Election Day is just 2 weeks away. When I first declared my candidacy 10 months ago I wrote, “The stakes in this election could not be higher.” If anything, campaigning has taught me that the stakes are higher than I’d thought.
Over the next 14 days I need all of you to help me make the case for why the 2015 election marks a defining moment in Cambridge’s political history — and why voting for the status quo will continue to fail us.
This November 3rd your votes will determine what type of city we leave our children and grandchildren. Our next City Council will make critical decisions on growth planning, housing policy, transportation, and climate change. The Council’s decisions will determine who can afford to live here and the future quality of life. This election has become a referendum on what our community most values.
Cambridge is a wonderful city but in an era of increasing income inequality, we need a new majority on the Council that will stand up against entrenched special interests and act more decisively to uphold our progressive values.
I know I’m preaching to my choir! Please share this with your friends:
I have consistently advocated for a sustainable citywide growth plan that includes more affordable housing and open space and safer routes for pedestrians and cyclists. If elected, I will work full-time to advance policies that strike a better balance among the competing priorities of growth, livability, affordability, diversity and sustainability. I am proud to be running a clean grassroots campaign—86% of my campaign donations are from Cambridge residents and none are from the real estate lobby or special interests with business before the Council. Sadly, the same cannot be said of most of the incumbents.
There are 23 names on this year’s City Council ballot, including those of the 7 incumbents who have circled the wagons to endorse themselves as the Unity Slate. They deny having a common platform but one thing is undeniable: they have missed crucial opportunities to increase the amount of affordable housing production amidst a historic development boom. There’s been too much hand-wringing and not enough action, even though these councillors have held the majority for several terms. As luxury towers pop up around Cambridge, they raise land values and rents and eventually displace longtime residents (almost two-thirds of our housing stock is rented). Though these new buildings do include a small percentage of affordable units, research shows that displacement eventually exceeds the affordable units added. So if we want more affordable housing we need to create more affordable housing through a variety of channels, not build indiscriminately and hope that the housing market will magically self-correct. Trickle-down supply-side policies like these will only make the problem worse.
I don’t mind sharing yard space with my ally and friend Mike Connolly.
How to elect a new majority to advance an authentically progressive agenda
I hope I can count on your #1 vote. To help elect a new likeminded majority to the next Cambridge City Council, please consider giving your #2, #3, and #4 votes to Dennis Carlone, Mike Connolly, and Nadeem Mazen in the order you prefer (Carlone and Mazen were excluded from the Unity Slate for having taken more progressive stands on affordable housing and planning — and for swearing off special interest donations). Other new progressive candidates to consider are Mariko Davidson and Romaine Waite.
Remember, while your #1 vote is the most important, only one of your votes will actually count and it could wind up being one of the votes lower down your ballot, depending on which candidates reach quota first.For this reason it is crucial to only rank candidates who you can trust to work together to advance policies you support. Quota is 10% of the total votes cast + 1 vote. In the 2013 election the quota was 1775 votes, and it took 17 rounds of transfers for 9 candidates to reach quota. The 10th place candidate was only about a dozen votes short.
If you’d like to volunteer to help with “get out the vote” activities from now through Election Day, please email info@jandevereux.org.
Thank you!
Events and forums I attended last week: East Cambridge Planning Team forum, Green Cambridge/Mothers Out Front Energy and Environment forum, Black Lives Matter forum, Cambridge Homes forum, and five house parties.
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