Lynn Councilor-At-Large

Notes

P.O. Box 856

Lynn, MA 01903

781-346-9060

www.lynncommunity.org

Lynn Councilor-at-Large

Candidate Forum

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Congregation Ahabat Sholom

151 Ocean Street, Lynn

7:00 p.m.

Upcoming Events

All candidate forums will begin at 7:00 p.m., 151 Ocean St., Lynn

Please participate in our Red Cross Blood Drive

Saturday, July 27th, 9am – 2pm, LHAND, 10 Church Street!

Sunday, September 29--Essex Heritage Sails & Trails—Two Events

Goldfish Pond and Grand Army of the Republic Museum

(free to all—get “Passport” from www.essexheritage.org)

Book Club--meets monthly September through June

For more info email or see our website www.lynncommunity.org

Eating Out Club—meets monthly at different Lynn Restaurants

For more info, contact Trish, or visit our website www.lynncommunity.org

Thursday, October 17th, 6:00 – 9:00 p.m.

Fundraiser--Tides Restaurant & Pub, 2 Wilson Rd, Nahant

10% of all sales to benefit LCA programs and events.

November, Date/Time TBA--Resource Fair

December, Date/Time TBA--Wreath Hanging

Monday, January 20, 2014--3rd Annual MLK, Jr. Day of Service

March 2014—Youth Forum

May/June 2014—Mayor’s State of the City

June 2014—Clean Sweep to the Sea

Robert Clay Walsh

At age 36, Clay Walsh is running for his second time for the Councilor At Large seat. In his first run in 2011, he finished with 2,550 votes, about 800 votes short of the 4th spot. Since his loss in 2011, Clay has remained committed to the community. He has served on the Friends of Lynn Woods and Knights of Columbus boards as well as volunteering for Youth Outreach program LYSOA. He has participated in park clean ups and has worked for the city plowing Down Town Lynn streets. Clay also works for the family heating oil company, Walsh’s Oil and moonlights as a bartender in Beverly. He attended OLA, St. Mary’s and Endicott.

Clay’s family has been vested in the community for many years. While his father owns and operates Walsh’s Oil, his uncle, John Walsh, owns and operates John’s Oil. His other uncle, Captain Jim Walsh, has continued the Walsh’s Deep Sea Fishing and has recently brought Aquasino, the new casino boat, to the Lynn Harbor. Clay is hoping to follow in his family’s footsteps and make his mark on the City of Lynn. He is a believer that money follows good ideas. Some of his ideas include, securing busy intersections with safety signals for emergency vehicles, recruiting a Starbucks to the city, utilizing solar on our schools, opening an ice skating rink on the Commons, hosting a Fashion Night Out and encouraging waterfront development.

Hong Net

Hong L. Net arrived in the United States from Cambodia 30 years ago. He graduated from Holyoke Catholic High School in 1988 and from UMass Amherst in 1992 with a Bachelor’s in Political Science. Currently, he works as a child support enforcement specialist at the Massachusetts Department of Revenue. He and his wife, Thavra, have been living in Lynn for over 15 years and their children Anna, 13, and William, 11, are students in Lynn public schools.

During his first term Councilor Net:

Authored the ordinance creating the Lynn Human Rights Commission and he continues to serve the Commission as an advisor

Created, and continues to advise, the Asian Business Association of the North Shore (ABANS) which is now partnering with other business organizations to increase the economic successes in our city

Established a partnership among organizations such as the ABANS, HAOM, FIRSAHO, the LRA, and UYZ Mission which have been working together on numerous community projects throughout 2012 and 2013. This partnership is continuing to grow with the addition of new organizations

Has been serving on the boards of Metro North YMCA, Lynn Youth Street Outreach Advocacy, Khmer Cultural Planning Committee, and Project Youth Empowerment & Success

Is honored to be a member of Lynn Museum & Historical Society, Friends of Lynn & Nahant Beach, and Designer Selection Committee for Energy Management Services of Lynn’s ISD

Was elected as a delegate to the North Shore Labor Council

During his first term Councilor Net:

Authored the ordinance creating the Lynn Human Rights Commission and he continues to serve the Commission as an advisor

Created, and continues to advise, the Asian Business Association of the North Shore (ABANS) which is now partnering with other business organizations to increase the economic successes in our city

Has been serving on the boards of the Metro North YMCA, Lynn Youth Street Outreach Advocacy, the Khmer Cultural Planning Committee, and Project Youth Empowerment & Success

Elected as a delegate to the North Shore Labor Council

Hong continues to believe that if we work together and involve all residents in the discussion process Lynn will continue to be one of the finest cities in the Commonwealth.

Lynn Councilor at Large

Candidate Forum

Lynn, MA

Wednesday, July 10, 2013 7:00 pm

Welcome Mary Trahan, LCA President

Moderator Tom Sheehan*

Time Keeper Steven Dwyer

Candidates Qualified by City Clerk:

Buzzy Barton**

Daniel Cahill**

Brendan Crighton

Paul Crowley

Miguel Funez

Aikaterini Panagiotakis Koudanis

Hong Net**

Robert Clay Walsh

*Tom Sheehan is a former (founding) board member of the Lynn Community Association and author of the LynnsideEdition, a community blog about his life in Lynn. Tom also helps the Annual Fund, Special Events and Major Giving staff at Big Brothers Big Sisters of Massachusetts Bay raise the funds they need to match more at-risk youth with caring adults in one-to-one friendships.

**Incumbent

Notes

Candidate profiles are listed in alphabetical order with a photo and a brief biography.

Candidates are seated for the forum in alphabetical order (left to right).

Please accept our thanks for all Lynn citizens caring enough to come out tonight to this forum, and to the candidates who are taking time from their already busy campaign schedules to participate.

In Gratitude…

A special thanks to moderator, Tom Sheehan; time keeper, Steven Dwyer, and LCA photographer, Patrick Devanney.

Very special thanks to the Congregation Ahabat Sholom and Shendel Bakal for their very generous support of LCA by allowing use of their facilities and set up for the event.

The mission of Lynn Community Association

is to promote pride and ownership in our community

through beautification, education, recreation,

and neighborly relationships.

Aikaterina Panagiotakis Koudanis

“Katerina” Aikaterini Panagiotakis Koudanis has a background in architecture and planning. She specializes in ‘green’ development, with prior experience in Boston and Salem architecture firms. Earning a bachelors degree in architecture from Wentworth Institute of Technology of Boston, her experience includes urban design studies abroad in a number of European countries. In local and regional endeavors, her devotion to her hometown Lynn is to preserve, improve and strengthen neighborhoods, historical, environmental and local commercial resources. Her inherited belief of true democracy is not based around a central government, but where opinions of the whole are measured, where people and government are a cooperative unit. Through her work experience in understanding different perspectives to creative solutions, she has developed leadership skills to strengthen the future of Lynn through open comprehensive planning in harmony with what is important to the community and generations ahead. If asked why she is running for Councilor-at-Large, the simple reason is because her heart is at-large for Lynn.

Katerina believes in time-honored laws of nature pertaining to sustainable design for a happy and healthier living and ‘Smart Growth’. Her love to Lynn has not shied away from difficult issues resolving problems for the long run: i.e. addressing substance abuse issues; and standing at the forefront with others in raising awareness in opposition to Lowe’s and Super Wal-Mart by the Lynn/ Salem line. She has helped the community with zoning concerns, major traffic issues, flooding, pollution of watershed, degradation of home values, loss of local commerce/ ‘good jobs’, wildlife habitat and open space. In effect she helped to increase conservation value to Spring Pond Woods as one of the ‘1000 Great Places in Massachusetts’, certifying 3 vernal pools, documenting species on the Natural Heritage of Endangered Species Program, inventorying historical and archeological sites and working with the Wampanoag Tribe of Aquinnah and other agencies. As a Lynn Historical Commissioner she helped initiate: The preservation of a remaining Ten-footer shoe-factory; creation of the Historical Significance Awards; Lynn’s Most Endangered Historic Resource List; Historical Resources Map of Lynn; and private designs for ground retail in Lynn’s cultured downtown.

Born in former Lynn Hospital, she grew up in a bilingual household and lived in a downtown residential neighborhood on Hanover Street and in the Fay Estates, attending St. Mary’s High School. Today she lives on Nahant Street with her husband who grew up by Wyoma Square, whose great-uncle is Lynn’s legendary athlete Harry Agganis. As a Sunday School Teacher of St. George Church, she organized the nurturing of 200 tree seedlings with the children in honoring the ideals of caring for and reforesting the planet. The seedlings now trees beautify Lynn Shore Reservation and Pine Grove Cemetery. Not ending there, her goals include:

• Site planning with community inclusion: Zoning coordination; Strengthening neighborhoods in ‘village’ nodes, Super Blocks in giving areas identity, increased value and safety especially for children; Green safe routes; Neighborhood liaisons; Strategic commercial planning open to public; Ahwanhee Principles for a resource-efficient community with ‘Smart Growth’

• Green policy and guiding incentives, including consumption, building methodology, and controlling rodent habitat

• Greenbelt preservation of wildlife and recreational corridors, cleaner air and preventing future legal battles at city boundaries.

• Resolution to substance abuse issues, prioritizing Lynn residents first.

• Open co-op government; Increase number of commissions, liaisons, and interest in government affairs.

Miguel Funez

My name is Miguel Funez, my wife Milagros and I moved to Lynn, MA in 1992 in search of better ways to raise our family. We have been married for almost 25 years, and we have two beautiful children, who are products of the Lynn, Public School System. My daughter graduated from Lynn Classical and my son graduated from Lynn English. Both of our children went on to college and have become conscientious young adults.

My goal was to provide for my family with the opportunity to prosper. I believed that my dreams were made a reality and I owe it to the city of Lynn. Today I have another dream and that, is to help people of this interesting city to work together for a better tomorrow. This is why I am the right candidate for the job.

I graduated from Cambridge College in 2000, I majored in psychology and juvenile justice. I became a paralegal at North Shore Community College and went to law school at Mass School of Law.

I have worked in this community with many different organizations always trying to make myself available and donate my time. I worked for Neighbor to Neighbor, Lynn United for Change, North Shore Labor Council, Lynn Hispanic Scholarship Funds and I currently serve on the Zoning Board of Appeals.

My main goal is to promote business growth in this city. I want to provide opportunities for training programs as well as make it easier to apply for loans. As a community leader, I see the opportunity to grow and make this city of dreams, a reality.

Lynn has over 91,000 residents and the population is growing every year, new schools are needed, to educate our children, but to fund education we will need to attract new businesses and become an overall business friendly city. With your help we can move forward. We must turn in the same direction and work together. We come from all over the word, and speak different languages eat different foods but we all have one thing in common, we know how to work towards a common goal. Let’s prove that we can do it.

Debate Rules

1. Each candidate will be allowed 2 minutes introduction; candidates will present in alphabetical order. A yellow flag will be displayed by the time keeper 15 seconds before time is up. A red flag will be displayed when time is finished.

2. Moderator will ask questions which have been submitted anonymously by voters in the community. A name of the person who is to answer first will be drawn from a pool of candidate names. The question will then pass to that person’s left until each person has had an opportunity to respond.

3. Each candidate will have up to 90 seconds to answer the question. Yellow/red flag time keeping will apply.

4. If any candidate makes a remark which is directed toward another specific candidate, that candidate will be allowed 45 seconds to respond/rebut. Yellow/red flag time keeping will apply.

5. Following approximately 75 minutes of questions/answers, each candidate, in reverse alphabetical order, will be allowed an additional 1.5 minutes to make closing statements. Again, Yellow/Red time keeping will apply.

6. Candidates who do not respect the time keeping rules may be disqualified from participating in the remainder of the debate.

VOTER INFORMATION:

Last day to register to vote in primary—Wednesday, August 31

Primary election—Tuesday, September 20

Last day to register to vote in final election—Wednesday, October 12

Election Day—Tuesday, November 8

Reminder—Voter Registration

If you are not registered to vote or need to make changes on your registration, you can do so tonight. Visit the check-in table before you leave!