James held on to the lessons from those he met, and from an early age decided that his calling was the pursuit of social and economic justice. His activism further nurtured by the brothers at Xaverian High School, James went on to graduate from Harvard with honors where he was involved in numerous Democratic campaigns.
A troubling pattern is emerging. Seniors can’t afford to stay in the towns where they spent their whole lives, young people cannot afford to buy houses in the towns where they grew up, and many of the people working in small towns, especially young employees, cannot afford to live in the towns they serve. The entire Commonwealth has a severe shortage of affordable housing and we need multiple approaches that include investing in more affordable units, rethinking zoning, and incentivizing affordable construction.
Small towns want to contribute to the solution, but they need a voice at the table on Beacon Hill to ensure that new regulations take into account town size, infrastructure, and availability and access to town water and sewer systems.