District 1 City Council Candidates Night at North End / Waterfront Neighborhood Council [Full Video]

Candidates running for Boston City Council – District 1 came out on Monday night to a forum hosted by the North End / Waterfront Neighborhood Council (NEWNC). The three candidates running to fill the seat being vacated by Sal LaMattina include Lydia Edwards (00:40 in video), Margaret Farmer (15:50) and Stephen Passacantilli (05:40). District 1 includes the North End, Charlestown and East Boston.

With the preliminary election only two weeks away, the candidates mostly stuck to their scripts for this North End Candidates Night highlighting the major issues surrounding housing, development, schools and transportation. There were however, some notable differences in how each views the role of a district city councilor.

In the above video, we present the entirety of the Candidates Night. Over the next few days, we will breakdown each of the candidates remarks at the forum and how they answered specific questions from North End residents.

The audience questions (26:30 in video) centered around quality of life issues. Right off the bat, the candidates were asked (27:30) about how they view the Boston Planning and Development Agency (BPDA). Each of them emphasized better planning and a willingness to advocate against projects that are unpopular with the community.

Clean streets was an early question (36:00) and all the candidates took aim at AirBnb and how to deal with short-term rentals and absentee landlords (42:40).

Each candidate objected to 4:00 a.m. alcohol licenses (49:50) in the North End when asked by a resident. Workforce and affordable housing is a focus for all the candidates (52:30). Your editor asked about the 68 youth arrests recently made on summer feast weekends and how the prospective councilors would work with the police (59:20).

The preliminary municipal election will be on September 26th, 2017. The top two candidates from that election will appear on the general municipal election ballot on November 7th, 2017.

For more information on the District 1 City Council Race, follow our District 1 Tag.

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