To the editor:

For the past few months, while campaigning with Liana Cassar and Jordan Jancosek, I knocked on doors all over Barrington and connected with residents about our local priorities and concerns. I talked with neighbors about confronting climate change and making Barrington more resilient to its effects; the need for more sidewalks, bike lanes, and safer streets; and our mutual concerns about affordability, for Barrington’s seniors, young families, and for everyone. In conversation after conversation, I reiterated my support for collaborative governance. 

Thank you, Barrington, for talking with me openly and honestly, for sharing your thoughts with me, and for electing me to the Barrington Town Council. I am grateful to everyone who supported me – who donated to my campaign, who hosted a sign, and who canvassed around town on my behalf. As a first-time candidate, your support was empowering and immensely appreciated.

In a polarized country, during a contentious national election, Barrington coalesced to speak definitively on many things. Barrington chose to make our budgeting process more democratic by approving an all-day financial town referendum. Barrington chose to focus funding on improving our athletic fields but not through the installation of synthetic turf. Barrington joined others in the state to support housing affordability, higher education, improving the environment, and supporting arts and cultural facilities. These votes tell me that Barrington aligns with the platform on which I and the other Democrats ran. 

It will be a true honor to represent Barrington and to serve our town for the next four years. Thank you again – I’m ready to get to work.

Kerry O’Neill

Barrington