LYNN — Lifelong Lynn resident and former city employee Don Castle is joining the race for councilor-at-large with a goal to bring more people in the city together.
Growing up on Henry Avenue and later moving to Pine Hill, Castle spent more than 20 years working in trial court in Lynn and Boston and most recently as the American Rescue Plan Act compliance officer for the city. He also ran a campaign for Ward Six councilor four years ago.
Now retired with more time on his hands, Castle said he decided to give it a shot and run for an at-large seat.
“I have the time and I love the city,” he said. “I took out my Lynn Classical yearbook and it showed that my ambition, where you say what you want to be when you grow up, was to be an elected official.”
As part of his campaign, his goal is to always be available to help move the city forward, saying he would be a councilor who is always on call and ready to help.
“I’m someone who has the energy and the time to be a full-time councilor. And that’s what I’m going to try to let people know–that I’m available to take phone calls,” Castle said. “I think I’m a fresh face in a kind of crowded field right now.”
As Castle’s witnessed the political climate on the national and local level change over the past few years, with people not getting along and disagreeing on numerous issues, he wants to work to bring people together to have civil conversations and “robust dialogue” in the city.
“We need to have open dialogue. We need to have good debates,” he said. “It’s okay if we don’t agree, but we don’t have to annihilate each other. Nowadays if you don’t agree with someone, they just don’t want to talk to you anymore. I want to try to change that and shake hands with people at the end of the day and have everyone’s ideas brought to the table.”
One of his ideas to achieve this includes a city summit that would bring together all of the neighborhoods and allow people to speak and share their ideas and thoughts about the city. Having run a summit two years ago on opiate awareness, Castle says this is a productive and beneficial idea.
Another topic he is planning to address throughout his campaign is the quality-of-life issues for the city’s residents and neighborhoods including trees, sidewalks, streets and a new Pickering Middle School, as well as fully funding city departments including police, fire and the Department of Public Works (DPW).
“All of these little quality-of-life issues become bigger issues if they are not addressed quickly,” he said.
During an event he attended in Boston last year, Castle said he learned about their “311” dial option, which he wants to implement into Lynn. When calling 311, the caller will be connected to a representative from the city to voice whatever concerns they have about their neighborhood and will then be given a ticket number that is sent over to DPW to handle in a timely manner.
“There’s two elderly women on my street, in their 80s, and they don’t really use the internet. They like to just call a number and talk to somebody,” Castle said. “So I think this would be a really good idea.”
Castle has also been an active Pine Hill resident for years, as a member of the Pine Hill Civic Association and by hosting neighborhood crime watches.
“I think being an active part of the city and my neighborhood my entire life, talking to people, and being a product of the Lynn Public Schools gives me a great foundation. And being at City Hall for the last couple of years has really shown me what’s going on in the city,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to do this, so I thought ‘you know what? I’m just going to do it this year.'”
Castle is hosting an official launch party for his campaign at the Ancient Order of the Hibernians on June 23 from 7 to 10 p.m. and encourages anyone with questions to reach out to him at 781-589-0694.
