All candidates running for contested seats in the upcoming election were invited to submit a post in support of their candidacy to Village14. .
Note: The deadline for these posts was noon on Friday. The Sangiolo post didn’t arrive until many hours after the deadline. Rather than just ‘stick to the rules’ a compromise was struck where both mayoral campaigns would have until a new deadline today to submit a post. This is Amy Mah Sangiolo’s
I’m Amy Mah Sangiolo and I’m running to be your next Mayor.
Newton needs a bold, empathetic leader who will listen and respond to community voices in all of our villages – especially when making decisions that affect our lives and transform our city. I will be that leader.
As Mayor, I will give residents a greater voice in planning and decision making. My vision is that every Newton resident, regardless of what village they call home, their income, or social connections, has an equal voice in determining the direction of our city.
There are many challenges facing Newton–from restoring confidence in our schools and ensuring every child reaches their full potential; addressing out-of-scale development while increasing truly affordable housing; investing in our fields and our streets and sidewalks while making them safe and accessible; to meeting our climate action goals–all within the confines of serious, projected revenue gaps in the next few years. My leadership style of being accessible, responsive, and transparent will build the public trust we need to move Newton forward.
I am focused on education, development, and open and transparent governance. On education, I will bring my perspective as a former Newton Public Schools parent to provide teachers with the resources they need to help every child succeed and address the mental health challenges facing our children. On development, I will use my legal skills and partner with the City Council, where I served for 20 years, to preserve our neighborhoods and historic resources, revitalize our village centers, and implement a multi-pronged strategy to create more truly affordable housing options. To increase open and transparent governance, I will draw from my experience as an Asian American woman, and elevate our commitment to increase racial, ethnic, and gender diversity and diversity of thought, to ensure residents have real equity and inclusion in planning and decision making and ensure access to information and data is publicly available.
Please give me your support on November 2nd and I will bring accessible, responsive representation to our local government.
I am an unapologetic single-issue voter – Newton Public Schools. We moved here primarily for the reputation of Newton’s schools. In recent years, however, the gap between reputation and reality seems to be widening. Even before the pandemic, we were reducing educational offerings. The pandemic just highlighted the issues with Newton as one of the last high schools to reopen for in-person learning.
I consider Mayor as the elected leader of the city and the NPS, not just one of the 9-0 votes. The result of recent changes and actions (or lack thereof) are clear – Newton is at the bottom 10 in % of students in public Schools, mental health issues are high and ranking are down.
Amy May Sangiolo is just the right leader to lead us back in the right direction! She will be a different leader on the SC because of her leadership style – Commitment, Courage and Compassion.
Commitment – She is all-in for NPS, from sending her children to NPS to volunteering for our schools. She knows first hand of the importance NPS plays in children’s lives and will work hard to give them the best opportunities.
Courage: Obviously, Amy will collaborate with others to drive change to NPS. However, when needed she has the courage to stand for what is right, instead of go as one of the 9-0 votes. We have seen her demonstrate this courage, even when she was a minority voice (and then brought people along w her)
Compassion: Amy truly cares about others. She will work with educators and other employees to find amicable solutions. She will not push our nurses or other employees to strike to get what the city rightfully owes them.
Vote for change! Vote for better outcomes! Vote for Amy!
Amy has my and my families vote!!!!! Enough with RuthAnne!!!! We need change in Newton!!!!
Can’t wait to cast my vote for Amy. In spite of Ruthanne’s ever present self congratulatory tone, she’s been a perpetual disappointment. From the schools, to the mishandling of the gun store, to things like not even having an outdoor dining plan in place last summer unlike other communities…I’m so ready for a change.
And on a personal note, I just like Amy. She’s friendly, she’s funny, and when she shows up at events she actually wants to meet and talk to people. It’s a breath of fresh air. Fuller shows up, chats with the people in her inner circle, poses for pictures, and then leaves. Maybe she gives a speech. I’ve met her many times and she just seems bored and uninterested whenever I talk to her. I don’t think she cares about the community. Never did.
I realize that it’s probably tough for Amy to win without the funds that Ruthanne has and receives, but I think she would be a formidable mayor.
I am with Sumukh here. I am also a single issue voter, and that issue is NPS. Ruthanne knew that last time people didn’t vote for her because of the perception that she won’t care about the schools, and she has done absolutely nothing to disabuse us of the notion that she doesn’t care about the schools. So, this is a no brainer for me. Go Amy!
Also All in on Amy. Sole reason she sent her kids to NPS and RF did not.
Today, Amy received the endorsement of Retired Newton Police Officer Tyrone Powell, who came to this city and had it become his home in the 70s. His love for Newton is like know other, and he knows the ins and outs of this city better than most, when he speaks on who should be leading this city, We all should be listening. I will be voting for Amy for an array of reasons but this was the icing on the cake for me. When people who are actually in the community and knows first hand why type of leadership we need, endorse a candidates it should be more impactful than fellow politicians who are out of touch with their community. Thank you Tyrone for your serve to this city and thank you Amy for your willingness to be ready to serve! Can’t wait for Tuesday!
My vote is for Amy! Mayor Fuller appeared at school committee meetings and didn’t pay attention.
She left the kids outside the schools
For too long.
Reasons I support Amy:
Authenticity
Transparency
Approachable
LIstener
Amy is the right way to go,good luck Amy!!!!!!
Forever supportive of the great work by members of the Commission On Disability. A solid grasp of the vital governing body the Commission daily is within Newton’s governance. A true understanding of the issues that persons with disabilities confront. And ever the voice of reason throughout her two-decade public sector career, Amy knows how best to attain rightful results relating to safe and easy accessibility throughout Newton. Leadership on all fronts is in Amy’s DNA.
Best of everything, Amy!
Curious to understand more about what people actually mean by improving the schools. For me, I have seen an ongoing shift to eliminate opportunities for students that can excel, to excel. Even a push a few years back to eliminate honors / accelerated math in middle school. I get this is being done for reasons people believe are valid. Perhaps it can be done while still permitting kids to learn all that they want to on a pace that aligns with their goals. Just seems that I hear of parents sending their kids to private school because Newton isn’t giving the kids the learning opportunities they seek. Sending kids to private school and paying the price for housing here boggles my mind.
This is just one point though. I’d like to hear specifics on exactly what the candidate would aim to change vs generic ‘I will make it better’ types of statements. (I need to read her website more, hoping the specifics would be there).
When Amy was on the City Council, she advocated for Newton to opt in to the Massachusetts Earned Sick Leave law, which would allow part-time employees to accrue a limited number of hours of sick leave per year based on hours work. The Council did not move forward with the issue. RF has shown no interest in granting part-time, non-union city employees any kind of benefits, or increasing hourly wages. I do not think the current Mayor is interested in the working conditions of city employees. Waltham, in contrast, provides pro-rated sick leave and even vacation pay to part-time employees. Amy has my vote because she cares about city employees and was the only City Councilor to introduce the sick leave issue.
More than any other point I can make about Amy is that I’ve learned that “Amy gets it” isn’t just a talking point. Transparent is a way of life with Amy. She’s not afraid to talk about anything with anyone. I’ve been to her zooms on various issues and I was surprised to watch her specifically call on residents who she knows have opposing view points. She warmly thanks them for being there. She answers them the best way she can and if she needs to do more research she says so. She doesn’t hide behind political speak that mean nothing but make it seem like you’re saying a lot.
I don’t live in the ward she represented but have friends who do and they all say the same thing: she was always accessible and she helped them if needed and it always got done. Always.
You’d think being a parent of children who’ve gone through the Newton Public School system wouldn’t matter that much and four years ago many of us didn’t, but I don’t know a parent in public school system now wouldn’t consider it a prerequisite going forward for anyone that wants to serve on the school committee and anyone who wants to serve as mayor of Newton. We, and sadly our children, have all learned an extraordinarily painful lesson: you must have had children in our schools in order to join the schools conversation. I don’t doubt our current mayor’s heart was in the right place, but there’s a difference between learning about an experience and living it. Amy’s lived it.
Newton politics needs someone who understands the daily lives of all the people in this city. Someone who drives on Needham Street – even during rush hour. Someone who’s tried to park on Albermarle during a soccer game or a baseball practice at 7:00pm on a Thursday. Not someone who will confidently say that she wants to preserve our “special villages”. Which ones is she speaking of? I’d like to think mine is special. But I do believe that none are more or less deserving of a mayor’s consideration.
We’ve given Ruthanne Fuller her chance and I can confidently say that after four years my life is not better and my children’s lives are not better. I’m voting for Amy Sangiolo.
I am in support of Amy. I believe Newton will benefit from having a Mayor who allows diversity of opinion. It is wonderful she has has rich experience and is coming from a diverse cultural background.
After watching the excellent Mayoral debate moderated by @Greg Reibman, it’s clear that Amy is ready to serve on Day 1.
I encourage anyone who hasn’t watched to do so here -https://youtu.be/MLaYYKOCXXY
Amy had many strong answers but her statement related to achieving greater diversity and the importance of the City hiring a director level position to focus on diversity and equity left me feeling hopeful and grateful.
Link to answer at 14 mins: https://youtu.be/MLaYYKOCXXY?t=839
Our ability to accomplish the goals many Newton residents share is only strengthened by improving how we draw upon the collective talents, ideas, experiences and contributions of all residents – those here now and those still to come.
Amy’s public service and lived experiences give her a unique combination of skills & understanding to lead and inspire us to work together to strengthen our public schools, improve public safety & health services including a growing need for mental health services, address our affordable housing shortage, preserve a livable climate, enhance the City’s infrastructure & open spaces, etc.
As Mayor, Amy will…
– Encourage participation by all
– Respect and stand up for ideas and opinions of everyone – even those in the minority
– Embrace new, better solutions whatever their source
– Seek out the best information and data to guide policy
– Act decisively when needed
– Be transparent and willing to learn from our mistakes
Seeing an opportunity to serve this Great City again, Amy stepped forward to run against an extremely well-funded incumbent.
Putting her beliefs and ideals ahead of political risk is nothing new for Amy. An anecdote Gail Spector shares on page 41 of her 2015 Book “Legendary Locals of Newton” illustrates this commitment:
“When Alderwoman Amy Sangiolo ran for office in 1997, a former alderman suggested she not use her photograph on her campaign literature because voters might be dissuaded by her Asian American appearance. Instead of taking that advice, she made her photograph prominent and added origami images to emphasize her ethnicity. She won by 12 votes, in a recount, and eight terms later, she is believed to be the longest currently serving Asian American elected official in Massachusetts.”
Tomorrow, Newton and Amy can make history again by electing our first Asian American Mayor.
Please join me in voting for Amy.
Watched a few of Amy’s video forums and I liked the discourse. People were talking and listening to one another, not necessarily agreeing but exchanging ideas. It struck me how rare real conversations are these days. I’m voting for Amy and hoping she can bring more of this positive discourse to Newton city hall.
Go Amy!!!!
A mayor for ALL of Newton!!!!
3 votes from our house!
Hi there! I can’t vote as I live in Rhode Island now, but I grew up in Ward 4 and my parents still live there.
Amy Sangiolo is an amazing person, and I hope Newton elects her tomorrow. I know she’s got three votes from Auburndale, and one more in spirit!