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Linda was an early and vocal proponent of the Grove Street
Solar Field project, a nationally-recognized model for Brownfields reclamation.
Through innovative planning and leadership, the city turned a formerly
contaminated tract on Grove Street into New England’s largest solar
field, cleaning and reusing a neighborhood liability. This
“Brightfield” project has put Brockton on the map for creative urban
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Councilor Balzotti is leading a charge to recoup the cost of thousands
of false alarms sounded each year in the city. The Brockton
Police Department responded to over 6,000 false alarms last year,
sapping manpower that could have been more effectively utilized
protecting the public. When Linda became aware that most of those
false alarms are generated repeatedly by the same addresses, she
worked with the Police Department to improve an ordinance that charges
an increasing scale for repeat and nuisance alarms. |
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“This will help our police department cut down on false alarms
so that they can be available for real emergencies,” Balzotti
says. “It will also recoup costs that the city
could use to support its Police and Fire Departments.”
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Linda served six years on the Brockton Planning Board, and understands
development, zoning and planning issues inside and out. Her
experience has helped her invaluably over the years, as she has
identified viable projects and found ways to stop those that would not
benefit Brockton. “I believe a City Councilor’s primary
responsibility is to protect residents’ interests and promote good
development in Brockton,” she says.
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Linda has been steadfast in her opposition to the proposed
gas-fired Power Plant off Oak Hill Way. She has joined with
neighbors, concerned citizens and business owners to make her
opposition clear to the state Siting Board, has consistently
objected to the plant developers’ efforts to remove local
oversight, and has repeatedly stated her unwillingness to provide
city wastewater to the plant. Linda will continue to fight the
plant on behalf of constituents.
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BFI’s efforts to reopen the East Bridgewater Landfill in 2004 were met
with staunch opposition from a coalition of Ward 4 and East
Bridgewater residents and Councilor Linda Balzotti. The citizens
successfully mounted a campaign to keep the billion-dollar trash
hauling company from reopening the health hazard known as “Mt.
Trashmore.”
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Linda worked with former Mayor John T. Yunits, Jr. to ensure that the
upgrades to the city’s Wastewater Treatment Plant would also address
neighborhood concerns and odor issues that had long affected the
quality of life in the area.
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Linda’s main focus has always been her constituents: she
advocates tirelessly for those without a voice by standing up
against bad businesses like the power plant and standing up for
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ones like the
Grove Street Brightfield Project. She is a frequent visitor to
Planning, Zoning and License Board meetings, helping her constituents
to embrace good development and address issues that reduce the quality
of life in neighborhoods. When she sees a need in the community she
works without rest to address it, like the traffic light she had
installed at Main Street and Sargent’s Way. When three bridges
in Ward 4 were all being repaired simultaneously, Linda was the
councilor who coordinated efforts with the Fire Department to make
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proper fire protection for residents in the area. Her
efforts continued, and she worked with other councilors to reinstitute
Engine Company 4 to protect east side residents. Throughout her
career on the City
Council she has also worked with the Brockton Interfaith
Community in supporting the creation of in-fill housing for
working families and she has also been successful in having
scores of badly-damaged streets repaired for the good of city
residents. |
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