Election for new district draws attention
All politics may be local, but sometimes local politics has a national resonance. That was the case with November’s election of Democratic State Representative Adrianne Ramos, who ran in a newly re-drawn 14th Essex House district where Christina Minicucci chose not to seek re-election.
The 14th district was previously centered on cities that tend to vote Democratic, but was extended east into towns that lean Republican. That was one obstacle facing Ramos. The other was the fact that her opponent, Joe Finn, had recently helped to lead an effective campaign against new development at Royal Crest Estates. His blue campaign signs could be seen everywhere in North Andover for months before the election.
But they turned out to be as much of an illusion as the Republican red wave that was supposed to sweep the nation.
Finn focused on the economy and Ramos ran on protecting reproductive rights, along with several other issues. The issues may be different in the next election, but this result showed that outcomes in the new 14th district will be hard to predict in the future.
Royal Crest draws attention
The proposed redevelopment of Royal Crest Estates was defeated by a wide margin at Town Meeting. The vote reflected residents’ concerns about the number of recent large developments in town, and about the scope of the project, which would have tripled the traffic from Royal Crest and raised its number of residents from 1,600 to 2,837.
There was also opposition to the fact that Merrimack College would end up owning 13% of the 76-acre parcel, and that construction would have lasted 8 to 10 years, displacing current residents and annoying abutters.
But voting the project down leaves the town vulnerable to hostile 40B developments, and leaves Merrimack College free to invoke the Dover Amendment, which allows nonprofits to ignore local zoning laws.
Where the proposal would have housed the Merrimack students who comprise half of Royal Crest’s population in two buildings, they now remain scattered throughout, provoking constant noise complaints. The town is also left losing money on the services it provides to Royal Crest, North Andover’s largest taxpayer. These and other issues will have to be faced in the future.
—Will Broaddus