(At the end of his first year in office, Mayor Jared Nicholson met with The Item’s Editorial Board to discuss his administration’s achievements in 2022. This is the fourth article of a five-part series on the discussion.)
LYNN — At the end of his discussion with The Item, Mayor Jared Nicholson spoke about the challenges that come with piloting a city’s municipal government as well as his long-term goals for the city.
Discussing his goals, Nicholson said that he looked forward to seeing the new Pickering Middle School open in the fall of 2026, before pausing to note that 2026 would be the first year of his second term.
“We should hopefully be opening a new Pickering — probably the first year of my second term, as opposed to my first term, but it’s still close on the Pickering,” Nicholson said.
When asked whether or not his comment was an indication that he would run for a second term, Nicholson confirmed that he intended to run again in 2025.
“I’m comfortable saying that my intention is to run for re-election,” he said.
Nicholson served three terms on the school committee before he was elected mayor in 2021. He said he was initially surprised by the range of responsibilities attached to the mayoral role.
“What surprised me the most and continues to be surprising is just the range of issues that we deal with as a municipality. The residents look to their city for everything that happens in their life, at least to point them in the right direction,” Nicholson said. “There’s been a lot of learning that happens every day.”
As much as he said he’s enjoyed his role at the city’s helm, Nicholson said he’s often frustrated by the breadth of the problems facing Lynn. He pointed to the city’s efforts to expand affordable housing as a temporary solution to a seemingly sisyphean issue.
“I’m thrilled that we’re going to be creating more affordable housing opportunities for our residents,” he said. “There’s still going to be thousands and thousands of our residents who struggle with the cost of housing.”
Nicholson added that he uses his frustrations as motivation to “encourage us to keep pushing for the next win.”
He also touched on the city’s ALERT project, which seeks to create an unarmed emergency response team in the city. “We’re not committed to a specific timeline because we want to get it right,” Nicholson said, citing that he hopes to have the project completed by the end of his first term.
In the spring, the city opened its new senior center on 37 Friend St. Nicholson said that he considered the new senior center one of his proudest achievements of the year, tied with the passage of an inclusionary zoning ordinance.
Being able to provide meals and transportation to Lynn’s senior residents, Nicholson said, closed a “glaring gap” in the city’s services.
“We’re really excited that it’s come online. We have a great team over there, and working with the council and our partners have been able to bring that to life in a really meaningful way — transportation, meals and a permanent home for them,” he said.
2022 brought some heart-wrenching tragedies — a fire that claimed a three-year-old’s life on Circuit Avenue in November, a triple murder-suicide on Rockaway Street this summer — that forced Nicholson to learn how to lead a grieving community.
“Those are really hard moments for the people that they affect personally, and they’re also hard moments for the community as well. It’s part of my role as mayor to be there for the community when those happen, but they can be painful,” Nicholson said.
Painful moments aside, Nicholson said that he feels honored and excited to have led the city for a year.
“It really feels like a privilege every day to be there and to have been able to make real progress. I feel like we have some serious momentum as a city, and it’s just an amazing feeling,” Nicholson said.
