A historic Lynn mayoral race is in its final day and, on Tuesday, voters go to the polls to pick City Council President Darren Cyr or School Committee member Jared Nicholson to be the city’s next mayor.
It’s been 30 years since city residents cast votes in a Lynn mayor’s race without an incumbent seeking reelection.
There is no doubt, from our viewpoint, that Cyr and Nicholson care about Lynn. Nicholson used his skill as a Northeastern University law professor to provide pro-bono legal advice to then-City Councilor (now state Sen.) Brendan Crighton in 2015 on rezoning to improve development planning.
True to his mantra of “living, breathing, eating, sleeping in Lynn,” Cyr, working with the Salvation Army, mobilized efforts to feed people during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But campaign literature distributed by Cyr’s campaign over the weekend raises concerns about his ability to perform as mayor. In one brochure, he stated his “first priority” will be to locate and open a new city senior center. The brochure fails to note that the city has already started that process by soliciting proposals for senior center locations.
The senior brochure’s title, “Mayor Darren Cyr supports Lynn seniors,” angered a retired Lynn teacher who said Cyr shouldn’t be calling himself the incumbent mayor.
Another brochure titled “final report card,” contrasts Cyr’s life-long Lynn residency with Nicholson’s status as a “Sudbury native who moved to Lynn 7 years ago.”
Cyr is rightfully proud of his Lynn roots. But the fact that Nicholson is a relatively new city resident puts him in good company with many other people who decided that Lynn is the place where they want to live.
In our view, Cyr’s resistance to adopting the “Housing Lynn” plan passed 8-2 by his council colleagues is rooted in rigid inflexibility.
The plan’s inclusionary-zoning component has been adopted by other Massachusetts communities with Massachusetts Communities Action Network spokesman Lewis Finfer noting, “In Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville, inclusionary zoning has led to thousands of affordable units.”
It’s Cyr’s rigidity contrasted with Nicholson’s openness to new ideas that concerns us. Cyr’s determination to modernize Lynn’s public schools is commendable, but Nicholson observed during Wednesday’s Lynn Community Television forum that Cyr’s plan to build “four or five schools at time” would require major reform in the state school building assistance program.
In other races voters will decide on Tuesday, Lynn voters can choose from a mix of incumbents and challengers. All four City Councilors-at-Large — Buzzy Barton, Brian Field, Brian LaPierre and Hong Net — are seeking reelection. Jose Encarnacion, Marven Hyppolite and Nicole McClain hope to win at-large seats.
Ward Councilors Dianna Chakoutis, Fred Hogan, Wayne Lozzi and Jay Walsh are running unopposed, but Ward 2 Councilor Rick Starbard faces a challenge from Elizabeth Figueroa; Coco Alinsug and George Meimeteas are seeking the Ward 3 seat now held by Cyr, and Natasha Megie-Maddrey hopes to unseat Ward 4 Councilor Richard Colucci.
The School Committee race also offers plenty of voter choices: Incumbents Brian Castellanos, Donna Coppola and Lorraine Gately are seeking reelection, but Nicholson, former mayoral candidate Michael Satterwhite, and veteran committeeman John Ford are leaving the committee.
Candidates seeking to win a committee seat include Eric Dugan, Sandra Lopez, Tiffany Magnolia, Lennin Pena, Daniel Richard and PoSan Ung.
Polls open at 7 a.m. on Tuesday and close at 8 p.m.
