It was Christmas Eve a few years ago when the mail slot on the door slammed shut after one piece of mail was dropped in. I gave the envelope to my mom. It was from our property manager of 10 years at the time (now 15 years) and, like a typical Trini, my mom sucked her teeth and let out a frustrated sigh. She wasn’t new to this. It was the annual letter saying our rent was going up. She had just gotten presents for the family and friends, and was stressed out for the next few days, scrambling to move money around to make rent work for a fast-approaching increase ― during Christmas.
I had only come back home to visit for the holidays. I remember texting Marven the next day. His family was facing similar and tougher challenges. He said then what he often does now, “We have to have a city that works for its people.” As I did then, and I believe deeply now, Marven was absolutely right.
For as long as I’ve known him, Marven has been fighting to carve out for the people of Lynn a city that says they matter. He’s been fighting for a Lynn that is responsive to its people’s needs. Most importantly, Marven has been fighting to invite Lynn residents into the power they have as voters. That includes people from the oft-forgotten wards and the working-class backbone of the city.
As one of the top-10 largest cities in the commonwealth, Lynn is past due for a lively, active, and willing public servant that I deeply believe Marven can and will be. Marven represents the bright young people who cross high-school graduation stages, overcoming great odds and challenging circumstances to go on and represent Lynn in almost every higher educational institution this state has to offer. Marven has constantly been a voice for some of Lynn’s hardest working folks that work around the clock all across the greater metro areas of Lynn, Boston, Everett, Chelsea, and beyond. Marven has been the only voice to break through the malaise of city politics to give platform to all these people and more, reaching across the many spectrums and backgrounds that make Lynn the unique home it is to so many. His policies would directly address the issues of housing, work, access to opportunities, and responsive politics that would make for a better life.
As a graduate of Lynn Classical, as a son to a single mom who commutes to work in Boston every day to turn around and spend the majority of her paycheck on housing, and as an advocate of justice for people across the globe, I want Lynn to be represented by Marven Hyppolite as the city councilor we’ve never had: a city councilor truly representing ALL the people of Lynn. We deserve a City Council that works for us, that will advocate for housing we can afford, that will consider local folks for jobs on every development project, and that will build people up before ever considering pushing them out.
We have to do what’s right by the people that live in the city now, not some future residents that city officials have been banking on attracting years from now. If we can not do right by the more than 90,000 people who presently live in the city, how are we to trust that it’ll happen 10, 20, or 30 years down the line? On Nov. 2, I hope you’ll do what’s right for Lynn and vote for Marven Hyppolite as city councilor-at-large. Let’s do right by our people, people.
A longtime friend of Marven Hyppolite, Michél Legendre is an advocate, public health expert, and activist who grew up in Lynn and is a graduate of Lynn Classical and Emmanuel College.
