Mary Frances was elected to the North Greenbush town board in 2017, the only Democrat in 8 years to win election to the North Greenbush town board.  Although she served only one term, Mary Frances had many accomplishments on the town board including the following:  

*Sponsoring a resolution that registered the town as a New York State Climate Smart Community;

 Earning grants to work with the Cornell Cooperative Extension to prepare a Climate Smart Resiliency Assessment and a Climate Smart Visioning statement;

*Working with Cornell Cooperative Extension and the town’s Climate Smart committee to earn Bronze Certification as a Climate Smart Community; 

*Establishing an Open Space Committee that has received funding to prepare a Natural Resources Inventory (NRI).   A basic draft of the NRI was completed;

*Sponsoring and enacting a local law increasing greenspace in new developments in town;

*Sponsoring and enacting a local law that requires recycling of water in car washes;

*Voting for legislation allowing marijuana dispensaries and on site consumption facilities in town;

*Advocating for hiring union workers on town projects;

*Working with the Police Chief on policing reforms.

 

Since Mary Frances left the board, many of the initiatives she championed have stagnated and the town is moving in the wrong direction. The Town has failed to move forward on initiatives to create a more sustainable community. In fact, the town has received a Notice of Violation from the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation for failing to implement appropriate stormwater management practices at a local development. Traffic and sprawl continue to grow and proper land use planning is non existent.

 

If elected, Mary Frances pledges to support development that promotes smart growth and walkable, bikeable communities.  She will work to enhance outreach to residents and restore transparency and ethics to town hall.

 

Mary Frances has lived in North Greenbush for 20 years with her husband Josh and has raised her three young adult children here.  She is an active community volunteer, having served as the president of Bell Top PTO and a girl scout leader.  She served on the board of the Commission on Economic Opportunity in Troy and until recently was a trustee of the North Greenbush public library.

 

Mary Frances is a graduate of Dartmouth College and The George Washington University Law School. She currently works at the New York State Department of Transportation where she has gained substantial expertise in transportation and land use matters.

 

You can learn more about Mary Frances at www.mfsaboforngboard.com and on social media at fb.com/mfsabofornorthgreenbush (facebook) and @mfsabongcouncil (twitter).