On Tuesday night, the Chelsea Collaborative organized a question-and-answer forum for candidates seeking positions on the City Council. The event featured races for both at-Large and District 5 seats, with voting scheduled for the following Tuesday, Sept. 22, during the City Preliminary election.
The District 5 race saw participation from challengers Henry Wilson and Judith Garcia, though incumbent Joe Perlatonda was unable to attend.
Among the at-Large races, the incumbent councillors largely stayed away. Calvin Brown made a brief appearance before departing prior to the question portion. Councillor Leo Robinson faced a scheduling conflict, while Councillor Brian Hatleberg is not seeking re-election.
Five at-Large challengers took part: Deborah Washington, Damali Vidot, Todd Taylor, John Cadiz, and Roy Avellaneda. Challenger James O’Regan was absent.
Each candidate introduced themselves before answering questions selected randomly from a collection contributed largely by the standing-room-only audience. Topics ranged from rats and Sanctuary City status to public safety, youth involvement, Council visibility, overdevelopment, and parking.
Roseanne Bongiovanni of the Collaborative moderated the session. Members of the ECO Youth Club posed the questions, while Collaborative Director Gladys Vega managed the timing.
Addressing the rat problem, Washington emphasized the need to work directly with homeowners, tenants, and developers. She explained, “fblikebutton_button” “With all the development going on, this is an issue,” she continued. “The City does have a baiting program…If I have to sit with management and companies, I have no problem with that. If I have to sit with the City Manager and homeowners, I am ready to do that.”
Wilson suggested that maintaining cleaner streets would help reduce rat populations. He stated, “A clean house is a healthy house. Keep your neighborhood clean. I see ROCA out cleaning the streets, but we all need to do that. We all need to clean up our neighborhoods. I’m part of the neighborhood enhancement team at TND and we take out loads and loads of trash. We do the Earth Day once a year. We should probably do that more than once a year. We also need to have the City start enforcing the rules. If you have trash on your property, you get a fine.”
When asked about youth engagement, Garcia responded that young people represent the strongest potential for community transformation. She noted, “I do believe youth in Chelsea are the strongest agents of change we can count on. It’s our duty as candidates and city councillors to get them involved and get them motivated. They need to realize the importance of local government.”
Cadiz, whose involvement with the Apollinaire Theatre gave him particular insight on arts programming, offered his perspective on cultural development. “It would be nice to have a waterfront festival again,” he said. “We had the River Revel and that kind of fell off. That’s a part of the community we need to revive. That had a great impact. We need to promote our arts better. We need to get people from Boston coming to our theatre and to our galleries. We have a wonderful theatre. People have been calling it a hidden gem for 20 years. When is it not going to be hidden anymore.”
Avellaneda emerged as a leading voice for comprehensive city planning, a topic receiving increased attention in recent months. He stated, “We do not have a master plan to develop the city. I would support getting that process started to develop a master plan and I’ll help make it happen. We need to make sure the impacts of development are mitigated and we need to do more smart development.”
Vidot pledged to maintain close connections with constituents, citing her lifelong ties to Chelsea as motivation for her candidacy. According to her, “I am Chelsea and grew up here, went to school here and became a mom here. I know what it is to live at the top of Highland and to sometimes hear gunshots near my home. I know what it is to have a daughter in the school system. My best friends growing up were Cambodian, white and Spanish. We loved it and we danced in the streets together. I know what it is…to experience Chelsea in every way.”
For Taylor, public safety emerged as the paramount concern facing the city, affecting neighborhoods across all areas from Prattville to Maverick Street. “I think people might mischaracterize Prattville,” he said. “I had gunshots at 2 a.m. right outside of my house three weeks ago. Two nights later, gunshots in Voke Park. It’s all over and not just one part of the city and it’s bad. We need to take back our streets from the drug dealers and let them know they’re not welcome in Chelsea. We need to take back our public spaces from the criminals. If we walk these public spaces together, it sends a message.”
Cutline – A packed crowd filled the Chelsea Collaborative headquarters Tuesday evening for a question-and-answer session with candidates appearing on the Sept. 22 Preliminary Election ballot. The forum included both at-Large City Council candidates and District 5 Council candidates. Seven of the 11 candidates on the ballot participated in the event.