Thanks to commenter George for sharing the tweet announcing John Oliver’s run for the Ward 1 City Council at-large seat that is open following the death of Jay Ciccone. He will be running against his next door neighbor Madeline Ranalli.
UPDATE: I got the following information from John Oliver’s campaign:
John Oliver is seriously considering a run for Newton’s Ward 1 At-Large seat. The special election comes after the tragic death of Councilor Jay Ciccone. Jay was an outstanding public servant and community member. A date for the special election has not been set, but is expected to be in early 2021.“I will bring 25+ years of skill and experience to bear on the challenges facing Newton. I have learned through real life experience how to work effectively and collaboratively within groups to promote a shared agenda.” said Oliver. “I look forward to making contributions that move Newton forward.”Oliver earned his B.A. from Michigan State in Industrial Organizational Psychology and works as a consultant in customer experience and customer success. John was the PTO Co-President of Horace Mann elementary and has been a volunteer coach for youth sports for the past 8 years. Oliver was appointed to the Newton Community Education Board in 2019, a role he currently holds. When the pandemic struck, John started volunteering for the Newton Food Pantry.Oliver moved to Newton in 2002 where he met his wife. They settled in Newton and have raised their son Griffin here, who is a freshman at NewtonSouthNorth. “The issues that the Newton City Council are facing this coming term are personal for me. I believe we need to invest in our education and infrastructure, while keeping in mind fiscal responsibility and the needs of small businesses.” said Oliver.Oliver is running on the slogan of ‘Realizing Our Best Newton.’ “I will prioritize maintaining a responsible pace and pattern of growth across Newton, where we ensure that any new development projects contribute to creating affordable housing.” said Oliver.Oliver has been an outspoken advocate to protect and invest in Newton’s fields. “I am proud to work with Newton Athletic Fields Foundation, advocating to improve Newton’s field.” said Oliver. Oliver was also an outspoken advocate to protect Albemarle Field and relocate the new senior center.Oliver believes his background as a parent, a coach, a tax-paying resident of Newton and an education advocate, will suit the City Council well. For more information, please visit www.johnoliver4newton.org.
Can anyone summarize his major positions?
There’s no website or info other than “a guy called john oliver is running”
I believe he’s involved in Newton Schools?
He’s on Linkedin and has been on the board of Newton Community Ed for the past year.
Here is the press release:
John Oliver is seriously considering a run for Newton’s Ward 1 At-Large seat. The special election comes after the tragic death of Councilor Jay Ciccone. Jay was an outstanding public servant and community member. A date for the special election has not been set, but is expected to be in early 2021.
“I will bring 25+ years of skill and experience to bear on the challenges facing Newton. I have learned through real life experience how to work effectively and collaboratively within groups to promote a shared agenda.” said Oliver. “I look forward to making contributions that move Newton forward.”
Oliver earned his B.A. from Michigan State in Industrial Organizational Psychology and works as a consultant in customer experience and customer success. John was the PTO Co-President of Horace Mann elementary and has been a volunteer coach for youth sports for the past 8 years. Oliver was appointed to the Newton Community Education Board in 2019, a role he currently holds. When the pandemic struck, John started volunteering for the Newton Food Pantry.
Oliver moved to Newton in 2002 where he met his wife. They settled in Newton and have raised their son Griffin here, who is a freshman at Newton South. “The issues that the Newton City Council are facing this coming term are personal for me. I believe we need to invest in our education and infrastructure, while keeping in mind fiscal responsibility and the needs of small businesses.” said Oliver.
Oliver is running on the slogan of ‘Realizing Our Best Newton.’ “I will prioritize maintaining a responsible pace and pattern of growth across Newton, where we ensure that any new development projects contribute to creating affordable housing.” said Oliver.
Oliver has been an outspoken advocate to protect and invest in Newton’s fields. “I am proud to work with Newton Athletic Fields Foundation, advocating to improve Newton’s field.” said Oliver. Oliver was also an outspoken advocate to protect Albemarle Field and relocate the new senior center.
Oliver believes his background as a parent, a coach, a tax-paying resident of Newton and an education advocate, will suit the City Council well. For more information, please visit http://www.johnoliver4newton.org.
John is the PTSO at Newton North High School and also was a member of PTO at Horace Mann.
Thanks for posting the update. His views on development appear to be in line with most of the voters in Nonantum and Newton and his experience in education is also encouraging. I look forward to hearing him make his case.
I like that John has supported his community. He is a common sense politician that is well informed and is well respected throughout Nonantum and City as a whole. He is not only well educated, I believe he has the experience needed to represent the residents in this city. Good luck John!
Sounds like he wants to address the needs of residents rather than a woke “agenda”.
Will have to look closer at policy differences between Tarik Lucas
Would like learn more but so, love everything I’ve read on his site.
This is an encouraging development
@Bugek – Tarik Lucas is a different race (Ward 2)
jerry
Thanks!
I like his focus on affordable housing in Newton.
Running against your neighbor, well that’s awkward.
I’ll tell you, John’s announcement was poor. His press release is riddled with grammatical mistakes. He is aware that all new developments must have an affordable component? Yet on his website he says, “Ensure that any new development projects contribute to creating affordable housing in Newton.”
I will let the campaigns play out. Of course, you always have to give someone named John Oliver consideration.
James,
Has there been any study on the affordable housing component of new developments?
Ie it provides affordable units but causes an higher market rate for all other units. Is the developer forced to build luxury units with higher costs to subsidize the cheaper units. All we are doing is helping one small group and hurting others(middle class).
The developer is absolutely not going to be eating the costs, they pass it on to the other tenants so now we have 2 extremes. Affordable and affluent
If we want affordable, build affordable. Not this trickle down luxury development nonsense
Glad to hear John is running. I have had limited interactions with him related to the schools and they have all been positive.
James comments on John’s press release in regards to grammar. Of course that type of thing has some importance. Please note that Madeline Ranalli’s Dad is a media producer so of course her materials are going to be well put together. There is no shame that she is using that expertise to help her present herself but I think the focus needs to be on the candidate views etc and it will be interesting to hear more about both candidates.
Bugek, what you said doesn’t make sense. Newton is at barely 10% affordable, forcing new developments to be 17.5%+ does help in the long term. There’s not “passing costs”, no one is going to overpay for a new development if they can buy a cheaper alternative. I know development, but I really don’t want to get into a big convo here. What I will say is John’s statement shows he either 1) Has not reviewed Newton’s zoning ordinance (big red flag), or 2) Does not understand the basics of real estate development.
Here is my point, putting our vague statements is not a way anyone should run for office. John also has on his website, under the section Maintain the Newton that we want, “Ensure our Police and Fire departments are always in the best position to succeed.” Is that a dig at the BLM movement? Can we define success? He also says, “People and community. Continue making Newton increasingly welcoming for all” So welcoming to ALL that only 2.5% of our population is African American?
John seems like a nice guy who has no real concept of the basic role of a local government. I assume he has been pressured to run. If his opponent, Ranelli, put out statements like this she would have been destroyed in the comments.
I will give both candidates a fair chance during a debate (hopefully there is one), but so far, John will not be getting my vote.
James,
I’m sorry that this statement offends you
“Ensure our Police and Fire departments are always in the best position to succeed.”
If a majority of residents find it equally as offensive then john oliver has little chance of winning
I didn’t read the comment regarding police and firefighter as a dig on BLM. And to infer that is it, coupled with the snide comment about running against one’s neighbor as being awkward, suggests to me that James is someone who has an agenda against Mr. Oliver.
Is Mr. Oliver running or just “seriously Considering”? I hope Scott Lennon will run from Ward 1 as he has the experience and base of support to win decisively.
@Peter,
I posed this question on another thread…
Does anyone know if Scott is even considering running? Is it just wishful thinking?
It seems to do not service to continue to toss Scott’s name around with no clear indication that he’s even thinking about running.
Maybe someone should actually reach out and ask him.
@TheWholeTruth “It seems to do not service to continue to toss Scott’s name around with no clear indication that he’s even thinking about running.”
I’d say it does no harm. Maybe it would encourage him.
Seriously considering?
Love how everybody claims to want Newton to be, “welcoming to all”, yet anyone who does not conform to the extreme left is immediately accused of
somehow being anti social justice, anti affordable housing, pro-racism or fanboys/girls of the police.
Looking forward to learning more about John Oliver.
@Claire,
Valid point. I don’t know Scott personally although I live a stones throw away from him! It’s just that there have been so many comments about him potentially running with no evidence of that. When he lost the election, he disappeared from the public scene and has remained out of the spotlight since. I would think if he were interested, he’d have been more visible. And maybe someone on this blog who knows him can reach out and ask…and end the speculation.
It’s difficult to speculate at all on John Oliver, but similar to what James noted above, Oliver’s site is short on detail. This is why broad statements like the one about the police or the single bullet about affordable housing can be interpreted in so many ways.
I do agree with James when he says that if Ranalli had put out a website like that she would have been skewered in the comments. The criticisms of her so far have been that she does not have the experience to run for office. But when I read her website I’m able to understand her entire thought process and what’s behind her positions. So far, Oliver offers none of that. Maybe it’s because he announced quickly and everything wasn’t ready. (The release, as shared with V-14, not only had grammatical issues but also listed his son at the wrong high school.)
Still, I have to imagine that if Ranalli put out that same website she would have been criticized as not taking the job seriously enough.
If we’re going to start judging councilors by their websites what do we say about the sitting councilors without websites at all? For the record John’s website looks fine to me. (Mine however could use some work, as it still says “I hope you will re-elect me in 2019.”) I will remind everyone that many candidates for local office have day jobs and children to deal with, and to cut them some slack if they’re not emulating the Joe Biden campaign. Most local campaigns do not have paid staff for example to do all this stuff, so candidates and their equally busy supporters are doing this in their free time. I have known John Oliver for many years as we were both Horace Mann parents, and I am a huge fan. He is one of those solid dads who steps up to serve on the PTO, helps build the ice rink, helps build the playground, coaches your kids. I am not surprised at all he stepped up to run for this seat, because he was pretty incensed over the idea of putting NewCal at Albemarle — as were a lot of people on the north side who use Albemarle on a regular basis. I think he would bring common sense and a focus on areas that are being neglected that he has a passion about, particularly our parks and playing fields.
What Chuck said.
In the interest of remaining civil, I want to apologize for the tone in my comments earlier. After reading them out loud, I now realize that they aren’t said in a way that I would feel comfortable speaking in person. While Chuck clearly understood my broader point, I should have lead with that, as others did not understand. My fault, won’t happen again. I look forward to seeing both races play out.
What Matt Lai and Emily Norton said.
#LikeButton
I know neither candidate running for this seat. John Oliver seems like a thoughtful person who has experience running a household in this city and seems attuned to municipal matters. As a general rule, I’d prefer it if candidates didn’t use municipal service to push political agendas. I want city leadership who are familiar with the challenges of raising a family in the city, and who are interested in making municipal services work. Of the two candidates, he seems to me to be better positioned to do so.
James, Thanks for your follow-up, but I was still left wondering what you possibly could have meant by suggesting, “I assume he has been pressured to run.” I can’t imagine anyone choosing to put themselves out in front of the voters and going through all the other parts of running a campaign because of pressure. Whether it’s John or his opponent, I start with the premise that they are well intentioned people who have chosen to run because of their own commitment to public service.
“I assume he has been pressured to run.”
Pressured by whom, James?