HGSU-UAW Voter Guide 2019

E D I U G R E T O V W A U U S G -H , E L L I V R E M O S , E G D I R B M -CA N O T S -& BO -2019a guide to the issues that you care about

About HGSU-UAW HGSU-UAW is an organization of student workers from all schools, campuses, and departments of Harvard University. We joined together starting in the Fall of 2015 to help fight for better benefits, pay, and working conditions to ensure our ability to provide the highest quality of teaching and research while receiving the level of respect we deserve. We filed for an election with the NLRB in October 2016 and won our representation election in April 2018. Our Union was certified by the NLRB in May 2018. Since then, we have been bargaining for our first contract with the Harvard administration. In October 2019, we began organizing for a strike in order to win our first contract.

For more information visit harvardgradunion.org Or follow us on Facebook at fb.com/hgsuuaw Or on Twitter @hgsuuaw

-INTRODUCTIONWelcome to the Harvard Graduate Students Union - UAW Voter Guide to the 2019 Cambridge, Somerville, and Boston municipal elections on November 5.

Over the past few weeks, our members compiled a few of the issues that are most pressing for graduate and undergraduate students at Harvard and then surveyed the candidates for their positions on these key issues. In this guide, you’ll see some brief information about the elections and then responses from the candidates themselves.

What follows is not endorsements of candidates; instead, we’ve organized all responses we received by issue and have given space for candidates to explain their positions. We asked both YES/NO and short answer questions. For short answers, we asked that candidates confine their answers to 150 words or fewer.

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We did our best to get answers from all candidates for contested elections in Cambridge and Somerville. We also expanded on our 2017 efforts to include Boston City Council candidates who chose to participate.

The following pages include responses from most of the 22 Cambridge City Council candidates, the 2 candidates for Mayor of Somerville, most of the candidates for the contested election of the 4 At-Large Somerville City Councilors, the 2 candidates for Allston-Brighton City Councilor, and several other municipal candidates who submitted answers.

We hope that you find the responses below informative and that they help you to make voting decisions on November 5. As always, if you have questions, concerns, or feedback, please write to hgsu.general@gmail.com

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-CONTENTS-

CAMBRIDGE

SOMERVILLE

BOSTON

OVERVIEW OF ELECTION

7

67

105

UNION RIGHTS & WORKERS’ RIGHTS Y/N

10

70

108

Promoting Union Membership

12

71

109

Wage Theft

15

73

111

HOUSING & TRANSIT Y/N

18

75

112

Housing Costs

19

76

113

Bicycle & Pedestrian Infrastructure

23

78

115

Public Transit

26

80

117

29

82

119

Net Zero Emissions

30

83

120

Environmental Injustice

33

85

122

Holding Harvard Accountable

37

87

124

CLIMATE CRISIS Y/N

5

CAMBRIDGE

SOMERVILLE

BOSTON

40

89

126

Mass Incarceration

41

90

127

Police Violence

44

92

129

Police Responses to Mental Health Crises

48

94

131

Recreational Marijuana

51

95

133

54

97

135

55

98

136

58

100

138

Childcare & Pre-school

58

100

138

Municipal Broadband Internet

61

102

140

Payment in Lieu of Taxes for Large Non-Profits

64

103

142

CRIMINAL JUSTICE & PUBLIC SAFETY Y/N

IMMIGRATION Y/N Immigration Policies COMMUNITY ISSUES

POLLING PLACE INFORMATION 6

143

E G D I R B M A -C

-CAMBRIDGE CITY COUNCILThe nine-member Cambridge City Council is elected every two years in city-wide atlarge elections. In other words, all citizens of Cambridge vote for all of the council rather than an election subdivided by ward representation. The City Council website includes this description of its function:

“

The City Council, the policy setting arm of the City, derives its powers from the City charter and the laws and Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It authorizes public improvements and expenditures, adopts regulations and ordinances, levies taxes, controls the finances and property taxes of the City, and performs many related legislative tasks.

The City Council is elected at-large by the proportional representation electoral process. Upon organization of each new Council, the members elect a Mayor and a Vice-Mayor, with the Mayor serving as the Council's chief legislative officer. The Council organizes into committees, which have become increasingly active over the past few years, providing much of the research and legislative analysis on major policy issues before the Council.

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-ELECTION METHOD + OUR SURVEYThe City Council Election uses an election method called Single Transferable Vote (STV), a system that maximizes voters’ preferences as reflected in the elected council. As a voter, all this means is that you can rank your preferences, starting with #1, of as many preferences as you want. If your #1 candidate receives more than enough votes to secure a Council seat, then your #2 choice will become important. But as candidates are eliminated for not receiving enough #1 votes, your #1 vote is the most important. These two videos help explain this method: One explains how the election works.

The second walks viewers through an STV election.

There are 22 candidates running for 9 seats on the Cambridge City Council.

Dennis Carlone, Ilan Levy, Alanna Mallon, Jeffery McNary, Patty Nolan, and Tim Toomey declined to participate in our survey.

9

-UNION RIGHTS & WORKERS’ RIGHTS:-

10

1

Do you support student workers’ -RIGHT TO ORGANIZE OUR UNION-?

2

Do you support student workers’ -RIGHT TO STRIKE-?

3

Do you support our bargaining committee’s efforts to win a contract with -A NEUTRAL & FAIR PROCEDURE FOR ADJUDICATING WORKPLACE- HARASSMENT & DISCRIMINATION-?

4

Do you oppose the Trump Administration’s use of rule-making procedure to strip student workers at private universities of their -RIGHT TO BARGAIN COLLECTIVELY & HAVE THEIR UNION RECOGNIZED-?

1

2

3

4

Sukia Akiba

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

Burhan Azeem

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

Charles Franklin

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

Craig Kelley

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

Derek Kopon

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

Marc McGovern

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

Risa Mednick

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

Gregg Moree

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

Adriane Musgrave

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

John Pitkin

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

Sumbul Siddiqui

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

Denise Simmons

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

Ben Simon

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

Nicola Williams

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

Quinton Zondervan

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_ 11

How would you promote -UNION MEMBERSHIP- in Cambridge & nationally?

Sukia Akiba I would support the rights for workers to unionize. I would be a vocal advocate in ensuring these rights and would oppose any attempts by management or others who try to block these rights.

Burhan Azeem - City officials should use their ‘bully pulpit’ to encourage union organizing.

- City officials should support policies that favor suppliers / contractors that use union labor. (We’ve been advised that there are constraints on this in state law, but we’re still shocked we’ve heard so little about this from our current city council!)

Charles Franklin I would promote through policy orders, and through advocacy, to increase and enable unions to do on-the-job outreach to workers at risk. I would also allocate city resources to ensure that minority and other workers for whom English is a second language are able to participate in union activities and policies.

Craig Kelley I have been working for much of this term to get the City to explain to the Council at a public meeting the importance of bargaining units in getting the City’s work done. Only when upper level policy makers, such as the City Council, understand the importance of bargaining units, negotiated agreements, workplace rules, worker protection and similar union-related issues, will we see both public and private sector unions take their proper place again in our workforce. Given the increase of augmented intelligence and automation in doing jobs of all sorts, from reading MRIs to building cars, the future importance of unions in protecting workers’ rights is just going to increase and it’s important that policy makers understand that.

Derek Kopon I would vocally support union causes and publicly support increased union membership.

Marc McGovern I am proud to have been endorsed by over a dozen labor unions in this election. I have been a strong union supporter my entire life. I have testified, promoted and marched with unions all across the state. I have and will continue to support those who want to unionize, as I did with the workers at the Harvard-owned DoubleTree Hotel, and the Harvard Graduate Student Union.

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How would you promote -UNION MEMBERSHIP- in Cambridge & nationally?

Risa Mednick I support organized labor and opportunities for people across sectors and fields of work to organize. I would create opportunities for the city to promote the value and benefits of union membership through workforce training programs, school and out of school time programs, public discussion and presentations, plus opportunities for art and history exhibitions.

Gregg Moree I would remind and encourage people to join Unions because Unions are good for all workers.

Adriane Musgrave The best way to encourage union membership is to show that unions get results! That’s why I’m pledging my support to the HGSU-UAW and have already won the endorsement of several local unions as well.

John Pitkin As a municipal city councillor I would consider filing a resolution and would urge my fellow council members to pass such a resolution supporting union membership especially in light of your efforts on the Harvard campus.

Sumbul Siddiqui I would be happy to sponsor or co-sponsor events on the importance of unions. Misconceptions exist and I would be glad to work with Harvard Graduate Students Union-UAW to raise awareness. I read a report by the Economic Policy Institute, “How today’s unions help working people” which brought up a number of important points, such as how unions are thriving in diverse industries, and how unions help reduce wage gaps and increase wages for women and people of color.

Denise Simmons I will continue to work with the local unions and find ways in which we can collaborate–whether this means that I am actively seeking opportunities to promote the unions (such as how I’ve regularly made exposure to the skilled building trades a feature of my GOLD Program for 7th grade girls, introducing the girls to this viable career path), or I am working to strengthen the pipeline between our local businesses and our high school and union recruitment programs, or I am working to strengthen the ties between the various unions and the City’s Office of Workforce Development – so long as I continue to enjoy a robust relationship and open line of communication with the representatives of our local unions, I can and will continue to find ways we can work together to promote and increase the membership of the unions, because working to ensure that more people are in quality positions with fair wages and health coverage is a win for all of Cambridge.

13

How would you promote -UNION MEMBERSHIP- in Cambridge & nationally?

Ben Simon I would fight for legislation at every level of government that makes it easier for workers to unionize.

Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler In my organizing work in Cambridge and Boston, I’ve walked picket lines with Stop N Shop workers, marched with striking Marriott workers, and rallied with workers at Happy Lamb on Mass Ave in Cambridge protesting wage theft and workplace abuse. As a City Councilor, I will work to ensure that any city departments the city council has control over are unionized and encourage that if not. I will work to ensure any contractors the city uses are union and do whatever I can to ensure more of our construction in Cambridge is done using union labor. I will support workers if their rights to organize are under attack as well as workers who may not be in a union but who are facing wage theft and other workplace issues, and make sure they know that unionization is a key long-term way for them to secure those rights.

Nicola Williams Economic empowerment is a staple of my platform. As a small business owner and someone who has mentored many women in the art of creating their own businesses, I know the importance of creating an environment in which workers have just conditions and are paid a living wage. As part of my platform, I have urged the creation of an interdepartmental Office of Economic Empowerment, which would work to increase entrepreneurship, decrease racial and gender disparities in business ownership, and track the economic issues impacts residents. With the help of local unions, it could also be a one-stop-shop of information about how to unionize so that workers always know that they have a partner in the city.

Quinton Zondervan Local governments can and must do more to acknowledge and protect worker rights and union benefits. That’s why I worked on the Wage Theft Ordinance this term. Union leaders have alleged serious labor violations at construction sites, including recently in Central Square, so Councillor Siddiqui and I are working with the union and the city to develop an ordinance that will allow for local enforcement of labor laws.

14

How would you ensure that workers are not victim to -WAGE THEFT- by employers?

Sukia Akiba Wage theft is a crime. I would support any legislation where those convicted of wage theft be punished to the fullest extent of the law. I would also, not support that business in any way till full retribution to affected employees has been made.

Burhan Azeem - Support policies that would require regular audits of the work hours and overtime of municipal employees (to ensure the City of Cambridge never engages in any kind of wage theft for any reason, deliberate or accidental) - Call for policies that would require audits of the work hours of the unionized workers of any city suppliers or contractors - Call for the establishment of a Labor Advocate position in the Cambridge Law Department, who will oversee all audits and investigations associated with unionized labor in Cambridge and refer any irregularities discovered to the office of the Attorney General.

Charles Franklin Seeing as ESL workers are disproportionately affected by wage theft, I would start by improving documentation and outreach for ESL workers. This means posters, websites, and other media translated into commonly used languages, and also increased availability of on-site or on-call interpreters for those wanting to report issues. We also need to increase employers’ and HR departments’ accountability when they do commit wage theft. We could increase collaboration with other state and federal programs, like workman’s comp and unemployment, to better detect anomalies in advance.

Craig Kelley Wage theft is theft. Some of it may be hidden under the color of law and not be subject to enforcement authority, in which case I would use shaming and public displays to help stop that theft. To the extent that the City has enforcement capacity, which it may even though it may not be considered traditional police work, I would, as I am with Cybersecurity, push to develop more enforcement capacity within our police department for people to understand how to ensure that their complaints are addressed. Should CPD not be the right place for all of these complaints, I would push for the Consumers Council or a similar arm of the City to develop those skills. If this issue gets stalled outside the City, say at the Middlesex County DA’s office, I would work with that office to help them understand the importance of managing these concerns efficiently.

Derek Kopon I support the state Act to Prevent wage Theft, Promote Employer Accountability, and Enhance Public Enforcement (SD 1464, HD 3789). At the municipal level, we must make sure that contractors working with the city treat their employees fairly and equitably at all times and withhold public contracts if necessary to ensure this compliance.

Marc McGovern Wage theft is a huge issue. I worked on this issue locally by sponsoring and helping to pass a Wage Theft Ordinance in Cambridge. I have also testified on this issue at a state level alongside unions like SEIU 32BJ, who have endorsed me in this election. I have called on Cambridge not to do business with any company that has had wage theft violations.

15

How would you ensure that workers are not victim to -WAGE THEFT- by employers?

Risa Mednick The City of Cambridge upholds policies to prevent wage theft and requires certification from vendors bidding on city contracts to verify their compliance with federal and state wage law with the city. Vendors with previous violations are required to disclose them and provide a wage bond for the duration of the contract, and the city is prohibited from contracting with debarred vendors for the period of their debarment. I would request annual reporting on wage theft complaints to the city to understand the extent to which this certification is preventing wage theft. Beyond municipal contracts however, it is important that City Councillors and leaders are responsive to constituent complaints of wage theft in the community so that victims can be referred to legal services and have opportunities to recover lost wages.

Gregg Moree Information is always the key. I would advocate putting signs in workplace (near the timeclock?) that informs workers of their rights and the wages that they are entitled to earn. I would share with Maura Healey the lawbreakers and work with her office to be certain that punitive measures are enforced.

Adriane Musgrave Our building trades union members are impacted the most by wage-theft and they have trusted me with their endorsement. Before a building can be fully approved, we need to make sure that workers have and will receive their wages in full. That’s why I’m committed to supporting a policy order that requires an audit in order for a developer to receive their final certificate of occupancy.

John Pitkin I know this is an awful crime that hurts families the most and companies rarely get the punishment they deserve. I would have to research whether the city has specific laws but I would be sure to submit comments in support of any state legislation that would help prevent this crime in Massachusetts in the future.

Sumbul Siddiqui My office has connected constituents to resources, and supported any efforts to call out wage theft. Greater Boston Legal Services Inc., Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, Justice at Work, Lawyers for Affordable Justice, MetroWest Legal Services, Suffolk University Law School, Volunteer Lawyers Project, Brazilian Worker Center, Brazilian Women’s Group, Chelsea Collaborative, Chinese Progressive Association, MassCOSH, and Metrowest Worker Center have done tremendous work with the Attorney General’s office to promote wage theft legal rights. Raising awareness about rights is critical, and I believe in stronger wage theft laws at the state level - for example, lead contractors should be held responsible for wage theft violations by subcontractors, and the Attorney General should issue stop work orders in wage theft cases and bring civil wage theft violations to court.

16

How would you ensure that workers are not victim to -WAGE THEFT- by employers?

Denise Simmons During my second term as Mayor, I actually worked closely with the Greater Boston Labor Council and Community Labor United to successfully push the City Manager to enact the City’s first-ever Wage Theft Executive Order in 2016. That Executive Order has helped us identify and enforce against businesses that were engaging in this terrible practice, and I will continue to work closely with our allies from the GBLC and the CLU to determine whether there are ways to strengthen or expand this Executive Order.

Ben Simon I would fight for a local anti-wage theft ordinance like the one proposed this year in Easthaptom. It would require employers to prove on a weekly basis that are in compliance with labor laws. There should be fees for non-compliance that are large enough to remove the financial incentive to steal workers in the first place.

Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler I’ve rallied with workers protesting wage theft from Happy Lamb on Mass Ave in Cambridge. I’m very interested in the comprehensive wage theft law which the city of Lynn passed in partnership with the local labor council & worker’s center. I will work to pass a similar ordinance in Cambridge to ensure organizations can’t steal wages from their workers. My understanding is that a comprehensive fix for wage theft issues like vicarious responsibility will require a state-level law (due to legal reasons), but I will investigate ways we can crack down on wage theft that happens through contractors.

Nicola Williams Wage theft has been a big issue across our state and is a concern I know that Attorney General Maura Healey takes very seriously. Few people know of how pervasive the issue is or what to do when it happens to them. As a city, we need to be tracking the incidents of wage theft in Cambridge, monitoring who the culprits are, and holding them financially accountable for shortchanging their employees and for breaking the law. I believe that we can do this in partnership with the Attorney General and post this information publicly on our city’s website, perhaps under the portal for the Office of Economic Empowerment.

Quinton Zondervan I’ve met with the Carpenters Union and heard allegations of wage theft on a construction site in Central Square, which I'm sure is one of many instances. I am working on a Wage Theft Ordinance with my colleague Councillor Siddiqui and the Union, that would protect workers through the powers of the city to enforce state and federal laws. Relying on the state, let alone the feds, is currently not an effective strategy, leading to widespread violations. We will be introducing this in the coming months!

17

-HOUSING & TRANSIT:1

2

Do you support an -AFFORDABLE HOUSING-OVERLAYwhich would allow greater density in certain parts of the city in exchange for affordable housing units?

Sukia Akiba

_YES_

_YES_

Burhan Azeem

_YES_

_YES_

Charles Franklin

_YES_

_YES_

Craig Kelley

_NO_

_YES_

Derek Kopon

_NO_

_YES_

Marc McGovern

_YES_

_YES_

Risa Mednick

_YES_

_YES_

Gregg Moree

_YES_

_YES_

Adriane Musgrave

_YES_

_YES_

2

John Pitkin

_NO_

_YES_

Sumbul Siddiqui

_YES_

_YES_

Denise Simmons

_YES_

_YES_

Do you support expanding -BUS PRIORITY PROJECTS& -EXCLUSIVE BUS LANES-FOR RAPID BUS SERVICEeven if it takes lanes away from private cars?

18

1

Ben Simon

_YES_

Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler

_YES_

_YES_

Nicola Williams

_NO_

_YES_

Quinton Zondervan

_YES_

_YES_

How would you reduce -HOUSING COSTS- in Cambridge?

Sukia Akiba I would work with the Universities to establish a comprehensive plan. The plan should contain a component where the Universities would share some of the burden in contributing to the affordable housing inventory. Additionally, the Universities should provide more need based housing grants to its undergrad and grad students.

Burhan Azeem The single most important step is to allow the construction of more apartments, with a focus on building more housing along major transit corridors and near T stops.

Charles Franklin Not only do we need to reduce housing costs in Cambridge/Somerville/Boston, we need to provide more quality, and humane housing for students and other tenants. Currently, individuals and families making less than $30,000 a year are underserved by the various city, state, and federal housing programs in Cambridge --- including many students. The most effective thing the city can do is to construct its own housing, on its land, using City money for tenants of all income levels. I also believe that MIT/Harvard/Lesley, by not providing adequate housing for their students, are part of the problem. I am in favor of denying them any future building permits or upzoning requests until they build more housing for their students.

Craig Kelley The City and the City Council must work with Harvard and MIT, and the State Legislature if necessary, to create a pooled, housing-specific fund to develop student-housing in Cambridge and nearby towns and to provide dedicated transit for that housing as is currently done for the Longwood Medical Area, Lincoln Labs and similar Institution-related sub-campuses. If needed, we should file Home Rule Legislation to change our taxing authority over these “non-profits� to give us the authority to create these housing resources.

Derek Kopon The overlay would not have done anything to reduce housing costs for graduate students. Most likely, the overlay would have raised housing for graduate students because many graduate students pay market rents, which would either have been unaffected or would have increased had the overlay been passed. Approximately 6,000 students from Harvard and MIT currently compete for housing on the open market. I would require Harvard and MIT to create a plan for housing all of their undergraduate and graduate students. This housing should be affordable, livable, well-connected to transit, and should significantly reduce the number of students forced to look for housing off campus. In addition to the benefits this would give to Harvard/MIT students, taking the pressure off the local housing market would lower market rents city-wide and make Cambridge more affordable for everyone.

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How would you reduce -HOUSING COSTS- in Cambridge?

Marc McGovern It’s difficult to pick “the single most important step” as housing is a complicated issue with no silver bullet answer. Building more housing of all types is important, working with our universities to provide more housing is important, addressing our condo conversion policies, tenant protections, increasing housing and providing gap vouchers to close the gap between where vouches max out and rent begins, as well as ensuring that people are earning a true living wage, are all pieces of this puzzle.

Risa Mednick Harvard, MIT and the other large universities must own responsibility for developing affordable student housing for undergraduates, graduate students and post-docs. The next critical steps include enabling legislation at the state level for tenancy protections involving right to counsel in no-fault eviction processes and rent increase caps. For low income people who qualify for Sec. 8 vouchers but are unable to secure affordable apartments in this area, I advocate for municipal rental gap vouchers to cover the difference between the HUD subsidy and market rate rent.

Gregg Moree We have to use programs like co-housing to make living in Cambridge more affordable and respectable. All Cambridge residents should have affordable housing available to them. Section 8 should also be more readily available.

Adriane Musgrave Smart housing policy doesn’t revolve around one single policy because this challenge is multi-faceted and requires a suite of actions. Broadly, we need to increase the supply of new affordable housing as well as improve tenant protections. I’ve been endorsed by our local pro-housing organization A Better Cambridge for the past two elections because I do my homework and come prepared to take action. I was the only candidate in 2017 to campaign for the Overlay. Beyond the Overlay, we need to reform our zoning to encourage denser transit-oriented development. We should also transform our parking lots into workforce housing. I have also called on our universities to house 75% of their graduate students in affordable units in the next 10 years. Finally, I also look forward to supporting the recommendations of the Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Task Force on Tenant Protection, such as providing legal help and a stronger condo conversion ordinance.

John Pitkin Housing costs are now inflated by speculation and holding of vacant units, over one in ten citywide. I would extend the residential exemption for property taxes to rental occupancies of at least one year with provision for “pass through” of the tax reduction. This would increase housing supply without new construction and exert modest downward pressure on rents.

20

How would you reduce -HOUSING COSTS- in Cambridge?

Sumbul Siddiqui Following the end of rent control, the City’s ability to reduce housing costs became severely limited. The best remaining tool is to accelerate new affordable housing construction, because other options require home rule petitions, which usually fail. This term, I initiated our next Incentive Zoning Study to analyze the impact of nonresidential development on affordable housing and make a recommendation for an increase to our linkage fee. I have supported adding a Real Estate Transfer Fee on properties sold for more than $2 million dollars. The revenue raised from both the linkage fee the transfer fee would increase funding to the Affordable Housing Trust. We require that residential developments of ten or more units designate 20% for affordable housing. Through this program, over 1,100 affordable housing units have been completed or are under construction. I support raising this rate. Finally, I am working to strengthen regulations on condo conversion.

Denise Simmons While I would of course support efforts to reestablish some form of rent control, I recognize that this will require a concerted, long-term push at the State House and will not be a fast process – and therefore I think the single most practical immediate step we can take is to find ways to allow for the creation of more housing (to ease the supply/demand crunch) in general, and more affordable units in particular. We know that the number of people that wish to live in Cambridge far exceeds the amount of housing available, and the success of our biotech sector, in particular, has brought in hundreds of new workers, many of whom would like to live near their offices and can pay higher amounts in rent. We need to have some place to house these people, or they absolutely will continue to drive up housing costs.

Ben Simon The most important thing the city can do is fight for stronger tenant protections, including rent control, just cause eviction and tenants right to purchase.

Though we need the state to change the law to pass this legislation, we are not powerless. We should coordinate with other cities to file simultaneous home rule petitions and we can pass resolutions in support of state legislation like Mike Connolly and Nika Elugardo’s Housing for All bill that would enable local tenant protections, including rent control. We can already pass a strong condo-conversion ordinance without state approval and it’s outrageous that we haven’t yet. Also we need to end our addiction to commercial development that is driving the unaffordability crisis and raise taxes on big business, Harvard and MIT and use that revenue to build truly affordable city-owned social housing. About the Affordable Housing Overlay: As a low-income renter, I feel that the overlay is not designed to help low-income people, but rather to help private developers of affordable housing. These are not the same thing. There are many problems with this approach, an important one being that so-called affordable housing made by private developers skews to the higher end of the income range of those who qualify for affordable housing, which goes very high. This means in practice that we are building “affordable housing” for people that don’t live here yet instead of for people who are already living here who are homeless or at risk of displacement. More fundamentally, I don’t believe it’s right to leave it up to the marketplace and market actors whether or not people get homes. Instead the city should raise taxes on big business, Harvard and MIT and use that revenue to build truly affordable city-owned social housing.

21

How would you reduce -HOUSING COSTS- in Cambridge?

Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler Like two-thirds of Cambridge residents, I’m a renter. But we have hardly any renters on the City Council, which is part of why our Council has been lacking the urgency we need on the housing crisis. Cambridge needs to pass a series of robust tenant protections & stabilization policies, including a tenant right to purchase, just cause eviction, and rent stabilization / rent control. We also need to end red-lining exclusionary zoning that prevents the creation of duplexes, triple-deckers, and other apartment buildings in large parts of Cambridge. If elected, I’ll also push for a Cambridge Community Land Trust to create permanently affordable housing and an Office of Housing Stability to track data on displacement and evictions and serve as a onestop shop for housing assistance.

Nicola Williams When it comes to the twin crises of unaffordability and displacement, Cambridge is not alone and cannot solve the problems it needs to face alone. We need a regional approach to housing and transit that is premised on creating affordable and environmentally-sustainable housing and transportation for all. Because Massachusetts is a home rule state, the most substantial ways that we can end displacement and reduce the costs of rents would have to go through the legislature and thus working together as a region would be strategically beneficial to us. There are many pieces to what would be needed. I support some form of rent control that includes the landlords as part of the solution, which we're calling rent stabilization. This issue is personal to me. I am a former rent control renter and when rent control went away 25 years ago our rents almost doubled. I organized my building at the time and approached the owner to sell us the building and he did. Today, as a landlord, I offer my unit at below market rates so I can retain a Cambridge family in the city that faced displacement. I believe the city can forge a program that incentivizes others to do the same. For example, the City can offer tax incentives or other incentives to landlords you offer below market rents to rent stability. NYC has rolled out such a plan in June and I am closely monitoring it. I believe that we should have better housing policies that addresses the needs of residents that are low, moderate and middle income and create pathways for those whose incomes transition up or down. I support creating pathways for home ownership, such as serious considerations for building limited equity cooperatives that are more formidable that the city's current program.

Quinton Zondervan We need to implement strong tenant protections, including limits on how much rents can be raised each year. Many folks on the housing waitlist are one small rent increase away from being displaced out of Cambridge. That’s why I support Rep. Mike Connolly’s Housing for All Platform at the state house.

I am one of the only councillors openly supportive of Rep Mike Connolly’s Housing for All platform, which would lift the statewide ban on rent control, among other things. It would allow Cambridge to enact rules under just cause eviction that would limit how much rents can be increased on low income tenants in larger buildings (owner occupied and Cambridge resident owned smaller buildings would be exempt). It’s time to implement a 21st century version of rent control, and Mike’s bill would give municipalities the tools they need to bring all stakeholders to the table and come up with a fair policy.

22

How would you expand -BICYCLE & PEDESTRIAN INFRASTRUCTURE- in Cambridge?

Sukia Akiba I am a strong proponent for sustainable transportation. I would like to see free public transportation for all. Additionally, I'd like to expand the bike paths within the city and build more separate and protected bike paths to ensure rider safety on every street that permits it. I would also like to eliminate the parking requirement for builders.

Burhan Azeem The city budget for bike infrastructure is woefully inadequate. We only spend $2 to $3 million on new bike infrastructure each year, which is shameful when we have a total city budget in recent years over $600 million and over $200 million in free cash saved.

Charles Franklin I believe that the existing Cambridge Bicycle Plans [2015 and 2020], which have been developed with the input of cycling advocacy groups in Cambridge, represent the best plan we have to do this. I would make sure that these are seen to completion. .

Craig Kelley

My wife and I have been car-free for over a decade. We bike and walk everywhere we go in Cambridge and nothing is more important to me than safe streets and sidewalks. I have aggressively promoted safe infrastructure improvements, better street hazard maintenance, increased enforcement and education and, on a more mundane level, more and better bike parking and similar enabling infrastructure. I am also the leading voice, not just on the Council but regionally, on the need to expand our bike and pedestrian discussions to include the importance of Ebikes, scooters, onewheels and other emerged or emerging transportation platforms in our Vision Zero discussions.

Derek Kopon My bike is my primary form of transportation around Cambridge and I do not own a car, so this issue is important to me personally. Arguably the most important task of the next Council will be hiring a new City Manager. Under our Plan E Charter form of government, the City Manager has tremendous power over municipal infrastructure, such as bike lanes. When interviewing candidates for this position, I would make sure that potential City Managers agree with the need for a contiguous network of protected bike lanes and have an understanding of how to integrate protected bike lanes into a city with a relatively old infrastructure and street design. I also strongly support Council initiatives, such as the Cycle Safety ordinance.

Marc McGovern I am very proud of the fact that I was the lead author and sponsor on a first of its kind ordinance requiring the city to build dedicated bike lanes during major street construction. This ordinance is now being looked at in New York City, Seattle and Washington D.C. We must build out the safe bike network within the next 5 years.

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How would you expand -BICYCLE & PEDESTRIAN INFRASTRUCTURE- in Cambridge?

Risa Mednick I will work with other councillors to advance street and sidewalk safety and navigability. I will advocate for more connectivity between cities on major streets (like Mass Ave, Beacon Street), increased separation between cars and bikes and more carefully designed intersections to mitigate crossing conflicts. With multimodal street use and street design changes, I will also push for more on site instructional signage so that people navigating streets in different ways become accustomed to changes as quickly as possible.

Gregg Moree More bicycle lanes and cross walks. More bicycle and pedestrian friendly signal lights. More crossing guards. Bicyclists should also be educated, perhaps through the use of pamphlets, that they, too, have to obey traffic laws.

Adriane Musgrave As a long-time bike commuter and road cyclist, the dangers and challenges of riding our streets impact me daily. My commitment to making our roads safer has earned me the support of Cambridge Bike Safety this year and in 2017. I’m committed to building a protected bike lane along the entire length of Mass Ave as well as building out a full network of connected protected bike lanes. You can watch my pledge here.

John Pitkin Citizen oversight of the Cambridge Traffic Department by the Board of Traffic and Parking was eliminated in the 1990s. It should be restored. The Traffic Department needs more informed input from residents to correct mistakes and failed experiments in developing new infrastructure.

Sumbul Siddiqui To increase bicycle ridership and decrease motor vehicle speed, I supported the “Cycling Safety Ordinance.” To improve the connectedness of existing bike lanes, I co-sponsored policy orders to support the implementation of protected bike lanes on Webster Ave, Museum Way, O’Brien Highway, and Craigie Bridge, and to create a pedestrian/bicycle shuttle bridge connecting Concord Avenue to the Triangle area on Cambridgepark Drive. I cosponsored a policy order to identify traffic-calming features for the Fresh Pond Mall area as the current conditions in the lot compromise pedestrian and bicyclist safety by failing to clearly separate where vehicles should travel and where to expect pedestrians and cyclists moving safely. I am also pushing to add bicycle “traffic lights” to separate lanes in order to limit cyclists’ speed and decrease the number of collisions with pedestrians.

Denise Simmons I will continue to be in full support of moving forward with the City’s commitment to Vision Zero, urging that the City move as quickly and as responsibly as possible in building out our bicycle lane infrastructure – while also bringing together the various stakeholders, including bicyclists, seniors, those with mobility impairments, business owners, and members of the Interfaith Community to ensure that we are keeping the lines of communication and collaboration open and robust. We need to have all hands on deck in order to ensure that we come up with policies that allows everyone utilizing our streets, in whatever fashion they choose to, to feel safe.

24

How would you expand -BICYCLE & PEDESTRIAN INFRASTRUCTURE- in Cambridge?

Ben Simon First we should need to fully fund the MBTA, providing quality service to get people off the streets and onto the T. Again looking to Europe, I think we should implement a “green wave” traffic like the one implemented in Germany, which closes many streets to auto-traffic, directing it in a controlled way that reduces accidents, traffic and emissions, as well as leaving other streets free for cyclists to use safely without sharing them with cars.

Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler I lost part of my front two teeth on a section of Mt. Auburn St that doesn’t currently have protected bike lanes, so safe streets are personal for me. I support building the full 20 miles of protected bike lanes called for in the Cambridge Bicycle Plan, including on Mass Ave, Hampshire, and Mt. Auburn Streets. I advocated for the groundbreaking Cycling Safety Ordinance along with other members of Cambridge Bike Safety, which the city recently passed. But we still have a lot of work to do. We need to commit now to making Cambridge a bicycle- & pedestrian-friendly city to reduce our dependence on cars. This includes municipal sidewalk snow removal, which some other cities have, instead of relying on property owners and enforcement with fines. There are climate reasons to do this, but also an important piece around equity for residents who can’t afford cars.

Nicola Williams I was honored to have spoken with Cambridge Bicycle Safety in March to discuss bicycle and pedestrian safety, specifically how Cambridge Bicycle Safety can work with local businesses in helping to achieve their goal of protected bike lanes through all of Mass Ave. Through my work as a board member of Harvard Square Neighborhood Association, I have also been supporting the efforts of the Memorial Drive Alliance – comprising environmentalists and bicycle groups with others. Our shared goals are saving the trees along Memorial Drive and adding separate bike lanes in part on Memorial Drive itself, thus limiting vehicular traffic to two lanes and bike lanes to two lanes. As a candidate, I have taken the Cambridge Bicycle Safety pledge to commit to rapid implementation of a citywide network of protected bicycle lanes. I will do my utmost as a City Councilor to make this city safe and accessible for everyone.

Quinton Zondervan I support aggressively reducing street car storage and repurposing the space to improve bike and pedestrian safety. Progress is too slow and too many people are dying on our streets. The council passed an ordinance this term that will require protected bike lanes to be built whenever major roadwork is done on streets in the bicycle plan. I would like to see a much more rapid implementation of the protected network. In particular Mass Ave and Hampshire St are essential pieces that must be completed by the end of next term. I am also looking forward to the River Street redesign, as my policy order put the council on record demanding protected lanes as a part of this project. A redesign process should begin around Porter Square in 2020, which will include a protected bike lane on Somerville Ave. as a result of significant activism at community meetings, and my insistence from the chamber on finding a way to get it done. Mass DCR is redesigning Memorial Drive, which includes a shared-use path along Magazine Beach that puts cyclists and pedestrians in dangerous conflict with each other every day. I have been working with a coalition of transit and environmental advocates to push for a significant road diet and a much wider, separated path, while protecting the iconic mature trees.

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How would you improve -PUBLIC TRANSIT- in Cambridge?

Sukia Akiba As stated above - I'd like to make public transportation free for all. I believe this would help increase ridership and as a result improve traffic congestion and harmful greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, I'd want to expand the hours of operation so that public transportation is viable and available at all times throughout the day.

Burhan Azeem Burhan has fought, and the City of Cambridge should fight, to secure municipal representation on the Fiscal and Management Control Board of the MBTA.

Charles Franklin Seeing as the MBTA is a state and not city organization, I am skeptical that the city can directly influence the MBTA. Which does not mean that we should not pressure the MBTA to continue improving service and fix outstanding issues such as the Central Square Elevator. I think that the most effective thing that the city can do to improve transit for its residents is to create its own short-route bus system to cover the gaps in timely MBTA service. I envision small loops of buses between frequently traveled destinations, such as grocery stores, hospital and late night shuttles for Academic use.

Craig Kelley We need to fix the Alewife garage. That building is literally falling down as I type this and if it closes the impact on the T and regional traffic will be massive. Arguably, we also need to create rules that, once fixed, people can only use this garage (or any garage over which the City might have permitting authority of some sort) if they have 3 or more people in their car because it is absurd that commuters think it is appropriate to travel in single occupancy vehicles. We have plenty of transportation capacity, but the vast majority of it is locked up in SOVs and by requiring car-pooling for places like a newly rebuilt and safer Alewife garage we could start shifting the discussion of how many people really belong in a car.

Derek Kopon Boston’s transit system is badly in need of a reboot, and the biggest leap would be introducing high-frequency Urban Rail connections to the inner core.

(See the MBTA’s Rail Vision project for the full concept.) As such, the two greatest transit improvements Cambridge can make at the local level are to support Urban Rail by: 1) Funding a new commuter rail station at Alewife to improve commuter access to new commercial developments there; and 2) Pushing for a new Grand Junction shuttle from West Station to Kendall Square. In short, we need to provide better mass-transit options for suburban commuters coming into East and West Cambridge every day.

Marc McGovern Although the MBTA is a state issue, we must do all we can on a municipal level to support its improvement. I worked with the City Manager to have Cambridge contribute over $20 million dollars to help save the Green Line Extension. Right now, Cambridge contributes just under $10 million annually to support public transit in our city, we should look to increase that amount with very clear and specific expectations for how it will be used.

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How would you improve -PUBLIC TRANSIT- in Cambridge?

Risa Mednick Cambridge must work in collaboration with its neighbors and suburban communities to leverage power with the state and the MBTA. Each city/town has limited authority, but together there is more opportunity to coordinate for systemic change.

Gregg Moree Encourage businesses to use more shuttle busses. A city run service that provides rides, similar to the T’s, “The Ride,” available. In particular to elderly people.

Adriane Musgrave Create more priority and bus-only lanes! Cambridge hosts one-third of the key bus routes in the entire metro area. We need to make it more efficient and reliable to ride critical routes like the 71/73, 77, 47, and 1 buses.

John Pitkin Cities can do little about rapid transit on their own but they can prioritize and expedite buses with bus priority lanes and signalization such as on Mt. Auburn St.

Sumbul Siddiqui We must improve both the reach and efficiency of our public transit options. To increase the efficiency, I support the creation of separate bus lanes on major corridors. I also support more residential construction within walking distance of a T stop or frequently running bus line. For example, we should consider upzoning along Prospect St. between Central Square and Inman Square, in light of the future Green Line stop at Union Square. To improve the reach of public transit in Cambridge, I support policies that subsidize MBTA and commuter rail fares for low income individuals. Our ultimate goal should be to eliminate fares altogether, and move towards a system of free public transit. The price of a train ride shouldn’t keep anyone from making it to school or work.

Denise Simmons During my second term as Mayor, I was heartened to learn that the transportation officials in Cambridge, Boston, Somerville, and the surrounding communities are in constant discussion and communication with one another – and I was dismayed to only just be learning this fact in 2016, after years of serving on the City Council. I was dismayed because it is important that those regional conversations take place in such a way that the elected officials – the policy makers – are fully looped into these conversations. The single most important improvement we must act on is in establishing a regular, regional transportation conversation that includes the transportation officials and the folks who actually make the policies, which will allow the leaders of each community to make much more informed decisions.

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How would you improve -PUBLIC TRANSIT- in Cambridge?

Ben Simon The city should expand our protected bike lane system, and Cambridge should coordinate with other municipalities to aggressively lobby the state to fully fund the MBTA.

Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler I have a plan to have the City of Cambridge make the MBTA free for our residents by 2025, by covering the cost of MBTA Linkpasses for every resident of Cambridge. A significant percentage of residents qualify for the reduced rate of $30 or student discounts, and the city of Cambridge should be able to negotiate significant pricing reductions. I estimate that the total cost for such a program after a 30% volume discount at ~$59M/ year, which represents about 9% of the city budget. The plan would be funded by two primary sources: 1.) increased PILOT payments from Harvard and MIT, 2) a shift to progressive property tax rates so that larger lots would have higher marginal property tax rates, allowing us to raise taxes on the upper-tier of Cambridge property.

Nicola Williams In July, I stood with candidates gathered at T stations and commuter rail stops all over the greater Boston area to protest the unfair hikes in prices. I was proud to stand for a more just and equitable transit system; months later, the Red Line which is used by over 200,000 people daily has not recovered from a train derailment. This is unacceptable. Municipalities in the Greater Boston area needs to have greater input on how the MBTA operates and is funded as the primary funders and users of the public service. Through this singular goal, we can push forward on a number of important aspects, such as increasing the number of cars on each train, increasing the frequency of trains, and increasing its sustainability. I stand with Michelle Wu and as city councillor will work to both stop unfair fair hikes and decrease the cost if possible. In my view, all teens should have free ridership.

Quinton Zondervan I’ve called for free public transit buses in Cambridge, owned and operated by the city. If Harvard and MIT can operate private shuttles, why can’t we operate public ones to help people get around? The city should look into a municipal transit network on high demand routes. A municipal shuttle network could be free, electric, and trackless. Our public transit is broken and we cannot wait for the MBTA to prioritize and fund system improvements. The recent “Better Bus Project” was a revenue-neutral disaster that ultimately worsened conditions for riders on some routes right on top of a systemwide fare hike! Meanwhile the 68 bus is over capacity and children from The Port who rely on it are often late to school. Things are heading entirely in the wrong direction, and we don’t have time to wait: free and reliable public transit is within the city’s reach. We could partner with other municipalities to expand the network even further and make connections that don’t currently exist.

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-THE CLIMATE CRISIS:-

1 Do you support the -GREEN NEW DEAL-?

2 By what year should Cambridge reach -NET ZERO-CARBON EMISSIONS-?

1

2

Sukia Akiba

_YES_

2025

Burhan Azeem

_YES_

2030

Charles Franklin

_YES_

2050

Craig Kelley

_YES_

2025

Derek Kopon

_YES_

2025

Marc McGovern

_YES_

2030

Risa Mednick

_YES_

2035

Gregg Moree

_YES_

2028

Adriane Musgrave

_YES_

2050

John Pitkin

_YES_

2035

Sumbul Siddiqui

_YES_

2050

Denise Simmons

_YES_

2040

Ben Simon

_YES_

2029

Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler

_YES_

2035

Nicola Williams

_YES_

2030

Quinton Zondervan

_YES_

2050 29

What should Cambridge do right now to get to -NET ZERO EMISSIONS-?

Sukia Akiba The climate crisis is of utmost importance. It should be the number one issue of every person worldwide. We need to move up our efforts to reach net zero. Ideally, I'd like this to be by 2025 - but realize that may be unattainable and 2030 should be the absolute latest that Cambridge should be Net Zero compliant. I think Cambridge should require solar on all new building projects. I also believe that Larger scale building projects should include geothermal as part of their plans. Cambridge should also increase its tree canopy on all public land and provide incentives for homeowners to increase the tree canopy as well.

Burhan Azeem - Pass citywide zoning updates to phase in requirements over the next few years to eliminate natural gas infrastructure in new developments, set high standards for insulation and efficient climate control, and eliminate requirements to provide parking for commercial or housing developments.

- Deploy electric buses (Cambridge has the resources to partner with the MBTA to make this happen, and substantially increase the frequency of bus service in Cambridge while we do it).

- Develop a citywide network of separated, permanent bicycle paths by 2022.

Charles Franklin The easiest thing we can do is disallow new buildings from tapping into existing natural gas lines. This will reduce the consumption of Natural Gas, and the associated release greenhouse gasses into the air with time. We can also continue to promote our Community Electricity Aggregation program, which promotes the supply of renewable energy to Cambridge, and supports further development of solar and other renewable energy projects in Cambridge.

Craig Kelley Ban the purchase of meat in city-funded contracts. Ban the purchase of airplane flights with city funds. Change our zoning to allow and incentivize carbon-free energy creation and storage. Change our power purchasing to an “opt out” rather than an “opt in” for residential power. Purchase only noncarbon energy for City energy. Get rid of the parking spots for City Councilors at City Hall. Eliminate the traditional provision of a car for the Mayor.

Derek Kopon I advocate for mandatory solar on all new large developments. A similar local ordinance is already in place in Watertown. California recently passed a law requiring mandatory solar on new homes as part of its plan to reach net zero. I have advocated locally for solar and organized my neighbors to put a system on the roof of our building. I initiated the push to put solar on top of the Frost Terrace development under construction near Porter Square. I have also helped friends and coworkers design systems for their homes. In addition to solar, we must work harder in our municipal buildings and with commercial tenants to increase energy efficiency. Our energy grid is already straining from the demand of new commercial development and will face further loads as we shift our fossil fuel consumption towards electricity usage in the move towards net zero.

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What should Cambridge do right now to get to -NET ZERO EMISSIONS-?

Marc McGovern We need to reduce our carbon footprint. Some of that is thru safe street infrastructure and bike lanes, improving public transit and generally getting people out of cars. We need to ban the use of gas in all new construction. We need to strengthen our requirements on developers to include things like green roofs, solar panels and Net Zero construction. The City needs to convert our fleet of vehicles to electric. We need to add solar to all municipal buildings.

Risa Mednick Cambridge has made net zero commitments and needs to assess progress annually and shift strategies as necessary. Given the escalating state of environmental vulnerability and change, there should be a reassessment of the timeline to determine if we are making the necessary changes rapidly enough.

Gregg Moree City vehicles, including school buses, should have at least better emission controls, or electric vehicles.

Adriane Musgrave Require all new construction to use passive house standards (which goes beyond LEED standards) so that we are building the most energy efficient buildings. We cannot reach net zero without adopting stronger energy efficiency standards. We also need to require rooftop solar to invest in on-site energy. We should also increase our portion of the renewable community aggregated energy from 14% to 60% of energy used over the next five years.

John Pitkin Accelerate progress on the City’s Net Zero Plan for buildings by reducing energy use through investments in energy efficiency and behavior change in existing buildings, which are the largest source of emissions. Promote retrofits of existing stock with incentives for rental and condo buildings such as a revolving fund of low/no interest financing, demonstration projects, technical assistance and an energy efficiency job corps.

Sumbul Siddiqui To transition away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy at the local level, we should begin by identifying the biggest sources of fossil fuel consumption and subsequent emissions, and target our efforts accordingly. In Cambridge, 80% of greenhouse gas emissions are caused by buildings.

Our priority should therefore be to reduce building energy use. I am also committed to the Net Zero Action Plan, which aims to make Cambridge carbon neutral by 2050 by cutting energy demand and accelerate our transition to renewable energy sources. To reduce building fossil fuel consumption and improve energy efficiency across Cambridge, I support policies to increase the city’s operating and capital budgets to expand renewable energy generation, invest in renewable energy technologies, and build climate-friendly infrastructure, including improving energy efficiency in older buildings, district heating and electric vehicle charging stations.

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What should Cambridge do right now to get to -NET ZERO EMISSIONS-?

Denise Simmons I believe we should focus on adhering to the Net Zero Action Plan that the City Council adopted in 2015.

Ben Simon Require all new development, public and private, to be carbon neutral.

Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler We need to transition to a greener transportation network, and so my focus on increasing public transit and bike usage is a key factor. Building bus priority lanes to encourage more people to use the bus will be important, as will making those buses & subways free for all residents. I support ending required parking minimums for new construction because many people are willing to move to Cambridge in part because they like the easy access to public transit, and forcing developers to build parking spaces creates an incentive for people to hold onto cars they don’t actually need. Because a substantial source of emissions comes from buildings in Cambridge, we need to finance weatherization and retrofit programs, which will also reduce utility costs for working-class residents.

Nicola Williams Cambridge needs to recognize that all the crises we currently face - the housing crisis, the crisis of road congestion, the climate crisis - are all intertwined and can be solved through comprehensive plans based on economic, environmental, and racial justice. For example, our largest source of emissions is currently our buildings. Thus, in order to meet the goals set out on our Net Zero plan, we must ensure that all new buildings are built without fossil fuels and are made net zero ready. More than that, we need to invest in electrifying our energy sector so that residents don’t need to burn fossil fuels to heat themselves in the winter. This is by far the largest obstacle to reach net zero emissions in the next ten years. But if anywhere can do it, I believe it is Cambridge, which is a hub of technological innovation. With our world class universities and scholars, we are primed to create jobs and produce more solar panels, wind turbines, and hydropumps with public-private partnerships than anywhere else in the country.

Quinton Zondervan In 2013, as citizen activists, Mike Connolly and I co-authored the Net Zero Zoning Petition, which resulted in a first in the nation plan to reduce building emissions to zero over the next few decades. Any building not built net-zero ready is doomed to continue adding to our total emissions for decades to come. In Cambridge, building emissions are 80% of our total emissions and millions of square feet of energy-intensive commercial and lab space are added every year. The Net Zero Action Plan (NZAP) mandates that newly constructed buildings must achieve net zero emissions status by: 2020 - municipal construction; 2022 - small residential (<3 units) 2025 - large residential and commercial 2030 - laboratory buildings I’m proud of the work we did on this plan, which is the city’s signature climate policy, but now we must move even faster in light of the recent IPCC report. Here’s what I’m proposing to build on our progress: (1) An immediate end to fracked gas infrastructure via Net-zero ready construction; (2) Citywide emissions reports going back as far as we can, and annually going forward if possible so we can track total emissions over time.; (3) An annual reduction goal, so we don't have to wait until 2050 to reflect on our progress.

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What should Cambridge do to address -ENVIRONMENTAL INJUSTICE(for example, worse impacts on communities of color)?

Sukia Akiba Diversity would go a long way towards curing environmental injustice. Cambridge needs to increase the inventory of affordable housing units in all neighborhoods - including the "good ones".

Burhan Azeem It is crucial to the pursuit of climate justice that the voices of those who are most affected by the threat of climate change be heard first. The climate crisis is singularly unjust in that the greatest impacts will and are being borne by those who least contributed to the issue. My candidacy is a response to this, as a Generation Z candidate, whose entire future is at stake, I want to help to give young people a seat at the table. But more than this, I believe that policy making processes are too often top-down decision-making which give a formal nod to public input by holding a few public meetings. It is important to me that in policy-making, especially in environmental policy, the voices of those disproportionately affected are heard first, solutions are developed collaboratively, and finally policy results from this engagement, rather than the reverse order.

Charles Franklin Cambridge has a bad history of cutting down trees in poorer neighborhoods such as East Cambridge and Area Four, compared to more well-to-do neighborhoods like West Cambridge. As a result, East Cambridge has substantially less tree canopy than West Cambridge, and experiences 1-5 degF higher temperatures than other areas of Cambridge with more tree cover. Therefore, one immediate thing we can do is to work with the City Arborist to plant and maintain the tree canopy in less-covered neighborhoods to the same standards we see in, say, West Cambridge. Infrastructure like power plants and industrial developments are also frequently built in or near poorer areas, such as East Cambridge and Alewife; I support the denial of such construction without suitable mitigation or proof that the project could not have been built elsewhere.

Craig Kelley Work with the T to create a carbon-free bus network of electric buses. Re-route delivery trucks down non-residential streets. Maintain and increase the tree canopy in our denser, less affluent areas. Ban gas-powered leaf blowers. Provide assistance for air conditioning access to low-income households to help ensure safety from Urban Heat Island effect (I am working with ISeeChange to help make that happen). Work with GCP to make Jerryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Pond at the end of Rindge Ave a regional passive recreational resource.

Derek Kopon Pollution is a problem in all communities and all communities must work together to protect the health of our citizens and the health of our planet.

Businesses generating pollution must be held accountable to clean up pollution and work in the cleanest possible manner as part of the cost of doing business. No community should suffer health effects from environmental pollution that is generating profits for industry.

33

What should Cambridge do to address -ENVIRONMENTAL INJUSTICE(for example, worse impacts on communities of color)?

Marc McGovern Much of Cambridge lies in a floodplain. Many of those neighborhoods are in our lower income communities. The city is already taking steps to address this by building underground storm water retention tanks in the Port. We also need to educate our residents about insurance and how to prepare their homes if there is a flood. We need to work more quickly with the State to allocate the funding to add a fourth pump to the Amelia Earhart Dam because it is not prepared to stop flooding from a major storm.

Risa Mednick Globally and locally we must deal with the entwined existential challenges of social inequity and climate change. Cambridge should: 1. Not allow a utility substation to be built next to an elementary school and residential neighborhood. 2. Increase environmental education opportunities in natural environments for children and youth in all grades. 3. Accelerate and subsidize clean energy in subsidized housing units as well as supporting enhanced climate resilience measures in neighborhoods most vulnerable to flooding, excessive heat, etc.

Gregg Moree If people of color are given affordable housing in other areas it would be better. Also, people of color should be given more opportunities, economically, so that they can live where they choose.

Adriane Musgrave Cambridge is a high-opportunity city with clean air, clean water, and tremendous wealth. For us, environmental justice means creating opportunities for people of color and low-income residents to live in this amazing city. The 100% Affordable Housing Overlay would allow these individuals and families from these communities to live in Cambridge, and we should pass it.

John Pitkin Planting more trees in impacted areas would improve air quality and mitigate extreme heat. Fuel-burning vehicles, including diesel school buses, are the major source of air pollution. We need to reduce and eventually eliminate this source by transitioning to non-polluting modes and electric vehicles. By far the greatest environmental injustice is generational. To mitigate this I would give a greater voice to rising generations in local climate action, such as the Cambridge Climate Congresses of 2009 & 2016.

34

What should Cambridge do to address -ENVIRONMENTAL INJUSTICE(for example, worse impacts on communities of color)?

Sumbul Siddiqui Environmental justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people, regardless of background, as it pertains to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. This means that all of us deserve to be meaningfully included in discussions around the environment and subsequent policy actions. Within the context of the Cambridge, this means reaching out to ensure that all of our City’s demographics are included in decision making around environmental policy. This is why I recommended Mothers Out Front reach out to our local mosque to do a workshop, and supported Green Street Initiative’s grant to bring information about their programs to reduce car use and promote environmentally-friendly and healthy transportation to affordable housing buildings. I will continue to promote partnerships that make these topics more accessible so that those who are the most vulnerable understand how they can be disproportionately affected.

Denise Simmons The largest provider of affordable housing in Cambridge, the Cambridge Housing Authority, has been undergoing a system-wide rehab of all its properties, making its buildings (which house thousands of low-income folks) energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly. Cambridge is in a better position in working to address the environmental injustice issues than many other communities – and yet one of the most frustrating issues I have long spoken out about is that when I go to meetings hosted by environmental organizations, I do not see much diversity. I do not see people from different socio-economic backgrounds, etc. Even people who must work three or four jobs just to pay their basic living expenses are deeply concerned about and impacted by environmental issues, and they should be invited into the conversation. I keep urging those at the forefront of the local environmental organizations to think hard about how to broaden their message, their appeal, and their recruitment strategies, and I shall continue to do so.

Ben Simon We are losing our tree canopy which is a vital protection from heat islands. Many low-income residents live in areas that already have fewer trees and may be unable to afford air conditioning. We should focus on planting in those areas.

Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler I am concerned with utility rate hikes which disproportionately impact low income people and marginalized communities, and Eversource’s attempts to situate substations near these same communities in East Boston. Closer to home in Cambridge, I oppose efforts to put a new Eversource substation in the middle of residential and historically working class East Cambridge that will only serve commercial development in Kendall Square. The new substation should be located in the area of the labs that it will primarily serve. I support restoring Jerry’s Pond, a recreational area and green space near Rindge Towers affordable housing development where some of the most vulnerable residents in Cambridge live. This used to be a place people went to swim and have fun, now it’s contaminated and fenced off from use. It’s a pretty glaring example of environmental injustice right in the middle of Cambridge.

35

What should Cambridge do to address -ENVIRONMENTAL INJUSTICE(for example, worse impacts on communities of color)?

Nicola Williams Environmental injustice, which strikes the hardest at communities of color and low-income residents, is incompatible with the equitable city our campaign is trying to create and ending this disparate reality will require us to give access to power for those most facing the pain. An unfortunate injustice within many environmental movements historically has been the ubiquity of white activists and a scarcity of people of color. That is why it is incredibly important to me to reach out to communities of color and low-income residents that are disproportionately impacted by environmental racism and treated as disposable by the fossil fuel industry. As an environmentalist, I have made protecting Cambridge’s tree canopy, waterways, and health a top priority of my campaign. I recognize that if our community, state, and world do not take the climate crisis seriously, the efforts we make to protect our environment locally will likely be for not. Thus we are currently conducting research on what the state and the Cambridge city council’s are doing to reduce our greenhouse emissions, their timelines, and how we can implement a Cambridge Green New Deal. Equity would be a cornerstone of these plans; a Cambridge Green New Deal would employ people of color and work to build resilience for buildings like the Rindge Towers near Alewife which has many low-income people of color and exists on a floodplain.

Quinton Zondervan I have been and will continue to advocate strongly for environmental justice in Cambridge, especially the Port neighborhood where the majority of our black community lives. The city is planning a major stormwater and sewer infrastructure project in the Port and I’m working with community members to make sure their concerns are addressed, including the temporary loss of a basketball court that is central to a lot of positive neighborhood activity in order to place a storage tank there. I’m working on holding a community meeting in the neighborhood so we can truly hear resident perspectives before moving forward. Cambridge’s tree canopy has declined by 20% in 10 years, and the parts of the city with the most vulnerable communities tend to be where the canopy is thinnest. Because trees are protectors against the extreme heat and flooding we know is coming our way, this is a huge injustice.

This spring I got the city to plant 16 new trees in Green-Rose Heritage Park which is located next to public housing in the Port.

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What would you ensure that -HARVARD does its part in addressing the -CLIMATE CRISIS-?

Sukia Akiba Harvard shares in all the benefits of our wonderful city. They should also share in the challenges that lie ahead. Harvard should be a partner to the city in ensuring the highest quality of life for its residents. They should be at the forefront of the Net Zero initiative and they should be a willing contributor to the affordable housing funding and inventory.

Burhan Azeem - Like all universities in Cambridge, Harvard should increase their housing supply on campus until every Cambridge student that wants to live oncampus is able to, and follow the green building standards outlined above in all new housing developments on campus.

- Press Harvard to divest from fossil fuels.

- Press Harvard to pursue energy-efficiency and emissions-reduction renovations throughout the campus.

Charles Franklin As far as I can tell, the main leverage the City has over Harvard is the ability to grant or deny permits, and the local tax exemptions that it provides to the University. I am absolutely in favor of systematically denying Harvard whatever permits or zoning exemptions it requires until it addresses and implements a substantial climate mitigation plan. I am also in favor of holding any tax breaks the City gives Harvard in abeyance until they do the same.

Craig Kelley Use the Cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s permitting and zoning powers to push Harvard towards both Net Zero buildings and also carbon, and cruelty, free dining halls. Work with Harvard to keep students on campus during breaks to avoid the climate impacts of long distance travel associated with going home, visiting other countries, going skiing and so forth during breaks because the dorms and dining halls are closed. Long distance travel and eating meat are the two most impactful things individuals can give up to minimize climate change and Harvard should make that choice as easy and clear as possible for its students.

Derek Kopon My platform is based on environmental considerations. The Harvard community must contribute to the solution by working with the city to reduce energy consumption, improve the use of public transportation, improve infrastructure by implementing green technologies, including solar energy, water conservation measures and energy conservation. Harvard could be a leader in this effort among universities.

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What would you ensure that -HARVARD does its part in addressing the -CLIMATE CRISIS-?

Marc McGovern I was proud to stand with students and community members at both the Harvard Divestment demonstration and the Climate Strike a few weeks ago.

We must work with Harvard, push Harvard and demand that Harvard do itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s part in addressing climate change, and it starts with their divestment from fossil fuels.

Risa Mednick Harvard is a major energy consumer and carbon emitter and must assess its footprint and impact on the Cambridge and Boston community. strategies to lessen its reliance on carbon emitting systems, and test new strategies and technologies that can be shared beyond the institution.

Gregg Moree Assemble a body of students that come up with some ideas to achieve that goal. And encourage Harvard, through taxes, penalties and rewards, to become net zero.

Adriane Musgrave As part of our town-gown reports, annually we make sure that our Harvard is being a positive member of our community and that includes the universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s actions to build greener buildings, encourage bicycling and public transit, and composting in the dining halls, among other areas.

John Pitkin Establish benchmarks for equal contribution to community-wide reductions according to ability and transparent reporting for all parties as a way to hold Harvard accountable as part of a citywide response. Everyone has responsibilities and a role to play. The responsibilities are mutual.

Sumbul Siddiqui Harvard has announced that it plans to move towards fossil fuel neutrality by 2026 and eliminate fossil fuel usage altogether by 2050. This is a start, but Harvard can also contribute to efforts by the Cambridge community to address the climate crisis by supporting citywide efforts to reduce emissions and protect our green spaces. For example, sections can be added to the PILOT agreement when it is next renegotiated.

Denise Simmons DIVESTMENT from fossil fuels and other economic entanglements that could be linked to institutions that are harmful to our planet.

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What would you ensure that -HARVARD does its part in addressing the -CLIMATE CRISIS-?

Ben Simon Harvard, as the second wealthiest private non-profit in the world after the Vatican, can afford to pay property taxes to Cambridge and Boston. It should pay them so that our governments have sufficient revenue to address the climate crisis and other social crises.

Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler Harvard is in a unique position as the wealthiest university in the country and one of the wealthiest institutions in the world. It has a responsibility to lead here, and I will work with members of the Harvard community including grad student organizers, faculty & staff, and administration to support efforts for Harvard to do its part. I will work to support Harvard achieving Net Zero goals in line with the city, including construction of new buildings and day-to-day operations. I also believe thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an important role for increased PILOT payments at regular property tax rate to help fund climate projects around the city.

Nicola Williams I am glad to have lived in the Harvard Square area for over 30 years, to have been endorsed by the Harvard College Democrats, and have been active in the last few years with the Harvard Square Neighborhood Association (HSNA). As a part of HSNA, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve worked with community stakeholders including Harvard itself to create a rezoning petition for Harvard Square to deal with the blight of vacancies created by corporate developers who have ramped up rents for businesses. After reaching consensus as a community, we recently presented this rezoning petition to the city council. This is to say, no other candidate has the deep history of bringing Harvard to the table and pushing it to put its resources and influence to bear on issues in the community that I do. As it pertains to climate change, I believe that all of Harvardâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new buildings should be built with no fossil fuels. I recently participated in the Harvard Divestment action, but my commitment to this point is born out of the broader local issue of buildings being the largest source of emissions in Cambridge. We need to push Harvard to make all of its new buildings net zero ready immediately and to retrofit or electrify all of its older buildings. It has the resources, it just needs to put them to work.

Quinton Zondervan Harvard should divest ALL its investments from fossil fuels! Harvard has been a leader on building efficiency and campus sustainability and they should continue to lead on that. Educating students about the depth of the climate crisis and pathways to a more just future.

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-CRIMINAL JUSTICE & PUBLIC SAFETY1 1

Do you support -ELIMINATING CASH BAIL-?

2 Do you support opening -SAFE CONSUMPTION-SPACES(supervised sites for safe drug use) in Cambridge?

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2

Sukia Akiba

_YES_

Burhan Azeem

_YES_

_YES_

Charles Franklin

_YES_

_YES_

Craig Kelley

_YES_

_YES_

Derek Kopon

_YES_

_YES_

Marc McGovern

_YES_

_YES_

Risa Mednick

_YES_

_YES_

Gregg Moree

_YES_

_YES_

Adriane Musgrave

_YES_

_YES_

John Pitkin

_YES_

Sumbul Siddiqui

_YES_

_YES_

Denise Simmons

_YES_

_YES_

Ben Simon

_YES_

_YES_

Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler

_YES_

_YES_

Nicola Williams

_YES_

_YES_

Quinton Zondervan

_YES_

_YES_

How would you combat -MASS INCARCERATION- and reduce -RACIAL DISPARITIES IN THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM-?

Sukia Akiba As a woman of color I am very familiar with the discrimination and scrutiny people of color face. Most people understand that jail does not represent people who commit crimes, jail represent people who get CAUGHT committing crimes. People of color are disproportionately targeted and the disparities highlight the fact the criminal justice system is broke and it continues to function inadequately and unjustly - particularly for people of color.

Changes need to be made and the first and probably most important is to ensure transparency of how the system operates at every step in the process, Proper data collection, analysis and reporting would highlight areas of inadequacy. This could help identify an officer who pulls over a disproportionate number of young black men for traffic stops, or a judge who levies heavier sentences on people of color. Once these are identified - solving the problem becomes much easier.

Burhan Azeem - Eliminate cash bail.

- Expand alternatives to incarceration for nonviolent offenses.

- We find it curious that the Cambridge Police annual report and open data page do not appear to provide summaries of who has been detained and incarcerated by Cambridge Police or any breakdowns by the crime committed or demographics. We will request such data to make sure Cambridge is accountable.

- Eliminate mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent offenses.

- Hire ex-convicts. We will make sure the city does not discriminate against ex-convicts in hiring.

Charles Franklin Cambridge has a substantial amount of people of color on its police force, which is a positive development, over the past several years. I would see to it that the City continue to monitor and promote such diversity on its staff. I would also see that the city, on an ongoing basis, continue to review policing policies, particularly those concerning the use of force, and timely, courteous, and professional response to poor and minority communities.

Furthermore, the need for additional legal and advocacy resource is necessary. There have been substantial cutbacks over the last few years in these areas. The City could increase its assistance in this area.

Craig Kelley I am currently working with Strategies for Youth and others to develop educational and training aids to help people, especially youth, understand their rights and responsibilities as it relates to law enforcement. I have also worked with CPD and City staff to ensure police officers receive appropriate training in mental health first aid, psychological support and supported homeless outreach officers. Given that the lack of a successful education directly leads to our high incarceration rate, my efforts to use the City budget authority to highlight the need to improve educational results and equity in and out of our school system, to include our out-of-school youth programs, are crucial to this issue.

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How would you combat -MASS INCARCERATION- and reduce -RACIAL DISPARITIES IN THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM-?

Derek Kopon As a member of the city council, I would support criminal justice reform efforts including the decriminalization of poverty and the inability to pay fines, tickets and court costs.

Marc McGovern Cambridge invests tremendous resources, financially and otherwise, in ensuring that our police department engages in community policing. Our police department is nationally recognized for its efforts. I worked to help add social workers to our police department, to not only support victims but to train our police officers in de-escalation and crisis intervention. We launched a first of its kind accountability system that tracks all interactions between our officers and the public to see if there are any concerning trends. We have also invested heavily in the Safety Net Program that works with young people before they enter the criminal justice system. This program has reduced juvenile crime in Cambridge by 70%. Keeping people out of the system is also about giving them other possibilities, which is why I brought the Pathways Program to Cambridge to help young people enter the trade unions and obtain well paying jobs.

Risa Mednick As a human rights advocate, I believe the criminal justice system in the U.S. is inherently racist, unjust and in need of complete reform. As a city councillor I would partner with councillors and CPD leadership, the Middlesex County Sheriff and District Attorney on a rigorous study of arrests and incarcerations in Cambridge to understand the impact on people of color and examine the effectiveness of diversion and recidivism prevention initiatives. Documenting the experiences of residents who are or have been incarcerated as well as their families will be an important aspect of this process.

Gregg Moree Police should be more educated about racial profiling. Black and Latinx should have more job opportunities to help them not be in a position of doing drugs or stealing.

Adriane Musgrave The Cambridge PD frequently leads the country in its training, focus on de-escalation, and using a social justice lens for its work. We need to ensure that police officers are properly trained in true community policing practices, that the force mirrors the diversity of our city, and that we are using diversionary programs rather than immediately incarcerating - especially when it comes to our youth. According to data from the Dept. of Justice, black youth are more than five times as likely to be incarcerated than white youth. So, in Cambridge, this also means we need to continue deepening the work of the Family and Social Justice department, which currently has 30 staff, including two social workers and a community outreach liaison.

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John Pitkin

How would you combat -MASS INCARCERATION- and reduce -RACIAL DISPARITIES IN THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM-?

I think we need to follow the lead of District Attorney Rachael Rollins.

Sumbul Siddiqui The City Council should work collaboratively with the District Attorney’s office and the state legislature to promote policies that will reduce mass incarceration and promote racial justice, including ending cash bail, limiting pretrial incarceration, eliminating mandatory minimum sentences for lowlevel drug offenses, and redirecting public spending towards restorative and community-based justice measures.

Denise Simmons Ultimately, we need to be doing a better job of catching people earlier in their lives, before they start making poor decisions and going off track.

Cambridge has an abundance of resources, and yet we still have a stubborn and persistent Opportunity/Achievement Gap in our schools, we still see too many young people feeling left behind in terms of job training and paths to quality, family-sustaining jobs–and we as a community must be much more intentional about reaching out to give everybody, regardless of their neighborhood, the chance to work towards the well-paying careers of tomorrow. I look to the success of the Harlem Children’s Zone in NYC – and Cambridge has actually borrowed elements from that for our Baby University program – and I feel we need more cradle-to-college services like this that , invest in our young people at an earlier age. I also believe that our supporting officials like the new Suffolk County DA Rachael Rollins, who is deliberately working to create a fairer, more color-blind criminal justice system, is paramount.

Ben Simon We should decriminalize most if not all non-violent crimes, particularly drug offences, which Nixon aide John Ehrlichman admitted were deliberately used to target black people and political dissidents.

Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler I have endorsed MASS Power’s efforts for a ballot referendum to end the voting disenfranchisement of Massachusetts residents in prison, and I would continue to support their work as a City Councilor. I would also work to ensure we have stronger oversight from community members so that residents and especially people of color have a real say in ensuring police do not further contribute to mass incarceration. I also want to see a Safe Consumption Facility in Cambridge and to the end the stigmatization of substance users, which is a major factor in the incarceration crisis.

Quinton Zondervan Councilor Siddiqui and I led the way on equitable cannabis legalization in Cambridge this term. We wanted to make sure the emerging recreational cannabis industry benefits the people of color who were (and continue to be) disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs. Through zoning and regulations, we’ve delayed Big Cannabis retail for 2 years, and made sure that Economic Empowerment applicants will have an opportunity to start a business and build wealth in Cambridge.

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What would you do to prevent -POLICE VIOLENCE- particularly towards people of color?

Sukia Akiba Violence against our citizens SHOULD NOT be tolerated. We (collective) have to do a better job of protecting our most vulnerable residents. Cambridge is a community and I believe together we can combat many issues our community faces. I would work with the Chief of police to establish a transparent overview process where all matters of police violence are reviewed to the fullest extent.

Burhan Azeem Police officers should be held accountable for their behavior while on duty - publicly, privately, and in court whenever necessary. We should have independent investigations of all instances of police violence.

Charles Franklin In general I think our police force does a fairly good job. Often, I have seen our police use the least amount of force necessary to handle a situation, when significantly more force would’ve been justified. That being said, we can always do better. We should continue to train police to de-escalate dangerous situations and review these trainings annually for efficacy. Any reviews of police misconduct should be done by a third party that doesn’t work regularly with our department.

Craig Kelley In service training on conflict de-escalation, mental health first aid and similar “soft power” policing tasks and community building are big parts of avoiding police violence. The Police Review and Advisory Board is a civilian city agency tasked with investigating complaints of wrong-doing and the City has periodically reached to outside experts to review and learn from specific incidents and to develop appropriate responses in relevant training curriculums. These programs should continue to receive the funding and staff support they need to continue to provide the appropriate level of civilian oversight and training adjustments necessary for modern policing.

Derek Kopon Police officers have a difficult job and they work to protect all of us. In order to support the efforts of our police officers, we need to provide better and more frequent training opportunities. This effort should include emergency response strategies, cultural training, psychological training, mental health training, and community development training. Education is the best investment in our officers and our community. Regarding policy wrongdoing, everyone is accountable under the law and corruption and favor in the police force is not acceptable and has a negative impact on everyone including police officers.

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What would you do to prevent -POLICE VIOLENCE- particularly towards people of color?

Marc McGovern As mentioned above, our new accountability system will be able to identify any troubling patterns with specific officers. Officers need to be held accountable if there is evidence of wrongdoing. When a Harvard graduate student was arrested almost two years ago and there was a question regarding force used by the police, I called for an outside investigation to assess the situation. I have also supported and advocated for increased training in de-escalation and crisis intervention training for our officers to provide them with the skills needed to intervene without using force.

Risa Mednick My priority is to use a racial and social equity lens in all realms of policy making. I would advocate for all elected and appointed city leaders to participate in rigorous, ongoing training to develop skills to address implicit bias and racism. The Cambridge Police Department must also engage in reflective anti-racism training developed for and by law enforcement professionals. Police department hires should reflect the cultural diversity of the community and include more women. The goal: transforming traditional policing models that emphasize coercive power and control and instead focus on procedural justice and legitimacy. I would advocate to assess the efficacy of internal oversight practices and the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Police Review and Advisory Board to determine if the mechanisms for oversight and accountability are working.

Gregg Moree I think that in Massachusetts the police are doing a good job. More education for Police would be helpful. Any officer that does commit violence or wrongdoing should be prosecuted. That may be implemented by making the process of reporting police injustice easier and more readily available.

Adriane Musgrave Our police force needs to better represent the community it serves. We need to continue investing in training that focuses on de-escalation, community building, and anti-bias awareness. When wrong-doing occurs, we need to make sure that justice is fair, impartial, and proceeds in a timely manner.

Everyone should be held accountable to the same standards.

John Pitkin No one is above the law and police officers have to be held accountable. I know they regularly face difficult situations but I would be in favor of more training to deal with mental health and domestic violence issues.

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What would you do to prevent -POLICE VIOLENCE- particularly towards people of color?

Sumbul Siddiqui We should prioritize expanding community oversight over police. One step I have taken this term along with other colleagues is to discuss a ban on facial surveillance technology. Studies have shown that face surveillance technology is particularly inaccurate when evaluating the faces of Black women. All Cambridge residents should be able to walk around, attend protests, and seek medical treatment without worrying that law enforcement agencies are tracking their movement. I am also supportive of the Office of Procedural Justice that is focused on proactively monitoring data relating to police-citizen interactions for indications of possible racial profiling and racially-biased policing (including use of force incidents), as well as assessing the Departmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s compliance with statutes, ordinances, and regulations aimed at mandating accountability.

Denise Simmons Cambridge truly works hard at being a progressive, inclusive community, and while our police department has certainly had some incidents of great concern over the years, our police commissioner is the right person for the job and he has worked to ensure that community-oriented policing is the prism through which the department operates. Our police commissioner very much believes in establishing relationships with people throughout the community â&#x20AC;&#x201C; not just because it makes his job easier, but because he genuinely cares about getting to know the people he serves. He sets the tone from the top, and the expectation is that his officers will strive to treat everyone with respect. That said, the CPD must do more to recruit its officers from within the community, which will help instill greater confidence in the members of the force. As for holding our officers accountable: we have the Police Review and Advisory Board, which is the vehicle for allowing residents to file formal grievances against individual officers that must then be investigated. Ultimately, I think this does make a difference, and while Cambridge must always strive to do better, I truly believe that we have the right leadership team in place at the CPD, and the right approach to keeping the public safe.

Ben Simon In the short term we should have a civilian review board for police wrongdoing and in the long term we should be moving towards alternative systems to policing such as restorative justice.

Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler We need a stronger oversight authority. The current authority only provides recommendations to the City Manager, who can choose to act on them or ignore them. There have been far too many examples including even recently of police violence and abuse of power against people in Cambridge.

Nicola Williams Police violence is a persistent issue across the country. Luckily, Cambridge has not had the issues that other municipalities have had. As such, we and Massachusetts are perhaps in a good position to change the politics and procedures around police shootings. As a city councillor, when there is a police shooting of an unarmed person, I would recommend sending that case to the DOJ to be independently investigated. But to change these dynamics before they happen will take a change in training and the promise of accountability. I am interested in what California recently did, passing AB32, a bill which changed the use of force for police from when they feel threatened to when they have no other alternative. I would work with state legislatures I have existing relationships like Rep. Mike Connolly and Rep. Liz Miranda.

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What would you do to prevent -POLICE VIOLENCE- particularly towards people of color?

Quinton Zondervan I regularly meet with the Police Chief, as well as the community outreach officers on this and other topics. Our Police Department is committed to being fair and impartial in enforcing the law, but we can always do better, and eternal vigilance is required. Police officers who break the law or act in a rash or dangerous manner should be disciplined and prosecuted to the full extent of the law, just like anybody else.

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How would you improve -POLICE RESPONSES TO MENTAL HEALTH CRISES-?

Sukia Akiba It is estimated that approximately 10% of all police contacts are related to instances involving mental health issues. I believe there needs to be more comprehensive training of both the police force and the 911 personnel. We need to treat mental health issues more like a medical issue than a criminal issue. When there is a medical emergency call to 911 for a health-related issue an ambulance is dispatched. Unfortunately, mental health issues called into 911 almost always result in police being dispatched. This can increase the anxiety of individuals experiencing a mental health crisis. The system needs to be changed to more health response related than criminal response related.

Burhan Azeem This is among the problems made vastly worse by police training practices like ‘warrior training’, which emphasizes a shoot first, ask questions later mentality. Burhan will make sure Cambridge police are never trained in this way and are always trained and equipped to approach our citizens with empathy first, deescalate, find help and resources, and only use violence as a last resort. Burhan has worked as an EMT - these are conversations he’s well equipped to have.

Charles Franklin Our police have been trained on how to handle the city’s many mentally ill and homeless. I have called emergency services myself when I’ve seen an unhoused person in clear mental distress. He was experiencing benzodiazepine withdrawal. The police came and handled the situation with grace.

Craig Kelley CPD should continue and expand its mental health first aid training as well as its various community specific programs such as our homeless outreach officers and those with expertise dealing with our elderly residents. Our efforts to train officers in de-escalation tactics should continue and expand.

Derek Kopon Police officers deserve training in how to respond to various situations. Mental health issues are not adequately addressed in our communities and this is a great challenge for everyone, citizens and officers alike. Without proper training and exercises in dealing with mental health crisis, situations can escalate quickly and with poor results.

Marc McGovern This goes back to the above. We must provide our officers with the proper training to de-escalate situations. By having social workers and other mental health providers on staff at the CPD is important as they not only provide training but they are also called upon to intervene in mental health situations.

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How would you improve -POLICE RESPONSES TO MENTAL HEALTH CRISES-?

Risa Mednick Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s critically important that all members and all ranks of municipal, state, and university law enforcement departments are well trained to understand the manifestations of mental illness and trauma. The Cambridge Police Department has been committed to trauma-informed policing practices and as a city councilor, I would advocate to advance its work and evaluate the impact of its strategies that include hiring civilian social workers and a psychologist to support community policing, diverting youth from the juvenile justice system, and creating specialized intervention units to liaise with people dealing with homelessness, substance use and mental health crises. CPD has also developed some strategies to address and mitigate the primary and secondary trauma law enforcement officers experience in their work which needs to continue in order for the culture of policing to change.

Gregg Moree Police should have to take courses to recognize the signs of mental health issues. Police should also be taught to be less aggressive in their response.

Adriane Musgrave Last year, Cambridge invested in a new unit called the Family and Social Justice Section. It includes two social workers, a community liaison, support staff, and 30 sworn police officers. This group is focused on bringing support services to our vulnerable populations - including those who struggle with chronic mental health illnesses, homelessness, and our youth. Police officers are often the first point of contact when someone starts really struggling, so embedding these clinical workers into the department to provide support and also conduct internal training allows the department to work on social supports and become more preventative.

John Pitkin No one is above the law and police officers have to be held accountable. I know they regularly face difficult situations but I would be in favor of more training to deal with mental health and domestic violence issues.

Sumbul Siddiqui Absent collaboration between law enforcement agencies and behavioral health providers, police officers are called as the first, and often only response to calls involving people experiencing a mental health crisis. Without collaboration, police officers are often ill-equipped to respond to these calls. To promote alternatives to arrests, and limit the risk of police violence towards people experiencing mental health emergencies, Cambridge can increase funding to mental health services, and promote greater collaboration between law enforcement and behavioral health agencies. We also have a newly structured Family and Social Justice Section, which provides specific services to members of the community who would be better served through a social justice approach than what could be afforded to them through a conventional criminal justice approach. We have two social workers who work alongside officers on specific cases.

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How would you improve -POLICE RESPONSES TO MENTAL HEALTH CRISES-?

Denise Simmons The Cambridge Police are already taking the steps I would recommend – they have social workers and officers on staff that have a background in the mental health field, and these officers are dispatched when necessary to assess a situation and work with people who are in some form of crisis to ensure that the situation does not spiral out of control, and they work to connect people with the various social services they may need. The other part of the equation is that we as a city and as a society need to invest far more do more in the community social services so that we can stop making our police departments (and our emergency rooms) our de facto mental healthcare providers. Organizations like CASPAR and those who specifically work with those with mental health issues need more support and more community buy-in. If we devoted funding to facilities that give those with mental health issues somewhere safe to go during the day, we might find that there are fewer opportunities for those with mental health issues to reach the crisis state, decreasing the need for police intervention in the first place.

Ben Simon Cadets in police academy receive about 110 hours in firearms training vs. 8 hours in de-escalation training. It should be the other way around. But again, we should be moving towards a world without police.

Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler We need to treat mental illness and not prosecute or police it. Wherever possible, I’d like to see emergency & medical personnel respond to issues that don’t require policing but instead are issues of mental health. Community & city council oversight have an important role to play in ensuring that when police do get involved in a situation where an apparent mental health issue is also at play that they proceed in a way that diffuses not escalates tension.

Nicola Williams Thank you for asking me this question, as it is incredibly important to me personally and for our nation as a whole. Nationally, one in four victims of a police shooting are suffering a mental health crisis. If the Globe’s investigation is true, Massachusetts has a higher than average percentage of police killing people with mental health issues. One of my brothers, a tall and wide Black man, suffers from bipolar disorder. I will do all that I can to solve this issue. Police officers should not be answering mental health crises. The record shows that this ends in more people being hurt or killed. As a city councillor, I would look into a program like CAHOOTS (Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets) which has been going on for 30 years in Oregon and which Denver is currently exploring where a medic and mental health professional go to the person suffering an episode and help them through it without a police officer. In the CAHOOTS program, calls to 911 are systematically diverted when they describe a mental health crisis. We could work to do that at a local level.

Quinton Zondervan Cambridge’s Police Department is investing heavily in trauma oriented response, and we should encourage them to continue investing in that area.

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Would you support allowing -RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA DELIVERY- to Cambridge residents? Should delivery people be required to wear -BODY CAMERAS-?

Sukia Akiba I need more information on this proposal.

Burhan Azeem - Yes, we should allow recreational marijuana delivery in Boston-area cities (and everywhere else).

- We should not require body cameras for marijuana delivery people. If we’re serious about legalizing marijuana, these body cameras would serve no purpose.

Charles Franklin I absolutely support marijuana delivery. The idea of delivery was to decrease the barrier to entry for black people and others disproportionally affected by the war on drugs. I also support the ordinance that Cambridge passed to protect economic empowerment applicants The idea that these people should wear body cams is preposterous.

Craig Kelley Yes to the delivery, no to the body cameras. We continue to treat cannabis as if it’s just marginally legal but we’ve legalized it even if it’s fairly heavily regulated. We need to get over the idea that cannabis is somehow still illegal and we should remove many of these hurdles that keep people from participating in this economy and direct related opportunities to communities negatively impacted by the war on drugs. We should also expand the opportunity for people who do not have access to private property to consume cannabis because right now it is prohibited on all public property and there are no social consumption sites, so people who rent, especially people in subsidized housing, have no more legal access to cannabis consumption than they had before the state law made consumption on private property legal. That is just plain unfair.

Derek Kopon I do not support this effort because I feel it will bring this product into areas of the city in which it should not be available. By zoning carefully for the placement of marijuana dispensaries, we can ensure that this product is not available near school zones and other places that are frequented by children. Delivery services operating in all neighborhoods reduces the city’s control over this activity, which must be monitored for the safety of our young citizens. In addition, body cameras present privacy concerns for all citizens including those living in the same building where a delivery may be occurring

Marc McGovern I do support delivery of Cannabis. I also support body cameras. That may be controversial but I want to ensure that those making the deliveries are safe.

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Would you support allowing -RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA DELIVERY- to Cambridge residents? Should delivery people be required to wear -BODY CAMERAS-?

Risa Mednick Home delivery of recreational marijuana seems inevitable given overall trends in consumer behavior. I question the efficacy of body cameras, especially in light of new research documenting racial bias inherent in the facial recognition technology commonly embedded in body cameras.

Gregg Moree I support cannabis delivery, but only for medical use. Not for recreational marijuana. If delivery is allowed body cameras should be used to reduce crime and fraud.

Adriane Musgrave Yes, I support delivery of recreational marijuana in Cambridge and the requirement that drivers wear body cameras. Recently the state came to a compromise on the use of body cameras and I support that decision.

John Pitkin No. We need to prioritize allowing the shops to work first and seeing how that works and what the problems are.

Sumbul Siddiqui I am in favor of delivery. I have worked this term on an amendment prioritizing retail licenses for economic empowerment applicants, and I am glad the CCC is doing the same for delivery. As far as body cameras, I agree with Matt Allen, of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, who stated that spot checks could be used to check on drivers rather than body cameras. Mr. Allen also raised concerns about privacy and access to data, which I agree with, especially with the issues many have with federal law enforcement and immigration officials.

Denise Simmons I am fine with the idea of allowing recreational marijuana to be delivered. I am not yet well-versed on the issue of whether or not delivery people should be required to wear body cameras. This is not a topic that has been making the rounds in Cambridge yet, and I would need to hear the reasons for wanting this requirement before I could take a firm position on it.

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Would you support allowing -RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA DELIVERY- to Cambridge residents? Should delivery people be required to wear -BODY CAMERAS-?

Ben Simon Yes, I support recreational cannabis delivery. We allow this service for alcohol, so why not cannabis? If the motivation for body cameras would be to discourage mugging of the delivery person, I think we can do that by limiting the amount that can be delivered and allowing for the delivery people to operate discreetly or requiring vendors to go through a middleman service that delivers all manners of things. Body cameras seem like an invasion of privacy for both the customer and the worker.

Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler I support allowing recreational marijuana delivery, but I do not support the requirement for body cameras. This is a violation of privacy and treats marijuana consumption as a crime. You can get alcohol delivered without being recorded, and alcohol can be far more destructive if abused.

Nicola Williams Currently, alcohol can be delivered in Massachusetts by businesses with the permits and do not have to use body cameras. I am a believer in equity. I support the delivery to adults with verifiable ID and do not believe body cameras are necessary.

Quinton Zondervan Yes, the ordinance we put in place already anticipates other types of businesses including delivery, and ensures those opportunities are available to the people most impacted by the war on drugs. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not familiar with the idea of requiring delivery people to wear body cameras but in general it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t make sense to me to require something like that of a private citizen.

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-IMMIGRATION:1 Do you support a -MUNICIPAL IDfor Cambridge residents?

2 Do you support granting -DRIVERSâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; LICENSESto undocumented immigrants?

3 Do you support allowing non-citizen residents -VOTING RIGHTSin municipal elections?

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1

2

3

Burhan Azeem

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

Charles Franklin

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

Craig Kelley

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

Derek Kopon

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

Marc McGovern

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

Risa Mednick

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

Gregg Moree

_YES_

_YES_

_NO_

Adriane Musgrave

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

John Pitkin

_YES_

_YES_

Sumbul Siddiqui

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

Denise Simmons

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

Ben Simon

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

Nicola Williams

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

Quinton Zondervan

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

Sukia Akiba

How would you support -IMMIGRATION POLICIES- to ensure a geographically diverse university population & allow international scholars to stay in the US after graduation?

Sukia Akiba I believe the same universal immigration policy should be applied to all immigration applicants regardless of where they are coming from. Up until recently, America has always been welcoming to immigrants and I will support any legislation which will revert our immigration policies back to the more open and welcoming to immigrant applicants.

Burhan Azeem Burhan supports the establishment of a “Startup Visa”, available to entrepreneurs based abroad or currently studying at US universities, that would allow them to start a company in the US. Burhan supports providing a green card to all advanced degree graduates from US universities.

Charles Franklin This is a very difficult problem that is hard to tackle from a local perspective. There are only so many things that we control. One is that we can make it as hard as possible for federal organizations such as ICE to determine who lives in our city. We are a sanctuary city and should remain as such. There is a movement to allow undocumented students to go to our public universities with in-state tuition if they went to high school here. I support that. Not sure how I’d do this, but I think that any immigrant who graduates with a higher education degree should have additional priority to get permanent legal status.

Craig Kelley I am currently chairing committee meetings on implementing a “Welcoming City” ordinance in Cambridge. This Ordinance would formalize CPD’s limited relationship with ICE and make it clear that CPD will not go beyond what it is legally required to do regarding immigration enforcement. I would support similar efforts at a state or national level to expand the opportunities of students to study and work in the US without fear of deportation or visa cancellations. Cambridge’s first step is, as noted above, to ensure that we are not part of the department apparatus and our Welcoming City ordinance will formalize that.

Derek Kopon I believe the United States deserves a transparent, non-discriminatory immigration policy, which we do not currently have. Universities must have the discretion to accept students from anywhere in the world that do not pose a security threat. Claims of security threat must be determined by due process in a transparent and non-discriminatory process. Intellectual freedom demands contribution from all members of the global community and our universities must be free to pursue this ideal. We are a nation of laws, not executive fiat and I will work to support lawful processes, free of corruption, in our community and in our nation.

Marc McGovern One of the first things I did as Mayor was to start the Cambridge Legal Defense Fund for Immigrants. In partnership with the Cambridge Community Foundation, we have raised close to $300,000 to provide legal assistance to immigrants who live and work in Cambridge. I also recommitted Cambridge to remaining a Sanctuary City, filed a home rule petition with the state to allow Green Card holders to vote in local elections, brought on an Immigrant Liaison to the Mayor’s Office staff testified at the State House for the Safe Communities Act, and partnered with Congresswoman Katherine Clark’s office to hold monthly immigration information sessions in the Mayor’s Office. As far as international students specifically, I would use any influence I have to support these individuals.

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How would you support -IMMIGRATION POLICIES- to ensure a geographically diverse university population & allow international scholars to stay in the US after graduation?

Risa Mednick As a Sanctuary City with new Welcoming Community policies pending, Cambridge is a new home to immigrants from throughout the world, many of whom are university-affiliated. If elected to the City Council, I would uphold and seek to expand practices to resist federal anti-immigration policies and ICE presence in Cambridge and support and learn from initiatives in other communities with similar goals. I would join with Council colleagues to continue to advocate for pro-immigration policies on the state and national level and would support university initiatives to advocate for international scholars.

Gregg Moree By giving students, that are accepted in schools, a separate and different visa that would be issued by colleges and universities that they are accepted to. These visas would have to pre-approved by the State Department. I would encourage educated people to stay in the United States by creating a separate category for that sort of visa.

Adriane Musgrave Cambridge will remain a sanctuary city now and forever. I helped launch the Global Operations and Strategy group at BU which was tasked with supporting our diversity on campus and devising the universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s global strategy. So I know first-hand the benefits that our many international students bring to this city. We must ensure that everyone feels welcome here.

John Pitkin Advocacy. The movement of students is in our national, state, local and human interest. City Council has limited authority in this arena.

Sumbul Siddiqui Our immigration policies must be overhauled to be pro-immigration - currently, the system is the most broken it has been. My office connects constituents to immigration attorneys often, and unfortunately, we are in a climate where it is so unsafe for our immigrant community, including students who are studying here. I am one of the sponsors of the Welcoming Ordinance that will establish Cambridge as a welcoming community and increase public confidence in Cambridgeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s government by providing guidelines associated with our cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s voluntary involvement in federal immigration enforcement. I do not want any of our policies to harm someone and risk their ability to stay here. I would support allowing international scholars to remain here after graduate study and work with our state and national representatives on any effort to reverse the harm the Trump administration is causing to those who wish to remain.

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How would you support -IMMIGRATION POLICIES- to ensure a geographically diverse university population & allow international scholars to stay in the US after graduation?

Denise Simmons I am going to keep my answer short and to the point: for over 30 years, Cambridge has been a proud sanctuary city. When the Trump Administration took office and began making noise about withholding federal dollars from sanctuary cities, I led the efforts to ensure that Cambridge would not back away from our position, and that we proactively plan our budget to cover any potential cuts from the federal government without any service disruptions.

I will continue to stand up for our local immigrant community, I will continue to speak out in favor of allowing Cambridge to remain a community that welcomes everyone from all corners of the globe.

Ben Simon I would pass resolutions to support bills with these aims.

Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler I will be a City Councilor who is an advocate for all Cambridge residents, regardless of documentation status or country of origin. I will use my office as a platform to push back against racist immigration policy. I’ll also work with Cambridge’s state and federal representatives to push for immigration policies that allow immigrants to remain here and universities to work with scholars from around the world.

Nicola Williams As a Jamaican immigrant, I feel it is incredibly important that we have a Cambridge for all residents regardless of their income or documented status. I take pride in our more than 30 years as a sanctuary city and am deeply concerned about the president's threat to take money away from those who'd protect their residents from deportation. Unfortunately, as a city councillor, my role would be severely restricted in what I would be able to do beyond Cambridge, including in the international realm. In terms of what I could do in my potential role, I believe that there are a number of ways we can be more inclusive from dealing with our housing crisis so that people can afford to live here, ensuring that our local police are not contacting ICE, and even making sure that city hall meetings are translated in real time so that residents who don't speak English as a first language have the capacity to contribute to the place that they call home. As a city councillor, I can introduce legislation to strengthen our status as a sanctuary and ensure that Cambridge does not detain undocumented people within our city limits if that is what the community and experts think would be best.

Quinton Zondervan I grew up in Suriname, a mainland Caribbean country on the north coast of South America. When I was 15 years old my family left for Florida, to escape an oppressive dictatorship and I worked with my family to make ends meet doing landscaping and house cleaning work, while learning to speak American English. It was a challenging time for us but we were treated fairly and ultimately we were allowed to stay and become permanent residents.

The contrast with how the current administration is treating immigrants is particularly offensive to me, and I’m determined to do what we can at the local level to protect immigrants in our community. Immigrants in Cambridge face many of the same challenges as in other communities in the country. I’m particularly focused on passing a “Welcoming Communities Ordinance” that would protect undocumented immigrants from ICE when interacting with our non-criminal court system, such as probate court to deal with family inheritance laws, or divorce proceedings. I will urge my colleagues to support passing this ordinance before the term is over. We are fortunate to have a very supportive City Government in Cambridge, but we can still do a lot more.

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-COMMUNITY ISSUES:How would you increase access to -CHILDCARE & PRESCHOOL- while ensuring pre-K teachers and childcare workers are paid a living wage?

Sukia Akiba I support free Pre-K for all 3 and 4 year old children of Cambridge. These children would have the opportunity to go to a public pre-school where the teachers will be paid wages commensurate with other public school teachers in the city.

Burhan Azeem For the amount of money Cambridge returns to property taxpayers as a rebate each year (about $11 million in recent years), the city could simply provide pre-K for all Cambridge 4-year-olds and a universal daycare option to all residents. If we provide such services directly through the city or through nonprofit providers, we could require high wages for preschool teachers and childcare workers. We should not contract with for-profit providers for daycare or pre-K in Cambridge.

Charles Franklin One, businesses with more than a certain number of employees should be required to either provide on-site daycare or financial assistance. DC created a universal pre-K system that has been very successful. We should replicate that here. Many private daycares have opened up in the city and they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t take Title XX vouchers. No more should be permitted if they wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t take the vouchers.

Craig Kelley I support a sliding scale subsidy (which would have to be done via our various contract and procurement procedures in the same way we do after school programs) for child care services that allow people to perform this service and make a living at it. We do want to make sure that subsidized child care does not lead to an even greater housing crisis by creating an incentive for financially privileged people to pay more to live in Cambridge because they are saving even more through a city-subsidized day care program. Given that money is fungible, threading this particular needle in the right way is especially important or we will see still greater displacement of our low income neighbors.

Derek Kopon This is an issue that deserves more study and attention. Employers need to consider efforts to support their workforce through benefits that will assist young families with childcare. Government can also contribute by studying the issue and determining where they can support childcare needs in our city. This may include subsidies, location support and other efforts. Childcare workers, and all workers, deserve a living wage. This is a global issue not just a childcare issue.

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How would you increase access to -CHILDCARE & PRESCHOOL- while ensuring pre-K teachers and childcare workers are paid a living wage?

Marc McGovern I was the leading voice in the creation of Cambridge’s Early Childhood Education Task Force that has led to the city investing over $5 million dollars to improve training of childcare providers, as well as vouchers for low income children to attend private pre-schools. We have also increased the number of city run preschool classrooms to serve more young people. All providers who work for the city or do business with the city are subject to the city’s living wage ordinance which is now paying just over $15 per hour.

Risa Mednick The unaffordability of childcare for middle and low income families disproportionately impacts women who are both the low-wage daycare providers and the parent most likely to forgo income or interrupt a career path to stay home if daycare is out of reach. I will push for Cambridge to follow Boston’s lead and establish a funding program through which home-based and small-scale childcare providers can access monetary support for operations as well as training and technical assistance. For families, Cambridge must implement free universal Pre-K and create sliding scale subsidies for daycare and very early childhood education.

Gregg Moree More money from the city budget that would allocated to subsidize lower costs for parents and raise the hourly rate for teachers.

Adriane Musgrave As a daughter of a single mom, a new mom myself, and a business professional with an MBA focused on implementing high-impact programs, universal daycare and early childhood education are a core priority of my campaign (watch here). First we need a timeline and a budget for how we will guarantee universal access to a publically-funded preschool program for all 3- and 4-year olds in Cambridge. Then we need to do the same for newborns to 3 years old. One of our biggest challenges is space. I believe our city must look at its existing portfolio of public land and explore options to acquire additional land so that we can build early childhood centers across the city, including our schools. When 90% of the brain develops in the first five years of life, these are the years when public investment makes the biggest difference for kids, families, the workforce, and society at large.

John Pitkin I support funding universal pre-K in Cambridge

Sumbul Siddiqui This term, I have pushed for the City to add $1.1 million more in scholarship funding for low-income children to attend high-quality, community-based preschools and to open up more classrooms. This is an important step towards achieving universal Pre-K, but the Council can do more in pursuit of this goal. To accelerate the process, I have co-chaired meetings on the Cambridge Early Childhood Task Force Report and progress to date. We will have a meeting in November to discuss the RFP for universal pre-K models that was commissioned last year. I support increasing preschool teacher and childcare worker salaries as well.

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How would you increase access to -CHILDCARE & PRESCHOOL- while ensuring pre-K teachers and childcare workers are paid a living wage?

Denise Simmons I have a long history of fighting to increase wages, and increase opportunities for advancement to better-paying jobs, over my years of service. I have long spoken out about the fact that our teachers, our para-professionals, and our childcare workers are not paid nearly enough. In the year prior to the Commonwealth’s Wage Equity Law going into effect, I led the effort from the Mayor’s Office to successfully encourage scores of employers in Cambridge to become “early adopters” of the forthcoming law, increasing wages for countless working women. The single biggest thing the City Council can do is to continually work to find ways to encourage the raising of wages and the opening of opportunities so that critical services like childcare are more within reach to a greater number of people.

Ben Simon We need to rapidly implement universal pre-K and we should expand our public after school programs. We have a minimum wage of $15 per hour for city workers, and as one of the most expensive cities in the state, that should be raised.

Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler Cambridge currently doesn’t have universal pre-K. There is no excuse for that in a city whose identity revolves around education, and it will be a major priority for me if elected. I have seen the lack of childcare impact parents who want to participate in city government. That’s why I am proposing to make childcare available for free at all city meetings to fix this small part of the problem. A broader solution includes adding childcare in many public buildings, as Vancouver does, since the high cost of rent is a major factor in the lack of childcare options. Childcare workers &amp; preschool teachers need the benefit of a union and organizing rights. I will work with childcare workers and teachers to understand the issues they face and how I can be most effective in supporting their campaigns.

Quinton Zondervan One of the main obstacles is classroom/education space, including outdoor space, so the city could do a lot more to facilitate the creation of that. We need more scholarships and we need to intensify programs that help and support private and in-home daycares. This term, Councillor Carlone and I successfully negotiated for more city funding in the budget for pre-K initiatives. We also need municipal broadband so that parents and children can access online educational content.

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Do you support -MUNICIPAL BROADBAND- and how would you ensure -AFFORDABLE INTERNET ACCESS in Cambridge?

Sukia Akiba I support municipal broadband in Cambridge. This will ensure that all of our residents have access to affordable internet.

Burhan Azeem Yes. The city should operate the municipal broadband system. Voters can directly hold the city accountable to ensure service remains high-quality and affordable.

Charles Franklin As a cofounder of Upgrade Cambridge, a nonprofit devoted to promoting the adoption of municipal broadband in Cambridge, I have worked for several years now to get municipal broadband implemented. Contrary to the opinion of the City Manager, we have put forward several options for a rollout of municipal broadband that the City can afford to implement. With a new City Manager, appointed by a new City Council I am confident we could work this through to completion.

Craig Kelley Access to affordable and reasonably fast internet options is increasingly an essential part of life. As with last century’s rural electrification programs, bringing this access to people who would not otherwise have it, and thus be shut out from much of the world’s economy and social networking, makes internet access more of a public utility and less of a private service than it was a decade or two ago. Cambridge needs to do its feasibility study and then determine the best way- through direct City provision, through contracted services or through lease arrangements- to provide this level of internet access. As with childcare, of course, we want to ensure that broadband subsidies, of whatever sort, do not create financial incentives for those of us who are economically privileged that lead to still more displacement of our low income neighbors.

Derek Kopon Internet access is a necessity in today’s world. I support municipal broadband coverage throughout the city of Cambridge. This is a first step to addressing inequality and social justice.

Marc McGovern I support municipal broadband. Internet access is no longer a choice or a luxury. It is essential. And while many in Cambridge can afford high quality service, far too many cannot. Many cities around the country have figured out ways to offer municipal broadband without financial deficits to their municipalities. We need to learn from those communities.

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Do you support -MUNICIPAL BROADBAND- and how would you ensure -AFFORDABLE INTERNET ACCESS in Cambridge?

Risa Mednick I support municipal broadband in Cambridge, a community that depends on Comcast for Internet service provision that is sometimes unreliable and, for many people, unaffordable. Upgrade Cambridge, a grassroots community initiative is leading the push for municipal broadband. A city service must be implemented with a user fee structure that scales to income to address equitable access to the net. PILOT contributions from universities can offset development, implementation and sustainability costs

Gregg Moree Yes, I support municipal broadband. It should be ensured by putting into the city budget.

Adriane Musgrave As a co-founder of Upgrade Cambridge, which is leading the charge to get municipal broadband implemented in the city, I am fully supportive!

John Pitkin I support municipal broadband as a means to affordable internet access and want to see this emphasized the next contract for the City Manager position.

Sumbul Siddiqui Digital access is a matter of equity. While free internet options exist in several WiFi hotspots throughout Cambridge, these arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t always available or convenient for students and working adults. I support the work of Upgrade Cambridge. To ensure that all Cambridge residents have affordable access to reliable, high-speed internet, I supported a policy order for a 12-month digital equity research initiative. The methodology is to study and analyze gaps affecting the Cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s low-income or otherwise disadvantaged population in use of the broadband internet. The work that was done as part of the Broadband Task Force has provided the City with valuable data and it is a shame we have waited this long. I will push for results of this additional study to be used to develop targeted and strategic recommendations that will lead to municipal broadband.

Denise Simmons I do support the concept of municipal broadband, I think of it as a social justice issue and I think it is a wise expenditure that will particularly benefit and lift up our less-affluent residents. I will continue to press our city manager to invest in this, and my hope is that my colleagues on the council will join me in this pursuit.

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Do you support -MUNICIPAL BROADBAND- and how would you ensure -AFFORDABLE INTERNET ACCESS in Cambridge?

Ben Simon I support Upgrade Cambridge’s plan for affordable municipal broadband.

Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler Yes, I support municipal broadband, which we should have already in Cambridge. According to the city’s own data, 50% of low-income households don’t have broadband. And we are all at the mercy of Comcast when it comes to service and cost. Municipal broadband would provide an alternative.

The main hold-up in implementing municipal broadband in Cambridge has been the City Manager. The Manager’s contract is up in the next Council term, and I will make sure that support for municipal broadband is a major factor in the hiring/re-hiring process.

Nicola Williams I absolutely support affordable municipal broadband and I would work with local organizations like Upgrade Cambridge (which was founded to solve this exact issue) to find the best way to implement this. Something that concerns me about many of the necessary changes that are needed in Cambridge is that we do not currently have the infrastructure in place to accommodate them. Currently, Cambridge’s electric grid is at 98% capacity. To continue making the necessary changes in our life, especially around areas of resiliency, combating climate change, and equity, we need to increase the capacity of our electric grid and the amount of self-sufficient buildings powered through solar, wind, and water.

Quinton Zondervan I’ve advocated for years with the city to invest in fiber optics to the home municipal broadband, but the city has so far refused. This term I was able to convince them to start a digital equity study which will greatly inform future efforts to establish a municipal broadband solution in Cambridge. I’m chairing a committee hearing this fall on doing a feasibility study for municipal broadband in Cambridge.

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Do you support the recommendations of the -PAYMENT IN LIEU OF TAXES (PILOT) ACTION GROUP- to better hold large nonprofits accountable to voluntarily contribute to support city services?

Sukia Akiba I believe the current PILOT program is flawed and Universities such as Harvard are not contributing equitably to the City. I would support any measure which Increases the contributions made to the city.

Burhan Azeem Yes. I would introduce a Policy Order to implement them.

Charles Franklin We should do everything in our power to get the universities in Cambridge to pay their fair share, including these recommendations. Until then, the single greatest leverage that the city has over Harvard and MIT is to deny them zoning changes and other special permissions. The city never should’ve approved MIT’s plan for the Volpe Center with such little student housing.

Craig Kelley I support these recommendations but would like to go further in revisiting the state law that puts these massive corporations so solidly in a “non-profit” status. Given their longevity, massive wealth and institutional power, local institutions like Harvard and MIT wield outsized power over their host communities and that power imbalance needs to be fixed so that we can work on addressing common issues such as transportation, housing, education and workforce development as true regional partners.

Derek Kopon I believe that our educational institutions should support and contribute to city services from which they benefit. Under the auspices of the city planner, our local universities and community leaders should begin a discussion of ways the institutions could contribute to the health, financial security, and education of the community.

Marc McGovern I do support these recommendations. Cambridge is very fortunate to have Harvard located here. I understand that and I respect that. That doesn’t, however, mean that Harvard does not also benefit from being in Cambridge and has a responsibility to ensure that we remain a diverse and equitable community. It would be helpful to do an inventory of all the programs and financial support Harvard provides the city and contrast that with what Cambridge offers in terms of city services and infrastructure to the university. With property values increasing rapidly in Cambridge, re-assessing these values periodically makes perfect sense.

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Do you support the recommendations of the -PAYMENT IN LIEU OF TAXES (PILOT) ACTION GROUP- to better hold large nonprofits accountable to voluntarily contribute to support city services?

Risa Mednick While there are fewer large nonprofit institutions in Cambridge, the PILOT expectations conveyed to them by city leadership do not reflect community need. And, fees paid by universities are inadequate and must be reevaluated. As a former nonprofit leader, I collaborated on a City-Wide Needs Assessment released in 2017 to benchmark key issues that impact social determinants of health, education and quality of life in order to align the distribution of community benefits from institutions and corporations. I’m committed to transform PILOT and corporate community benefit exaction processes so that expectations are clear, negotiations are transparent and resulting agreements address community goals. Cambridge is notably lacking oversight to assure PILOT and community benefit commitments align with community needs and it is important that there be structural support within municipal government as well as the formation of a cross-sector commission/board with representation from community members and community-based nonprofit organizations.

Gregg Moree Yes, as a part of the community these institutions should also contribute a fair share into the community. That is fair. The people that work at, and populate, these institutions use the city’s infrastructure and services, too. A task force would have to be set up to implement all of the paperwork and time it takes to set that up. A framework for community benefits is the first step. Yes, the property values of institutions should be reevaluated. Perhaps, more city assessors would have to be hired.

Adriane Musgrave Yes, our local universities need to contribute their fair share. I look forward to further evaluating the PILOT program in Cambridge and pushing our university nonprofits to step up their support.

John Pitkin Yes. We need to establish a framework for implementation with the City Manager and Mayor taking the lead. I was part of a group that initiated a joint task force on University-Community Relations in 1990 and served on that task force. We should consider convening a new joint task force to review these recommendations in 2020. The next Mayor could do this.

Sumbul Siddiqui I support these recommendations. I have reviewed both MIT and Harvard’s PILOT agreements, which were last signed in 2004/2005. So much change has occurred since these agreements were signed. MIT’s agreement was signed for a 40 year term and Harvard’s was a 20 year term. If re-elected, I would focus next term on pushing to renegotiate these agreements working alongside the PILOT action group. I would suggest that the City’s Economic Development and University Relations Committee be a part of this work.

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Do you support the recommendations of the -PAYMENT IN LIEU OF TAXES (PILOT) ACTION GROUP- to better hold large nonprofits accountable to voluntarily contribute to support city services?

Denise Simmons I support the recommendations, and I would think that the first step towards implementing them is to sponsor a policy order urging the City Manager to direct the City Solicitor and other relevant City personnel to determine what specific actions the City can take to bring this to fruition. The next steps would be dictated by the report the City Council would receive back from the City Manager, but again, this is a way of putting the will of the City Council on record and in looking to get the ball rolling in this direction.

Ben Simon Tax-exempt Harvard and MIT own nearly half of the taxable land in our city which is currently undergoing a housing crisis and general affordability crisis that these institutions are doing much to contribute to. This situation starves our city of funding and makes us even more reliant on revenue from the commercial development that is driving the displacement epidemic. These massively wealthy institutions could easily afford to pay their full property taxes and it’s an outrage that they don’t.

Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler Yes, I support the PILOT Action Group’s recommendations. In particular for Harvard and MIT, it doesn’t make sense to treat universities that have endowments greater than $1 Billion as a typical non-profit organization. We need to readjust contributions based both on institutional property values and use of city services. Harvard and MIT should be contributing significantly greater PILOT amounts. We need City Councilors that will put pressure on our trustees and administrators, both to treat their workers and students fairly and to contribute to the city in which they reside. Cambridge could use revenue from PILOTs to fund universal pre-K, fare-free public transit, safe streets infrastructure, and climate change resiliency preparations.

Nicola Williams I do support these recommendations. Cambridge needs to balance the need to not tax non-profits out of existence while recognizing that Cambridge is home to some of the best - and wealthiest - universities in the world and they need to pay their fair share. Each year, Harvard has failed to pay its full PILOT request despite having the largest endowment in the world. As I have said, I have the best chance to actually hold Harvard accountable. I would engage the network I’ve cultivated over the last 30 plus years as an active part of this community to lean on these institutions and support movements demanding that they pay their fair share for more affordable housing, particularly for students and those recently graduated, as well as to deal with climate change and transportation.

Quinton Zondervan Yes. We need to hold big institutions in Cambridge accountable and make sure they are contributing their fair share.

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E L L I V R E M O S -

-SOMERVILLE MAYOR & CITY COUNCILThe city of Somerville is governed by a Mayor and an eleven-member City Council.

This year the name of Somerville’s legislative body changed from “Board of Aldermen” to “City Council.” Seven of the Council members are elected to represent specific sections of the city, called wards, and four members are elected at-large from all the voters in Somerville. The Somerville City website includes these explanations of the functions of the Mayor and the City Council.

“

The Mayor's Office is responsible for the creation, execution, and enforcement of City policies, which includes communicating administrative orders and information directly to departments. The Mayor's staff is responsible for keeping the Mayor informed about all intergovernmental issues, and assisting him in representing the City's interests in all matters.

The City Council is the City’s legislative branch. Members are elected every two years on the odd-numbered years. Four members serve at large, and seven members represent individual wards. The Council passes ordinances on a broad range of issues, from setting zoning laws to creating boards and commissions. It also has the power to approve or disapprove the Mayor's budget appropriations.

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-ELECTION METHOD + OUR SURVEYEvery Somerville voter can vote for one candidate for Mayor, one candidate for your wardâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Councilor, and four candidates for Councilors At-Large. (You can see sample ballots for each ward here.) This map from the Somerville City Website shows Somervilleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wards and precincts. Find out your ward, precinct, and where to vote here.

There are 2 candidates for Mayor: incumbent Joe Curtatone and Marianne Walles.

There are 8 candidates running for the 4 at-large City Council seats: Joann BoccaRivieccio; Jack Connolly.; Stephanie Hirsch; Kevin Jura; Will Mbah; Mary Jo Rosetti; Kristen Strezo; and William A. White, Jr. Joann Bocca-Rivieccio, Mary Jo Rosetti, and William A. White, Jr. declined to participate in our survey.

All of the Ward Council positions are uncontested. Wards will be represented by: (1) Matt McLaughlin ; (2) JT Scott; (3) Ben Ewen-Campen; (4) Jesse Clingan; (5) Mark Niedergang; (6) Lance Davis; and (7) Katjana Ballantyne. Ben Ewen-Campen and Katjana Ballantyne submitted answers to our survey.

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-UNION RIGHTS & WORKERS’ RIGHTS:1 3 4

Do you support student workers’ -RIGHT TO ORGANIZE OUR UNION-?

2

Do you support student workers’ -RIGHT TO STRIKE-?

Do you support our bargaining committee’s efforts to win a contract with -A NEUTRAL & FAIR PROCEDURE FOR ADJUDICATING WORKPLACE- HARASSMENT & DISCRIMINATION-?

Do you oppose the Trump Administration’s use of rule-making procedure to strip student workers at private universities of their -RIGHT TO BARGAIN COLLECTIVELY & HAVE THEIR UNION RECOGNIZED-?

1

2

3

4

Joe Curtatone

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

Marianne Walles

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

Jack Connolly

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

Stephanie Hirsch

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

Kevin Jura

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

Will Mbah

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

Kristen Strezo

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

Ben Ewen-Campen

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

70 Katjana Ballantyne

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

How would you promote -UNION MEMBERSHIP- in Somerville & nationally?

Joe Curtatone While federal and state government control our labor laws, we have found one critical area where cities can play a role: recovering wage theft. We have a local ordinance in Somerville (that has been used to recover wages multiple times) and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a direct way we can reinforce the message that workers have rights. One other way we promote union membership is by having unions put out information booths at our numerous community events. We draw tens of thousands of people to our events throughout the year, and it gives unions and other activist groups the opportunity to engage a large number of people in face-to-face dialog.

Marianne Walles As a union leader I have worked hard to increase our membership. I have also been a leader in getting membership cards signed after the Janus decision.

Jack Connolly In order to promote union membership and increase the numbers I would offer incentives for people who join and publicize the advantages, as well as the benefits of membership, especially underlining sick time and its importance.

Stephanie Hirsch There are local efforts I support to improve wages and/or increase union membership, such as unionization and/or benefitting of the part-time employees, who are disproportionately women and people of color, and changes to our recycling and trash contracts. (Recycling currently does not pay prevailing or living wage.)

Kevin Jura As a former union member (MPECâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;AFT/AFL-CIO) I know how important a strong union is. Not only do they provide for the safety and wellbeing of their members, they also ensure that they are not taken advantage of by employers and supervisors. I was a proud union member for almost 20 years and I cannot thank the union enough. I will support pro-union legislation and ensure that the City is negotiating in good faith and equitably with each of the unions in Somerville.

Will Mbah I come from a union background and I have and will continue to support union workers and advocate for stronger unions. I understand that when unions are strong, workers are strong, communities are strong, and everyone is strong. I will do everything I can on the city council to make it easier for unions to recruit new workers. I will also use my pulpit to push the mayor to sign fair deals and new contracts with unionized city workers.

71

How would you promote -UNION MEMBERSHIP- in Somerville & nationally?

Kristen Strezo I come from a Union family and I understand how valuable unions are, so I believe that I would be a good resource to workers hoping to become members. I will continue to support and advocate for strong unions throughout the Commonwealth and the nation. Specifically, I would try to do more campaigning in Right-to-Work states and promote union membership there.

Ben Ewen-Campen In addition to continuing to proudly supporting issues being championed by the local labor movement, I’ll give one concrete example of a major achievement in Somerville: Over the past several years, both before and since becoming a City Councilor, one of my top priorities has been fighting for a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) as part of the major redevelopment project planned for Somerville’s Union Square. I’m very proud to say that our community recently achieved this (I believe the first major CBA in Massachusetts), and I’m especially proud that it includes a number of major labor wins, including a more favorable bidding process, and an agreement to not interfere with hotel workers wishing to organize with UNITE HERE’s Local 26. I believe this work will make it easier for unions to get a foothold in our community, which is essential for economic justice and combating income inequality.

Katjana Ballantyne I would be happy to support efforts to organize, and available to anyone seeking my help. Even though I am not a member of a Union.

72

How would you ensure that workers are not victim to -WAGE THEFT- by employers?

Joe Curtatone Somerville has been far ahead of the curve on this issue. Back in 2013 I submitted a local wage theft ordinance, which our City Council subsequently passed. In the years since then, the ordinance has been enforced multiple times, winning back unpaid wages for deserving workers. Our city business development staff also educates small businesses about the ordinance, and our SomerViva program has done outreach into our immigrant community (which is particularly vulnerable to wage theft) to alert workers they have an avenue to recover their duly earned wages. We also use job fairs, community events and the city’s social media as arena’s to help make sure workers know they have these protections.

Marianne Walles I would support ordinances that hold businesses accountable to wage theft. We need to be sure that we have tough laws so that workers are not victimized. I have participated in arbitrations for overtime violations.

Jack Connolly I would vigorously enforce the current wage theft ordinance in Somerville and revise it where it is necessary to do so.

Stephanie Hirsch I support the City Council’s efforts to increase enforcement of the City’s wage theft ordinance and, potentially, to revise the ordinance to make it more enforceable.

Kevin Jura In addition to the federal and state regulations and statutes dealing with this issue, I believe the City should also pass its own ordinance dealing with this issue. Unlike with federal and state enforcement, at times, the City enforcement can ensure that it has teeth to it and make it cost prohibitive for businesses to steal from their workers. I would have to do more research on what would and would not be legal to do, but I am for making them have to pay back their employees with a multiplier of 5 and would research as to whether it would be legal to levy a tax fine on the guilty employers as well.

Will Mbah I was the first city councilor to talk about wage theft and I have put forward proposals to strengthen our wage theft ordinance. We need to punish employers in Somerville for committing wage theft violations and we must reward employers that are good to their workers so that we incentivize good business practices. This strengthened wage theft ordinance is currently on track to be passed by the end of the year and it will hold employers who treat their workers poorly, accountable.

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How would you ensure that workers are not victim to -WAGE THEFT- by employers?

Kristen Strezo Wage theft is not a new issue. I would continue to work with the Mayor and other Somerville electeds to continue their efforts refining the anti-wage theft ordinances put forth by the city. With better regulation, I hope to uphold Somerville municipal laws that go against wage theft violations. I also hope to make sure that middle and lower-income or vulnerable families/workers feel would feel comfortable coming to me as a resource to report when theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been subject to wage theft.

Ben Ewen-Campen One of my top priorities for the coming months is to finalize and pass Somervilleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s updated Wage Theft Ordinance, which is being drafted by a coalition of local elected officials, labor representatives, community activists, and lawyers from Greater Boston Legal Services. I believe this Ordinance will be the strongest in Massachusetts, and will allow us to enforce wage theft violations in a way that Somerville has historically failed to do.

Katjana Ballantyne One way to ensure that workers are paid wages in Somerville is through a wage theft ordinance. Somerville through its contracts could require contractors to attempt to meet diversity requirements, provide the city with employee work logs, comply with state health and hospitalization requirements and submit certified payrolls weekly to the city procurement office.

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-HOUSING & TRANSIT:-

1

Do you support an -AFFORDABLE HOUSING- OVERLAYwhich would allow greater density in certain parts of the city in exchange for affordable housing units?

Do you support expanding -BUS PRIORITY PROJECTS& -EXCLUSIVE BUS LANES-FOR RAPID BUS SERVICEeven if it takes lanes away from private cars?

Joe Curtatone

_YES_

_YES_

Marianne Walles

_YES_

_YES_

Jack Connolly

_YES_

_YES_

Stephanie Hirsch

_YES_

_YES_

Kevin Jura

_YES_

_YES_

Will Mbah

_YES_

_YES_

Kristen Strezo

_YES_

_YES_

Ben Ewen-Campen

_YES_

_YES_

Katjana Ballantyne

2

_YES_ 75

How would you reduce -HOUSING COSTS- in Somerville?

Joe Curtatone I know you asked for one thing, but there is no single magic solution to our regional housing crisis. In Somerville we have created a city Office of Housing Stability, increased linkage fees on commercial development, launched entities that convert existing properties into affordable housing, revised our condo conversion ordinance, regulated short-term rentals and passed a transfer fee on real estate speculation (pending state approval) that would fund affordable housing efforts. I lead a coalition of 15 Greater Boston municipalities to commit to 185,000 new housing units by 2030. We have zoning reform on the table that would allow a greater diversity of housing that could prove more suitable for graduate students. I also have thrown my support behind a bill at the Statehouse that would allow individual cities and towns to implement rent stabilization/control. We are now working to become the first municipality in Massachusetts to implement rent stabilization once the bill passes at the state level. Yet the most important thing is to take an all-ofthe-above approach when it comes to housing affordability. We have a shortage created by decades of failing to keep our housing in line with our growing regional population. It’s going to take a concerted, multi-pronged effort to rectify the situation.

Marianne Walles In Somerville and surrounding communities we need to work more with colleges and universities with housing students. Currently in Somerville, Tufts refuses to add dorms which has had an impact on our neighborhoods causing higher rents for all.

Jack Connolly Encourage the development of additional housing for all income levels.

Stephanie Hirsch I believe the City should establish a goal of 30% permanently deed-restricted units as part of its current SomerVision rewrite. We then should map out a path to achieving that goal by 2030. To achieve 30% deed-restricted units means tripling our number of affordable units, which entails adding about 7,000 units. This will take all approaches available in current – and revised – law and a great deal of focus. One key strategy, I believe, is for the city to acquire parcels and build high density mixed-income housing.

Kevin Jura There needs to be more affordable housing. Not just low-income housing, but affordable housing for both students and middle-income individuals. I know as a full-time student at Harvard and working full-time as a paramedic, I can barely afford to pay my rent, let alone even think about buying anything in this area. This would include: increasing the number of units that must be set aside low-income and affordable housing individuals; limiting absentee landlord and Airbnb rentals; passing a renter’s bill of rights; working with developers on building more student affordable housing.

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How would you reduce -HOUSING COSTS- in Somerville?

Will Mbah The most effective and important step to reduce housing costs across the board is Rent Stabilization. This is how Cambridge, Somerville, and Boston should approach reducing housing costs and make sure everyone can afford a place to live. In addition, we need to do more as a city and a state to build our own stock of affordable housing. Increasing inclusionary zoning is great, but we also have to rethink the role of the state in providing high quality public housing options that are affordable.

Kristen Strezo Most importantly, I support the Condo Conversion ordinance. Additionally, I would like to help guide the 1% transfer fee tax to completion. Lastly, I would like to explore and expedite a Community Land Trust within Somerville.

Ben Ewen-Campen My election in 2017 was part a wave that created a solid progressive supermajority on the Somerville City Council, which understands that our top priority must be addressing the affordable housing crisis. Since 2017, we have taken many bold steps: 1) establishing and fully funding a wholly new department at City Hall, the Office of Housing Stability, who have already helped many hundreds of families; 2) creating a Community Land Trust (Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m on the founding Board) that will create and preserve affordable housing under democratic control; 3) passing the regionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first Real Estate Transfer Fee, that will raise millions in revenue for new affordable housing (currently awaiting approval at the State House, which I firmly believe will happen in the upcoming years); 4) passing a major reform of our Condo Conversion Ordinance, closing the major loopholes that have allowed developers to evict hundreds of tenants each year without notice or relocation funds; 5) supporting the Union Square Community Benefits Agreement, which contains many affordable housing provisions; and 6) passing a Tenant Notification Act that requires tenants to be notified, in writing, of their legal rights and local organization that can help, when they are facing displacement. Going forward, some of my top priorities: a Tenants Right to Purchase (requires State Approval), an Affordable Housing Overlay district in Somerville, and ensuring that the Somerville Community Land Trust gets off to the strongest start possible. I also support the state-wide movement that would allow cities and towns to enact rent stabilization, although this is currently not something that cities or towns can legally enact on our own.

Katjana Ballantyne The most immediate impact would be that the colleges and university build housing on campus. They have shifted the student housing burden on its host communities. Also building more housing than there is demand for would help the region. And, in Somerville impact on affordability can happen when all of us earn more money, #PeopleNeedToEarn, #LiftWages. Somerville needs to diversify its tax base. In Somerville residential property owners are burdened with paying for the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s operating expenses. The biggest impact we can have on people who live here now is by developing commercial office in the transform districts of Somerville. This will generate more tax revenue and help contribute more to affordable housing.

77

How would you expand -BICYCLE & PEDESTRIAN INFRASTRUCTURE- in Somerville?

Joe Curtatone We have a master bike plan underway, designed to pinpoint safety and transit improvements. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve committed $200,000 this fiscal year to help implement those improvements. We also just established a parking protected bike path along Broadway in Winter Hill. When we undertake road redesign projects, we are prioritizing pedestrian and bicycle safety. In fact, thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s guiding our planning for the road network in Union Square. On the pedestrian side, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve experienced a number of pedestrian deaths this year along Rte. 38/Mystic Avenue, which is a state road. We have pressed the state to make substantial changes to the design in that area and are in the process of engaging the community on what those changes need to be.

Finally, pages 15-17 of our municipal budget (https://www.somervillema.gov/sites/default/files/fy20-budget.pdf) detail more than $2M of Vision Zerorelated projects taking place over the next year.

Marianne Walles I would like to see a better design in Somerville. Currently there are some parts of the city, such as Broadway, in which the design appears more unsafe. Cars, buses, bikes and pedestrians are all competing which makes it unsafe for all.

Jack Connolly We must identify the most utilized bikeways and add additional barriers where possible while reviewing usage patterns bi-annually utilizing volunteers from local bike safety organizations and/or student volunteers.

Stephanie Hirsch See extensive Vision Zero candidate responses from all Council candidates: https://www.visionzerocoalition.org/2019_somerville_at_large

Kevin Jura As someone who enjoys commuting on my bicycle, I know all too well the dangers that pedestrians and cyclist face on a daily basis. I believe that there should be more dedicated segregated bicycle lanes and pedestrian paths. There needs to be further education for both drivers and cyclists on the rules of the road and proper sharing of the road. We must also recognize that drivers do have legitimate complaints against some cyclists who ignore traffic laws and bike recklessly but demand drivers give them full use of the roads. There is a shared responsibility from both drivers and cyclists.

Will Mbah We must continue to expand bike lanes and pedestrian lines while ensuring there are safe barriers or markings between these lanes and car lanes. We must be willing to reduce car lanes and provide fair and equitable transportation infrastructure. Biking and walking need to be modes of transportation that are as appealing or more appealing than driving single occupancy vehicles.

78

How would you expand -BICYCLE & PEDESTRIAN INFRASTRUCTURE- in Somerville?

Kristen Strezo I would like to expand protected bike lanes within Somerville. We need to distribute informative literature (mailers to Somerville residents) as to inform those that do not understand, or are contemptuous of, the new bike lanes, and concerned that bike lanes are taking up parking space. We need to get more information to these residents, so as to get them on board. We need to create more dialogue.

Ben Ewen-Campen Please see my answers to the Vision Zero / Liveable Streets candidate questionnaire (https://www.visionzerocoalition.org/2019_somerville_ward_3) – this is an area that I’m very passionate about and have done much work on (I bike from Somerville to Boston every day for work!)

Katjana Ballantyne I have supported the City of Somerville Vision Zero plan, protected bike lanes, dedicated bus lanes. I don’t own a car by choice, instead I walk and use bicycles for local, four-season transportation. Our family of four uses seven bicycles and two bicycle trailers. I use public transportation; i.e. buses, subways, trains and ferries. When I cannot use a bicycle or public transit I rent cars for incidental or business use. For over a decade we have been a car-free family.

79

How would you improve -PUBLIC TRANSIT- in Somerville?

Joe Curtatone In Somerville, the Green Line extension is the project that will transform how people live in and get around our city. We will go from 15% of residents living within walking distance of a T station to 85%, and I cannot overstate how hard we had to fight to make that happen. Making sure we get the project delivered as promised is #1 on our transit agenda. However, the GLX needs to connect to an operational system and I have joined with other regional leaders to demand the state tackle the MBTAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s massive maintenance backlog without placing any more price burden on riders, who have paid for a series of broken promises. Per question #11, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re also transforming existing roads for rapid bus transit, which will link to our T stations.

Marianne Walles I believe that increasing reliable service is the most important. Being a train rider it is very unpredictable how long it will take to get anywhere.

Jack Connolly Focusing on safe and consistent on-time service especially late at night (After 1am) and on the weekends.

Stephanie Hirsch Make fares free.

Kevin Jura Somerville has already started creating bus only travel lanes on the main roads. However, it is a slow start that should be increased in both scope and speed. It needs to be spread throughout the entire city and not just a select few roads. Additionally, I would advocate for more bus routes and shuttle services, especially during this time that the Green Line Extension is being built.

Will Mbah We need more reliable bus routes to cover a wider swath of residents in Somerville. We can make buses reliable and accessible by creating dedicated bus lanes across the city. We must incentivize people to use public transportation by making it fair and free. Creating dedicated bus lanes all over would reduce total carbon emissions and make living further away from train stations more affordable and less reliant on single-occupancy vehicles.

Kristen Strezo If we want transit to be accessible to all, we must immediately stop with the rate hikes. This is an incredible barrier to so many fixed-income residents.

80

How would you improve -PUBLIC TRANSIT- in Somerville?

Ben Ewen-Campen Somerville just recently created a Bus/Bike-only lane on Broadway â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and despite major pushback from motorists (nearly 2,000 have signed a petition in opposition), I believe this will ultimately be a transformative step in the right direction. There is much more to do, but I am proud we have begun taking such major steps.

Katjana Ballantyne Dedicated bus lanes, protected bus lanes are mandatory for safe streets and can be done in our city of Somerville. I worked hard and effectively for years, to advocate for biking, transit and mobility improvement in Somerville. I support parallel multi modal transit options and pedestrian friendly features.

81

-THE CLIMATE CRISIS:-

2

Do you support the -GREEN NEW DEAL-?

By what year should Somerville reach -NET ZERO-CARBON EMISSIONS-?

Joe Curtatone

_YES_

2050

Marianne Walles

_YES_

2050

Jack Connolly

_YES_

2050

Stephanie Hirsch

_YES_

2050

Kevin Jura

_YES_

2050

Will Mbah

_YES_

2030

Kristen Strezo

_YES_

2020

Ben Ewen-Campen

_YES_

2030

Katjana Ballantyne

_YES_

2050

1

82

What should Somerville do right now to get to -NET ZERO EMISSIONS-?

Joe Curtatone The list of what weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re doing at the current moment literally is too extensive to fit into the space for this answer, but here is our comprehensive, community-generated plan to achieve net zero emissions: https://www.somervillema.gov/departments/programs/somerville-climate-forward. What I want to highlight is the GLX (which will remove more than 25,000 vehicle miles traveled per day), building out EV infrastructure and converting to clean energy. Those efforts get us most of the way to net zero. On the energy conversion side we have multiple current programs (e.g. neighborhood-level solar energy sharing). We also have acres of new green spaces in the planning stages and weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re planting 400 new trees this year.

Marianne Walles One way is to maintain and attract local hire, this will reduce travel for people. Increase the expectations new developments to be more energy efficient.

Jack Connolly The City of Somerville should convert all municipal vehicles to electric and/or hybrid as soon as possible. The City should incentivise private vehicle owners to convert to electric/hybrid vehicles with an excise tax reduction.

Stephanie Hirsch The Green New Deal we recently voted on showed where we can make the biggest gains: Buildings, Transportation, and Electricity. I support the steps outlined in that presentation: http://somervillecityma.iqm2.com/Citizens/Detail_LegiFile.aspx?ID=21627&highlightTerms=21627

Kevin Jura We need to create more opportunities for individuals to safely commute via bicycles and walking. Additionally, I would be open to looking into and considering a congestion charge on vehicles. We need to push car/van-pooling for those that must drive and do everything possible to reduce the number of vehicles on the road. Additionally, I would push to incorporate Passive House standards in the Cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Building Code.

Will Mbah We must convert all our city vehicles to electric vehicles and work towards making all of our buildings and infrastructure powered by renewable energy sources. This also means providing public transportation vehicles that are completely electric. Our city must also incentivize and subsidize businesses and residents to purchase renewable energy technology. These are important steps in making our city completely reliant on renewable energy sources.

Incentivizing and requiring through zoning the retrofitting of older buildings when being renovated to meet net zero standards is also a very important step.

83

What should Somerville do right now to get to -NET ZERO EMISSIONS-?

Kristen Strezo Somerville should be exploring renewable energy sources and divesting in any and all forms of carbon and oil. I think we should be using municipal funding to go as renewable as possible, immediately.

Ben Ewen-Campen The large majority of our carbon emissions come from building-based emissions and transportations. In addition to reducing car usage and dramatically increasing the use of public transportation, I am actively working with the Somerville Climate Coalition and the Office of Sustainability and Environment to craft specific recommendations to bring all new buildings to net zero.

Katjana Ballantyne Somervilleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s buildings and homes are built and retrofitted to be net-zero carbon, healthy, resilient, and affordable. 100% of Somervilleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s electricity is from renewable sources. Mobility - everyone has accessible and affordable zero-carbon ways to commute and get around Somerville that are resilient to climate impacts.

84

What should Somerville do to address -ENVIRONMENTAL INJUSTICE(for example, worse impacts on communities of color)?

Joe Curtatone Key elements include adding green spaces to areas in need of environmental justice, improving bus service to those areas, facilitating energy/heating/cooling conversion in lower income homes and neighborhoods, making sure resiliency projects prioritize at-risk neighborhoods and advocating for more stringent regulation of utility gas leaks (more common in lower income neighborhoods). And, once again, the GLX is a key element of this. It was required for environmental justice reasons as part of the Big Dig and weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve had to fight for decades to get the state to honor its commitment.

Marianne Walles I believe if we start to address economic and social injustices so that we can address environmental injustices. We need to ensure that they have a voice at the table.

Jack Connolly Somerville should join with Cambridge, Boston and other municipalities to lower exposure for all communities including communities of color. Nobody should be subject to air pollution.

Stephanie Hirsch The Green New Deal we recently voted on showed where we can make the biggest gains: Buildings, Transportation, and Electricity. I support the steps outlined in that presentation: http://somervillecityma.iqm2.com/Citizens/Detail_LegiFile.aspx?ID=21627&highlightTerms=21627

Kevin Jura This is a tough issue to tackle in this region, especially with limited housing availability. However, that does not mean that it is not solvable. To begin with it would require improving both our zoning and building codes to include the Passive House standards in residence, but also reducing vehicle traffic in the area.

Will Mbah One of the first projects I got involved with in Somerville was volunteering on an environmental justice project that looked at the negative health effects of living close to I 93. That study has given us data on the negative effects of living close to a major highway and shows how environmental issues also tend to impact lower-income, working class and typically people of color majority communities more than others. We need to continue to support neighborhood councils like the Union Square Neighborhood Council - a democratically elected council that can truly have a say in how the community should benefit from development. This way, people from all communities can have a seat at the table when businesses and developers plan to come to their community. Additionally, we must make sure to reach out to communities of color and learn how we can alleviate issues arising from environmental injustice.

85

What should Somerville do to address -ENVIRONMENTAL INJUSTICE(for example, worse impacts on communities of color)?

Kristen Strezo Firstly, I would like to prioritize installing sound barriers along I-93, to protect those residents in our community that are living along the interstate and are most affected by air pollution.

Ben Ewen-Campen In Somerville, the single most dramatic economic injustice today is the highly damaging automotive emissions from I-93 that disproportionately affect residents in East Somerville. Our City Council and State Delegation has been pushing for physical barriers (similar to what wealthier communities have) for years, and this remains an unbelievable injustice in the heart of our community. In addition, we must fight for maximizing affordable housing near new Green Line stations, which have already caused massive real estate speculation and displacement â&#x20AC;&#x201C; this is one of the key ideas behind the Community Benefits Agreement in Union Square, and I hope to continue this work at other Green Line Stations.

Katjana Ballantyne Give clean transportation access - nearly 1/3 of all the low income housing units are located in Ward 7, Somerville. All residents here should have full access to transportation, like public transit, dedicated bus lane, bike share, protected bike lanes.

86

What would you ensure that -HARVARD does its part in addressing the -CLIMATE CRISIS-?

Joe Curtatone A key area (beyond energy conversion) Harvard and Tufts can help is building more on-campus, net-zero housing. Somerville does not negotiate a community agreement with Harvard, but we do with Tufts, and thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s one of the issues weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re pressing. With Harvard it is more a case of advocacy.

Simply put, it would decrease commutes and allow us to devote more areas to green space vs. new housing.

Marianne Walles I would offer a seat at the table to ensure that they are active participants in the conversation on addressing climate change.

Jack Connolly I would have Harvard join all local colleges and municipalities in converting to electric or hybrid vehicles a part of a local cooperative.

Stephanie Hirsch Because Harvard is not within Somerville, this is probably beyond my scope (at least beyond my ability to take on).

Kevin Jura As a Harvard student myself, I find this to be a very pressing issue. While the College has its own programs, the students of the remaining schools need to come together as one and advocate on this. I would push for the formal creation of a student advisory board. Should that fail, I would create my own student advisory board and ensure that representatives of not only the Harvard Graduate Student Union and the Harvard Graduate Council were invited, but representatives from Tufts University and other schools within Somerville, Cambridge, and Medford were involved. Students have a voice and they must be heard, especially on any decisions that would affect not only the City but them as well.

Will Mbah We must call out Harvard among other schools for where they fail to address the climate crisis meaningfully and encourage and praise them when they succeed in addressing the climate crisis. Harvard and surrounding schools must address the climate crisis in their infrastructure but also in shaping the habits of their faculty and students. They need to encourage people to come with their own reusable coffee mugs, of er reusable and compostable products, create meat reduction initiatives in the cafeteria and take any initiative possible to address the climate crisis. Harvard also needs to provide public transportation for free to reduce the carbon footprint of all faculty and students.

Kristen Strezo Divest immediately from all Oil company interests.

87

What would you ensure that -HARVARD does its part in addressing the -CLIMATE CRISIS-?

Ben Ewen-Campen As a Harvard Postdoc myself (and former graduate student), I am a strong supporter of the Divestment campaign, and I will work with the Harvard activist community to support their other climate-based campaigns.

Katjana Ballantyne I would require them to do the same things that Somerville is trying to do, i.e. provide housing, use renewable energy sources, provide transportation, and safe working conditions.

88

-CRIMINAL JUSTICE & PUBLIC SAFETY2 Do you support opening -SAFE CONSUMPTION- SPACESDo you support (supervised sites for safe -ELIMINATING CASH BAIL-? drug use) in Somerville?

1

Joe Curtatone

_YES_

_YES_

Marianne Walles

_YES_

_YES_

Jack Connolly

_YES_

_NO_

Stephanie Hirsch

_YES_

Kevin Jura

_YES_

_YES_

Will Mbah

_YES_

_YES_

Kristen Strezo

_YES_

_YES_

Ben Ewen-Campen

_YES_

_YES_

Katjana Ballantyne

_YES_

_YES_ 89

How would you combat -MASS INCARCERATION- and reduce -RACIAL DISPARITIES IN THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM-?

Joe Curtatone At the city level police reform is the main issue when it comes to reducing the injustice of disparate law enforcement. I ran on police reform and fully embracing Somerville’s Sanctuary City status 16 years ago. I’m proud to say our officers now receive bias and de-escalation training. We have embraced a community policing model that has helped reduce crime by 51%. That doesn’t mean the problem is solved here, but we have taken concrete steps to ensure our police treat everyone fairly. I also hang a Black Lives Matter banner from my office window at City Hall to broadcast to everyone, most importantly the high school students in the building next door, that justice should be equal in our society.

Marianne Walles I think we need to begin by ensuring equal opportunity to education and good paying jobs. We also need to be providing more diversionary programs rather than incarceration.

Jack Connolly Prison reform is necessary and elimination of minimum mandatory sentencing. I would work with the NAACP, and the ACLU to change sentencing guidelines.

Stephanie Hirsch Given our local role, my primary focus is on education and youth programming in Somerville.

Kevin Jura As a Latino individual, I completely understand this disparity. However, as a former law enforcement officer, I know the perspective from the other side.

This requires more than criminal justice reform, which is absolutely necessary. It also requires social and cultural reforms within the community themselves. We must develop a sense of pride in our own lives, neighborhoods, and communities. Additionally, we need to rebuild the trust that used to be present between law enforcement and the different communities within our cities. There needs to be me more after school and job opportunities for our young adults. These actions with criminal justice reform will be the foundation for tackling this problem.

Will Mbah We need to fix so many parts of our broken justice system including eliminating cash bail. I put something forward on the council to expunge the records of any person who is in jail for possession of marijuana. It’s unacceptable that people are sitting in jail for a crime that is no longer a crime in this state.

We have to think about all the ways we need to retroactively ensure justice for people of color who have been sentenced to jail for breaking antiquated laws or in some cases, breaking laws that no longer exist in Massachusetts. This also includes being sure we are proactively including people of color when we give out new city licenses for marijuana dispensaries.

90

How would you combat -MASS INCARCERATION- and reduce -RACIAL DISPARITIES IN THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM-?

Kristen Strezo Incarceration begins with how our local police interact with our residents, on the smallest scale. I would like to find the funding for more regular anti-bias training for our police force. Somerville should follow what other states have done in banning all for-profit prisons.

Ben Ewen-Campen I led the charge in Somerville on a number of criminal-justice related initiatives, including banning Facial Recognition Surveillance (we were the second city in the country to do so), as well as an Ordinance to regulate all surveillance equipment.

Katjana Ballantyne I am appalled with disparities that exists for people of color who are incarcerated. At a local level we do not regulate the law, however I am a strong proponent of community policing. Community policing is a collaboration between the police and the community that identifies and solves community problems. With the police no longer the sole guardians of law and order, all members of the community become active allies in the effort to enhance the safety and quality of neighborhoods. Community members voice their concerns, contribute advice, and take action to address these concerns.

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What would you do to prevent -POLICE VIOLENCE- particularly towards people of color?

Joe Curtatone The most effective method in rooting out police violence is body cameras. My administration has held firm on this issue in labor negotiations with our patrol officers union. We intend to implement them, and have resisted attempts (including an effort by the police union leadership to rally opposition to our BLM stance) to force us into a contract without a requirement for body cameras. Also, a community policing model with bias training is essential to creating a safer, more just community. Training up front, laying out the expectation that our police need to be a positive force in our city, that prevents abuses from happening in the first place. We aren’t waiting for problems to arise, we’re being proactive in heading them off. If we want a better police force, then build a better force. That’s been our approach.

Marianne Walles I believe that training and bringing groups together to promote understanding. I also believe in having a transparent and independent investigations asking for recommendations. I believe that there should be a committee of diverse community members appointed to review complaints.

Jack Connolly Require body cameras on all police and implement standard de-escalation policies for all population groups especially those with mental health issues.

Police must be held accountable as any individual citizen would be for abusing their power.

Kevin Jura First let me put out there – I am a former law enforcement officer. With that said, I have been on both sides of this issue. As a minority I know what it is to be treated differently; and, as a former law enforcement officer I know what it is like to be stopping an unknown individual and doing your job. I do not subscribe to the belief that all law enforcement is evil. Yes, we have rotten officers who do nothing but tarnish the badge and destroy the reputation of hardworking and honest officers. With that said, we do need to provide more training, not just lectures and videos, but real-life simulations and in-person trainings to help officers see their implicit biases and help them overcome such biases. We must also accept and acknowledge that painting all of law enforcement with the same brush only makes the problem more difficult.

Will Mbah We must make sure police officers have body cameras to ensure accountability. We must also encourage community policing so that police know that they are part of the community and not above the community or removed from it. Police should be building relationships with everyone they serve and aim to protect them, not criminalize them. Restorative Justice policing is something I am pushing via Board Ordinance for Somerville. We also just passed an ordinance banning city government from using facial surveillance technologies. These are all important steps to prevent police violence and protect the rights of all our residents.

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What would you do to prevent -POLICE VIOLENCE- particularly towards people of color?

Kristen Strezo Again, more anti-bias training - double whatever we are doing now. We also need more people of color in our police force; this group of authority figures must reflect the diversity of our community. I would also like to devote the resources to installing an equity task-force within the police department, responsible for monitoring this and keeping us all accountable on a regular basis. Most importantly, we need more open dialogue between Somerville Police Department and the community.

Ben Ewen-Campen I have used my position on Committee on Confirmation of Appointments to help enact a wholly new procedure for Police hiring and promotion approvals, requiring a detailed review of personnel records and any history of complaints â&#x20AC;&#x201C; shockingly, this was not done in the past during Confirmation hearings. This process has led to one vote against a promotion for (I believe) the first time in Somerville history. Strictly speaking, the City Council does not oversee any accountability investigations (the SPD reports to the Mayor, not the City Council), but I believe that our work will help maintain public pressure to ensure a zero-tolerance policy for wrongdoing.

Katjana Ballantyne Building collaborative relationships between the Police and the â&#x20AC;&#x153;allâ&#x20AC;? community members is a violence prevention technique.

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How would you improve -POLICE RESPONSES TO MENTAL HEALTH CRISES-?

Joe Curtatone This also goes to training, and our officers receive specific mental health training. Our police force does not look to round up people in need, rather it seeks to put them in contact with those who can provide. They act as a resource in these situations. This applies to dealing with homelessness and the opioid crisis.We long ago recognized putting people in a jail cell is no substitute for getting them the treatment and shelter they need.

Marianne Walles I believe that our police would benefit from more training of de-escalation techniques and more knowledge of mental health symptoms and behaviors in order to appropriately respond to calls.

Jack Connolly Ongoing required training for all police, first responders, and especially crisis intervention personnel. Also to require that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts certifies annual mental health response training.

Kevin Jura There needs to be greater training, including with live patients (as appropriate) and mental health care providers, as well as better training for dealing with individuals with autism and other issues that may cause an officer to misconstrue the individual’s actions. This needs to be included in the basic police recruit’s training as well as regular (at a minimum of annual) continuing training for all officers and public safety personnel (fire and EMS).

Will Mbah We must increase funding for community mental health centers and make sure everyone has access to mental health care. This way we can prevent more people from reaching a mental health crisis and give them help before they do something that requires police action. We must also increase mental health training and awareness for police officers.

Kristen Strezo I would like to expand services that cater to mental health needs and train officers on how to respond to mental illness and mental disabilities in the field.

Ben Ewen-Campen While I have supported funding for a variety of trainings and community policing initiatives, I believe that our ultimate goal must be to shift towards a model based on social work and mental health support, not “policing” in the traditional sense.

Katjana Ballantyne I have and will continue to support programs which train our Police to handle mental health incidences.

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Would you support allowing -RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA DELIVERY- to Somerville residents? Should delivery people be required to wear -BODY CAMERAS-?

Joe Curtatone Right now we’re focused on opening our first retail cannabis establishments in the city. We’ve put together a transparent public process which gives priority to local ownership and people from communities adversely affected by our failed war on drugs. The first three locations (of a possible 12) were just recently announced. As a general rule, my inclination is to support local brick-and-mortar businesses as this fledgling industry gets off the ground. It seems like the delivery model would advantage larger corporations to corner the market, pulling money out of our local economy with no reinvestment in it. I try to keep an open mind in case a delivery model could fit into our current emphasis on localization and equity, but I have not seen any such proposal as of yet.

Marianne Walles I would only support body cameras as it relates to the safety of the delivery driver not as a means to monitor who they are delivering to .

Jack Connolly Yes for delivery, no for the use of body cameras because is a violation personal privacy for the deliverer and for the buyer.

Kevin Jura No, at this point in time I do not support the wearing of body cameras. I do not see and overriding reason for the Commission to order such an invasion of privacy on the consumer. Should the Commission have reason to believe that illegal diversion of marijuana is occurring, then yes, it would be appropriate to require body cameras. Otherwise, I do not support them.

Will Mbah Yes to both, I can’t see why body cameras would cause any harm and it would increase transparency and accountability.

Kristen Strezo Yes, with reservations. . . . I am willing to discuss this, but I don’t know enough about the topic. I would like to hear more from those working in the delivery system.

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Would you support allowing -RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA DELIVERY- to Somerville residents? Should delivery people be required to wear -BODY CAMERAS-?

Ben Ewen-Campen I have not thought about the body camera issue in this context – but in general, I have helped lead the charge to create a strong local economy around the new cannabis industry to support small, local-owned businesses, and in particular those owned and operated by people of color. I was a strong supporter of Somerville’s cannabis “equity ordinance,” which has subsequently been followed by a number of surrounding communities, which requires licenses for the first two years to exclusively go to Economic Empowerment Applicants and other priority applicants (and 50% of all licenses after that.)

Katjana Ballantyne At the moment I am the “Acting” Mayor of Somerville on all issues related to Marijuana licensing, because the Mayor has recused himself because of a personal conflict. I, as the President of the Somerville City Council, then assume this role in selecting businesses and signing Host Community Agreement. For this reason I will recuse myself from answering this question.

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-IMMIGRATION:1 Do you support a -MUNICIPAL IDfor Somerville residents?

2 Do you support granting -DRIVERSâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; LICENSESto undocumented immigrants?

3 Do you support allowing non-citizen residents -VOTING RIGHTSin municipal elections?

1

2

3

Joe Curtatone

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

Marianne Walles

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

Jack Connolly

_YES_

_YES_

_NO_

Stephanie Hirsch

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

Kevin Jura

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

Will Mbah

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

Kristen Strezo

_YES_

_YES_

Ben Ewen-Campen

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

Katjana Ballantyne

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

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How would you support -IMMIGRATION POLICIES- to ensure a geographically diverse university population & allow international scholars to stay in the US after graduation?

Joe Curtatone I am probably the most outspoken municipal official in Massachusetts in supporting Sanctuary Cities and opposing the current federal deportation regime. As a city leader, my focus is on the issues that directly affect the thousands of immigrants who live in Somerville, which include many students and employees at Harvard. First, we need Massachusetts to pass the Safe Communities Act, which would give our immigrant more security as they seek to navigate an immigration system which is constantly inventing new bureaucratic traps to strip away their residency. Second, Somerville runs a program called SomerViva which in recent years has put thousands of people in contact with the pro bono legal assistance they need to stay in their homes and keep their families together. Having been raised in an immigrant family and having learned Italian as my first language, this is a personal issue for me.

Marianne Walles Immigrants are what make this community and this country great. As mayor, I would continue to be an advocate for immigration reform and ensuring Somerville remains one of Massachusetts’ sanctuary cities. I would also like to see more coalition building that address the daily struggles of housing, jobs and education until policies can be addressed at the federal level. No mayor can do this alone: This work requires support amongst community, state, and federal partners. Our federal government needs to make serious changes to the immigration system and policies that provides fast, humane pathways to citizenship. Everyone deserves a shot at the American dream.

Jack Connolly 1. Change the Visa requirements for international students. 2. Oppose the Trump Administration’s additional sanctions. 3. Implement time certain opportunity to remain in the United States with the completion of studies.

Kevin Jura As a first generation American who is the son and grandson of refugees from the Iron Curtain’s establishment in the 1950’s and 1960’s, I know all too well what it means to be an immigrant and the harmful and perfidious actions that the current Administration has taken to prevent immigration. I would not only support sanctuary city status, but I would do everything within my power to strengthen such ordinances as well a ensure that housing and opportunities are there for immigrants and international students. Immigrants are what shaped and built our great nation.

Will Mbah This falls out of my powers as a city councilor, unfortunately, but that does not mean that I wouldn’t use my office to continue to champion the rights of immigrants. This is obviously a story near and dear to my heart being an immigrant from Cameroon and someone who works at MIT. I was a part of the city council that passed the Welcoming Ordinance in order to strengthen our solidarity as a sanctuary city in Somerville and push us toward noncooperation with ICE on immigration raids and requests. That is how I can fight back locally against this problem.

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How would you support -IMMIGRATION POLICIES- to ensure a geographically diverse university population & allow international scholars to stay in the US after graduation?

Kristen Strezo Somerville is a Sanctuary city and I support that status. Diversity is our strength, and I want to work hard to ensure that this doesn’t change in Somerville. Independent of whatever is happening on a national level, I want to make sure that immigrants, regardless of their status, feel comfortable and supported by their local elected officials in Somerville.

Ben Ewen-Campen Somerville recently worked with the ACLU to pass the strongest Sanctuary City Ordinance on the books (the “Welcoming Communities Act”) but we know this is not enough – we need state-wide action, specifically the passage of the Safe Communities Act and the Drivers License Bill.

Katjana Ballantyne As an immigrant myself I understand the complexities that immigration restrictions can place on individuals and the Universities. I would and have lent my voice to support of International scholars.

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-COMMUNITY ISSUES:How would you increase access to -CHILDCARE & PRESCHOOL- while ensuring pre-K teachers and childcare workers are paid a living wage?

Joe Curtatone Somerville currently has a program that makes sure children in our city get an appropriate preschool placement. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a central part of our commitment to educating the young child and making sure every child in our city gets an equitable start to their schooling. Part of that program involves making sure non-municipal programs meet our standards for staff and facility quality. Yet we need action at the federal level to subsidize costs for lower- and middleincome families, making sure childcare workers get paid properly while keeping prices reasonable for families. Income-based caps seem like the right approach to take to ensuring quality childcare for everyone.

Marianne Walles Childcare is one of the most expensive costs to families. We need to invest in childcare through more subsidies so that families and workers both benefit - this involves support at the federal and state level to be most effective. The City of Boston is currently piloting a childcare program that provides grants to new daycare and long-term daycare providers, as well as job training for women entrepreneurs in the field. Part of the problem is the cost of doing business - especially in the Greater Boston area - outweighs the profits a provider can make. As a union leader at SEIU 509 (the union that organizers childcare workers in Massachusetts), I would bring in my fellow union members to start a round table discussion with parents. When the cost of operating a daycare and the cost of the service is astronomical, we know we have a problem with every aspect of the system.

Jack Connolly Passing Home Rule petition allowing additional tax credits to participating employers who agree to offer or contract childcare providers who will pay a living wage.

Kevin Jura I wish I knew the answer to this question. Unfortunately, I do not. I have been trying to figure out a realistic and practical solution and I have only been able to come up with offering subsidized childcare and preschool for families, on a sliding scale, based on income and the ability to pay.

Will Mbah The city should be able to subsidize child care while also making sure the preschool teachers and childcare workers are paid a living wage.

Kristen Strezo I want universally free Pre-K in Somerville. We need to make sure that housing is accessible to our teachers in Somerville. In order to ensure this, I believe we need something similar to the Boston Housing Trust Fund (SEIU-888), and we need to explore if we can do this in Somerville.

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How would you increase access to -CHILDCARE & PRESCHOOL- while ensuring pre-K teachers and childcare workers are paid a living wage?

Ben Ewen-Campen My understanding is that pre-K is available to anyone in Somerville who needs it â&#x20AC;&#x201C; this program is overseen by the Superintendent and Mayorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Office, and I have consistently voted to approve this budgetary requirement.

Katjana Ballantyne I support and have funded universal public preschool, and public school afterschool care in the city of Somerville to make it easier for families to afford to live.

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Do you support -MUNICIPAL BROADBAND- and how would you ensure -AFFORDABLE INTERNET ACCESS in Somerville?

Joe Curtatone Emphatically yes. Last year I launched an Internet Access Task Force, charged with figuring out how we can move to a local broadband network.

Recent rulings from the FCC regarding Net Neutrality and supposed corporate in-kind payments to community access television operations make it a matter of when, not if we make this move.

Marianne Walles Yes- Internet access is important to ensure equity for all of our residents, and I would support all efforts to promote accessibility and affordability. But this can’t be done in a vacuum: Bringing businesses, residents and internet providers to the table is a valuable first step to see what’s possible. As we know, every ward of Somerville is different, and we need to guarantee that accessibility is possible for every single one of our residents.

Jack Connolly Support municipal broadband services and the creation of city and/or regionally owned broadband suppliers.

Kevin Jura I fully support municipal broadband. While I am not a fan of taxing for taxing sakes, I believe that a small surcharge (0.5–2%) should be added to every resident’s city water bill and possibly vehicle taxes. This would enable to the city to fund this project. Additionally, I would be willing to consider a sliding scale service charge, based on one’s ability to pay, for access to the municipal broadband. This service is imperative for connecting residents with the rest of the world as well as providing greater educational, professional, and social opportunities.

Will Mbah Yes I do support municipal broadband and will push our city to use any tools we have to make sure that people all over can have access to affordable internet. Doing things as a community, for the benefit of the community, when it comes to basic social services is essential - internet has become a basic human need and should be treated as such by cities.

Kristen Strezo I think it should be free city-wide in Somerville. We can follow the example of the innovative people at LinkNYC who brought internet to all of New York.

Ben Ewen-Campen Yes.

Katjana Ballantyne Somerville does not have broadband. I would support exploring this to ensure affordable internet access in Somerville. First we’d need to meet with experts, conduct research, and participate in discussions to inform recommendation. Areas for consideration may include, but are not limited to, increasing internet service provider competition, establishing a municipal or quasi-public internet provider, and developing policies that encourage equitable access and service.

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Do you support the recommendations of the -PAYMENT IN LIEU OF TAXES (PILOT) ACTION GROUP- to better hold large nonprofits accountable to voluntarily contribute to support city services?

Joe Curtatone We’ve embraced many of these principles, primarily community-driven negotiations, in our current PILOT negotiations with Tufts. I’m also for changing state law to require massive, non-profit landowner institutions to pay local property taxes. They avail themselves of all of our services and amenities.

They should pay their fair share.

Marianne Walles I do support these recommendations. Over the past year and a half, I have been working on the Our Revolution Tufts PILOT to hold Tufts more accountable to Somerville and Medford. We need to hold them more accountable to pay their fair share.

Jack Connolly 1. Support Pilot oversight commission 2. Support the establishment of a regional coalition of communities containing the 47 non-profits and to establish minimum parameters for defining payments, services “both direct and indirect” and benefits. 3. Support the reevaluation of all non-profit institutions every two years.

Kevin Jura I absolutely support a PILOT program. I would be a vocal supporter and would work with the different institutions to implement this program. After fully developing the program, and conducting a pilot program of the PILOT program, I would push for an ordinance that would enshrine this program within the City and encompass more than just the 47 largest nonprofits.

Will Mbah Yes. We as a city are currently re-evaluating our PILOT agreement with Tufts for all those reasons mentioned above. We have a task force working on this currently. Schools like Tufts and Harvard have grown and property taxes have gone up. These schools are an integral part of greater Boston and should be able to provide a robust agreement that meets all the needs of our residents. Tufts needs to build more student housing so that student demand on the Somerville rental market does not displace local residents with rising rents and shrinking housing stock. It also needs to end its classist new housing policy which allows some students of means the ability to pay more for “luxury” student housing.

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Do you support the recommendations of the -PAYMENT IN LIEU OF TAXES (PILOT) ACTION GROUP- to better hold large nonprofits accountable to voluntarily contribute to support city services?

Kristen Strezo I do support implementing all of the above recommendations, and I want to ensure that Somerville is being compensated properly. I believe we should bring these recommendations forward as ordinances in Somerville and start rallying public support.

Ben Ewen-Campen I was not previously aware of the PILOT Action Group â&#x20AC;&#x201C; sounds like an excellent program. Somerville is currently renegotiating our PILOT with Tufts, and this process has been led by a large community group that I am fully supportive of, but to be honest have not been personally involved in (Tufts is in Ward 7.)

Katjana Ballantyne As President of the Somerville City Council, and Ward 7 Councilor (where most of the off campus Tufts University live) I sit on the negotiating team for the Somerville/Tufts PILOT renegotiation. As a member of the negotiating team in the ongoing negotiation I cannot discuss the details of the meetings at this time. I will state that we are trying to deliver on the wishes of the community outlined in the survey found here. https://www.somervillema.gov/sites/default/files/somerville-tufts-community-partnership-public-input-summary-2018.pdf

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N O T S O -B

-BOSTON CITY COUNCILBoston’s chief executive is Mayor Marty Walsh who was re-elected to a 4-year term in 2017. Boston’s legislative body is the 13-member Boston City Council. Each year the Council elects a Council President. The city website includes this explanation:

“

The City Council is the legislative body of the City of Boston. Councilors are elected every two years by the citizens of Boston. The council is made up of four at-large councilors that represent the entire City, and nine district councilors that represent specific areas of the City.

The City Council serves as a link between the citizens of Boston and their municipal government. Councilors help constituents by connecting them to resources, services, and City departments. They serve as advocates for all Bostonians.

This map from the Boston website shows Boston’s Districts, which roughly line up with these neighborhoods:

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1: Charlestown, East Boston, North End 2: Downtown, South Boston, South End 3: Dorchester 4: Dorchester, Mattapan, Jamaica Plain, Roslindale 5: Hyde Park, Roslindale

6: Jamaica Plain, West Roxbury 7: Roxbury 8: Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Fenway-Kenmore, Mission Hill, West End 9: Allston, Brighton

-ELECTION METHOD + OUR SURVEYEach Boston resident may vote for 1 District Representative and 4 At-Large Representatives. A preliminary election on September 24 narrowed the race to 8 At-Large Candidates and 2 District candidates where contested. Find your polling place here.

The two candidates running for District 9 (Allston-Brighton) are Liz Breadon and Craig Cashman, whose responses are included.

Three of the At-Large Candidates chose to provide responses: David Halbert, Julia Mejia, and Michelle Wu. The unopposed candidate for District 1 (Charlestown, East Boston, & the North End), Lydia Edwards, and one of the candidates for District 8 (Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Fenway-Kenmore, Mission Hill, & West End), Kenzie Bok, also chose to participate.

The remaining candidates (At Large: Michael Flaherty, Althea Garrison, Annissa Essaibi George, & Erin Murphy; 2: Edward Flynn; 3: Frank Baker; 4: Andrea Campbell & Jeff Durham; 5: Richard Arroyo & Maria Esdale Farell; 6: Matt Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Malley; 7: Kim Daney & Roy Owens; and 8: Jennifer Nassour) were either unreachable or declined to participate.

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-UNION RIGHTS & WORKERS’ RIGHTS:Do you support student workers’ -RIGHT TO ORGANIZE OUR UNION-?

1

Do you support our bargaining committee’s efforts to win a contract with -A NEUTRAL & FAIR PROCEDURE FOR ADJUDICATING WORKPLACE- HARASSMENT & DISCRIMINATION-?

Do you oppose the Trump Administration’s use of rule-making procedure to strip student workers at private universities of their -RIGHT TO BARGAIN COLLECTIVELY & HAVE THEIR UNION RECOGNIZED-?

3 4

1

2

3

4

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

Michelle Wu

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

1 Lydia Edwards

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

8 Kenzie Bok

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

Liz Breadon

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

Craig Cashman

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

David Halbert

AtLarge Julia Mejia

9 108

Do you support student workers’ -RIGHT TO STRIKE-?

2

How would you promote -UNION MEMBERSHIP- in Boston & nationally?

David Halbert I believe that all labor environments should have the option to organize and collectively bargain for fair working conditions, livable wages, and appropriate benefits, among other items. As a City Councilor I will be an ally to labor and publicly speak out against right-to-work provisions and efforts.

In addition I will commit myself, where it is not in conflict with my responsibilities to the residents of Boston, to take part in actions elsewhere in support of labor organizing efforts – and to tout the success we have had in Boston and Massachusetts as a living example of the value and benefit of organized labor in creating more dynamic workplaces and improving quality of life & access to equitable, shared prosperity.

Julia Mejia We need to amplify the successes of union collective bargaining. I spoke with many of the strikers during the Stop and Shop strike and I learned firsthand the value of collective bargaining. I also approach this issue from the lens of education. We need to advocate that more students enter vocational schools to learn valuable real-world skills and trades. I believe we need to encourage more apprenticeships in union-based vocations for young students as well.

Michelle Wu I believe the right for workers to collectively bargain for fair wages and safe working conditions is in the public interest. Accordingly, I supported state legislation to provide some remedy to the Janus v. AFSCME Supreme Court decision that attacked unions’ ability to fund their operations. I also support organizing drives, reach out to employers to encourage fair elections free from employer interference, and have provided supporting statements for unions.

Lydia Edwards I believe that by continuing to organize strategically as the economy shifts – for example, looking to “gig” and tech economy workers as well as nonunion or yet-to-be-organized workers at institutional employers, protecting public sector jobs and investments, and fighting to crack down on issues like worker misclassification and wage theft, we can maintain and grow good union jobs. Despite years of reporting on the “decline” of unions and the threat to the public sector after the Janus ruling, young people facing economic insecurity and public sector workers committed to the institutions like public schools they serve want to be in unions. The labor movement will be strong if we continue to organize and leverage union and worker organizing as a vehicle for advancing broader economic and social justice goals.

Kenzie Bok I have made a point of seeking and publicizing union endorsements in my campaign – including those of UAW-9A, UNITE HERE Local 26, SEIU 32BJ, SEIU 1199, BTU, and MNA-- because it matters to me to be a strong representative for the workers of Boston’s District 8, so few of whom can afford to live here. Collective bargaining is the best way for working people to balance the power of capital in an increasingly unequal country. I am also convinced that our society needs a restoration of the belief in community power, solidarity, and collective action – and unions are some of our best models of those forces in practice. When friends of mine led HGSU’s organizing campaign, I helped as I could by talking with my network and signing petitions as a Harvard alumna. As a City Councilor, I would use my public platform to support and promote union organizing.

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How would you promote -UNION MEMBERSHIP- in Cambridge & nationally?

Liz Breadon I have spoken about the protections and benefits unions confer on both individual workers and our society a whole. Eliminating the barriers to union organizing campaigns will help reverse the long term trend of increased income inequality and worker exploitation.

Craig Cashman We need to continue to work together to organize more workers. There should be more emphasis on driving young people into the trades and other union skills. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m proud to have the endorsement of over a dozen unions, including 1199SEIU whose work to organize some of the more marginal people in the workforce and have been at the forefront of the Fight for 15, as well as other labor movements.

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How would you ensure that workers are not victim to -WAGE THEFT- by employers?

David Halbert As a City Councilor I would work to ensure Boston has the strictest municipal-level laws possible in terms of prevention of wage theft. I would advocate that violations of wage theft provisions play an important role in any type of review relative to considerations by the city around licensing, zoning variance requests, or any other permissions being sought by a business owner. This is especially important as we seek to protect our immigrant residents, particularly those who are undocumented, as they are often the most at-risk to be exploited in such fashion.

Julia Mejia As someone who has, and in many cases still is, living paycheck-to-paycheck, one of the most important things we can do to ensure workers get the wages they deserve is institute fair scheduling laws. As a City Councillor, I will make sure that employers give at least two-week’s notice on any schedule changes. I will also work to improve the reporting structure for businesses that commit wage theft so that employees have an easy and safe system to call out foul play.

Michelle Wu The first ordinance I worked on as a City Councilor focused on wage theft, and was later turned into an Executive Order that Mayor Walsh signed. I will continue to support ways to exercise City jurisdiction in holding wage theft violators accountable and ensure that opportunities to contract with the City take into account a company’s history of wage theft or safety complaints.

Lydia Edwards I support state-level legislation to empower the Attorney General of Massachusetts to take stronger steps, including issuing stop work orders, to crack down on wage theft. I am also reviewing City of Boston policies–– the City established certain measures to prevent wage theft via an executive order in 2015, but the EO could be expanded and codified via city ordinance.

Kenzie Bok I support efforts at the state level to strengthen enforcement against wage theft. At the city level, I think we can do more in our contracting and bidding process to ensure that businesses with a past record of wage theft are not given new city contracts.

Liz Breadon Wage theft is a crime and should be prosecuted. I will work to raise awareness of workers’ rights and their options for protection.

Craig Cashman If elected city councilor, I would assure that all who are awarded city contracts and their vendors understand that Boston will not do business with those who don’t pay their workers prevailing wage. We need to assure that Boston is doing their part to protect and expand the working class.

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-HOUSING & TRANSIT:1 Do you support an -AFFORDABLE HOUSING-OVERLAYwhich would allow greater density in certain parts of the city in exchange for affordable housing units?

David Halbert

Do you support expanding -BUS PRIORITY PROJECTS& -EXCLUSIVE BUS LANES-FOR RAPID BUS SERVICEeven if it takes lanes away from private cars?

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

Michelle Wu

_YES_

_YES_

1 Lydia Edwards

_YES_

_YES_

8 Kenzie Bok

_YES_

_YES_

AtLarge Julia Mejia

9 112

2

Liz Breadon Craig Cashman

_YES_ _YES_

_YES_

David Halbert

How would you reduce -HOUSING COSTS- in Boston?

The separation of the Boston Planning and Development Agency into two distinct entities is the single most impactful change that can be made in terms of addressing the housing crisis facing not just Boston, but the entire Greater Boston region. By creating agencies focused solely on planning and economic development, respectively, more independence will be provided for better plans to be created and implemented; plans driven by their merit and value to residents more than the financial incentive of those proposing them.

Julia Mejia I am proud to be the only candidate who supports raising the Inclusionary Development Policy from 13% to 50%. I will also study if the city has the ability to base that affordable housing on the range of median incomes of Boston proper rather than the greater Boston region. Understanding that the regional AMI is based on federal guidelines, I realize we may have little flexibility. I also realize that if we advocate for something like 50%, we may be lucky to only get 30%. But I am not running a campaign based on small incremental change. We need bold policies and leaders who are not afraid to fight for them. At the same time, I also support putting forward a Good Landlords Bill which will incentivize smaller landlords for keeping their homes at or below market value.

Michelle Wu The City needs to increase funding available for new affordable units or city-funded vouchers for residents, and an immediate step should be to pass the home-rule petition for a tax on luxury transfers that has been proposed by my colleagues Councilors Edwards and Janey.

Lydia Edwards There is no one solution, but I support a range of measures from taxing speculative transfers, expanding condominium conversion protections, using city bonding to build and restore public housing, reforming planning and zoning, focusing private mitigation on housing and transportation and seeking state authorization to cap rent increases. In Boston, I’ve proposed a real estate transfer fee to generate millions for affordable housing. I believe that city-university partnership to build graduate student housing is crucial, both for housing graduate students and for relieving pressure on neighborhood housing stock. Certain student housing proposals have run into difficult due to neighborhood opposition or because the housing itself was unaffordable to the student population. I believe universities which do not pay taxes can leverage PILOT contribution, endowment investments and other sources to build – or acquire – housing and ensure costs are regulated so that they remain affordable.

Kenzie Bok The fight for an affordable Boston, where people from all walks of life can live, is what drove me to run for City Council. To create long-term affordable housing more detached from the speculative market, we must get creative about the use of public land, establish land trusts, and make it easier for cooperatives to function financially. I want to see us invest significant city capital in the preservation of public housing and the “project-basing” of new vouchers within Boston to anchor more deeply-affordable units here. I support Rep. Adrian Madaro’s bill to help seniors facing eviction due to major rent increases, and the home-rule petition to increase Boston’s IDP and linkage. I also support a transfer tax on high-value property sales to discourage speculation, and strong enforcement of new tight regulations on short-term rentals. I have worked to fund more affordable homeownership opportunities to reduce the racial wealth gap.

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How would you reduce -HOUSING COSTS- in Boston?

Liz Breadon Increase Inclusionary Development to a minimum of 20%, something I testified about at a recent City Council hearing. Also, increase funds available to building affordable housing through flip tax - real estate transfer tax on very high price units. About an Affordable Housing Overlay: I am in favor of wellplanned density supported by significant improvement in public transportation and protection of green space. Boston needs to establish a planning function before designing overlay districts.

Craig Cashman While Cambridge is out of the jurisdiction of a Boston City Councilor, housing affordability is a priority issue in Allston Brighton, as well as in the Boston area at large. As a Boston City Councilor, I will publicly advocate for Cambridge to continue to work towards increasing affordable housing.

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How would you expand -BICYCLE & PEDESTRIAN INFRASTRUCTURE- in Boston?

David Halbert In order to create a truly citywide network of pedestrian paths and protected bike lanes I will first work with advocates to engage residents at the local level to determine what connections will work best for their respective neighborhoods. Simultaneously I will work with the necessary stakeholders in city government to determine how to most effectively and efficiently implement the findings once they are concluded, with realistic timetables and budgets set for accelerated establishment of this network determined and agreed to from the outset. I will also use my position and public profile to bring attention to the plan, via media and in communities, so that the general public becomes allies in maintaining the necessary pressure to keep the plan on track and accountable.

Julia Mejia Building infrastructure for bicycles and pedestrians means not only encouraging people onto bikes but also out of their cars. I support current state-level legislation which would introduce congestion pricing in Bostonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tolls and tunnels, with higher rates during peak hours of traffic. As a City Councillor, I will prioritize constructing more bus-only lanes and median-separated bike lanes. I will also make sure that we utilize these medians as green spaces for planting trees, which will not only help to slow down drivers as studies have shown, but will serve as a natural barrier between cyclists and drivers.

Michelle Wu I convened the first ever Boston City Council policy briefing series focused on transportation policies and how to ensure that cycling, walking, and public transit are safe, convenient, and affordable transit options. Safe cycling infrastructure opens up biking as an affordable, convenient, and healthy way to commute. Bike lanes should be interconnected, clearly designated, and physically separated from motor vehicle traffic. Decreasing transit delays and moving more people on our streets more efficiently requires coordinating traffic signals in the city to prioritize trains and buses, as well as designating dedicated bus lanes in the most congested corridors; I championed a successful exclusive bus-bike lane for rapid bus service in Roslindale, which is now permanent. The City needs to continue demonstrating a commitment to ending traffic fatalities by making creative, road-specific changes to traffic signals, crosswalks, and lane sizes.

Lydia Edwards I support regular city-level investments to expand bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure in the city budget. I also believe investments in transportation, including taxes, bonds and grants and other sources, should focus on public transit, bicycle and pedestrian improvements and maintenance needed for vehicular safety.

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How would you expand -BICYCLE & PEDESTRIAN INFRASTRUCTURE- in Boston?

Kenzie Bok I strongly support a fully connected and protected micro-mobility network that allows bikes and scooters to travel our main thoroughfares protected from cars and without any need to resort to sidewalks. This encourages use of such modes by families and less confident cyclists. It also accommodates increased use of e-scooters and e-bikes, both of which can reach higher speeds and therefore should be separated from pedestrians, but whose riders are still vulnerable to cars. We have seen too many tragedies at unsafe intersections in District 8. Giving micro-vehicles their own genuinely protected space reflects a real commitment to Vision Zero for their riders, and also should make our seniors who are aging in place feel more safe on the sidewalks. As a citizen, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve successfully advocated to fix an unsafe crosswalk and to widen public sidewalks; great walking infrastructure is another key element of making a more livable city.

Liz Breadon Significantly increase the number of protected bike lanes. Increase public information campaigns on bicycle safety. Establish crosswalks at dangerous intersections and increase police enforcement. Alter urban planning to prioritize pedestrian and bike safety, and public transportation, as opposed to its current car centric nature.

Craig Cashman I support increasing our bike and pedestrian oriented infrastructure in District 9 and throughout Boston. The city is already working to add bike and bus lanes, as well as add protected bike lanes throughout the city. As a City Councilor, I would push for these projects to be a greater priority and to be on a quicker schedule, especially with the impending transit disruption and increased traffic likely to arise in our neighborhood from the impending I-90 Project.

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How would you improve -PUBLIC TRANSIT- in Boston?

David Halbert I will work with my fellow Councilors and the Mayor to promote all city-based efforts to increase public transit access and use. The most important is streetscape and roadway redesign. This will allow us to create the necessary infrastructure to support multiple modes of transportation, such as true bus rapid transit, as efficiently and effectively as possible. Due to the budgetary requirements for this type of large-scale capital improvement it is critical that leaders in City Hall work in as close a collaborative fashion as possible with Boston's state legislative delegation, since so many conversations around public transit - particularly funding – are decided at the state level. In order for Boston to achieve its full public transit potential it is essential that City Hall and the State House work together.

Julia Mejia We need to address the inequities in our T through a holistic lens – understanding that solutions like a free T will not address all the inequities of its infrastructure. For me, the single most important improvement that can be made to the transit service in Boston has to do with access. I will prioritize increasing financial access to public transit as well as expanding our T lines and bus routes into communities that do not yet have easy access. I will also fight to bring back late-night T service so that employees who have no other safe, reliable alternative to public transportation can get a ride home. I will work with the MBTA so that we consider the safety of both the riders and the operators.

Michelle Wu Access to public transportation should be considered a fundamental right, the same as access to public schools and public libraries. We should be growing public transit ridership, for the sake of our economy and our environment. The single most important improvement we can make is to establish a fare-free transit system. At the city level, we should emphasize improving bus service through dedicated lanes in our most congested corridors and with a priority on equity.

Lydia Edwards The City of Boston can continue to design and redesign roads to facilitate faster and better bus service. Regular planning of streets, and with new developments, should seek to accommodate street-level public transit.

Kenzie Bok I am a daily mass transit user and consider improving it essential to a just environmental and economic future for our region. I am in favor of much more capital investment in the MBTA at the state level, and in the project to connect the Red and the Blue lines specifically, which would happen in District 8.

At BHA I worked to expand utilization by low-income youth of the MBTA’s “Youth Pass”, and as a citizen I have advocated for fare reductions and for extensions of the MBTA’s hours. But we can also do a lot at the city level to better support use of the transit system, such as by implementing many more rapid bus lanes. A single bus stuck in traffic often contains the same number of people as the hundred nearest cars. For more detail, see my questionnaire for the MA Vision Zero Coalition: https://drive.google.com/file/d/17Tb2OOecwg4L8WYchfk8QAhXMnWTA2Eo/view

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How would you improve -PUBLIC TRANSIT- in Boston?

Liz Breadon Use our bully pulpit to push for significant increases in funding of the MBTA and measures to promote equity in public transportation for low income individuals and people of color.

Craig Cashman Given the amount of control a municipality has over the MBTA, the most important thing we can do is to improve local bus service. This includes expanding bus lanes, entertaining the idea of bus only streets and working with MBTA to make certain bus routes free during peak hours (with added frequency and capacity). We also need to be aggressive in our advocacy efforts to build West Station in the first phase of the I-90 Reconstruction Project because it is an important piece in expanding regional transit.

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-THE CLIMATE CRISIS:2 Do you support the -GREEN NEW DEAL-?

By what year should Boston reach -NET ZERO-CARBON EMISSIONS-?

_YES_

2040

_YES_

2025

Michelle Wu

_YES_

2025

1 Lydia Edwards

_YES_

2040

8 Kenzie Bok

_YES_

2050

9 Liz Breadon

_YES_

2035

_YES_

2040

1 David Halbert

AtLarge Julia Mejia

Craig Cashman

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What should Boston do right now to get to -NET ZERO EMISSIONS-?

David Halbert Boston should incorporate energy efficiency increases as a mandatory component of their overall review. Projects that include more robust energy efficiency and other significant environmental improvements should be provided with a fast-track mechanism through the city permitting process. While all necessary reviews would still need to take place, a weighted, points based system could be instituted to move projects with greater environmental impact to the front of the line for review and approval. The city should increase both its green procurement practices and make greater investments into green industries and business ventures through the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pension portfolio. Madison Park Technical Vocational High School should have its curriculum reoriented with a goal of making it the nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s #1 green vocational school. Building trades students should graduate with knowledge of the most cutting edge techniques for zero-emission construction and retrofitting, as well as industry certifications such as LEED designation where applicable.

Julia Mejia The first thing that Boston needs to do is establish itself as a leader and as the standard for how all private buildings and residences in the city should operate. To do that, I propose making all Boston public facilities and buildings run on 100% renewable energy by 2025. We also need to take an intersectional approach to how we understand climate change in Boston. Access to transportation, economic inequality, and racial inequity amplify the effects of climate change.

Michelle Wu Boston should transition to 100% renewable energy, starting immediately with City Hall and other municipal buildings. We must quickly implement community choice energy, the most significant way to increase renewable energy across the city. Boston should require new buildings to meet Passive House standards, with full enforcement of building-energy-reporting and net-zero-construction requirements. We need to stop any new fossil-fuel infrastructure. We should be putting solar panels on every single City building roof and establishing incentives for businesses and homeowners to do the same. Along with making public transit free to encourage ridership, the City needs to dramatically increase electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure so drivers may choose electric cars over greenhouse-gas-emitting vehicles; we need to change all buses and the entire City fleet of vehicles over to EVs. We should immediately increase and maintain Bostonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s urban canopy, which not only reduces heat islands and improves neighborhood aesthetics but significantly reduces emissions.

Lydia Edwards I support changes commensurate with science that has shown us increasing urgency. Boston should be ahead of the pack, but achieving net zero will require a complete rethinking of our transportation system and major retrofits to existing buildings across the city, and likely require significant state and federal investment. The city can make important progress today through preparing future buildings to be net zero or net zero ready and by innovating heating systems to eliminate reliance on gas infrastructure. Strong energy regulation on new buildings, accomplished locally through zoning and the Building Energy Reduction and Disclosure Ordinance, is critical to achieve net zero emissions in Boston. We need to update Article 37 of the zoning code, which deals with green building.

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What should Boston do right now to get to -NET ZERO EMISSIONS-?

Kenzie Bok I have protested our leaking natural gas infrastructure with Mothers Out Front and am in favor of changing the building codes for new buildings so that we stop putting fossil fuel infrastructure into new construction. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m also in favor of making major investments in retro-fitting Boston's old building stock; serious changes on this front are the only way we can make a Net-Zero city a reality. I want to see Boston use its Community Choice energy program, as a municipal aggregator, to aggressively pursue more renewable energy sources for our grid. I will advocate for congestion pricing at the state level, and I support major investments in public transit, in charging access for electric vehicles, and in street infrastructure that encourages transportation mode-shift away from cars. I am proud to be endorsed by Sunrise Boston, the Massachusetts Sierra Club, and the Environmental League of Massachusetts (ELM) Action Fund.

Liz Breadon Improve mass transit, require all new multi-family, commercial, and institutional buildings to be carbon neutral.

Craig Cashman Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m proud to have been endorsed by the Environmental League of Massachusetts. I support both a carbon tax and congestion pricing. We should not approve any new development that does not meet net-zero standards and should work to retro-fit with existing municipal buildings to be more environmentally friendly. Continuing to invest in public transit is a priority and working toward an all electric city fleet. We need to continue to protect and expand our green spaces, expand our tree canopy and work to end the heat island effect.

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What should Boston do to address -ENVIRONMENTAL INJUSTICE(for example, worse impacts on communities of color)?

David Halbert I would seek to ensure that communities of color, which are often environmental justice communities, are at the table as early as possible when discussing and developing plans to address climate change – and are genuinely included in the process, not just given a token presence. I would also work to ensure that, as climate change plans are put into place, a required component of the process is to examine how they may impact communities from a standpoint of increasing land costs/value and accelerating displacement and gentrification. I would also push for this to be a mandatory metric in city evaluations of any such plans or future development proposals.

Julia Mejia Climate change continues to affect communities of color disproportionately. I plan to incorporate previously unheard voices in the process of making our city greener. To start, I propose conducting a climate analysis rooted in the intersections of race and class. I will then work with my colleagues to ensure we incorporate the analysis into the priorities we set and policies we fight to implement. We also need to be sure that if we are building green in the future, that we need to be building black and brown as well. I will advocate to both prioritize city contracts to be granted to recipients from these communities, and to design paths out of poverty programs by providing employment opportunities (with particular focus on our youth) to climate vulnerable Bostonians in the design and building of these various infrastructure projects.

Michelle Wu Boston’s mismanagement of carbon emissions and pollution exacerbates the historic inequities of our city, resulting in communities where redlining in housing has been replaced by redlining in climate preparedness. This year on the Council, I’ve specifically been looking at the 28 bus as a way to begin to right these historic wrongs. Running from Mattapan Station to Ruggles Station this bus line serves an important economic corridor. By incorporating a fare-free 28 bus route, we will protect the communities along this line from the inequities associated with the City’s transition to a cashless fare collection system. Encouraging the use of public transportation is the single biggest thing we can do to take cars off of our roads and reduce our carbon and pollution outputs. We also need to repair the gas leaks that disproportionately affect communities of color due to old infrastructure because breathing gas is toxic and health-threatening.

Lydia Edwards I live in and represent East Boston, an environmental justice community. Pollution from traffic congestion and Logan Airport harm the health of residents, resulting in high rates of asthma and COPD. I believe advocacy with Massport, MassDOT, the MBTA’s Fiscal Management and Control Board and the legislature are critical to reduce transportation pollution, invest in the MBTA, advance changes like “smarter tolling” and address the significant emissions from aircrafts. I have testified in support of state level environmental justice legislation and at the MBTA’s board, and will continue to support efforts that advance EJ.

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What should Boston do to address -ENVIRONMENTAL INJUSTICE(for example, worse impacts on communities of color)?

Kenzie Bok In my role at the Boston Housing Authority, and previously as a neighborhood association representative in various planning processes, I have specifically fought for advanced air-filters in new residential construction near highways, so as to better protect the residents—including many lowincome public housing tenants—from the health risks of air pollution. But those health risks are also another reason that Boston should partner with other municipalities and the State to implement congestion charging. More than half the tailpipes in the city each day come from outside the city—if we combine congestion charging with deeper investment in public transit, transforming the commuter rail into a true high-frequency regional rail system, we can radically reduce the air pollution that compounds unequal public health outcomes in our city.

Liz Breadon Convert school buses to electric - do not allow school buses to idle. Reduce the numbers of cars on the road by improving mass transit. Increase requirement for greenspace in new developments and protect existing greenspace.

Craig Cashman We need to expand public transit to marginalized communities. We also need to have the development community invest back into communities suffering from environmental injustice. We can do this by building more affordable mixed use developments that meet net-zero standards to create more opportunity to live close to your workplace.

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What would you ensure that -HARVARD does its part in addressing the -CLIMATE CRISIS-?

David Halbert Harvard should be included in an active role in the development of plans to mitigate and adapt Boston’s neighborhoods in ways that will allow for them to be as insulated as possible from the impacts of climate change. These plans must also prioritize community stabilization so that vulnerable populations are not displaced from their homes as a consequence of mitigation efforts. Harvard should also be encouraged to utilize its research capacity to provide in-depth analysis of the long-term efficacy and impact of these efforts on the city and its various constituencies.

Julia Mejia As leaders in the Boston community, we need to do all that we can to amplify positive change and set standards for how others should follow. I believe that Harvard’s Climate Action Plan--which intends to set Harvard as a fossil-neutral campus by 2026--is a good start. We need leaders in the academic community, particularly the administration, to leverage their connections with other colleges and universities in the Greater Boston Area to follow this path.

Michelle Wu I would engage the university and its stakeholders in planning conversations that span the city and region. As an example, in passing a Good Food Purchasing ordinance--that imposed requirements for Boston’s food purchasing (such as meals for the Boston Public Schools) to be healthy, locally sourced, based on fair labor, humane animal welfare, and environmental sustainability—we brought universities and hospitals to the table as potential partners in setting standards for food procurement. We could do so in many other areas as well.

Lydia Edwards I support Harvard, and the City of Boston, divesting from fossil fuels and shifting pension investments to renewable energy. I also believe University and City buildings should be green and should leverage efficiency, solar, storage and clean energy purchasing, and that vehicle procurement should shift towards sustainable transportation.

Kenzie Bok As an alumna and employee of Harvard, I think I’m in a particularly strong position to ask it to be a partner with Boston—where it now owns more land than Cambridge—in our efforts to address the climate crisis. Concrete things Harvard can do include increasing its PILOT contribution (see below) and developing its land holdings in Allston in an environmentally-responsible way.

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What would you ensure that -HARVARD does its part in addressing the -CLIMATE CRISIS-?

Liz Breadon Harvard owns more than half of Allston, much of it has yet to be developed. It can and should take the lead in addressing climate change in its own development and by contributing funds for other public buildings, e.g. schools, to transition to renewable sources of energy.

Craig Cashman Harvard is going to develop close to 100 acres of land in the Allston community. It is great that they have committed $58M to the build out of West Station but we need commitments from Harvard that they will work to protect the Charles River and that they are developing net-zero at Allston Landing.

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-CRIMINAL JUSTICE & PUBLIC SAFETY2

Do you support -ELIMINATING CASH BAIL-?

Do you support opening -SAFE CONSUMPTION- SPACES(supervised sites for safe drug use) in Boston?

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

Michelle Wu

_YES_

_YES_

1 Lydia Edwards

_YES_

_YES_

8 Kenzie Bok

_YES_

_YES_

Liz Breadon

_YES_

_YES_

Craig Cashman

_YES_

_YES_

1 David Halbert

AtLarge Julia Mejia

9

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How would you combat -MASS INCARCERATION- and reduce -RACIAL DISPARITIES IN THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM-?

David Halbert I fully support Suffolk District Attorney Rollins’ memorandum on changes to sentencing priorities. The full implementation of these proposals will have a significant, long-term impact on reducing rates of incarceration for historically marginalized and vulnerable groups. There must also be an emphasis on acknowledging and discussing the intersection of race, poverty, and social/civic disinvestment – and the generational impact of this nexus - as a component of addressing the stark disparities that exist in terms of who interacts with the criminal justice system and how, both locally and nationally.

Julia Mejia One of the first things we can do is eliminate the bail system. The bail system in modern day America is little more than an attack on the poor, preventing them from leaving custody and receiving proper counsel. I will join in the work to end the cash bail system in Boston courts. Using jail as our sole tool has not been an effective way to ensure public safety, as evidenced by the recidivism rate of past offenders. There are many data-driven options besides prosecution – including restorative justice, treatment and effective use of city services – to build accountability while keeping communities safe. I will fight for these measures alongside our District Attorney Rachel Rollins and her “progressive prosecution” platform.

Michelle Wu I support efforts to encourage BPD to use discretion to stop making arrests for minor offenses. Particularly for students, minor offense arrests are counterproductive and lead to higher rates of drop-outs. For all residents, minor offense arrests trigger interactions with the criminal justice system that can lead to disproportionate outcomes for immigrants and persons of color. I would be open to looking into changes such as those implemented in other jurisdictions to create a civil process for minor offenses or otherwise limit court interaction for the individuals involved.

Lydia Edwards I believe strong investments in housing, jobs training, mental health and drug treatment are critical steps to prevent and shift away from extraordinary rates of incarceration. I also believe requiring data reporting on arrests and sentencing outcomes is critical in order to address both disparate treatment and disparate impacts of the criminal justice system.

Kenzie Bok I was proud to support reformist candidate Rachael Rollins for Suffolk County District Attorney last year. At the city level, in addition to hiring more police officers of color, we need to prioritize training in combating unconscious bias, de-escalation, and community policing strategies in order to eliminate racial disparities in police interactions. When officers know community members well, police action is less likely to be influenced by stereotypes of any kind; bias takes firmest hold in the absence of real relationship. I have heard many older white Bostonians discuss times in their youth when they were caught involved in drugs or theft and shown leniency by police officers. Many of these individuals went on to make major social contributions, which would have been stymied by a harsher stance in that critical moment. We must show the same hopefulness and investment in the potential futures of black and brown youth today.

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How would you combat -MASS INCARCERATION- and reduce -RACIAL DISPARITIES IN THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM-?

Liz Breadon I support passing criminal justice reform as well as the initiatives that Suffolk County Sheriff Rachael Rollins has instituted. As a City Councilor I will support police body-worn cameras, including during overtime, and transparency in reporting demographics in traffic stops and arrests.

Craig Cashman We should end for-profit prisons in Massachusetts and continue to push for more criminal justice reform. We need to end prison sentences for low-level crimes and have a more community based approach.

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What would you do to prevent -POLICE VIOLENCE- particularly towards people of color?

David Halbert Currently the city operates the Community Ombudsman Oversight Panel (CO-OP), which reviews select appeals for Boston Police Department internal investigations. The current state of the CO-OP, which has two active members of a possible five, is simply inadequate to fully meet its oversight mandate. The CO-OP said as much in making recommendations to the Mayor in 2015. Because of this many residents, especially those in black and brown communities that have had historically strained relationships with public safety agencies, lack confidence in the process. I believe that most of the recommendations, particularly those around CO-OP staffing and funding, should be implemented. I disagree with the recommendations around investigations and think that a more empowered CO-OP should have fully independent investigative powers – not just in select cases. I would also expand the mandate of the CO-OP to include BFD and EMS as well, and add members with understanding of those fields.

Julia Mejia We need to do more to bring together members of the community and members of our police force. Public safety is not just about how we can lower crime. It is also about making sure that people from all communities can feel safe in all neighborhoods. I will work to build a community centered and driven violence approach model that so many activists have been calling for in Boston. We have to create meaningful ways for those living the realities to inform our thinking. As a City Councillor, I will advocate for the creation of a civilian review board which will serve as oversight to the BPD.

Michelle Wu I have been working with community and colleagues on a surveillance ordinance that would provide parameters for community-informed policy to be in place before any new surveillance technology would be used by the Boston Police or other city departments. We must gain and maintain the trust of black and brown residents through transparency, accountability and community engagement from law enforcement and government more broadly. We need to provide oversight that is an impartial panel which has the resources to review individual cases and complaints.

Lydia Edwards No one is above the law, and I believe that any party committing a crime should be held accountable. Citizen review boards and special prosecutors are possible tools to ensure that, in the instance of officer-involved violence, the judicial system can impartially review facts. I also believe the City of Boston could examine reforms to the city’s gang database, police-civilian encounters, and surveillance. Some advocates, including the ACLU, have suggested cities should regulate police encounters by ensuring that persons stopped by police receive a “ticket” or receipt of their encounter. I am supportive of measures that give all people due process, track and evaluate data, and ensure that any tools the government is using to watch civilians are themselves regulated.

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What would you do to prevent -POLICE VIOLENCE- particularly towards people of color?

Kenzie Bok I am strongly in favor of independent civilian review boards; police power is used on behalf of the public, and so the public needs ultimate oversight over how it operates. I support an empowered, independent board with transparent procedures and real power to intervene in cases of misconduct, along the lines advocated by Campaign Zero. As a City Councilor I would advocate for this major reform as perhaps the most important step we could take to ensure accountable policing.

Liz Breadon I am a relationship- and bridge builder and I will play that role as a City Councilor. Community members deserve respect from all public servants and vice versa, barring reasons otherwise. Police should definitely be held accountable for wrongdoing, either through their own departmental standards of behavior or, when necessary, the judicial system.

Craig Cashman We need more transparency when it comes to police violence in our community. It is why I passionately support the full implementation of the body camera program. If elected, I will not vote on a new contract for the Boston Police if it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t include mandatory use of body cameras. This is one of the reason the Boston Globe endorsed my candidacy. I believe the real issue is sharing arrest information; that is why I support the new amendments to the Trust Act that would prevent the BPD from sharing immigration information with ICE. Immigrants need to feel safe going to the police if they are victims of a crime or witness one. Strengthening the Trust Act will go a long way toward making sure that immigrants do not live in fear.

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How would you improve -POLICE RESPONSES TO MENTAL HEALTH CRISES-?

David Halbert I would advocate for more robust mental health training for all BPD personnel, both as part of the curriculum at the Police Academy and as a component of in-service training for those actively engaged on the police force. I would work to ensure that at least one licensed mental health clinician is present at each station 24 hours a day. I would also work with local and statewide corrections professionals to inform BPD personnel and local mental health service providers of individuals returning to communities who may be in need of additional assistance - where not in violation of privacy laws and rights.

Julia Mejia We need systemic change to counteract the decades of police violence and heavy-handed approaches to mental health. Operation Clean Sweep, for example, demonstrates how ill-prepared we are to address the intersections of class and mental health. Though a small initial change, implementing comprehensive cultural competency trainings, with a focus on mental health, will help our officers better prepare themselves for these kinds of situations in the short term. For a more long-term approach, we need to implement community policing initiatives so that each community is reflected in its police force. I also support greater access to mental health services for police officers so that we can better hold ourselves accountable to our city servants.

Michelle Wu We should increase funding for mental health services and rethink how we approach mental health care, in particular we should fund mental health counselors within the Police Department to help better equip members of the BPD to deal with issues that arise due to mental-health issues. By treating those most in need, we will make our communities safer and reduce strain on our emergency rooms and criminal justice system. For those dealing with substance use, we need to fund treatment on-demand, work with health-care providers to prescribe pain medications safely, and ensure that everyone has access to Narcan to prevent overdose and save lives.

Lydia Edwards Apart from widespread training to recognize symptoms of mental health issues, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s important to evaluate protocols defining response to 911 calls or incidents spotted by an officer on duty. I would support measures to shift resources to or increase resources for mental health and trauma-informed professionals who can be deployed rapidly to deescalate incidents that could otherwise end in violence.

Kenzie Bok The BEST clinicians who sometimes ride alongside BPD units have a very beneficial effect on police interactions with individuals struggling with mental health challenges; I will advocate for funding for more of these personnel. I will also push for more police training in deescalation strategies, as mentioned above. But we also need to recognize that our police are on the front lines of handling mental health crises because we have a massively inadequate mental health system overall; we need to invest more in this system, and put mental healthcare in a position of parity with physical healthcare â&#x20AC;&#x201C; just as HGSU is trying to do in its contract. As a city councilor, I will advocate at the city and state level for much more investment in mental healthcare overall.

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How would you improve -POLICE RESPONSES TO MENTAL HEALTH CRISES-?

Liz Breadon Boston City Councilors Essaibi-George and Pressley worked to expand a program that uses mental-health workers to try to de-escalate confrontations between "emotionally disturbed" people and the police. I would work to continue expanding the existing Boston Emergency Services Team (BEST).

Craig Cashman Boston needs to implement a non-emergency response program for mental health crisis calls. This means we need experienced mental health professionals to respond to a person in crisis. This is going to take local funding but we will also need to lobby for the state for additional funding.

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Would you support allowing -RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA DELIVERY- to Boston residents? Should delivery people be required to wear -BODY CAMERAS-?

David Halbert I do not support cannabis delivery service at this time, except in the circumstance of medical delivery to those who are suffering from conditions that make travel particularly onerous. While a legal market is continuing to be established for cannabis, which I support, there is still an underground economy related to its sale on the street. Consequently I am concerned about the safety of delivery personnel, even with body cameras in place. At this point in the market’s development I believe Massachusetts is best served by requiring customers to patronize brick-and-mortar stores in person, where the safety of all involved in the transaction can be better preserved. I am open to revisiting the issue in the future though once operations are more established.

Julia Mejia Recreational cannabis delivery is an exciting form of innovation that will hopefully expand access to safe consumers. Moving forward with this innovation will require accountability, both on behalf of the retailers as well as the consumer. While I understand the concern for safety in implementing body cameras, I believe the privacy concerns for purchasers need to be addressed before we implement this expensive precaution.

Michelle Wu I do support allowing delivery of recreational marijuana and do not believe delivery people should be required to wear body cameras. If a drivers’ union wanted to negotiate with management to wear them because they believe it will improve their safety at work, they should have the right to do so.

However, the state should not force workers to wear them due to major privacy concerns.

Lydia Edwards Yes, I support delivery and no, I do not support requirements for delivery person to wear body camera. I believe this could increase costs, create extra burdens and potentially violate consumer privacy as we attempt to shift from a black market to a regulated market.

Kenzie Bok I don’t know enough about this issue specifically yet, but given that we have as a state legalized a substance that is not yet legal on the federal level, I worry that body cameras would risk criminalizing the delivery people. A huge reason for legalization was in order to avoid such criminalization, which has so disproportionately affected young low-income people of color over the decades, so I would be leery of anything that might raise such a risk. In terms of delivery itself, I would need to further study the legal issues at play, with which I’m not yet familiar.

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Would you support allowing -RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA DELIVERY- to Boston residents? Should delivery people be required to wear -BODY CAMERAS-?

Liz Breadon Boston has yet to open its first recreational marijuana dispensary despite it being legal and lucrative for a city or town. I would advocate that Boston start licensing dispensaries run by local companies. However, I do not advocate the delivery service for the simple reason that it is not worth putting more cars on our jammed roadways.

Craig Cashman One of the biggest concerns we have had in our community with permitting dispensaries is traffic and parking concerns. First, we need to be more proactive in getting dispensaries open in our community. I would support delivery service with a body camera requirement for the safety of the delivery person and the public.

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-IMMIGRATION:2

1 Do you support a -MUNICIPAL IDfor Boston residents?

David Halbert

Do you support granting -DRIVERSâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;-LICENSESto undocumented immigrants?

3 Do you support allowing noncitizen residents -VOTING RIGHTSin municipal elections?

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

Michelle Wu

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

1 Lydia Edwards

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

8 Kenzie Bok

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

9 Liz Breadon

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

_YES_

AtLarge Julia Mejia

Craig Cashman

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How would you support -IMMIGRATION POLICIES- to ensure a geographically diverse university population & allow international scholars to stay in the US after graduation?

David Halbert I support the strengthening of the City of Boston’s Trust Act. The city should not be in the business of conducting the work of federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement. As a City Councilor I will use my platform to speak about the value and virtue of being more open and inclusive to the citizens of the world, in all of our institutions and communities. I will also be an advocate for immigrant scholars, professionals, and others and highlight the incredible impact they have on our small business, entrepreneurial, and intellectual property sectors. My goal is to illustrate how smart immigration policy is smart fiscal policy as well.

Julia Mejia We need to not just support immigrant students but immigrants from all educational and workplace backgrounds. There are undocumented citizens in Boston right now who are afraid to leave their homes for fear of ICE coming to get them. My mother for a time was undocumented and I remember how afraid I was to think about what might happen to her. Here’s the thing: Boston is a sanctuary city. We need to start acting like it. I will work to increase funding for the Boston legal defense fund for low-income immigrants facing deportation. I will also work to dismantle the relationship between the BPD and ICE, so that immigrants, including student immigrants, do not have to worry about their municipal government working against them.

Michelle Wu I fully support efforts to protect our immigrant residents and help universities recruit and retain international scholars. I would be eager to write letters of support, introduce resolutions, or advocate in any other way to support these efforts.

Lydia Edwards I will always stand with immigrants. I will continue to be present in person, elevate concerns on the floor of the city council, file resolutions and support advocacy campaigns. I have been a vocal supporter of immigrants and immigrant workers, representing many immigrant domestic workers in court who had suffered wage theft or other abuse on the job. Since arriving to the Council, I have partnered with the TPS Committee on their advocacy and the council is currently reviewing updates to the Boston Trust Act.

Kenzie Bok I joined many others in our area to protest the Trump Administration’s ‘Muslim Ban’. As a former graduate student at Cambridge University in England and a present Lecturer at Harvard, I know firsthand how much international scholars contribute to our academic communities. Having mentored a DACA recipient at Harvard, I also feel very strongly about the need to make educational opportunity available to undocumented students. Obviously immigration policy is decided at a federal level, so my direct jurisdiction over such issues as a city councilor would be limited, but I pledge to use my public platform to advocate for the reduction of restrictions on immigrants and to speak up in defense of their important place in our community.

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How would you support -IMMIGRATION POLICIES- to ensure a geographically diverse university population & allow international scholars to stay in the US after graduation?

Liz Breadon As an immigrant I know firsthand how much richness immigrants bring to communities, institutions, and the country. I also know that immigrants boost economies. I would use the bully pulpit of a city councilor to help people understand these benefits, work with state legislators to pass protective legislation, and celebrate the achievements of immigrant students.

Craig Cashman I support separating local law enforcement from federal immigration enforcement. Making sure that all people in our community feel secure and comfortable in using critical local resources, especially utilizing police and law enforcement, regardless of immigration status is critical to ensuring safe, healthy community. I would lend my voice in public support of Harvard implementing sanctuary-related protections and provisions to its campus. I would publicly support national policies allowing international scholars to remain in the US after graduate study.

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-COMMUNITY ISSUES:How would you increase access to -CHILDCARE & PRESCHOOL- while ensuring pre-K teachers and childcare workers are paid a living wage?

David Halbert I think that the most effective way to address the twin issues of access for families and fair working conditions for staff is through the full implementation of universal Pre-K in all Boston Public Schools. By achieving this goal the city will provide access to all who need it, without forcing them to incur the cost of private school or childcare. For workers, this will allow them to participate in an organized labor work environment, complete with the compensation, benefits, and protections that come with membership. An added benefit of this course of action is that it also helps to address and mitigate the academic achievement gap by introducing formal education to more children at an early age â&#x20AC;&#x201C; which research shows is critical.

Julia Mejia I fully support reinvigorating our push for universal pre-kindergarten for students in Boston. As a single mom, I know how difficult it can be to balance work life with the needs of a young child. We need to look out for the parents and guardians in Boston, especially those who have no other alternative to daycare and pre-K. We also need to make sure that the teachers and childcare workers who are there to educate and nurture our children are paid fairly for their work. To do this, I plan to hold private universities and colleges publicly accountable for their fair share of PILOT taxes, using that money to invest in our preschool teachers and childcare specialists.

Michelle Wu All children should have the chance to get a head start through universal affordable, high-quality early education. This includes increasing access to community-based and on-site workplace child care. I have been proud to work with Senator Warren as she secured an increase in child development block grants in the federal budget and advocate at the state level to increase the funding for the early education workforce. I have also supported municipal efforts to increase funding for access to early education and compensation for child care providers.

Lydia Edwards The City of Boston has childcare requirements for certain large developments, but I would support expanding this requirement and applying it more often. I also believe we can use public and private funds to support worker-run childcare cooperatives.

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How would you increase access to -CHILDCARE & PRESCHOOL- while ensuring pre-K teachers and childcare workers are paid a living wage?

Kenzie Bok This issue is extremely important â&#x20AC;&#x201C; working at the Boston Housing Authority, I saw again and again how the high cost of childcare limited the ability of our residents with young kids to pursue jobs or educational opportunities. In my capacity at BHA, I had a minor role in the planning for the Cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new childcare pilot (just announced yesterday), and I hope that lowering the barriers to home-based childcare can help providers offer it more affordably by reducing physical overhead costs, while ensuring a living wage. We still need to do far more. I am excited that the City has committed to universal PreK, since we have strong evidence that the free high-quality Pre-K offered by BPS to some families right now has long-lasting positive effects for children. As we roll out more Pre-K seats, we have to keep the emphasis on quality and therefore on well-paid professionals preschool teachers.

Liz Breadon In Allston-Brighton preschools that have been consistently full are now being forced to close because so many families have been forced to move out due to the high cost of housing. This makes it even more important that preschool teachers are paid a living wage. Working to lower the cost of housing will enable more families to put down roots in Allston-Brighton and fill daycare seats. The economies of scale will help daycare providers pay teachers fairly.

Craig Cashman I have two boys (2 and 1 years old) so this is an important issue for my wife (who is also an early childhood educator) and me. We need to ensure that child care is available to families in need and that that child care workers are making the wage they deserve. We need to follow other models that exist around the world and work to subsidize child care in our city and beyond. We should also continue to expand universal pre-K in BPS system.

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Do you support -MUNICIPAL BROADBAND- and how would you ensure -AFFORDABLE INTERNET ACCESS in Boston?

David Halbert I am in support of municipal broadband efforts in order to extend access and coverage to all Bostonians. In today’s world access to the internet is a necessity rather than a luxury. Ultimately internet access should be governed and regulated at the national level as a true utility. Given our current circumstances communities should do everything possible to identify areas of low connectivity, both in terms of penetration and reliability of service, and develop the necessary policy interventions and public/private partnerships to address this need.

Julia Mejia Wicked-Free Wifi has begun the important work of extending free internet access onto Boston’s streets. I believe more work needs to be done to extend this access into a larger number of neighborhoods like Mattapan, Hyde Park, and parts of Dorchester. I also plan to explore how we can improve the quality of the broadband access, ensuring high-quality internet even on rainy days.

Michelle Wu Yes. The digital divide continues to exacerbate income inequality and the racial wealth divide, and we must continue expanding access to free public internet access as well as municipal broadband which would relieve residents from the rates of private providers.

Lydia Edwards I support democratic control, public ownership and/or strong regulatory oversight of utilities, and would happily engage with advocates about how to advance these issues.

Kenzie Bok Yes – I support municipal broadband as a key element of public infrastructure in the twenty-first century that should be accessible to all. When I worked as Budget Director for Councilor Annissa Essaibi-George, analyzing the city budget, we specifically advocated for extension of municipal broadband not only to public schools and libraries, but to homeless shelters and public housing developments as well. That work is not over, and I will continue to push for municipal broadband to be as broadly available as possible.

Liz Breadon I do support municipal broadband and would ask the companies that profit from selling internet access to share their networks with student workers for the good of the city, its future, and an educated workforce.

Craig Cashman We need to advocate for legislation that will remove restrictions on municipal broadband. We need to open the internet for everyone and lead the way on this issue.

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Do you support the recommendations of the -PAYMENT IN LIEU OF TAXES (PILOT) ACTION GROUP- to better hold large nonprofits accountable to voluntarily contribute to support city services?

David Halbert Yes. I would work with my Council colleagues and the Mayor to establish the proposed commission with the goal of full implementation of these recommendations. In addition I would advocate for the creation of a local procurement incentive program for all PILOT eligible institutions as a component of community benefits. This program would provide an incentive to institutions to purchase goods and services directly from small businesses in Boston. Specifically the incentive would credit every dollar spent at a recognized small business, plus an added percentage bonus, towards the requested PILOT community benefits contribution. This percentage could be increased accordingly if institutions patronized businesses owned and operated by historically under-invested groups (women, people of color, veterans, persons with disabilities, LGBTQIA+, etc.) In this way PILOT could become a powerful tool for increased investment in the city’s small businesses – which are critical in defining and supporting communities.

Julia Mejia I will work with the Pilot Action Group to hold private universities and colleges publicly accountable for their payment plans. I will call for a full assessment of the actual payment plan and hold these institutions accountable to their agreed-upon payments, generating much needed city revenue. I also support H2407 filed by Representative Natalie Blais, which would guarantee that PILOT payments would be paid in full. One of the best ways to implement these ideas is to create an elected school committee. I believe that the more parents and community activists we have on the school committee, serving with an elected mandate from the residents of Boston, the better we will be able to serve Boston’s students and parents. I also support making the student representative a voting member.

Michelle Wu Yes. I have supported Council efforts to reconvene the task force and continue to shine a light on the gaps in municipal revenues created by institutions shirking their PILOT obligations.

Lydia Edwards Yes. I am currently working with PILOT Action Group on next steps and have actively engaged universities and the Walsh administration on this issue.

Kenzie Bok Yes – I am a board member of the Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance (MAHA), one of the endorsing organizations in the PILOT Action Group, and strongly support the group’s recommendations. I think that institutional property values need to be reevaluated on the regular three-year cycle like other property, and that we should firmly seek financial contributions through the PILOT program, rather than amorphous community benefits. We need the partnership of our large non-profit institutions to fund the crucial operations of the city, from schools to snow removal; without such an arrangement, Boston cannot thrive as these institutions grow. When we speak of an increasingly unequal city, and the concentration of capital in fewer and fewer hands, we have to seek a reformed, more robust PILOT program as part of the remedy.

141

Do you support the recommendations of the -PAYMENT IN LIEU OF TAXES (PILOT) ACTION GROUP- to better hold large nonprofits accountable to voluntarily contribute to support city services?

Liz Breadon I wholeheartedly support the recommendations of the PILOT Action Group. A change of City Councilors will bring more Council and community support to invite institutions to the table and participate in these recommendations. I also support action to urge Boston Assessing to reassess the properties and will vote to increase its budget, if that’s what’s necessary, or bring in outside expertise to accomplish it. People and small businesses should not have to pay for the many city services that wealthy institutions use.

Craig Cashman I support more oversight to assure that PILOT requests are being met and I support a reevaluation given the rise in property values over the years plus any new acquisitions that these institutions have made recently. It is important that we don’t let institutions like Harvard hide behind community benefits or mitigation as a way to get around meeting their PILOT payment in full.

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STABILITY. SECURITY. A CONTRACT.

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