Salem Candidate Profile: Patti Morsillo For City Council

SALEM, MA — Salem will have several contested races in this fall's election, including a 11-way race for four at-large seats on City Council. The preliminary election on Sept. 17 will thin the field of at-large city councilor candidates to eight and the field of school committee candidates to six. Salem Patch asked candidates in the contested races to answer questions about their campaigns and will be publishing candidate profiles as election day draws near.

Patti Morsillo, 57, is one of four candidates running for Ward 3's seat on Salem City Council. Incumbent Lisa Peterson is not running for reelection as she prepares to run for U.S. Congress in 2020. Morsillo and her husband have two grown children and have lived on broad street for 30 years.

Are you running for office in Salem? Contact Dave Copeland at dave.copeland@patch.com for information on being featured in a candidate's profile and submitting campaign announcements to Salem Patch.

Previously on Patch: Salem Election 2019: Here's Who's Running

The single most pressing issue facing our (board, district, etc.) is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it.

For the city of Salem, and for the region, the current most pressing issue is housing availability at all affordability levels. We can’t solve it alone, but we can do our best to update our zoning rules to allow for empty religious and municipal buildings to be transformed into housing. We can expand in-law apartments, in areas that can support their construction. We need to pass an Inclusionary Zoning Ordinance, which will require more affordable units in new construction. We need to be creative in our approach to finding ways to build more housing for those that want to live here and those we need to live here.

Salem is growing its hospitality industry, and workers in restaurants and hotels need affordable housing nearby. It’s not cost effective to live 30 minutes away when you have a low wage job, dependent on tips. If we want to support our downtown restaurants, we need to support the restaurant workers as well.

We need to house our young professionals, as they start new careers. Many are moving back in with their parents, giving up their independence, because rents are simply out of reach.

We need to provide more affordable and desirable housing for our seniors, who want to remain here in Salem. Many would like to sell their family homes, but can’t find appropriate housing in which to age-in-place.

We can’t forget our public housing buildings. The wait for a unit in public housing for our seniors, our veterans, and our families can be up to several years. We need to fully support the new Executive Director of the Salem Housing Authority in her efforts to create new units.
Salem needs to support a range and variety of potential solutions to help ease the housing crisis.

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

If you have talked to me at the door, you know that I listen to everyone respectfully. Instead of focusing on differences, I find common ground on which to move forward. Most importantly, I am open, and honest, and I will study the issues and listen to all sides.

I have been asking residents about their neighborhood issues and concerns. I do not make promises about my ability to fix any single issue, because I know how slowly government works. I will advocate for neighborhood issues and fight for budget items to address quality of life issues.

Communication is the key to keeping residents engaged and feeling heard. I will send regular updates on city meetings, construction updates, new city programs, and opportunities to volunteer in Salem.

We must return to a respectful, collegial City Council. As an equal body to the Mayor, the City Council needs to work together professionally, be prepared to discuss issues knowledgeably, reach a consensus on the subject, and work out the details. The Council needs to work professionally and respectfully with the Mayor.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform:

Quality of Life –this is the most important issue in our neighborhoods. I will work with residents to think creatively about solutions to problems, from areas congested with student renters that create parking and noise issues, to development proposals that may harm the structure of the neighborhood.

I am listening carefully to people as I am knocking on doors. Though I do hear “taxes” as a concern, I would say that knowing exactly how the city is expending funds for roads and sidewalks, parks, and maintenance of city owned property is the main concern. Seeing property taxes rise each year, but not seeing needed street and sidewalk repairs is frustrating. I will advocate for a more transparent way to learn about long-term plans for city projects, like street paving, sidewalk repairs, and park upgrades.

Communication - this is the key to building community. The city needs to look at the structure of its website, and make it easier for residents to find all of the detailed information that is stored there. For instance, there is a very well done set of documents that detail the long-term plan for city park upgrades, but it is not easily found. The website feels more city hall-centric, not resident-centric.

Setting up pathways of communication between the City Councilor and residents is a challenge. Delivering information in the way most accessible will be my first piece of business, whether that is email, social media, or another method that works for my constituents. If elected, I intend to send regular information about city meetings, construction updates, proposals for development, and volunteer opportunities.

Highland Avenue – fixing this road, both the state owned and city owned portions is a concern that I hear repeatedly. We need to continue to push the state to move forward on the design of this road, and creatively solve the Marlborough Rd/Swampscott Rd/Highland Ave bottleneck without relying on Traders Way. The resulting road design will include the city owned portion as well, continuing to Essex St.

New Development – Ward 3 has several undeveloped land parcels on Highland Avenue that are being eyed for development, and two large areas under construction. This is putting more stress on Highland Avenue. The redesign of Highland Avenue must take these new developments into account, to create a safe access route to the properties.

Development is never easy to live through as a neighbor. The city must be responsive to neighborhood concerns about noise, unannounced blasting, property damage from blasting, work outside of agreed upon times, and damage to streets and sidewalks. Developers must be willing to leave the neighborhoods in better shape than when they started, through the use of Community Benefits Agreements. This will enable city officials and Neighborhood Associations to negotiate upgrades in streets, sidewalks, or other infrastructure, or set aside land for a neighborhood playground. and creating sidewalks, building playgrounds, or donating money for neighborhoods improvements.

Neighborhood Associations – this is a great way to get to know your neighbors and make positive changes in your immediate area. A neighborhood association can use their combined voices to advocate for issues, because many voices are louder and more effective than a single voice. Neighborhood associations are invited to send a representative to the monthly Neighborhood Improvement Advisory Council (NIAC) meeting with the mayor’s chief of staff, where they learn about new initiatives in the city and are able to talk about issues and concerns in the neighborhood. I encourage neighborhoods to create new associations in order to stay connected to each other and to the city.

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

For the past 20 years, I have been actively involved in Salem. While my 2 children were in the public schools, I spent countless hours volunteering on PTO’s, school councils, hiring committees, and other school advisory committees.

In 2008, I worked with 2 other parents and representatives of the AFSCME food service employees union to fight against privatization of the Salem Public Schools food service department. The department was $650,000 in debt at the time, and under poor management. I presented the group’s proposal to the School Committee, which detailed plans to reorganize the department, create fresh, healthy meals, and pay off the debt. We were ultimately successful in our efforts, paying off the debt in under 3 years. The department, under the management of Deb Jeffers, is held up as an example in the state.

Since my children have graduated, I have continued to volunteer, but in the larger community. I am a founding member of the non-partisan League of Women Voters of Salem. Our mission is to educate voters and increase civic engagement through working groups studying the environment and climate change, affordable housing, education, gun sense, women’s health, and transportation and accessibility. Members attend city meetings, and publish notes in an effort to bring transparency to city government. We advocate for issues that the League supports and local issues on which we have reached consensus.

I am the co-founder of the Salem Book Buddies Program with Cindy Theriault and Wendy Blake. We started this program as a way to get the community involved in our schools. We partner 350 3rd grade students with community volunteers, who send the students books and letters during the school year. The students and volunteers develop a “pen-pal” relationship, never meeting in person, but learning about each other through letter writing. Most importantly, the community volunteers instill a love of reading in these young students.

As the Chair of the new Broad Street Park Neighborhood Association, I organized a meeting about the upcoming construction project at Bertram Field, to discuss how it will affect the neighborhood, and think of possible ways to alleviate upcoming parking concerns caused by the construction. We also held our first Block Party recently, which was hugely successful. We are building a closer-knit community by getting to know each other socially and solving problems together.

The best advice ever shared with me was ...

My mentor from my days as a Project Lead in a software company stressed the importance of communication, and understanding how different people use different styles of communication. He taught me to take the time to listen to what the other person is trying to say. Sometimes it takes a little bit of listening to understand what the underlying issue really is, and it’s worthwhile to take the time to really hear what the other person is saying. This is not only important in the business world in creating successful teams, but also in family dynamics and community advocacy and representation.

What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

My desire to be involved in solutions to complex issues facing our city and our state led me to work with other like minded people to found the League of Women Voters of Salem over a year ago. What drew me to the LWV was its non-partisan approach to the study of issues. I appreciate the consensus approach that the League uses in its decisions on whether to support legislation, allowing all voices to be heard in a respectful manner. It was because of my work with the LWV that I decided to run for Ward 3 City Councilor, and I plan to bring this approach of respectful dialog and consensus building to the City Council.

Previously Published Salem Candidate Profiles:

Candidates for reelection are marked with an asterisk (*).

City Council, At Large

Domingo J. Dominguez *

Ty Hapworth

George McCabe

Alice Merkl

Conrad J. Prosniewski

Arthur Sargent *

Maribel Steadman

City Council, Ward 4

Timothy Flynn *

City Council, Ward 6

Megan Riccardi

School Committee

Beth Anne Cornell

Jim Fleming *

Donna Fritz

Kristin Pangallo