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Date: 8/29/2023
Editor's note: This story is part of Reminder Publishing's special section dedicated to the upcoming Springfield preliminary and city elections on Sept. 12 and Nov. 7, respectively. This section is included in the Aug. 31 issue of the Springfield North and Springfield South editions of The Reminder.
SPRINGFIELD — In a contested race, five candidates are vying to become the next mayor of the city of Springfield.
The candidates are David Ciampi, City Councilor at-Large member Justin Hurst, City Council President Jesse Lederman, state Rep. Orlando Ramos and incumbent Mayor Domenic Sarno.
A preliminary election will take place on Sept. 12 to determine which two candidates will be on the Nov. 7 election ballot.
Each candidate has a diverse background and experiences, including their education, careers and political and city involvement.
For instance, Ciampi has four advanced degrees and two PhDs. in the social sciences. He shared that he was a violence researcher at New York University in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He then went on to become a psychotherapist and provides therapy to people in Springfield, including homeless individuals, for nearly 20 years. Ciampi noted that about 80% of his caseload has been people struggling with drug dependencies along with underlying drivers of behavioral health and economic issues.
Hurst, who was born and raised in the city and graduated from Springfield Central High School before attending the University of Virginia where he received a bachelor of arts in English. He then returned to Springfield, which he said he always wanted to do. “I watched my mom and my father give so much to those individuals here in the city of Springfield who needed a voice so that’s what I did … I came back home and I went to Western New England University School of Law during the night and then I taught English at the High School [of] Science and Technology.”
Hurst graduated from law school in 2004 and passed the Bar exam in 2005. In 2011, he wanted to impact individuals beyond his classroom, so he ran for City Council at-Large, but was ultimately unsuccessful.
Following the defeat, Hurst ran for the City Council at-Large once more and was elected in 2013, serving in that capacity for the last 10 years. In 2019 and 2020, Hurst was unanimously elected by his colleagues to serve as City Council president.
Lederman also grew up in Springfield, specifically in the McKnight neighborhood. He went through Springfield Public Schools and graduated from the Springfield Renaissance School, before attending George Washington University. While he was there, Lederman quickly realized that Springfield is where his heart was and where he wanted to be. He transferred to the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he finished his bachelor’s degree.
Lederman went to work as a political organizer — locally and across the state — to elect candidates who he felt would do right by the city of Springfield. He worked for U.S. Sen. Edward Markey (D-Malden), Don Berwick who ran for governor and Massachusetts State Treasurer Deborah Goldberg.
Lederman also coordinated the Springfield Climate Justice Coalition that brought existing community organizations together to work on policy and campaigns around reducing pollution, lowering asthma rates and increasing renewable energy production.
In 2015, he ran for City Council at-Large, with five incumbents in the race. He came close — finishing sixth in a field of 10 — and “stayed the course” by continuing to work in the city and build a reputation. Lederman ran again in 2017 and became the youngest individual elected to the City Council at-large — at least in recent history.
Outside of the City Council — up until this campaign — Lederman also built a career in higher education and went back to work for the University of Massachusetts Amherst, coordinating the Springfield office for the University Without Walls program, working with non-traditional adult students coming back to college to earn their degrees.
Ramos graduated from Putnam Vocational Technical High School’s carpentry program and pursued a career in the field. He joined the carpenters union in 2002, of which he is still a member today.
While working as a carpenter, Ramos also worked as a union steward and was elected to the executive board, where he was later hired as an organizer and business representative. Some of the “big projects” he worked on in the city of Springfield include the MassMutual Center and the Raymond M. Sullivan Safety Complex.
Ramos was elected to the City Council in 2013 after two unsuccessful runs in 2009 and 2011. He served four terms, two of which he was the president. In 2020, he was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives and is currently serving his second term. He represents the 9th Hampden District, which is the northern part of the city of Springfield.
Ramos has an associate degree from Springfield Technical Community College, a bachelors in public policy from UMass Amherst and a master’s in public administration from Westfield State University.
Sarno, who is the longest-serving mayor of the city of Springfield, has been in the position for the past 16 years after being elected in 2007. Prior to that, he served four terms on the City Council and was its the president for a time. During this time, he also served on the Finance Control Board on its inception.
Sarno was the former executive director of the old South End Community Center. He worked six years with former Hampden District Attorney William Bennett and was an assistant to the first and only woman to be mayor of the city of Springfield, Judge Mary Hurley.
Sarno has a psychology degree from Westfield State and also attended American International College where he studied political science.
The “why?”
Upon being asked why they are running for mayor, each candidate’s responses differed across the board, but one common reason shown through: improving the city of Springfield.
Ciampi said, “I see a lot of problems that are not being effectively addressed in the city, or in the country for that matter … What’s happening in Springfield is really a mirror image of what’s happening in the United States in terms of gun violence and problems with folks that use drugs, overdose … There [are] all of these social ills.”
He continued, “If I had to condense why I’m running down to three words it would be quality of life. We need new initiatives, we need new treatment programs, new holistic programs for people who suffer from substance dependencies.”
Hurst said, “For a long time I’ve watched many individuals be left out of government. [I] also feel as though our government was not working for a lot of individuals here in the city of Springfield, so I wanted to run for mayor of Springfield to ensure that a first-class education was had for all of our children.”
He continued, “I wanted to run to empower our Police Commission to act independently and free from political interference. I wanted to run to make sure that we are actually attacking the root causes of gun violence which we know start early.”
Other reasons why Hurst decided to run for mayor are to provide affordable public transportation, which he said the city does not currently have, to enforce residency for all municipal employees to ensure millions of dollars are not going to outside communities on an annual basis, to employ the city’s returning citizens and be a leader in that as a municipality, to build a state-of-the-art complex for the young people — which has been promised for a number of years and has not been delivered — and to ensure city contracts are directed to city businesses.
Lederman said he decided to run for mayor because he thinks that as a city, the full potential is not being reached. “I think that we are uniquely positioned, and I think that really by bringing a fresh perspective to the mayor’s office and some of the challenges that we are facing as a city, that we can go much further.”
He continued, “Ultimately, I think what we have to do is create a local government that is accessible, responsive and professional, that can really take on not only the issues we face but our growth that I think is necessary as a city.”
Ramos said, “I’m not a politician, I’m a carpenter. I don’t consider myself a politician. I was a carpenter who saw something wrong in my community and decided to run for office and be able to do something about it because nobody else was.
“I’m not running for mayor because I don’t like my position or because I want to leave the House of [Representatives]. I’m running for mayor because there’s a need here in the city of Springfield and I don’t believe our city can afford another four years of [the] Sarno administration,” he shared.
Ramos went on to say, “There are a lot of needs here in the city of Springfield that are not being addressed, a lot of people who feel unrepresented and underrepresented and I want to be the mayor for everybody. I want to be the mayor who represents all 17 neighborhoods in the city of Springfield and not just downtown. I want to bring Springfield back to its former glory and reclaim our identity of the city of firsts and the city of innovation instead of being the number one city in homicides and crime. We can do a lot better and in order to do better, we need a new mayor.”
Sarno shared that he is proud to be the city’s longest-serving mayor — not for himself but for his parents — because they immigrated here from another country and were not able to finish formal education but worked hard in their businesses.
“I love this job, I live it 24/7, and there is more work to be done and I know I can still deliver on those ideals with a strong, appreciative, effective leadership, with a heartfelt compassion. The people have been very supportive and the business community, so I take nothing for granted. I say I always run hungry, but I think everyone knows I care deeply about this city, its residents [and] the business community,” he said.
Sarno shared that as long as his family is OK, his health is OK and the people will have him, he will continue to run. “There’s much more work that needs to be done,” he added.
Visions and plans
Ciampi said he has several plans and visions for the city of Springfield, such as addressing poverty and mental health, which he believes are “creating a multitude of social ills.”
“First, we have to deal with trying to develop new economic engines that will provide greater job opportunities for the people in this city,” Ciampi said.
He added that the city needs to bring in money from outside of Springfield, to stimulate the local economy through ways such as tourism — like Carnival — which Ciampi thinks would generate a great deal of money for the city, annually.
Another aspect that Ciampi mentioned is education, which is “critical” for the children. He shared that social, emotional and civic education should be incorporated into the academic curriculum.
Hurst said he wants a “clean Springfield” that reflects the pride of the city. He plans to reduce taxes and “eliminate the trash fee once and for all.”
“We need to renew our commitment to honesty and transparency and government. We need to rebuild our neighborhoods which we haven’t done enough of, and we need to reimagine a 21st century Springfield that we can all be proud of,” shared Hurst.
Hurst said a lot of money has been spent on downtown, which he believes was done at the expense of the neighborhoods and residents.
Lederman said, “I think we really have to restore Springfield as a hub of innovation and progress — that’s the history of Springfield if you really look back — and I think that we have all of the necessary foundation to do that again, but what I hear right now from young people in the city of Springfield is that they think that success is getting out of Springfield … We have to change that narrative and we have to change their perspective on that. We can’t continue to be losing our young people to bigger cities and different opportunities but if we want people to stay and invest here, we have to make sure that they actually have the opportunity to do that.”
Some points Lederman thinks should be focused on is growing the economy by looking at the emerging industries across the U.S. and how Springfield can be an attractive place for people to come and invest here, along with individuals already here, to get into those industries and build well for themselves and their families. To do that, Lederman said he plans to have a chief economic development officer that is really the chief sales person — to be out there “selling the city of Springfield.”
Lederman shared that the city needs to focus on the development of the neighborhood’s economic centers such as Mason Square, North Main Street, Downtown Indian Orchard and the “X.”
“These are underutilized economic opportunities to build wealth within our communities,” he said.
Other areas that Lederman would like to focus on include housing, increasing local partnerships and public safety. “I think that what we really need to do is focus on a strategy that both immediately secures the safety of our neighborhoods through community policing and increasing our recruitment,” which has been a challenge in terms of new officers.
Relative to the approach in the wake of tragedy, Lederman said, “We need to be trauma informed.” When responding to these types of incidents, he said it should be done in a “culturally competent way,” with the appropriate resources available. If the cycle is not broken with people going out to support families and victims and disrupt the violence that is occurring, it will continue.
For Ramos, his number one priority is public safety. “We’re still considered one of the most dangerous cities in the Northeast,” he said. “We just broke the records for the most homicides in city history [and] that’s embarrassing … That’s a shame and we can do so much better,” he said, referring to the city’s 23 homicides as of press time.
He noted that the city is losing a lot of good people because of the crime rate and more needs to be done to protect the young people. Ramos shared he has a “very extensive” public safety plan which includes bringing back the community policing concept that was proven to work in the late 1990s and early 2000s, bringing a gun court to the city to help expedite gun cases and get them off the streets, along with a plan to partner with the federal government to accomplish the same goal.
Ramos’ second priority is affordability. “It’s become unaffordable for homeowners here in the city of Springfield,” he said.
Over the same time, he said water and sewer bills have gone up, while the water quality continues to decline. “We’re paying a lot more for water of lesser quality and that’s not fair to the ratepayers and it’s not fair to the seniors who live on a fixed income,” he added.
Ramos said he also prioritizes economic development and has a vision of what the city can become, by investing in entrepreneurship and small businesses within the city.
Reflecting on all that Sarno has accomplished over the past 16 years, he shared that there is still more he plans to do.
He noted that he was “battle tested” as he led the city successfully through unforeseen, natural and man-made disasters such as the tornado in 2011 and the gas explosion in 2012.
When Sarno took over he said the graduation rate was hovering over 50%, but after working with Springfield Public Schools Superintendent Daniel Warwick, it is now around 86%. Similarly, the dropout rate has declined from about 14% to a little over 3%.
Sarno shared that he built $750 million of new and rehabbed schools, with a plan to build more, such as the new DeBerry-Swan Elementary School that cost about $95 million.
“My number one priority is my war on crime,” Sarno said. He shared that he is “proud” to be the first mayor in Massachusetts to implement body-worn cameras for all Springfield police officers, which has led to greater transparency and fewer complaints.
Through the creation of the Firearms Investigation Unit with Police Superintendent Cheryl Clapprood, about 640 illegal ghost guns have been taken off the streets. Sarno said he plans to continue doing that, along with calling on some of the judges in the court system to keep the repeat and violent offenders behind bars.
Some of his other plans and areas of focus include economic development and fighting to keep the new Hampden County Hall of Justice in Springfield, particularly in the north riverfront area which he believes would be a “game changer” for the city.