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.