Allan Grauberd, Board of Finance

According to the Democratic Town Committee, Allan Grauberd, a Board of Finance member since 2013, is a partner at the law firm of Moses & Singer, "chairing the firm’s Securities and Capital Markets practice, with expertise in structuring debt, equity financing transactions, accounting concepts, and financial statements." He and his wife have lived in Weston since 2001, and have two children. He responded to Weston Today's questions in an interview.

Why are you running?

"I feel a responsibility. There are big issues to address in town, the biggest being how Weston is perceived in terms of property values. The question is how to keep them from declining further and get them healthy again."

What is on the table?

"We need to be less inflexible and more willing to adapt. Sometimes people are too unwilling to accept change, even when it helps them. We all want to preserve what we have, but an anti-change emphasis becomes torture when it goes too far."

"So many good ideas for improvements are just common sense. We need to get them done. Who thinks it's a good idea to have a bus depot be the first thing you see when you come into Weston? Why is prime real estate being used that way?"

"We don't have to change the character of town to make it a better place to live and more attractive to new families and second home buyers. We only have to be more flexible. The town needs a bit more vibrancy and willingness to try things. We need to be more nimble. Change doesn't have to be scary."

"I see things like building sidewalks, possibly having more retail, and having more amenities as positives. On the Board of Finance, we've worked hard to keep tax increases below the rate of inflation and keep the school budget tight. It's also important to invest in infrastructure."

"The roads are just as important as the schools. We learned this year that assumptions about road maintenance were not necessarily the case. Bringing in a consultant was the right call, and we will have to look at bonding to bring the roads up to where they should be."

What do you bring to the table?

"Street smarts. An ability to look at the big picture. The ability to ask good questions to focus on the bigger picture. I'm big on directness. As an attorney, I think it also helps that I can give a lawyer's perspective on the town's financial issues."