LYNN – Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy and challenger state Sen. Thomas M. McGee (D-Lynn) entered round four of six mayoral debates Wednesday night.
Sponsored by the Highlands Coalition, a neighborhood group, the candidates fielded questions at KIPP Academy about street paving, whether to require developers to make a percentage of new apartments affordable, increasing the number of minorities who work for the city, and improvements to High Rock Tower Reservation.
Kennedy said she is opposed to any rule that would require developers to build affordable housing.
“Nearly 23 percent of our housing is affordable, according to a recent study,” she said. “If you look at neighboring communities they are well under 10 percent. It should not simply fall on Lynn to provide affordable housing. We need to ask our neighbors what they are doing. It’s not right for me to tell a developer how to spend his money on private land.”
McGee said a recent study found 50 percent of the city’s residents are paying more than 30 percent for housing. He cited the Gateway North residences under construction on Washington Street, a 71-unit apartment complex that includes affordable and market rate units, as a model.
He said the kind of requirements in Boston where up to 20 percent of the units in large apartment buildings must be affordable, does not fit Lynn.
“Boston has spent billions in new development and they have an appropriate plan,” he said. “But Lynn is a different kind of place, I prefer to work with developers on mitigation. It’s premature to say we should do linkage like Boston.”
A question on paving from the Highlands Coalition said only one street has been paved in the neighborhood since 2013.
But Kennedy had a list of nearly a dozen streets that have been paved in the Highlands.
“When I drive through the city, some of the streets are not in great shape,” she said. “But as mayor I’ve had 50 miles of roads paved and I will look again at the Highlands.”
McGee said the city is facing a challenge with crumbling streets and sidewalks. The city needs a five-year plan, he said, that includes not only street paving and sidewalk replacement, but a fix for some of the city’s dangerous intersections.
The mayor answered a question about a diverse workforce in the city by saying when she was elected eight years ago, no one in City Hall spoke Spanish.
Today, she said, there are Spanish speakers in the Parking Department, Assessor’s, City Clerk, and City Council offices.
In addition, Kennedy said she has made a number of minority appointments to city boards and commissions.
McGee said diversity includes women and he has four working in his Senate office, including his chief of staff. In addition, as chair of the Democratic Party, he employed minorities, he said.
“I am proud of my record and my ability to bring people together,” he said.
On High Rock, Kennedy said her administration has built stairs to the tower from Essex Street and recently added lighting, making the area safer. She said one of her priorities is to restore the Keeper’s Cottage on the property and open it to school groups.
McGee said he would build on the successes and focus on getting more people from across the city to use the park.
The debate comes on the same day McGee was endorsed by Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey.
“Tom is the right person to lead Lynn to the future it deserves and to partner with me in leading with our shared values,” Healey said in a statement.
The election is set for Nov. 7.
