Patrick Clerkin for City Council

AI-generated transcript — the recording is the record.

[Patrick Clerkin]: Whether you call it Medford or Meffa, this place is special. It doesn't matter if you're from North, West, Wellington, Hillside, or South. Whether you get your coffee at Lola's or Del Mar. Whether you eat at Murphy's, Rosso's, Oasis, or Jim's. Whether your grandparents made this place their home a century ago, or you're a late arrival looking to make this place your home today. Traveling the avenues and parkways, or passing neighbors with our headphones on, we tune out much of what's important. Stepping off our worn paths into our communities and communicating beyond the dividing lines, our shared problems and opportunities to address them come into focus. For the past five months of my campaign for City Council, I've done this. Walking across eight wards, encountering thousands of residents, and discovering hidden gems. We're surrounded by resources, both material and human, and yet confusion, anger, and distrust are winning out. Disengagement and apathy sets in. I get it. News feeds and doom scrolling leave many of us strained, hanging on, and pushing through. But right now is the time to tune in. This city needs our minds, our hearts, and our guts more than ever. Students, singles, families, elders of all origin. We can reclaim reason and balance to turn our path away from increasing fragmentation to one where our residents are informed, our commerce thriving, our budget balanced, our public safety officials and educators respected, our arts and culture integrated. It's time for our standards and governing to turn toward what's honorable and thoughtful. It's time for public disagreement to turn toward reconciliation and kindness. Let's get things working so that we're thriving rather than surviving, not for our egos or tribes, for our neighborhoods and for our city. Let's begin today.