Mandi Jo Hanneke For Amherst Town Council

2025 Amherst Town Council Racial and Social Justice Candidate Questionnaire

Co-sponsored by and

Response of Mandi Jo Hanneke, candidate for Town Council, At-Large

Thank you to Valley Families for Palestine and Western Mass Showing Up for Racial Justice for requesting information about our positions on a wide range of topics. Because support for any piece of legislation depends on the specific wording of the legislation, I cannot respond to these questions with a “yes” or “no”. However, I can discuss the legislative proposals I have co-sponsored over the last seven years that relate to housing, climate justice, racial justice, policies for the working class, and education.

As can be seen, I do not just talk about what needs done, I work to make it happen by proposing the legislation. Many candidates and councilors are passive participants in their support of issues – lending their vote when a policy is in front of them but not proposing solutions and ushering them through the legislative process. I don’t wait – I see an issue and actively propose a solution.

Housing, land use & climate justice

I co-sponsored the following legislation relating to housing and tenant protections:

• Implementing a Transfer Fee on real-estate sales to direct money raised to affordable and attainable housing projects and municipal operating expenses that result from increased housing development
• Zoning reform to lower barriers to building two and three-family dwellings and townhomes, which studies have shown would decrease the costs of building housing, making housing more attainable; this proposal directly led to the creation of the University Drive Overlay District in Amherst
• Rental housing reform, requiring independent inspections of rental housing, thereby ensuring that rental homes are safe for residents to live in
• Resolution supporting state legislation imposing fees on real estate sales to provide more funding for affordable housing and climate adaptation infrastructure
• Resolution supporting state legislation providing a right to an attorney in eviction cases and sealing eviction court records to promote housing access

In addition to the legislation I have sponsored regarding housing and climate justice, I voted for the following policies, projects, and funding:

• Community Choice Aggregation, creating municipal control of the purchase of electricity
• Increased funding for roads and sidewalks
• Elementary School Building and Jones Library, removing the use of fossil fuels from three buildings and creating two climate-resilience hubs
• Adoption of Climate Action Goals, including carbon neutrality by 2050
• Multiple capital projects transitions buildings away from fossil fuel use
• Adoption of the Specialized Energy Code

Policing, Criminalization & Racial Justice

I co-sponsored the following legislation and resolutions relating to racial justice:

• Surveillance Technology Oversight, to ensure transparency to the public and policy limits on the use of technically
• Facial Recognition Ban, banning the using of facial recognition technology which has been shown to discriminate against minorities; this legislation was withdrawn when the state adopted a ban
• Resolution in Support of CRESS Program
• Resolution in Support of HR 40 / S 40 Bills in Congress, the bills that seek to establish national reparations

In addition to the legislation I have sponsored regarding racial justice, I voted for the following policies, projects, and funding:

• Creation of CRESS
• Reparations funding and committees
• Creation of DEI Department

Policies for the Working Class

In addition to the legislation already mentioned addressing affordable housing and climate justice, I co-sponsored the following legislation and resolutions aimed at helping the working class:

• Wage and Tip Theft bylaw, focusing on hospitality industries to ensure employees know their rights and creating a complaint resolution process
• Responsible Employer and Tax Relief Agreement bylaw, focusing on construction employers to ensure compliance with wage laws and prohibit using public money to benefit employers who haven’t complied in the past
• Ensuring Safe Access to Legally-Protected Reproductive and Gender Affirming Health Care bylaw, protecting individuals accessing both abortions and gender-affirming care in Amherst
• Resolution Supporting Acts Establishing Medicare for All for Massachusetts Residents, in both 2023 and 2025

Education

I sponsored legislation that would have allowed school buses to install camaras to be able to ticket vehicles that do not stop while students are boarding and de-boarding school buses; unfortunately, the Council did not support it. I plan to re-introduce the legislation if re-elected.

I have always voted in support of capital spending requested by the Regional School Committee for capital investments in the regional schools, and I co-sponsored a resolution regarding the track & field project.

It is not disputed that state funding for K-12 education is woefully inadequate. As a Councilor, I have supported advocacy and testimony at the state house about both the level of funding and need for reform, particularly of the Charter funding formula and the Chapter 70 formula.

Many of the survey questions relate to educational policy. These policy issues are the purview of the Amherst School Committee and Amherst Regional School Committee.

Human Rights, Democracy, and the Budget

I co-sponsored the Resolution in Support of a Ceasefire in Gaza and the Resolution in the Wake of the Hamas Attack on Israel. As stated above, I also co-sponsored legislation protecting access to healthcare for LGBTQ+ residents in Amherst.

I have testified twice at state legislative hearings in support of the Ranked-Choice Voting legislation the Council passed, urging the legislature to adopt the Special Act and allow Amherst to implement RCV.

I approach budgeting decisions wholistically. To address our budget struggles, we must begin conversations earlier, be open about the options, be willing to change past practices, and be willing to make legislative changes that would increase the possibility of developers building commercial property in Amherst. We cannot shy away from these conversations, which will be hard, because they necessarily deal with trade-offs regarding services (ending some, increasing others) and development (compromising on building to create a stronger economy and less burden on residents). There simply isn’t enough money to do it all, while maintaining strong budgeting and fiscal protections. The entire town must be part of the conversation, and we must all approach the conversation believing that everyone has the best interests of the Town and residents in mind.