[Danielle Balocca]: The following interview is of City Council candidate David Tedisco. Information for this introduction was taken from David's campaign website, which is linked in the show notes for further reading. David has been working and volunteering in politics since his days as class president at Medford High School, a position he held for three years. At the age of 18, David interned for State Representative Sean Garibelli. He also worked on Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign in New Hampshire, learning the importance of engaging with the community to understand the issues people faced. At the age of 19, David was asked to be the campaign coordinator for former Medford Mayor Stephanie Eugenie Burke. His time working with this campaign gave him a deeper insight into Medford politics and the challenges that Medford residents face today. Recently, David was working in D.C. in the office of Congresswoman Lori Trahan as his Press Secretary and Digital Director. In his campaign for City Council, David is focused on implementing a citywide infrastructure plan, modernizing city services, and revitalizing Medford Square into a thriving downtown area replete with diverse local businesses. Interviews for this podcast are done in a way to ensure COVID safety. For that reason, you may notice the sound of rain in the background of this episode. Thanks for listening. Hi, David. Thanks so much for joining me today.
[SPEAKER_00]: Danielle, thank you for having me. This is amazing.
[Danielle Balocca]: Oh, no, no worries. I'm glad you could be here. So to start off, I've been asking folks that I interview about their favorite choice for a place to get a bite to eat in Medford. So what is yours?
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I don't think it's much of a secret about me, but I'm Tenoch's biggest fan. Been going there since they opened. I was in high school, it was either 2014, and I remember I was at Papagino's in the square. I had just eaten a full pizza and I looked across the street and saw a burrito place. Keep in mind I weighed like 260 pounds at the time, but I looked across the street and I was like, a burrito? And I did have a full burrito after having this pizza and fell in love that day and have been going to Tenoch. ever since, but I try not to have both a full pizza and burrito consistently now. Try to do one or the other.
[Danielle Balocca]: That's a good adult life choice.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, trying to be healthier as an adult, not a high schooler, but yeah, just very Tenoch proud and always trying to send people there and order their food whenever I can.
[Danielle Balocca]: So is a burrito your go-to there?
[SPEAKER_00]: I actually, and I'm not going to pronounce this correctly, but plato mexicano, which is just like a burrito on a plate, pretty much. And it's rice, beans, and you can do chicken or steak. And their secret, a lot of people don't know about, is mole, which is their chocolate sauce that's spicy. It's not sweet, but it's really, really amazing. And I think Tenoch is such a great example of, one of the really cool hidden gems in Medford and Medford Square, and just represents, right, the diversity we currently have in the local business scene and how do we continue to expand upon that and bring different cultures in, because we're all, you know, if you look down Medford Square on a Friday night, I think it's Nigea, the sushi, all-you-can-eat sushi place. There's like always a line out the door. It's unreal. So people really love these diverse options and, of course, day one. I grew up eating Bob's Subs in South Medford so I always have to do a shout out to Bob's as well.
[Danielle Balocca]: I love hearing other people's experiences of these places.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah I know and I'm trying to think like you know of course Medford Brewing is opening up on Harvard Ave. Yeah it is Harvard Ave. hopefully in the next six months like we're you know just adding to the scene and it's it's exciting stuff and exciting like the direction we're going in of just having more and more uh different options on the menu you know so
[Danielle Balocca]: Cool. You talked about your involvement in Medford. And we talked a little bit about it in the intro. And you've got a lot of experience interacting with local businesses. But I'm just interested in hearing about what led you to run for city council and your path to local politics.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, my path to local politics. So I was a junior in high school and my brother Dennis was really successful. He started a clothing company at the time and like a larger brand called Karma Loop bought his brand and he was doing really great. And so I said to myself, I want to go into business because I want to make money because that's That's cool. And then junior year history, I had a teacher named Jonathan Streff, who's still at the high school now. And I somehow, by the skin of my teeth, got into APUS. I think it was APUS history. And he just opened my eyes to the importance of civic engagement and being a part of something so much greater than yourself. And so it's when I kind of changed my focus to maybe I don't want to go to business school, maybe I want to get involved in public life. Even though, and it's so true, and I learned this lesson later on, jobs don't pay well in the public sector. So, you know, it's really an issue of equity and making the sector more attractive so we have people invest more in our society. But yeah, I mean, Jonathan Streff, he was the type of guy that, I mean, on the weekends, he was a national park ranger at JFK's birth home in Brookline and would do civil war reenactments on the weekend. Like this is a guy that currently lives and breathes the history, you know? So he really just spread that passion. And the funny thing is, if you look at my campaign today, right, my campaign, Our core team, it's a ton of people from my high school class and specifically a lot of students that had strep in particular and I think they kind of caught the bug the same way I did of this is so cool and exciting and you're part of something so much greater than just you. So that was when I kind of mentally got first invested in politics. Then I went, you know, after Medford High, I went to UMass Lowell, and I remember I was at the club fair, and there was like a huge Donald Trump table. And this was at UMass Lowell, which I perceived to be like a more, you know, democratic university. And of course, there's strength and diversity of opinions, but I was just disheartened that I didn't see like a college Democrats table. So I went over to the Trump table, and I said, where's the college Democrats? And they, you know, they just smiled and said, they don't exist. And I couldn't believe it. So I started College Democrats at UMass Lowell. I mean, it's still going today, a really strong organization. But it was exciting because at the time, a congressional primary was going on. Nikki Songhus, who represented the Merrimack Valley, was stepping down. And so I met basically all the candidates because they wanted to come in and talk to our club. They wanted to get young people involved. in civic life and really get college Democrats on board their campaigns. So I met Rufus Gifford, Dan Coe, Lori Trahan. I ended up joining Rufus Gifford's campaign. And Rufus was the fundraiser for President Obama. He was later appointed ambassador to Denmark. He was so deep in public life and really saw the importance of being involved and playing your role in whatever capacity that may be. Rufus came in fifth place. That race didn't work out, but Rufus inspired me so much. So many things about Rufus. You know, he was an openly gay candidate running for Congress. I was very much and always am in the process of coming out, right? Because everyone you meet, you're always coming out to. It's like introducing any other element of your personality. But he just really inspired me. He was so proud and secure of who he was and had such a vision and passion for what America should be. And so I joined Rufus. It didn't work out. I ended up getting a scholarship to American University and going to grad school in Washington, DC. And I'm sitting there. I got a job in admissions. And I'm thinking, I know so much about this congressional district in Massachusetts, 37 cities and towns. And this knowledge is just being wasted. And so I called up Lori Trahan, who had won. And I knew of her. And she knew of me. And I was still very supportive of her. And after enough pestering, she said, all right, I'll take you on board. So I ended up joining her office, I think, February. She got it sworn in in January. I joined her team in February. Started off as her digital assistant, and then became her digital director and press secretary. And so that kind of takes me up to the point when I started to think about running for city council because what happened in my life happened in everyone else's life. The COVID-19 pandemic hit and kind of rocked everyone's world. And so I started watching city council meetings over Zoom because at the federal level, we were working on these large spending bills, the CARES package, the American Rescue Plan, the Families First Act, right? All these big, big spending bills filled with COVID-19 relief. And there was a lot in them. There was small business relief. There was testing resources, vaccine funding. simple things like PPE, right, the personal protective equipment. And so I was watching city council to see how are we talking about these big spending bills at the local level. You know, I know how we're talking about them at the U.S. Capitol, what's going on at home. I tuned in, and I think I experienced what a lot of residents experience, which was really shocked by the state of the council. It was really divided. The discourse got really low at times, and I know it was a tough two years. But I've elected you to represent me and 58,000 other people. And I just always hope we keep the bar high and always maintain respect even when we disagree. We can disagree on opinion, but acknowledge we're still neighbors, right? And the important thing is that we need to educate each other. We need to educate each other about our stances so that you understand why I believe black lives matter and why I believe love is love, right? These are important things. It's not just a lawn sign. These affect people's lives and well-being. And so I just, you know, it was also the peak of the Black Lives Matter movement, and I was working in lockstep with Mobilize Medford, and we organized a letter which went out. Over 700 residents signed on to this letter, which basically said, hey, city administrators, thanks so much for declaring racism a public health crisis. It really was an important thing, right? It unlocked special funding from the state that we wouldn't receive had we not declared that. But many also saw it as a Band-Aid solution. What did that really do beyond that wonderful claim? What are we doing to make systemic change? And so this letter we wrote outlined six different priorities of here are things you can do in the city of Medford to actually make Medford more equitable. And I think that's where it gets into many other policy areas, which I'm happy to dive into. And so the response to that was really nothing. Some folks emailed back, but there was no follow-up. There was no actionable change. And so I took a step back, and you look at the bigger picture. And you say, all right, we're not really delivering. for every population in Medford. We're not really delivering on the basic services. I mean, I looked at, right, I live in North Medford. You look at the state of the streets and the sidewalks. And that's what I got my master's in was public administration. And my degree was really focused on municipal planning and infrastructure and finance and the intersectionality of all these issues. And so I just, I said to myself, we're really not delivering so many of the basic things that our neighbors are. Malden is, Somerville is, Cambridge is, Melrose is, on a lot of these issues. And so I said to myself, all right, we need new blood in Medford. I'll be honest, I've always been more of a behind the scenes guy, right? I worked for Mayor Burke, managed her campaign in 2017. I worked on the Biden campaign from home, making calls all day, worked on Secretary Clinton's campaign. Like, you know, I've always been behind the scenes working on these elements. Never pictured myself as a candidate until I was talking to a lot of my friends and family this spring about, you know, who are we gonna run? Asking around, I'll happily manage a campaign. And a few folks were like, well, why don't you just run? Why don't you run? And I said, well, you know, I don't know if that's right for me right now. I had already moved home because the pandemic got so bad that I decided to move home. mid-2020 because I was paying rent in DC, but because I could be home, I was home. I said, why am I paying rent in DC when I really want to be back in Medford? The idea was to move there, get the degree, and come back home, and that just really happened to work out. That's, you know, the pandemic had very few silver linings, but I view them as, that is one of them of, it really prompted this internal look on yourself. What do you prioritize? What do you want in life? And I realized, like, I'm not spending enough time with my family, especially in a public health crisis. You realize not everyone's here for as long as you'd like them to be. So you've got to spend time with those that mean the world to you. So I know I went a little bit all over the map here. Sorry.
[Danielle Balocca]: EMILY FORTUNA No, you touched on a lot of the different things that I was going to ask you. Sort of like what your observations have been, what you'd like to change, or what you'd like to see done differently. And I also would agree. Lots of people have become more engaged in local politics and watching the city council. The access with Zoom, for me at least, made things really easy to participate.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we need to keep that, right? That is dropping the barriers to civic engagement. How are we allowing a city like Medford, right? We're not Boston. We don't have the press that Boston has or even Cambridge or Somerville. We're lucky to have the transcript, and Kinga, who's a new reporter here in Medford, we're lucky to have her in the organization. But we always need more coverage. And the most important thing we can do is expose people directly to government. See what the people you've elected are like. How do they talk? What do they care about? Are they reflecting your priorities? And I think over the last two years, a lot of us had that internal look, you know, looking in the mirror as a city. What do we want to prioritize over the next two years? And so yeah, that is why Zoom is so important and in any barrier for anyone to get engaged in the conversation is critical. And there's so many ways that we can open up the conversation to make city government more accessible to all different populations that historically have been shut out of the conversation. But I just want to touch upon why this moment matters. We have $48 million coming to the city of Medford from the American Rescue Plan. And I know some folks are starting to talk about this. I've been mentioning this since May on the campaign trail because I worked on the messaging of the legislation back when I was working for the Congresswoman. So I was very mindful of this huge influx of federal funds coming to Medford. We're adding about a whole fourth to our regular municipal budget. I mean, it's really a remarkable opportunity to get through some serious backlog on projects, right? Of course, first and foremost, we should be prioritizing the public health crisis. That's what these dollars were dedicated for. So, Medford High School. I graduated Medford High in 2015. I was class president. Couldn't have been more proud of the people in that building and the educators and the administrators and the student body. The physical building is lacking dramatically. I'm not the only one to notice this, of course. but we still don't have proper ventilation at the high school. You know, we can claim we do because we've unlocked some metal windows that were locked up in the 80s or 90s, but that doesn't mean we have proper ventilation. You know, the other element is, There is that conversation about do we get a new high school. You know, we've invested so much in B building and the new pool and the new field of dreams. But the important thing is we've got to start that conversation. This project is going to take seven years no matter what. And how can these federal funds assist with that? So I think first and foremost, right, if a new high school is going to take seven years, we should be updating the ventilation immediately, immediately with these federal funds. That's what they were dedicated for. And I'm talking about air controlled rooms. You know, it is against state law for a public facility to be above 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Yet it happens at Medford High every September, May, and June. And that's because it was grandfathered in. It was built before the state law was put in place. But the reality is, is the state law was put in place for a reason. It's unsafe for students with disability. And unsafe, you know, in general, if you can't focus because you're so uncomfortable in a hot room, how are you paying attention to your education? And this is where we fall behind compared to our neighbors. You know, if you think about it, a student sweating in a classroom in Medford, probably not going to get as good grades as a student who's very comfortable in Winchester, just able to easily pay attention to the curriculum. That is where the gap begins to grow when we don't invest. And so that's why these federal funds are a really exciting opportunity, getting proper ventilation at the high school, starting an infrastructure plan across the city of Medford to update our streets and our sidewalks, not only so that they're well paved, but that they're ADA compliant, and being mindful of climate resiliency every step of the way. I'm not going to claim I'm the climate expert. I think that's a problem right now with any leader in this country who's elected. You don't have to be the expert. You didn't get a PhD in environmental policy. But your job is to get those people in the room. Have them advise you on what is best. The public health crisis showed that best, right? You don't have to be the doctor. but get the doctor in the room to tell you the best thing, not Facebook, but a real medical professional to tell you, you know, should you be wearing a mask? Should you get vaccinated? Let them do the research. That's their job. And you do your job. Maybe your job's an educator. Maybe your job's a coach. Maybe your job is working at a grocery store or helping pave a road. I mean, we all play such a critical role in society and let the experts do what they've studied, you know?
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah, no, and it sounds like you have a lot of things that you would like to change or like to continue seeing work done on in the city. Do you have any thoughts about equity? You've addressed this in a little bit of your response already, but what Medford would need to become more equitable?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. And I know a few other candidates have touched upon this in the pod series as well, which real quick, just before I jump into equity, I just want to say like, Danielle, the fact that you wrote about this podcast on Facebook a week and a half ago, and it is up and running now, and you have four episodes. It's just remarkable. And I think that's so symbolic of Medford residents. Like we have an idea and we want to put it to action. We just need a government that matches that. But I've just been so blown away by how you got this up and running, and a brand, and a logo, and it's on Spotify. I'm very, very impressed. So thank you for doing that and moving so fast. Back to equity.
[Danielle Balocca]: Also to say, I couldn't have done it without the accessibility of the candidates that have come on. They've made it sort of easy to schedule things.
[SPEAKER_00]: That is awesome, right. And that's where a responsive government comes into the conversation, especially folks who are running to be your elected officials. Charter review, and if you've listened to other episodes, I apologize for repeating what charter review is, but charter review is basically our local constitution. It is how do we decide what our government looks like? We haven't done this in Medford in 38 years. Most communities build in an internal review every five to 10 years. It's just a given. And I think that's intentional for many reasons that we haven't had that review. What we desperately need in Medford is ward representation and at-large representation. Right now, I believe, Medford, we have eight wards in Medford. Two of our eight wards are represented on the council. Eight of our eight wards should be represented on the council. And so it's a system Malden has. It's worked incredibly well for them. Somerville has it. Cambridge has it. It allows each neighborhood to be more engaged, to have someone more responsive to their issues, and actually have a city council that looks like the city of Medford. And so I think that that's a domino effect for equity across the city, right? I got asked this question, what can we do to welcome more minority businesses to the city of Medford, minority-owned businesses? There's a number of things. We could have the chamber reach out more. We could ensure our city communications are multilingual, consistently, not just here or there, but across the board. make government services and communications much more accessible through a 3-1-1 system and easily access City Hall 24-7. But really, I would imagine if you're opening up, let's say, a pizza shop in Medford, you're going to look at what do the local elected officials look like? What does the scene look like? And then you might decide from there, is this the community that's right for my business? If we have a city council that actually looks like the population of Medford, I'm sure minority-owned businesses would feel more comfortable opening up shop here. We only have one black-owned business in Medford, Neighborhood Kitchen, which is great. But how do we open that up? You know, in talking about, we have so much opportunity coming, Mystic Avenue, right? I know that we've had a lot of folks kind of stop the progress that should have happened already on Mystic Avenue when you start talking about our housing shortage. And we have a housing crisis in Medford. My generation is boxed out. We're boxed out. I graduated Medford High in 2015. Most of my friends have moved to a big city because they're like, well, I could stay here until I'm 40 and save up with my parents and then buy a house. Or I could go start my life in another city and start renting. The funny thing is, right, if you look at a lot of spaces to rent in Medford, it's outrageous. Locust Street apartments are about $3,000 for a studio. I looked there. I was like, OK, this is not realistic. I was renting in DC. My studio was $1,500 a month. That was already way too much money, $1,500 a month. We're talking studios and one bedrooms at $3,000 in Medford. And so how do we curb that issue, right? And this is all in line with equity. This all falls under the question. We don't have an Office of Affordable Housing in Medford. We don't have a land trust. There are a lot of actions we can take to really move forward in that space. And to me, Mystic Avenue is that golden opportunity of revising our zoning laws, looking at how do we make this space work for affordable housing. I mean, not to mention Medford is currently, I think it's either 7 or 8% out of affordable housing citywide right now. By state law, we're supposed to be at 10%. So once again, we're breaking state law. That's where you allow those 40 Bs, which are apartment buildings that are 20% affordable housing, to open up here in Medford. We've had multiple proposals and yet we pumped the brakes on them. I think Medford's at the point where we've been pumping the brakes for so long. Medford in so many ways, when you look at the physical elements, not the cultural, not the people, but the physical elements, it feels like we're in 1960. When you look at the layout of Medford Square, when you look at our housing stock, when you look at Mystic Ave, these are incredible opportunities. And you look at Malden downtown, they flipped in the past five years. They are accessible, they are walkable, they have public transportation. That's what we need to be fighting for in Medford. And we need champions at the local level that are advocating for this. Medford Square, I'm nearly 25, right? Medford Square has been a conversation my whole life. We're gonna get to work on Medford Square. And I had, I won't lie, I had points of sincere hope when there were, there's been three different redraws of Medford Square. We don't need another study. We don't need another redraw of Medford Square. Nothing's changed since then. We need a put that plan in action and put the shovel in the ground and get to work. I think the reason we kick that can down the road is because construction is going to be uncomfortable and people are going to be upset. The construction is worth it on the flip side, but I think that's why we continue to push it because truly redrawing Medford Square is going to be uncomfortable for residents, for small businesses. There's going to have to be temporary solutions. But now it's been 25 years of avoiding the conversation. You're letting me talk for too long. I got a question about the charter.
[Danielle Balocca]: So if that were to happen, would it, it would be an option to go to at-large representation where you'd have to vote on that?
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm so glad you asked about this because I made a mental note that this process, there's a lot of misinformation about this process on the public front. I think that's no one's fault. No one really explains it to us. But the way it works is the council votes for the review. That then goes to the statehouse and is voted on at the statehouse. What the statehouse is voting on is just to start a commission to evaluate our charter. The commission then comes up with a proposed charter, which is then voted on by the community. It's a long process to even get to that point, which is why so many candidates are talking about this with urgency. We understand if we even get to work immediately, we have a two-year road ahead of us before we even have something tangible in front of us. But that commission will make a recommendation about the charter. So it can include things like ward representation and at large. It can include, you know, term limits, which I'm very incredibly in favor of. But of course, you know, just because I'm in favor of it doesn't mean it needs to happen. Like I understand that if I'm fortunate enough to be elected that I'd be representing 58,000 people and always want to listen to folks from all walks of life and every opinion and then evaluate from there what makes the most sense for a city like Medford. You know, it reviews the power balance between the mayor and the council. We have a really, really strong mayor in Medford. Like, you know, Malden also has a strong mayor, but they don't yield as much power as the mayor does in Medford. And it's a lot on the mayor. It's a lot, because they basically, every decision falls under them. That's a large decision. You know, our council passes the budget, and they can do a lot of resolutions. But a lot of big initiatives, it's on the shoulders of the mayor to do that in two years. You have two years. to prove yourself, and really you have 12 months to prove yourself before you're in re-election again. That's a lot to ask. Working for Stephanie, I saw that. I was blown away by what Stephanie could do in four years between, you know, funding the incredible project that was the police station, that was a lot of money, getting a brand new library, Riverside Park. Those are just a few things that I was like, wow, that's what a really strong administrator can do in a few years. But she was always fighting off her real act, you know, and that's tough. So I think charter review just to get to a healthier place would be a four-year mayor. To have anyone who's mayor just be more productive in that office, you know.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah, and you've shared a lot about the community of Medford, and it's clear that you have a lot that you appreciate about it. Sorry if I'm going on. No, you're good. It's very informative. I think that's part of what I'm enjoying about this process is getting a deeper understanding of some of these issues. We just hear the terms, and they're not clear what they mean.
[SPEAKER_00]: TODD KERPELMAN So many people have explained charter review to you at this point. I feel bad. And I know it's more to get the word out there. But thanks for bearing with all the candidates while we explain this. It took me months as a candidate to understand this process. Being a candidate has been so informative. I mean, I can't tell you how much I know about trees now. I knew the importance of trees, but I don't think I understood in depth. Like, some trees have a life of 90 years, you know, the same as a human. I just, I never thought of it that way. Growing up, I was like, trees live for hundreds of years. And that is true about some trees, but not all species. In trees, right, talking about equity, trees are an issue of equity. South Medford, South Medford, some streets have one tree on the entire street. That is not true in Western North Medford. And even in Western North Medford, there are still hundreds of tree stumps without, there should be a living tree where those tree stumps are. And so I'm incredibly in favor of expanding our forestry budget to really dramatically beef up our tree canopy in Medford. And it all comes down to funding, right? A lot of people are like, how can we do it? It all comes down to funding. So again, that 48 million will help, but revising Mystic Avenue to increase tax revenue is going to help. And then if the community wants to look at it, you know, a lot of people talk about a two and a half override. And it's a really contentious issue in this community because people feel strongly on both sides. I do hear a lot of people say, I'll admit that, a lot of people say, I'll pay the taxes if you're going to give me the service. People don't want to pay the tax if they're kind of getting what they're getting right now, which I understand that. They're not getting much. And that's not a bash on anyone. This is like generations long issue of us kind of dialing services back in the city of Medford. But, you know, if the community is in favor of two and a half overhead, that should be a valid question. That should go up to the community. That shouldn't be decided by any elected official because, you know, I am one person and I have my life, my income, my scenario, my housing. I don't have the same scenario as 58,000 other people. We have to be mindful of everyone's situation. For example, as I was door-knocking North Medford, I talked to a lot of seniors that said, David, I'm excited. I just want you to know if you increase taxes, I'll probably lose my home. I'm widowed. I live on Social Security. I'll lose this house. So I think that there's a world that can work for both, where if we do have to increase taxes, there can be a senior exemption. Just because we need to increase revenue in this city doesn't mean we need to box out a whole generation. But again, I think the best space for that is a ballot question, because something like that should go to the people. That should be weighted on by every individual. That'll be interesting. And that could be up next election. I mean, depending on how this election goes, it'll be really interesting to see what the next few years look like.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah. Great. Well, thank you so much. I'm going to switch to a little bit of a personal question. Sure. Yes. OK. These are meant to be fun.
[SPEAKER_00]: OK.
[Danielle Balocca]: So if you could share something about yourself that you think might surprise us.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, that's a great question. Something fun. I did a lot of theater in high school. Really loved, loved, loved it. Miss Grant and Erin Keith are two incredible individuals who I believe still do all the shows at the middle school and the high school. And those days just are so impactful on you. You know, also, like, I was a bit of a different kid, right? Like, I didn't, I was, I mean, I was class president, but I didn't also fit in really anywhere at the same time. I was just different. I didn't know how to explain it. You know, sometimes you just feel different, like you don't really fit in in a certain pocket, and I always kind of felt that way. But theater, I had that space where you could just be so weird and there was no judgment.
[Danielle Balocca]: I think when you find that place at a young age, it builds confidence. that you like feel hopefully like securing yourself to do the stuff that you're doing now.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right. Exactly. Right. The confidence you you're getting at such a big thing. It is that it is that confidence. Everyone's cool in their own way. It's just finding your own niche or the space that expands upon your best self. Right. I think we're all still always experiencing that, especially after a pandemic. I think we all had a reevaluation of like, who am I? What do I care about? What am I passionate about? And what do I prioritize in life? Oh, for sure.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah. I talk a lot about how the pandemic kind of shrunk things for us.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
[Danielle Balocca]: Like everything became small. And I think in a lot of ways that was good. I think especially for connection, right? Connecting to our smaller communities. I got the opportunity to meet a lot more people in my neighborhood, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[Danielle Balocca]: I don't know that I would have had otherwise had I been not forced to stay home all the time.
[SPEAKER_00]: I know, but you're a great example, right? Like, you know your neighbors better and you're more involved in local government, right? Would you say that after the past few years? And I think again, some super small silver linings to the pandemic, but that was one of them is our community is really paying attention now in a wonderful way. We should hold our local officials to the same standard. We hold a member of Congress or president of the United States. Because you should always be a good person, you should always respect others, and you should put the best interest forward for a healthy planet, a healthy community, accessibility and equity. And so I'm hoping those are all results of really the past few years of people getting tuned back into their neighborhood, their community. you know, really having like a mindset that how am I affecting my block? How am I shaping my neighborhood, my community? Because it really is, it's on all of us, right? It's not on like our seven Councilors alone. It's on all of us as activists and community members to take that initiative up.
[Unidentified]: Yeah.
[Danielle Balocca]: Have you ever gotten any advice that, you know, really stuck with you that you'd want to pass on to other people?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes. This is a good question. I have a few quotes in mind. I don't know that this is so much advice as a nugget of my father's life he shared with me that I just always carry with me. But my dad met my mom at a church in South Medford on a Wednesday. They were at mass. And the priest introduced my dad to my mom. and literally my dad proposed seven days later in that exact spot. He knew her for a week before he proposed and they're still married today. It's kind of unreal and they have four great children and some grandchildren as well and my parents are just do we bicker, of course, but they're everything to me. And my dad said, he said this at the time when, you know, my grandparents, my dad came home and he said, I'm engaged. My grandparents were like, oh, yeah, sure. Like, they had never met my mom. They're like, to who? Who are you engaged to? He said, Nancy Cicchini. She lives, you know, she lives on the hillside. And they were like. You're making this up. My dad had to bring my mom over to be like, this is the woman I'm marrying, which I don't blame my grandparents. But my dad said to my grandparents, when you know and you know you know, confidence replaces fear. And that's always just been a powerful thing. I've had moments in my life of so much self-doubt. I went to University of New Hampshire my first semester of undergrad. And I was so unhappy. And I actually transferred in the middle of the year to UMass Lowell. And I remember I was so scared, but simultaneously it was this pure feeling of confidence. And I carry that with me now. I was scared to do this. I was running for city council as a, It's an intimidating thing. You're running to represent 58,000 lives and understand their concerns, hear their concerns, and balance their concerns so that you're trying to give everyone what they envision is what their happy life is. And that's no easy feat. But I try to let, for me, the confidence overwhelm the fear of, I'm scared, but it feels like you're being called to this moment to take action in your community. And I hope everyone feels that way. Like running for office is scared. Whether you're listening to this in Medford or some other community, I hope you consider too. I mean, Lori Trahan always said this to me, who is my former boss. She always said, lean in, lean in. It's scary, but lean into the fights, the hard fights. And I hope everyone in the city does that over the next two years. And I hope if I'm fortunate enough to be elected, people hold my feet to the fire. as we're sitting next to a fire. I hope that the people hold me and the other, if fortunate enough, other six Councilors accountable, hold the mayor accountable, hold your state reps accountable, your state senators. You know, these people, they made promises to you. And they, you know, Rome wasn't built in a day. It's not going to happen overnight, but you should really see some, good transformation in Medford in the next few years. And hopefully that's transformation we all benefit from, whether it's a revitalized Medford Square, an infrastructure plan for our streets, dramatically better Medford High School, continuing, like look at our recreation program as a young department, what they've been able to do since 2015. We have to continue to provide resources to build out Medford Rec and get trees, trees on every street. And so I hope that that's the transformation we see in the next few years, that people start to really, you know, this community has so much pride. So much pride. It's blown me away. That's really like, we've knocked about 9,000 doors the past six months. Our team's definitely tired. But everyone's shared so many stories with us along the way, and we carry those stories. And a lot of them are what people love about Medford, what they see in Medford. And so we just need a city that really reflects what people already see in the city, you know? I'm so hopeful and confident we can do that. And I just, I always say, you know, It matters so much what happens at City Hall, even though people don't watch it like they watch CNN or Fox News. Your access to the ballot box is decided at City Hall, not the U.S. Capitol. The state of your street is decided at City Hall, not the U.S. Capitol. And so I hope people really feel that. I think they are. We keep saying we're cautiously optimistic. I can give my final ask to listeners, but I don't want to cut you off if it's not time.
[Danielle Balocca]: I think you're getting there.
[SPEAKER_00]: Awesome. My big ask is that people get out to vote. You get out to vote. I mean, I don't know when this will be posted right now. We're eight days out from an election. this election is pivotal between the federal funds coming and just speaking to who are we as a community? What do we believe in? Do we want people with energy, people that are really gonna do their personal best to take action and have Medford put our best foot forward these next two years? So I ask that you get out to vote. You take your friends and family with you. Everyone, you should say to yourself, I've got three people to vote this election. Early voting, it's today until 5 p.m. at City Hall. You said you're going to vote today, right?
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah, my wife and I are going right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's amazing. It's amazing. And, you know, it's open City Hall hours this week through Thursday. If you're voting by mail, those should be in the mail today. They're really saying tomorrow would be the last day to put that in the mail. Otherwise, you should drop that at City Hall. And then, of course, vote November 2nd on Election Day. Polls are open, I believe it's 7 to 8. Sorry, my brain's a little fried, but yeah, it's 7. seven to eight, and so get out and vote, bring your friends, bring your family, it matters. It matters so much who we pick right now. So I hope people are feeling that urgency. I know I am, but I've also been doing this for six months and it's been awesome, but I'm also so excited to see what happens here. I hope that our hard work pays off and that Medford sees our vision and agrees it's the best vision for Medford.
[Danielle Balocca]: I know I realized that I've started thinking about politics and elections in the same way I think about big sporting events. So I'm really excited to think about the outcome. So you mentioned that today is Monday. We're recording this on Monday the 25th. So people should get their ballots in the mail today if they're mailing in. But definitely by tomorrow.
[SPEAKER_00]: Tomorrow the latest, the 26th. Tomorrow the latest. Because they say it takes about five to seven days with USPS. If you're feeling any sense of uncertainty, there is a Dropbox on the side of City Hall. It's labeled very clearly, ballot Dropbox. You can put them there. It's very secure. I've asked City Hall a bunch of questions about how this works. So I know it's a secure process. But we should all think of democracy just like your personal health, right, in working out and eating healthy, you kind of have to do it every day. Otherwise, you're out of shape, right? And that's the same with democracy. We have to do this every day to keep our community in a really healthy place. And so I hope voters think of it that way, like a sporting event, or like working out that this is such a big deal, because it shapes what the next two years of your life, and longer, right? The decisions made over the next two years could impact generations. And they have, they have. I've been, I'm the product of many Medford policies in our public schools, and in general planning for the city, and our parks program, and so, I've gone on long enough, but I hope people feel that urgency.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah, no, I think this will be a lot of really useful information for folks.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.
[Danielle Balocca]: And I really appreciate you coming here today and taking the time.
[SPEAKER_00]: Of course. And Danielle, thank you so much again. I'm just blown away by how quickly this came together. If everything in the world could work like this, we'd be in a much more productive place.
[Danielle Balocca]: That'd be great. All right. Well, thank you so much.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks, Danielle. And good luck. Thank you.
[Danielle Balocca]: Thank you for listening to this interview. A link to the campaign website is listed in the show notes. For any feedback or questions about the podcast, please email medfordpod at gmail.com. You can also subscribe and rate the podcast on Spotify and follow the podcast on Instagram at medfordbitespodcast. That's M-E-D F-O-R-D B-Y-T-E-S P-O-D C-A-S-T for updates about upcoming episodes and other announcements. Thank you to all who have supported this podcast, but especially to my wife, Brittany. Guys, what's the name of the podcast? Never Bites. Never Bites. Good job.