Lee, Linehan appear jointly at South Boston debate

District 2 City Council candidate Suzanne Lee faced off against incumbent Councillor Bill Linehan Monday night in a debate staged in front of an audience of about 100 in the heart of Linehan’s South Boston base, the Boys and Girls Club on West Sixth St.

Lee emphasized transparency and citizen empowerment in her opening remarks. “I’ve spent my entire life, more than 35 years, bringing people together to solve problems and have made a real difference in the lives of people in the city of Boston,” she said.

Linehan recalled how he began working on political campaigns when he was 15 years old and has worked ever since to make sure the community of South Boston is well represented in city government. “My management style has always been based on getting results, not on recognition,” he said.

When the question of school busing was raised, the ever-controversial school transportation system once again proved to be one of the most important issues to South Boston voters, with both candidates’ answers receiving some of the most vocal responses of the night.

Saying she has seen the Boston Public Schools’ “ups and downs” during her career as a teacher and principal, Lee asserted that the city needs quality schools in every neighborhood, adding that it makes no sense to have neighborhood schools when some areas do not have adequate facilities. “There are schools that nobody wants to go to,” Lee said.

After the debate, Lee said she does not support the current busing plan, but that the solution to the problem needs to be about better schools.

“No, I do not support the way it is done because there are more effective ways with it. But it is also true that if we stop buses altogether you’re going to find that there are some communities with no schools,” she said. “It’s easy for people to talk about what they know is here but you need to look at the whole city.”

When asked by moderator Rick Witherspoon, senior editor of South Boston Online, what each candidate intended to do if elected on Nov. 8, Linehan said he would offer legislation to change the city charter to give the City Council power to approve members of the School Committee and Lee responded by saying there is nothing more important than “that your voices matter. If I were in office, not only would I answer your questions and e-mails, you’d see me in the community,” she said.

Linehan said he has seen his supporters become more active since Lee topped the preliminary ballot last month, beating him by 272 votes. “Based on the various press stories, people in South Boston and in other parts of the district who are supporters of mine have come to me and said, ‘Jeez, we didn’t think this was serious,’” he said.

The candidates continued to disagree after the debate. Linehan told the Reporter that Monday’s event was the final debate of the campaign and that the pair had not committed to another one before the Nov. 8 election. But Lee said the pair was scheduled for one last debate, on Thurs., Oct. 27, also at the Boys and Girls Club, with its sponsors being a number of South Boston civic groups.


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