Almost exactly 2 years ago I held my first-ever campaign event. It was at the Summer Shack. Many of you were there. I was wearing orange but I was pretty green….

I want to start by thanking those of you who took a chance on an untested new candidate in 2015.

Thank you if you:

  • encouraged, mentored and coached me
  • held a house party to introduce me to your friends and neighbors
  • volunteered to knock on doors
  • put up a yard sign
  • made a donation
  • gave me your #1 vote

I’m going to ask you to all those things again between now and November 7th — and this time I hope it’s less of a leap of faith for everyone to say “yes.”   

Because now you’ve seen what I’ve been able to do in my first 15 months in office.

Unlike some who will tell you that their first 100 days have been the most successful ever….I’m going to be honest and say that 15 months is not long enough to change a deeply entrenched political culture.

But if you’ve been paying attention, you know that this term the Council has been able to work together better and to get more done than in the prior term.

And as the only new member this term, I think I can take a good deal of the credit for that improvement.

Don’t get me wrong — I still wouldn’t call this Council “high functioning,”

But I think I’ve raised the bar several notches on the level of

  • Accessibility
  • Commitment
  • Transparency
  • Openness and
  • Responsiveness

that you should expect from each and every councillor.

I won’t name names but some of my colleagues are not pulling their weight, and some are actively pulling in the other direction.

But I think we are poised for a big change.

Since last November people have woken up to the danger of what happens when they take their democracy for granted.

Local elections have typically had low turnouts and low voter engagement — putting the “low” in “local.”

But I think that will be different this year.

And though now I’m running as an incumbent, I’m definitely not satisfied with the status quo — nor should you be.

The fact is you need to re-elect me and at least 4 others who will work just as hard to upend business as usual.

You deserve:

  • 9 councillors who will show up to every committee meeting prepared to ask tough questions
  • 9 councillors who will respond promptly to your emails and requests for meetings.
  • 9 councillors who will proactively communicate to keep you informed on the issues and let you know how to get involved in the ones you care about.
  • 9 councillors who will attend neighborhood meetings and other public hearings, and actively listen to your concerns and suggestions.
  • 9 councillors who will make greater equity and civic engagement their driving principles.
  • 9 councillors who refuse to take donations from special interests.
  • 9 councillors who don’t take the privilege of being a public servant for granted.

The majority don’t meet all of those criteria.

Nadeem Mazen, Dennis Carlone and I have worked closely together this term and having the three of us aligned has helped tip the balance toward a new majority.

Together we are changing the political culture in this city.

And we’ve had some successes this term in areas where progress had been long stalled.

We increased our requirement for affordable housing in new development to 20% — an increase that was too long in coming and that many said was impossible.

And we are seeing real progress on changing both attitudes and infrastructure to make our streets safer for all users.

  • Inman Square will be totally reconstructed with protected bike lanes and safer, more direct crosswalks, and more public open space
  • We reduced the speed limit to 25mph citywide
  • And we are putting more resources into enforcement and education in our commitment to Vision Zero

These big wins would not have been possible with prior Councils.

We have more work to do on both housing and road safety, and I very much want to continue working on these issues.

I was at a presentation about educational equity last week where the speaker said, “Cambridge is a city of experts.” Here we are in 02138, which some call “the world’s most opinionated zip code.” Nadeem and I had lunch recently with a senior faculty member at HLS, a resident of 02138 himself, and an expert on municipal governance.

This 02138 expert in municipal law confessed he needs help telling the difference between the councillors who are actively working for:

  • more social equity
  • more civic engagement and
  • more government transparency,

— and those who just say they are.

When even resident-experts like him don’t feel well informed enough to vote with confidence in local elections, then we have a problem.

Not only in Washington, but here in Cambridge, too.

Unfortunately this is not unusual, and it’s one reason we are not leveraging more of the expertise in our community to demand more progress toward closing the significant income, education and opportunity gaps in our city.

Those gaps have been growing just as fast as the new buildings going up around Kendall Square and Alewife.

The Community Needs Assessment Report and the Cambridge Community Foundation’s Boomtown Hometown Report both highlighted the extent of the growing inequality in Cambridge.

Scratch the surface and you’ll see our city is deeply divided.

Just a few stats:

  • 14% of our neighbors live in poverty (15% of all our children) — both are higher than the state average (12% & 13%)
  • 43% of residents are financially insecure, meaning they are unable to make ends meet without some type of government assistance.
  • We have significant hunger — food pantries report triple the number of clients this year, and almost 1/2 of our public school students qualify for the federal school lunch program.
  • We all know the cost of housing is a huge part of the problem — 37% of households are “cost burdened” — meaning they pay more than 30% of income on rent. If they haven’t already been displaced.
  • And, of course, some people don’t have any housing at all — right down the block is the new Y2Y shelter for homeless youth.
  • These divides skew along racial, gender and neighborhood lines.

Those of us who are comfortable and privileged ignore these trends at our own peril.

Also, on this very block (Church St in Harvard Square) you can see the threats that retail merchants of all sizes are facing from rising commercial rents and property values.

Global real estate investors and speculators are destabilizing Harvard Square. Not to mention online competition.

The empty theater down the street, the possible redevelopment of the Curious George building, the fight over whether a pizza chain should take over Crimson Corner.

These are all symptoms of the challenges we’re facing.

As chair of the Economic Development Committee, I’ve sounded the alarm and want to keep working on ways to preserve a healthy retail ecosystem.

Finally, as chair of the Health and Environment Committee, I want to continue to lead on planning for climate change.

The Envision Alewife planning process, which I helped set in motion before I was elected, is underway.

I want to help make sure we aren’t saddled with more development that makes the area’s existing problems worse. The lack of sound planning for sustainable growth and livability was what drew me into the political arena.

I’m concerned that the Envision Cambridge plan will not meet our high expectations unless we continue to watchdog the process.

Addressing these needs will guide my agenda for as long as I’m a councillor — and I’m taking it 1 term at a time. Like Nadeem, I will have a self-imposed term limit, tbd.

People have asked me if I have aspirations to run for higher office. I don’t. Really.

I just want to be the best city councillor possible.

I know enough to know I’m not there yet. I feel as if I’m just starting to hit my stride and to figure out how to work the levers.

It has been an incredible opportunity to go both broad and deep into urban planning, land use and zoning, traffic engineering, environmental science — this is what consumes me now.

I want to look back on this experience and be able to say I gave it my all — and that I made a difference.

So I’m asking you for the chance to continue this work for 2 more years.

As I said at the start, I will need all kinds of support for the next 6 months. I hope I can count on you all.

My new campaign manager Krystal Ortiz has a clipboard to collect your names and emails.

My brother Rick is at the door gratefully accepting donations.

Thank you.

Remarks delivered by City Councillor Jan Devereux at her re-election campaign kickoff event on May 7, 2017, held at the Cambridge, 1 restaurant on Church Street in Harvard Square, Cambridge, MA.