Q&A: Consalvo Touts Public Safety, Schools, New Technology as Mayoral Priorities

District 5 City Councilor Rob Consalvo met with Patch at his Hyde Park office (with new campaign offices coming soon) to discuss his mayoral candidacy, his public service record, the Boston Public Schools, and why Boston residents should vote for him.  

Patch: Why did you decide to run for mayor?

Consalvo: I’m running for mayor because I love the city of Boston. I think it’s the greatest city on Earth. Most importantly I love public service and helping people. And I love city government and being on the front lines of making a difference in people’s lives. After 11 years on the Boston City Council I am ready, willing and able to serve all of Boston’s neighborhoods. I believe I have had a unique experience of having a vision and a proven record of integration of new ideas that will lead Boston into the next generation of greatness.

Patch: How do you balance your district council work with being a mayoral candidate?

Consalvo: I’m blessed to have a great staff who are committed to the district and are tireless advocates for the district. And on top of campaigning I am still focused and committed to focusing on my constituents. Yesterday (Sat., Apr. 13), I did - one, two, three... and between my fifth and sixth event I came back to the Hyde Park office to meet on a Saturday with a constituent. I stopped campaigning to meet with a constituent about their issue for 45 minutes. The work of serving District 5 continues even though I’m a candidate for mayor.

Patch: You’re a district councilor, how do you increase your profile citywide?

Consalvo: I think by a number of ways and good old-fashioned hard work. On my wall I stick a pin in every neighborhood I ‘ve been to an event in. I’ve been a candidate for nine days and there are over 40 pins stuck in the wall, so I’m getting around the city to different events. 

Increasing my profile, I’ve done that my being an effective councilor. The majority of my legislative record, the public policies I’ve brought, innovative ideas, many of them have a citywide impact and citywide reach.

Also people forget I ran city-large (for Boston City Council) one time already, 10 years ago. I had around 30,000 votes citywide. And in last 10 years since running at-large I've been able to keep and maintain those close relationships in the city that I developed when I ran citywide.

Patch: And if you lose, that means you’re out of a job, no more city council either. How do you explain that to your wife and three kids?

Consalvo: I couldn’t have done this endeavor unless I had total and full support from my family. I knew I was ready professionally and knew I was ready politically but I couldn’t have done the run for mayor unless I had the support of my wife, and my family. Easter Weekend we spent the weekend talking about it. The first thing was to make sure I had 100 percent support of my wife and children, who are 10, 9, and 3. My children and my wife are the most important thing to me... Obviously if I win, I would need supports with my children, I have strong supports on both my side and my wife’s side. Once the family situation was secure, I came out out as a candidate full speed ahead.

Patch: If elected mayor what would you do with the Boston Public School assignment plan?

Consalvo: I think it’s ongoing. It’s clear the assignment process has to end because this phase of it has ended. It's going to be a continued discussion to see if it’s working, what are the pros and cons, and I want to continue to hear about affected people. This doesn’t end because we made a step on student asisngment. Any mayor will continue dialogues, on having schools closer to home, quality schools. Right now we have tiers of schools – tier one, tier two, tier three, tier four. Every school should be tier one, and then people would want their children to go to schools closer to home. I think we need a long term vision to make every school in system that wants to be a K-8 [kindergarten through eighth grade system] can be a K-8. They bring stabilities, among many things, to improve schools. Just because the city took a huge step forward doesn’t mean it ends. It’s part of the process and an ongoing process.

Patch: What are the issues you’re focusing on? Give three topics?

Consalvo: I don’t think there are just three topics. I don’t think a mayor can be expected to focus on three topics. There are many issues facing our city, and there are many issues a mayor has to effectively deal with. I believe I have the experience because of my vision.

My candidacy will be based on several ideas and premises. First off – getting back to basics, I’m not running for just the seat of mayor, I’m running for mayor so I can further my commitment to public service. That’s what government is about. And no one has a deeper love for helping people than me, and of public service than I do. It’s the only career I’ve known. I've only had three jobs. – working for Senator Ted Kennedy, working for Angelo Scaccia at the State House, then as Boston City Councilor. I've made my personal career choice to be public service.

So I think for me the public service piece is why I’m running. I want to be an open and inclusive mayor, who harnesses the power of the people and their ideas, their thoughts, and their energy. One thing I’m talking about is there is no such thing as a new idea, just a good idea. I’m blatantly known as the city councilor who takes ideas from other cities, constituents, and from Governing Magazine. I want to harness the power of our citizens - our new residents, people who have moved here, our older residents have much to offer, business leaders, academia. There are a lot of people with a lot of good ideas, and I, as mayor plan on tapping into that potential.

On the budget, I think I want to continue to grow on the legacy of the Menino administration to be on rock solid footing, that may be a mayor of making tough decisions to continue on a solid path of fiscal responsibility. Having a strong budget, and having a strong bond rating is the bedrock of a strong city. It’s why businesses want to locate here, and expand here, and residents want to move here. Having a strong fiscal foundation is critical. It helps drive our economic engine.

We need to continue to invest in our neighborhoods. The neighborhoods are the lifeblood of our city. (A mayor needs) laser-like focus on all neighborhoods and residents, and no one has done that better in my district, in Hyde Park, Roslindale, Readville and Mattapan – and I will continue to have a laser-like focus with neighborhoood crime watches, neighborhood groups, local main streets business districts, and working as partners with local the community on issues big and small. Also that means investing in our infrastructure of local neighborhoods – sidewalks and streets, community centers, playgrounds, parks, libraries. I have proven record of (supporting infrastructure projects) in my district.

Schools is an issue and one of top priorities. I say that as a city councilor who has a proven record of advocating for the Boston Public Schools in the district as a city councilor. Look at the Pathways Plan to create a K-8 path in Roslindale, which is now part of the overall student assignment plan. I’m very proud of that. They created a model for pathways to K-8 in every neighborhood. They took our plan and included it in the new assignment plan. I also have a unique perspective as a parent with two kids the Boston Public Schools and a third joining next year. As mayor I’ll have three kids in the system. I can go to any community meeting – and the toughest person I have to respond to, and judging me on the schools issue is when I sit across from my wife, a mother of two in the system.

Schools for those reasons will clearly be a top priority, and I plan to be a mayor who addresses the issues of the schools by working with everybody. The only way to get true reform is by working together. I won’t be a mayor who attacks the teachers or the teachers' union, but instead brings them to the table for real dialogue. I believe cooperation should replace confrontation because more gets done when you work together. I believe everybody wants real reform and recognizes problems in public schools. But we get a better school system by rolling up our sleeves and working together and not by attacking each other.

Public safety is going to continue to be my number one priority - if you don’t feel safe in your community than nothing else matters. So I plan on continuing my public record of public safety, a strong record, and continue to invest in the police department, invest in community service officers, and by investing in proven strategies that work with community leaders and groups to stop violence. Everyone will have a seat at the table to stop violence in and around our city. That includes in investing in technology in the police department. I am who brought Shotspotter to the city, and want to be a leader in bringing new technology to our police department.

New technology. New technology is a huge issue for me. There are hundreds if not thousands of technology (ideas) being used around the country that Boston could be using that will help us do our job smarter, and more efficient. I believe that Boston, needs to be on the forefront of technology to run city government better. I think we need a technology czar. Bill Oates, he’s the CIO (central intelligence officer), he does a phenomenal job. But I think we need a public policy czar whose job is to travel around other cities, look at new technology and be investigating so Boston is on the forefront of technologies so we can implement them.

Patch: There will be a lot of turnover in the city council, what do you think of that?

Consalvo: There’s going to be eight to 10 candidates running for mayor. I think that’s fantastic. The more candidates the better, it brings in livelier discussion about the city. What’s great about everyone running, it speaks to strength of this city, and the great civic life and civic involvements in our city. All these people want to lead this great city. I think it’s great there are a lot of city councilors running, that’s healthy for the city council to have new ideas, new energy, and that also benefits Boston as well. This whole turnover and next six months of the council and mayoral race speaks to the love and life of our city.