Three weeks until election day and the race for several Boston City Council seats is ramping up. District 3 veteran Frank Baker chose to forgo another run for re-election, opening the door for two fresh faces.
The first is Deputy Director of Boston Real Estate Operations John Fitzgerald. During September’s preliminary election he claimed 43% of the vote, fending off six other candidates in the process.
“We feel confident but not cocky and I think what we want to do is make sure to continue to do what we're doing,” said Fitzgerald.
Also moving on to the general election is Boston Public School teacher, Joel Richards. Nineteen percent of voters chose to support him during the preliminary, a number he believes will grow come November.
“I’m very confident,” said Richards, “People that didn’t vote for me in the first round will now vote for me again.”
The candidates share several policy priorities, including education and the need for better school facilities in District 3.
“We haven’t had a new school built on this side of town since 1971 or 1972, right? We need community schools,” said Richards.
“I think we need to support our teachers. I think they should be paid more so we can attract better talent,” said Fitzgerald.
Turning to the issue of housing in their section of Boston.
“The other thing I want to do in those first two years is use municipal funds to purchase rundown houses,” said Richards, “Actually use those to house our working class and middle-income people.”
“We need to build more housing and not just affordable housing, but market-rate luxury too. It’s all types of housing,” said Fitzgerald.
Lastly, both candidates want to create a more constructive environment on a City Council that some see as dysfunctional.
“This is an aberration and it'll be great to have some folks on there, where we can work together and get things done,” said Fitzgerald.
“Let’s get on the action items. That’s something we can coalesce and unify around,” said Richards.
Election Day is November 7 with the last day for voter registration scheduled for October 28.
