Candidate Profile: Justin Tseng, Medford City Council

MEDFORD, MA — Justin Tseng is one of 14 candidates vying for seven seats on the Medford City Council in the Nov. 2 municipal election. There are also contested races for mayor and school committee.

Medford Patch asked candidates to answer questions about their campaigns and will be publishing candidate profiles this week.

Tseng is a student and researcher at Harvard University and the former chair of the Harvard Public Opinion Project and policy commissions at the Institute of Politics.

Are you running for office in Medford? Contact Alex Newman at alex.newman@patch.com for information on being featured in a candidate profile and submitting campaign announcements to Medford Patch.

Age (as of Election Day)

21

Position Sought

City Council

Party Affiliation

Democrat

Family

My parents, Jane and Huang, moved to the Wellington area around the turn of the century and have lived there ever since.

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?

No

Education

Valedictorian at Medford High School, BA Candidate at Harvard University

Occupation

Student and Researcher at Harvard University, Former Chair of the Harvard Public Opinion Project and policy commissions at the Institute of Politics

Previous or Current Elected or Appointed Office

N/A

Campaign website

www.justin4medford.com

Why are you seeking elective office?

While Medford has faced chronic issues, two key moments pushed me to seek elective office.

A year and a half ago, our schools faced severe functional cuts. The budget saw up to 45 teachers fired with potential cuts affecting Advanced Placement, special education, and guidance programs. This was the result of a decade of disinvestment and a city council that hasn’t been pushing earnestly enough for school funding, hurting our city as a whole. While some cuts have been reversed, our school system is still falling behind and the shortage of funding is at the core of the problem.

Last year, we also experienced a reckoning with racial justice in our community. I believe that we have an opportunity to repair the damage of the past, address inequities in outcomes, and to put an end to hate crimes in this city. I believe that uplifting our society as a whole means uplifting our marginalized communities. As an Asian-American myself, I know that, even in Medford, increasing verbal and physical attacks on our Asian community have left us less safe. Even as we make up the largest non-white racial group here, we have not seen the leadership nor representation we need. As a young Asian who is able to build an interracial and intergenerational coalition for justice in our community, I am inspired to seize the moment.
<b>The single most pressing issue facing our (board, district, etc.) is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it.</b>

Medford is at the crossroads of change. Given the myriad issues our city will have to tackle in the coming years, choosing just one “biggest issue” is difficult and risks marginalizing issues that will still profoundly affect members of our community. That being said, I believe our city’s challenges with representation touches all other issues. Door after door, residents tell me that they want leaders who will lead and listen to us, and that starts by electing representatives that work for us all. From the housing crisis to tackling climate change, from rebuilding city infrastructure to addressing racial injustice, the representation gap we see in our city politics is an issue that touches every single person who calls Medford home. If we want to rezone for the twenty-first century, properly leverage our relationship with Tufts University on PILOTs and housing, create an engaging local economy that works for us all, and create work and leadership opportunities for our children, we need younger perspectives on City Council to drive the conversation forward.

We need more representation from those who are personally touched by the housing and displacement crisis, ready to approach this problem with a holistic lens that works for renters, landlords, and homeowners. We need leaders who understand that standing up for an Office of Housing Stability and affordable housing means standing against our own displacement. We need leaders who will take advantage of existing federal and state programs, expand inclusionary zoning, and advocate for reasonable transit-oriented, environmentally-friendly densification.

Growing up as an Asian-American in the Wellington neighborhood, I saw firsthand how underrepresented neighborhoods and communities in Medford experience inequity. Outdated infrastructure, parking problems, traffic congestion have become everyday justice issues. Regressive student fees, which I worked to reduce as a leader at Medford High, affect BIPOC families and those living in our underrepresented neighborhoods the most. Flooding and heat island effects, too, disproportionately affect those living in East, South, and West Medford. Not having a person of color on the Medford City Council for decades means that we have failed to address racial inequities in education, economic outcomes, public health, and community safety. The list goes on. We need representation in both elected and non-elected positions at City Hall that bring additional perspectives and personal stakes to the table.

We must bring politics to the people. Ensuring Zoom access to city meetings enables groups that have been traditionally excluded from city politics to get involved. Fully funded translation services and translation clinics ensure that a greater number of residents have access to information and city services. Reinvesting in public services, tackling housing as a racial, economic, and environmental issue, and developing a comprehensive climate and infrastructure plan will move Medford forward and increase political participation.

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

As I mentioned in my last answer, I have a different lived experience than the other candidates seeking this post. As an Asian American who grew up in Medford, I see Medford through a different lens. From a young age, I understood that, too often, diversity was treated merely as a slogan. Both while growing up and in my professional life, I have made sure that I take a respectful, inclusive, and forward-looking approach. Many residents have expressed concerns with our city government surrounding communication and inclusion. As someone who speaks multiple languages, including Chinese, Spanish, and French, I believe that I can be a valuable asset in addressing the problem and building bridges with immigrant and BIPOC communities.

If you are a challenger, in what way has the current board or officeholder failed the community (or district or constituency)?

The current City Council has failed to sufficiently uplift marginalized voices and fully listen to the people of Medford. While I appreciate the work that our elected officials have done, I believe that we need city councilors who will give consideration and weight to new ideas and perspectives. Too many feel that their ideas are not being respected in City Hall, and that City Council Chambers feels like an unsafe environment. I will do my best to make all feel welcome at City Hall and at City Council meetings.

How do you think local officials performed in responding to the coronavirus? What if anything would you have done differently?

The coronavirus pandemic was unprecedented, and I have great respect and gratitude for the work Medford officials have done throughout the past year and a half. That said, I think there were some shortcomings in the response. Communication between the city and its residents, particularly its immigrant and non-English speaking residents, could have been stronger. This may have helped us better address our persistent racial vaccination gap, which drastically affects our Black residents, and rising anti-Asian violence linked to the pandemic. Additionally, we need to understand that the pandemic is not yet over. While other communities have continued rental and mortgage assistance and eviction moratoriums, Medford is at risk of leaving our own residents behind. With housing, food, and employment insecurity persistent, we must help keep our residents afloat.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform.

Racial Justice and Inclusion: In addition to a long history of racial tension and racist housing policies in Medford, public forums have become increasingly hostile towards BIPOC, other marginalized communities, and progressive activists. In order to pursue racial justice, I will help create infrastructure to counter all forms of systemic racism. Some municipal policies I plan to pursue include expanding translation services, engaging immigrant residents and communities through new types of fora, funding social services that support communities affected by the broken criminal legal system, and instituting civilian review and oversight of the Medford Police Department.

Education: Additionally, Medford’s schools have been historically underfunded. Since 2007, the school budget has grown by 8.4% less than the whole city budget, falling behind neighboring communities. In order to strengthen our schools, I will fight for full and equitable funding, fee-free school programs, and prioritize the expansion of mental health and other support services for all students.

Housing: In order to increase housing affordability, I will help establish an Office of Housing Stability to better protect residents and reach out to vulnerable and housing-insecure residents. Additionally, I will work to create new affordable and senior housing and protect naturally affordable housing units, taking advantage of state and federal grant programs which we have not applied for and exploring every policy tool in our toolkit. These policies include establishing a community land trust and/or Municipal Affordable Housing Trust Fund, reconsidering income restrictions to expand access to housing affordability to more residents, allowing accessory dwelling units (ADUs) and housing and businesses without parking, enacting an Affordable Housing Overlay, and creating dedicated funding streams for affordable housing, such as linkage and transfer fees. To help our residents and seniors, I support raising the income cap for the senior tax deferral by tying it to the maximum yearly cap of the senior circuit breaker tax credit.

Climate and Infrastructure: We must be a leader on climate action. We should pass policies that mitigate the effects of climate change and promote net zero/carbon-neutral construction. We can prioritize repaving streets with an eye on making it safer for all who use it. By tackling climate, we can simultaneously tackle housing, economic, and racial justice issues. By encouraging reasonable transit-oriented development, we can relieve some stress on our housing market, start to reverse the damage of housing discrimination, and incentivize environmentally-friendly modes of transport.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

I believe my previous involvement in Medford politics is evidence that I can handle this job. In high school, I served on the Site Council, where I collaborated with community stakeholders to draft two Improvement Plans for the Medford Public Schools. I worked with the Council to address the vaping epidemic, necessary infrastructure repairs, and a review of school policies that laid the groundwork for more transparent classrooms.

As a result of my work on the Site Council, I was chosen to serve as the Student Representative to the School Committee in 2017. In this role, I regularly attended meetings where I gave Medford High Students a voice in city government. I also spent hours with community stakeholders interviewing Superintendent candidates, and I am proud to say I helped select Medford’s first School Superintendent of color.

Outside of Medford politics, I have been involved in numerous projects that have allowed me to gain depth in the policymaking and advocacy realms. At Harvard’s Institute of Politics, I worked on and led several policy commissions for state and federal lawmakers, addressing national security concerns, gun violence and trauma in education, and rising tuition costs. As a leader in this capacity, it was my duty to reach out to experts, stakeholders, and at-stake communities in order to understand the complete picture from both a policy and a human perspective. Many of these findings have been incorporated into state and federal legislation.

Last year, I served as the Chair of the Harvard Public Opinion Project, America’s premier youth public opinion research group, where I advocated for young Americans on the national stage. Through organizing focus groups and survey research throughout the country, I researched issues which particularly affected young Americans, and organized briefings with business leaders, politicians, and presidential campaigns to advocate on behalf of young Americans.

The best advice ever shared with me was:

Learn how to say no to others. In a political context, this has kept me honest and grounded. I’ve learned to disagree with others without being disagreeable and to learn how to find points of agreement with those who I might not agree with.