LYNN — Candidates for the Ward 1 City Council seat met to make their pitches Monday during the only televised candidate forum before the preliminary election next month.
Candidates Jennifer Long, Todd Bacon, Paul Gouthro, Peter Meaney, Jeff Newhall, and Michael Satterwhite gathered for a one-hour forum hosted by former Ward 1 Councilor Joseph Scanlon and held at Lynn Community Television’s studio.
The candidates are vying for the seat that has been held by Councilor Wayne Lozzi for 20 years. Lozzi did not pull papers for this year’s election.
One of the major topics of the debate was the controversial Massachusetts Department of Transportation traffic-improvement project on Broadway.
The message of many candidates was that there should have been more public engagement with those most affected by the project, especially abutters. The sentiment was echoed by Satterwhite, Bacon, Long, Gouthro, and Meaney, who said a dentist’s office that he owns in the area would be affected.
Meaney said his biggest concern is that the city is attempting to tackle projects at Broadway, Pickering Middle School, and Lynnfield Street simultaneously.
“I’m all for improving the area,” Meaney said. “However, I do have some issues with the project as currently situated.”
Newhall said that although he understands the concerns of those whose properties will be affected by the project, the opportunity it presents to alleviate the traffic and safety issues that have plagued the area is something that the city can not say no to.
“I don’t think we can afford to not allow this project to go forward with the amount of state funding that we’re going to receive,” Newhall said. “The intersection and the street is one of the worst in the state. We need to think about this in a much bigger picture.”
On the subject of Pickering Middle School, candidates stressed the urgency of the need to improve the school, not only for students but for taxpayers in the neighborhood and the city. Many pointed to the overcrowding of schools as a major issue that needs to be addressed.
Long said she feels a new school is necessary both to keep class sizes down and address safety concerns she has with the aging buildings.
“The kids deserve, and the taxpayers deserve, to have new schools for the children,” Long said.
Satterwhite, a former School Committee member, said that the city needs to address the problems facing not only Pickering Middle School but also the adjacent Sisson Elementary School.
“There’s a plethora of issues with that school,” Satterwhite said.
Bacon, who lives near the school, also said the project is crucial and that he would welcome it, but stressed that the city has to be mindful of potential traffic issues that may arise.
When pressed on the issue of protecting Ward 1’s green space, Bacon pointed out that protecting Lynn Woods is an area of importance that can not be overlooked, and that the reservation could be used for more recreational activities.
“Lynn Woods is a gem and we need to protect it,” Bacon said. “There’s a lot of room for improvement in terms of the usage of the woods.”
Meaney also stressed that it is important for the community to see the ward’s natural resources as things to be proud of and actively maintain.
“We need to improve the places we have and preserve what we have,” Meaney said. “The community members are what make and break those things.”
Streets and street maintenance were a common theme of the night, with candidates stressing how they would tackle the day-to-day issues that Ward 1 constituents face.
Satterwhite leaned on his experience in the city’s government and his work in improving the city as a resident as key for the success he would have working with constituents.
“It’s about relationships that you already have that make it much easier to get your point across,” Satterwhite said.
In response to a similar question about speeding and dangerous driving in the ward, Gouthro stressed that it is important to find solutions that make sense economically and logistically to solve the concerns of residents. He said that would require community members to take an active role in reporting and documenting concerns in their neighborhoods.
“I think the most effective method we have is to have citizens report the behavior,” Gouthro said. “We can’t put police everywhere at every point and time.”
Meaney and Newhall both echoed this sentiment and said that it is important to find other cost-effective and hands-on solutions to make the streets safer.
“The Lynn Police can only do so much,” Newhall said. “One cruiser or two cruisers are not going to solve that problem once a week.”
As for other common issues candidates had heard about from constituents, Meaney, Newhall, and Bacon all pointed to public safety and access to emergency services as a major concern, particularly as the Ward 1 population rises with the incoming 2Life Communities senior housing at 500 Lynnfield St.
Meaney and Bacon both floated the idea of using the fire station at 625 Lynnfield St. to provide expanded emergency services to the area.
Satterwhite said that affordability, especially for homeowners, was a priority for constituents he had spoken to. Gouthro pointed to traffic and parking concerns, especially around Shoemaker Elementary School, as a major issue he had heard about from residents.
Long said that for her, the race is about solving a litany of issues that the ward is facing, including the maintenance of the ward’s parks.
The preliminary election will be held Sept. 5, with the general election set for Nov. 7.
