Patch Q&A With Framingham Mayoral Candidate Charlie Sisitsky

FRAMINGHAM, MA — Charlie Sisitsky has held just about every prominent elected office in Framingham, from the select board back in the town days to the first City Council.

In 2021, he's aiming for one seat he's never held: Framingham mayor. But Sisitsky, who seemingly retired from electoral politics in 2019 at the end of his first Council term, says he isn't running out of ambition. A second term for Mayor Yvonne Spicer "would be a disaster" for Framingham, he says.

Sisitsky will face off against Spicer in the Sept. 14 primary along with a third hopeful, Carlos Valadares. Ahead of the primary, Patch interviewed each mayoral candidate to find out why they are running in 2021. After the primary, two candidates will advance to compete in the November general election.

Sisitsky, 76, is touting his long history in local government — he was also in charge of the Natick Department of Public Works for 20 years until his retirement in 2009 — as beneficial, saying he'll be a better partner with the City Council.

Meanwhile Spicer, who was elected in 2017 as the city's first mayor, has sought to portray herself as an outsider with broader appeal, saying she doesn't have "the baggage of the good old boys network and good old girls network."

If Spicer and Sisitsky prevail in the primary, the 2021 general election may look similar to 2017. In that race, Spicer bested now-District 8 Councilor John Stefanini — a well-known local who served in multiple elected roles, including as a selectman and state representative. So far, Sisitsky has attracted serious support, from the firefighters union to sitting officials like state Rep. Jack Lewis and School Committee Chair Adam Freudberg.

You decided not to run for a second City Council term in 2019. What motivated that decision, and why are you jumping back into politics in 2021?

I've been involved in Framingham politics for a long time. I was a town meeting member, involved in the PTO, and then the town moderator appointed me to the finance committee and I was chairman of the finance committee for a while. I ended up on the board of selectmen, and when Framingham transitioned from a town to a city, I ran for City Council.

I felt that with my many years of experience in Framingham, I would be an asset to the new City Council and a new mayor coming in. My goal was to make sure that the transition from town to city was smooth. I very quickly found the mayor wasn't interested in anything I had to offer. She wasn't interested in any of the work that had to be done by the board of selectmen or the previous administrations.

As the term came to an end, I decided that it wasn't working. I wasn't being as effective as I hoped I could have been, and I felt maybe others could do it with a fresh start. So I decided not to run for reelection. There was a total of seven city councilors who did not to run for election, and that's a big message to the community when more than half of your council does not to run for reelection after the first term.

I stayed involved and did what I could in my own way. As I saw how things got worse with the second City Council and the mayor, I got very concerned that the community was going in the wrong direction and that somebody had to step in and turn it around. And many people came to me and asked me to run for mayor because they had the same concerns. Another four years of Yvonne Spicer would be a disaster for the city. So I talked to a lot of people and made the decision to run for mayor, and that's what I'm doing.

With the pandemic still going on, how have you been reaching voters before the primary?

I've been walking the streets and knocking on doors and trying to interact with people, but some of the ones that answer the door aren't too happy to see people. I went to one house and, and they said, you know, we're in quarantine and we don't really want to talk to anybody at the front door. So we're running into that problem.

But I've done two mailings now and I plan on doing more as a main way to reach out to the voters. I've had a couple of events, one in front of village hall for my announcement. I've had a big event at La Cantina and I've been doing house events where supporters would invite their neighbors and we'd be out in the backyard. Also, making phone calls and reaching out to other groups. The only thing that is lacking is the face-to-face, going up and down the streets, because of the pandemic.

Can you name one accomplishment you're most proud of, and name one that you would consider a failure?

I talk to everybody, I listen to everybody. That's one of my biggest strengths: listening and considering all sides of a discussion and then making an educated decision.

I ran the [Natick DPW] for 20 years, I managed over 90 people and we never had a major incident. We always managed to solve any issues, we never had to run to town hall to solve any problems. I always tried to promote from within, I would look at someone's criteria or abilities and work with that. So I managed to run a department with the biggest budget other than the schools, and we did it successfully for over 20 years. We got streets paved, we repaired water lines, sewer lines; built new parks, and was very efficient with closing our landfill in Natick and creating [Sassamon Trace Golf Course].

As a matter of fact, I was responsible for building Flutie Pass. Just a lot of different things that happened without a lot of fanfare; I wasn't concerned about who was getting a credit. I was concerned with results and that's the way I've been my whole life.

If you win this election, how would you go about changing the relationship between the City Council and the mayor's office?

I know what works with the Council and how the Council wants to be involved and should be involved. One of my first actions would be to develop a good, smooth working relationship with the Council. Instead of dropping the budget in their lap on May 1, I would involve them in the preparation. I would reach out to them to find out what their priorities and goals are. They represent specific districts, and they know the districts better than the mayor would know them.

I would get advice from them. I would involve them. I'd be transparent. It'd be a team approach, and I would be the same way with the superintendent and the School Committee.

Have you given any thought to how race plays into this election? If you win, you would be replacing a person of color.

Race is not an issue, it shouldn't be an issue. It's the ability to run a community, the ability to manage people and projects and it shouldn't have anything to do with race. That would be a deflection of the issues if we started talking about that. I want to focus on the issues. I want to focus on Framingham.

Framingham is a very diverse community; I would expect a very diverse workforce and people working for me regardless of race or economic status. We have to get good people and we have to get all members of the community involved. I'm all about good management and respect for everyone and being civil.

I'd like to ask a few quick, more fun questions. What's your favorite restaurant in Framingham?

That's not fair because if I say one, then the others are going to get upset with me! My wife and I have been trying to go out and participate in this Restaurant Rush program and trying to collect stickers from a lot of restaurants. And we've tried some new ones, but some of the favorites are Bella Costa and La Cantina.

What's your favorite park in Framingham?

I'd have to say Cushing Memorial Park.

What's the worst intersection in Framingham?

There's a lot of them. The train crossing down on Waverley Street, it's terrible. The traffic is just terrible, so, yeah, that's worst.

When was the last time you either road a bike, a bus or commuter rail in Framingham?

When my kids were smaller, we used to ride our bikes around, not on the streets, but like over in the parks or at the schools. I'm trying to think of the last time I took a bus. But if you want to talk about buses for a second, two things pop into my mind. One is school buses and all the traffic they create because they're running all over town. And one of my priorities is going to be getting a new school built in south Framingham so the kids down in that area won't have to get on buses and ride all over town every day.

I was involved early on in the establishment of MWRTA. I was one of the selectman who jumped at the opportunity to establish a regional transit authority. And it's grown like crazy. And it's been very important for many people in the region to get around. I know they're working on improving it and creating service on Sundays so people who have jobs on Sunday can use it to get to work.

That's part of the reason I ask because when you're in charge of making decisions about bike lanes, sidewalks or the bus service, most people on city councils, most mayors, probably haven't ridden a bus recently, so I always like to ask to see if you have a different perspective.

I don't rely on public transportation to get anywhere really because it doesn't serve the areas that I go to or or travel to at the times I need. I don't think it matters because I've been in touch with [MWRTA Administrator Ed Carr] on a regular basis and keep up to date with what's going on. I understand how important the bus is to certain people that commute to work by bus.

What's your favorite cup of coffee in Framingham?

I'm trying to travel around to all the coffee shops. I like Honey Dew Donuts [along Edgell Road]. Nice people that run the place. And Saxonville Mills Café is a wonderful place. They make a fabulous cup of coffee and pastries are delicious to go with it ... I'm not crazy about Starbucks. I like places like B Sisters Café because it's locally operated. They run a very nice operation and it's a nice place to have a quick meeting with somebody.

Read more about Charlie Sisitsky's platform

This interview was recorded and edited for length and clarity