for America’s Test Kitchen (Cook’s Illustrated). I love how food teaches about different cultures, history, and traditions. The kitchen is my happy place where I can experiment, play, get creative, and then gather friends to share the results — nothing better!

I love to spend time with my wife and children at a park, the library, or at J.P. Licks in Coolidge Corner.

– Tommy Vitolo

TV: I love to spend time with my wife and children at a park, the library, or at J.P. Licks in Coolidge Corner.

My parents both taught me to notice who’s being left out, who’s not at the table, and to do something about it.

-Rebecca Stone

RS: My parents both taught me to notice who’s being left out, who’s not at the table, and to do something about it. Their example has been a profound influence in every part of my life. My father was a theater director who chose to support the civil rights movement of the 1960s by working on plays about the black experience in America, as well as casting and promoting actors of color. My mother left teaching after 30 years to found a non-profit in the basement of a Harlem housing project called Playing to Win. She’d been introduced to computers in a master’s degree class and immediately saw that they would be a new wedge dividing rich and poor. Playing to Win was her answer so that marginalized communities — low-income families, girls, seniors, those incarcerated or getting out — would not be left behind in the new tech world.

I’ve always been influenced by those who give back to their community.

-Tommy Vitolo

TV:  I’ve always been influenced by those who give back to their community. I grew up in a neighborhood where it seemed every adult was a scout leader, a coach, or in the PTO, and in the League of Women Voters, Lions Club, or the Elks Club. Following in those footsteps, I’ve been active in Brookline my entire adult life – in park “friends” groups, with neighborhood projects, and politically, as an elected Town Meeting Member, Town Constable, and Democratic Town Committee Member.

Rebecca is very smart and is a gifted writer.

-Tommy Vitolo

TV: As the field director for the 2015 Yes for Brookline campaign, I worked side-by-side with Rebecca for many months. Rebecca is very smart and is a gifted writer.

He’s funny, and he works hard.

-Rebecca Stone

RS: He’s funny and he works hard.

Everything I have worked for over the past 30 years is under attack at the federal level — women’s rights, vulnerable children, and families, civil rights and racial justice, public education, the environment, etc.

-Rebecca Stone

RS:  Everything I have worked for over the past 30 years is under attack at the federal level — women’s rights, vulnerable children, and families, civil rights and racial justice, public education, the environment, etc.

With so much at stake, it’s even more important that we have a strong, progressive state legislature, protecting the progress and freedoms we have and continuing to lead and move us forward.

I want to be your representative on Beacon Hill both to fight against Trump’s agenda and to work for a Commonwealth focused on promoting respect and compassion for all.

-Tommy Vitolo

TV: We need a trustworthy and experienced leader with a track record of getting things done to counter the discrimination and corruption that emerges from the Trump administration. We also need a strong, energetic fighter who will advocate tirelessly for the issues that matter to us: social and economic justice; protecting the rights of women, immigrants, the elderly and the disadvantaged; ensuring sufficient funds for excellent public education; for pre-K, K-12, and UMass and state colleges; and protection of our environment; including both green spaces and reducing climate pollution.

While the White House pursues an agenda of hatred and divisiveness, our state can and should be a beacon of liberal values. I want to be your representative on Beacon Hill both to fight against Trump’s agenda and to work for a Commonwealth focused on promoting respect and compassion for all.

I have a history of working with colleagues across the political spectrum to draft, advocate for, and ultimately pass progressive legislation; hence over two-thirds of Town Meeting members and the Select Board have endorsed my candidacy.

-Tommy Vitolo

TV: For over a decade, my opponent and I have both served in Town Meeting, Brookline’s local legislature. During that time I’ve drafted nine progressive bills that have become law related to public education, public health, diversity and inclusion, public art, transportation, and the environment. My opponent has never drafted a warrant article that has become law. I’ve been active behind closed doors and on the floor of Town Meeting helping to pass progressive legislation drafted by colleagues; my opponent has been largely silent. A critical difference is that I am the only candidate with deep legislative experience on both policy and politics, with a strong record of achievement.

I have a history of working with colleagues across the political spectrum to draft, advocate for, and ultimately pass progressive legislation; hence over two-thirds of Town Meeting members and the Select Board have endorsed my candidacy.

I am also the only candidate who has been endorsed by progressive organizations, local or state-wide. I have been endorsed by Brookline PAX, Progressive Democrats of Massachusetts, and Progressive Mass; social justice groups including the Bay State Stonewall Democrats, the National Association of Social Workers (MA PACE), and the Massachusetts Voters for Animals; the Brookline Parents Organization; 314 Action; environmental groups including Sierra Club, Environmental League of Massachusetts, and Clean Water Action; and labor unions including the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, Massachusetts Teachers Association, Brookline Fire Fighters Association, 1199SEIU, 32BJ SEIU, SEIU 509, Boston Teachers Union, Professional Fire Fighters of Massachusetts, Massachusetts Organization of State Engineers and Scientists, Iron Workers 7, Bricklayers and Allied Craftsmen 3, and Laborers 22.

Our current state representative, Frank Smizik, is retiring at the end of his term. He has endorsed me, stating that I am “uniquely qualified to carry on his legacy on progressive issues including housing, public education, and the environment.”

I have since spent over 30 years in progressive non-profit organizations in Washington, D.C., Chicago, New York, and nationally working for citizen action and voice, protecting the reproductive rights and health of women and youth, and building stronger services and supports for children, youth, and families. My opponent has focused his professional life and local advocacy around environmental issues. I applaud that work, but it does not compare with the breadth and depth of my record.

-Rebecca Stone

RS: More than anything else, I bring unique and relevant policy and legislative experience, and an understanding of what it means to represent the whole town. I am also passionate about being part of changing the conversation on Beacon Hill. We need more diversity at the table, and we need those at the table to care about who is and is not heard and represented.

In my professional life, I was a legislative staffer covering human rights and foreign policy in Congress for four years before getting a masters in public policy from Princeton. I have since spent over 30 years in progressive non-profit organizations in Washington, D.C., Chicago, New York, and nationally working for citizen action and voice, protecting the reproductive rights and health of women and youth, and building stronger services and supports for children, youth, and families. My opponent has focused his professional life and local advocacy around environmental issues. I applaud that work, but it does not compare with the breadth and depth of my record.

I have the experience of navigating and arranging long-term care at home for my late father, who passed away last summer. It is personal for me when we talk about affordable senior housing and healthcare, how to strengthen training and support for home care aides, what is needed to allow seniors to age in place and to preserve independence and dignity even as age, illness, and often dementia challenges their quality of life.

I am also the only candidate with town-wide committee experience — 12 years on the school committee — crafting the policies that govern our school system and responsible for complex system budgets that have to balance needs, priorities, and revenues. Like the legislature, school committee has substantive subcommittees where most of the work is done — writing and debating policy changes, developing annual goals for the schools, planning and executing changes to the physical plant, reviewing curriculum, considering state legislation impacting our schools, and most important guiding development of and passing a $120 million budget. That experience is particularly relevant preparation for the State House. Unlike Town Meeting members who gather to vote twice a year to vote on warrant articles that can be brought by any resident of the town, state representatives must work effectively for legislation across a diverse political spectrum and set of interests. Only legislators can sponsor bills, and they must work across two legislative bodies (House and Senate) getting support from colleagues representing far different constituencies, actively engaging Brookline leaders and stakeholders in the process, guiding bills through multiple committees, responding to interest group lobbying, and navigating significant power dynamics, politicized divisions, and trade-offs to win consensus and an eventual vote.

Our legislature has fallen behind in its own progress toward equity. The MA House is 75 percent male and 90 percent white. It’s been reported that at the current rate of change, we won’t see gender equity until 2072. We can’t wait that long to change the conversation, change the priorities, and do what’s needed on affordable housing, health care, reproductive rights, public education, the environment, and advancing civil rights and equitable access to the American dream.

I am running to give Brookline a strong, knowledgeable partner on Beacon Hill to address the challenges we face. I am also running to be part of change that needs to happen on Beacon Hill so that Massachusetts can continue to lead on the issues and values so vital to our future.

Housing costs have skyrocketed across the region, and state action is necessary to relieve pressure not only in Brookline but in all our neighboring cities and towns. I’ll fight for social and economic justice, including policies that promote economic diversity within all our communities.

-Tommy Vitolo

TV: Housing costs are high in Brookline in part because it is such a wonderful place to live, but prices are also high for several other reasons. College students living four-to-an-apartment in North Brookline take housing supply away from families; I’ll pressure colleges and universities to build more housing on campus. Apartments that used to hold seniors or young professionals are now rented out as Airbnb units year-round, reducing housing supply and depriving Brookline and the Commonwealth of tax revenue. I’ll work to provide tools for cities and towns to enforce residential zoning requirements, require health inspections for Airbnb units continuously operating as hotel rooms, and ensure that hotels and Airbnb rooms are taxed on equal footing. Improved transportation, particularly the MBTA streetcars, subways, buses, and ferries, will allow for people to have more housing choices within the Boston metropolitan area and therefore put downward pressure on housing costs. As someone who rides the Green Line to work, you can be sure that I’ll fight to fix the failed infrastructure of the T.  Property taxes drive up the cost of living in Brookline. As our state representative, I will lobby for MSBA state funding for the upcoming Pierce renovation and support revising the foundation budget so that Brookline gets more state support for public schools. More financial support from the state will decrease pressure for future property tax increases. It is more and more challenging for seniors to remain in Brookline; I will fight to revise tax policies for seniors living on a fixed income trying to remain in their homes.

Housing costs have skyrocketed across the region, and state action is necessary to relieve pressure not only in Brookline but in all our neighboring cities and towns. I’ll fight for social and economic justice, including policies that promote economic diversity within all our communities.

I have proposed several legislative actions that could help Brookline manage and balance growth, prioritize affordable housing especially for a growing senior population, and limit the number of massive 40b projects that have put developers in the driver’s seat.

-Rebecca Stone

RS: There is a long list of things I want to do to help Brookline meet its challenges of growth, affordability, transportation, and school expansion needs. I have proposed several legislative actions that could help Brookline manage and balance growth, prioritize affordable housing especially for a growing senior population, and limit the number of massive 40b projects that have put developers in the driver’s seat.

For example:

• Modify 40b to bar new proposals when those in the queue would take a municipality to or beyond the 10 percent affordability “safe harbor”

• Include public school facilities in the calculation of development impact on municipal utilities

• Create more incentives for municipalities and developers to work together toward a housing market that supports economic diversity, such as raising the value of subsidized housing vouchers.

I’ve knocked on over 4,000 doors and asked my neighbors this very question. They consistently give one or more of the following three answers: we must ensure and expand social and economic justice, improve public education, and protect the environment.

-Tommy Vitolo

TV: I’ve knocked on over 4,000 doors and asked my neighbors this very question. They consistently give one or more of the following three answers: we must ensure and expand social and economic justice, improve public education, and protect the environment.

By electing a representative who is a great listener, a team player, and has legislative experience drafting bills and making them law, Brookline can help make Beacon Hill a place of action. I will bring to the State House the energy and passion that I have used locally serving on committees, advocating for progressive policies, and writing nine bills that become law.

I will work to have public school facilities treated as an area of critical impact in development.  And I will promote affordability from both ends of the rental relationship by working to increase subsidized housing vouchers as well as create better incentives for developers to build for a range of affordability rather than just the high end.

-Rebecca Stone

RS: The single most pressing issue facing our district in north Brookline is uncontrolled market-rate residential growth and inflated housing values that are making the town less affordable for working families and our growing senior population. Condo development and conversions, in particular, are adding to the physical and financial pressure on Brookline’s schools and driving the need to expand. Developers abusing the Chapter 40b law threaten to further overwhelm the district with a long list of oversized developments.

As detailed above, I will work to amend Chapter 40b, so it retains its potential to guide and encourage more affordable housing but gives densely-built areas like north Brookline more flexibility and tools to manage growth.  I will work to have public school facilities treated as an area of critical impact in development.  And I will promote affordability from both ends of the rental relationship by working to increase subsidized housing vouchers as well as create better incentives for developers to build for a range of affordability rather than just the high end.