Candidate – George Darcy – League of Women Voters of Waltham

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Hello – My name is George Darcy. I am a life-long resident of the City of Waltham and graduate of the Waltham Public School system. I am the current Ward 3 City Councilor (from 2004 to present). I am now running for one of the 6 Councillor-At-Large seats.

In my 20 years on the CIty Council as the Ward 3 City Councillor, I am most happy for the following accomplishments:

Supported renovation of 3 playgrounds in Ward 3 (Graverson, Falzone & Elsie Turner)
Sponsored 8 successful land acquisitions totalling 274 acres of newly protected open space.
Sponsored 6 successful open space rezonings from Residential to Conservation/Recreation zoning district – totalling 114 acres.
Ensured the installation of Automatic Doors for all special permits – aiding people with mobility or disability issues.
Sponsored the UMASS Field Station Acquisition resolution (2022).
Supported 1 mile of new concrete sidewalks & granite curbs along Trapelo Rd. (2019)
Created a new 6-acre Wellington Fields wildflower meadow and walking paths (2022).

EDUCATION

Graduate of the Waltham Public School System
B.S. degree in Computer Engineering from Boston University cum laude

WORK EXPERIENCE

I have worked as an engineer for many hi-tech companies including Digital Equipment, Compaq Computer, Hewlett-Packard, Fast Search & Transfer, Asasa and the Harvard/Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge.

I am the co-founder of the Waltham Land Trust (www.walthamlandtrust.org) and was a former Board of Director for Healthy Waltham (www.healthwaltham.org).

HOBBIES

My hobbies include gardening, reading, piano, biking, hiking and learning foreign languages. I also have a beautiful Calico companion cat named “Raina”.

What do you love most about Waltham?

Great question. There are multiple things that I love about Waltham. Its diversity, its wonderful restaurants, its beautiful open spaces (Prospect Hill Park, Storer Conservation Area, Wellington Fields, etc…), beautiful estates (Paine, Lyman and Gore), beautiful parks and recreational areas, the Charles River Walkway, the Western Greenway, Hardy Pond and most importantly the wonderful people that I have met – each with their own personal story.

What would you change if you could?

Understandably I have a long list of potential changes to make Waltham a better city, but here are just a few…

Adding synchronized and adaptive traffic signal technology to all major intersections to reduce traffic, congestion and associated pollution.
Removing the onerous Infiltration & Inflow (I&I) fees impacting new local businesses.
Encouraging more quality retail businesses to locate to Moody and the downtown.
Installing new north/south pedestrian & bicycle paths connecting to the new Central Mass Rail Traill.
Placing all utilities underground, neighborhood by neighborhood, for safety & aesthetics.
Supporting a holistic, community-based, redevelopment of the entire 196-acre Fernald site, not a piecemeal solution.

What is one burning issue you plan to address if elected?

The one burning issue in my mind as mentioned previously above is our outdated traffic signals. All traffic signals in Waltham need to be synchronized and they need to have adaptive technology installed to change their traffic signal timings in real time based upon current traffic load.