Councilor Gerly Adrien – Everett Leader Herald

Gerly Adrien announces historic candidacy for mayor of Everett

Everett City Councilor Gerly Adrien. (Photo by Joseph Prezioso)

SPECIAL TO THE LEADER

Today, Gerly Adrien released a video to announce her candidacy for the 2021 Everett Mayoral election. As a long-time Everett Resident, small business owner, and At-Large City Councilor, Adrien has spent years fighting for Everett residents, and is running a grassroots powered campaign to bring new leadership to Everett’s executive office.

“Everett residents have been fighting for change from our local government before the pandemic began,” said Gerly Adrien. “In this moment of crisis, it’s time to follow their lead and elect bold leadership to reimagine city hall for a better Everett.”

In November 2019, Gerly Adrien was elected as the first Black, Haitian-American female City Councilor At-Large of Everett, landing in the number one spot, beating out two incumbents. Since then, Adrien has fought, introduced, and pushed for policies that help all individuals and families have access to the resources they need to have a better life. As Mayor, she will continue the fight to improve education, economic development and quality of life for the people of Everett.

“Over the past few years, I have been honored to work in partnership with the community and residents to envision a city that provides wealth building opportunities for everyone,” said Adrien. “Together, we can provide affordable housing and pathways to homeownership, spur economic growth through workforce development and supporting our local businesses, and create a City Hall that represents all of us, by building public trust and improving transparency in local government.”

“I am ready to take on the challenge of changing the status quo and meet this moment for change,” said Gerly Adrien.

Gerly Adrien will be hosting a series of community events throughout this month to engage with Everett residents.

Adrien will be available to engage with the media at her campaign launch rally on Sunday, May 2nd at Rivergreen Park, 1 Rivergreen Drive, Everett, MA 02149 at 4PM. Please RSVP by emailing info@gerlyadrien.com.

To learn more about Gerly Adrien and her campaign, visit www.gerlyadrien.com/ or connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

Adrien pondering a run for mayor

Decision likely next month

By JOSH RESNEK

Councilor at Large Gerly Adrien, believed to be considering a run for mayor, told the Leader Herald she will make an official announcement by May 17.

She said she had no comment about the mayor’s announcement and that said to be coming by Councilor Fred Capone.

“We’re still assessing if my candidacy is something Everett residents would want,” she said Tuesday morning.

“We have until May 17th to make that decision,” she said. If Adrien runs, she will be the first Black woman candidate for mayor in Everett’s history.

Aiming for strong citywide support in mayoral bid

By JOSH RESNEK

The mayor is said to be fearing a run by Councilor at Large Gerly Adrien.

Let’s put this aside for a moment.

Councilor Fred Capone is ready to announce.

He has been quietly putting together a campaign. Capone is a lawyer. His wife is a lawyer. He is successful at what he does as a lawyer. The same can be said about his wife. He is also a real estate owner throughout the city.

Capone doesn’t want to be mayor to make money.

He already has his own money.

He’s got two kids in college.

After serving a long time in public office, he believes this is his moment.

He’s got it in his mind to run and to win the corner office at city hall against all odds.

He understands the mayor is a formidable candidate.

He is undeterred by that.

Measuring the mayoral race with primary, election on the horizon

By JOSH RESNEK

Early on, the mayor is motivated to run for another term and to win.

He is out early in the game setting up a headquarters on Main Street, capturing a key endorsement from former mayor David Ragucci (who no longer lives here), and lining up a public relation, social media, print advertising platform.

With more than $100,000 in his campaign account and much more to be raised, the mayor is the man to beat.

The big question: can he be beaten?

On paper, he looks unbeatable.

He’s got the city locked down and tied up into his personal political game almost entirely.

Underneath the belief he is unbeatable, however, comes the understanding, and the mayor understands this better than most, that he could be beaten through no fault of his own.

How does this work? What does that mean?

There are times in a long political life as mayor – and the mayor’s political life has been longer than nearly everyone who has come before in this city – when no matter what he does, how much he spends, how many hands he shakes, how many doors he knocks on that he cannot win.

When a win isn’t in the cards, there is no way for a politician to buy a win, to exploit past heroics, and to regain what has been lost over 12 years.

Adrien’s call for publicly listing lawsuits, settlements shot down

By LEADER STAFF

By law, all the city’s legal business is public record.

By statute, every lawsuit and settlement are public record.

In reality, the city’s business inside the city solicitor’s office is a closely guarded secret unless someone asks.

Councilor Gerly Adrien and Councilor Fred Capone favored having the city solicitor’s office provide all this information semi-annually as a matter of increasing transparency about the city’s business.

In fact, the mayor has been touting his belief that transparency above all is what he wants to achieve.

But when push came to shove, City Solicitor Colleen Mejia told the council that she would choose privacy over transparency in this instance as a measure of prudence.