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On June 6, Marianne Walles turned in 300 nomination petition signatures, 50 more than the required number. She is the first to submit qualifying signatures in the race. A lifelong resident of Somerville, daughter of an immigrant and mother of two boys, Ms. Walles enters the race determined to address issues like affordable housing and local jobs that have long been ignored by the incumbent mayor.
“I see too many people struggling to survive Somerville’s ‘success.’” said Walles. “As a social worker, I’ve been closest to the pain and suffering in our community. I will advocate for affordable housing, to make elite institutions pay their fair share, and to create a transparent city government that will work for the people – not special interests.”
One example of incumbent Mayor Curtatone’s support for special interests over community concerns: He recently supported the statewide “Housing Choice” initiative to spur housing production without any requirements for building affordable housing and no protections from displacement.
“Somerville doesn’t need more luxury developments that will intensify gentrification and lead to displacement of existing residents, businesses, and our community institutions,” said Rand Wilson, an organizer with SEIU Local 888 and labor activist in Somerville. “Somerville doesn’t need leadership promoting worn-out ‘market-based’ solutions. Somerville needs a progressive leader like Marianne Walles.”
In her career as a social worker, Walles serves a diverse set of working-class people every day, working with families to assess their struggles, identifying a path to improvement, and providing support for them to be successful.
A long-time leader in her union, SEIU Local 509, Walles has been very involved in the fight for good-paying jobs in Somerville, affordable housing, and getting billion-dollar nonprofits to pay their fair share in lieu of taxes.
For more information about her campaign, please visit the campaign website: marianne4mayor.org or the campaign Facebook page: facebook.com/mariannewalles
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It’s about time we had some more choice in this matter. Let’s hope this candidate lasts longer than the last one, who suddenly dropped out for some reason. Was he scared off?
We need some fresh air in this city, and at this point I’m willing to believe anyone would be better than our current administration. I know some will heartily disagree, but we have had our current mayor for way too long now. All he has done is thrown our city into constant construction and development, and raised our cost of living to the point where it’s becoming too difficult for many native residents to continue to live here.
Why are nearly all our bridges suddenly being closed for construction? Maybe because next year’s an election year? If so, it’s not doing the Mayor any favors in that department. All this is doing is inconveniencing everyone, instead of coming up with a strategic, sensible plan to complete one bridge at a time.
If our Mayor wants to change Somerville as much as possible, then let’s include him in that as well. Let’s show the country that we are also progressive when it comes to electing our leaders, too.
Eh…no. First off, the previous challenger was a complete goofball and never stood a chance anyway.
This new challenger appears to be anointed by her union, and therefore is also likely to be equally blessed by Our Revolution. So her chances of winning are very good indeed.
What roasts my oyster is this never ending sing-song about how the mayor or the city council or any other local authority has anything at all to do with the bridge closures and the resulting traffic problems. All of this is mandated by MassDOT, the MBTA, and GLX planners. Municipal authority here is practically non-existent. The best city officials can do is mitigate the aggravation to some small degree.
Sorry folks, but that’s it. You can press your case against the mayor on any number of other issues, but this isn’t one of them.
This previous post doesn’t make it.
@”Why are nearly all our bridges suddenly being closed for construction?”
Because the old bridges weren’t wide enough to allow two new tracks for the GLX alongside the two existing commuter rail tracks.
The GLX was mandated by agreements made by the state in 1990. Plans for the GLX were first made public in 2005. The need to remove and replace these bridges has been discussed for at least five years.
There is nothing “sudden” about it. The mayor’s office has nothing at all to do with any of this.
”Why are nearly all our bridges suddenly being closed for construction?”
It’s a relief to see that this one is just as clueless as the others, so Joe should be safe. The only worry is this alleged SEIU support, after which Our Revolution always follows in lockstep. They wield a lot of influence with voters.
Hopefully people will be smart enough to make their own decisions this time.