Campaign Notebook: Springfield municipal candidates host kickoff parties, state aims for running

From Masslive.com: Click here to view the article

Springfield, MA (06/16/2023): Before his campaign kickoff party Thursday evening, another candidate seeking an at-large seat on the council, Juan F. Latorre III, announced his goal to make the city, “affordable, safe, vibrant and hopeful.”

“It’s important for me as a second-time candidate that everyone understands that there’s no free lunches,” he said. “Just because I ran last time, does not mean we’re guaranteed to get elected or to even make it out of the primary. We have to work just like we did last time and most likely, significantly harder than last time.”

Two examples of making the city affordable are having more people on the City Council who will put a greater focus on the budget and tackle the cost of housing. He said the municipal budget has grown by over $300 million in 10 years, which outstrips the growth of the city’s population.

“We’ve got to find a way to do what other cities are doing in terms of more modest growth to ensure that taxpayers are not going to get hit with another massive property tax bill,” he said.