Note: Village 14 has invited each candidate in next week’s special election to post a final guest column about their candidacy. This one is from David Micley, who is running for City Council from Ward 2.  

Dear Village 14,

My name is David Micley and I am running for City Council from Ward 2 in the upcoming special election. Thank you to Village14 for the work you do in creating a virtual town square. Also, thank you to my fellow candidates – Bryan Barash, John Oliver, Madeline Ranalli, and Tarik Lucas. Through the many forums, we’ve spent a lot of virtual time together over the past month and I’m grateful to have had the chance to be in conversation with you on how we can make Newton better. I hope to get the chance to see you all in real life soon.  

Newton is the city of my childhood, and my wife and I are raising our daughters here to give them the same incredible childhood Newton gave us and to be near my parents who live around the corner. I am running for City Council to participate in the work of making Newton a better place to live for people across life stages – for both current residents and people that want to move here. I ask for your vote to have the privilege to participate in that work and serve the residents of Newton as one of your City Councilors.

This is my first campaign in Newton and the experience of running has been eye opening and educational on many levels. I learned through listening, and spoke with:

• Parents, students, and teachers at Newton Public Schools, who shared their frustration with how our schools were mismanaged during the pandemic, and their hope that we will bounce back.  
• Homeowners and renters from across the city, who wrestled with the tension between growing our housing supply in a way that makes Newton more accessible while preserving the suburban charm that attract so many to Newton in the first place.
• Police officers who shared their pride in their service to our community and their commitment to partner with those that want to help them improve. 
• Bikers, who shared their frustration with the city moving too slow in making our streets biker friendly and the urgency to prioritize this issue not in the future but now.
• Elected officials, who described the challenge in keeping pace with our pension and OPEB funding plan and the tremendous pressure it will put on our budget over the coming decades.
• Business leaders, who emphasized the tremendous opportunity Newton could seize in attracting life science and technology companies to grow our commercial tax base and bring more business to the village centers.
• Environmental scientists, who described the areas in which Newton is leading in fighting climate change, along with the places where we fall short and the tremendous work we still need to do.        

This list is just a sample of the people and issues I engaged with throughout this campaign – there is so much more. While it is impossible to be in perfect agreement with everyone on every issue, my commitment to Newton residents is this: I will always listen. I will always seek to engage. And I will always strive to look at each issue through an independent and balanced approach.

Best,

David Micley