[Editor’s note: This spring, Southborough voters will be able to choose among five candidates for two seats on the Select Board. To help you make that decision, each candidate is invited to submit one letter to readers promoting their campaign. (To find other candidates’ letters click here.)
As in past years, you may use comments to endorse the candidate. No mudslinging allowed here.]
To the Editor:
My name is Albena (Bena) Phillipo, I am running for one of the two open Select Board seats. This is my first time running for Select Board.
I grew up in Southborough, lived here most of my life, when I was a child, this town was mostly farms and open spaces. As I grew up, so did Southborough. I have seen open spaces disappear, industry move in, and housing become unaffordable to the average person.
I attended New England School of Photography in Boston and did advertising photography in Boston and New York. I moved to Northern California and worked in the Hazardous Waste industry for Rollins Environmental and cleaned up military bases all over the state. Lived in Silicon Valley working for different software companies, a small startup called Sun Microsystems, Farallon Computing and Netopia.
I had a daughter in 1986 and moved back to Southborough in 1996 and worked as a Director of Customer Service and Technical Support, built, and supported many teams in Technical Sales, Technical Support and Customer Service, I worked with small startups and Fortune 500 companies. Left the industry in 2004 and started my own business as a Massage Therapist and Reiki Master.
I have volunteered for different groups in town. My first foray into volunteering was with the Recycling Committee (also called the Green Technology Committee), I am currently a member of the Friends of the Southborough Council on Aging. In the past I have worked with Youth and Family as well as the Southborough Planning department. You can find me at the Senior Center every Wednesday, dropping off Bagels from a local retailer for the seniors.
I believe seniors are underrepresented in this town and want to see more support of the senior center. We have one subsidized housing development for Seniors, Colonial Gardens, and they are all single bedroom apartments. There is always a long waiting list for these apartments. We should be supporting our seniors more as they add to the tax base and do not tax our schools. We all know how expensive schools are.
We have a good underpinnings for Youth and Family Services, we need to continue to help our youth in this town if we want healthy adults living here. Affordable housing for the average family is almost nonexistent, can we find a way to offer truly affordable housing for the average family?
If we properly plan and execute the sale of water to Hopkinton, we can use this project to drive modernization of our water system at no additional cost. This allows us to continue to improve the service to our citizens while being a good neighbor.
I have strong opinions about what is right and how things should be done. If your opinion differs from mine, I am willing to listen to what you have to say and if you have a reasonable explanation with verifiable evidence, my mind can be changed.
Bena Phillipo
43 Highland St.
email: Questions@AskBena.com
