A crusade season hampered by the limits of a pandemic ends Tuesday, with 21 applicants vying for nine city council seats.
At least one new face is guaranteed for the next two years on the board, as Tim Toomey will return. After an era of public service that lasted more than 35 years, Toomey announced in June that he would retire.
Signs have been higher this year, leaflets and leaflets have been delivered to voters’ doors and mailboxes, galore, and applicants have met with voters. host virtual forums of candidates who gave the impression of being less numerous than in past election seasons. Robert Winters’ Cambridge Civic Journal online page shows 8 in October after forums organised through A Better Cambridge and the Cambridge Citizens Coalition in September; published a 2019 crusade calendar for comparison, appearing 15 times in September and October.
The organized forums did not gain advantages for applicants of being able to call from home, although political boycotts played an important role. A forum organised through A Better Cambridge attracted 15 applicants; A questionnaire from the Cambridge Citizens Coalition attracted thirteen responses. When the arts network organized a forum, 11 applicants responded.
Politicking has spread online to a greater extent than would have been necessary, and the debate can be simply lively. In one case, letters flew and teams formed around the installation of motorcycle paths on Northern Massachusetts Avenue and a commitment through applicants to adhere to the city’s Bicycle Safety Ordinance.
Some challengers fought for visibility. Deyetants Dana Bullister maintained an animated Twitter account and Frantz Pierre was just as active on Instagram — with 3 kids, struggled to find time for public forums, he said Friday — but newcomer and copywriter candidate Roy Ribitzky didn’t speak on forums. , and their social media dried up in mid-summer. As online access to the electorate to convey a message has become more crucial, Gregg Moree’s turnout has plummeted. Jeffery McNary made the decision to carry out the electoral crusade on October 13 as a written candidate with only five forums remaining, however, he said on Friday that he was opting to locate the electorate browsing Cambridge rather than addressing them online.
And Ilan Levy, who ran for the fourth time after the crusades to end the Cambridge chief executive’s form of government, admitted on Thursday that his crusade was a “launching pad” for a task to create a “encyclopedia of nonsense,” which was finished. a repository of “imaginary solutions” for Cambridge and other cities.
“Using pataphysics, the science of imaginary solutions, let’s put into effect the vision of our community,” Levy said. “I think for everyone who has participated or not in urban life, it’s pretty transparent that the nonsense has failed us. “
In his own video, he recommends term limits for public service and full transparency within government; In some other presentation, Alan Greene needs other people to locate things like loose food distribution, public transportation, and a hardware store within a 15-minute walk. Virginia Greene proposes that no construction exceed the height of the tallest tree that can grow locally, about 150 feet in Cambridge.
The “Encyclopedia of Nonsense” and a link to submit your concepts can be found here – it replaces Levy’s crusade website.
The candidate profiles below show who is running and, in most cases, offer insight into their thinking on some of the campaign’s key issues: housing; make government bodies and voices in meetings more inclusive; and the hiring of the next Municipal Manager. Most of the responses come from this season’s public forums and candidate questionnaires through civic groups, and have been edited for publication.
In alphabetical order
Burhan Azeem
Dana Bullister
Robert Eckstut
Tonia Hicks
Ilan Levy
Joe McGuirk
Jeffery McNary
Gregg Moree
Frantz Pierre
Roy Ribitzky
Theodora Skeadas
Paul tonic
Nicolas Williams
In alphabetical order
Dennis Carlone
Alanna Mallon
Marc McGovern
Patty Nolan
Sumbul Siddiqui
E. Denise Simmons
Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler
Quinton Zondervan