Why I’m Running

I decided to run because I care too much about our city’s future not to. The stakes are just too high.  The policy decisions made by the next Council have the potential to change our city permanently in ways that many residents are unaware of.  I know, because until recently I wasn’t paying close attention either.

Once I started paying attention, however, I realized that it is harder than it should be for residents to get the city’s attention. I want to change that. Our voices count – it’s our city, too.

While I pride myself on being very well informed on national and global issues, I’m embarrassed to say that when it came to municipal elections I didn’t do my homework. I simply trusted that our city’s future was in good hands because my property tax bill remained low and city services worked well enough for me.

What tipped the balance

It all changed for me a year ago, when a tsunami of piecemeal development around the congested Fresh Pond/Alewife area became impossible to ignore. I started doing my homework, and gave myself a crash course in the city’s growth planning and development policies.

I was shocked to learn that recent development around Alewife had already exceeded projections for 2024. Very few of us were aware of how this had happened. Nor did we know how to effectively push back against the tide and demand better decision-making and a comprehensive vision for the city’s growth.

I responded by recruiting a few equally concerned neighbors to form the Fresh Pond Residents Alliance to fill a vacuum in neighborhood advocacy.

And in just a year we have made a difference. The FPRA has worked with other resident groups to put planning issues at the top of the Council’s agenda and has become a respected voice in the heightened public debate about the city’s growth priorities.

Our successes have convinced me that armed with solid data we can build a broader knowledge base, so that more residents can play a constructive role in the master planning process the city soon will undertake and in setting priorities for the city’s future.

I want to help the People’s Republic reclaim its progressive mojo.

Working with the FPRA and attending countless public meetings over the past year, I have discovered that while good intentions abound, accountability, creativity, and transparency are too often lacking.

Through my activism I’ve met many talented and likeminded people who are working hard to keep Cambridge at the head of the progressive pack, unfortunately without consistent enough support at City Hall.

I’m running because I want to be part of a coalition that will help our city reclaim its progressive mojo.

Self-promotion is not my style, believe me, and like too many women I’m usually quick to deflect a compliment or boomerang it back to the sender. When people first began telling me I should run, I was flattered, but hesitated. Me? Really? But as I reflected on all I have to offer, and how much I love this city, I began to realize that I would not be able to live with myself if I did not answer this calling, which now comes from inside as well as out.

Here’s why I deserve your #1 vote on November 3rd:

Head: I have a good head on my shoulders, and I want to use it serve the greater good. I’m a proud alumna of Princeton University, whose slogan, “Princeton in the nation’s service,” was coined by Woodrow Wilson. Princeton students hear Wilson’s call to public service at practically every turn, and it’s been echoing in my mind for the past 30-odd years, waiting for the right opportunity to manifest itself. Like now.

In college I majored in English literature and American Studies and went on to earn an MBA in marketing at Columbia University, earning high honors with each degree. Too many smart people think they have all the answers and aren’t willing to listen. I’ll always be too much of a student to think I have nothing left to learn by listening well, reading up, and questioning my assumptions.

If elected, I will apply all my intellectual strengths and habits of mind to my work on the Council. You can count on me to always be well-prepared for meetings, to think critically and to ask the tough questions, to communicate clearly and effectively, and to know when and how to tap into the many resources our city has to offer its policymakers for guidance.

Hands: I’ve applied all these good-student skills to my work, paid and unpaid, over the past three decades. You can check out my professional resume on LinkedIn. I’m not afraid to roll up my sleeves and do whatever it takes to get the job – on time and well.

What you won’t see on my resume is the toughest, most important, and most fulfilling job I’ve ever held: raising three children, now ages 26, 24, and 21. I’m bursting with pride – and knocking on wood – in saying that all three are thriving as they embark on their adult lives. As a working mother, I juggled and multitasked like mad to meet all the demands on my time, drawing on the physical and mental stamina that won me All Ivy singles honors as a collegiate tennis player.

Every paid job I’ve held has required not only strong communication, creative and analytical skills, but equally strong people skills, plus patience, tact, and a sense of humor. I was good at collaboration long before it became a buzzword in the innovation economy; my first real job was developing content for an ed tech start-up in Manhattan. Subsequently, working as a marketing manager for a major consumer brand in New York and a high-end photography magazine in Paris, as a real estate sales agent in Cambridge, and in public-facing communication roles at two secondary schools, I’ve worked effectively with people from all backgrounds and have learned to value and seek out multiple perspectives. If elected, I will apply the same collaborative approach to constituent relations and policymaking.

Heart: I said at the start that I’m running because I care too much to stand on the sidelines any longer. I’ve lived in Cambridge for more than 20 years.  Leaving Manhattan in 1993, I chose to settle my family in Cambridge instead of in Boston or one of the suburbs, because the city was unapologetically progressive, colorfully urban, and uniquely livable. It had not yet on the verge of becoming another “barbell” city where working and middle class families and small independent retailers are priced out and displaced.

I’ve loved living in Cambridge these past two decades, and I’ve never felt a greater sense of belonging than I have here. But I realize that I’m very fortunate to own a house I would not be able to afford were I moving to Cambridge today. I also am acutely aware of the doors that have always been open to me by virtue of my skin color and my Ivy education. I know change is inevitable, usually positive, but my heart tells me we can do a better job of preserving what gives Cambridge its unique sense of neighborhood and community as we develop new areas like Alewife and Kendall Square and grow established neighborhoods like Central Square and Area 4/The Port.

Here are some of the issues I care most about:

• planning for sustainable growth that prioritizes socio-economic diversity and affordable housing and recognizes the imperative to build in resilience to climate change;
• creating vibrant urban neighborhoods that are safe and convenient for pedestrians and cyclists and well-served by improved public transit;
• promoting broader civic engagement through measures that increase the transparency, accountability, effectiveness, and the responsiveness of our city government;
• providing rich educational opportunities and career training for students from all backgrounds to produce a homegrown workforce;
• preserving local retail and Cambridge’s unique sense of place;
• protecting the environment and creating new public open spaces;
• fostering a culture of volunteerism and connecting residents with opportunities to serve in the community

Now readers, here’s the ask…Please donate to my my campaign.

I hope you will support me as I follow this call to serve our city.  Believe me, I never thought I’d see the word “politician” next my name (check out my campaign’s new Facebook page), but I aim to make people think differently about what it means to step up and take a stand.

Unlike most of the other candidates, I am not accepting donations from large real estate developers, so I will need support from neighbors and friends. In 2015 the state raised the maximum individual contribution to $1,000 per calendar year (from $500).  The incumbents started raising money last year and already have their campaign machines set up. I’m starting from scratch, and running a clean money campaign puts me at a financial disadvantage.

How you can make a donation

You may make an online donation through this website. If you would like to send a check (and save me the credit card processing fees), please make it payable to Devereux for Council and mail it to my home address: 255 Lakeview Ave., Cambridge MA 02138.

Thank you. I hope that I have the opportunity soon to talk with you in person about my plans. Please don’t hesitate to call or email me. I welcome your thoughts on how to run a successful campaign, so that I can win the opportunity to serve fellow Cantabrigians on the city council.

Cheers –

Jan