Responses from the candidates will be posted online and in the print version of South End News over the next several weeks.

John Connolly is a first-term At-Large City Councilor from West Roxbury, elected in 2007. The 35-year-old former teacher is the youngest member of the City Council. He has served as Chair of the City Council’s Committee on Environment and Health, Acting Chair of the Education Committee, Chair of the Special Committee on a Livable Boston, and as a member of the Ways & Means Committee. More information on Connolly can be found at his website, www.connollyforcouncil.com.
-Brandon Simes

What separates you from the pack?

First and foremost, as a former teacher in urban schools, I know urban schools can work because I taught in an urban school that worked. I have taught children from every neighborhood in Boston and when I go to work each day, I take that part of me that will always be a teacher in a sixth grade classroom working with at-risk youth. During my first term, I have used this experience to focus on improving our Boston Public Schools.

I also go to work each day as a new father. My wife, Meg, and I are dedicated to raising a family in the city so that our daughter can experience the richness Boston and her neighborhoods have to offer. I want to make sure Clare’s generation is handed a safe, healthy, and sustainable Boston. As Chair of the Council’s Environment and Health Committee, I filed the Council’s first Green Agenda aimed at pushing Boston to be the greenest, most environmentally friendly city in the world.

Finally, I am a consensus builder working for One Boston every day. My long history of working across Boston’s many communities strongly shapes and influences my work as one of your At-Large City Councilors. As a teacher, I worked with students and parents from every neighborhood in Boston. During college, I was one of the first volunteers to be part of a groundbreaking afterschool program in Mission Hill. In law school, I volunteered as an English as a Second Language tutor in Roxbury. As an attorney, I provided pro bono legal services to a number of community based organizations across the Boston, including the South End-based PrideLights Foundation and Action for Boston Community Development (ABCD). I believe that these experiences, and many others, help me to build consensus and to be an effective City Councilor.

Why do you want the job?

I love working for One Boston made up of people from every walk of life and every neighborhood who want to work together for a livable city with great schools, safe streets, a strong economy, and healthy, sustainable neighborhoods. I am a former teacher, a father raising a family in the city, and at my core, a consensus builder who believes that if we work together, Boston can have world-class public schools, be the greenest city in the world, and have livable neighborhoods with the highest quality of life.

How long would you like to stay in this position if you’re elected?

I am completing my first term as one of Boston’s four at-large city councilors, and I hope that the people of Boston feel that I deserve a second term. I am a proponent of term limits, but more important, I want an electoral system that encourages people from all walks of life to run for office, and I hope that our elected leadership at all levels of government reflects the diversity of our whole city. In terms of a definitive time in office, I can only say that I hope to serve a second term because I want to keep working for a livable city.

What is your agenda in office?

I am working for a livable city with great schools, safe streets, a strong economy, and healthy, sustainable neighborhoods.

Everyday, I’m focused on improving our Boston Public Schools. During the past year and a half, I’ve worked with parents, students, principals, and teachers to limit teacher layoffs and to prioritize getting every dollar to the classroom. With an eye toward better economic times, I filed legislation urging Boston Public Schools to build an Environmental Science Academy-a school that will set a national standard for environmental education by educating environmentally responsible citizens prepared for jobs in the expanding green economy.

I will continue to be a strong voice for improving our schools by closing the achievement gap, expanding K-8 schools, fostering parental involvement, reforming our student assignment system, and working for quality programming in every school so that every child will get not just the best in math, science, and language arts, but also have the highest quality music, arts, humanities, and foreign language classes.

I believe that quality of life starts with safe streets. There is no greater challenge or tragedy facing Boston than children killing other children. A commitment to strong community policing is essential, and that means as many police as possible walking the beat, and linking our police to strong neighborhood watch groups and youth workers and community-based organizations who work to prevent crime and violence in our neighborhoods. At the same time, it will take more to make Boston truly safe for the long term. Boston needs a preventative strategy focused on early intervention. It is imperative that our public safety strategy prioritizes reaching at-risk children from the earliest ages, engaging families so every child grows up in a supportive environment, and keeping children on paths of opportunity and away from the streets. To address one part of this challenge, I filed legislation this past year pushing for Boston to adopt a new approach to truancy focused on early intervention, parental accountability, and family engagement. Truancy is a gateway drug to dropping out, which is an expressway to crime and addiction. I will always prioritize working to keep our kids in school and off the streets as the foundation of any public safety strategy.

I am committed to a green Boston. As Chair of the City Council’s Environment and Health Committee, I filed the Council’s first Green Agenda aimed at pushing Boston to be the greenest, most environmentally friendly city in the world. I secured a commitment from the administration to triple the number of hybrid vehicles to be added to the city fleet and I shepherded over $6 million in environmental stimulus money through the Council that will be used for weatherization and solar expansion. I will continue to push my Green Agenda that included a call for a carbon-neutral neighborhood pilot program, bring a shared-bike program to Boston, and holding neighborhood environmental summits aimed at getting neighbors to work together to reduce their energy consumption and carbon footprints.

What can you do specifically for the South End?

I work for every neighborhood everyday, and the South End is no exception. My work in the South End goes back to providing pro bono legal services for the PrideLights Foundation, a South End-based gay rights organization. As a City Councilor, I make it a point to know the issues in the South End. My staff and I make a concerted effort to work with and support community leaders and civic groups on a host of issues including work with Washington Gateway Main Streets and United South End Settlements. I chaired a recent hearing of the City Council’s Special Committee on a Livable Boston with South End residents to discuss issues around quality of life and livability in the South End. During my first term, I worked on a number of individual South End resident concerns including the replacement of a badly deteriorated sidewalk, and work with a Cathedral resident on accessibility issues when he became incapacitated. I will continue to work with individual South End residents on numerous city service concerns including noise, trash collection, and green space. Finally, two of my staff members, Alexandra Zaltman and Jamie Langowski, are South End residents.