Four at-large Boston city councilors and four challengers are all vying for votes on Tuesday.
Let’s start with the list of incumbents, which includes current City Council President Ruthzee Louijeune, Julia Mejia, Erin Murphy and Henry Santana. We spoke with each of them about what they see as their accomplishments over the last two years.
“I’ve led the council, even through challenging moments, these last two years, and tried to be a really rock-steady hand for the body,” said Louijeune.
“In under five years, our office managed to pass over 20 pieces of legislation that we led or cosponsored,” said Mejia.
“Lifting up the voices of the residents and using the role of the city council,” said Murphy.
“We hired more youth than any other city councilor this past summer,” said Santana.
All four weighed in on critical issues facing the city, including housing and how best to stimulate more building and investment.
“A building that’s no longer being used as a school, and it’s no longer being used for whatever city purpose, that we’re saying that we want affordable housing to be the preferred use,” said Louijeune.
“I’m the only city councilor that’s on the ballot initiative for rent control,” said Mejia.
“Making sure that the residents, labor, business, small business owners, everyone feels as though they’re part of the decision-making,” said Murphy.
“How do we legalize triple deckers? How do we legalize ADUs? My first order of business on the Boston City Council was ‘How do we look into mixed-income social housing?'” said Santana.
We caught up with all the at-large candidates, including challengers Frank Baker, Will Onuoha, Marvin Mathelier and Alexandra Valdez.
NBC10 Boston also spoke with the four challengers hoping to achieve a seat at City Hall. Frank Baker, Will Onuoha, Marvin Mathelier and Alexandra Valdez all bring a wide range of experience to the table and believe they could help the body tackle big issues.
“I’d like to maybe play a leadership role there, maybe one of a mentorship — as much as they’ll let me,” said Baker, a former councilor who represented District 3 for 12 years.
“Councilmembers dodging meetings, not taking votes on Mass. and Cass, and not really addressing the deep issues that are of deep concern to Bostonians,” said Onuoha.
“I’ve spoken with a lot of people — they feel like they have a disconnect with their city councilors and City Hall,” said Mathelier.
“We need people who are committed, and also people who understand what it is that residents are going through in their everyday lives,” said Valdez.
We asked each candidate about the issue of housing and how they would accelerate progress if elected.
“It shouldn’t take, from the time of inception to time you’re building, two or three years to get a shovel in the ground,” said Baker. “Let’s get rid of some of that bureaucracy.”
“I know that some of them have supported rent control, which is not the answer,” said Onuoha. “There’s a reason why the state got rid of it in 1994.”
“How do we go ahead and cut the red tape when it comes to our zoning process so we’re able to build more?” asked Mathelier.
“We need to get creative, we need to think about core purchasing programs to allow families to purchase homes together,” said Valdez.
For more of the incumbents and challengers thoughts on issues like Mass. and Cass, series the video attached to this article. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m. on Nov. 4.
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