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Date: 7/23/2015
SPRINGFIELD – Marcus Williams sees a problem with city politics in Ward 5.
He doesn’t think the residents of the ward are represented evenly and feedback he’s received reflects that, he said.
While Sixteen Acres, the city’s largest neighborhood, makes up the bulk of Ward 5, the Pine Point neighborhood is split nearly in half between wards 5 and 8, with a small section falling in Ward 4.
“[Residents] want a councilor who is representing the ward in its entirety. People in the Pine Point region don’t even know they’re part of Ward 5 and I think that’s pretty sad,” he said. “You should have a councilor who is reaching out to all people, regardless of whether they live in Sixteen Acres or Pine Point.”
That’s why the 26-year-old lifelong city resident has decided to throw his hat into the ring against Councilor Clodo Concepcion.
Concepcion, also the Sixteen Acres Civic Association president, recently submitted the necessary signatures to run for a fourth term. Concepcion is also currently on the council’s Finance and Maintenance and Development subcommittees and is chair of the Committee on Elder Affairs.
“You just have to be yourself and you have to be a voice of the people,” Williams said of going against an entrenched incumbent whose name is emblazoned on the window of the community center in Sixteen Acres. “Those are the people that get you elected into that office and those are the voices you have to continue to respond to beyond that. It’s about the people and if you keep that in mind, I think you’ll be fine.”
Williams, who was raised in Pine Point and now living in Sixteen Acres, is a product of Springfield Public Schools, attending Thomas M. Balliet School and Chestnut Accelerated Middle School before graduating from the High School of Commerce. He went on to study at Boston College, graduating in 2012 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications.
He is currently the contracts and grants coordinator at the YWCA in Springfield, securing local, state and federal funding for the nonprofit.
While a newcomer as a political candidate, Williams has been part of a pair of statewide campaigns. He was head canvasser for Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s Springfield office in 2012 and then served as the Western Massachusetts field organizer for gubernatorial candidate Don Berwick in 2014.
“[Warren] was quite the advocate for issues and I really appreciate having worked for her,” he said, adding Berwick’s campaign was “one of the strongest grassroots campaigns I’ve ever had the pleasure of working for.”
Williams said his experience “working on campaigns that were about the people” and his passion for advocating on social issues were his primary motivations to run and credits both campaign experiences for a large amount of personal growth that has prepared him for his own candidacy.
With Warren, Williams said he “learned first and foremost to listen,” gaining knowledge and experience from a “strong group of Springfield leaders.” With Berwick’s campaign, he said he learned how to work in a group through the Western Massachusetts campaign office’s collaboration with those from other areas of the state as well as “the art of consistency [and] the art of being aggressive and persistent.”
Keeping with the grassroots spirit of the previous campaigns with which he was involved, Williams said he has been knocking on doors and getting a sense of the issues important to Ward 5 residents.
In addition to representation concerns, he said the word “casino” comes up frequently, specifically in regards to what the residual impacts of the MGM Springfield project – and more recently the proposed delay in its completion – would be.
“How is this [delay] going to affect some of the things that have been promised? Some people even wonder if this deal is going to be more of an expense to the city and what does that mean for the city?” he said.
While he is the nephew of Councilor at Large Bud Williams, the younger Williams indicated family and politics are left separate.
“He’s going to be an uncle at the end of the day and he has my best interests at heart, but I have my own team that I work with,” he said.
Williams said he understands some might have doubts about his age and experience, but said he believes his passion and ideas for the city will supersede that.
“I’ve received a lot of encouraging words from my mentors, friends and family members telling me, ‘Don’t ever let someone tell you it’s not your time, because if they had told that to the other great leaders of this world, where would we be now?’”
Williams said being part of a youth movement of sorts in Springfield politics with City Council President Michael Fenton and now councilor-at-large candidate Jesse Lederman is a positive for the city.
“If you see a trend, you tend to follow it. When you see someone lead the charge and set and example and become a voice that people, regardless of age, are listening to, that’s a powerful thing,” he said. “The older generations definitely have to pass the baton. They have to let the younger generation come up and articulate the people’s vision for the city.”
More information on Williams’ campaign can be found on Facebook (www.facebook.com/MarcusforSpringfield413), Twitter (@MJDUB22), Instagram (@MarcusJames413) and LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com/pub/marcus-j-williams/59/820/153). He can be reached at 222-8673 or marcusforspringfield@gmail.com.