Jaeger: Crime motivates bid for city council seat

LYNN – It was a phone call that went unreturned that got Ward 2 challenger Jesse Jaeger thinking about running for City Council and a T-shirt at Christmas that sealed the deal.”Two or three years after we moved here there was a running gun battle from the 7-11 to Olive and Fayette,” Jaeger said. “We heard the fight.”After the incident Jaeger said he called his Ward Councilor William Trahant to see if there was anything he could do.”I was civic-minded, I just wanted to help out and I didn’t hear a thing back from him,” he said.Jaeger, executive director of the Mass. Advocacy Organization for the Unitarian Universalist Association, said he has heard pretty much the same complaint from residents while door knocking during his campaign.”I’ve been talking to people and I tell them, I don’t have a magic wand, I can’t fix everything but I will always call you back,” he said.Jaeger, 39, and his wife, Natalie, a principal in the Boston School system, talked about his running for a couple of years then just this past Christmas Natalie gave him a T-shirt.”It said ?Jesse Jaeger for Lynn, Ward 2 City Council,'” he said with a laugh.Just like his decision to run was family made, his campaign has been a family affair as well.”My kids have been out with me door knocking,” he said.Should he win a seat at the council table, Jaeger said he hopes to focus on jobs, smart government and reducing crime.Jaeger said he has deep roots when it comes to working with youth development programs and he believes organizations like Raw Art Works and The Food Project need a partner in city government in order to grow. He said encouraging programs such as those helps reduce crime because they give kids a place to be.The city has started to make things easier for small business to get started, but Jaeger said he would like to see that grow further and include the immigrant population in particular. He said it would be nice, for example, to see “along with the Arts District let’s make an ethnic food center.”Luring green companies to the city to replace businesses that are leaving, modernizing services and investing in education are also goals, Jaeger said.”People have told me I’m a big thinking kind of guy,” he said. “My wife and I like to say, ?go big or go home.'”Jaeger, who has a degree in religion from the University of Montana and a master’s degree in organizational leadership from Gonzaga University, believes he can make a difference.”I’m really excited and having a lot of fun door-knocking,” he said. “We’ve covered the vast majority of the ward ? and when we do, we’ll start door knocking all over again.”For more information on Jaeger and his campaign head to his rally/fundraiser Friday at Fran’s Place on Washington Street at 7 p.m. or check out his website at www.jessejaeger.com.