Historic Town Hall Meeting Hosted By El Mundo and Northeastern University
A crowd of nearly 300 filled Blackman Auditorium at Northeastern University Friday night to hear all five candidates for governor tackle the issues Latinos want to hear before Tuesday’s election in an unprecedented and historic civic engagement event for the community of Massachusetts.
Cameras and reporters from diverse news outlets were also present as representatives from Noticias Nueva Inglaterra, Encuentro Latino, WBZ-TV News, WCVB Newscenter 5, and reporters from El Mundo Newspaper, the Bay State Banner, Jamaica Plain News and the Boston Globe were on hand as well. The event also created a major buzz on social media with those in attendance tweeting and posting throughout the night using the hashtag #MALatinoTownHall.
Longtime Latina politician and activist Carmen Pola of Mission Hill said it was something she didn’t think she’d she see in her lifetime: A full slate of statewide candidates on the same stage addressing her community’s concerns.
“It’s a dream come true,” said Pola, who was the first Latina to seek state-wide office. She went on to become director of constituent services under Boston Mayor Ray Flynn, among other accomplishments.
Also in attendance were State Representative Jeffrey Sanchez, State Senator Sonia Chang Diaz and Boston’s Chief of Health and Human Services Felix G. Arroyo.
“A Conversation With Our Next Governor” showcased all five candidates for governor, as opposed to many debates that include only Democrat Martha Coakley and Republican Charlie Baker. Friday’s “Latino Town Hall” included independents Evan Falchuk, Jeff McCormick and Scott Lively.
“We are very happy to be making history here tonight and to be part of such an important event,” said John Tobin, VP of Government Affairs for Northeastern, who offered welcoming remarks.
Alberto Vasallo, III, president and CEO of El Mundo Boston, which co-organized the event with Northeastern, emceed and stressed the evening wasn’t a debate but rather a conversation.
Guiding that conversation along with Vasallo was a panel of Latina journalists: Yadires Nova Salcedo, host and producer of WBZ’s “Centro”; Marcela Garcia, Boston Globe op-ed contributor and Janet De La Torre, news reporter for Noticias Nueva Inglaterra, the 6pm and 11pmnightly newscasts on Univision.
But before the “Latino Town Hall” turned to the candidates for Beacon Hill’s top office, organizers paused to thank the current occupant. El Mundo gave Gov. Deval Patrick its Achievement Recognition Award.
Pablo Calderón, President of the Egleston Square Neighborhood Assoc. and one of the core organizers of Friday’s event, called Patrick a “true champion” of Latino issues, especially immigration.
Patrick gave brief remarks himself.
“You are an important part of our commonwealth,” Patrick said, “it has been an absolute honor to serve you.”
Several questions on Friday focused on how the candidates would make sure Latinos were properly represented in their administrations. While all five said they would make sure their hires reflected the Bay State’s growing diversity, Falchuk used the question to highlight that he speaks Spanish and that his father is from Venezuela.
“Organizations that are diverse are better,” said Falchuk. “They’re stronger.”
For her part, Coakley said it’s not only important that her administration hire Latinos, but that those hires reflect the wide diversity within the Latino community. She also said Latino children need the chance from Kindergarten on up to have access to the education and contacts to build their careers.
Lively, an independent candidate who says he’s running on Biblical principles, said his administration, if elected on his self-proclaimed “Miracle Ticket,” would be a lot like his own church, which he said is majority African-American and includes many Latinos.
How to build opportunity for all Massachusetts residents was a theme of many questions.
Coakley promised to make the state’s community college system more open to all by making admissions “need-blind.”
Baker instead stressed efficiencies to be gained through online education, making more degree programs three years instead of four and having more schools operate like Northeastern, where all students work a coop job.
McCormick said student debt cripples too many students with hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. He advocated reforms to the college financing system.
“We just need people in office willing to fight for that,” he said.
At one point during the event, Gladys Vega, Executive Director for the Chelsea Collaborative abruptly interrupted the candidates when she stood up and shouted from her seat that they should be talking more about the many “undocumented” before leaving with the group that she had arrived with.
Indeed, fixing the nation’s broken immigration system came up during several questions from the media panel and audience members.
While all candidates agreed immigration reform was a top priority, they differed widely on how to make it happen given the gridlock in Washington, D.C. Baker said he would build a coalition to pressure Congress and the President.
That didn’t fly for Falchuk or Coakley.
“A ‘coalition’ is not the answer for 150,000 people in Massachusetts,” Falchuk said, noting that’s the estimated population of people living here without papers.
“To say ‘Use the bully pulpit’ isn’t working,” Coakley said.
Garcia of the Boston Globe asked if the candidates would support cities giving out their own municipal IDs to any resident, including undocumented persons. One such program begins in January in New York City.
While Falchuk said flatly that he’d support the idea, Baker said he’d need to know more.
Lively drew boos from some in the crowd by saying we shouldn’t reward “people who cheat their way into the country.”
Candidates spoke to the state’s lack of affordable housing, especially in urban areas like Boston.
“The state owns a lot of property in communities of color and is not doing anything with it,” Baker said.
Baker said developers could be given cheap long-term leases in return for building much-needed housing. He said permitting costs also hurt housing and that he’d cut through that red tape.
Coakley, by contrast, said a regional economic development approach was needed. She said she’s the only candidate to tour the Bromley-Heath Housing, a massive public housing complex on the border of Roxbury and Jamaica Plain. She toured it with State Rep. Jeffrey Sánchez, D-Jamaica Plain, who was among the Latino politicians who attended Friday’s town hall.
“People are trapped in old block housing,” Coakley said.
The town hall included questions from the audience, with long lines snaking up two aisles of people eager to be heard. Questions ranged from the candidates’ positions on mental health services to the more light hearted: One woman asked if the candidates would support making dominos a state sport in honor of the Caribbean obsession with the game.
One of those audience members was Manny Cruz, a fourth-year student in Political Science at Northeastern and former chairperson of the Statewide Youth Council. He said it was a little frustrating in terms of pinning down specific answers from each candidate. Even so, he said the candidates were “very cordial” and that “it felt like community in here.”
After the event, State Senator Sonia Chang-Díaz, D-Jamaica Plain, said she’d never seen an event quite like it in her years in politics. But she also put a critical eye to Baker’s performance.
“I see Charlie Baker making a lot of big promises,” Chang-Díaz said. “But when he’s in another part of the state, he’s making promises about cutting taxes.”
After the hundreds of attendees filed back out into the Boston night, organizers paused to reflect on the historic event.
“Without this team, we could not have done this,” said William Onuoha of Northeastern University. “Everyone threw all they had into it. This is beyond success.”
