Bradford Paul

FAVORITE MEMORIES OF WILLIAMS

Winter Study: Patterson, N.J. (1969), and London (1972) with Profs. Stocking & Pierson.

WMS-WCFM, trivia contests, hitchhiking, old Williams Inn
Roommates: Steele, Friedman, Hannum, Feder, Clark, Haklisch, Fullerton; Wendy Wilkins in North Adams after graduation.

Professors: Gates, Winston, Hyde, Stoddard, Greene, Pierson, Satterthwaite, Rudolph, Gaudino, Stocking, Dalzell.

Independent study work in historic preservation with Prof Pierson led to summer job in Boston junior year and my first job after graduation doing preservation work in North Adams.

WILLIAMS CLUBS / ACTIVITIES

WMS-WCFM, Williams Record, Williams Advocate, Grand Duchy of Fenwich trivia team

CURRENT INTERESTS, PASSIONS, AND ORGANIZATIONS

I love my job at the Association of Bay Area Governments and Metropolitan Transportation Commission helping Bay Area’s 101 cities/9 counties address regional housing, transportation, climate, and economic challenges. We recently created Bay Area Housing Finance Authority to address affordable housing/homelessness at regional level. Until he left for college last fall, I enjoyed spending weekends at car events in SF and LA with my son, Alec. Lately I’ve been spending time helping organizations in my hometown, Fall River, Mass., with restoration and economic revitalization projects (see below).

LIFE SINCE GRADUATION

A lot has changed for me and my family since our 45th reunion five years ago:

I went from being the acting director of the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) to becoming the deputy executive director of newly combined staff (300+) of both ABAG and Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC).

MTC and ABAG lead regional planning and funding efforts related to transportation, housing, land use, climate resilience, and economic recovery. I was recently put in charge of creating the new Bay Area Housing Finance Authority, which may soon have $1 billion a year (for 10 years) to spend on creating affordable housing across the region. I love my job.

My wife, Erin, transitioned from producing documentaries to pitch to Netflix and Amazon to renovating mid-century homes after Hollywood and the rest of society shut down during Covid.

Our son, Alec, went from 8th grade to his 1st year at Franklin University in Lugano, Switzerland. He misses our dogs, Astro and Oscar . . . and us.

Erin’s latest renovation project has been the mid-century house we recently bought in Bel Marin Keys in Novato, Calif., a 1960s planned community built around man-made salt-water lagoons that connect to San Francisco Bay by locks.

Members of our class are always welcome to visit and stay aboard our floating backyard guesthouse/ boat, where you wake up to heron, ducks, pelicans, seagulls, and waves lapping the shore.

I continue to develop an idea that was inspired by our Williams reunions—testing whether the alumni association model can be adapted to reconnect successful, creative people with the struggling hometowns they left behind and encourage them to invest their energy, time, resources, and connections to help these older industrial cities reinvent themselves.

A few years ago, I began piloting this idea in my own hometown of Fall River, Mass., a former industrial powerhouse that’s been slowly coming back due to its proximity to Boston, cheap residential and commercial real estate, low taxes, historic downtown, and natural beauty. I now volunteer my time to help restore and reopen historic St. Anne’s Church in the heart of Fall River and to preserve and grow the Corky Row Club, the oldest Irish American bar and social hall outside of Boston. It’s been a community institution and local gathering place since 1934. My dad grew up in the Corky Row neighborhood and first took me to both of these places in the 1950s.

Looking forward to seeing everyone at our 50th.