Cost of Living

Living in Somerville is too unaffordable. We urgently need more affordable housing, and more market-rate housing, too, which can absorb some of the high-priced renters moving to Somerville. If we don’t build both, people will compete even more for scarce homes, rents will rise faster, and our community will grow increasingly segregated by wealth.

As a volunteer with Somerville YIMBY and the Somerville Community Land Trust, I believe we can build more housing near transit, limit displacement of small businesses, and ensure developments are walkable and neighborhood-friendly.

I support developments like the mixed affordable/market apartment buildings planned for the old Star Market on Broadway, and the all-affordable housing building proposed for the old A+ Auto Body site on Medford St. These can help us keep neighbors together, and make our city more affordable for everyone.

(Also—I will not accept donations from for-profit developers.)

Supporting Working Parents

We can do more to support working families in juggling the pressures and costs they face.

We need to expand our successful pre-Kindergarten programs—which make innovative use of a mix of public and private facilities—so that all families can find a spot near them, and we can start offering preschool to 3 year-olds.

Principals and parents need afterschool staffing, allowing kids to safely use gyms and playgrounds beyond school hours; principals have told me that even a single paid security guard could enable dozens of children to stay and use facilities until the early evening.

Supporting working parents isn’t optional—it’s essential for the economic health of our families, and the wellbeing of all our children.

Education

I'm an educator who attended Cambridge Public Schools growing up, and I have two kids in Somerville Public Schools.

I believe our public schools are one of the great prides of our city. But I also know that our students’ outcomes have persistent disparities across class, race, and gender identity. We need to treat these disparities with urgency, and to insist that all students receive the investment they deserve.

It is unjust that some students cannot always count on feeling safe—and being safe—during the school day, or after school. We need a vision of zero of our children being the victims of violence at or around school.

Raising teacher pay is an investment well worth making, to recruit the next generation of great talent, and to keep teachers’ expertise in our community long-term.

Education isn’t just about classrooms—it’s about community investment, opportunity, and ensuring every student can thrive, from birth through graduation and beyond.

Public Safety

I firmly believe that public safety is a progressive cause. I’ve heard it loud and clear, in dozens of police-community forums I have participated in: community members want effective, accountable, fast-response policing—especially communities who have been historically underserved or disproportionately victimized.

But safety goes beyond police: we need to be responding in the most effective way we can to each situation, whether it is something dangerous needing police, a mental health crisis where trained health professionals are the right responders, or a hybrid. The Public Safety Task Force has recommended a “co-response” model with both police and unarmed responders; in Cambridge, this change reduced emergency room trips resulting from 911 calls by 64%, and earned support from both the community and police officers. This is a good first step, and I would like to see its success open the door for more discretion about the best response to any given 911 call—including, when appropriate, by fully unarmed teams.

Public safety also means safety for pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers. In 2019, my 9-year-old was hit by a car while on a Cedar Street crosswalk. We are making progress on safer street design, and we need more proactive improvements—and improved traffic enforcement—to stop dangerous crashes from happening again.

Finally, there is the chilling fact that that many of our neighbors right now—including children—are living in fear of being grabbed unexpectedly by federal immigration agents, or of family members being grabbed and never seeing them again. I stand behind Somerville’s identity as a sanctuary city, and I want us to take every effort to protect all of our residents.

Public safety is about feeling secure from violence, reckless driving, and from being torn from your family by federal agents. Everyone in Somerville deserves safety, dignity, and respect.

Transportation

Somerville has better options for getting across town than almost anywhere else in the country, between subway, bus, bike and car. But it’s still far too difficult to get from some places to others, e.g. from Assembly to Union Square, or from Market Basket to Clarendon Hill; and riders sometimes have to wait half an hour or more.

Somerville is beginning to roll out “smart” traffic lights, and we should push for “Transit Signal Priority” functionality, which allows lights to adjust timing on the fly to speed MBTA buses; a recent trial of TSP in Boston showed that this sped up bus travel times significantly.

I also dream of making buses free. Yes, this would require paying the MBTA huge sums, but we should keep trying to negotiate them down to a workable deal. Free buses would load faster, increase ridership, and decrease car traffic—a virtuous cycle. With fewer cars clogging traffic and competing for parking, and a more reliable transit system, we all reap the benefits: less congestion, safer streets, cleaner air, and a healthier city for everyone.

City Communication

Clear communication is a fundamental responsibility of city government—but too often, it's an afterthought. Residents shouldn’t be in the dark if their polling place has changed, or struggle to pin down afterschool program details, or public meeting times.

Our city has made great progress with its messaging infrastructure; the Somerville City Alerts system is a great way to learn about events and interruptions relevant to us, via email or text. We should expand on this by putting public digital signs in key locations, as many other cities do.

We should end guesswork and uncertainty, ensuring that public programs have reliable, timely updates. Better communication builds trust, empowers residents, and ensures everyone can fully participate—making our city government as transparent, accessible, and responsive as our community deserves.

Constituent Services, Local Knowledge

Somerville residents know our neighborhoods best. We know our own lines of work best. So why is it so hard, sometimes, to be heard? Our city has exceptional people and ideas, but too often their expertise gets stuck in bureaucracy—especially in the mayor’s office. Great suggestions stall; urgent needs go unanswered.

I’m committed to harnessing the expertise and goodwill we have, right here in Somerville. That means relying less on expensive outside consultants, and empowering city employees who deeply understand their work. It means that constituent services must be proactive, responsive, and dedicated to getting results, ensuring that our government truly reflects the extraordinary knowledge and spirit of our community.