A former Westbrook city councilor, incumbent Democrat Ann Peoples said she’s enjoyed her first term representing Westbrook from the House District 125 seat and would like to continue the works she’s started, particularly with the Transportation Committee.

Peoples, 62, is originally from Indiana, but as a “service brat” lived all over the country. She received her bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies from the University of California at Davis and works for Pine Tree Networks. With her husband Patrick, she has five children and five grandchildren and has lived in Westbrook for more than 30 years.

For communities in southern Maine, Peoples thought that passing the school consolidation law was “a no-brainer,” but she sees how it’s been a challenge for a lot of smaller towns in other parts of the state.

“If kids have to drive 50 miles to get to school, that’s pretty impracticable,” she said.

One “outside the box” idea Peoples has is to bring back the concept of the one-room schoolhouse, where students of all ages go to the same school and use the Internet to tailor their lessons.

“Over the next two years, we’ll come to some sort of consensus,” she said about the consolidation law in general.

Peoples said she’s “very supportive” of Dirigo Health, especially since 168 of her constituents depend on the program. She said she thinks funding through the new beverage tax is fair, considering in-state breweries aren’t affected by it.

“I’d hate to put 50 more cents on cigarettes,” she said, referring to a proposed tax on cigarettes that the Legislature did not impose last spring.

Peoples said she doesn’t support the Oxford County casino proposal because she doesn’t think casinos in general make for “good economic development,” which is what the county needs.

What does remain high on her priority list – and is something, she said, is essential for good economic development – is addressing the condidtion of the state’s roads and bridges.

Those infrastructure problems, she said, make it inefficient and expensive to ship goods, which discourages business development.

Peoples said she found out first-hand the effects of poor road conditions when she was set back $1,000 after driving over a pothole.

“Our infrastructure is so important,” she said. “Some of the roads are downright dangerous.”

Ann Peoples