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LOWELL — District races feature candidates representing a particular neighborhood. But the candidates for one of the three at-large seats on the City Council represent the entire city.
In Tuesday’s general election, incumbents Erik Gitschier, Rita Mercier and Vesna Nuon defend their at-large City Council seats against challengers Sixto DeJesus and Emile Kaufman.
Unlike the 100% participation in The Sun’s election questionnaire for the District 3 – Belvidere, District 4 – Downtown, District 5 – South Lowell, District 7 – The Acre and District 8 – Upper Highlands City Council races, only Gitschier and Nuon provided complete responses; Mercier partially responded.
Kaufman did not respond to emails or text messages by deadline, and DeJesus declined to participate.
Nuon and DeJesus attended Coalition for a Better Acre’s “Candidating” event at the Lowell Senior Center Aug. 27, and both Nuon and Mercier participated in the “Get to Know Your Candidates” City Council forum held Sept. 29 at Lowell TeleMedia Center in Downtown Lowell.
The incumbents’ responses are unedited. Mercier declined to provide responses beyond the first question.
Q: What are your top 3 priorities for the city?
Gitschier: Public safety, schools, economic development.
Mercier: Continue with our streets and sidewalks to be brought back to the quality and condition they were and should be, continue to watch our finances and spending habits, provide the best constituent service our residents have every right to expect and deserve, even our homeless people.
Nuon: More affordable housing and easing homelessness, business improvement district downtown & vacancy ordinance, sustainability and climate action.
Q: Do you support community benefits agreements for developments in Lowell?
Gitschier: Yes, anytime a negotiation includes the stake holders within our community there can be major benefits. Many of those benefits hold contractors accountable, such as local hiring, environmental impacts, traffic concerns, living wages, and can address many negative impacts to our community.
Nuon: Yes, I do. It offers advantages for the city. It ensures collaboration between developers and community and addresses potential negative consequences. It also ensures that developers align with the needs of the community, especially those most impacted by the development projects.
Q: Energy costs are rising, in part due to AI infrastructure costs like those associated with the Markley Group’s data center in the Sacred Heart neighborhood. What steps will you take to mitigate those impacts on ratepayers in Lowell, especially in environmental justice communities that may also face cuts to LIHEAP and other energy subsidy programs?
Gitschier: As a City Councilor I advocated for the creation of a sustainability department because of rising costs and environmental impacts in our community. The sustainability department has brought in more than 25 million dollars in funding to our community (Environmental Justice Community), assisted many families in our community with their energy usage through neighborhood outreach, one on one communication, and direct communication with local, state, and federal officials.
We need better oversight on programs such as Mass Save, and the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). A recently released study by the State Auditor’s Office on Mass Save Programs has pointed out the disparities between Environmental Justice Communities (Gateway Cities) and much wealthier communities. The study showed a skewed distribution of benefits, favoring residents of many high-income communities, and lower income communities picking up the costs. As in the past, I will advocate on the local level to voice our displeasure to our State and Federal elected Officials.
Nuon: The resident of Lowell matter. I believe we need vigilant regulators (who) are willing to put in the time and effort to oppose the deals that pass costs on to the ratepayers.
Q: More than 60% of Lowell residents are renters and half of those are rent burdened. Do you support rent control?
Gitschier: When looking at rent control, I have some concerns with legislative bodies creating policy without fully vetting the effects. Rent control would have a direct impact on the housing supply, new construction, maintenance of rentals, and sources for budgeting.
Nuon: Yes. Tenants should not have to leave their homes because of rent increases.
Q: Do you support by-right zoning and streamlined permitting as the key to building more housing in Lowell?
Gitschier: No, I believe in the need for a discretionary process as a special permit, variance, zoning amendment, or other discretionary zoning approvals. Without the discretionary process neighborhoods would have no voice and community concerns would not be addressed. There would be no need for any negotiations for community benefits agreements if by-right zoning was in place and the stake holders would not have a voice.
Nuon: I fully support by-right zoning. This is one way to work towards solving our housing shortage by streamline permitting for those who want to build. In fact, the City has already had a by-right zoning permitting in and around Downtown near the train station. This process makes it as simple as possible for builder/developers to build.
Polls open at 7 a.m. Nov. 4 and close at 8 p.m. For more voting and election day information, visit lowellma.gov/294/Election-Census.
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Melanie Gilbert
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