Dear friends,

Thank you for visiting my website and reading this letter, and thank you for taking the time to become an informed voter. Democracy works best when we work for democracy―when we educate ourselves and choose candidates that best represent our values. I appreciate your willingness to inform yourself and help determine the future of our historic city.

Civic engagement is a key component of healthy government. Civic engagement means you and me working together to make a difference in the civic life of our community; it means harnessing and developing our combined knowledge, skills, values, and motivations to make a difference; it means promoting the quality of life of every individual in our city. This happens through the political process, but it also happens through the everyday encounters we have on the streets and in the institutions of our city.

In large part, I am running for city council because I want to create a sustainable municipal government and I know this can be accomplished through the promotion of civic engagement. As your city councilor, I will motivate and mobilize my constituents to get involved. Through volunteering and other forms of civic participation, we can work within the city’s budget, doing more with less. Throughout my tenure as a council member, I will inform my constituents with regard to city matters and I will actively seek out their concerns and opinions before voting. I will give all of my constituents a voice and the power to determine the future of Ward 5 and our great city.

Our cultural diversity, skilled tradesmen, exceptional history, vibrant art community, and important seaport are tremendous assets that make us truly unique among New England communities. These precious resources are what make us proud to live and raise our families in New Bedford, and they are also what we can and will use to transform our city into a coveted tourist destination in the years to come.

Allow me to use my community organizing skills and my legal training to reengage New Bedford residents, harness the valuable resources of our culturally rich community, represent you in a professional, respectable manner, and enable you to make educated, sound decisions that will ensure the success of our city. Let’s get to work!