LYNN — Basketball coach and small-business owner Keith Lee announced his candidacy for mayor this week.
Lee joins City Council president Darren Cyr, as well as current School Committee members Michael Satterwhite and Jared Nicholson, in the race to replace Mayor Thomas M. McGee, who announced in March that he would not seek re-election.
A lifelong Lynn resident, Lee said he wants to leave a lasting legacy of unity, positive change and accountability in his home city.
“That’s what the city needs — someone to go to war for them any time and have their back,” Lee said. “Any time there’s something wrong, I take responsibility. We don’t blame the people.”
Lee said he considers housing, crime and overall morale to be some of the city’s most pressing current issues, and said his background as a pre-professional basketball player and youth coach has given him the skills necessary to lead Lynn in a new direction.
“Our city’s too great to have a dark cloud over it,” Lee said. “That’s what made me want to run for mayor. I run in every kind of circle and talk to everybody, and the overall census seems to be ‘the city needs to get better.’ We’re just not happy with certain things.
“Some people talk about the roads, other people talk about the commons, some people talk about the trash. We all as a unit and a community need to step up and hold each other accountable.”
Helping others has long been a focus for Lee.
He served as a paraprofessional in Lynn Public Schools from 1999 to 2000, and again from 2011 to 2017, where he worked with autistic children and children with behavioral disabilities.
In 2019, Lee started the nonprofit organization Sports Support Inc., which aims to help at-risk children athletically, mentally and academically during their transition to adulthood.
“I’m also running to inspire positive change in our youth,” Lee said. “If they can see me do it, hopefully it will motivate them.”
In 1995, Lee’s designation as an All American Top 7 scorer landed him a scholarship to play basketball for Prairie View A&M University, from where he graduated in 1998 with a degree in computer science. He now operates his own Boston-based athletic training business, Eleet Basketball.
If elected, Lee plans to bring his background in community development to City Hall, where he said he hopes to implement a number of social programs.
“We definitely need more preventative measures. If we can get elementary- and high school-aged kids nice services and programs, those are the ones who become the examples for the younger kids,” he said. “We really want to focus on the youth.”
To combat the city’s rising housing prices, Lee also plans to place higher taxes on large companies that come to Lynn.
Doing so will keep Lynn affordable and also help keep the culture of the city alive, he said.
“Companies that are well-off, they’re going to have to pay that premium,” he said. “Too many companies are trying to come in thinking they can put up this rent, and then nobody in our city can afford (to live here).”
Lee believes in the city’s potential as a hotspot, yet also feels a sense of responsibility to preserve its roots.
“Lynn is the next major hub,” he said. “We have renovations coming to our city because we’re the next spot, and I’m not going to have all of these companies trying to come in and take advantage like they have in other cities in the past.
“We need to take care of our people first.”
