Jenny Pacillo Seeks Open District 1 Worcester Council Seat In 2023

WORCESTER, MA — As the threat of an actual tornado loomed over Worcester on a recent Thursday afternoon, Jenny Pacillo was working on her laptop in her Burncoat backyard amid the aftermath of a tornado wrought by young children.

Balls of all types and pieces of Little Tikes furniture were scattered about. In between an elaborate swing set and a big inflatable pool, a child-size picnic table with a toy fire engine on top stood ready for service.

But Pacillo, a mother of three, brought focus to the scene when she began talking about how the minutiae of local government led her to decide to run for city council.

In 2020, Pacillo got interested in the "boring, dry stuff" going on at City Hall — the budget process, the way the city council picks the annual tax rate, and how the city decides which streets to pave each summer. She began watching council meetings and continuously questioned Rose about civic business. She got directly involved in government when she petitioned the council in 2021 to change its rules to allow people to make public comments by phone or Zoom. It was a successful effort, but one that took about a year.

Pacillo will compete in the Sept. 5 primary against two other candidates for a shot at winning the District 1 seat, an open race after District 1 Councilor Sean Rose said in December he wouldn't seek a new term.

This is part of a series profiling the 14 candidates who will compete in the Sept. 5 Worcester city council preliminary elections. Patch has reached out to every candidate in each preliminary race seeking interviews.

Pacillo also got involved in local politics. She worked for Mayor Joseph Petty's 2022 state Senate campaign, served as District 5 Councilor Etel Haxhiaj's treasurer in 2021, ran Rose's social media accounts, and ran the campaign to adopt the Community Preservation Act last year.

Getting involved in local civic affairs, Pacillo says, showed her how citizens could seek change at the local level. At the same time, she saw how local government can be a turn-off for some residents.

"People should never feel intimidated," she said.

Before diving into local politics, Pacillo was already well-known in Worcester. She worked for years as a server at Joey's Bar & Grill, and in 2018 was voted "best waitress" in the city by Worcester Magazine. She's a regular at the White Eagle's Thursday wrestling extravaganzas and is an editor at Pulse Magazine. She had a boisterous Twitter account that she used to live-tweet neighborhood meetings and her partner Nate's war with a neighborhood rat. Her three kids — Marigold, 2, Bixby, 4, and Clementine, 6 — also made appearances.

Pacillo's involvement in local government also inspired her to get a master's degree in public administration at Clark University, where she previously received a master's in teaching. She's also a member of the League of Women Voters and sits on the Citizen Advisory Council, which helps select residents to serve on city boards and commissions.

If she wins the District 1 seat, Pacillo says she would focus heavily on communication. Issues local residents bring to the council can often get lost in the mix between the city manager's office and the various council subcommittees, pushing locals farther away from the government, she said.

She also wants to get involved in the Worcester Business Development Corp.'s next major project: revitalizing a section of Greendale that includes a portion of the Saint-Gobain factory, the Higgins Armory and the old Showcase Cinemas site. Greendale and West Boylston Street in particular could use a makeover so the street and its numerous small businesses are more of a destination, she said.

Pacillo says her run for the District 1 seat is about showing residents that regular people — those with kids, jobs, and backyards decorated freely by young children — can benefit by getting involved in local government.

"I just want to improve relations between government and people — bring people together," she said.

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