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July 8, 2025

Talbot Spy

Nonpartisan Education-based News for Talbot County Community

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Spy Eye: The Skipjack Peregrine Arrives at the Richardson

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On June 20, 2025, the Richardson Maritime Museum welcomed the Peregrine to its facilities in Cambridge. This single-masted day sailor skipjack was built at James B. Richardson’s boatyard around 1972 by his son-in-law, Jim Brighton.

Originally intended for pleasure sailing on the Atlantic Ocean, it spent decades away, including on the Western Shore of Southern Maryland, and it was even reconfigured into a workboat. The Peregrine has now been donated by Craig Haynie of Deale to the Richardson Museum, where it will undergo reconstruction.

The event on June 20th featured appearances by Brighton, Haynie, and Robert “Bunny” Joyce, the latter of whom did the early renovations on the skipjack.

The video is approximately six minutes in length.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Modern Knights and Maids Keep Alive Jousting on the Shore

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At the Tuckahoe Equestrian Center in Queen Anne on May 24, the Eastern Shore Jousting Association held the Mid Atlantic Joust Tournament. People came with campers and RVs to settle on folding chairs and watch some enthusiastic horse riders tilt at small rings with their handmade, steel-tipped lances. The participants were named Knight of the Little Woods or Maid of Rabbit Hill Road or something else equally colorful.

When the announcer called out, “Ride, Dear Maid (or Sir Knight), ride,” the competitor galloped down the 80-yard dirt track beneath three arches, from each of which was suspended a metal harness ring wrapped with white cord. The rider had eight seconds to charge through the arches and try to spear the metal rings that varied in size from 1/4″ to 1-3/4″ in diameter, depending on the skill level of the knight or maid.

One of the announcers for the event was Karen Callahan, the secretary of the ESJA. She had started riding in horse shows as a child.

“A lot of my family members would joust,” she explained, “so I started going to the different tournaments held on the Shore to watch them and support the state sport. I would participate in different skits put on by the members at the tournaments back in the late 80s, early 90s. In 2015, I started jousting in the Leadline Class here locally and on the state level.”

Callahan is involved with an activity that has a storied tradition. Jousting is, in fact, the oldest equestrian sport in the world. Its creation is usually credited to a Frenchman named Geoffori de Pruelli. It spread from France to Germany and then England between the 10th and 12th centuries. During the Middle Ages it was used in waging war, but with the invention of gunpowder the art of jousting a man from his horse became an outmoded battle strategy.

The tournament field became a place of sport, and the knights turned their lances to the more sophisticated task of spearing small metal rings, making jousting a civilized game of skill and sportsmanship. When Cecil Calvert, the second Lord Baltimore, founded the colony of Maryland on the shores of St. Mary’s County in 1634, he introduced jousting there, and tournaments became a favored pastime of the settlers. This sport has survived wars and flourished in times of peace.

Over the past 100 years jousting has evolved from private contests to public competitions aiding civic and church organizations and raising funds for Civil War monuments. Rather than just being popular among the “landed gentry,” the sport is now enjoyed by suburbanites, city dwellers, and rural landowners.

In 1950 some dedicated jousting enthusiasts founded The Maryland Jousting Tournament Association, which was instrumental in establishing riding rules adopted throughout Maryland. The organization has members in every corner of the state as well as neighboring states and the District of Columbia.

During the February 1962 session of the Maryland General Assembly, the Honorable Henry J. Fowler, a St. Mary’s County member of the House of Delegates, introduced House Bill No. 80, which would recognize jousting as the Official State Sport. It was passed through both chambers of the Maryland Legislature, and on April 6, 1962, Governor J. Millard Tawes signed the bill into law to become effective on June 1 of that year.

On December 11, 1969, a group of local jousters met at the Queen Anne Fire House for the purpose of organizing the Eastern Shore Jousting Association; officers were elected and a membership fee of $1.00 was established. At a February 2, 1970, meeting, the purposes of the organization were defined and a standard set of riding rules were adopted. It represented riders from Caroline, Kent, Queen Anne’s and Talbot Counties.

The first ESJA Championship Tournament was held on September 27, 1970, at Herman Callahan’s field off Route 404 in Queen Anne. The first banquet was held at the Talbot Agricultural Center on November 14. ESJA holds nine tournaments from May to September, and they also participate in local parades. The banquet is held at the close of every jousting season.

Members of the ESJA, approximately 28 families, proudly promote jousting on Maryland’s Eastern Shore as well as in Delaware and Virginia. They show a genuine interest in the Associations well-being and that of jousting itself. Karen Callahan is among them, helping with fundraising and promotion.

“Jousting is a fading sport as not many people participate anymore,” she said, “so I try and promote it as much as possible to educate people.”

Indeed, the audience at Queen Anne on May 24 was not large, and the atmosphere was at times sadly quiet. There wasn’t the pageantry of old, and the riders’ outfits were not elaborate or stylish. Rather than horns announcing the triumph of a knight or maid, country music blared over scratchy speakers when someone lanced the rings. But it was obvious that the skilled participants loved what they were doing, and a good time was had by all. It’s a tradition worth maintaining.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Remembering Mid-Shore Philanthropist John Wyatt

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After decades of starting and running lucrative businesses, John Wyatt could have easily retired and enjoyed his spoils. But that wasn’t his style. Following the sale of his sixth business, he turned to his spouse, Janice, for ideas about what to do next.

“Our children had just graduated from college or were well on their way, so we knew they would be fine,” he explained to this writer once. “And [Jan] said, ‘Well, what about all the kids who haven’t had the advantages?’”

By “advantages,” she meant educational ones. John had always been grateful for the excellent education he’d gained at James Ruse Agricultural High School and the University of New England in his native Australia. That’s why, when he came to the United States in the late 1970s, he was so shocked by the substandard quality of our schools.

Eventually, he would be able to afford to help change that in his own modest way. One of the places he would concentrate on was Dorchester County. So, when John Wyatt died on May 5th, children of all ages in Dorchester lost a significant advocate and friend.

After moving to the U.S., John became involved with a number of successful technology concerns, including Cohen & Wyatt (president), James Martin & Co (CEO), Ariel Research Corp (president & CEO), and Cigital Inc (president, CEO, and chairman). In June 2018, he and his spouse invested that success in the John & Janice Wyatt Foundation.

J2W’s central goal was to create educational equity for disadvantaged children so they had a stronger chance of going on to be contributing citizens. It began providing grants to public education institutions and non-profits for specific programs in Winchester and Fairfax County, Virginia, and in Dorchester County, Maryland. The reason those locations were chosen was that J2W’s executive director lived in Winchester while the Wyatts had homes in Fairfax and Cambridge.

John wasn’t just an “angel investor” who provided money and stayed out of the way. In 2018, he started Wyatt Consulting, which was dedicated to improving the effectiveness of education & social programs. He joined the board of the organization Moving Dorchester Forward. He attended meetings of the Cambridge Association of Neighborhoods. He talked to the press at length about J2W and his beliefs in childhood learning. And he personally contributed to the campaigns of Dr. Susan Morgan and Dr. Theresa Stafford when they ran for the Board of Education (and won).

“He approached me asking probing questions as to what I wanted to achieve,” remembered Dr. Morgan. “Since I loved talking about ways to improve education, we struck up a conversation. He ended up contributing to my campaign. But that wasn’t the end of it, he would contact me regularly after my election to see if there was anything he could do to help.”

Despite decades of living in America, John still had an Australian accent and said, “Cheers, mate.” He was a nice guy with a passion for what he was involved in. And he will be missed.

“His warm laugh and laid-back personality made him an easy person to talk with,” said Dr. Morgan. “His death has left a large hole in the community of Cambridge and Fairfax. I will certainly miss him greatly. My heart goes out to his family and all who had the pleasure to have known him.”

“John was simply a wonderful human being,” remarked J2W Executive Director Matthew Peterson, “incredibly wise and determined to ensure excellence in all things: himself, his team, and in the performance of the work. At the same time, he was so full of life, he was kind, and he met every day with a broad smile and inclination to laugh. Every community, around the region and the world, in which John was a part of lost something real and true with his passing.”

Three years ago the Spy sat down with John to learn more about his commitment to education.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Richardson Maritime Museum Sees Bright Future

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The exhibits of the Richardson Maritime Museum sit crowded in the top floor of the red brick building on Byrn Street in Cambridge. They await their moment to once more face the admiring public as they did at the old Dorchester National Bank Building on High Street. And that moment may be closer than some people think.

“My goal is to have it before the end of 2025, to have us at least open one day a week with volunteer docents to do that,” said Debbie Usab, executive director of the Richardson. “We have a docent manual, but it’s not appropriate to this exhibit. So, to refurbish the docent manual, I have a history intern who is going to be graduating, and this is their internship, and they’re going to be working on that docent manual.”

A new manual is necessary because the museum will be considerably altered from its earlier form. Not only will the main space be different, but there is also the Boat Works next door, which the staff calls “the living museum” because vintage vessels are worked on there. That’s a component the founders of the endeavor probably didn’t envision when they started.

Back in the early 90s, a group called the Committee of 100 was formed to try to revitalize Cambridge by bringing in tourism, and they knew they needed to have some kind of “draw.” Fortunately, a number of people had maritime artifacts that had belonged to the renowned boatbuilder Jim Richardson, and they made those artifacts the basis for a museum of the maritime history of Dorchester County. The bank building downtown was donated along with private funds, and the Richardson Maritime Museum was begun in 1992.

Years later, they acquired part of the property on Byrn Street. Someone else had the other part of the property, next to the waterfront. The museum’s board of directors took out a substantial mortgage to purchase that part of the property. The Earl Brannock Maritime Museum was placed in the red brick building when Earl donated his artifacts and archives to the Richardson in 2013. By 2019, they were dealing with the cost of maintaining the bank building, the red brick building, and the Boat Works.

“It just made more sense to sell the bank building because we really wanted this campus to be our main location,” explained Usab. “Covid happened along with that.”

Everything was photographed, inventoried, and cataloged. But, because of the pandemic, no one could go to Byrn Street to begin work on any of it. During that time, they let their executive director go because there was no more funding for that position. They were able to pay their other bills to keep the endeavor from folding, but they couldn’t move forward.

“And,” said Usab, “we kind of just sat.”

However, something they weren’t able to pay was the heavy debt on the property and had no idea how they ever would. Meanwhile, Cambridge Waterfront Development, Inc., was proceeding with plans for the Cambridge Harbor project. By 2023, the CWDI board was very nervous about the condition of the museum, which they felt was a vital part of their vision. The board feared that the Richardsons’ debt would force them to sell the property to a developer who would put new housing on it.

“So, they worked with us and with the private mortgage person who we owed money to, to kind of negotiate down that debt and purchase the property for what was owed, leased the property back to us for a dollar a year, gave us funds to try to get us more than just paying the electric bill,” said Usab. “Also, their executive director at that point became the CWDI board appointee to our board and helped with beginning the beginnings of a strategic plan and getting us really refocused on where we needed to be.”

The Richardson’s board received a private donation to fund the hiring of Katie Clendaniel for a contractual short-term position to help with the business plan and operational plan and to get some events going. Her contract ended in January 2024, at which point the board held their annual meeting and elected Usab to be chair. They also had another board donation to help them hire a bookkeeper, and Usab stepped up to also take on the role of executive director.

“Earl and Shirley Brannock were my second parents,” said Usab. “Earl walked me down the aisle when I got married 34 years ago. I promised him on his deathbed that I would come back onto the board and do whatever I could to make sure that his legacy continued. So, I’m not here for me, you know, I’m not here because this is–I wouldn’t say it’s not fun. It is. Some of it is fun. I was a teacher for 24 years and so I’m used to, you know, talking in front of a class.”

While she admittedly has little knowledge about the actual vessels, Usab does know how to facilitate a group of people to get an outcome. She hopes to build a more diverse board of directors and to generally get more people involved, especially as committee members. She’ll even take people to do short-term projects, because then they may decide they want to take on more as a board member. There are, in fact, two new board members–Natalie Chabot and former state senator Addie Eckardt. Usab is currently negotiating with someone else to join the board in July.

“We really need to be strategic about, as every board needs to be, as to what type of person you have on your board,” she explained. “[We have a] lot of people working on boats on our board, and that’s great because we need that historical reference and that knowledge. But we also need an accountant and we need a lawyer and we need, you know, somebody who has financial knowledge. So those are people that we’re still looking for.”

Meanwhile, Usab is working on grant applications and preparing for upcoming events like the Legends of the Sequoia reunion dinner and the Second Annual Boatyard Bash. It’s a lot of work, but she has high hopes for the future success of the Richardson Maritime Museum.

“I think it’s a huge value to the community,” she said confidently.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Congressman Jamie Raskin Speaks at Cambridge Town Hall

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On March 22, the political groups Cambridge Indivisible and Eastern Shore Indivisible held a “People’s Town Hall” for a packed house in the Mace’s Lane Middle School gymnasium. In response to Congressional Representative Andy Harris’ refusal to participate in an in-person event with constituents, this gathering featured Democratic Congressman Jamie Raskin of Montgomery County. Raskin made a speech without notes before the very friendly and lively crowd and then listened to a few personal stories of attendees before answering some questions from the audience.

“I know I was not your first choice,” Raskin began, “but I heard your congressman couldn’t quite squeeze you in today.”

He continued, “I keep hearing my Republican colleagues talking about paid protesters. Is anybody out there being paid to be here today?”

The crowd yelled, “No!”

“Well,” said Raskin, “what’s interesting to me is that the people who are showing up are not paid protesters, but the people who are not showing up are paid politicians.”

He explained that town halls are supposed to be for representatives to report on what they’ve been doing and then listen to the constituents. He said he wouldn’t have shown up for the event if he’d been in Washington voting against Medicaid and trying to dismantle the government, alluding to the absent Harris.

Raskin went on to ridicule Donald Trump’s recent State of the Union address as a “seven-hour Fidel Castro style speech,” during which Trump accused NIH of spending $8 million on developing “transgender mice.” Raskin said he’d looked up the project to find that they were “transgenic mice” (injected with DNA).

“My friends,” he said, “we are being governed by morons.”

Every aspect of the US Constitution is under attack by President Trump and his associate Elon Musk, claimed Raskin. So, he announced he would give a “refresher course into the Constitution because America needs it.” After reciting the preamble, Raskin discussed Article I and the powers of Congress, including to raise taxes and armies, levy tariffs, and regulate immigration. Then, he went to Article II, the most important part of which is how to impeach a president.

“The core job of the president is simple: to take care that the laws are faithfully executed,” said Raskin, who then addressed Trump with “Do your job!”

The congressman then talked about current court cases brought against the Trump Administration and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. These included the attack on birthright citizenship, freezes on funding, the attempt to close the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the collection of Social Security data. Raskin said that most Americans oppose authoritarianism and that they should stand up for women’s reproductive rights, the LGBTQ community, and freedom of speech.

Raskin threw out a number of quips and quotable lines, including “A rally a day keeps the fascists away,” “In this age of artificial intelligence, we need some intelligence,” and “Elon Musk may be the richest man in the world, but he doesn’t own the American people.”

After his speech, he took some questions, such as “What can we do to fight?” and “What can we do to make the Democratic Party cool again?” (Raskin’s responses: Start by getting your data back from Elon Musk and reach out to young people.) Toward the end, a woman asked Raskin if he would ever run for president, and he answered that he would do whatever the people asked of him.

The video (with thanks to Rick Hughes) is approximately 30 minutes in length.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Speaking with the League of Women Voters on Its Relevancy in 2025

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On the occasion of the parent organization’s 105th anniversary, theSpy’s P. Ryan Anthony speaks with three members of the League of Women Voters—Mid-Shore. Co-president Glenna Heckathorn, secretary Mary-Beth Goll, and past president Lorraine Claggett discuss what the group does and how it’s still relevant in the 21st century.

This video is approximately ten minutes in length.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Dorchester Democrats Reflect on the State of the Party

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According to some polls, the Democratic Party is more unpopular than it’s been in decades. Only 31% of respondents in a recent Quinnipiac University survey had a favorable opinion of the party, with 57% viewing it unfavorably. In the 2024 election, the Democrats lost ground with nearly every demographic group as Donald Trump recaptured the White House, and Republicans flipped the Senate and held onto their razor-thin majority in the House of Representatives, effectively locking the Left out of power.

In fact, Trump drew a higher percentage of the vote in Maryland than in 2020, and he improved his numbers in all 24 jurisdictions. The election loss has led many Dems to reflection on their standing as a political movement, to refocus not only how they present themselves to voters but also how they internally govern the party.

In the meantime, Trump and his billionaire associate Elon Musk appear to be in the midst of a shock-and-awe campaign to remake the federal government as they see fit. Many Democratic voters believe their national representatives have been slow to mount a resistance to what they see as destructive activities. As the New York Times put it, “Democrats…need to show some fight.”

But, even as constituents have been putting on the pressure, a recent CBS News/YouGov poll revealed that 48% of Democrats have not much or no confidence that congressional Democrats can effectively oppose Trump. Some representatives have become involved with a number of protests mounted by civilian activists, but the anger of those protesters was directed not only at Trump and Musk but also at the “weak-kneed opposition of the Democratic Party leaders,” in the words of The Nation‘s Chris Lehmann.

To better understand what’s going on with the Democrats on a national and local level, the Spy recently spoke with Sarah Gavian and Sydney Bradner-Jacobs of the Dorchester County Democratic Central Committee. The following answers have been edited for length. They are opinions and do not represent the stance of the Cambridge Spy.

What does the Dorchester County Democratic Party do?

GAVIAN: So, we are part of the national and state Democratic parties. They are divided down to county level. So, we are the county office of the Maryland Democratic Party. What that means is we do our mandate, which is to elect Democrats. Strictly speaking, that’s our goal. We have strategies around that and the like, and we do it different ways. But yes, we would like to recruit, elect, and support Democrats, get them into office. That is, strictly speaking, our goal. We do a million things around that to accomplish that goal.

What part do you play in the state party?

GAVIAN: We don’t have our own legal standing. We are a part of the state party. … So, the 23 counties and the city of Baltimore each have a Democratic Central committee. … Dorchester is half of 1% of the state’s population. We all have our central committees, and all the members of our central committees are members of the Democratic State Central Committee. We happen to have, in theory, 14 members. In practice, I think we’re about to have 10, so we don’t have a full coterie, but all those folks are part of the state central committee.

On a national level, Democrats suffered major defeats in the last election that put them out of power in all branches of government. Why do you think this happened?

GAVIAN: There are many levels of that. Some of them pertain to how we appeal to the population. And some have to do with forces far greater than the Democratic Party, some have to do with the Republican Party. In some ways, the Democratic Party is known to be the party of the working class. It has been that for many years. Ever since Reaganomics came in, there has been an economic trend in this country where our economy has grown tremendously, tremendously. GDP is up, everything’s big, but it has been not distributed fairly. So, a lot of it is going to the top 1%, a huge amount. And now you can even talk about the 0.1% that control our economy and our politics because of a Supreme Court decision. Help me on that one. What was the one?

BRADNER-JACOBS: Citizens United.

GAVIAN: Citizens United, where money buys you power and speech right now in our system. … It’s not a Republican or Democratic thing, but the Democrats have been trying to fight it under the Biden administration as a sort of handing off of the economy to a very small number of people, leaving 90% of everybody not having any better standards of living than they had set down 30 to 40 years ago. … So, I think that a lot of people are hurting. And then you have the post-COVID problems or during COVID, the government actually showed kind of what European governments do all the time, which is bringing in support so that people had their health care and people had rent. It was also just stimulus going on. And then that money stopped, and government went back to not providing that kind of money. … The child tax credit ended several things that buffered this problem that 90% of our population hasn’t really advanced in its standard of living. … Federal minimum wage, all these things are low. … So, I think part of it is that this really is pain across the voting population and frustration with voters that the Democrats hadn’t solved it under Biden. … I believe that Biden did a tremendous amount…trying to really help deal with some of the poverty issues and the drug costs, all these things that Trump took out Day One of executive orders. … He was able to do that when he didn’t have a majority. What was it in the House? We did have a Democratic majority, didn’t we?

BRADNER-JACOBS: No. So, we lost the House majority back in 2022.

GAVIAN: Yeah. So, we didn’t have all the power, but we did manage to get some of these things through. But they weren’t through in time and they’re not big enough. So, reason number one is voter disillusionment and real pain. So, I think the Democrats, you could say we failed either at messaging or to convince the voter base that our policies going forward would be better than the Republican policies on that side.

BRADNER-JACOBS: So, the reason why we didn’t do so well this time around is, I think, that we didn’t focus a lot on the bread-and-butter issues that most folks care about, specifically when it comes to the economy and public safety. … And, when Kamala says that we’re not going back, some of some of us are like, “Yeah, we don’t want to go back.” But there’s other voters that just felt like, “We do want to go back because we felt good.” Yes, the economy under Biden was good, but some people didn’t feel that. And, as a result, they weren’t as enthusiastic for Kamala Harris.

GAVIAN: I mean, Biden had the best economy and jobs of any president, far better than Trump’s. Inflation was a worldwide phenomenon. … Post-COVID, governments around the world got thrown out. Inflation around the world was worse than it was in the US. We did one of the best jobs. Still, it was high, really high, and it hurt. But people don’t look at it that way. So, some of that’s perception and, I think, what things we focused on.

The Republicans made major gains with working class, minority, and young voters. Why did the Democrats lose those demographics?

GAVIAN: I am going to continue to hit on misinformation. … But I think we won those. I believe we won the women and we won the black vote. And the Latino vote, I don’t know if we won the Latino vote, we lost some ground.

BRADNER-JACOBS: So, we did, but by a smaller margin than past years.

GAVIAN: It looks like the Republicans are saying they have a mandate. And they have the House, they have the Senate, they have the presidency, they seem to have the Supreme Court, and they seem to have quite a growing share of the media. … But we would say they don’t have a mandate, they have power. I will say they bought it legitimately at the ballot box. None of us are calling fraud. … But they didn’t win by much. … So, I do want to go back to your other question. I think that Gaza hurt us. … Without even discussing the policies one way or another, you know that there was a vocal opposition to the Biden administration’s actions in Gaza. … But some Arab Americans, or the people who are very concerned about human rights and genocide violations in Gaza, did not vote for the Democrats, and some of them voted for the Republicans. … So, the question is why we lose these demographics. When I go back to misinformation, or people, they’re frustrated for the economic reasons, or they’re frustrated about what is a questionable engagement in Palestine.

What can the National Democratic Party do to improve its standing?

GAVIAN: As you know, we’ve just put in a new head of the National Party with Ken Martin. … I think that we’ve put in place at least a leadership that understands that we really do need to focus on the issues that concern rural America, working class and working people. … Obviously there has to be a significant amount of listening, reaching out to communities, understanding the questions you’re actually asking. Why was it you didn’t vote with us? … The other thing that’s going to help the Democratic Party is the Republican Party. I mean, when people start to understand that they’re dismantling government, dismantling 100 years of putting in place programs that almost everyone in this country benefits from one way or another. … The Democratic Party’s role then is to offer the alternatives, to be clear about those alternatives. … And the Democrats are, first thing I want to say is, by the way, we’re not the majority. So, we can’t stop it by our votes. We haven’t managed to stop a single cabinet appointment yet. … But there are several things that we’re doing. So, we’re pushing back against this far right extremism, and our legislators are doing it. … They’re doing everything they can right now. … But the Democrats are mobilizing, mobilizing fast.

In the wake of Trump’s return to power and the start of his agenda, the reaction of the Democrats in Congress has been noticeably slow. What’s the issue there?

GAVIAN: I’m not going to accept the question.

Okay.

GAVIAN: Again, he’s been in power two weeks, right?

Well, three.

GAVIAN: Is it three now? … And they’re moving fast. We are not the party in power….

Remember, there was a march either the day before or the day after his [first] inauguration. And some people say that there’s been too much cocooning, you know, going into the fetal position, when they did start out, like, right away protesting against him [before]. … I’ve got a lot of articles I can share with you.

GAVIAN: People say a lot of things right now. There’s a gazillion articles, I think.

Well, that’s why I wanted to hear from you.

GAVIAN: Fair enough. … I mean, let me say, we definitely hear what you’re saying. People come in and say, “What are you doing?” … So, our people in Congress are voting pretty much as a block on the things in front of them to protect the interests. … So, I think what’s happening is, we are doing public mobilization. So, we are informing as fast as possible and letting other groups do things. I mean, let’s talk locally, for example. I mean, here we are a little county office. … There’s ten of us on our committee, but we have been building our own coalitions locally. We are having event after event explaining what’s happening to the extent that we can to inform. … Our goal is to elect Democrats, but we are working to inform our volunteers and other Democrats. We have newsletters and we have a Facebook page, and we have meetings that we have open participation in to hear what people’s concerns are and to inform them about what’s going on.

BRADNER-JACOBS: So, yes, people are feeling helpless right now. … But I think that the Democratic Party will, in 2026, inspire people with a good bread-and-butter message that will influence people to go out to the polls and vote for us, because, at the end of the day, Democratic Party policies are popular among the public. … And I guess one other thing to add, maybe Trump may have some high approval rating right now, but it will eventually go down. And, as we’ve seen right now with Elon Musk and DOGE, the approval rating towards how they’re handling the entire dismantlement of our government agencies is underwater. … And, if they keep on doing more and more, that’s going to upset some of the folks that voted for Trump, and they will return to our coalition, I think.

Has the Democratic Party placed too much focus on such issues as DEI, which seemed to work against it in the last election?

GAVIAN: I’m going to stand by DEI. I’m going to stand by diversity, equality, and inclusion. We, on a very profound level, need as a society to support people. The American Dream is or the American effort is based on merit. We would like everybody to get at the same starting line and work hard. … Not everybody gets up to that starting line. Intergenerational wealth, mental illness, any of a number of, you know, what schools you go to and all these things that we know about right now. … So, yes, there is a controversial set of policies around what’s been called Affirmative Action and DEI. … So, there’s been many people who are not classic DEI. So, there are white rural people. We represent a county that is rural and 60% white, and sort of 40% non-white. … Cambridge is like half the average income of Maryland. Dorchester is a poor county. … So, people legitimately need help, and they’re mad that they think the other person is getting ahead. … Yes, we’re taking quite a hit right now against what is called DEI and wokeness. But no, we have to stand by helping all Americans get a fair chance.

BRADNER-JACOBS: So, I’m going to push back against some of the pundits on cable news and say that cultural issues was not the biggest part of why Kamala Harris lost to Donald Trump. … Do I think that maybe there is a small smidgen of truth where maybe cultural issues are the reason why Democrats lost? And I would say given the fact that Kamala did not talk about the economy or your basic bread-and-butter issues as much.

GAVIAN: I do not believe that the MAGA and Trump vote reflects tremendous sexism and racism. … I think they’re worried about access to jobs and to resources because those have not been shared fairly. I think it is definitely a tool of the millionaires and billionaires to have the fight go on between people who don’t have. So, everybody’s, you know, “Oh, it’s the immigrants fault. Oh, women are taking your job. Oh, black people are taking your job.” I think that that’s a created problem.

Governor Moore recently wrote, “You can’t show voters you only care about them every two or four years.” What can the Democratic Party do between elections to connect with the people?

GAVIAN: I can tell you what we’re doing to go local. On several levels we are doing community works and community engagement and making sure we are attending municipal meetings, understanding what the municipal issues are. … So, we are actively recruiting to put people on school board, to put people on police commissions and planning groups and getting people involved with CAN, just bringing people into local governance. … So, we are fanning out, we’ve done a lot of door-to-door where we ask folks at the door how they see things. We are planning phone banks and spaghetti dinners and all those kinds of things where we can ask them questions. Because there’s a learning process going on as to what are these concerns, and we are working to get Democrats elected at local level. … So, we’re working to reach out at the local level and get our people more engaged in local processes. That was on the political side. We’re doing that as well with community services. Just understanding better how immigration is working. … We’re getting more and more out in the community.

BRADNER-JACOBS: So, to continue what Sarah was saying, Democrats lost ground everywhere almost, they lost ground almost everywhere nationwide. And I think most folks, I think the reason why is, most folks see the system as broken. And so, we need to, as a party, do some deep listening, as Sarah suggests, within some rural white working-class voters within our community. And by listening to them and doing that, we can overall get those voters back into our coalition and do better.

GAVIAN: Our plans are not just the white working class.

BRADNER-JACOBS: Of course, yes.

The Eastern Shore was cut off from the rest of Maryland for centuries, part of the reason it’s more conservative. Do you ever feel like your efforts in Dorchester County are too challenging?

GAVIAN: Until about four months ago, we had more registered Democrats in Dorchester County than registered Republicans. However, two things are true. They were beating us. Like in the Hillary campaign, then Trump, Biden by about 14 points.

BRADNER-JACOBS: Yes. So, the last time any Democrat won on the presidential level in Dorchester County was Bill Clinton back in [1992]. And he only won because of Ross Perot in the race. And the last time a Democrat got even above 50% in Dorchester County was JFK.

GAVIAN: The Republicans turn out much more and the margin is substantial. Democrats are not turning out at the same percent, much lower percents, kind of withdrawing from the political system. … We now have fewer registered Democrats than registered Republicans. … Many people are withdrawing completely from partisan politics. This is, I would call it a false equivalence, but they just don’t like either party, kind of thing. So back to your question. That’s daunting. … We have a stronghold of Democrats in our urban areas, both in Hurlock and in Cambridge. It’s not going to the right. I mean, it’s challenging, but it’s not desperate.

BRADNER-JACOBS: So, ever since the 2018, Talbot has been doing Democrats and Talbot has been doing well. 2018, Colvin beat Andy Harris and Ben Cardin won overall, and then in 2020 Biden won overall. Then in 2022 you had Wes and you had Heather and a few others do well, and Van Hollen as well. He did, he won.

GAVIAN: And Kamala Harris almost won. How many votes?

BRADNER-JACOBS: She only lost by six votes in Talbot.

GAVIAN: Six votes in Talbot. So, we’re not the same as Talbot. We don’t walk and squawk the same as Talbot. But just saying that, no, let’s not see the Eastern Shore as a barren territory. And then going more toward the theme you’ve heard us evoke is working more with the people, like, the Democratic Party has not been so great on rural politics. We’ll own that. And we’ve been working very hard. And there’s a group called the Eastern Shore Democrats and the Maryland Democratic Party itself working more and more on sort of rural Democratic issues right now. … Yes, rural areas have been going redder and redder and it’s not just here, and it’s been going since Obama. … But we are really counting on the fact that, as we move more toward the rural base in our policies and our conversations, that we will be able to win those voters.

BRADNER-JACOBS: I think that it’s going to be a struggle for Dorchester to win in the future. But it’s a possibility that we can win, but it’s going to take some time. And I think that’s by reaching out to more rural areas, maybe we can potentially expand that opportunity, and not even just that, but also get our voters to turn out specifically in Cambridge. I’m not sure if you know, but Dorchester County statewide had, outside of Baltimore City, the lowest Democratic turn-out, and most of it came from Cambridge. And so, we desperately, yes, we need to turn out our voters in rural areas and make sure that they vote our way but also make sure that our voters in Cambridge actually go out and vote. And when we do that, that’s how we’re going to do better.

GAVIAN: Our team has been growing quickly in the last few years a lot. We are much more organized than we were five, six, eight years ago here, and in the last campaign we knocked 4,000 doors. … We made phone calls, we did mailings that we had never done before…. And Dorchester shows up as having lost less ground to Republicans than most counties in the state. … So, no, we’re not depressed. We’re on a roll. It may take some time, as Sydney said, but it may not take time. … And…people may really learn the difference between the parties when the Trump Administration comes in as destructive. And there’s no doubt that every single one of our government functions could be reviewed to be more efficient, right? But that’s not what’s happening here. And this is not how you do it, firing people overnight, stopping foreign assistance, 10,000 people in USAID hobbled overnight, babies dying around the world because we cut off foreign assistance overnight, handing our whole soft power architecture off to our friends who will swoop in on there like the Europeans and to our enemies like China or Russia. But there is substantial possibility that this will lead to a real diminishment of our interests, our ability to negotiate worldwide with friends, our soft power aspects of our diplomatic mission. … I forget the numbers, but an awful lot of our budget abroad, a humanitarian budget is food assistance that is bought from American farmers. So, I think that we are going to help to do what we can to support populations through this really trying time and persuade them that we can offer a better alternative in 2026 and in 2028.

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CWDI board meeting brings up topic of public communication

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Transparency has been a controversial issue for Cambridge Waterfront Development Inc., the entity responsible for the Cambridge Harbor project. The City Council and citizens alike have complained in the past about CWDI’s opaque dealings and lack of communication with the public. So, it was appropriate, and likely inevitable, that the issue arose during the January 15th meeting of the CWDI Board of Directors at the Dorchester Chamber of Commerce.

As if anticipating this, CWDI President Angie Hengst addressed it during her opening remarks. After mentioning the December 19th groundbreaking for the Cambridge Harbor promenade, she said that the board had “talked about some planning for public information sessions throughout 2025 just to keep the public informed. Obviously, they can come to our meetings, but maybe some more specialized meetings talking about various parts of the project. But, you know, we really want to keep the public abreast of what’s going on so they feel part of the project and know where we’re headed. So we’ll be looking into planning some of those for the year and then some possible community events.”

Later, after board member Frank Narr discussed profits and losses due to last year’s litigation, the beginning of construction on the promenade, and predicted property sales, his colleague Tim Crosby inquired about the public’s involvement in decisions about the design and development of the Harbor project.

“Because it’s been two years since the public input side of this was a very active role, right?” asked Crosby. “And there are different stakeholders out here. Some are community based, some are based by ethnicity and things like that. Are we going to exert a particular effort to those communities and say, ‘Okay, look, here’s where we are. What do you think and what are we missing before we get too far down this thing?'”

“So where a particular commercial entity goes or whether residential goes or where hotel goes is still subject to a response from a developer,” Narr responded. “So, you know what the community may say, if the community says how we think of hotels here, it’s really the market’s going to kind of drive where those things go.”

Crosby agreed that the citizens can’t really have a say regarding the major parts of the project, but he said “there’s an awful lot of small pieces that can have a direct impact on certain communities that I think I just want to get out and communicate with. The more we communicate, I think the better off we are.”

Hengst then said, for the benefit of the audio recording and the citizens present, that the public is encouraged to reach out to city and county representatives with comments and concerns. “So, that’s another way for the community to voice their thoughts along the way.”

When the meeting was turned over to the public for comments, new resident Stephanie Willett pointed to Crosby’s remarks about communication and mentioned how important that is. “Passive communications, putting information out there, is not always good for a lot of minority communities. I haven’t caught up with everything that’s been going on, but to the extent that you all can get out and get into some of these communities and share your faces and show that you’re willing to be engaged with them. Relationships are very important.”

Jennie Leichtling of Mill Street, whose background is in fundraising development for nonprofit organizations, proposed that public communication can manifest itself in more ways than just talking or sending messages.

“The one thing that I am hearing a lot of is ‘if you build it, they will come,'” said Leichtling. “You need to build the community first, and you need to make sure that what you build reflects what the people want. And so, I’m hearing really responsible building stuff, everything that you guys are doing the research for, the capital investments, I think it all sounds great, wonderful. What I would propose adding in addition to this is doing kind of consistent community development and not just at meetings, but on the location.”

For “the location,” Leichtling focused on the playground next to the Visitor Center. She suggested bringing in a coffee cart or food trucks, installing picnic benches, and building a beach volleyball court.

“Because,” she said, “we need to continually invite the community to that space. Because I think the more we invite them, the more we’ll see how the community wants to use that space. Because, until we actually get the community there, we don’t really know what they’re going to actually do.”

“We’ve definitely had conversations of how we can get the community out there and start utilizing that space more, and they’re all wonderful ideas,” Hengst replied.

Since Mayor Lajan Cephas, City Commissioner Sputty Cephas, and City Manager Glenn Steckman were present at the meeting, along with several concerned citizens, one could say that communications are open and the conversation has begun. The next CWDI board meeting is March 19 at 4pm. For those interested in keeping up with the project or who want to contact CWDI, go to Cambridgeharbor.org.

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CAN president Chuck McFadden on the group’s past and future

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The Cambridge Association of Neighborhoods (CAN) is dedicated to encouraging and assisting community members to be good neighbors. They strive to enhance the safety, quality of life, and well-being of Cambridge’s residents as well as promote code-compliant housing, social events, and community involvement in the city. CAN is open to both renters and homeowners, and newcomers are invited to join and help make Cambridge an even better place to live. Anyone interested can find out more at cambridgecan.org.

CAN President Chuck McFadden recently sat down to tell the Spy about the organization’s origins and plans going forward. (His answers have been edited for length.)

How did CAN get started?

Well, I joined the old civic association, the West End Civic Association, WECA. And they were kind of dying out, and I tried to get some things going and had some disagreement with some of the board members.

You remember when this was?

2016.

Oh, okay. So, it’s pretty recent.

Right. And there was a long time and work. They’ve done some really nice stuff. They used to do a walk on High Street and explain all the history of High Street, but they were getting older and were not into “come-heres.” Okay, so they liked it “from here.” So anyway, after some frustration, there I was, standing out on my lawn across the street. I used to live right across the street, and talking to Judd Vickers and Dave Thatcher and Roman Jesien. And, on the lawn, we decided to start a new association, and Roman came up with the name Cambridge Association of Neighborhoods, CAN.

So, that’s how we started, and the idea that we originally started with was just to try to develop neighborhood feelings within different blocks of the West End and try to organize the blocks into neighborhoods so people would know each other and then try to help each other out and just be nice. We helped people take down a fence, we took down a shed, we painted a porch, stuff like that, trying to help out our neighbors. And we used to do a big summer CAN Jam down at Long Wharf. And that all was a nice feeling. And it was definitely Ward 1 focused. And then COVID hit, so we couldn’t have big group gatherings, we couldn’t get together.

Everything was the Zoom meetings. And we evolved during that, into more of a organization that reported on what was going on. So, we report on the City Council, County Council, [Historic Preservation Commission], school board, planning and zoning, number of government stuff. So, that function that we do there is pretty well received, and people like knowing what’s going on with the different government stuff. We also advocate for different positions, especially in the zoning and code enforcement area. People don’t feel like they’re getting a response from the city, they contact us and we get involved and try to see what we can do.

What do you do?

Well, we contact the city and try to put pressure on, and we have a fair success rate in getting the city’s attention. We have gotten the city’s attention several times at board council meetings and stuff like that. We have flooded the council building with people. So, instead of just one person speaking, when they see 20, 25 people, it’s a different look. But it’s a pressure technique that only works once in a while. You have to be careful in using that. You’d rather just have conversations with the city officials and say, “You know, why don’t we do this and that?” So, it’s important to us to get the feel of what our members want. We have over 800 email addresses and we figure over 1100 members’ emails. Like this household: there’s only one email, but there’s my wife and I. So we’re figuring around 1100. I think that’s conservative, probably higher than that that we reach.

And I think one of the things people like is that we do it through email. So, we contact them through their email and they can either look at it or not. But part of the problem the city has getting the information out is they don’t have a vehicle like they used to have in the past. So, they put it on the website, but nobody knows where it is on the website. Nobody knows it’s posted. They’re trying to make an announcement, but nobody knows it’s there. So, how do they get it out? Cambridge is 13,000 people. Four to 5000, maybe a little bit more, are children. So, seven, 8000 adults are trying to get to and how do you do that?

Is the format of your meetings different than when you were starting? How did you do it when you started out?

Well, we would have members’ meetings and we would invite the mayor or a council person or the police chief to speak, somebody of interest. We’ve had the superintendent of schools, we’ve had Larry White, who’s doing the Shoreline Resiliency Project. We’ve had a number of people more than once to talk about their projects or their area of interest or what’s going on or what the future holds. And that’s received fairly well, although we would like more attendance and, as you’ve been to many a meeting, we could use more people there. I’ve pondered about, with as many members that we have, why can’t we get more active participation at members’ meeting? We’d like to get more people at the meeting and we’d like to get a more diverse crowd at the meeting.

Like, more than just Ward 1.

Well, yeah, but in terms of race. [Cambridge] is 50-50 and we’re not getting 50-50. An interesting thing happened. We used to charge $20 a year to be a member when we first started out and we hovered around 60 to 80 members. And then we decided to drop the membership fee and, as you can tell by the numbers, that was worthwhile. We really increased our membership and contributions. We ended up about the same as and we don’t spend a lot of money.

What do you use the money on?

Well, meetings and stuff, advertising the meetings, filming the meetings. We had to rent any room space when the library closed down. So, that kind of stuff. So, we’d like to get more diversity. An interesting thing is that we used to be primarily in Ward 1. Now we’ve got a lot of members in the outlying section, the new area next to Long Wharf and all around. And we’ve done some stuff. In fact, the last city manager put $15,000 in the budget to fix little things that we brought up. We went down to him for Blackwater Landing, behind the Dollar General Store, and they wanted a fence put in and they couldn’t get the city to pay attention. We went down and talked to the city manager and he agreed to put a fence in and he said he wished he’d done more about it because it really didn’t get to him, the request. So, he put 15,000 in the budget for stuff like that. The people brought it to the attention, not just CAN, but anybody bringing stuff that they had a little flexibility to do, minor stuff, you know, okay, which we thought that was listening to the public.

So, what other activities is CAN involved with?

Well, we’ve got several subgroups. We have one on [Cambridge Waterfront Development, Inc] that follows what they’re doing and trying to dig in and figure out what’s going on there. We have another subgroup that’s concerned about Cannery Park and what’s happening and not happening there. And I just met with the city manager on the marina committee.

So, what are CAN’s plans for 2025?

Well, right now we’re in the process of developing our priorities. We had a meeting in December to talk about priorities, and what came up was One, the publication of minutes is the most important issue that we do the reporting on. CWDI was Two, code enforcement issues is Three. And then it gets a little difficult because it depends on how many people we have to work on it. And we got some people working on the Cannery Way, which is a wonderful project. And there’s money for Cannery Park and the bike trail, but there’s not an overall concept. So, we’d like to come up with ideas. It could be a very nice project. So, CAN would like to get involved and get some issues going there. And of course, Cambridge Harbor. CAN was very opposed to the Y[MCA] moving down there. We had a survey, we had 680-some people respond to the survey. 85% were opposed to going down. And the main reason, the nonprofit going into what everybody considers the economic engine of the city. This should generate money through taxes and stuff, and you’re putting a nonprofit right in the middle of it.

Second, they were concerned about what was going to happen to the vacant school building where the Y is now. That’s the two big ones. But then you have the other ones like the safety issue of people getting to the Y, especially the youth. It’s right on the edge of the city instead of in the middle of the city. So, we’re very opposed to that. We’re opposed to building a 125-foot slip marina in there, which would be in direct competition with the city marina, which right now is only at 60% capacity. So it’s like, what were the city planners thinking? And the answer to that is there was one project at a time. There needs to be overall planning going on for the city. And it’s that feeling of frustration that our members have given us that we try to pass on to the city. I mean, I just met with the city manager yesterday and talked about exactly that. You need overall planning of what the city’s going to do.

What are your hopes for the future of CAN?

We’d like to see more diversity. And one of those things we’re going to be working on next year is how do we find out what people want and what they don’t want. It’s a difficult thing. And you know as a reporter, you get people who speak out, you can hear those opinions, but you don’t know what everybody wants. And I think CAN is probably one of the better methods of getting. So we have the capability of doing very sophisticated surveys and you can’t overuse that. But we’d like to use it more to get people’s temperature on different topics. A woman, Kim Miller, who is taking over as secretary, has a statistical background and knows how to do surveys and knows how to read the surveys more importantly when they come in and how to do the questions so you get the answers that you’re looking for.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Q&A with Cambridge Mayor-Elect Lajan Cephas

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In the December 3rd runoff to succeed Steve Rideout as Cambridge’s next mayor, City Council President Lajan Cephas beat former mayor Andrew Bradshaw with 53% of the vote. Cephas will become the city’s second Black woman mayor when she is sworn in at the new city council’s first session in January.

The race was a contentious one. The Maryland Democratic Party took the unusual step of publicly supporting Cephas, claiming the Republicans backed Bradshaw, who had resigned as mayor in 2022 after a year in office due to criminal charges that later led to conviction. Mayor Rideout came out for Cephas, while two of her colleagues on the city council endorsed Bradshaw.

With the election over, Cambridge native Cephas, a former business owner and correctional officer who now sells insurance, is already taking on the duties of mayor since Rideout’s early retirement. She spared a few minutes to speak with the Spy about her future in office.

How are you feeling since the election?

I am relieved that it is over because that was a really ugly process, and I don’t like to be a part of anything that’s negative. I’m more like a get-it-done type of person. I’m not all about all the extras and I just felt like that was a little bit too extra.

To what do you attribute your win?

I attribute it to the work that we’ve done with the current city staff. Also my leadership as the Commission president, also during the time that I had to act with the powers of mayor. And then I think I also attribute it to the other candidate had his opportunity, and he didn’t do his best with that opportunity. So, I believe that’s what contributed to the win.

What in your background helped you to become mayor?

Everything. Yeah. So, for more than 20 years, I’ve worked in business management. I’ve worked with many different types of people having to do outreach while still having to run a business at the same time. And I’ve worked in many cities from San Diego, California, from Baltimore City, from obviously Cambridge, Salisbury, even did some work in Delaware. So, just dealing with different types of people, like having conversations, and having to understand what is the challenge so we can overcome it. I know that’s definitely the advantage that provided me, and also the experience, as far as me being in this role of mayor and also the Commission president, because it’s really the business of people. So, if you understand people, you can do anything. You can work in customer service. You could be a mayor, you could be a pastor of a church and, if you’re able to connect with people, you could be successful at just about anything.

How do you feel about the low voter turnout in this election?

I think the low voter turnout, I think it is close to the average based off my understanding of it, based off what our research is. About maybe 15% of voters tend to turn up for local elections. In our case it was less than that. I think it was more like around 11 to 12%. My math could be a little off. But a lot of people, they’re workers, they have children, you know, they have day-to-day life that they’re trying to figure out, are they’re going to have money to pay that next bill. So, the last thing on a lot of people’s minds is taking time off from work so they can vote. Maybe they couldn’t get off. Maybe they’re working a 12-hour shift. So, I try to focus less on who did not show up and focus more on who did show up. And I greatly appreciate those who were able to make that time because it’s a huge sacrifice, showing up in the line, not knowing what the process is going to be, you know, it gives anxiety. [In an email later, she wrote, “I believe voter turnout in Cambridge was just about 15%, which is around the national average. There was a total of 1484 total voters in the past mayoral election and about 9,000 registered voters in the city of Cambridge.”]

What are your ambitions and goals for 2025?

The goal for 2025 is to continue to move the city forward. I think initially we need to get a few committees or commissions together to do some asset mapping to figure out what do we have, because we have a lot of folks that say we need something for the kids to do. But online I see this program, basketball, I see after-school program at the Boys and Girls Club. It looks like we have a lot of programming for the youth. So, it’s a matter of looking at the nonprofits we have and figuring out what is the best strategy to have the best outcomes.

How do you understand the mayor’s role?

I see the mayor’s role as a neutral voice willing to listen to all parties and all sides. I see someone that should be accessible to the public. It really shouldn’t spend much time here in this office. So what I plan to do, because this week there is an actual mayor’s office in City Hall, I hope to share it with my fellow commissioners just in case if they need to have a meeting with someone in private. But it’s not my plan to be in this office. My plan is to be out in the public, available to be going to events and then obviously networking with our federal and state delegation so we can bring some funding back to the city. So I think that’s the main thing, to be that networker. And of course, as far as actual responsibilities, the mayor chairs the Commissioners of Cambridge meeting and I believe the mayor also chairs the Police Advisory Board.

Are you still going to have any role with Cambridge Waterfront Development, Inc (CWDI)?

Absolutely. So, my plan is to attend every meeting. That’s absolutely the plan, but we are in the process of changing the Articles of Incorporation. Now, I probably won’t have that ability of voting on that because I think more than likely that’s going to come before the next council. … How it stands right now is the mayor is the sole member, which would lead one to believe that if you’re the mayor, you have total authority over this board or this or this commission or body of people that’s put in place to ensure the waterfront development happens. So, how it’s drafted now pending the approval of the next commission is there will be three members. The Commissioners of Cambridge serve as one member. You have the County Council serving as another member. And then you have our state delegation, which means our state delegates and senator, they would be that third member, which would make it more fair and more balanced for everyone in this community and also in the Lower Shore and the Mid-Shore community as well.

What issues in the city need to be addressed?

What needs to be addressed in the city is definitely code enforcement. And don’t get me wrong, they’re doing a really great job. It’s just we’ve been behind for many years. There’s a document that was actually put together by the League of Women Voters back in 1969. It was a housing study and there were challenges and code enforcement at that time. So, I will say that we are making great leaps. We actually have, I think, more code enforcement now than we’ve had in a very long time. But I think that it’s important that we actually provide money in the budget for an additional code enforcement officer because eventually it’s extremely important that we get to internal inspections of rental properties to ensure our residents have the best and safest residences as possible.

I had read that that was an inspiration for you, that 1969 report.

It’s a lot of good information. Like, the same neighborhoods, the same homes, even Calvin Mowbray Park, it talked about how members in the Council, how they were. So, how it was supposed to have been arranged was that apartment community was supposed to spread out throughout the city. I believe every three to five blocks there, there was supposed to be a duplex. But many members in the community felt like, “I don’t want that in my neighborhood.” So, that’s why we ended up with all these condensed communities of poverty.

Describe your ideal future for Cambridge.

My ideal future of Cambridge is where we’re working efficiently. You know, every child has the opportunity of going home to a safe, clean home without distraction so they can be their best person when they get to school. I see opportunities for our youth when they graduate high school, because college isn’t the pathway for every student. You know, there could be an opportunity right here at City Hall. There could be opportunities for someone graduating high school to be an entrepreneur. So, that’s what I see. I see efficient city services. I see our taxpayers feeling like their money is being spent in the right direction. They don’t feel ripped off, because we have many that feel like, “When I’m paying county taxes and I’m paying city taxes, what exactly am I getting from the city?” So, I just see services that we all could be proud of and residents that feel like, “You know what, I’m glad I live here in Cambridge.”

Your role as the mayor is going to be different from when you were on the City Council. Your influence is going to be different. So, why did you decide to run for mayor instead of staying on the Council?

I truly believe we should always make pathways for other leaders. And I know Shay Cisco had a vision of being a commissioner, and I did not want to be one to hold her from that vision. If she felt like that’s her next step in life, I was willing to make that sacrifice just so she could be a candidate and actually see if she could earn the vote of the Ward 2 residents to make that happen. And then the other thing was I knew Mayor Steve Rideout had no intentions of running for mayor, and I didn’t know of anyone else that could run that was so heavily involved with local city government. So, it was a no-brainer for me. It was a no-brainer for me to create an opportunity for Shay Cisco and also for anyone else who decided to run for Ward 2. And then to give me the opportunity to be this voice of unison for the whole city. Because I’ve done the work before, when the other person resigned because of his personal situation. But to actually give it everything, give a full four years and actually be elected and actually earn that role.

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