Funez mounts second bid for Lynn councilor at large

LYNN – Lynn resident Miguel Funez is trying once again to become the city’s first Latino City Councilor.The at large candidate is reviving a failed 2011 campaign by running on what he calls a business-friendly platform aimed at an increasingly diverse group of business owners.”My main goal is to promote business growth in the city,” he said.To do that, the Bay State Road resident wants to lower taxes and restrictions on businesses. Funez said he thinks the city is taxing the business community too much to recover lost revenue from the housing crisis.”We have become an unfriendly business town where people are sometimes afraid to move in because of taxes,” Funez said.Funez also favors more training programs and making it easier for business owners to apply for loans. Another campaign sticking point Funez supports is rolling back bar closing times from 1 a.m. to 2 a.m. – an initiative favored by many Latino business owners but rejected by Lynn’s mayor, Judith Flanagan Kennedy, who said in a May meeting with members of the North Shore Latino Business Association that she is worried about potential crime by keeping bars open later.But Funez said he hopes his business-friendly measures can bring more revenue in to help build more city schools.Funez has lived in Lynn with his wife, Milagros, since 1992, and the couple raised two children in the city, who both attended Lynn Public Schools. He currently serves on the Zoning Board of Appeals and has worked with several community organizations, including Neighbor to Neighbor, Lynn United for Change, North Shore Labor Council and the Lynn Hispanic Scholarship Funds.He has a law degree from the Massachusetts School of Law and experience working in mortgages, owning a auto service business on Western Avenue and currently works for the state in child-support enforcement.Funez said he believes the city is full of opportunity for all of its diverse group of residents but that Lynn’s largest minority community?Latinos?need a representative in public office to better tap into their potential.”We do not have anybody at City Hall in the Spanish community, he said.Lynn School Committee Member Maria Carrasco, one of the few Latinos in public office in Lynn, said she agrees the city could benefit from more Spanish-speaking leaders.”One voice like me is not enough,” she said.Funez faces a crowded field to fill four open at large candidate positions. He is running against incumbent councilors at large Dan Cahill, Gordon “Buzzy” Barton and Hong Net. Former Ward 5 Councilor Brendan Crighton is also running at large, as is former at large Councilor Paul Crowley, Historical Commission member Aikaterini Koudanis and 2011 at large candidate Robert Clay Walsh.All the at large candidates will speak at a forum Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Temple Ahabat Shalom on Ocean Street.Amber Phillips can be reached at [email protected].