The Lynn City Council’s vote last week to approve the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) traffic-improvement project on Broadway doesn’t look especially close at first glance. Eight councilors voted in favor, three voted against. But a simple majority wasn’t enough for its passage. The project required approval from two-thirds of the council, meaning eight was the magic number.
The project is going to reconstruct 0.3 miles on Broadway to improve public safety. It is particularly important because it will improve Broadway’s intersections with Euclid Avenue and Jenness Street, which MassDOT has listed as two of the most dangerous in the Commonwealth. Every year, there are two dozen accidents between the two of them. Not only will the project help clean up the mess at those intersections, it will do so with $6 million from the state. For the city, it was too good to turn down. So why did three councilors try to do just that?
In Councilor-at-Large Brian LaPierre’s words, he was “deeply disappointed in the process, not the project itself.” LaPierre said that there should have been more opportunities for input from residents in the area, and that in the future, leaders need to better communicate the impact projects like this will have on those living nearby. It is understandable that councilors are concerned about representing constituents’ interests and ensuring that those who will be affected by this project are represented. But with so much outside funding to fix these dangerous intersections, the stakes were too high for this project to fail.
Of the city’s four at-large councilors, Nicole McClain was the only one to vote in favor of the project. It’s more than just trivia. On contentious issues, it is not uncommon for the ward councilors and at-large councilors to form two separate groups that vote together. When a supermajority is required, this 7-4 division ensures the motion does not pass. By maintaining independence, McClain stuck her neck out for an important project for the city.
Like the other at-large councilors, McClain will be on the ballot in November’s citywide election. Yet, she is in a more vulnerable position than the other three incumbents, who have all been elected to the council multiple times, because she is not running for re-election. Instead, she is running for her first full term after her appointment earlier this year to fill the late Buzzy Barton’s seat. McClain does not have the same advantages as an elected incumbent, and she took a risk by voting against the other at-large councilors. At least here, it hasn’t gone unnoticed.
