Somerville Mayoral Candidate Focusing On The Working Class

SOMERVILLE, MA – Payton Corbett moved to Somerville 13 years ago when he took a job at an alcohol wholesaler in Medford. It was love at first sight.

"It was this big city with a small town feel," Corbett said. "I grew to love it very quickly." But the dynamic of his home is changing, which he attributes to rising taxes and a city losing sight of its working class.

"A lot of why people like Somerville so much is disappearing," he said. "It's super diverse but slowly those working class folks are getting pushed out. Immigrants, too, may not be able to afford it eventually."

Corbett is a union guy to the core. The 34-year-old has worked for the wholesaler for more than a decade and risen through the ranks of Teamsters Local 122, becoming an executive board member and serving as a trustee. Now, he's turning his attention to Somerville City Hall.

Corbett's mayoral campaign reflects what he fights for as a union member - chiefly, protection for workers. His campaign is centered around not just unionized workers, but the rights of working people in the city and people coming in to work construction jobs.

Corbett has repeatedly called Mayor Curtatone and his administration "union busters," and criticized the city's contractual dealings with the police and firefighter's unions and SMEA. He said the city also needs two new fire houses – one at Assembly Row and one in Union Square.

"If we're going to claim to be a progressive city, we should recognize that workers' rights, union rights and the rights of people to organize are core progressive values," Corbett said. Fair compensation for the working class, he said, goes "hand-in-hand" with decreased affordability in the city, another focus of his campaign.

He cited the city's recent decision to grant a waiver to Federal Realty Investment Trust for the 20 percent affordable housing requirement at its planned Assembly Row development. Several residents and some city officials seeking to maintain the mixed-income aspect of Somerville were outspoken against approving the waiver.

Somerville enacted a new inclusionary zoning ordinance last year, upping the required number of affordable housing units for a building the size of Federal Realty's development to 20 percent from 12.5 percent. Federal Realty had come to an agreement with the city prior to the ordinance change and argued it should be held to the previous requirement.

Curtatone defended the deal, which requires Federal Realty to allot 31 of the units at Assembly for affordable housing and fund 49 affordable housing units elsewhere in the city. He argued that Federal Realty had contributed to past development in the city – helping to fund the Assembly Row T stop and building a new waterfront park – and forcing the 20 percent could result in the developer turning to more lucrative investments, effectively stalling the project for years.

But Corbett said he felt the city did not remain impartial during the debate, despite the mayor's insistence that it do so.

"In my opinion they did not remain neutral and sided with Federal Realty and not with the people of the city," he said. "On projects like that, it should be more than 20 percent."

Corbett suggested other affordability solutions, such as tax relief for benevolent landlords and fighting for greater community benefits from developers like Federal Realty and Union Square Station Associates (US2) and nonprofits such as Partners HealthCare and Tufts.

Corbett's campaign is "about as grassroots as they come right now," though he recently received a key endorsement from the Somerville Labor Coalition. His own union has endorsed him, as well.

He is currently raising money to fund mail-outs to unions in the metro Boston area but said he will not take money from developers or people associated with developers, including lobbyists, attorneys or family members. He called this the "Payton Pledge." And he's asking that all candidates adopt it.

"I'm looking to build a campaign and political movement that's built on empowering working people in the city," he said. "I think [Curtatone] has a political agenda that's built on dependency."

Corbett will hold a campaign kickoff and meet-and-greet at the Mt. Vernon Restaurant, 14 Broadway, on July 20 at 6:30 p.m.

This is part 1 in a planned series on Somerville's mayoral candidates. The views expressed by the candidates do not necessarily reflect those of Patch.

Photo: Payton Corbett and his wife, Jenny, at SLC Candidates Night