No family in Roslindale, Forrest Hills, Woodbourne, or Dorchester should have to worry about crime. It’s bad for business, detrimental to communities, and a menace to our kids’ futures. But reducing crime isn’t just a matter of having more cops on the streets; it’s about building strong communities to create environments where crime can’t proliferate.

As your Representative, I’ll advocate for creative solutions like teen centers, which provide fun, protected places to get kids off the streets after school and out of trouble. I’ll stand for new, clean public spaces that give whole families and communities a place to interact peacefully, such as Mattapan’s new public library that serves as the community’s “living room”—an effort that I chaired. And I’ll look to replicate my own grassroots community-building successes, such as my neighborhood street cleaning efforts.

Furthermore, I’ll support measures that bring good jobs to our community. Economic growth and crime reduction go hand in hand. As Chairman of the Mattapan Economic Development Initiative, I understand what it takes to make communities commercially successful, economically strong, and ultimately safer places to live and work.

I continue to work on one of the primary recommendations from the MEDI, which was to advocate for a “Main Streets” designation in Mattapan Square. The team presented to the Main Streets committee on April 1st and we will have an answer in less than a month.