Why Vote for a Change?

I want to be clear: I agree with our current Councilor on many issues. We agree that we need less traffic, more investment in flood resilience, and a strong police force. I know him personally, and I respect his service to Quincy. However, there are also many areas where we strongly disagree.

Take, for example, the issue of the pay raise for the mayor. Last year the council voted to give Mayor Koch a 79% raise without a single public hearing. This raise was exponentially more than our police officers and teachers received. It will make him one of the highest-paid mayors in the entire nation at $289,000 a year. This is not a good use of taxpayer dollars. I was extremely disappointed to see my opponent both vote for the raises and vocally defend them. On the other hand, I tirelessly gathered signatures to block them. If elected, I will work to reverse this raise.

There’s also the issue of the Saint statues on the new police station located here in Ward 1. As a proud Catholic, I strongly believe in the separation of Church and State. We should not spend over one million dollars to pay for huge religious symbols on city property. Instead of publicly vetting these statues, the council let the costs balloon until the very last minute. Councilor McCarthy supports the statues. I would prefer to spend the tax money on city services instead.

These aren’t just one-off complaints. This is part of a larger pattern where City Hall’s detachment leads to tangible consequences for the rest of us. Quincy’s bond rating was recently downgraded due to reckless spending, likely leading to higher taxes for less services. This is on top of concerns I’ve heard while door knocking about street closures with no notice and unreturned phone calls to elected officials. We need leadership that recognizes these problems so we can start fixing them.

As Councilor, I will be committed to protecting taxpayers, especially our seniors and working families. That means ensuring that large-scale developments contribute their fair share, opposing the recent City Council and mayoral pay raises, and reforming the process so that future raises are tied to those received by city employees. I will fight for a transparent, accountable, and responsive government that always answers your calls.