Author Archives: Barbara Pennucci

Senator Pat Jehlen Needs Your Help!

To ensure that Pat wins her primary coming up on Thursday September 8th, Medford for MA members are encouraged to get involved. There are plenty of canvassing, phonebanking, and outreach opportunities ahead and we hope that you can pick a day to come help the campaign.

Upcoming events:

  • Sunday July 17th meeting at 1815 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge at 5:00pm for a Cambridge Ward 10 Canvass. Event details here.
  • Tuesday July 19th Somerville Ward 7 Canvass, meet at 80 Electric Ave, Somerville at 6:00pm. Details
  • Sunday July 24th Medford Ward 6 BBQ And Canvass, 168 Grove St, Medford 2:00pm Details
  • Saturday July 30th Medford Canvass, meet at Magnificent Muffin & Bagel
    491 High St 11:00 am Details

Pat Jehlen’s campaign is accepting applications for their Summer/ Fall 2016 Fellowship Program. Fellows will get hands-on campaign experience in an exciting and competitive race supporting the field team in grassroots organizing, outreach and absorption, and voter contact. Campaign staff will provide fellows with trainings and skills that will be beneficial to their professional and political lives. Learn more and submit an application

Lastly, campaign lawn signs are in! To pick up your lawn sign or bumper sticker you can stop by the office at 212 Elm Street in Davis Square, Somerville. The office is located on the third floor above the Citizens Bank in the Canopy office. Signs are available for pickup weekdays from 1-8pm. If you are unable to pick yours up at the office and would like it delivered to your house please call (617)-909-0408.

First Mayoral Debate

The first mayoral debate between Stephanie Muccini Burke and Bob Penta will be held at the Chevalier Theatre, 30 Forest Street, Medford, on Thursday, October 15 from 6-10pm.

Sponsored by the Medford Chamber of Commerce, the debate will be moderated by Fox25 News Investigative Reporter and Medford resident, Kerry Kavanaugh.

The event is free and open to the public. Doors open at 6:00pm and the debate begins at 7:00pm.

City Council Preliminary Election Results

Per Medford Patch (Frank O’Laughlin, Patch Staff)

Vote count for each candidate:

  1. John Falco: 2,042
  2. Breanna Lungo-Koehn: 2,031
  3. Michael Marks: 1,874
  4. Adam Knight: 1,835
  5. George Scarpelli: 1,669
  6. Fred Dello Russo: 1,644
  7. Rick Caraviello: 1,625
  8. Neil Osborne: 1,532
  9. Bill O’Keefe: 1,405
  10. Mark Crowley: 1,359
  11. Chris D’Aveta: 1,338
  12. Michael Ruggiero: 921
  13. Leonore Eforo: 515
  14. Neal McSweeney: 388
  15. Mario Martin: 387
  16. Brian Chamberlain: 346

Issues of concern for Medford’s Mayoral and City Council Candidates

At a recent gathering, members of Medford for MA discussed what questions we would like to pose to candidates for city offices in this fall’s elections. Following is the preliminary list of issues. We welcome input and feedback! Please send potential questions on these progressive issues for candidates to medfordforma@gmail.com. If there is an progressive topic you think we have overlooked, or need to break down further, please email us. There are a few obvious progressive issues, like raising the minimum wage and earned sick time that we have not addressed here, because they do not seem to be directly relevant to being on the Medford City Council.

Green Line – development in the area and potential expansion to Rt 16
Affordable housing – what are candidates’ views on affordable housing in Medford?
Community Preservation Act – Do they support it, where would they recommend funds are spent?
Charter Review – Should the charter be reviewed and what is the number one thing they would like to see looked at in a charter review?
Medford Square businesses – how would you work to help them, what policies/ordinances would you pursue to help them?
Vulnerability to Climate Change/Resiliency – What do you think Medford’s greatest risk in the next 20 years is, and how would you begin to prepare for it?
Liquor & entertainment licenses – Do we have enough? Too many? Should the rules be changed? Why?
Economic Development – What can Medford city government do to proactively encourage economic development and what, if any, specific types of economic development should Medford be encouraging?
Energy & Environment Issues – questions to get at their values in this area. What are the biggest environmental issues facing Medford and what should we be doing about them? What would you do to improve the Mystic River? Should Medford increase its use of renewable energy and, if so how?
Gentrification – What would you do to guard against gentrification in Medford Neighborhoods?
Zoning – Need for zoning updates and to update obsolete ordinances – where do they think we need change in zoning?
Library funding & support – What efforts, if any, would you support to improve and preserve the Medford Public Library?
Arts funding – same difficulty as library funding
Education – in particular modernization of the Vocational School
Immigrant communities – Medford as welcoming community – what can we do to be more welcome to the people moving into Medford?
Racial justice issues/human rights – what do you think is the state of racial justice in Medford?

Some possible litmus test questions:

  • What is the biggest issue facing Medford?
  • If elected, what issue are you most interested in working on?

Please send your questions for the candidates, thoughts and ideas to MedfordForMA@gmail.com.
View current candidate information.

Medford for MA is the local chapter of Progressive Mass. In the past we supported the campaigns of Katherine Clark, Pat Jehlen, Carl Sciortino, and Christine Barber.

Progressive Mass works to move Massachusetts toward a future where the values of equal opportunity, social and economic justice, consumer and environmental protection, health care as a right, equal access to quality public services, respect for all residents and accountable and transparent government are given top priority.

To be added to our email list, send email to medfordforma@gmail.com