Author: Campaign Team

I am excited to support Greg Christiana for town moderator. I have known Greg both in and out of political life in Arlington since 2016.

Greg and I met as part of a grass-roots parent-advocacy group when Arlington’s schools were facing an enrollment crunch that was resulting in space issues across school levels. Greg’s contributions to positive dialogue, measurable outcomes and cross-sectional engagement was inspiring and productive. Out of that work, Greg volunteered to lead the 2016 Build Arlington’s Future campaign to add capacity at all school levels. He was also elected as a Town Meeting member and has served every year since.

Since that time, Greg has focused his efforts and energy on cultivating a positive political climate in Arlington where all voices are elevated and newcomers to Town Meeting and civic engagement are welcomed, supported and encouraged. He has worked on coordinating precinct meetings and candidate statements for people running for Town Meeting. Seeing a need, he founded the Civic Engagement Group within Envision Arlington.

Greg has the temperament and flexibility to be a productive and effective town moderator from day one. An experienced Town Meeting member, Greg has seen a lot of turnover in membership over the last six years and has had many conversations with members about their experience on Town Meeting. He’s been an engaged participant in both remote and in-person meetings and understands how to set a tone for the meeting that will encourage participation in the process while concurrently respecting the time of the membership.

He’s well positioned to be flexible and accommodating while also holding members to the high expectations that the voters deserve. Becoming a Town Meeting member is an important step for residents who are interested in further civic engagement. Arlington is a town with deeply competent staff that also depends on hard-working volunteers. People’s experience on Town Meeting can translate into future work on behalf of the town or can result in retreat from this work. We need to ensure that our Town Meeting continues to cultivate members who engage in the work of the meeting and are curious about additional opportunities.

I am confident that Greg will be an effective and productive Moderator and will be able to engage the community and the membership in the important work of Town Meeting. Please join me in voting for Greg Christiana on April 2.

We are writing to enthusiastically endorse the election of Greg Christiana as town moderator in the election on Saturday, April 2.

Town Meeting is democracy in action at its most fundamental level: Elected representatives from 21 precincts gathering annually to discuss and debate the business of the town. Town Meeting members vote on changes to town bylaws, pass resolutions and approve the town’s budget.

The town moderator’s role is to facilitate these important discussions and ensure open debate on all matters before Town Meeting. The town moderator chairs every session of Town Meeting and makes appointments to many town committees that shape policy, including the Human Rights Commission, the Finance Committee and Envision Arlington. We know that Greg will handle these important responsibilities with great thoughtfulness and skill.

Greg is running for town moderator because he values fair debate that reflects the diverse viewpoints of all of our town’s residents. As moderator, Greg will run Town Meeting in a transparent and inclusive fashion, working to ensure that everyone feels welcome.

Greg has served as a Town Meeting member since 2016, and his focus on strengthening civic participation in town has been unwavering. He has been a leader in the effort to encourage and support regular precinct meetings throughout town to enable residents the chance to discuss warrant articles with their meeting members before Town Meeting, and he has worked to make it easier for voters to learn about town meeting candidates.

Greg cares deeply about making sure everyone understands how to be involved in our democracy. Greg is the cochair of the Envision Arlington (formerly Vision 2020) Standing Committee, and this year launched the Civic Engagement Group, whose mission is for Arlington to be guided by the voices and preferences of the people of Arlington, with all the dimensions of our diversity well represented.

Democracy starts at home. We need a town moderator who is committed to the ideals of transparency, respect and inclusion. Please join us in voting for Greg Christiana for town moderator on April 2.

I am writing to enthusiastically endorse Greg Christiana for moderator.

I’ve had the privilege of working with Greg in several different capacities over the years. We both served on the Steering Committee of the Arlington School Enrollment Parent Group and as leaders of the 2016 and 2019 Build Arlington’s Future campaigns to secure school funding. Today, we serve together on Town Meeting, and we have worked for the same company, both as software engineers, for more than a decade.

I know from these experiences that Greg possesses a temperament perfectly suited to make Town Meeting a welcoming and inclusive body. When controversial issues arise, Greg’s first priority is to make sure all sides are heard and all sides feel respected. When an argument gets heated, his first impulse is to deescalate. He doesn’t prejudge anyone nor hold grudges. He has his own strong convictions, to be sure, but when facilitating any discussion, above all else he is impartial. This is the foremost quality we should be looking for in a moderator.

As a veteran engineer, Greg will also bring an important set of professional skills to the moderator position. Town Meeting is an old institution, and while traditions are important, Greg understands that long-standing practices must be subject to continuous reexamination and occasional reform. At the same time, he knows that we should not innovate for innovation’s sake. To engineer a better Town Meeting, changes must have a clear rationale, preferably backed by data, and reached by way of a collaborative and transparent process.

For a welcoming, innovative, and transparent Town Meeting, please join me in voting for Greg Christiana for moderator on Saturday, April 2.

I write to enthusiastically support the candidacy of Greg Christiana for moderator in the Arlington election of Saturday, April 2.

I have been a Town Meeting member for a number of years. I actually dropped out of Town Meeting for a while because I could never get called on to speak and I assumed there must be some process to get recognized that I did not understand.

Last year, I proposed a warrant article that would model procedures in other nearby towns and would make the process of recognizing speakers more transparent. Even after hearing my rationale and why the article was needed, it was vehemently opposed by Mr. Leone, who wanted to retain the ability to call on people he wanted.

I first got to know Greg when we worked together, with the NAACP’s Zane Crute, to write a series of columns on police reform. I have found Greg to be passionate about the importance of democracy and civil governance in the lives of people. Logically then, it is not surprising to learn that he has a vision for how he would like to see the Town Moderator role. That vision would center our Town Meeting process on transparency, fairness and inclusion.

With Greg Christiana as Town Moderator, the people you elect to represent you from your precinct will be heard. Please cast your vote for Greg Christiana for town moderator.

Greg will restore trust, fairness and bring transparency to Town Meeting.

While I have only been a Town Meeting member (TMM) for 2 years, my experience has made it crystal clear that a change of Town Meeting leadership is desperately needed for Arlington to truly be a vibrant democracy and welcoming community.  I know that I am not alone, as many TMMs reached out to me with similar thoughts after last year’s Town Meeting. 

The Town Moderator’s job may not be well understood but it is crucial to making Arlington a welcoming and functional democracy. They set the tone for Town Meeting and control who is heard, who is not heard, how welcome they feel in that space, who is respected and who is not. Last Spring’s Town Meeting was very uncomfortable for a number of us as we viewed that, in general, women were treated worse than men and that there was a group of favored members who were treated deferentially and dominated speaking time.

The current lack of transparency regarding the speaker order erodes trust in leadership and allows the Moderator to call on people out of order, favor those whose thoughts he wants to hear or, when he’s heard enough, to call someone who is known to make a motion to close debate. Members have no way of knowing whether that’s happening, because we can’t see the speakers’ queue. Greg is committed to developing a fair and transparent speaking order process, making space for new voices, and treating ALL town meeting members with respect.

Another important role that the Town Moderator plays is appointing people to committees. Arlington needs more diverse representation on our committees. We need someone who will appoint people with that specific goal in mind. Greg promises to make appointments in a timely manner and with a lens of diversity, equity and inclusion.  

Greg and I have had many nuanced conversations on challenging topics. While they don’t always end with us agreeing, the conversations are thoughtful, respectful and honest. I leave them feeling heard and respected. Arlington needs brave leaders who can have those difficult conversations in a respectful manner. This builds trust.

I encourage you to support Greg with your vote, your money and by spreading the word about his campaign in your networks. It is time for change. It is time to create a Town Meeting environment that is welcoming, transparent and respectful to ALL of us. Arlington deserves better leadership.