My name is Chris Cerino, and I am running for Mayor of Chestertown. I came to this community during Memorial Day Weekend in 1992 when I attended my very first Chestertown Tea Party Festival. While walking the streets that day, I learned about the wonderful environmental education programs at Echo Hill Outdoor School, managed to talk myself into a job, and have lived in Kent County ever since.
In the 21 years that followed, I married my wife Michelle, purchased a home in Chestertown, raised two young sons, and created educational programs for the schooner Sultana that have reached over 60,000 students. This has been a wonderful place to raise a family, and I continue to be captivated by the region’s beautiful scenery, historic and cultural heritage, pristine waterways, and outdoor recreational opportunities.
For the past four years, I have volunteered hundreds of hours of my time serving as Chairman of the Chestertown Planning Commission. In this capacity, I helped lead efforts to update the community’s zoning ordinance and Comprehensive Plan.
During this process the Commission examined every nook and cranny of the town, analyzed the unique strengths and challenges faced by its different neighborhoods, commercial areas, and industrial centers, and charted a course for their future. As Mayor, I would be honored to have the opportunity to implement some of the initiatives spelled out in this document. Foremost among these is working collaboratively with Washington College to develop a waterfront walk that stretches from High Street all the way to Radcliffe Creek, providing local residents with unprecedented access to the Chester River while promoting heritage tourism and strengthening our downtown marketplace. If executed properly, this could be a transformative initiative for Chestertown.
Chestertown is a unique community with a fantastic quality of life. That said, we are at an important crossroads and need visionary leadership to chart a course for our economic future. More than ever before, local leaders need to work together with the business community to examine ways to promote economic vitality, entrepreneurship, and job creation.
Chestertown needs to aggressively market its strengths as a destination for hunting, fishing, boating, biking, heritage tourism, and the arts. Finally, we need to promote residential growth within the town’s boundaries so that we can grow responsibly without compromising our identity. I hope that you will join me in making this vision a reality, and look forward to seeing you at the polls on November 5th!
For more detailed information on my Platform, please visit www.chriscerinomayor.org.
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