New Candidate For Somerville Mayor Announces Campaign

SOMERVILLE, MA — A lifelong Somerville resident and local union leader has joined the mayoral race. Marianne Walles announced Thursday she has turned in 300 nomination petition signatures and is the first challenger to Mayor Joseph Curtatone this year.

Walles is a social worker and longtime leader in her union, SEIU Local 509. She said in a prepared statement Curtatone has ignored issues like affordable housing and local jobs.

"I see too many people struggling to survive Somerville’s ‘success,’" Walles said. "As a social worker, I’ve been closest to the pain and suffering in our community. I will advocate for affordable housing, to make elite institutions pay their fair share, and to create a transparent city government that will work for the people -- not special interests."

Walles pointed to Curtatone's support of the statewide "Housing Choice" initiative to spur housing production, which she said did not have requirements for building affordable housing or protections from displacement.

"Somerville doesn’t need more luxury developments that will intensify gentrification and lead to displacement of existing residents, businesses, and our community institutions," Rand Wilson, an organizer with SEIU Local 888 and local labor activist, said in a statement."Somerville doesn’t need leadership promoting worn-out ‘market-based’ solutions. Somerville needs a progressive leader like Marianne Walles."

In her career as a social worker, Walles said she serves working class people every day, working with families to assess their struggles, identify a path to improvement and provide support to be successful. Through her union, she has fought for good-paying jobs, affordable housing and getting billion-dollar non-profits to pay their fair share in lieu of taxes, Walles said in a prepared statement.

For more information about her campaign, please visit the campaign website: marianne4mayor.org or the campaign Facebook page: facebook.com/mariannewalles