Affordability
Despite years of efforts to combat the high cost of living in Greater Boston, our neighbors are still being priced out of Medford and Somerville. I have experienced this personally, moving five times during my first six years in Somerville. As we all know and feel, our rents and other daily costs are rising faster than our wages.
It doesn’t have to be this way. We have an opportunity in Massachusetts to legalize rent control, implement stronger eviction protections, acquire and develop vacant land with incentives for affordable units, make it easier to build Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs), support the creation of community land trusts statewide, and develop guidance and offer technical assistance for streamlining local housing development permitting processes.
How i’ve led on affordability:
Served on the Somerville City Council’s Committee on Housing and Community Development.
Served as the Council representative to the Affordable Housing Trust, working with colleagues to identify revenue sources for subsidized housing and affordable units.
Voted to create Somerville’s Affordable Housing Overlay District, which simplifies and incentivizes affordable housing through the city’s zoning code.
Voted to strengthen Somerville’s Condo Conversion Ordinance, which implements tenant protections and includes a right-of-first-refusal for existing tenants to purchase their home if the landlord decides to put it on the market.
Voted for tighter regulation of short-term rentals.
Voted to create and fund Somerville’s transformative Office of Housing Stability.
Advocated to increase the prioritization of affordable housing programs from 50% to 60% in Somerville’s Community Preservation Act grants.
Voted to appropriate initial funding for the Somerville Community Land Trust.
Supported the creation of a Universal Waitlist for applicants to inclusionary, voucher-eligible, and other affordable housing units.
Voted annually to fund Somerville’s emergency homeless shelters and warming centers.
Public Safety
As an immigrant and a person who speaks English with an accent, I know what it’s like to be unfairly targeted, singled out, and discriminated against – including by my own government. Neighbors in Medford, Somerville, and nationwide are being racially profiled, kidnapped by masked agents, unlawfully detained, and even murdered. These actions by the federal government are terrifying, and represent blatant disregard for our constitutional freedoms.
We must protect our neighbors. In Massachusetts, we must immediately pass legislation to prevent the federal government from leveraging local assets to terrorize our communities, ensure local law enforcement plays no part in supporting ICE activities, strengthen existing immigrant protections, and ensure organizations providing immigrant defense have the resources they need to operate effectively.
how i’ve led on public safety:
Sponsored legislation to fund Somerville’s program providing free legal services for immigrant residents.
Supported and continually improved Somerville’s Sanctuary City Ordinance, and advocating for state legislative action on the Immigrant Legal Defense Act and Safe Communities Act.
Supported a Language Access Ordinance to ensure all Somerville residents can participate in civic activities without encountering language barriers.
Led the continued creation of a civilian oversight program for the Somerville Police Department.
Passed ordinances prohibiting racial profiling.
Oversaw the implementation of police body cameras in Somerville.
Oversaw the Somerville Police Department’s use of surveillance technologies.
Sponsored legislation to prohibit the use of facial recognition technology by the Somerville Police Department and other municipal agencies.
Climate
I saw firsthand how the fossil fuel industry devastated the ecosystems of my native Cameroon. My experiences motivated me to devote my undergraduate and graduate studies to understanding how we can protect and restore the natural environment. When I first moved to Somerville, I volunteered with the local organization Community Assessment of Freeway Exposure and Health (CAFEH), a research project that assessed the impacts of highway pollution on neighbors’ health. Through that work, I learned that the neighborhoods with the worst pollution and air quality are disproportionately home to our low-income families and people of color.
We can lead on environmental justice and sustainability. We have an opportunity in Massachusetts to focus on job creation and workforce development for a blue and green economy, require and incentivize commercial development to align with green building standards, invest in climate-friendly transportation options and prevent highway expansions, strengthen state capacity for effective community response in climate emergencies, enable municipalities to divest from fossil fuels, protect urban plant and animal species, implement green stormwater infrastructure on state-owned land, establish programs for government-led solar power to be generated and used locally, hold state agencies accountable for achieving climate standards, and protect and expand access to quality green space.
How i’ve led on climate:
Served as Chair of the Somerville City Council’s Open Space, Energy, and Environment Committee.
Spearheaded Somerville’s policy of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.
Led Somerville’s efforts to implement the Commonwealth Clean Energy Goals and Electric Sector Modernization Plan.
Restructured Somerville’s Commission on Energy Use and Climate Change to operate more effectively.
Advocated for and oversaw Somerville’s programs to decarbonize existing municipal and private buildings.
Expanded participation by Somerville households in the Mass Save energy improvement program.
Advocated for and oversaw Somerville’s efforts to install publicly-accessible electric vehicle charging stations citywide.
Voted for Somerville’s Tree Preservation Ordinance, Tree Cutting Ordinance, Native Tree and Plantings Ordinance, and the creation of the Urban Forestry Committee.
Led Somerville’s legislative efforts to study, fund, and pilot a municipal curb-side composting program.
Led Somerville’s efforts to regulate and reduce single-use plastics.
Infrastructure
When I first moved to Somerville, I didn’t own a car or have the money to purchase one. Relying on public transit meant that I often spent more time commuting than being with family and friends. This is still the reality for too many residents, with the worst burden falling on low-income families and communities of color.
An effective, accessible, multimodal transportation system is possible. Community members in Medford and Somerville should be able to get around the region safely and cheaply, without having to rely on a car. At the State House, we have the ability to ensure that public transportation is reliable, fast, and affordable, to transform the dangerous state-owned roads dividing our communities, to legalize automated enforcement of moving vehicles (which will also prevent neighbors of color from encountering potentially violent traffic stops), to proactively regulate autonomous vehicles, to ensure funding for pedestrian and bicycle safety goes to the projects that will have the most local impact, and to ensure all transportation projects meet and exceed accessibility standards established under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
How i’ve led on infrastructure:
Co-founded the Somerville Alliance for Safe Streets (SASS).
Introduced countless City Council orders to implement traffic calming and pedestrian protections.
Oversaw several municipal projects to expand safe pedestrian infrastructure and bicycle lanes.
Oversaw the MBTA’s ongoing plans to improve bus service in Somerville through the Bus Network Redesign.
Advocated for improved lighting, signage, and intersection safety along the Somerville Community Path.
Voted to sustain a free transit pass program for Somerville families, resulting in a $500,000 appropriation for the program.
Supported the installation of Safety Sticks in Somerville to prevent illegal parking and promote pedestrian safety and bus operations.
EDUCATION
As a parent of two children in Somerville Public Schools, I know how important it is to ensure that our schools give every kid the tools they need to succeed. This is of urgent importance in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic, for students with disabilities, and for students of color who face real and measurable racial disparities.
Our schools can be national leaders on education. At the state level we have an opportunity to enable universal pre-kindergarten programs, eliminate the school-to-prison pipeline by prioritizing socioemotional support over punishment, ensure fair wages for all educators, ensure state funding for school building renovations go to the communities that need them most, strengthen statewide protections and guarantees for families of children with disabilities, and protect the freedom for all children to access the learning materials that support their education and socioemotional wellbeing.
how i’ve led on education:
Supported Somerville’s paraprofessional educators as they successfully negotiated for a living wage.
Introduced City Council orders to alleviate teen homelessness.
Oversaw Somerville’s planning for after-school programs and accessible enrollment methods.
Voted to expand Somerville’s funding for childcare and pre-kindergarten programs, which resulted in an additional $500,000 to out-of-school enrichment programs in the FY25 budget.
Advocated for the creation of the Somerville Youth Center and the development of other community spaces where young people can safely congregate.
Supported the state ballot initiative to eliminate Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) mandates.
Advocated to maintain positions for 14 multilingual skills educators in Somerville Public Schools, which resulted in funding allocations in the FY25 municipal budget.
worker protections
I was a union member for many years. I saw firsthand the critical impact worker solidarity can have on wages and workplace conditions, and know that our communities only function when workers are treated with dignity. In Medford and Somerville, too many workers – especially immigrants, low-wage workers, and gig workers – face wage theft, misclassification, unsafe conditions, and retaliation for speaking up.
This is unacceptable. In Massachusetts, we must build strong partnerships between labor, municipalities, and the state to ensure all employees are empowered with the information they need to hold their employers accountable. We must also do the work to hold employers accountable for violating responsibilities to their workers, and implement stronger labor regulations on gig economy corporations.
how i’ve led on worker protections:
Voted for Somerville’s Wage Theft Ordinance, the strongest of its kind in Massachusetts.
Stood with groups like Union United to secure a Community Benefits Agreement with the major developer in Union Square.
Voted to officially recognize the Union Square Neighborhood Council and empower them to negotiate with developers.
Voted for broader community representation on Somerville’s planning boards.
Served as the City Council representative to Somerville’s Job Creation and Retention Trust.
Responsive governance & Transparency
I am a neighbor first and an elected official second. Having my own negative experiences with government and hearing the stories of fellow community members with similar experiences is what drove me to run for office nearly ten years ago. Everything I’ve done as a City Councilor has been driven by the lived experiences, struggles, and opportunities of my neighbors. Our communities deserve public officials that are accessible, collaborative, and communicative.
My door will always be open to Medford and Somerville community members. I will fight for greater transparency at an infamously opaque State House, demystify state legislative processes for constituents, and create meaningful opportunities for collaboration on statewide initiatives with all community members.