Sullivan says he is ready to take on “the good ‘ole boys”
By Arthur Dudney

John L. Sullivan is a Somerville resident with a lot of his mind. He is the challenger in the hotly contested election for Ward Five Alderman and is thinking about schools, developers and the future of local politics. Sullivan spoke at a Somerville News October 7 contributors’ meeting.

Sullivan presents himself as an honest new-comer to politics who knows the city government and the community well. He currently works as an inspector in the Housing Authority. However, observers have pointed out that the Ward Five race is a microcosm of the last mayoral election: Sullivan is a supporter of the Mayor’s narrowly defeated challenger in that race, Tony LaFuente, and the incumbent Ward Five Alderman, Sean T. O’Donovan, supports the incumbent Mayor, Joseph A. Curtatone. If Sullivan is elected, it could signal a shift in Somerville politics, he said.

Sullivan admits that he is not native to Somerville—he was actually born in Cambridge and “migrated” here when he was four. He did not come from a political family but has been involved in politics for most of his life. He is a supporter and protégé of veteran politician Michael Capuano, now a Representative in the U.S. Congress but formerly a Fifth Ward Alderman, Alderman-at-Large and the Mayor of Somerville until 1998.

The race for Alderman in Ward Five is defined by development. The Fifth Ward is the site of an extension of the T’s Green Line and several other high-profile developments, including the Armory and the Maxpak sites. Sullivan says that he entered the race because of what he saw as the government’s mishandling of developments.

He believes that the community should “set the ground rules” and “compromise without being compromised.”

According to Sullivan, developers in Somerville have tended to avoid soliciting community input. He refers to the Maxpak developer’s strategy of discussing the issues with small, select groups of citizens as “divide-and-conquer.” As alderman, Sullivan hopes to make rational choices in zoning and to bring as much of the community as possible into the decision. Even public projects that ostensibly benefit the community, like the conversion of the Armory into an arts center, require many meetings to ensure that their impact is understood, he said. Furthermore, Sullivan said he fears that making the most of the Green Line extension is an opportunity that might be missed.

The gentrification of Somerville is Sullivan’s main concern. “Converting buildings into condos is not attracting families to the community,” he said, adding that the young professionals that tend to move into condominiums are willing and able to pay for the resulting higher utility costs but many families are not. He believes that the key to making Somerville attractive for families is to have strong schools and allow resources, like school gymnasiums and playgrounds, to be more accessible to the public. Community based initiatives such as volunteer gardening and youth involvement in policing might reduce the cost of city government while increasing quality of life.

Sullivan believes that public services, such as determining which roads should be repaved, are being administered politically and that city funds are being misspent because non-monetary resources are not being utilized efficiently. He claims that financial records show that current Ward Five Alderman Sean T. O’Donovan has received money from developers, as did O’Donovan’s political ally, Curtatone. 

He also accuses them of being part of a “good ol’ boy network” and a “political machine,” which he believes he threatens with his outspokenness. The last two Ward Five Aldermen were “hand-picked” by their predecessors, he said. However, he does not think that the Mayor’s open support of his opponent would impede fulfilling his goals if elected.

He admits that both he and O’Donovan are in politics in order to serve the community, but cites a difference in their approaches.

“Win or lose—we’re having fun,” Sullivan joked. “But my opponent’s people are a little stressed out.”