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Ward 5 candidates back infrastructure work but urge clearer advance notice
Summary
Candidates at an LCTV forum said current city and state road projects will improve travel and business long-term but criticized short-term communication about closures and timelines.
Candidates seeking the Ward 5 seat said they support ongoing infrastructure projects — including downtown, the Lynnway and Western Avenue projects and multimodal work — but warned that residents and small-business owners need clearer, earlier notice about closures and timelines.
Why it matters: Several candidates said construction is disruptive in the short term and that better outreach and project timelines are necessary so residents can plan commutes, school drop-offs and business operations.
Kataliz “Cardi” Paez said she is “excited to see the future” of downtown and singled out the city’s multimodal and MBTA-related projects. Liliana Patino said the volume of work has raised resident questions about duration and impacts: “Is it gonna impact like, when is it gonna stop? … Will I have to replan different routes to take my children to work?” Josh Polonsky said many projects were planned years ago and reiterated that collaboration between city and state officials is good, but that public outreach should be improved so people are not surprised by closures.
Candidates suggested practical steps: publish clearer project timelines; hold precinct-level briefings in advance of major work; post multilingual notices at affected businesses; and maintain a public calendar showing lane closures and bus detours. Several candidates urged the planning department to make community input channels easier to find and use.
The forum did not produce formal recommendations or votes; candidates outlined priorities they would press for if elected.
