Medford Candidate Profile: Justin Tseng For City Council

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

Here, we learn more about Justin Tseng, who is among 12 candidates running for the seven seats on the Medford City Council. Tseng joins three other incumbents in the race: Kit Collins, George Scarpelli, and Zac Bears.

Tseng, who will be 23 years old as of Election Day, recently graduated from Harvard College with an honors degree in Social Studies (politics, economics, and history) and East Asian Studies. He currently is "applying to post-graduate in the Boston area."

Candidates were sent questionnaires and filled out the answers.

Name

Justin Tseng

How old will you be as of Election Day?

23 years old.

Campaign website

https://www.justin4medford.com...

What city or town do you live in?

Medford

What office are you seeking?

City Council

Please give us your party affiliation

Democratic

Education

I am a proud product of our Medford Public Schools, graduating as the class valedictorian from Medford High School in 2018. I went on to continue my studies at Harvard College, where I recently graduated with an honors degree in Social Studies (politics, economics, and history) and East Asian Studies.

Occupation

I currently serve on the City Council here in Medford and am applying to post-graduate in the Boston area.

Family

My parents, Huang and Jane, moved to the Wellington neighborhood in 2002 to settle and pursue careers in science.

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?

No.

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

I am currently serving my first term on the Medford City Council.

Why are you seeking this office?

I’m running for reelection to keep Medford moving forward for us all. Over the last two years, I’ve worked with fellow councilors, City staff, and community members to lay down a strong, progressive foundation on which we can build a Medford that will work better for all. I’ve been proud to work on seriously addressing affordable housing, climate, negotiating better-funded schools and street and sidewalk repairs, keeping our new library open on Saturdays, bringing back bus routes, modernizing outdoor dining rules, and making Medford more transparent, inclusive, and accessible for all communities who call it home.

Two key moments made me first decide to run for City Council two years ago: a pandemic-era budget that functionally cut funding for schools, and our city’s reckoning with racial justice. Since being elected, I’ve helped build a strong pro-school coalition on the council that negotiated and won significant funding for our schools, and I’ve been working hard to make sure that our city government is more accessible, inclusive, and engaging with those who use it, focusing on expanding language access and creating more ways for residents to participate in government.

While we’ve made much progress, we need to see through our plans and turn all these moments of progress into momentum for a brighter future.

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

The single most pressing issue facing my constituents is our lack of revenue and in turn, our lack of resources.

Despite all the progress we’ve been making, our city still faces a multitude of challenges from schools to roads and sidewalks, from building affordable housing to revitalizing our local economy, and from addressing our lack of social services and code enforcement to making our governance more accessible to residents. The one thread that runs through these issues is our decades of disinvestment and our need for city revenue that better reflects the needs of a 21st-century city.

To address these needs, we must think bolder and act braver. The clock is ticking, especially on a sustainable plan to bring critical staff who are working in our schools and on areas such as outreach and business growth into our budget once their federal funding expires.

In just these last two years, we have passed a first round of zoning reform — the first in about 60 years — that lowers barriers to affordable housing and brings in new construction. We worked with the Department of Public Works to lower costs by bringing more operations in-house and with the Department of Planning, Development, and Sustainability to develop vacant, city-owned parcels to kickstart the revitalization of Medford Square. We’ve created a Financial Task Force to transparently study and identify how we’re going to fund our immediate infrastructure and staffing needs, and I’m working with councilors to pass a better budget ordinance to increase collaboration, transparency, and accountability when it comes to budgeting.

We can create medium- and long-term revenue growth by using a second round of zoning to bring in more housing and commercial growth and to align our city with our Comprehensive Master Plan, Housing Production Plan, and other city plans. We can work on community benefits/PILOT ordinances to negotiate better with large institutions like Tufts University that don’t pay property taxes and rebalance power between the Mayor’s Office and the City Council during budgeting.

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

Growing up as an Asian American in Medford, I see Medford through a different lens from my fellow candidates. As a kid in Medford and our schools, I saw that, too often, diversity was a slogan. I’ve been working to ensure that structures, including our city government, include, respect, and uplift the voices of folks of all backgrounds in a more meaningful and forward-looking way.

Something that we hear as city councilors is the need for our city government to be better at communication and inclusion. As someone who speaks multiple languages, including Chinese, Spanish, and French, I believe that I can be of help in addressing the problem and building bridges with immigrant and BIPOC communities. I’ve been working closely with our Community Liaisons to reach out to our immigrant groups and to build that trust and have been doing constituent services in foreign languages. I’ve also been working on basic steps that increase accessibility to all residents, pushing our city to update its website, improving signage in City Hall, increasing opportunities for residents to participate in our policymaking process on boards and commissions, and posting frequently about the discussions and actions of our City Council on social media. If reelected, I hope to continue providing this unique perspective and to keep making our city more inclusive and accessible.

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

In addition to what I’ve mentioned above about carrying out our Housing Production Plan, Climate Action and Adaptation Plan, and our Comprehensive Master Plan, there are a few more issues I’ve been addressing while in office and on the campaign trail.

1. On housing, development, and revitalizing our local economy:
a. Use Phase 2 of zoning reform to expand inclusionary zoning, focus on transit-oriented, environmentally-friendly development, create an affordable housing overlay, and encourage smart business and housing growth in Medford Square, along the Mystic Ave. and Mystic Valley Parkway corridors, which will increase economic vibrancy, housing availability/affordability, and commercial tax revenue.
b. Work to expand access to housing affordability to more residents, with a target to make housing affordable for households making below 80% of area median income (AMI).
c. Connect local businesses with resources and advisors to improve business operations and support City efforts to reach out to business owners in various languages to make sure that City communications and requests for feedback are being received.

2. On youth and education:
a. Continue to prioritize funding for our schools.
b. Work with community partners and fellow elected officials to find sustainable solutions to the lack of after-school placements.
c. Fund the recommendations of the Medford High School Safety, Security, and School Climate Review, which highlights the need for more administrative support, more substitute teachers, and better bargaining agreements with staff.
d. Create opportunities for Medford students to volunteer, intern, and work with the city government.
e. Set a longer-term goal to remove financial barriers to accessing extracurricular activities.

3. On the climate:
a. Expand our green canopy to make Medford more sustainable, livable, and to prevent against extreme heat.
b. Tackle emissions from buildings, which contribute 67% of Medford’s total carbon dioxide equivalents (MTCO2e), by encouraging electrification and the use of solar and renewable energy via financial and zoning regulation incentives.
c. Continue working with the MBTA to improve bus stops and service.

4. On local services:
a. Pursue a comprehensive rodent mitigation strategy.
b. Increase social services and improve connections to nonprofits to address homelessness and the need for attention to mental health post-pandemic.
c. Push for streamlining of City communications and ways to communicate with those not on email or phone lists.
d. Address loud noise concerns with ordinances to regulate blasting in construction and continued engagement with federal stakeholders on airplane noise concerns.

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

In just two years, the Medford City Council has seen a real shift in accessibility and productivity, something I’ve been proud to lead. From changing the tone of council debates and supporting those who wish to participate and speak in the civic process to building broad coalitions of experts and residents to pass more legislation in one term than in recent history, these changes have made the City Council a partner in moving Medford forward. Please check out www.justin4medford.com to learn more about these accomplishments, to see a map of my work locally, and to learn more about my work in policy and research outside of Medford politics.

What is the best advice anyone ever gave you?

When I was a kid, my godmother taught me a Confucian saying, "In a group of three, there will always be a teacher." This piece of advice taught me to be open-minded, inquisitive, and to take opportunities to learn from others, especially if they have different experiences and perspectives. One of my favorite parts of being a city councilor has been the opportunities to learn from city staff, other electeds, and residents about various different policy areas and to hear about others' experiences.

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

I encourage everyone to check out my website www.justin4medford.com for more information, and I encourage folks with questions to reach out to me at contact@justin4medford.com, via my social media accounts @justin4medford, or at 781-866-2572!