2013 City of Boston Candidate Questionnaire
Sponsored by Right to the City VOTE! and Progressive Massachusetts
Candidate Name: John Barros
Office seeking: Mayor of Boston
Contact information: Campaign Manager Matthew Patton, matthewpatton036@gmail.com, 978 604 0691
(A) General:
1. Please tell us about yourself.
John was born in Roxbury in 1973 to parents who emigrated from the Cape Verde
islands. He started his education in the Boston Public Schools at the Ralph Waldo
Emerson School, went on to St. Patrick’s Elementary School until entering Boston
College High School where he earned his diploma. In 1991, at age 17, he was the first
youth elected to the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (DSNI) Board of Directors,
and dedicated his service to amplifying youth voices across the organization and
neighborhood.
Following his graduation from BC High, John attended Dartmouth College, where he
studied Economics and African/African-American Studies. At Dartmouth John played a
variety of leadership roles including president of the African American Society and
member of the Casque and Gauntlet Senior Society. While at Dartmouth, John was
accepted into an executive training internship and placed at Chubb Group of Insurance
Companies, which led to a full time position upon his graduation in 1996. At Chubb, he
helped underwrite initial public offerings for dot-com startups, including Priceline.com.
John served as Vice President of the DSNI Board and of Dudley Neighbors, Inc., a
community land trust created to assure permanent affordable housing. In 2000 John
was asked to serve as interim Executive Director for DSNI while the Board searched for a
permanent Director. Three months of work demonstrated that John was uniquely
qualified to lead the organization, and he has served in that role until now.
John is a member of the 2005 Fellows class in the South African-United States Center for
Leadership and Public Values and is a 2007 Barr Foundation Fellow. He serves on the
Community Advisory Board for Northeastern University’s Race and Justice Institute and
the Board of the New Democracy Coalition. He was elected Co-Chairperson of the
Center for Community Builders, a national practitioner network. He was a member of
the Aspen Institute’s Roundtable on Community Change.
John has received numerous awards including: the inaugural Community Service Award
from the Boston Day & Evening Academy in 2008; the Robert Leo Ruffin Award for his
work with youth, from the Archdiocese of Boston in 2004; the Action for Boston
Community Development (ABCD) Roxbury Community Award in 2000.
John is a co-owner of Restaurante Cesaria, a Cape Verdean restaurant in Dorchester.
He is a lay leader at St. Patrick’s Church, and was appointed the Coordinator of the Cape
Verdean Apostolate for the Archdiocese of Boston. He is a candidate for a Masters in
Public Policy from Tufts University. He lives in Dorchester with his wife, Tchintcia, who
works in the financial industry, and one-year old son, John, Jr. They are expecting
another baby in September.
2. Please talk about your record and outline your priorities if you are elected.
Having worked throughout my life in the community building field I have recorded many
accomplishments including:
 As executive director of DSNI I managed the only non-profit with eminent domain authority to
remove blight from the Dudley Street neighborhood of Roxbury and North Dorchester and
encourage market rate and affordable housing development.
 I provided leadership in ensuring residents benefited from the trade jobs and contracts created by
construction projects in the neighborhood. In one project alone over $14 million in contracts were
awarded to local businesses.
 I successfully coordinated hundreds of youth summer and year-round jobs.
 I worked with my neighbors to successfully close 17 illegal trash transfer stations, clean vacant
lots and increase green space in the neighborhood.
 As executive director of DSNI I ran the largest urban land trust in the country protecting parks
and playgrounds, urban gardens and farms, and affordable commercial buildings and affordable
residential housing in an increasingly thriving neighborhood.
 As a Boston School Committee member, I fought to eliminate the achievement and opportunity
gaps. As a member of the Boston Public Schools (BPS) English Language Learners Task Force
and Data Working Group to improve the ability for BPS to serve all students and work with
partners during and after school.
 As executive director of Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (DSNI)), I chaired the Boston
Parent Organizing Network, partnered to turn around Orchard Gardens K-8 Pilot School and
started the Dudley Street Neighborhood Charter School.
 At DSNI I lead the Boston Promise Initiative grant, which was $6 million from the the US
Department of Education’s Promise Neighborhood initiative, which leveraged $70 million in
coordinated funds to support early child development, quality schools (k-12), college graduation,
and career placement.
As Mayor I would prioritize our educational system, environmental justice and climate change, having
safe communities, the arts community, and economic and workforce development.
The City needs to develop a “Citywide Learning System” that relies on schools and community
organizations to achieve the right mix of high quality academic instruction and youth development
opportunities. This “Learning System” is about working with BPS, alternative programs, charters and
other types of schools to ensure every child has access to a quality seat. It is about:
 Leveling the playing field across school types by expanding school-level autonomy that
invests in parent and student leadership, creating one application and assignment system for
all schools, and building on excellence wherever it exists in Boston.
 Eliminating the achievement gap by focusing on the opportunity for socio-emotional
development, character building, and academic proficiency through strong school and
community program partnerships and outside the classroom learning.

Investing deeply in our city’s teachers and school leaders by putting more resources into
teacher and administrator development and co-training for school-based and communitybased educators.
As Mayor, I will work with residents and businesses to create a city that addresses environmental justice
issues facing our neighborhoods and is prepared for and will thrive in the coming global realities of
climate change and a transition to clean energy. Together, we will prove that cities are the engines for a
new green economy that not only supports the health and quality of life of all our residents, but generates
good local jobs, technological innovations, and shared wealth that is truly sustainable. Building a green
city does not only make environmental sense, but is also good economics and a strategy for more
equitable development.
To get all Bostonians involved in envisioning and working towards this future, I will
 launch Boston Green task forces, similar to the Green Ribbon Commission in every
neighborhood. These broad stakeholder groups will identify key priorities, launch local
initiatives, and review our performance to provide feedback and ideas on how we can
accelerate progress.
 These neighborhood task forces will then come together and work with the Green Ribbon
Commission to develop a city-wide plan that will keep Boston a beacon for the rest of the
world. In this process, we must address our local vulnerabilities, as well as remedy the
environmental disparities that still exist in low-income neighborhoods. No neighborhood can
be left behind in Boston’s green future. As demonstrated in Superstorm Sandy and Hurricane
Katrina, the most resilient cities are the ones that have robust community leadership and
social networks.
To have safe neighborhoods and public spaces requires us to do more than stop crime. In order for Boston
communities to be safe, we have to address the underlying causes of distress and instability. I would
improve public safety by improving city government’s ability to partner with families and communities. I
will do this by:
 Creating a Community Response Authority that merges the work of public and non-profit
human services agencies, public health agencies, law enforcement and community leaders to
improve crime prevention and provide residents with the coordinated support they need to
improve their lives.
 Invest in youth jobs and quality youth leadership and skills development opportunities for the
summer and year round in partnership with the organizations that are working with young
people in our neighborhoods.
 Decrease poverty by creating more mixed income communities. I have partnered with the
City to successfully bring two HUD Choice Neighborhood grants to Boston that support
locally driven strategies to catalyze critical improvements in neighborhood assets, including
vacant property, housing, services and schools.
 Using cutting-edge technology to engage the community in creating neighborhood
stability. My administration will adapt mobile applications, 311 apps and other technologies
currently used by residents to tell Community Response Agencies, in real time, where
services are most needed.
The City needs an arts and culture renaissance. I will ensure that Boston develops an overarching vision,
arts and cultural plan. The plan will lift up Philadelphia, Chicago, Denver and San Francisco as models of
cities of like size that have dedicated revenue streams (e.g. portion of hotels or sales taxes) and that made
real investments into arts infrastructure and understand the arts as an economic driver. I will:
 Address the lack of public art and arts access in Boston through the expansion and use of
local arts infrastructure and programs in schools, community centers and non-profits.
 Strengthen the local creative economy by supporting more commercial art integration in
revitalizing our main streets, including art as a specific driver for economic development in
general. Boston can create arts and culture clusters that are marketed to and supported by
Boston’s residents and tourists.
 Increase the focus on Federal, State and Corporate Investments through more aggressive
pursuit of state and federal grants and a stronger relationship with corporate partners in
improving the cultural life of the city.
We need an economic system that provides equality and opportunity to all. We need to:
 Connect Boston residents with job training and employment opportunities by working
directly with employers, training agencies and career centers. We will establish educational
tracks at our vocational and technical schools and increase our ability to meet local job
demands, particularly in the healthcare and educational sectors.
 Ensuring Boston residents are able to get the local construction jobs and contracts and their
fair share of the permanent jobs created by local development
 Attract and retain residents by producing housing that is more affordable. Create
opportunities for young professionals to stay in the City after coming to Boston for
educational opportunities.
 Create incentives for small business development by providing a simple and easily accessible
permitting process, flexible loans and technical assistance.
3. How do you plan to engage communities of color, immigrant communities, youth, women and seniors?
The work that I did at DSNI centered on engaging all communities in the planning and development of
the Dudley Neighborhood. , At age 17, I organized my peer and was the first youth elected to the DSNI
Board of Directors, and became a community organizer to amplifying youth voices and the voices of
those often marginalized across the organization and neighborhood. As my past leadership experience
has demonstrated I will continue to engage communities of color, immigrant communities, youth, women
and seniors. As Mayor I would ensure:
1. The city has a staff that is diverse and represents the most marginalized,
2. The commissions, boards and policy committees of city government is comprised with the same
diversity, and
3. That neighborhood civic groups having the staffing and capacity to be a strong partner in city
planning and in engaging all residents.
4. What is your strategy to stabilize working class and communities of color in Boston?
To stabilize working class and communities of color families we need to ensure that there is equal access
to quality educational opportunities, equal opportunity to accessible affordable public transportation,
equal opportunity to safe and clean neighborhoods, and equal opportunity to “good jobs” affordable
housing in all of our neighborhoods, in particular those sections of the City that have the most needs.
(B) The Right to Remain in a Stable Community
1. Please outline how you will work with residents and non-profits to stabilize working class and
communities of color.
As I have all my life, I will remain committed in engaging residents and non-profits to create shared goals
and plans for improving and stabilizing our communities. A critical strategy for creating stabilizing
working class and communities of color is creating and preserving more affordable and accessible
housing in Boston. I will lead a City that develops thriving neighborhoods without displacing the resident
currently living there.
2. Please describe your background as it applies to development and land use.
DSNI is a resident-led planning and organizing non-profit. We have made sure residents are in front of all
the development and land use decisions in the Dudley Neighborhood for the past three decades. We
organized and developed agreements with the City on DSNI’s role in leading the land disposition process
for public land in our neighborhood. As the Executive Director for over 13 years, I oversaw the
sustainable planning process for many small and large developments, including the planning for over 800
units of affordable housing, the creation of a 10,000 square foot greenhouse, multiple parks and open
spaces, and the creation of the largest community center in New England.
3. What is your strategy to create and preserve affordable housing for Boston's working class
communities?
To stabilize working class and communities of color families we need to provide affordable housing. The
best way to ensure affordable units are built in Boston is by insisting developers meet the City’s 15%
requirement for each project. Allowing developers to buy out of the current affordability requirements is
creating neighborhoods with very little access and decreasing the stock of affordability while creating
new burdens for affordable developments in new projects. I would provide additional incentives using tax
increment financing and density bonuses to produce more affordable units. In order to preserve these units
we need to use tools such as large housing cooperatives and the community land trust to make sure the
affordable housing units we build remain affordable.
4. Do you support a policy that City subsidies such as tax breaks or zoning relief must only support
development projects which have a majority of neighborhood resident support, have an enforceable
Community Benefits agreement and provide living wage jobs?
Yes__X___
No _____
5. Do you support use of City owned land for use as determined through a community participatory
process, or for land lease fees to support community land trusts and other community stabilization
programs?
Yes_X____
No _____
6. Do you support the creation of an independent planning department?
Yes__X___
No _____
If elected, what will be your first step toward democratizing city planning and development decision
making?
I would removing the planning process from the BRA and place it under a City department, creating an
open and transparent process that is through a community participatory process with residents in the
neighborhoods of Boston.
7. How will you work with communities, banks, and non-profits to address foreclosure and create more
permanent affordable housing?
At DSNI, I helped create the Dudley Foreclosure Roundtable to coordinate efforts to help homeowners
and renters to keep their homes during the height of the foreclosure crisis. We worked with other
organizations such as City Life, Project Right, Dorchester Bay EDC, Nuestra Comunidad, Project Hope
and others to increase the neighborhoods capacity to stop evictions and create affordable housing
opportunities. As Mayor I will remain committed to supporting similar collaborative efforts to address
foreclosure and create more permanent affordable housing.
8. Do you support passing an ordinance that would create City penalties for absentee landlords who carry
out no-fault evictions of residents who are paying their rents or mortgage?
Yes__X___
No _____
(C) The Right to Economic Justice and Good Jobs
1. Please outline how you have worked to support economic development and create good jobs.
As executive director of DSNI I provided leadership to ensure residents benefited from the trade jobs
and contracts created by construction projects in the neighborhood. For example, as a member of the
Roxbury Strategic Master Plan Oversight Committee I helped ensure Roxbury projects adopt local
goals of 51% minority, 51% local and 15% women. My advocacy on the Kroc Community Center hit
these goals and created $15 million in minority and woman owned business enterprise (MWBE)
contracts that were awarded to local businesses. This allowed other projects to advocate for the same
goals.
2. Please outline how you will work to create and stabilize good jobs for Boston's residents.
I will use community benefit agreements and ensure they are signed before any permitting and zoning
variance processes begin. Legally binding agreements need to be a part of the public process and capture
the negotiated community benefits such as good jobs for residents.
3. How will you work with young people and community organizations to hire Boston youth for good
jobs and paid training programs so that they can become our city's next generation of leaders?
Youth jobs are a critical part of youth development. My first paid community organizer job was as an
advocate for youth jobs. I have advocated for good youth jobs ever since. As Mayor, I will continue to
work with community organizations, philanthropy, and businesses to make sure we can increase the
number of good jobs and paid training programs for young Bostonians.
4. Do you support expanding eligibility for the Boston Youth Fund to 14-19 year olds, and increase City
funding to $8.5 million to fund 1,000 year-round and 5,000 summer jobs?
Yes__X___
No _____
5. Do you support amending the Boston Jobs Residency Program to require construction hiring at 50%
residents, 50% people of color, 15% women, with equitable hiring goals and standards for good
permanent jobs?
Yes__X___
No _____
6. Do you support linking City systems for licensing, purchasing, contract compliance and living wage
enforcement to improve job access and standards for Boston residents to secure living wage jobs?
Yes__X___
No _____
(D) The Right to Democratic Participation
1. How will you work to expand multi-lingual and disable access to City of Boston public meetings,
hearings, city services and in the voting booth?
As a City we need to work with all communities to ensure that the impediments to participation are dealt
with in a respectful and appropriate way. We need to ensure all meetings, hearings, services and elections
are operated in a manner that provides full access. As someone who is an English language learner, I
know the importance of having written and oral translation services available for all residents and I am
committed to ensure the City provides it.
2. Do you support reforming the city charter to balance legislative and executive powers, and establish
accountable boards such as an independent City Planning Commission and Police Review Board with
subpoena power?
Yes__X__
No _____
(E) The Right to the Public Good
1. Please outline your vision and strategy to create quality education for every student in the City.
We need to ensure that every child is provided the opportunity to have a quality education. This means
developing a citywide learning system that provides learning opportunities year round.
The City needs to develop a “Citywide Learning System” that relies on schools and community
organizations to achieve the right mix of high quality academic instruction and youth development
opportunities. This “Learning System” is about working with BPS, alternative programs, charters and
other types of schools to ensure every child has access to a quality seat. It is about:
 Leveling the playing field across school types by expanding school-level autonomy that
invests in parent and student leadership, creating one application and assignment system for
all schools, and building on excellence wherever it exists in Boston.


Eliminating the achievement gap by focusing on the opportunity for socio-emotional
development, character building, and academic proficiency through strong school and
community program partnerships and outside the classroom learning.
Investing deeply in our city’s teachers and school leaders by putting more resources into
teacher and administrator development and co-training for school-based and communitybased educators.
2. Please outline how you will work with residents and community organizations to create safe
neighborhoods that improve relationships and prevent racial profiling.
To have safe neighborhoods and public spaces requires us to do more than stop crime. In order for Boston
communities to be safe, we have to address the underlying causes of distress and instability. I would
improve public safety by improving city government’s ability to partner with families and communities. I
will do this by:
 Creating a Community Response Authority that merges the work of public and non-profit
human services agencies, public health agencies, law enforcement and community leaders to
improve crime prevention and provide residents with the coordinated support they need to
improve their lives and prevent racial profiling.
 Invest in youth jobs and quality youth leadership and skills development opportunities for the
summer and year round in partnership with the organizations that are working with young
people in our neighborhoods.
 Decrease poverty by creating more mixed income communities. I have partnered with the
City to successfully bring two HUD Choice Neighborhood grants to Boston that support
locally driven strategies to catalyze critical improvements in neighborhood assets, including
vacant property, housing, services and schools.
 Using cutting-edge technology to engage the community in creating neighborhood
stability. My administration will adapt mobile applications, 311 apps and other technologies
currently used by residents to tell Community Response Agencies, in real time, where
services are most needed.
3. Do you support elimination of the Secure Communities programs requiring local police to engage in
immigration enforcement?
Yes__X___
No _____
4. Do you support increasing the tax share of commercial vs. homeowner properties, and requiring full
cash payment of PILOT fees from mayor non-profit institutions into a Boston Communities Fund?
Yes__X___
No _____
(F) The Right to a Healthy Environment
1. Please outline your environmental justice priorities.
We as a city need to invest in solutions and technologies for clean energy, sustainable living and
environmental justice.
Building a Climate-Ready Boston Green
The Boston Climate Action Leadership Committee created a Climate Action Plan in 2010 that set a
course to reduce Boston's greenhouse gas emissions 25% by 2020 and steps to take to prepare Boston for
the impacts of climate change. It also set a target of 80% reduction by 2050. These are targets that I
believe we cannot afford to miss, as they are consistent with Massachusetts policy and the growing global
consensus.
Leading by example: To reach these goals the City of Boston needs to lead by example. The City owns
and operates a large number of properties. There is a great deal of money wasted on paying for energy
waste and there is an opportunity to advance efficiency throughout city government. A comprehensive
plan and strategy must be created to increase energy efficiency and clean energy in municipal buildings. I
will do this by implementing:
● Energy use tracking, energy audits, retrofits, improved operations and maintenance.
● Installing highly efficient technologies such as combined heat and power and renewable sources
such as solar and wind.
● Raising the bar on construction standards and practices so that new buildings are net zero and
major renovations are at least 50% more efficient.
Integrating sustainability, climate mitigation and preparedness into all planning in city government:
Actions to reduce our environmental impact and greenhouse gas emissions such as energy, transportation,
development patterns and waste cuts across many City functions. As mayor, I will mandate every
department in City government to integrate sustainability, greenhouse reduction goals and climate
preparedness into planning and implementation. We can promote a prosperous, livable, equitable, and
environmentally sustainable economy while simultaneously growing our economy and population. We
will develop a clean energy master plan that focuses on low-carbon energy and efficient solutions, such as
district energy, solar energy and combined heat and power technologies. We have to prepare our
residents and businesses for the climate change impacts we are already experiencing. City government
cannot do it alone. As mayor, I will work with the multi stakeholder Boston Green process to assess the
risks the City faces from climate change in the medium and long term and outline achievable strategies
for increasing resiliency citywide.
Green Economy and Equity
Boston and the state of Massachusetts are both leaders in the development clean energy technology and
related jobs. Building a Boston Green will require a lot of work over many years. This effort can generate
good jobs for Boston residents as well as opportunities for Boston-based businesses. As mayor, I will
connect Boston residents with job training and employment opportunities by working directly with
employers, training agencies, high schools community colleges and career centers. We will partner with
employers and nonprofits to establish internship and apprenticeship opportunities for Boston high school
students. We will also enforce hiring goals and the Boston resident jobs policy to ensure that publicly
funded energy efficiency, transportation, clean technology, and green infrastructure projects benefit the
local community. We will support new and existing enterprises owned and operated by Boston residents
to anchor our green economy.
Protecting and Growing Greenspace and Urban Agriculture
Boston has a rich array of parks, open space, community gardens and schoolyards. As mayor, I will
invest in maintenance and refurbishment; working with community residents to identify new
opportunities for green space. As mayor, I will build Boston’s capacity to produce, distribute and
consume local food by working with stakeholders to create a comprehensive, systematic strategy. Local
food production has tremendous health, social and economic benefits and makes us less dependent on
imported food and protects us from rising food costs.
2. Please outline how you will use your influence to advocate for affordable and sustainable transportation
for Boston's residents especially for low income, students and senior riders.
Transportation infrastructure is vital to our economy and to our residents for connecting to jobs, schools,
services, and each other. I will work towards an efficient, accessible, and affordable transit system that
together with safe bike and walking paths can serve as Boston’s 21st century “healthy arteries”. To do this
the City of Boston needs to:
● Partner with universities to create a public transit U-Pass.
● Work with the MBTA to create a public transit system that is affordable and well maintained and
allows all residents to be within a 5 minute walk of a bus or transit node.
● Support the expansion of the Hubway Program and safe bike and pedestrian infrastructure.
● Develop business districts and housing that is affordable for all residents around transit stations.
3. Do you support adoption of a City of Boston diesel emission reduction ordinance to reduce outdoor air
pollution in our neighborhoods?
Yes__X___
No _____
4. Do you support of conversion of long-time vacant lots into community controlled green and open
spaces?
Yes__X___
No _____