Video: Candidates for Worcester mayor debate in Mechanics Hall

WORCESTER — Five mayoral candidates debated a variety of topics Wednesday related to the city and schools including school safety, police accountability and housing.

Incumbent Joseph M. Petty, in his sixth term, is challenged by Councilors-at-Large Khrystian E. King and Donna M. Colorio, as well as William Coleman and Guillermo Creamer Jr. The debate was the last of a series of five debates at Mechanics Hall.

Earlier debates featured candidates for at-large School Committee, district School Committee, at-large City Council and district City Council.

The debates were sponsored by the Telegram & Gazette, the Worcester Regional Research Bureau, the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce, the Worcester Education Collaborative and Mechanics Hall.

Housing

The candidates were asked how they would ensure more housing of all kinds is built in Worcester.

Petty said building housing is the biggest challenge Worcester and basically every city in America is facing. He said the city needs to work with developers so they come to Worcester and have affordability programs in place.

Petty pointed to the City Council implementing inclusionary zoning, money that went into the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, and the City Council beginning to discuss allowing accessory dwelling units.

"We need to build more housing," Petty said. "The state should have done this 20 years ago. We have 1,500 apartments coming online in the city of Worcester and we need more."

Colorio said the city will never catch up with the demands of affordable housing. She said Worcester exceeds the 10% threshold for housing stock that is deemed affordable in the state's Comprehensive Permit Law, while other towns have not done as much.

The city's state delegation needs to work with surrounding towns to expand both affordable and market-rate housing, Colorio said. In addition, she said, the city could work with landlords to renovate unoccupied units.

Creamer said discussions about housing in the city often ignore who the housing is built for. He said housing is often "cookie cutter" and not meant for families.

"We don't have many housing communities coming online. We don't have many neighborhoods that are coming online," Creamer said. "We need to make sure when we're building these areas, we're building them as places where families are going to live."

Creamer said he would like to see more housing projects with amenities such as grocery stores.

Coleman said many people are coming to Worcester because it is a great place to be with a strong educational system. The city needs to do an audit to determine how much land is available for housing construction and what types of housing is necessary, Coleman said.

King said stable and affordable housing is important for families and rents are high for Worcester residents. He said he championed inclusionary zoning, while Petty and Colorio supported a version with less of an affordability requirement.

"I voted for more housing options. Mayor Petty and Donna Colorio voted for less affordable apartments and housing in the middle of a housing crisis," King said.

Petty said the City Council made the right decision to get inclusionary zoning to the needed eight-vote supermajority and some developers would not come if the affordability requirements were set at a lower percent of the area median income.

School safety

The candidates were also asked if they support the current school safety strategy and what they would like to see from an upcoming public safety audit.

Petty said the safety audit should hopefully be coming in the next few months. He said the city has implemented a lot of programs to address safety in Worcester such as wraparound coordinators, school counselors, wellness rooms in public schools and social–emotional learning.

"The safety of schools has been better this year than it has in the past," Petty said.

Petty said he has helped give Superintendent Rachel H. Monárrez the funding for infrastructure to ensure that kids have a good chance to learn and feel safe. He said schools are only going to get better under her tenure.

King said he appreciated the work that has been done for school safety and that he "rolled up his sleeves," to work on the current school safety plan with schools, the city administration and the Police Department.

King said he wants social workers and school psychologists to help students and support for educators.

As a retired educator, Coleman said he had never seen a student who did not want to learn. Coleman said he saw police have a positive relationship with students in schools and misbehaving students needed an example of leadership from an authority figure.

"We're challenged by what's happening in our schools, but it's also reflective of what's happening in society," Coleman said.

Creamer said safety is an "umbrella term," and it should include ensuring that teachers have the resources to have a safe environment in their classrooms.

"I visit my first grade teacher and kindergarten teacher quite often and it's unfortunate to hear that they have rat pellets. Unfortunately their window has been stuck for years," Creamer said. "A lot of these audits, they take too long and so we have to figure out how we're going to start expediting this."

Colorio said she remains supportive of police in schools. Schools also need to get to the root of mental health issues for students and get parents involved.

"Since COVID hit, a lot of kids felt isolated and depressed and we've had a rise in a lot of mental health issues and suicides," Colorio said.

Police accountability

Candidates were asked if the Police Department needed specific policies to ensure accountability in the wake of investigations and the transition to a new police chief.

Colorio said allegations of abuse, harassment and bullying are handled through the city's human resources department and the City Council is not involved with individual personal issues. Colorio said a review of human resource policy is needed to meet state and federal guidelines and the city should also look at its whistleblower policy.

"This has to be fair and equitable to all with an investigatory process that is fair to all," Colorio said.

Colorio said the city administration and police will review any recommendations that come from the Department of Justice investigation into the Police Department and she will ask what recommendations should be implemented.

Creamer said he has worked with the police in his role with the Human Rights Commission and that he asked interim Chief Paul Saucier about police culture and made it clear that the DOJ investigation is nothing to be proud of.

Creamer also said he took a ride along with police and believes first-hand experience should inform leadership.

Petty pointed to working with police and Black Families Together on accountability standards for police.

A racial equity audit should be finished by the end of the year, Petty said, and the city has worked to establish means to file complaints at City Hall. The city has also put police through structural racism education and Petty said Saucier has promised more accountability and transparency.

King said he will enact the DOJ's recommendations and he wants to see how the department's operations change after lawsuits and investigations. He added that he led on bringing forward the equity audit of the department.

"There's certainly a lot of challenges with our Police Department. However, there's also a lot of things they do very well. They save lives. They protect people. They sacrifice their own lives," King said.

Coleman said Black police officers had historically been passed over for advancement and the city needs to work to have more diverse police leadership.

Weeklong early-voting session at main Worcester Public Library begins Saturday

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Video: Candidates for Worcester mayor debate in Mechanics Hall