My name is Tim Mathieu, and I am pleased to announce my candidacy for Town Meeting representing Precinct 1. As a resident of Reading for the past 17 years, my wife and I raised 2 daughters who attended Reading Public Schools. Since moving to town, I have served as a RUSC coach, volunteered for 4 years supporting the Coolidge Science Olympiad Team, and spent 10+ years as a cheerleader parent attending every Reading Youth and Reading Memorial High School football game.
My interest in serving in Town Meeting is driven by concerns about the future quality of life in Reading, rising municipal spending, and the consequences for Reading’s middle class. Over the last several months there has been lots of discussion about affordability and designs are in play to lower the barrier to home ownership in Reading via multifamily dwellings. I question at whose expense and at what costs?
The challenge with the most far-reaching implications confronting Reading residents is the MBTA Communities Law. The MBTA Communities Law mandates establishment of multifamily zoning within communities served by rail service. The law requires development of multifamily properties within a radius of a rail station but offers no funding or other provisions for services or infrastructure to safeguard existing citizens and the integrity of the community.
Here is what is at stake:
Crime and related expenses:
Clearly, Reading is a generally low-crime community and a welcome respite from an often-crazy world. Serious crime may be negligible, but property crime, theft, and drug-related issues are a fact of life here. Where exactly is here: City-Data.com reports that the preponderance of Reading’s petty crime and misdemeanors occur within neighborhoods in vicinity of the train station; the very district where the state wants more housing units.
Residents of this area now experience more personal violations than anywhere else in town. Those who stay may expect more problems as population density goes up, more transient residents enter the community, and aside from young families, an influx of young people with young people’s interests and problems permeates the neighborhood.
A study of Reading Police Department logs underscores the cause for concern. Over the course of a randomly selected, 20-week consecutive period in 2023, there were very high levels of police and first-responder activities at a sampling of Reading’s apartment complexes. Among a range of issues were theft, vagrancy, stolen property, partying, small fires, fraudulent unemployment claims, and fire-alarm checks. Tallies for the 20-week period were:
· Reading Woods: 71 reported incidents
· Reading Commons: 35 reported incidents
· Summit Condos: 32 reported incidents
Every one of these incidents require some level of engagement, follow-up, and/or intervention courtesy of our first responders. On a per capita basis, it’s fair to say that these communities demand more resources than a typical suburban single-family neighborhood. The cost and level of activity will be going up once portions of downtown are transitioned into more multifamily units. Taxpayers may expect to dole out more funding for police and other services.
Schools and social services:
The potential development of likely well over 1,000 housing units will require Reading Public Schools to accommodate an influx of students. Besides requiring increases in building and classroom space, more teachers, specialists, administrators, facilities departments, and a host of other staffing will be necessary. These are real challenges for which this community that is so reliant on residential tax dollars will need to address.
Beyond staffing and physical plant, there is also the potential impact to education and student performance. Using MCAS scores as a metric, Reading continues to perform decently YOY. RPS outperforms many other districts in the Commonwealth, but we’ve made little headway catching up with neighboring communities like Lynnfield or North Reading. SAT and AP exam scores are down, which may be attributable to the lingering impact of the pandemic.
One measure that unequivocally concerns RPS educators and parents is increased student mental health issues. Certainly, a variety of factors may be at play, but after the MBTA Communities Law is implemented, it’s hard to imagine how higher teacher-student ratios, crowded classrooms, and strained services will positively impact our kids.
Whether some level of funding from the Commonwealth is eventually secured or not, state budgets are fickle and often come with strings. Eventually, Reading property owners can expect to carry higher tax burdens to support an expanding school system.
Parking, Congestion, and Quality of Life:
Whether it’s public safety, public schools, or public services, adhering to the MBTA Communities Law will drive up the cost of living in Reading. Existing residents of the Reading neighborhoods under consideration may further expect more traffic congestion and strains on parking.
All of us may realize a change in the quality of life. Reading is a beautiful community with a long history of smalltown character and values. Historic architecture and storied properties occupy tree-lined streets. The MBTA Communities Law places the future aesthetics of life in Reading into the hands of the Commonwealth and area builders. With so much at stake, it’s vital to determine how or whether the MBTA Communities Law is implemented.
The situation prompts thoughts of other communities near major cities in states with high cost of living. The communities along Philadelphia’s Main Line or transit lines in New Jersey’s Bergen and Morris Counties haven’t surrendered their town centers’ autonomy to the state and builders. Having moved here from Westwood, NJ, a lovely town served by NJ Transit, I can assure you that no one in that region of the country is handing over local zoning for prime real estate to solve state problems.
Getting off the train in one of those communities, you are welcomed by town centers resplendent with grassy knolls, charming streets, outdoor dining and shopping; welcoming places that still make other provisions for sustaining large populations. They’re simply not wedding the community identity of their town centers to large apartment complexes.
Reading faces some important choices. The factors to consider go beyond whether a neighborhood has multifamily dwellings. There are real costs involved. I am in favor of Reading and downtown preserving a single-family character.
If elected, I plan to be open and accessible to ensure that Precinct 1 residents’ interests and priorities are heard and addressed. You may expect that I’ll work hard to address Reading’s challenges with a positive vision for the Town’s future.
I humbly request your vote.
Tim Mathieu
Briarwood Avenue
