Have you decided who you will vote for in the various city council contests? Tell us which candidates you’re excited about and why.
OPEN THREAD: Newton City Council contests
by Village 14 | Oct 24, 2017 | City Council | 19 comments
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This thread has been live for nearly four hours and no one has a city council candidate that they are excited about? Allison Sharma was right, the charter debate is totally detracting attention from discussing some really important other contests.
@Greg: I was just about to chime in… Is it too early to say I rest my case?!
And if folks aren’t paying attention, how does that translate into results on election day? Do incumbents have an advantage? Candidates with the most or prettiest lawn signs? Candidates who are on the ballot and being challenged only by a write in candidate…? 😉
Well to be fair…most of us are at work…..some of us are …ummm…taking a break……well at least I’m not online shopping…..
I’m excited about Allison Sharma and the prospect of having a write in candidate actually win! I’ve been so impressed with her high energy campaign and how many people she knows who are coming out in droves to support her. I only met her recently in person, but knew of her from her NuDay Syria work which has been awesome. If she spends half the amount of energy on the job as she has
on the campaign we will be in great shape!
@Dale: You can shop online for candidates. Just sayin’
I’m excited about Nicole Castillo. I’m also thinking Andrea Kelley and Andreae Downs. Probably Susan Albright for Ward 2. Unsure about the other races. I’m hoping Allison Sharma wins, but alas I’m not in her ward so I can’t vote for her.
I’m excited about Jake Auchincloss. When we spoke, he hit the nail on the head for me about the need for more affordable housing and continuing to fund road improvements. I love his newsletter, too.
Since the issue of GIC came up on another thread, I would love to have any CC candidates who are here weigh in on if you think Newton should switch from self insured to GIC. Please provide your rationale on your thinking as I am still very much assessing my CC choices. The only CC candidate I am pretty much locked in on is Alison Leary so I have a lot more choices to make!!
I am struggling with this the most. I heard the school committee candidates twice and have a pretty good idea who I will vote to. Same goes for the mayoral candidates.
But the city council – there are so many of them! I attended one debate with candidates from Wards 1, 2, 3 and 5 and at that meeting Nicole Castillo, Deborah Crossley and Andrea Kelley stood out for me. That doesn’t mean that at other forums other candidates wouldn’t have done the same.
So if anybody knows of more debates over the next couple of weeks, or has links to past debates that are online, I would appreciate it very much if someone could post them here.
You can watch the NewTV candidate pitches and debates here: http://www.vimeo.com/newtv
In a letter dated March 31, 1776, Abigail Adams wrote to her husband, John Adams, urging him and the other members of the Continental Congress not to forget about the nation’s women when fighting for America’s independence from Great Britain.
On November 7, 2017, Newton has an opportunity to elect some outstanding new candidates for City Council, all of whom are women. Although I cannot vote for all of them, I am endorsing Maria Scibelli Greenberg (Ward 1) and Allison Sharma (Ward 4) for Ward Councilor, and Nicole Castillo (Ward 1), Andrea Kelley (Ward 3), Andreae Downs (Ward 5) and Rebecca Walker Grossman (Ward 7) for Councilor at Large. Although she is not a new candidate, I am also endorsing Alison Leary (Ward 1), who is running for Councilor at Large for the first time.
In the immortal words of Abigail Adams, “Remember the Ladies” on Election Day.
@Ted: You listed a bunch of my favorite candidates! I’m also supporting Bridget Ray-Canada (School Committee Ward 1), Matthew Miller (School Committee Ward 8), and Brenda Noel (Ward 6 Ward Councilor), who are definitely on par with the people you mentioned.
It would be exciting to elect some of these new, progressive candidates to leadership roles in our government.
@Bryan – is “progressive” to politics what “alternative” was to music? i.e. a vague category that only those who use the term know exactly what it means, but can never quite give it a concrete definition?
… but yes, I’m a fan of Matt Miller and Brenda Noel too. I don’t know much about Bridget Ray-Canada yet but I’m going to an event next week that she’ll be at.
I too am a huge fan of Brenda Noel for Ward 6 … I’ve witnessed the good community work she’s done and love what she has to say about senior / affordable housing. I think we’d be proud to have her on the council, working on our behalf.
Note to readers: Harry Sanders and “Harry” are different folks. Ok carry on.
Let me be the first to congratulate you on your brand upgrade! If you be a solitary Harry or a memorable schlock, let us combine to make Brenda a lock on November 7!
@Jerry – A lot of people have spent a lot more time trying to define Progressive than I’m going to be able to right now. For me in the local and statewide context, I roughly use Progressive Massachusetts to approximate what I consider progressive. No reason to reinvent the wheel, right?
Their progressive platform for Massachusetts is here: http://www.progressivemass.com/progressiveplatform
Brenda has agreed to be buying me coffee on Nov. 8th, while autographing the leftover bottle openers.
I really appreciate all the love I’m getting from folks named Harry on this blog.
I’m still trying to grasp who votes for who and who represents who and how it all comes together.
I’ve read bits and pieces and tried to become as well informed as I can BUT I can’t help but wonder if there could be some kind of visual to show the highlighted village areas overlayed with wards and then city council representation and then colors to show who represents who and who gets to vote on who. Because there’s so many people and 1,0000000 too many yard signs.
Why golly jee do some houses have a solid 25 yard signs. I’m mystified and overwhelmed. I think much of the Newton voting concerns are well communicated but this election and my interest in being more aware of who/what I’m voting is showing me the so many moving parts that make this city run. Kudos to those more involved. I can imagine at times it must be like herding cats.
And now I’m back to figuring out who represents my ward but also the other people topics to vote on… Would the Smaller Newton, Stronger Newton slogan apply to this post? I have not a clue.