For Ward 5 candidate interviews click here or scroll below the at-large candidates interviews.
The Daily is conducting interviews with City Council candidates ahead of the municipal election on Nov. 4 where residents will be able to choose up to four at-large candidates and one candidate for Ward 5. This story will be updated with additional interviews as they are completed. All interviews have been edited for length and clarity.
Tufts Daily (TD): What sets you apart from the other candidates in this race?
Scott Istvan (SI): The number one thing that I’m focused on right now is overhauling our permitting. I think there’s a lot of folks in this race who have a great, broad knowledge and support all the right progressive policies … and obviously these are all things that I support and want to advance as well. But what I’m actually going to drive forward and get into office is permitting.
One of the things, as I’ve been talking to voters, that I’ve found is a lot of frustration in all aspects of our permitting process. … For small businesses trying to get off the ground. It’s very expensive to hire the architects and lawyers that you need to get through our permitting process here in the city, so that lends itself more towards big businesses or developers. … Or for homeowners, I’ve talked to a bunch of folks who’ve tried to expand their home so that the family could age in place, or have a new bedroom for a new kid. Even just trying to redo a patio has been prohibitively expensive and snowballed in cost because of the hassle of permitting in the city. My number one promise to the voters is, if you elect me, we are going to overhaul our permitting system so that it works for regular people.
Beyond that, my background is: I am a software engineer. I do comedy. I am also a former bartender, and I ran a small business for a number of years. I think that those also highlight some of my priorities. My on-ramp to local advocacy was street safety. I was, for a number of years before the pandemic, an everyday bike or transit commuter, and so keenly aware of the challenges there. So one of my other priorities would be improving [that] experience.
At the end of the day, local government is about local issues, and we have so many challenges to deal with at home. I don’t want to get sidetracked by bigger national issues. [I want to] focus on what’s happening right here in Somerville. That means talking with people that I might not agree with, and dealing with people that have completely different views.
Jon Link (JL): I have been a community advocate for safe streets for a very long time now. I also am a volunteer for the Somerville Community Land Trust, which is one of the ways that I envisioned we can help to mitigate the problems of displacement in the city … I also have two kids in Somerville public schools. One of the things that I have made a big point about talking about is the Winter Hill Community [Innovation] School … I’m really focused on trying to get us a new school as quickly as possible. … We, the city, have to figure out ways to make this situation right … We’ve got a substandard school in terms of facilities.
I want to make sure that we’re coming up with some plans for … Davis Square. [There’s] the perception that it’s become a dangerous place. I don’t think it’s become a dangerous place, but I do know that there are still people there who are struggling with problems, whether that be homelessness or substance use disorder. … I think there’s some things that we can do there in ways that are actually more helpful and empathetic than just trying to … push people out [which] doesn’t remove the need for housing [or] the need for a space to be.
Marianne Walles (MW): I think what sets me apart is the fact that I’m a social worker and I have spent my life working with children and families in crisis and helping to get their basic needs met. … I’ve spent my entire life servicing Somerville residents, more on the social service aspects. I think that that gives me a different perspective on some of the needs of residents in Somerville. I’m an elected (by the membership) union leader and I think that also has a perspective [on] contracts and policy writing.
Ben Wheeler (BW): Something I think sets me apart in this field is my small business experience. I ran a small business [called Ada & Leo] for many years in education, [which included] hiring and training teachers; running classes for kids after school, on weekends and in summer programs and writing curriculum for school systems. I think in the course of small business work, when you’re making things that [are] not useful to people, they’re not going to pay for them. I think I learned over and over how wide the gap can be between the initial exciting idea for something and the version that finally is actually useful. [You learn] how many different steps [there are] along the way, how many different versions you have to go through and be sitting next to people and seeing what obstacles they’re encountering and adjusting in order for your solution to actually become a solution. … I think sometimes people who haven’t had that experience don’t realize how important it is to discount your initial confidence that your idea is a good one, or [will] be a useful one. I want to make sure that when we’re making policy, we’re staying humble about our own intentions and assumptions and staying laser focused on what the outcomes are.
Kristen Strezo (KS): I’m already in my role [as a city councilor] and doing the work. I’m proud to say that I have the proven track record of working hard for our Somerville community and getting things done. My close working relationship with community partners and advocates enables me to take action on matters that affect our residents most personally, including immigration, food insecurity, mobility and accessibility. I’ve earned the trust of our seniors by working closely with them throughout the years and showing up for them, so they know that when they share their experiences and worries with me, I’ll listen and take action.
I also bring a different perspective to the council. As a low-income single mom of two in the Somerville Public Schools, my lived experience informs my service to the city. I understand personally the challenges of getting kids the education they deserve and what families face navigating the special education system. I [also] understand the struggle of obtaining and living in affordable housing. I can relate to Somerville residents who must face the recertification process each year. ... I bring this approach to my service as a city councilor, and I fight hard for my constituents.
Will Mbah (WM): What I think sets me apart is that I come back as an experienced City Council member. [I understand] the routine functioning of our agencies, departments, programs and systems. … I have learned the necessity of [paying] close attention to what is already on the way and how our structures and programs are performing. I think that is a very clear indication as an incumbent: coming back to keep the momentum steady. Keep making those incremental improvements within the framework of our solid, progressive policies and plans.
I really think focused my campaign on the systemic powers that our City Council actually has. We have a lot of candidates campaign and talk about affordability. One of my big focuses is how we use the land use power that the council has to build more housing, but also to structure the future of Somerville housing to be the dense, affordable housing that has made Somerville an affordable community for decades previous, something that I actually think we’re actually failing on right now. The single biggest part of what I focused on is being one of the few candidates to be dedicated to transit-oriented upzoning to build more dense, low-cost units around transit stations and also to [cut] some of the permitting requirements that make building in Somerville so expensive and really limit who can build to the very well-connected or the very well-resourced.
I’ve been involved with work in the city government before, I’ve had the opportunity to serve on an advisory committee where I helped plan a lot of our green space upgrades. I’ve been on contracting committees for the city going through the RFP process. I’ve seen how the implementation of some of our city initiatives work… [For example], the City Council passed a native plant ordinance – who actually gets together and makes that happen? How do you actually make sure that the plants in the parks are changed? I’ve done that work. I’ve been a part of those efforts, and I’ve helped write the plans that got us there. I feel like that experience would be really helpful on the city council
Jack Perenick (JP): I really think focused my campaign on the systemic powers that our City Council actually has. We have a lot of candidates campaign and talk about affordability. One of my big focuses is how we use the land use power that the council has to build more housing, but also to structure the future of Somerville housing to be the dense, affordable housing that has made Somerville an affordable community for decades previous, something that I actually think we’re actually failing on right now. The single biggest part of what I focused on is being one of the few candidates to be dedicated to transit-oriented upzoning to build more dense, low-cost units around transit stations and also to [cut] some of the permitting requirements that make building in Somerville so expensive and really limit who can build to the very well-connected or the very well-resourced.
I’ve been involved with work in the city government before, I’ve had the opportunity to serve on an advisory committee where I helped plan a lot of our green space upgrades. I’ve been on contracting committees for the city going through the RFP process. I’ve seen how the implementation of some of our city initiatives work… [For example], the City Council passed a native plant ordinance – who actually gets together and makes that happen? How do you actually make sure that the plants in the parks are changed? I’ve done that work. I’ve been a part of those efforts, and I’ve helped write the plans that got us there. I feel like that experience would be really helpful on the city council.
TD: Somerville faces a lot of challenges around both infrastructure and housing affordability. What do you see as the city’s most pressing needs in these areas?
SI: Housing affordability’s [another] big part of why I’m running. I have a lot of friends who are in the arts and service [industries] who, every year, another group of them gets priced out of the city. But even friends who could afford to rent in the city have trouble finding housing here. I think we just don’t build enough housing as it stands. I’m also a big nerd when it comes to zoning and land use policy, and in 2019 the city did a big overhaul of our zoning code. I think that was an important step forward, but now that we’ve had a little bit of time to see that play out, I think there are some simplifications we can make and areas that we can zone to build even more housing than we currently have.
We have a version of an affordable housing overlay in the city as well, [where] you can build something bigger if the units are all below-market-rate affordable. But that applies to a very limited number of properties in the city. If we want to encourage the construction of affordable housing, that should apply anywhere in the city.
Then I would also like to see us up-zone our major corridors like Broadway, Highland Ave., Somerville Ave., that sort of thing. I’d like to possibly see up to six stories of mixed use, residential and first floor commercial by right, [allowed] without special permits needed.
JL: Displacement of people, houses, local businesses and culture … That, I think, is one of the biggest things. Also, as a city we have a long history of deferred maintenance. It’s why we have the problem with Winter Hill School [and] the problem with our sewers, where we're facing billions of dollars just to do this sewer separation project that we’ve been working on for a long while. Even though it's expensive, we really have to stop deferring maintenance quite so much.
…We can keep families here, and through things like the Somerville Community Land Trust … As a city, we’ve been putting money into that through the Affordable Housing Trust Fund. We need to keep on doing that and we’ve also been able to get them more money through things like community benefits agreements with Somernova, for example. … We also obviously need just more housing in general … We need to make our zoning more permissive. We’ve got zoning where mixed-use doesn’t allow by right to have residential, which sounds insane to me. … [We need to look] at our squares, our transit-oriented development, so upzoning around there and doing it with affordability bonuses … It’s trying to make the math work better for developers so that they can offer more affordable housing and still have it so that it’s enticing enough to keep them developing.
MW: Affordability is a huge issue. It’s not just about housing affordability, but it’s also about earning the wages to help affordability. With housing affordability, I am a candidate that supports rent stabilization. I understand that there’s not been a lot of home production over the years, but home production takes a long time. We need a quicker path, which is through rent stabilization. … I think transportation is definitely an issue. One of the things that I had talked about is free inter-bus services within the community, because although we have multiple different bus lines [and] T stops, it is actually not very accessible to all residents. There are many gaps within the city. So when we talk about reducing car traffic, then we need to put something in place in order for people to move about the city. I think a free inter-city bus service would help with that.
BW: Housing affordability is my single most important issue. I think Somerville needs to be a leader in the region in producing more housing. Both subsidized affordable housing and market-rate housing are necessary to at least improve the situation around housing. … To get people who are not in housing into housing, we need more [of it]. It can feel useless for new housing to be built, because so much of that new housing is expensive and has pricey rents. [But] even housing like that does help take away some of the pressure on other places that people live. There are [numerous] proposals, many of them at the state level, that would both invest more money in housing on a number of different levels and ease the restrictions that keep housing in our entire region from people …
In terms of infrastructure — that’s a really serious challenge for Somerville. We have aging buildings, a lot of them [are] school buildings. We have a more than century-old sewer infrastructure, where we’ve made tremendous progress in the last decade in redoing parts of our underground plumbing systems in parts of the city. … We have to stop, during storms, letting our sewage go into the Mystic River during storms, which is environmentally destructive. … Then there are issues like the need for at least one new school, because we have an entire parent and student population who commute, often well out of their neighborhood, to other school buildings. The Winter Hill School building really needs to be replaced and updated. We have to make a decision on that as soon as possible so that families aren’t waiting longer than they have to.
KS: Building more units, zoning and permitting are just some of the tools we can use to address the infrastructure and housing affordability problem — but they are not standalone solutions. Many more factors need to be addressed to get to the root of the issue. Many residents are struggling to stay in Somerville because of the high cost of rent and the lack of realistic solutions. This call to action is what prompted me to run for city councilor, at large many years ago. Since becoming a councilor, I [have continuously worked to advance] affordable housing initiatives, from incentivizing Accessory Dwelling Unit production [and] Section 8 expansion [to] sustaining funding for the Municipal Voucher program, supporting the city’s Office of Housing Stability [and] expanding family housing units, [among] many other creative approaches. I will continue this work. At the state level, I continue to support rent stabilization, tenants’ right to purchase and other state legislation that helps address our statewide housing crisis. And it’s not just about rentals and renting; homeownership can be a pathway to true housing stability, and [it’s] often unattainable for many in Somerville. Low-income first-time homeownership opportunities must be explored as part of the housing conversation.
WM: Affordability is one big piece, and it’s really an escalation of cost that is impacting every factor of housing production: maintenance, transactions, occupancy, as well as [the] cost for essential public services. More and more people [are] seeing how our residents, including many long-term residents, can no longer afford rent or the costs of ownership. … One of [my] biggest achievements [in my first term of City Council] was to create the Office of Housing Stability. It’s [been] really helpful to stabilize families that are facing difficulties. … Now that APA is gone, some of these programs are gonna just be cut off. My main goal has always been: How do we continue to fund [these] programs through general funds?
I’ve also imposed regulatory actions to ensure fair dealings in all aspects of development, like real estate, including compensation or assistance to tenants who need to find a replacement for housing. … We don’t want people to continue to use [our] city as an investment city at the expense of our residents. … We must continue to gain new municipal authority from the state legislature and find workable systems of rent stabilization and also reasonable real estate transfer fees. Once we include that careful work with oversight and persistent testing to find areas where existing operations and regulation fall short, it’s very easy to do all these things and then reassess to see what is working, and what isn't working.
JP: I’ve been involved with a lot of the affordable housing coalitions statewide that have taken action here. One of the most important things to note is that Somerville needs to continue to build new housing, in addition to the rest of the state continuing to build more housing … Because other communities are not doing their part, living in Somerville is getting even more acutely expensive. We’re suffering some of the worst effects of the Massachusetts housing crisis and so we in particular would benefit from more housing. Particularly, the kind of housing that allows for mobility, so that seniors who are aging in place can afford to move to new locations to make sure that new residents can continue to come into the city, that families can grow in the city. I think, unfortunately, right now we don’t have a lot of mobility in our housing market and that means that young families that are expanding, they’re having their second kid, can’t find a place large enough for them to live, but you also have a lot of seniors who can’t afford to sell their home. Adding new capacity and new variety to the housing markets is really important for me.
TD [for Istvan]: What was the small business you worked on?
SI: Like I said, I was a bartender. I ran an event bartending service. I would hire myself and others out to weddings, retirement parties, house parties, things like that. … I have a dream of someday opening up a neighborhood establishment of some sort, perhaps a wine bar/cabaret theater. … I was looking at what it would take to do that, and I’d love to be a part of the community of Somerville, but our permitting process is so prohibitive. I can’t float two years of a commercial lease while waiting for permits to come back.
TD: Is there anything else that you want people to know about you or anything else you’d like to add?
SI: I think that’s the bulk of it. … I am a Tufts alum, and I fell in love in Boston. … [I] fell in love [with] Somerville while I was here and I’ve just stuck around ever since. I think Somerville has given me a lot as a city, and so I see this as a way to get involved and support the community that I really love.
JM: It’s been a humbling and extraordinarily exciting campaign. I’ve got to meet a lot of folks, a lot of my neighbors, and hear from so many different people that I otherwise would never have talked to. I think that’s what’s great about local politics. Being able to know your neighbors and have real change is incredibly important, and I think that’s why local politics is more important than ever now because of what’s going on.
WM: [There’s] been a surge of unhoused people in Davis Square, and I’ve spoken to [Somerville] community members around the area, attended a lot of meetings and had some conversations with people. It’s really like a broad consensus that we have not been striking the right balance on these issues. The community has a strong desire to help the people who are struggling with drug addiction and mental health issues, but doesn’t want us to tolerate their open drug use [or] any dangerous, threatening or anti-social behavior in our most heavily used public space. … It’s difficult for us on the City Council to prescribe specific [solutions], and our strategies may need to change over time.
What the Council [needs to do is] articulate to the administration that our constituents want to see a change in policy that prioritizes public safety, because I believe [the] No. 1 job for public officials is public safety. That ensures that Davis Square, Seven Hills Park [and] community parks that everybody [uses] and other cherished public spaces feel clean, safe and welcoming to everybody. … We need to hold everyone to reasonable standards of behavior. … I also think that it’s important to separate the issue of drug use and public safety, from the issue of homelessness, because they are related and overlapping, but they are not the same. There have always been unhoused people in Davis Square. They are generally law-abiding and are always harmless. They’re not the source of public safety threats. … We need to ensure that any enforcement steps we take are not directed at homeless people in general, but rather respond to the actions and behaviors of specific individuals that make this [place] unwelcome for others.
For years, Somerville has been like living proof that it is possible for a city to be fiercely progressive and compassionate to the most vulnerable among us without devolving into a place that is unsafe, unlivable for anyone else. So, I just want to make sure that we don’t lose sight of that magic formula.
JP: I’ll say one of the big things that I’m focused on is rodent control issues, really getting to the root cause of why we have so many rats in Somerville, that is that we have a lot of waste from commercial establishments that doesn’t get properly collected. I really want to make sure that we’re enforcing our ordinance and increasing the fines on commercial properties who don’t do proper waste disposal. I want to see us do citywide composting so that we can get more food out of the trash supply and really bring down the rodent population, because I know that’s something that really affects the quality of life and health of a lot of people in the city.
[Rats] are just running around everywhere, and part of the problem is that you can’t have a big box everywhere. You can’t do traps everywhere. You really have to crack down on the source of where they’re all coming from. That’s really a city obligation, because you can have 90% of people on a block doing a perfect job keeping food waste out of place. If you have one big location that’s giving them tons of food they’re able to reproduce and then suddenly you have a huge number of rats. So it’s really something that the city has to work on.
Ward 5
Editor's Note: Naima Sait's did a written interview in correspondence with the Daily. Any grammatical or clerical changes are bracketed.
Tufts Daily (TD): What sets you apart from other candidates in this race, and why should Somerville voters choose you?
Jason Mackey (JM): I live the same challenges my neighbors face: housing costs, I'm a renter, parking, small business red tape. I own a small business, I’ve been a startup founder myself … I’ve spent the last few years not just talking about inclusion, but practicing it; building bridges between communities that don't always talk with each other. Most candidates talk about what the city should do. I’ve actually had to make it work, from navigating permitting issues and helping people deal with permitting issues with City Hall to managing teams and solving problems in real time. I think that I, more than anything else, can help bridge gaps and bring people to the table that don't usually work with each other, and solve problems that are pressing and immediate.
At the end of the day, local government is about local issues, and we have so many challenges to deal with at home. I don’t want to get sidetracked by bigger national issues. [I want to] focus on what’s happening right here in Somerville. That means talking with people that I might not agree with, and dealing with people that have completely different views.
Naima Sait (NS): I am running for re-election for [the] Ward 5 City Council [seat]. Being a first-generation immigrant, a former Somerville High School educator and a parent has helped inform my work as a City councilor.
In my first term, I worked to address a broad range of issues: [I] supported Somerville artists by promoting better understanding and more productive dialogue between the City Administration, Arts at the Armory, and community residents about the future of the Armory. [I] stood with our immigrant neighbors to live up to the promise of our Sanctuary City Commitment and [to] support statewide immigrant rights legislation like the Safe Communities Act and Immigrant Legal Defense Act. [I] advanced accessibility by working with the administration and interested City Councilors to successfully amend our zoning ordinances [allowing] residents to make their homes accessible by right rather than going through onerous zoning processes. [I] advanced many environmental initiatives, including a new ordinance requiring energy efficiency disclosures for renters, strengthening our Tree Preservation Ordinance, introducing a resolution that outlines a step-by-step plan to decarbonize our municipal buildings, extending yard waste pickup, and advocating for school composting. [I] advocated for transparency and better communication with parents regarding ongoing school improvement projects, [while expanding] youth and after-school programming.
TD: Somerville faces challenges around both infrastructure and housing affordability. What do you see as the city’s most pressing needs in these areas, and what specific steps would you take to address them?
JM: There aren’t enough homes for people to live here. Everything else: affordability, displacement, speculation, it all stems from the basic fact that we do not have enough housing stock. So to address that, you need to be able to work with stakeholders at every level of government, state, city, as well as developers in the private sector. You need to work with nonprofits and organizations to help address systemic homelessness.
There are so many things that we need to do, and it’s a regional issue, not just [an] issue unique to Somerville. The state has a lot to do here, as does the private sector. As an elected representative [and] a city councilor, it’s incumbent upon us to be the conduit that can navigate that and can negotiate deals and work with neighborhoods, residents, as well as government to get stuff done.
NS: Affordable housing. The housing shortage is not merely a Somerville challenge. We must see regional change to meaningfully address the housing shortage, including building public support for more housing density in all surrounding communities. I will continue to work with our counterparts in Medford to upzone Broadway from Magoun Square to Ball Square, preserve and expand resources available to the Office of Housing Stability and establish a rental registry for tenants. I would seek to partner with our counterparts on the City Councils in other surrounding communities to encourage comparable efforts to create more housing, and in particular, more affordable housing to address the regional need for such housing.
I will [also] continue to ensure a safe and sustainable learning environment for our students by demanding a clear plan to build a climate-resilient replacement for Winter Hill and ensuring proper maintenance of the Brown School.
