Ruth Balser: A leader for today and the future

These are difficult times for our country, for Massachusetts and for Newton. People are worried about their jobs, their mortgage payments, their children’s future. We need a leader who has the vision to bring about responsible change and a proven record of making things happen. We need Ruth Balser as our next mayor.

I have known Ruth for more than 20 years. She is a friend. An ally. A dedicated public servant my family and I have counted on. And someone I wholeheartedly endorse for mayor.

Ruth’s achievements as an alderman and state legislator are impressive.

Thanks to Ruth’s leadership in response to the Boylston Street inferno, shoppers and office workers are protected by a new state law mandating more sprinkler use and safer buildings.

Thanks to Ruth’s action in the wake of a tragic bus accident involving Oak Hill Middle School students, Massachusetts’s children now benefit from increased school bus safety policies.

Thanks to Ruth’s work to find the necessary resources, Newton and its citizens benefit from preserving Hammond Pond, improving Echo Bridge, repairing fire stations, and protecting open space and historic structures at Chestnut Hill Waterworks.

Thanks to Ruth’s authorship of the measure as an alderman, Newton has the accessory apartment ordinance that allowed for urgently needed affordable housing.

And thanks to Ruth’s hard work, a wide range of bills she filed to improve education, health care, women’s rights and public safety have been signed into law.

But just as important as what Ruth has done is the way she did it — by seeking out divergent views, by bringing people together, by listening to the public. No secrecy. No closed doors. No edicts.

As a longtime resident of Newton, I have been troubled by the way City Hall has stopped listening to us. I am sure you have, too. Because of it, we have paid a steep price in wasteful spending and ill-considered projects and programs.

Ruth Balser doesn’t need to make promises about transparency and accountability as mayor — her entire public life has been built around those very principles. And they will guide her as she meets the challenges facing the new mayor.

Mayor Balser will bring Newtonians a revitalized — and open — City Hall, one that will modernize the budget process and create a master plan for maintaining the city’s crucial infrastructure. Newton will adopt modern performance-based budget assessments in the Balser administration and implement new management technologies.

Mayor Balser’s city government will be responsive to your needs, whether it is fixing a pothole or serving the elderly. “Customer service” will be a top priority of the Balser administration. She will seek and solicit public input on ways to do things better and make sure that all reasonable policy alternatives are explored.

She also will create a “311” citizens call center. When Ruth is mayor, no one in Newton will have any doubt about whom to call about a problem: You can call the mayor.

Our schools are at the heart of why so many people choose to live in Newton, and I know of no more tireless advocate for Newton’s public schools than Ruth Balser. Mayor Balser will ensure that we continue to have excellence in our schools while controlling our property taxes. But she will not coast on past glories; Mayor Balser will bring innovation to our educational system so that it will meet 21st-century needs.

Mayor Balser will demonstrate that city government can lead by example on the environment. She will declare Newton a “Green Zone,” step up recycling and energy efficiency programs, and reduce the city’s output of greenhouse gas. And save money as well as the planet — energy efficiency and improved resource management can add up to millions in savings for the city. She will explore the use of solar and wind power.

Mayor Balser also will make sure Newton is a great place in which to grow old. She will improve city services for seniors and work on programs that citizens who have lived in Newton all their lives can remain Newtonians when they are elderly.

On Sept. 15, you have a chance to decide Newton’s future — and your future. Don’t entrust it to those who are all talk and no action; to those who promise a bright future without having ever delivered anything in the past; to those whose policies threaten the services and infrastructure that make Newton, Newton.

Vote for Ruth Balser, a leader for today and for the future.

Steve Grossman is CEO of Grossman Marketing Group, former chairman, Democratic National Committee, and a Newton resident.