Stanley officially announces candidacy for Waltham mayor

By Ryan Grannan-Doll
rgrannan@wickedlocal.com
WickedLocal.com

City Councilor Thomas Stanley on Sunday formally announced he is challenging incumbent Jeannette McCarthy for the mayor’s seat in the 2015 citywide election.

City Councilor Thomas Stanley on Sunday formally announced he is challenging incumbent Jeannette McCarthy for the mayor’s seat in the 2015 citywide election.
“My vision for Waltham has the city reaching its full potential,” Stanley, who also serves as a state representative, said to a packed room of supporters.
Stanley, who has informally said he would run for mayor for months, made his announcement at Marcellino Ristorante & Bar on Cooper Street.

McCarthy, who has served as mayor since 2004 and is seeking a fourth term, said Monday she will hold a campaign kickoff event in the spring. For now, she said she is focused on her work as mayor.
In his speech, Stanley, 50, outlined his vision for the city, which included improved communications with city residents and the media, improved engagement of the city’s sizable Hispanic community, rebuilding and repairing infrastructure, and a public process to decide how the city should use the Fernald site.

“The campaign will be as much about you as it is about me,” Stanley said. “Waltham can do better. We do not have to settle for average.”

Stanley also said he would seek to modernize the city’s government and management, create a streamlined permitting process and emphasize a more walkable downtown area.
If elected, Stanley said he would create an economic development director position as well as a Hispanic liaison post. He also wants to create a city arts director.

Stanley, in his speech, also noted several city problems he believes need better solutions. He noted the Beaver Street Bridge rebuilding, which has been delayed at least once, the city’s ongoing infiltration and inflow problems, which result in sewer water on the street, and several other issues.

Stanley also called for an open public process to decide how the city should use the former Fernald site. The city last year purchased the 200-acre plot in north Waltham. Stanley, at the time of the purchase decision, strongly criticized McCarthy for not having specific plans on how to use it or any idea of what environmental cleanup costs the site could generate in the future. Now, McCarthy has recommended the city temporarily relocate the Waltham Police station to the Fernald site while the Lexington Street headquarters is renovated.

Several Waltham notables attended the event as supporters. City Councilors John McLaughlin and Daniel Romard, at least two Waltham Police officers, and former fire chief Rick Cardillo were among the crowd. Also, Carlos Vidal, a local real estate agent who lost his 2013 bid to become a city councilor, told the crowd Stanley would be an accessible mayor.

“He is always a phone call or email away,” said Vidal, who has announced another run for councilor-at-large, noting Stanley always responds to people who contact him.
tanley, a Waltham resident and native, has had a long career in public service. He has served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives since 2001, re-elected to the 9th Middlesex District seat most recently last year, and as a councilor-at-large since 1997.

Since then, Stanley has worked on many different city issues. Stanley was a driving force behind the city’s successful purchase of the former Fernald Center on Trapelo Road and has also supported Waltham Police officers in their effort to negotiate a new work contract. Recently, he filed a proposal to have the city be more responsive to media inquiries but councilors rejected the resolution.

“Tom has always understood public service is about standing up for those in need,” said Stanley’s mother, Roberta, during the kickoff event.
Stanley has a Master’s in Public Administration from Suffolk University and a Bachelor’s Degree in management from Bentley.

Stanley has two children, Ryan, 20, and Parker, 12, with his wife Kimberly. He has also been involved in the Waltham community as a member of the advisory board for REACH Beyond Domestic Violence and as a board member for the Waltham Partnership for Youth, among other organizations.

If elected, Stanley would be the second person in his family to run Waltham. His late father, William, previously served as mayor.