Janet K. Marcus, At-large


Friday, September 26, 2003


25 Tyng St.


1. What is your background? Please include community and civic involvement, experience in local government, family and professional background and how long you have been a Newburyport resident.

I am a lawyer, presently retired from the Legal Aid Society of New York, where I practiced as a public defender. Prior to that employment, I was a hearing examiner and prosecutor in Family Court and, in private practice, a specialist in real estate and family law. Before becoming an attorney, I was a high-school history teacher in Westchester County, N.Y., and an editor of school and college textbooks. I received a bachelor's of arts from Cornell, a master's degree from Harvard, and a doctor of jurisprudence from the Hofstra Law School. Presently, I serve on the Newburyport Redevelopment Authority (NRA), the board of the Newburyport Maritime Society and as a docent at the Peabody Essex Museum. I am a member of the Historical Society of Old Newbury and the Cornell Club of Boston and a Friend of the Newburyport Library.

In addition to serving on the NRA, I have attended almost all the community meetings regarding the waterfront, the parking situation and the Newburyport Area Industrial Development (NAID) properties in the last four years. My husband, Edward Barz, has been a member of the Harbor Commission for many years. In addition to my activities here, my experience in local government in the two communities where I resided before settling in Newburyport has been extensive. Among these activities are service on the boards of two League of Women Voters; chairing the town committee of a political party and serving as a member of that party's county committee; serving on a Parks and Recreation Commission; chairing a committee that oversees the selection of candidates for the school board; chairing a committee that selects a single nonpartisan slate of candidates for the board of trustees (the equivalent of the City Council); serving as an officer of the club that oversees the operations of village government and manages the election of village trustees; serving on the board of the Women's Bar Association; serving on the Legislative Advisory Committee of the superintendent of schools; serving as an officer and board member of three different PTAs; and participating in the rewriting of master plans in two communities (one, a village of 16,000; the other, a city of 49,000).

I have been a resident of Newburyport since 1998.


2. Why are you choosing to run for City Council?

As a fan of this wonderful, diverse and historic city, I am eager to see that its enlightened path continues. Recent actions of the City Council have raised concerns about the direction being taken by those elected to serve and represent all the people of Newburyport. I am an ardent fan of inclusive, participatory government, with responsible councilors who attend not only the regularly scheduled council meetings but make themselves available to attend all public meetings on issues facing the community.

Too much council time has been spent, in recent years, on personalities and too little on planning for the future. I would like to see a more conciliatory relationship between the council and the office of mayor develop. The interests of the mayor and the council are the same: providing the most efficient, responsive, forward-looking government for all of our citizens.


3. What do you see as the new City Council's most important priority next year and why?

Several issues should be attended to, and resolved, in the next year: planning for additional parking (and that means purchasing the Lombardi building immediately), addressing the overcrowding of the Bresnahan School, providing clean water and sewer services to Plum Island, closing out the high school project, supervising the Crow Lane landfill, continuing the review of the entire zoning ordinance, commencing a plan for the implementation of the Community Preservation Act, studying the feasibility of creating historic districts and planning for future recreation needs as this city continues to grow.


4. How serious are the city's elementary school building needs and what should be done about it?

There is clearly a problem with overcrowding in the Bresnahan School and probably a need for still another elementary school. These matters should be addressed and specific plans should be drawn up by the School Committee for presentation to the mayor and council.


5. Should the Community Preservation Act surcharge be lowered from 2 percent and why?

The present 2 percent surcharge for the CPA is reasonable. There are safeguards to protect residents who may find any surcharge a hardship. Overall, the surcharge is substantially less than our annual tax increases. Remember, residents over 65 can be exempt and the first $100,000 of the assessed valuation of property is exempt.


6. Is enough being done to monitor the capping of the Crow Lane landfill? Should the city hire a licensed site professional to monitor it and why?

Not enough is being done to monitor the Crow Lane landfill, nor does responsibility for its completion seem to reside in one individual. In order to make sure that the work is done responsibly and is environmentally appropriate, the city should engage the services of a professional as a consultant, giving that individual responsibility for making sure that the landfill is environmentally healthy and reporting to the city on his/her conclusions. But this is a function of the mayor's office. City councilors legislate; a mayor's job is to make sure that the work is done on time, at budget, and as contracted for.


7. Are there any city departments where you would you like to see fundamental changes? Which ones and why? How should such changes be carried out?

The organization of city departments is not the job of the City Council; it is an executive responsibility. The City Council has enough to do without micromanaging the mayor's office. That said, I do have an interest in the creation of a Parks and Recreation Department with an experienced and highly professional staffer in charge. Such a department would manage all the parks and all the playgrounds and playing fields in the city; coordinate programs for young people, seniors and others; and be responsible for planning for future recreational needs of the city. While the city has long relied on the YWCA indoor pool, a municipal outdoor swimming-pool complex would ensure that the children in the city, who live along a dangerous river and enjoy many opportunities for boating, can learn to be strong swimmers and the families in this city don't have to go elsewhere for swimming opportunities.


8. What's your position on the abandoned Interstate 95-roadbed/Little River Nature Trail area regarding industrial development versus preservation?

I am a fan of preservation and open space, some of which can be used for recreation. I need to study the issue of the abandoned Interstate 95 roadbed in greater detail before I can announce a firm position on the issue.


9. How serious is the parking problem in the downtown/waterfront area and what actions, if any, need to be taken to address the problem?

The parking problem downtown is probably not serious for those of us who run short errands downtown, but it is serious for those who work downtown or come as visitors, expecting to spend the better part of a day in the downtown area. With the addition of the new function hall across from City Hall, which plans to serve 200 diners on a daily basis and can serve 400 at one time when a special function is run, the parking problem will be intensified. Most of my friends comment favorably on the ease with which they can park in the garage in Portsmouth, where the rates are quite reasonable (if not downright cheap) and would like to see such a facility here. At some point, some of the NRA property at the waterfront will be converted to parkland, which is what the people of Newburyport indicated that they wanted in an extensive survey conducted three years ago and some measures should be taken to pick up that slack and to plan for the future.


10. Where do you stand on the Plum Island water and sewer project? Should a closer look be taken regarding the specific needs of individual homeowners on the island?

Water and sewer will have to go out to Plum Island, one way or another. Whether the information made available to the community is sufficient for all of us to accept the plan being put forward by the Sewer Commission is another matter. The commission may not have fully answered questions about capacity in the future, the costs of updating and expanding these systems and the long-term costs and effects for all Newburyporters. A citizens' committee should be appointed with the charge of reviewing all the information now available and preparing a set of recommendations for the entire community.



 

 
 
(This article replicated online with permission of the Merrimack River Current.)
 
 
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