10 Questions For Etel Haxhiaj, 2023 Worcester Council Incumbent

WORCESTER, MA — For the first time in years, every single city council election in Worcester this year is competitive, meaning every incumbent (or multiple incumbents in the case of the at-large race) is facing a challenger in 2023.

Voters in Worcester will go to the polls Nov. 7 to elect the next slate of councilors for the coming two-year term. To help voters make their decisions, Worcester Patch sent 10 questions to each candidate running for city council this year, including both incumbents and challengers. We'll publish them ahead of Election Day as candidates return them.

Incumbent District 5 Councilor Etel Haxhiaj is running for a second term this year in a race that is perhaps the most vicious of this election season. Haxhiaj and challenger Jose Rivera have traded barbs online and during public forums. Haxhiaj has also had campaign signs outside her home vandalized multiple times. In August, the fomer District 5 councilor and a Rivera supporter led an attack on her campaign that ensnared a local teenager.

Haxhiaj says she's seeking a new term in 2023 to continue serving local residents, and on issues like affordable housing and the accursed Big D parcel. Here's how she answered the questionnaire:

What is the leading job of a city councilor in Worcester?

As a district councilor, my job is to both ensure residents’ concerns are addressed through city government and that their voices are included in planning and looking to the future. As part of including residents’ voices in decision-making, I have a role in helping to create city policy, assist the city manager in setting priorities for District 5, bird dog issues in my neighborhoods, and serve as part of the collective checks and balances on city spending of tax dollars.

The council in 2022 began a national search for a new city manager but then stopped to hire Eric Batista. What are your thoughts on the city manager hiring process, both recently and in general?

I was clear from the beginning that we should have conducted a national search to ensure both a transparent and public process. I expressed my frustration that the manager search stopped short, with zero good reason or rationale, discounting the then-acting city manager’s own wish to participate in a national search. Most importantly, it signaled that Worcester likes to preserve the way we’ve done things in the past. We cannot continue to use the same old ways that we have and continue to bypass community processes. The public deserves transparency and to understand the vision, goals, and qualifications of all qualified candidates. Here is what I said at the time: “Doing away with a public process isn’t respectful of the community process, and it continues to set a really bad precedent.” I stand by those words.

If you could pick three goals for Batista to work toward in the coming council term, what would they be?

1. As we have done in other parts of the city, address long-term vacant parcels that remain a burden on taxpayers and continue to be detrimental to our neighborhoods, business districts, and residents. More specifically, in District 5, I’ve set my expectations and ideas about the former Big D supermarket on Mill Street and the Krock property on Park Avenue, as well as the property purchased by Clark University. I’ve suggested Worcester implement a vacancy tax for long-term vacant properties to recapture some of the financial costs to police, fire, and code for continually needing to respond to these and similar parcels.
2. Increase focus on neighborhood development, allocating city staff time and resources. to renewed neighborhood-focused planning and economic development. District 5 should be receiving the same amount of attention and resources as other parts of our city.
3. Increase funding for Inspectional Services, the Department of Transportation and Mobility, and the Sustainability departments to strengthen code inspections, implement vision zero and more complete street projects, and respond to the climate disasters that affect homeowners, renters, and small businesses.

This summer, Batista told councilors he was declining to act on an order they voted affirmatively on (crisis pregnancy centers). Do you think that’s an appropriate response? Why or why not?

I expressed my expectation during the city council meeting that when the Council offers a directive, as it was in the case of the CPCs, the information, report, and/or response should come back to the City Council with any decision publicly deliberated on the Council floor. The appropriate response should always be to bring issues to the Council for public deliberation, regardless of how many councilors would rather not debate issues on the council floor. I have also stated that 1:1 conversions are not a substitute for public deliberation.

Some city council subcommittees meet infrequently, sometimes only a few times a year. Do you think subcommittees should have a fixed schedule so they have a minimum number of meetings per year?

It depends. Some committees have different issues and need to meet more frequently; some do not need to meet as often. I think the more pressing issue is to ensure that the City Council utilizes the committees as the space where most deliberation takes place and where residents have total input. This requires a commitment to holding evening meetings, responding to resident petitions in timely ways, and developing a greater level of transparency by entirely publishing backup materials.

Serious allegations about the conduct of the former police chief were recently made public in news reports. Do you think councilors should have an oversight role when serious allegations are made against city employees?

The charter prohibits the City Council from interfering in personnel issues. However, when serious allegations arise, particularly at the cabinet level, the Council should be informed of how the manager plans to address them.

I believe the hiring of a Chief Diversity Officer and having the results of the Racial Equity Audit will support the Manager’s efforts to implement equitable practices and a culture of transparency across departments. That work belongs to all of us. The Racial Equity audit painted a picture of an institutional environment that does not feel healthy and safe for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color employees. It should be the City Councilors’ role to hold the manager accountable for addressing these cultural and institutional practices.

Homelessness is on the rise in Worcester. The city has pursued a policy of sweeping camps, and we’re heading into the cold weather season with a shortage of temporary shelter beds. What should Worcester do about this issue in the short and long term?

Homeless encampments exist because there is a serious lack of affordable housing in our community. Homelessness is a housing issue. In Worcester, we are short close to 200 shelter beds. This, coupled with a rise in evictions, rent increases, and a shortage of mental health and detox beds, has compounded the problem. Homelessness increases when rents become unaffordable and when apartment vacancies are low- Worcester is facing both of these factors. So do encampments.

Outreach workers and medical professionals providing care in encampments tell us that relocating people from one place to another increases the number of encampments, interrupts giving people life-saving medical care, and leads to deaths and the spread of infectious diseases. Even the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness says that a policy of sweeps without permanent housing exits does not eliminate homelessness. Currently, there are several permanent supportive projects that are planned and haven’t come online. Without those permanent housing units available and a lack of shelter beds, sweeps provide a false sense of security and assurance that homelessness will disappear. Except that it does not.

Sweeps cost taxpayers resources that do not result in eliminating or reducing homelessness. They rotate people around the city and displace belongings, including medications and documents, which then prolong someone’s ability to obtain housing. Sweeps cost taxpayers in city personnel and police resources, costs in installing signs, storage of property, or court expenses.

Resolving homelessness takes Federal, state, and municipal resources. We cannot do it alone. But, there are some things we can do to make homelessness as brief and recurring as possible:

In the short term the City should:

1. Set up a permanent year-round low threshold barrier shelter with wrap-around services.
2. Set up a day center with wrap-around resources for residents to meet their basic human needs: warm/cool, get water, food, shower and connect people to housing and healthcare.
3. Work with the state and nonprofit patterns to expedite the completion of permanent supportive housing projects currently stalled.

Long-term:

1. Amend the Inclusionary Zoning ordinance to accommodate lower-income households by using state and local subsidies.
2. Use CPA and Payment in Liu Of payments to be funneled into the Affordable Housing Trust Fund to fund a two-year program to preserve naturally occurring affordable housing program.
3. Work with the administration to increase the funding for rental assistance and tenant protections so that fewer people lose their homes and advocate for several housing bills to create more revenue for creating and preserving affordable housing. The real estate transfer fee enabling legislation would allow us to generate more revenue for more affordable housing construction.
4. Expand our ability to build all types of housing across the City, so we alleviate the demand for housing and support the recommendations of the Worcester Now|Next ten-year master plan.
5. Allow Accessory Dwelling Units by right in all areas of the City.
6. Work on what I had proposed: an office of housing stability that can both lead policy on housing and homelessness prevention.

Councilors can use personal privilege to hold items before a meeting, delaying action for a week or longer. Do you think councilors should disclose why they’re holding items before doing so, why or why not?

I believe in public transparency, and councilors should disclose the reasons they are holding an item. It serves the public better when we are open about the reasons why an item needs to be held under privilege. Councilors should also believe that councilors should be responsible for publicly having an item as part of our public meeting. Councilors should not be able to speak to the mayor before a meeting asking him to hold an item.

There are many large, blighted parcels around Worcester, with the former Big D supermarket perhaps the most recognizable. Would you support a new tax on blighted parcels to ensure property owners don’t let them sit for long periods?

In my first term, I proposed the city implement a vacancy tax for blighted parcels like the former Big D Supermarket or the Krock property on Park Avenue. These properties have remained vacant for far too long. Other communities have successfully implemented this tax and generated revenue that goes back into neighborhoods.I look forward to the city manager reporting to the council on how Worcester can also be a leader.

What’s one thing you want to achieve as a city councilor if (re)elected?

I would like to collectively get to a point where raising questions and proposing new ideas is viewed as something good and not just quickly dismissed and derided by those committed to preserving the status quo.

More profiles in this series:

• Worcester 2023 City Council Incumbent George Russell: 10 Questions
• Worcester 2023 Council Candidate Johanna Hampton-Dance: 10 Questions