Campaign Kickoff

Posted on 28. Jun, 2009 by ywwlawrence in Press

Candidates, members of the media, business leaders, and Lawrence residents come together to say “Yes We Will” make this election year in Lawrence the best ever!

LCW’s Yes We Will Campaign Kickoff Wednesday, June 17th 2009.

Wednesday June 17, 2009, Lawrence, MA Lawrence CommunityWorks Our House Campus was filled with a positive energy as 200 people came together, including candidates, media outlets, business and community leaders, and many city residents, to participate in the Kick-Off Press conference for a non-partisan campaign that is working to make the 2009 election year in Lawrence the best and most participatory that the city has ever seen.

The Campaign, called “Yes We Will”, is a non-partisan civic engagement initiative primarily sponsored by Lawrence CommunityWorks. This campaign is committed to creating a new kind of politics here in Lawrence. It is a politics without negativity personal attacks and divisions — but one that is committed to including everyone, getting good information into the hands of all Lawrencians, making sure everyone who can vote does vote, having positive and respectful discourse around ideas and keeping leaders focused on a positive vision for the future of the great city of Lawrence and its people. On Wednesday this positive message was clearly communicated by members who began working to create this campaign following the Presidential Elections of last November.

Of those in attendance were: Mayoral Candidates; David Abdoo, Nilka Alvarez-Rodriguez, Daniel Cotnoir, Marcos Devers, Nunzio DiMarca, William Lantigua, Pedro Payano, Israel Reyes, and Julia Silverio. City Council Candidates: Sandy Almonte Rosado, Nestor De Jesus, Nick Kolofoles, Dan Rivera, Ruth Rojas, and Roger Twomey. School Committee Candidates: Kemal Bozkurt, Martina Cruz, Mark Gray, and Homayoun Maals Harman.

Campaign member Pilar Flores asked that everyone stand up to show their commitment to “a campaign that promotes positive conversations, communicating a clear and positive vision for the future of our city that includes everyone who wants and is able to participate and vote.” All of the candidates in attendance stood to show their support for the positive principals of the Yes We Will campaign and a willingness to work towards creating a political environment in Lawrence based on respecting, empowering and including all who live and work in the city. This demonstration of support was met by a resounding applause from all in attendance.

During the event, committed neighbors and business leaders Juan and Lou Yepez of mainstream global and Gary Sidell, representing him and his father Chet Sidell, of Bell Tower Square, LLC, showed their support for the Yes We Will campaign. They spoke of the need for us to work together to create an environment where good, transparent, information is readily available for all to see. As a demonstration of this commitment the three stated that they will be working with Yes We Will to create a professionally organized mayoral forum tentatively scheduled for September before the City’s Preliminary Elections. They also offered use of their space at 60 Island St. Lawrence, MA 01841, free of charge, for all candidates seeking office to use for fundraising events. For more information about this offer contact Gary Sidell at gsidell@kgr.com or (978)375-7363.

Yes We Will announced their campaign on Wednesday June 17th, but it is clear to many that this change will not happen over night, nor will it end following the City Elections in November. Campaign member Sonia Terbulllino said “Our work will not conclude with the elections, we will continue to motivate the community to get involved in civic matters, coordinate actions to empower and improve our quality of life, maintaining respect and including everyone.”

During the months leading up to the election the Yes We Will Campaign looks forward to working closely with the candidates, the media, organizations, churches, business, and neighborhood residents to bring this positive message to the community. Yes We Will will be out in the streets registering people to vote, connecting people to the campaign by signing a pledge card asking people to commit to promoting a new politics in Lawrence, having meetings in houses and organizations to get people talking about their vision for the future of the city, and collecting/distributing balanced information on the candidates.

Wednesday’s kick-off event was not a candidate forum nor were questions towards the candidates permitted, however, the Yes We Will Campaign desires to create events where candidates can be questioned directly about their positions and vision for the city. In order to do this Yes We Will has two events planned that that will be open to the public:

In the spirit of educating people about and celebrating the democratic processes Yes We Will hopes to draw attention to the deadline for candidates to submit their nomination papers, which is August 5th at 5pm. In order to do this they will be hosting an event on Friday August 7th 5pm at Lawrence CommunityWorks called the “Candidates Filling Day Celebration.” This will be an informal event where all candidates and the entire community will be invited to come, get to know one another, ask questions and celebrate our city and those who are willing to make this great commitment to it.

The Second event will be a formal, professionally organized, mayoral forum. This will be done in collaboration with Juan and Lou Yepez, Gary Sidell and members of the community. The event will take place sometime in mid September before the Preliminary Elections.

In the upcoming months look for the Yes We Will Campaign as they continue to call to the community to unite around the principal of creating a new, positive politics in Lawrence based on respect, empowerment, and inclusion. The campaign looks forward to continuing to work closely with all in the city of Lawrence as they work towards building an environment where positive conversations around politics thrive, visions for the future of the city are built and communicated, information is readily available and accessible, and where everyone participates and votes!

Everyone is welcome to get involved, however, candidates or those holding official positions with the candidates are asked to refrain from planning events or volunteering directly with the campaign. For more information visit the website ywwlawrence.org or call (978)722-2610.