District 7 Boston City Council candidates talk housing, Mass and Cass ahead of debate
It's the only position without an incumbent on the November ballot: Boston City Council District 7. Both candidates spoke to WBZ-TV about their plans for affordable housing and recovery at the area known as Mass and Cass and why each of them believes they're the best man for the job.
The seat was left empty after former Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson was sentenced in federal court in Boston in September for public corruption charges after receiving a $7,000 kickback from a staff member's city-funded bonus.
When the race began, 11 hopefuls were looking to fill the seat. Now it's down to two: Rev. Miniard Culpepper and Said "Coach" Ahmed.
Where is District 7?
District 7 is a culturally-rich Boston City Council district - bringing the four unique communities of Roxbury, Dorchester, the South End and Fenway together. Each with their own identity but also with shared goals. At the top of that list this campaign season? Housing affordability.
Plans for housing affordability
"The priority for me and many of the district residents is to deal with this housing issue," said Culpepper. "We're in a housing crisis."
Culpepper, a life-long resident of District 7, is an attorney and the pastor of Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church, which was founded by his grandfather. He said he believes his experience in public service, specifically with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), equips him to make real change.
When asked how he would handle the housing crisis, Culpepper said, "Gentrification neutralization plan, which consists of Section 8 homeownership, public housing development ownership by the tenants, homeownership through HUD-acquired homes through a lottery for District 7 residents only and the REIT [real estate investment trust] for lower moderate-incoming housing," said Culpepper. "And then, of course, there's rent control."
"These developments that are going up, happening in our own district, is not for our district residents and I want to make sure we do something about it," said Ahmed.
Ahmed has roots in Roxbury. He arrived in Boston at 12 years old with his family from Somalia and was raised in the Alice Taylor Apartments. He said his experiences in his neighborhood and more than 15 years of experience in the Boston Public School system helped him shape his solutions to the housing crisis, which include rent control, providing more resources to first-time homebuyers and the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act.
"We want to make sure if you're a tenant and you rented a house, the owner cannot sell the house while you're living there without you not knowing," said Ahmed.
How do they plan to handle Mass and Cass?
"I think another critical issue for the entire District 7 and outside the District 7 is Mass and Cass," said Culpepper. "I think we've got to do something about Mass and Cass."
The Boston City Council passed a resolution for what's called a recovery campus, so those that are in need at Mass and Cass are one step closer to being able to receive services. Culpepper pointed to The Care Campus in Skid Row in Los Angeles as a good example of what he'd like to do here in Boston.
"There's been discussion about where do you put it? Look! Let's just do it!" said Culpepper enthusiastically.
Ahmed, who didn't go into too much detail on the topic, mentioned the proposal of a safe injection site. He also wants to give South End residents more of a say in this issue at City Hall.
"We want to make sure that we don't get lazy advocating for these people," said Ahmed. "These are somebody's sister, daughter, mother, brother, father. This is our community."
Empowering small businesses
As for economic investment in the district, both Culpepper and Ahmed are about empowerment.
"We want to make sure that we empower the small businesses that we have in the area," said Ahmed.
"Start working on developing intentional investment in the businesses to grow them so that 10 years from now those businesses are booming and you've got a whole different District 7," said Culpepper.
If you're interested in learning more about the candidates, a debate will take place on Thursday, Oct. 16, that will be streamed on WBZ.com. The debate is hosted by the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts and will be moderated by WBZ-TV's Jon Keller and Jacquetta Van Zandt, podcaster from Politics and Prosecco.