Ward 4 candidates offer ideas for improvement

LYNN – Both candidates in the race for the Ward 4 City Council seat agreed that housing foreclosures have hurt the ward.But the different experiences of a 19-year incumbent and a community organizer may be why the two candidates, incumbent Richard Colucci and candidate Ceferino Rosa, differ on how best to address the problem.”When housing is foreclosed on, properties’ (upkeep) tanks, real-estate values plummet,” Colucci said. “It’s sad that the $760 billion that the banks got was supposed to trickle down to homeowners and people who want to start a business. We’re not seeing that.”Colucci said he is addressing the issue by working with local officials in the housing authority and local banks to try to prevent foreclosures from happening – or if a foreclosure occurs, not to evict residents.Rosa agrees that city officials need to work with banks and that absentee landlords – whether individuals or banks – should be held accountable for maintaining their properties.But he also advocated entrusting tenants with the responsibility for cleaning foreclosed homes in return for assistance in perhaps eventually purchasing the property.”We’re not here to tear down a building, we have to have a plan B,” Rosa said. “We could work with tenants – they’re paying the rent anyway, so why don’t we have them become homeowners?”Rosa identified aiding the small businesses on Union Street, however, as his major concern in the ward.”It needs to be built up,” he said. “We need to assist businesses through community development.”Union Street was a major concern of Colucci’s as well. But he was focused on infrastructure improvements and cutting crime.He said prostitution was “pretty much cleaned up” after being “rampant” on the street. He said he was particularly proud of strengthening penalties in the so-called “John Law,” increasing the fine for those caught patronizing a prostitute to $500 and/or 40 hours of community service.In other anti-crime initiatives, he noted that Police Chief Kevin Coppinger has praised the Text-a-Tip anonymous crime-reporting program Colucci initiated. Colucci also said he would like to restore money to the bike patrol program that he helped initiate and that brought more cops to the streets.And he said the project by National Grid to lay electric conduit wire on Union Street would also help improve that area, because the low wires that the company is replacing were the source of frequent outages that impacted businesses and residents. He also was proud to note that National Grid would be paying for repaving the street, replacing curbs and adding street trees.Colucci said that finishing these improvements, along with projects planned for the waterfront, were why he wanted to run for reelection.”I’ve got experience, I’m accessible and I’m responsive,” said the 19-year incumbent. “I’ve been there and did all this ? I’ve been doing it a long time.”But Rosa said 19 years had not resulted in improvements.”He’s been there long enough to know that Ward 4 should have gone forward not gone down,” the challenger said. “I want to spend all the knowledge and talent I have and give to the people of Lynn ? Most of 40 years of public service has been working for the people. I want to spend the rest of my retirement working with people to develop leadership among the new generation.”Rosa also advocated expanding an Essex County Community Organization program that matches teens with summer jobs at local businesses as a way to combat crime.He cited his work with the Latino Minority Business Association and called for organizing precinct committees and faith-based groups to volunteer and help fix up homes lost in foreclosure.One reason Rosa said that he particularly emphasized community involvement was because he believed that the ward’s residents needed to become more politically active.He noted that only around 400 of the ward’s 6,200 or so registered voters regularly go to the ballot box.”There are lots of retired people who are doctors, e