LYNN — Approximately 50 residents attended a meeting Tuesday night at City Hall, where they provided feedback on how the city should spend the $75 million in funding it has received from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).
The meeting was part of a series of public forums hosted by Mayor Jared Nicholson and city councilors that asked residents what projects they would like to see funded with the money.
Several ward meetings have already been held, and Tuesday’s meeting was dedicated to the city as a whole, with Councilor-at-Large Brian LaPierre attending the meeting. The three other at-large councilors, Buzzy Barton, Hong Net, and Brian Field, did not attend.
“This is a real collaboration across the city and we are doing it across different modalities,” LaPierre said. “We are doing it over Zoom, at schools, through surveys, everywhere. We have millions (and) millions of dollars coming into Lynn, but we have to balance what we need from ARPA.”
Thirteen residents provided feedback in either English or Spanish, with the common theme being that they wanted to see funding prioritized for affordable housing.
Jose Encarnacion, a resident who ran for City Council in the last election, told Nicholson and LaPierre that he has heard from his neighbors that their rents are becoming more expensive and they are worried about losing their homes.
“We need resources to support and retain the rights of low-income renters,” Encarnacion said. “They worry a lot because sometimes they don’t have enough money to pay the rent. People have to work two or three jobs just to get by.”
Another resident, Michelle Agrigra, who spoke in Spanish, shared her story about how she is trying to raise her daughter as a single mother in an apartment shared with strangers.
“My daughter is becoming a young lady and she is unable to have any privacy,” she said. “She doesn’t have a bathroom to herself and she shares a bathroom with people she doesn’t even know. I think that reasonable and affordable housing is necessary for my circumstances and my daughter’s circumstances.”
Other residents, such as Marco Fontain, advocated for funding to be directed towards public transportation, citing an increase in cars and traffic congestion in Lynn.
“Sometimes it feels like I am going to be run over when I am crossing Boston Street trying to get to CVS,” Fontain said. “We should be investing in public transportation.”
Sandra Lopez, a mother of a 3-year-old who ran for School Committee in the last election, said she wants funding to be spent on mental- and medical-health services and said the city needs to listen to the community carefully.
“You speak but there needs to be action,” Lopez said. “Officials need to fight for the community here and ensure everyone has housing and proper health services.”
To date, the city has dedicated $13.5 million to improving the air quality in its municipal buildings by replacing and upgrading the HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) systems throughout public buildings in Lynn. And $3 million has been allocated toward a Small Business Grant Program that is administered by the Economic Development & Industrial Corporation of Lynn (EDIC/Lynn).
City officials have been asking its residents to fill out an online survey that asks where funding should be directed. These public-outreach efforts are aimed at identifying the city’s most urgent needs in areas such as public health, housing, food security, workforce development, entrepreneurship and small-business development, environmental health and open space, and behavioral and mental health.
LaPierre said he thinks outreach has been successful for the city and that it serves as a model for other municipalities.
“I think outreach has been going well,” LaPierre said. “The thing is, there is a lot of outreach you have to do. Social media, in-person, Zoom — it’s quite a bit.”
