Three challenger candidates talked about Teele Square, housing, public safety and education at a Somerville Democratic City Committee forum Wednesday for Ward 7 city councilor – a position guaranteed to go to one of the three, as incumbent councilor Judy Pineda Neufeld opted out of a reelection run.
Voters and committee members heard from candidates Michael Murray, Emily Hardt and Wilbert Pineda in an hourlong Zoom. A recording of the meeting is on YouTube.
The forum was moderated by the committee’s Carrie Normand and introduced by Justin Klekota, the Ward 7 chair and a candidate for councilor at large. Candidates got two-minute opening statements; 90-second responses to five questions from the moderator; and one-minute closing statements.
Hardt: Union record, community input
A University of Massachusetts lecturer with a career in political organizing, Hardt highlighted her union record, including organizing the first election at Royal Hospitality Services, an industrial laundry in Ward 2, after staff unionized in the early 2000s.
“This experience inspired me, and it taught me that local action with trust, focus and determination can make a profound difference in people’s lives,” Hardt said.
Hardt called for formation of a Teele Square Neighborhood Council and aims to prioritize small businesses, including helping their owners find commercial space and keeping them informed about construction projects. On public safety, Hardt expressed support for Somerville’s Vision Zero plan, which makes roads safer through engineering, and community health patrols. She emphasized the need to pass policy with community input. “We absolutely need to do a better job of addressing mental health and substance abuse and substance use crises, and we also need to not compromise on resident safety,” she said.
As the parent of a third grader, Hardt called for increased investment in early education, including after-school, summer and vocational training programs. She pointed to institutions’ payments in lieu of taxes as a source of funding. A task force established in 2021 to advise about those Pilot fees recommended in May that the city prioritize contracts with institutions with a property value of at least $15 million, seeking 25 percent of the taxes that would be owed were they not exempt.
Hardt would press the state to grant home rule power for rent stabilization policies and call for transfer fee legislation at the state level. A bill was introduced by local state representatives Mike Connolly and Erica Uyterhoeven this year to let Somerville charge up to 2 percent on the transfer of property in Somerville; they money would go into its Affordable Housing Trust Fund.
Murray on The Pit, school funding
Murray, a mental health counselor and educational consultant, pointed to his years living in Teele Square where “The Pit” – a fenced-in dirt parcel empty since a fire in 2011 – is his flagship campaign issue. He said he has tried to contact the owners since 2015, and in recent months has reached out to property manager Binoj Pradhan, the brother of an owner, to no avail.
Murray is open to various uses for the site, where he said the council had failed to push through development despite approval of plans for a six-story hotel in 2018. Pradhan has contributed large amounts to Pineda Neufeld’s campaigns, Murray said, something confirmed by records at the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance.
Murray expressed support for Vision Zero road engineering and for police to be supplanted for nonviolent crises by unarmed response teams. He called for the city to stand up to incidents such as the federal abduction of Rumeysa Ozturk, a Tufts graduate student.
Somerville also needs to make its special education system more navigable, Murray said, and can support schools by reforming business permitting, making it easier for businesses to operate and thus increasing revenue and education funding through taxes.
When it comes to housing, Murray noted that Somerville is affected by national trends. “There’s really only one thing we can really do about it, and it’s building more housing,” he said, noting that this includes affordable housing.
Pineda emphasizes basic needs
Pineda, a University of Massachusetts undergraduate, spoke to his experience as a recent graduate of Somerville High School, a public housing tenant and the child of Salvadoran immigrants. “My campaign is bigger than me,” Pineda said. “I’m running for the young people and the old people of Somerville to tackle the problems we face on a daily basis, from food security, housing, our roads and schools, environmental challenges.”
Pineda, who’s had two operations and begun chemotherapy following a cancer diagnosis, told the attendees: “I want to make it absolutely clear I intend to fully recover from cancer, run and win this campaign in the fall, and hope to serve as your next city councilor.”
In Teele Square, Pineda vowed to maintain contact with owners of vacant sites and seek to pass an ordinance, based on rules in San Francisco, that all business owners register within 30 days of opening, pay an annual fee of $2,000 and complete an annual safety inspection or risk fines.
Pineda prioritizes providing mental health resources in public safety, following the model of the Somerville Homeless Coalition. On education, he said teens need safe third spaces to spend time, and that as vice president of the Somerville Foundation, he has advocated for the creation of teen centers – with the Sion Seventh-Day Adventist Church at 45 College Ave. near Davis Square a potential site.
Somerville needs to follow Cambridge in upzoning to add homes, Pineda said, and leverage public-private partnerships to keep construction going on affordable homes. “I should know: I live in one,” said Pineda said, who lives in the North Street public housing complex. “I’m the only candidate running for City Council who lives in public housing. Without it, I would not be in Somerville.”
Committee will vote to endorse
The Ward 7 Committee has 40 members, including 35 elected by ward ballot. Ahead of the September primary, the ballot-elected members will vote to endorse a candidate for councilor.
Notable members of the committee include mayor Katjana Ballantyne, Pineda Neufeld, councilor at-large Will Mbah, state representative Christine Barber. Pradhan and Greg Nadeau, who helps lead Pineda’s campaign, are also members – as is Pineda.
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