A data scientist is making her second bid for a Cambridge City Council seat in November’s election with the hopes of using her policy research to bring change to the city.
Dana Bullister announced her candidacy last week on LinkedIn. The self-described “data wonk” is looking for “some not as obvious” ways her local government can do good.
“A lot of law and policy is really designed for situations where people think they know all the answers, and so they come up with solutions that are fully built and don’t leave room for the unknown,” Bullister said.
After graduating from Wellesley College, Bullister designed and built analytical tools for Boston Children’s Hospital and a business-software company called SolarWinds before leaving in 2017 to start her own software company, ProjectZen. She earned her master’s degree in information design and data visualization from Northeastern University in May 2021; she is working toward a doctoral degree in interdisciplinary design and media there with a focus on policy design, according to her LinkedIn profile.
Bullister hopes to bring a “flipped lobbying” approach to the city. In this model, elected leaders are pushed to reach out to residents who may be affected by policies to gain a better understanding of their needs. Busy parents, service workers, students and the unhoused are just some of the time-crunched citizens of Cambridge whom Bullister is trying to reach with flipped lobbying.
She’s also passionate about addressing the influence of money in politics, an issue she said creates a divide between vulnerable communities and powerful people.
In Cambridge, campaign donations are capped at $1,000 per person annually. It’s a policy that Bullister said serves “the highest bidder,” according to her campaign website. Additionally, there is no limit to how much a candidate can pour into their campaign.
Individual donations should be capped at a more equitable $100, Bullister said.
“I really am most passionate about aspects of policy that I believe have disproportionate impact rather than incremental impact,” she said.
Like most renters in Cambridge, the rising cost of housing in the city is at the top of Bullister’s concerns. Like many, she favors building affordable housing that encourages walkability, using public transit with minimal commutes, but it also interested in ways the city can adopt intergenerational initiatives to house people. One idea she’s eyed is a pilot program in the Netherlands in which college students live rent free with elderly people in nursing homes in exchange for spending time with them.
“There are other very exciting ideas that can be explored for encouraging more flexibility and accessibility in being able to live here for all different ages and all different backgrounds,” Bullister said.
Bullister ran for a council seat in 2021. In addition to encountering a steep learning curve, she got sick and missed nearly every public panel discussion.
“I plan to not do that this time,” she said. “But I’m still consistent in my passion for Cambridge, and in my highest level goals for helping the community.”
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