LYNN — Incumbent Brian LaPierre, who is running for the office of city councilor at large for the fourth time, is betting on his history of accessibility as a public official, support of public school teachers, and his vision of diverse Lynn.
On Monday, close family, political friends, and a few of his oldest supporters gathered for a home-stretch event for the LaPierre campaign before the Nov. 2 city election at Old Tyme Italian Cuisine on Boston Street.
“He is one of the most hardworking councilors,” said Tom Watkins, who lives in Ward 1. “He knows the issues in Lynn and what people are concerned about and what the people need.”
Watkins said he urged LaPierre to run the first time because he saw his willingness to serve, consistency, and willingness to never drop the ball.
“I have always been very active in my community,” said LaPierre, who presided over the Lynn Shore Little League in the early 1990s. “My old neighbors are still supportive of me.”
LaPierre will be 48 years old in November. He was born in Lynn and grew up on Chatham Street. LaPierre said he went to Brickett Elementary School, the old Thurgood Marshall Middle School (then Eastern Junior High School) and graduated from Lynn English High School in 1991.
LaPierre got his bachelor’s degree in political science and master’s in middle-school education from Salem State College. He taught history, government and criminal justice for 11 years in the Lynn Public Schools.
In 2008, LaPierre started as a field representative for the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) of Boston, and then became AFT’s political organizer. Now, he is the director of AFT for Massachusetts.
“I have a lot of support from teachers, public school teachers,“ said LaPierre.
Both current and past presidents of the Lynn Teachers Union attended the event, as well as a few members of the School Committee.
LaPierre has been married for 16 years. He has two sons who attend Lynn public schools.
In 1995, LaPierre ran for office for the first time for Ward 3 councilor and was unsuccessful, he said. He waited 20 years to run again and did “extremely well“ in 2015 by his own admission and “conservatively well” subsequent times.
“I think it has to do with my accessibility, my down-to-earth approach. I return all my calls, all my texts, Facebook messages,” said LaPierre.
He views the job of a councilor at large as a gamut between the nitty-gritty of constituent services and the bigger picture that includes trying to keep taxes affordable, having responsible development coming into the city, herding crime in blighted areas across the city, and putting an emphasis on making the city cleaner and cracking down on litter.
Regarding responsible development, LaPierre said that high housing prices have made it hard for people to sustain and live in the city.
“We want to claw some of that back,“ he said. “Make it more attractive for the developers to come here but also put in the safety nets into the agreements especially if they want incentives from the city.”
The City Council has approved a housing production plan, which will take into account how the city can let developers know about the needs of the community and how the community can benefit from developers. Benefits for the community could include a park or percentage of affordable housing in the development, LaPierre said.
LaPierre, who is a member of the City Council’s Ordinance and Rules Committee, among many other committees, said he was proud of how the city responded to COVID-19 pandemic.
“We relaxed a lot of city ordinances for outdoor dining, alcohol delivery, being able to relax permit fees, and not collect permit fees on these restaurants that are barely hanging on,” said LaPierre.
Among the shortcomings of the city, LaPierre singled out community accessibility. He said more information materials and job advertisements need to be translated into more languages, other than just Spanish. LaPierre said that he would like to build on making Lynn more inclusive.
“I am very vocal about my support of our first Diversity and Inclusion Officer Faustina Cuevas,” said LaPierre. “She has the vision of including all of us and making sure City Hall reflects on its diversity, opens up the doors to City Hall, (makes) it a very welcoming public place to gather and to do that you need to get over the language barriers, you have to be in the neighborhoods. We are going to host a lot of listening sessions even in the winter at public parks, churches, small businesses. I think by doing that we are going to be reaching the constituents that we haven’t heard a lot from.”
He also said he supports Black Lives Matter and the mural that was painted in front of the City Hall; body cameras for police; and the anti-crisis unit that the city allocated $500,000 for and that will respond instead of police to mental-health cases or other needs of the community.
LaPierre said that it will be unique to work with a new mayor after the November election — City Council President Darren Cyr and School Committee member Jared Nicholson are running for mayor — and that he could maybe bring leadership and value to what they are looking to do in the city in terms of collaboration between the mayor’s office and the City Council.
“We’re (going to) have a learning curve there, whether it is Nicholson or Cyr. I can work with either. I am looking forward to it,” he said.
As the chair of the City Council’s Budget Committee, LaPierre said that currently the city has a very robust and healthy city budget of about $400 million. The Chapter 70 (state money for public elementary and secondary schools) increased by $15 million from the previous budget. In 2016, when LaPierre started as a city councilor, Lynn’s budget was $350 million, there was less than $1 million in cash reserves and the city took on a $17 million deficit, said LaPierre. The city had to put a trash fee on its residents.
“Five years later, Chapter 70 is up, (the) budget is bigger, we have $28 million in free cash reserves,” said LaPierre.
With increased federal funding, including through the American Rescue Plan Act, the city should invest into big capital things, LaPierre said, like a new senior center, a new middle school, and an update of fire stations around the city that are antiquated.
“All while trying to protect the tax base and grow the commercial side of things that provides more significant growth than residential property taxes,” said LaPierre.
In his speech at the event, LaPiere said that he brings people’s voices to City Hall with their issues and concerns.
“I respectfully ask this room to pass the good word,” said LaPierre.
