LYNN — Mayoral hopefuls Jared Nicholson and Darren Cyr sparred infrequently during Wednesday night’s Lynn Community TV debate, but their biggest difference of opinion came not over issues, but over how long each respective candidate has lived in the city.
“I have lived in this city my whole life,” said Cyr, who is president of the City Council. In the discussion over the Lynn housing production plan, passed by the council on an 8-2 vote (with Cyr voting against it), Cyr took aim at “outsiders.”
“I’m really getting sick of outsiders coming in here and telling us that we should have affordable housing in Lynn,” Cyr said.
Nicholson, who is from Sudbury originally, stressed that while he may not have been born in Lynn, he has made his home here and hopes to bring up his family here. One of the people who sat on the steering committee that formulated the housing plan, Nicholson said its purpose is to ensure that anyone who wants to stay here can afford to do so.
He also said that the plan, which includes language about inclusionary zoning (holding prospective developers to a percentage of units earmarked for affordable housing), is merely a starting point.
“There needs to be a lot of discussion about it,” he said.
“I’d like for you to go to the community where you lived and try to tell them they have to put inclusionary-zoning provisions in their developments,” Cyr said to Nicholson. “The whole town would be screaming.”
Nicholson called housing a regional issue, and said that the answer to the issue is to create more opportunities all the way around — market rate and affordable (which is seen as any housing that costs 30 percent or less of a family’s income).
“More than half of our population is overburdened,” he said. “This is the plan the city has come together to put forward. There’s been plenty of conversation about it. Eight of your 11 colleagues on the City Council agree that this is an issue.”
The two had smaller differences on the establishment of an unarmed crisis-response team (UCRT), where social workers would, in certain instances, take the lead in responding to certain situations.
Cyr said he had his doubts, but would keep an open mind.
“My concerns are safety,” he said. “Safety of the responders, of law enforcement, and the people who are calling 9-1-1.”
Nicholson said community leaders have identified a UCRT as a real need.
“They made a real strong case for it in public hearings over the last year and a half,” he said. “Any time you try something new, there are going to be unanswered questions. This will require a lot of work — with the Lynn Justice Coalition, Lynn Police, Lynn Fire, and public safety. I’m committed to doing that work.”
The hour-long debate touched on several other issues, including the pollution at King’s Beach, the condition of the Lynn public schools, the urgency of finishing the Pickering Middle School project, and at least getting the ball rolling on building some new elementary schools.
“We have 28 schools in Lynn and 14 of them are over 100 years old,” Cyr said. “We have students in some of our schools sitting in trailers. That’s not acceptable.”
“We need to make sure every school is safe for kids to enter, every day,” Nicholson said. “That’s just mandatory for all of this. Building new schools is a huge priority in the city.”
Both expressed outrage over the condition of the steps in the MBTA parking garage, with Cyr saying he’d like to see the city take over the operation and maintenance of the facility from the MBTA. Nicholson spoke about the idea of electrifying the commuter rail — something he said would be vital in making Lynn a destination site.
Other issues discussed were the need for a new senior center, the city’s surplus money, and bringing back manufacturing jobs.
As for their vision of what they’d like to accomplish by the end of their first term, “two hotels on the Lynnway, a new Pickering, the start of two new elementary schools, more police, more firefighters, to increase our reserve amount to well over $50 million, and bring in more development to make it affordable for everyone to maintain their own home,” Cyr said.
“I would hope that in four years we look back and see that we’ve made the most of our opportunities,” Nicholson said, “and that the people feel like they’ve been included, that we’ve brought in good jobs with good benefits for Lynn residents, created projects where the neighbors are excited. Having a new Pickering? Absolutely. As is a plan to build more schools. Another goal is to look back and see we’ve done something about housing.”
