To the Editor:
Back in my days serving you as a county commissioner, I frequently wrote letters to the editor. For me, a core part of public service was being accessible, transparent, and candid with you. I felt as though it was my responsibility to know where the community stood, and make sure that the community knew where I stood. For these exact reasons, I am so excited to support Arielle Reid Faria’s campaign for state representative, and ask that you join me in voting for her on Sept. 3.
As we are all well aware, the issue of housing remains an existential threat to our way of life on Martha’s Vineyard. Our teachers, first responders, medical staff, and other essential workers need more housing. Our young people — the next generation of Islanders — need more housing. Our elder population, which has seen the Island transform immensely over the decades, needs more housing.
Arielle knows this fight, and she knows it well. She has been a key leader in the effort to establish an Island Housing Bank, forging deep and lasting relationships with hundreds of Vineyarders. Her work on housing alone is more than enough to earn my support.
But perhaps even more important than her policy positions is her commitment to transformational change. Simply put, Arielle is not a political insider. In Massachusetts, the divide is usually not between Democrats and Republicans; Democrats control more than 80 percent of State House seats. Instead, the divide is between ladder climbers and backslappers, and insurgents like Arielle.
For far too long, Massachusetts politics has been about who you know, not what you believe. This has led to bad policymaking — inflated salaries for certain legislative “leaders,” backroom dealmaking outside the public eye, and last-minute legislative sessions dragging on until sunrise.
What separates Arielle in this race is that she will stand up to entrenched power on Beacon Hill, and demand badly needed legislative reforms. In a state where corruption and dysfunction have too often been the norm, Arielle will fight for a new status quo.
And finally, I am supporting Arielle because it is long past due that the Island be represented by one of us. As the largest part of this district, Martha’s Vineyard deserves a leader who prioritizes our needs, and is intimately aware of our unique political landscape. Arielle, just like all of us, has seen friends move off-Island because they couldn’t afford housing, been stuck in a ferry line wondering why we can’t get our car home when the boat’s only half-full, or sat in unending traffic because our antiquated transport system isn’t built for the summer rushes.
Arielle Reid Faria will be a terrific representative because she already represents the best of who we are as Islanders. She works every day, like so many of us, to improve and grow our community. She shows up. She listens. She advocates. Arielle is the woman for this moment on our Island and in our state. I ask that you join me in supporting her campaign.
Keith Chatinover, former Dukes County commissioner
Edgartown
