hello my name is paul richter and i'm a candidate for a three year term on the belmont housing authority i want to thank the belmont media center for this opportunity to introduce myself and explain why i'm running for th of a town meeting member from precinct eight and i'm running in a town wide race for the first time i'm enjoying the chance to meet the voters of belmont i'm actually a belmont native although my family moved to arlington when i was four years old and that's where i grew up i came back to belmont in two thousand and ten when my wife ellen sugarman and i bought a house on cross street near the wynn brooks school we love living in belmont professionally i'm a programmer i work for a software company called medi tech we create information systems for hospitals and i work in westwood there are three reasons why i'm running for housing authority commitment experience and creative solutions the first reason i'm running is my commitment to safe clean affordable housing affordable housing is a value not just to the residents but to the entire town this is an important part of the fabric of our community the belmont housing authority manages about two hundred sixty units of public housing most of it in three complexes that provide housing for low income seniors veterans people with disabilities and families priority in placement is given to those with belmont connections so this can allow residents to stay in town if their circumstances change not only these residents benefit  housing counts toward the number of affordable housing units in belmont until we reach the state mandate of ten percent affordable housing developers can use chapter forty b of massachusetts law to bypass zoning regulations if they devote a portion of their project to affordable housing the complex being built in the uplands against the town's wishes is a recent example the second reason i'm running for housing authority is my depth of experience serving a nonprofit boards i've served for twenty five years on various boards quitting ten years on the national board of the unitarian universalists association i've chaired boards i've chaired finance committees i've chaired search committees i've served on large boards and small boards i've got a huge variety of experience in this area my board experience has taught me several lessons about leadership one is that in today's world changes inevitable any board needs to be open to evolving to accomplish its mission standing still and doing things like we've always done them is often not an option another lesson is that it's crucial in any organization for board and staff to understand the roles the board has a crucial role in setting policy and crew trolling the strategic direction of the organization but the board also need to needs to trust the staff to make the day to day decisions that it needs to yet another lesson is that every member can and needs to take a leadership role this is particularly true on a small board like the housing authority the third reason i'm running is that i want to use my commitment and experience to help forge creative solutions that make a difference in people's lives this is where my professional skills as a programmer come in writing software is about assessing problems breaking down the issues into their component parts and systematically devis creative solutions for them now the income how low income families trying to make ends meet are not ones and zeroes but i contend that the discipline of working through a problem and finding a creative solution requires similar skills and i definitely have those i am sure that my commitment experience and ability to forge creative solutions make me an ideal candidate for belmont housing authority please consider a vote for paul rector on tuesday april five thank you