Worcester Patch Candidate Profile: Keith Linhares For District 1 City Councilor

WORCESTER, MA — The municipal election is heating up in Worcester, and there are plenty of races with candidates eager to serve in elected office. Eyes are primarily focused on the mayoral election, but every district seat is up for grabs.

There are five districts in Worcester.

Worcester Patch asked candidates to answer questions about their campaigns and will be publishing candidate profiles as Election Day draws near.

Keith Linhares is running for the District 1 City Councilor position.

Campaign website

https://www.linharesforworcester.com/

Age

39

Family

Married to Emily for 10 years, and I have 3 daughters, all under 7 years old

Position sought

City Councilor, District 1

Party affiliation

I was Independent for a long time, but I am currently a Democrat who is highly critical of the establishment Democratic party.

Educational background

Wareham High School, BA from UMASS Dartmouth (BA in Economics, minor in Political Science), MBA from UMASS Amherst

Are you originally from Worcester?

No, I'm a lifelong MA resident. I lived in Wareham from birth to age 21. I was a commuter student in college. I moved to Boston from 2008-2013 for work while I paid off my student loans, then moved to Worcester in 2013 when I met my wife and we chose to stay and raise our family here.

What is your occupation?

IT Project & Portfolio Manager in the Pharma Industry

Have you previously or currently been elected to an office?

No, and I think that's too my advantage. People are tired of the same-old, same-old and want to see new people with new perspectives entering government

Why are you running for the District 1 City Councilor position?

I'm running because I love this city and want to build a thriving future here for my family and everyone else. As a working-class kid, I always felt like I had to get away from my hometown in order to find success and happiness and I don't want my kids to feel that way about Worcester. Worcester has made so many of my dreams come true. I found love and a lifestyle I always dreamed of here. I found a sense of community and a sense of safety that I yearned for ever since I was a kid. My campaign is about ensuring that every resident in District 1, regardless of their background, has the opportunity to experience that same sense of belonging and security. Worcester is a city that is inherently kind and open-minded, but our leadership and their choices do not reflect that. Our potential is being held back by a lack of strategic vision and administrative accountability from leadership, and I will help provide those things. I am focused on bringing a new perspective to City Hall, one that is focused on unlocking that potential. I feel an urgent need to build a future for my kids where our city is vibrant, equitable, and not held back by outdated systems and ideas and ideals from the 1980s. My lived experience as a former renter and someone who grew up working class drives my commitment to fight for a city where everyone has a chance to feel love, community, and safety, like I do.

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 are the interrelated crises of affordability, homelessness, and public safety being felt intensely around Lincoln St., and the key issue is that city leadership has been functionally indifferent, offering limp responses to severe problems. I intend to be a loud voice for these residents that feel ignored by City Hall and I will work with them to ease the burden they are carrying for addressing what should be SHARED, citywide issues. The neighborhood is being treated like a ‘containment zone’ by the city, for our shared societal problems. Folks don’t think it’s fair that their neighborhood has to take the burden of hosting so many shelters and a large treatment facility with minimal support or equitable resource distribution in return. There isn’t much being done to discourage open drug use or drug trade, and the city provides no alternative solutions, like safe injection sites or mobile outreach. There are homeless encampments that get busted up by police, only to reappear down the street because the unhoused people have nowhere to go. I agree with them that we, as a city, need to be more equitable in where we provide services and we need to “get real” about what will actually work to help people feel safe in their neighborhoods. The first step is to champion transparency and honest dialogue with District 1 residents. We need to stop treating mental health and substance abuse as problems that always require a legal-criminal response. We can try an evidence-based harm reduction approach, and begin providing better services, like permanent supportive housing with wraparound services and dedicated mental health response teams to truly help people stabilize and get off the streets. Data has shown that District 1 voters are the most influential and have the most participation in the entire city. I want folks in our district to understand the power that we have to make real change if we want it; we just have to be willing to speak up and use our privilege to work toward better solutions.

What sets you apart from other candidates seeking this position?

I have knocked on about 2000 doors and counting, and I am truly hearing residents. What sets me apart is my professional background in IT Project Management and Portfolio Management. I am very much into open and honest dialogue, and I will not shy away from discussing any issues, big or small. My opponent is a bit of an 'empty suit': he wants things to be simple. He seems to want to be nothing more than a middleman for calls to DPW and is unwilling to dialogue or offer solutions about the most serious issues facing our district: affordability, homelessness and public safety. He appears to prioritize developers and the needs of wealthy homeowners over the needs of regular people. He seems to be turning a blind eye to the biggest problems in our district. There is very little written down from him about where he stands on serious issues like ICE in our city, the DOJ report, the oversaturation of services around Lincoln St. Please compare his responses to these surveys to mine and see for yourself:

Tony: Tony Economou 2025 Municipal Candidate Questionnaire

Keith: Keith Linhares 2025 PM Municipal Questionnaire

Vote411 Comparison

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

From my professional experience, I am great at process improvement and leveraging data and technology to deliver actionable solutions. I put in a petition to improve roadwork tracking (article here), and the city recently implemented the website here, based on my idea, so I am already working on improving communication around road work. I aim to solve the root cause of the issues residents have with our roadwork, which seems based on poor communication, and a DPW that no longer has the capabilities to meet resident expectations. I want to work WITH DPW to understand what they need, and provide residents a feeling that they are getting their money's worth. In the spirit of getting our money's worth from City Services: In the wake of the DOJ report, there needs to be significant change with how we approach policing in Worcester. The actions of "bad apple" police, and the lack of accountability from City Hall and leaders of WPD, and the police unions, point to a clear need to rebuild trust in the WPD. The first, moderate step would be to establish a Civilian Review Board with subpoena power, composed of residents. This would allow regular residents to regain a feeling of trust in the process. From there, the data shows that most of the calls that come into our emergency lines are for non-violent complaints that the police are not effective at handling. It would be much more cost-efficient and common sense to have first responders trained in de-escalation, or first-responders that can better handle mental health or substance use issues. The police are overburdened and clearly overwhelmed and we could relieve that burden with non-police first responders. The paraprofessional police aides concept was used in Worcester in the 1970s and was very successful until the police unions used their influence to eliminate the concept. It is high time we revisited it to save taxpayer money and create a greater sense of safety in this city.

How does your experience prepare you for success in this position?

My professional background is in corporate business analysis, project management, and portfolio management. My colleagues have praised my integrity, passion, collaboration, and ability to consistently challenge the status quo to foster a respectful, solution-focused environment. I excel at translating large goals into actionable metrics and holding people accountable to timelines and results. I see a city government that needs this kind of oversight. We have lots of goals, but few benchmarks and we don't do a good job holding ourselves accountable. I’m a first-generation college student, and have a BA in Economics, with a Political Science minor from UMASS Dartmouth and an MBA from UMASS Amherst. My most valuable experience has been knocking on doors and listening to residents. I go out most days and am at about 2000 doors. I've heard the same frustrations again and again about city services, affordability, our approach to public safety, and transparency and accountability. Listening to and channeling the voice of residents has been my most valuable experience so far.

What else would you like voters to know about yourself?

I believe the times we are living through offer a tremendous opportunity to create unity and healing. I'm not afraid to be confrontational, but I aim to be provocative in order to start a dialogue. My ultimate goal is to find common ground and work toward solutions we can all live with. I'm not an activist or an organizer, I’m just a regular guy who wants to make sure my kids and all of our neighbors can have a great future here. I'm willing to talk to anyone. I've met with Mayor Petty (and even worked with him on helping a resident on Longworth Rd), some of the current City Councilors, and Chief Saucier. I’ve knocked on about 2000 doors so far, and I enjoy listening to residents and figuring out what we have in common. I get a genuine kick out of speaking to residents with very different political leanings, because I like to understand what they believe in and why. I believe we all share a common goal: to live in a city that is safe, fair, and thriving. We may disagree on what that looks like, and how to get there, but let's have that dialogue in public, and find a way to work together to strive for continual improvement. I'm running with a willingness to do the hard work of building those relationships and turning conversation into action.

See Related:

• Worcester Patch Candidate Profile: Jose Rivera For District 5 City Councilor
• Worcester Patch Candidate Profile: Ted Kostas For District 4 City Councilor
• Worcester Patch Candidate Profile: Owura Sarkodieh For Mayor, City Councilor At-Large
• Worcester Patch Candidate Profile: Sue Mailman For School Committee At-Large