Medford Candidate Profile: Anna Callahan For City Council

MEDFORD, MA — With the Medford Municipal Election scheduled for Nov. 7, Patch is profiling the candidates.

Here, we learn more about Anna Callahan, who is among 12 candidates running for the seven seats on the Medford City Council. Four of the candidates are incumbents: Zac Bears, Kit Collins, George Scarpelli and Justin Tseng.

Callahan has spent the last few years working as a community organizer for a small nonprofit. In that role, she trained people across the country in local electoral politics. Prior to that, Callahan worked as a software engineer.

Candidates were sent questionnaires and filled out the answers.

Name

Anna Callahan

How old will you be as of Election Day?

I will be 54.

Campaign website

https://annacallahan.com/

What city or town do you live in?

Medford

What office are you seeking?

City Council

Please give us your party affiliation

Democrat

Education

I graduated from the University of Michigan with a BS in Mathematics.

Occupation

After working as a software engineer for over ten years (working in both iOS using Objective-C and web development using Django), I spent the last few years as a community organizer, training people across the country in local electoral politics through a small non-profit.

Family

I live near Tufts Park with my husband and 9-year-old son.

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?

No one in my family works in politics or government.

Have you ever held a public office, whether appointive or elective?

While living briefly on the West Coast, I helped pass a public funding of elections bill in Berkeley, CA. I was then appointed to the Fair Campaign Practices Commission and the Open Government Commission, where I helped revise and implement the law.

Why are you seeking this office?

I love living in Medford and I know we can do better to care for all our residents. After traveling around the country to facilitate conversations about how to get better city government, I’ve come to believe that city councilors should prioritize spending time listening to the community. Many studies show that if elected officials wait for people to reach out to them, the folks they’ll hear from skew toward wealthier, more educated, whiter, and more likely to own their home than the average constituent.

Great elected officials go out of their way to facilitate conversations with people who are less engaged in politics. I love facilitating these conversations and I hope to engage a lot more people in making Medford a more vibrant place with a tight-knit community.

Please complete this statement: The single most pressing issue facing my constituents is ________, and this is what I intend to do about it.

Affordability: The speed at which our community is becoming more expensive is a challenge for many reasons. It affects not only each of us in our rent or property taxes, and in our ability to pay for other things that we need, but it also makes our community unstable as more and more people leave and new people arrive. Housing is the driver of this pain point.

We can tackle affordable housing in three main ways:

1. Changes we can make as a city council

There are things the city council can do directly. Areas zoned for single-family houses should be zoned for two-families, and we should do similarly for areas zoned for two-families, and allow for more density near the Green Line stations and Tufts. Creating an Office of Housing Stability will help the 45% of our residents who are renters. Creating an Affordable Housing Trust will build the funds we need to build more affordable housing.

2. Changes we need the state’s approval for

There are a number of pieces of legislation that would help us build funds for the trust, keep tenants in their homes, and create permanently affordable housing that requires approval from the state legislature. This includes things like transfer fees and a Tenants’ Opportunity to Purchase. Getting these approved at the state level has proven difficult, which is why I’ve helped put together legal experts who will help city councilors across Massachusetts get these bills passed in coordination to put pressure on the state.

3. Ideas directly from the community

In my discussions with constituents over the last few months, I’ve heard one idea repeated by multiple groups of retired neighbors: they would like to sell their homes, but want to live near their neighbors. They want a mixed-income residence where seniors from Medford can live on the first floor and that has a small community room where people can gather for shared meals. This type of idea, an idea that comes directly from the community, can help answer not only the direct housing needs of this group of Medford residents, but would also free up housing for families that is currently being occupied by only one person. I'm sure there are other ideas out there like this.

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

I have great respect for the other candidates in this race, and believe we all bring something unique to the table. What I will bring is time spent facilitating conversations, listening to people’s concerns and ideas, and connecting people with other people and the resources they need to take part in making their ideas for Medford happen. I believe that when elected officials do this, they help to strengthen our democracy.

If you are challenging an incumbent, in what way has the current officeholder failed the community?

I am not challenging an incumbent.

What other issues do you intend to address during your campaign?

Trees: Medford has been losing trees for years, especially in South Medford where many streets are quite barren. I hope to work closely with Trees Medford to bring volunteers to them and to find creative ways for us to quickly increase our tree canopy.

Roads & sidewalks: Our roads and sidewalks aren’t just ugly, they affect every resident. We all pay the price through car and bike repairs and medical bills. Medford did road and sidewalk assessments and we know what it will take to bring these up to snuff. We need to have a plan that spans five years out and the funding to afford it — without this plan, we can’t appropriately schedule with utilities and developers to make sure we don’t rip up newly paved roads.

Squares: Medford Square was once a vibrant hub that brought people in from all over Medford. We need all our squares to not only be amazing places that are fun and make our lives better, but also help us bring in revenue to the city. I look forward to working to support locally owned businesses, incorporate our beautiful scenery and outdoor spaces in our squares, and ensure that we have transportation options for folks to get to and from our squares.

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

Traveling around the country facilitating conversations about city politics has given me a variety of insights into what makes a city council work well. The last two years focusing on state politics gives me a lot of knowledge on what the state will allow us to pass and how to get traction on those things we need state approval for. My experience as a software developer gives me a foundation in making decisions based on data.

What is the best advice anyone ever gave you?

When you look back at your life, you won’t regret work you didn’t do. You’ll regret not spending more time with those you love.

Is there anything else you would like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

Community is deeply important to me. I hope to help people in Medford become more involved right in their neighborhoods. We should be encouraging more block parties, Lemonade Stand Days (an idea I heard from a 10 yo at their door), farm pickups, house concerts, open studio days, and ideas from the community like the cardboard canoe race. I look forward to hearing your ideas and helping you and your neighbors make those a reality.