Effective city councilor deserves your vote for state representative (Letter)

I’ll be voting for Bridget Matthews-Kane for state representative this fall in the 4th Hampden District. A native of Westfield, Bridget is now in her third term on Westfield’s City Council. Bridget has shown herself to be a helpful, communicative and hard-working leader; her experience and results-oriented approach on behalf of her constituents will make her an ideal representative for us all.

I met Bridget when she was researching the Complete Streets program of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. She listened to the details of my father’s untimely death, the result of a fatal truck-bicycle collision in Westfield. She was attentive and empathetic, but even more importantly, she was resolved to lead in the thoughtful implementation of tangible steps to solve safety problems and improve everyone’s quality of life.

I found her to be a doer, a problem-solver, and passionate about working on behalf of all people as an energetic difference-maker in municipal government. Westfield’s City Council adopted Bridget’s Complete Streets proposal and Westfield obtained significant grant funding to begin implementation, thanks to Bridget’s leadership from start to finish.