From Scott Lennon’s mayoral campaign
Lennon for Mayor Announces Women’s Advancement Council
On Tuesday evening, City Council President and candidate for Mayor Scott Lennon announced his intent to create a Newton Women’s Advancement Council that would work with local leaders to promote solutions to issues of pay equity, workplace discrimination, and other barriers to gender equality. He was joined at the announcement by women from all walks of life, including teachers, lawyers, custodians, nurses, business owners, homemakers, realtors, retirees, and others, including City Councilor Amy Sangiolo who recently joined the campaign team with her endorsement of Lennon last week.
“A city like Newton can and should do more to create an environment in which girls and women of all ages thrive,” said Lennon. “I want my daughter and everyone else’s daughters, sisters, mothers, wives, and grandmothers to live in a community that respects and supports them. The Newton Women’s Advancement Council will bring together bright minds who can help ensure and promote our city’s commitment to all residents, regardless of gender identity.”
Lennon offered specific issues that the Council would tackle in its first year that impact women of all ages. These include investigating pay equity, supporting paid family leave, providing resources to women re-entering the job force, providing girls with educational opportunities focusing on male dominated careers, and helping girls maintain their health and self-esteem in a culture dominated by social media.
“You can easily talk about these issues, it’s another thing to do something about them,” said Sangiolo. “It says a lot about Scott that he is clear-eyed about issues like gender equality and diversity.”
Kathy Hylander, a Newton resident and a custodian in the Newton Public Schools, added, “I am working to elect Scott because I know he is the most qualified candidate in the race. I want a Mayor who is able to get things done for girls and women, and that is Scott Lennon.”
The Newton Women’s Advancement Council is based on a similar body created by Mayor Martin J. Walsh in Boston upon his inauguration. The Boston Council has become a national model for local gender initiatives, and Lennon said his staff has spoken to the program’s leadership about their early successes and challenges as they prepare to launch Newton’s Council.
Residents who are interested in the Council or have suggestions are welcome to contact the Lennon campaign at 617-564-0661.
If the women can convince him to go to the People’s Charter neutral gate, he’ll be a lock in the corner office..
He’s had 16 years to propose this as a City Councilor, and he’s just talking about this now??
Where was this desire to hire women in leadership positions when he refused to look at any outside candidates in hiring our police chief (effectively ruling out any and all women from the job)?!
@Franklin, there is no connection between his internal hiring decisions for the police department (I personally would have preferred an external search), and trying to not hire women. Let’s stick to real attacks based in evidence and policy.
@Harry I have to agree. Most of my fellow Sangiolo supporters backed Lennon, but a significant amount are still undecided because of the importance of the charter to them.
Franklin – The history of the hiring the police chief is far more complicated than one vote. About ten years ago, the city did conduct a nationwide search for, and hired, an outside candidate for police chief. It was nothing short of a very public disaster. The chief was highly disrespectful of the police officers, was generally unavailable, and ended up leaving because he had lost community support. In addition, there was a strong sense that the mayor at that time did not respect the police officers and firefighters on staff, with strong evidence to back that up.
When these things happen, it takes time to repair the damage. The police asked for that time, great progress has been made, many new officers have been hired, and the department is headed in a very positive direction.
To imply that Scott Lennon took that vote without knowledge of the context of the history of what went on during that period of time is inaccurate at best. Scott knows this history and understands that it takes time to move a department beyond very rough times. And those were rough times for both the police and fire departments.
@Franklin, this announcement was a game changer for me. Kudos to Scott Lennon for taking the initiative to reach out to residents, listen to their concerns, contemplate solutions, and respond by taking thoughtful, creative action. This is exactly the kind of initiative that I’d love to see from our next mayor!
I have such a hard time to elect someone based on their promises. I really hope the Tab will dig up information on both candidates on their voting record and co-sponsored initiatives to give us a side by side comparison prior to election day. People keep telling me that there isn’t all that much difference between Ruthanne and Scott.
Did Scott do much for advancing women during his time on the city council? If he thought Mayor Walsh’s initiative was good, why was there no call on the current mayor to establish it prior to October 2017? Or at least, why was this not announced early on in the race?
I think we have two capable candidates running for mayor, and for the record, I am still undecided who I will vote for, but I can’t get excited over this announcement; it sounds too much like a last minute push to try to get women to vote for him.
Patricia – Campaigns are made of promises but call me a Pollyanna, I see the promises as each candidate’s vision for the city. Whoever is elected won’t accomplish all that’s “promised”, but I appreciate hearing their vision. I also appreciate that each has grown and changed as a result of listening to residents.
@Jane Frantz
Fair enough :). Thanks for giving me yet another viewpoint to consider.
When ever I see / hear the word vision I think hallucination. Is a 750 unit housing complex on Needham Street a ‘vision ‘, a zoning change to protect our Historical home inventory a ‘vision’, a high density housing development in a village center a ‘vision’, or are these sort of proposals much more like some halucinagenic nightmare. All these development dreams qualify as such in terms of the impact they are having , or will have on the environmental character of the “Garden City “.
@blueprintbill – Whew!
We’re on a thread about one of the candidates proposing an initiative to address “issues of pay equity, workplace discrimination, and other barriers to gender equality” and the word “vision” set you off on a tirade about development issues.
Time to dial back a bit on those hallucinogens I think. 😉