Joe McGuirk
2021 Candidate for Cambridge City Council
Home address:
314 Columbia St. #1
Cambridge, MA 02141
Contact information:
website: www.joemcguirkforcambridge.com/
Email: joe@joemcguirkforcambridge.com
Facebook: facebook.com/joemcguirkforcambridge
Instagram: instagram.com/joemcguirkforcambridge
Twitter: twitter.com/joeforcambridge
Send contributions to:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/mcguirk-committee-1
OR by check at:
Committee to Elect Joe McGuirk
314 Columbia St. #1
Cambridge, MA 02141
New candidate for 2021
Background:
We may have met when you were out for dinner. I have been tending bar in and around Cambridge for the last 30 years, and have met thousands of people from Cambridge and the towns close by. Some of those folks are families like mine, who have been here for multiple generations, and some have been new neighbors who have just arrived. I love doing what I do. It gives me an opportunity to really get to know my community, and it offers me a chance to talk candidly with folks about so many things. Because of this long, public-facing career, I feel very connected to so many people in our community from all walks of life.
My family arrived here in 1938 when my grandparents moved their family into Newtowne Court. Public housing played a huge role in allowing them to raise a family in Cambridge. However, as the costs of housing continue to rise for people like me. I fear that I will be the last generation to be able to afford this city, and may even be displaced if we do not address our housing crisis.
This has guided me here, to ask for your support in my bid for a seat on the Cambridge City Council. As a person who has worked in or around the city for years in a very public role, I know many of the folks whose voices need to be represented in our council. As a resident, I know firsthand the challenges of trying to keep a home in a city that is wonderful but getting more and more difficult for people of modest means to live in. As a friend to many small business owners, I am well aware of the plight of our local business community. As a parent whose children view Cambridge as a second home, I am sympathetic to those raising families in the city. Members of my family teach here, work here, live here. I have been serving in Cambridge for many years -- now I would like to serve Cambridge.
Top Priorities
The Housing Crisis
I decided to run for office because I love this city, but like so many folks in Cambridge, I am fearful that soon I will no longer be able to afford to live here. I was born here and have lived here for most of my adult life, yet I am at risk of not being able to afford my next rent increase. As a leader in our region, we must be innovative and bold in addressing displacement and the widening wealth gap to ensure our city and our region continue to foster diversity, opportunity, and justice. I believe a right to housing is the first step to achieving this. You can read more about the ideas I support to address housing here: Joe’s Housing Priorities.
Local Businesses
The small business owners who help make Cambridge a vibrant, unique, and desirable place to live lost a full year of sales and are now struggling to recover or even reopen. The solutions offered by our state and federal governments have not been enough. These businesses often rent, and while those rents may have been deferred, they are still owed. We, as a city, should do everything we can to save the businesses that still have a fighting chance, and commit to reviving those who were unable to survive. Independent, small, local businesses are such an important part of the identity of our city; their loss is our loss.
Climate Justice
According to the city’s comprehensive plan, Envision Cambridge, our city’s climate will face increasing temperatures, higher precipitation, and a rising sea level. Climate change and climate policy are directly linked to wealth inequality. We need timely and thoughtful infrastructure changes to our city, ensuring that all residents, regardless of economic status, benefit from future policies. It is imperative that we do not displace current lower-income residents and that we remain a welcoming city to those who move here. We have a moral obligation to prevent creating climate refugees by denying opportunity to people based on lower economic status, which disproportionately falls on BIPOC.
Public Safety
All residents, workers, and visitors of Cambridge deserve an expectation of public safety. We must work towards creating safer streets, with the involvement of all stakeholders as we make changes to our transportation needs. We must address how to police our city and continue the path towards more equitable, antiracist law enforcement. I support the removal of any material purchased through the 1033 program. I also support the idea of an alternative response team to certain emergencies. I think it is important to listen to the communities most at risk of being harmed by violence as we address law enforcement.
I also support the establishment of a city program to teach restaurant workers skills to recognize power-based personal violence and sexual assault in their workplaces and to react in a way that promotes safety. I propose a program like the Green Dot Bystander Intervention and make it available to all who would like to attend.
Vanishing Middle Class
Wealth inequality is a major factor in the polarization of our nation, and we need to address it before we lose our middle-class residents. It is nearly impossible for school teachers, public servants, and service industry workers to afford a home or even pay rent in Cambridge. The folks who do the jobs our city requires are being pushed out. There was a time in which they could live in a neighboring city, but even that is becoming less viable. At what length should we expect them to travel to keep us fed and taught, or to keep our houses and streets clean? The city must do what it can to ensure that those of us of more modest means can continue to live in the city we helped create.
Education
Cambridge should be doing more in its schools for students who are not planning to enter four-year post-graduation programs. We should offer more opportunities for those who hope to enter the workforce upon graduation. A stronger vocational and technical education would allow for students to seek good-paying jobs, as well as producing a local workforce for the various and ever-present needs of our city.
Furthermore, we must work to erase the digital divide that prevents students of families with limited access to the internet from enjoying the same opportunities as families of greater means. Municipal broadband, free of dependence on a corporate monopoly, is a widely supported idea in Cambridge. I would look to emerging technologies that could create digital equity in our city.
Workforce Development
We have a widening wealth gap between white-collar and blue-collar workers, and while Cambridge can only do so much, we can do some. I will advocate for a labor representative in our city government, and the creation of a workers’ board, with representatives from workers, businesses, and the local government, to address wage standards, training, health standards, and other workplace standards. I support requiring project labor agreements and community workforce agreements for public works projects. I support the right of public sector employees to organize. Furthermore, I would advocate for those in nontraditional work arrangements, such as gig workers, on-call workers, temp agency workers, and independent contractors so that they can enjoy the protections and benefits of more traditional workers. Cities have come up with creative remedies for these folk. Cambridge should follow suit. As a long-time restaurant worker, I will leverage my experience and my connections to advocate for more mentoring programs within the foodservice industry.
McGuirk Will Work
I am very excited about the opportunity to serve my community in a meaningful way. As a first-time candidate, I will need all the support I can get. I hope you will consider giving me your number one vote on November 2nd. For more information about my candidacy and options on how to vote early, please visit my website: joemcguirkfromcambridge.com.
CCTV candidate video (2021) 2021 MCNA Candidate Forum (McGuirk)