PEABODY — After waving to voters outside of the Welch School all day Tuesday, Wendy Lattof stuck around the polling location to see the rolls of data for herself and find out whether her Ward 2 neighbors had faith in her to be their City Council representative.
She was elated to find out that they did. With 490 votes among the 796 cast for either her or challenger Michael Troisi, Lattof won in a landslide victory with 62% of the vote.
Having gone to Endicott College for entrepreneurship, Lattof’s background is in business, and she is the co-owner of Create & Escape: a studio on Main Street that has brought many crafting mediums to downtown Peabody.
Lattof first dipped her toes into civic engagement 20 years ago when her son Sam was at the Carroll School. She was frustrated that her son had no place to play at recess, as there was no playground at the time, and she led the charge in securing $148,000 in funding for a playground, which is still at the Carroll School today.
“We were just a small, mighty team that I led that was just unstoppable,” Lattof said, reminiscing on her days as a PTO mom. “… It felt so special that all these people came together for a common goal to help these kids. That was a springboard for me to do more community work.”
Lattof said “it felt surreal” waking up Wednesday morning as Ward 2 Councilor-elect.
“We’ve worked so hard, gosh, since April and really mapped out a strategic plan,” she said. “We wanted to run a positive campaign filled with fresh energy, kindness, and just being positive, listening to residents and really talking with them with a two-way conversation versus talking at people.”
She emphasized that she wanted her campaign to represent her entire ward because she valued the “collective feedback from everybody” and felt that her time knocking on doors was well-spent.
Lattof said addressing traffic and pedestrian safety is still a key priority of hers and her future constituents. She added that many who voted for her stopped to chat with her as they were leaving the Welch School on Tuesday, and they shared concerns about having walkable and accessible streets, sidewalks, and cross walks.
“If you walked around (downtown), imagine trying to be here with a wheelchair. We need it (to be) more accessible for everybody… You don’t want to risk your life crossing the street,” she said.
Besides her hopes for cleaner, safer streets and road, parking, and traffic improvements, Lattof also highlighted the following priorities:
- Uplifting resident-led solutions
- Keeping Peabody affordable
- Considering community input for the future Rousselot site
- Supporting small businesses
- Ensuring city services are responsive
- Communicating proactively and responsively
- Revitalizing downtown
Although she will not be taking office until the new year, Lattof has already made good on her promise to consistently host open coffee chats, or office hours. Her first will be on Dec. 20 from 9-11 a.m. at Create and Escape, 71 Main St., and all community members are invited to stop by.
After repeatedly thanking voters for their support, Lattof said, “I’m just so excited to work with them, and I think we’ll do great things together. I want to really be their seat at the table and represent all of them… I’m just really excited to make some positive impact and change in the community.”
