At last month’s Democratic caucus, I was honored to nominate Jim Violette for mayor of this great city. I’d like to take a moment to tell you why.
We all know Jim’s tremendous service to Westbrook: Planning Board; City Council; City Council president; delegate to METRO; delegate to Greater Portland Council of Governments; Rotary (including overseeing Westbrook’s vocational housing construction program); Westbrook Education Foundation; Seals; Boy Scouts; coaching; his work at the Prides Corner Congregational Church; and much, much more. I am in awe of his service to this city.
But the main reason that I was honored to nominate Jim was because of his heart and his vision. I’ve never met a person with a bigger heart. Jim loves Westbrook, as anyone who has ever been in earshot of his booming laugh knows. Jim has been a great friend to Westbrook, and has always been there, day or night, for anyone who needed help or a voice.
Jim’s love for Westbrook has shaped his vision of a city on the move. Jim is not afraid to make decisions, to think outside the box, to try new things, and even to take criticism. Jim is not afraid to lead.
Jim sees a city that is open for business. No one has worked harder than Jim to provide city services in a cost-effective way and to cut unnecessary spending. As anyone who watches the budget meetings knows, when Jim takes out his calculator, whichever department head is in front of him is in trouble. Under Jim’s leadership, the Westbrook City Council was one of only a handful of councils throughout Maine to reduce taxes while still protecting the city services Westbrook residents expect and deserve.
But cutting costs takes us only so far. We still want our trash picked up. When our house is on fire, we want the fire department to respond. And we want good schools for our kids. The best way to reduce the pressure on the residential taxpayer is to grow the businesses we have in Westbrook, and to attract more businesses to Westbrook. During the past two years, commercial development projects in Westbrook have shrunk from $12 million to $3 million. That means that we, the residential taxpayers, are bearing more and more of the cost of the city services. Jim believes that we need to do a better job growing our businesses and attracting new ones, or all of us will continue to pay more and more of the costs.
That is why economic leadership is a centerpiece of Jim’s vision. That is why the council, with Jim’s support, proposed hosting an economic summit in Westbrook this fall: to bring commercial developers to Westbrook to see what we have to offer, and to see what we can do better. Jim is a businessman himself and knows how difficult it is to start and grow a small business. And Jim has put his money and his future where his mouth is, by moving his investment agency to Westbrook.
Jim is also dedicated to maintaining our strong schools. Over the years, Jim has made numerous cuts to the school budget when they were needed. Jim was always prepared to tell where to cut and why. Last year, when the mayor wanted to cut more than $1 million from the school budget without saying where the cuts would come from or what the effect would be, Jim fought to protect our schools and our students.
I grew up in Westbrook. I know first hand that Westbrook is not a rich community. Life isn’t simply handed to us. We have to work harder and want it more than anyone else. We can’t simply write a check and open any door for our children. What we can give our children-what Jim believes in-is a strong sense of family and a good education. I’m glad that I had people fighting for me when I was a Westbrook student. Otherwise, I would have never had the chance to go to a college like Bowdoin and then on to law school. I’m glad that we have people like Jim fighting for our children now, so they have the same opportunities we had, and those we never even dreamed of.
For the past four years, I have been honored to call Jim Violette my council president. For even longer than that, I have been honored to call him my friend. This November, I will be honored to call him my mayor. I hope you will join me in supporting our friend, Jim Violette.
Brendan Rielly is a Westbrook City Councilor from Ward 1.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
