To the Editor:
Boston is the best city in the world. It has given me, and countless others, access to limitless opportunity. When you love something as much as I love this city, it is important to not just celebrate our successes, but also to identify our challenges and work tirelessly to fix them. This is what I have committed my professional life to, and it is what I will do as your Boston City Councilor At-Large.
I’m a Boston kid. I grew up on Mission Hill in the 1980s in a large Nigerian family. I attended high-quality parochial and public schools and graduated from BPS, UMass Amherst, and law school. My wife, a teacher in the Boston Public Schools, and I now live in Dorchester on Dix Street.
After graduating from college, I was given an opportunity that changed my life. Mayor Tom Menino hired me to be his neighborhood coordinator for Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Mission Hill, Fenway & Kenmore. Here, I delivered City services, working closely with residents and seeing firsthand how responsive government can change lives.
Under the leadership of Boston’s last four mayors – Tom Menino, Marty Walsh, Kim Janey, and Michelle Wu – I have spent nearly two decades working daily to improve our city. From serving as executive director of the City of Boston’s Office of Fair Housing, Equity & Civil Rights to my tenure as Deputy Commissioner/Director of Housing at Boston’s Inspectional Services Department, I have a comprehensive understanding of what works in City government, and frankly, what needs to be overhauled.
My campaign has put out a commonsense platform that puts Bostonians and their needs over politics. They include:
• Pushing for people-first housing policies that protect our neighborhoods, prevent displacement, and expand homeownership, through the enforcement and creation of zoning ordinances and housing & building codes, activating vacant lots, developing a strategic plan to address BHA waitlists, and working to create more senior and workforce housing to meet our needs as a city.
• Overhauling the BPS student assignment system to guarantee every child one of their top 3 choices of BPS schools and expanding seats in exam schools so every child with the grades and the scores to gain acceptance has a seat, regardless of their neighborhood.
• Prioritizing investments in public safety through community-based policing, more walking beats in the neighborhoods, and finally putting an end to the public health and public safety crisis at Mass. and Cass (and other hotspots) through a combination of stricter enforcement and public health initiatives.
• Enacting my 9-point transportation platform that will immediately halt all new bike lane construction, demand greater enforcement for delivery drivers on scooters and motorcycles, dispatch traffic enforcement units of BPD to direct traffic at our busiest intersections during rush hour, and target UBER and Lyft scofflaw drivers.
• Delivering responsive and high-quality constituent services. This is something I learned from Mayor Menino. I think that some of the City Council’s focus has gotten away from showing up and handling the nuts-and-bolts issues that residents need help with.
I will be a city councillor for all of Boston, bringing experience, professionalism, integrity, and an appreciation for varying viewpoints to get things done for Bostonians.
Please join me as I bring this commonsense approach to expanding access to affordable housing and homeownership opportunities, investing in our public schools, ensuring our neighborhoods are safe and healthy, supporting Boston’s small businesses and regional economic engine, standing up for our seniors, and delivering effective and responsive constituent services.
I look forward to connecting with you out on the campaign trail to talk about our shared vision for Boston and its future.
