Anthony Galluccio

Anthony Galluccio
2005 Candidate for Cambridge City Council

Home address:
27 Sunset Rd.
Cambridge, MA 02138

Contact information:
Tel: 617-492-3366
website: www.galluccio.org 
e-mail:
   Personal: anthonygalluccio@comcast.net 
   Council: agalluccio@cambridgema.gov 
   Campaign: Anthony@galluccio.org 

Send contributions to:
The Committee to Elect Anthony Galluccio
86 Buckingham St. #1
Cambridge, MA 02138

Background:
Anthony D. Galluccio is a lifelong Cambridge resident, raised with his two sisters by his mother Nancy after his father's untimely death, and educated in the Cambridge Public Schools, graduating from the Peabody Elementary School in 1981 and Cambridge Rindge and Latin in 1985. He later attended Providence College graduating in 1989 with a BA in political science and minor in business studies. In 1996 he graduated cum laude from Suffolk Law School and passed the Massachusetts Bar Exam.

Anthony has been a member of the Cambridge City Council for six terms since 1994, running successfully for re-election to the City Council in 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, and 2003. With his re-election to the Council in 1997 he became, at 30 years of age, the youngest person to top the ticket in the city's history. During the 1998-1999 term, Galluccio served as Vice Mayor.

In February 2000, Anthony D. Galluccio was elected Mayor of Cambridge for a term of two years and, at 32, was the youngest Mayor elected under Cambridge's current form of government. As Mayor, he chaired both the City Council and the School Committee. In January 2002, Anthony was appointed chair of the City Council's Housing Committee, a position that he continues to hold today. In November 2003, Anthony was re-elected to his sixth term of the City Council topping the ticket for the fourth consecutive election.

  • In 1997, Boston Magazine identified Anthony Galluccio as one of the 40 most powerful people under 40 years old in the Boston area.
  • In May 2001, the Boston Jaycees honored Mayor Galluccio as one of the recipients of their 50th Annual Ten Outstanding Young Leaders Awards.
  • In October 2001, Anthony was given a Special Recognition Award by the Rindge Technical School Alumni Association for his leadership as Chair of the Cambridge School Committee in rebuilding the technical education program at Cambridge Rindge and Latin.
  • In November 2001, the John F. Kennedy Library honored Anthony Galluccio with the Fenn Award, presented to an elected official less than 35 years of age who has shown political leadership.
  • In January 2002, Anthony Galluccio received Cambridge NAACP Public Service Award at the Cambridge NAACP Annual Martin Luther King Day Breakfast.

Anthony's 2005 re-election campaign has been endorsed by:

Top Priorities:
Anthony's six terms on the Cambridge City Council include a record of accomplishment in the areas of improving public education, creating affordable housing, expanding health care services, and making public safety and fiscal responsibility top priorities for City of Cambridge. Anthony will continue to make supporting our young people his top priority. As Mayor, Anthony worked extremely hard to improve public education, some specific examples of his leadership include the rebuilding and reinvestment in CRLS's technical programs, creation of the Cambridge-Harvard Summer Academy, the first comprehensive summer program between the Cambridge Public Schools and Harvard University for over 300 at risk students, and the creation of the Biogen Idec Community Lab for our high school students at Biogen headquarters in Kendall Square. Anthony has been a staunch supporter of striving for excellence and high standards in the CPS as well supporting programs that support at risk students. Anthony led efforts to build both the new Olympic Track and Field complex at Danehy Park, which opened in Fall 2003, and the newly renovated sports and recreation complex at Russell Field in North Cambridge. Anthony is currently working to bring a new Youth and Community Center to West Cambridge. For over a decade Anthony has committed to supporting the youth of Cambridge and will continue to make providing opportunities to the youth of Cambridge the cornerstone of his work.

Quality of Life and Public Safety:
Anthony will continue to fight to protect the peace and quiet of our residential neighborhoods. He has long record of working with neighborhoods to reduce overdevelopment and traffic impacts of development. Public safety must to be a priority, and this must be done through maintaining the proper levels of personnel, state of the art equipment and emergency response infrastructure: As a City Councillor Anthony recently has:

  • Supported the construction a new state of the art police headquarters.
  • Worked closely with residents of Jefferson Park and Fresh Pond Apartments to address security, maintenance, and crossing safety concerns at Alewife Brook Parkway and Rindge Avenue and lighting deficiencies around the Alewife T Station, and worked closely with the North Cambridge Crime Task Force to strengthen community policing.
  • Advocated for new roadway and traffic calming measures along Matignon Road, Richdale Avenue and advocated for soon to be completed measures on Clifton Street and Cameron Avenue; led efforts to complete the Yerxa Road pedestrian underpass; and began construction of long term traffic calming and pedestrian crossings in Porter Square.
  • Successfully fought to maintain West Cambridge bus routes; supported the Fresh Pond Reservation Protection Master Plan that brought new landscaping, bike paths, and pedestrian crossing lights along Fresh Pond Parkway.
  • Worked closely with residents in the Mt Auburn Hospital area, the Aberdeen Ave neighborhood and Cambridge Highlands to successfully reduce the size, scope and traffic for new development in these areas, and moved forward with the first phase of the Harvard Square Enhancement Project to improve and beautify the streetscape in and around Harvard Square.
  • Supported the long awaited $3.1 million Porter Square traffic calming and pedestrian safety project, and advocated for continued traffic calming and roadway improvements along Upland Road and Raymond Street (recently completed).
  • Supported Agassiz Neighborhood objections to the Mass. Ave Overlay District and supported efforts to maintain the character, scale and integrity of the Mass. Ave business district between Harvard and Porter Squares.
  • Supported the extensive planning efforts of the Agassiz Neighborhood to reach accord with Harvard University around development issues.
  • As co-chair of the University Relations Committee, successfully advocated the re-bidding of the Porter Square MBTA air-rights project in response to citizen input.
  • Supported the city's implementation of a new medical services paramedic plan to improve response capabilities of the Cambridge Fire Department.

Traffic, Parking, and Transportation:
Anthony has been a vocal supporter of Parking Demand Traffic Management reviews for large projects in Cambridge, which requires that private developers utilize practices and invest in infrastructure that supports public and non-auto transportation. Anthony believes that we must advocate for re-investment by the state in public transportation for improved and more frequent service.

Each year, Anthony has fought attempted MBTA reductions in bus and subway routes. Anthony also continues to support "smart growth" concepts that promote new construction around mass transit routes.

Municipal Finance, City Budget, Assessments, and Property Taxes:
Anthony's efforts and support of City Manager Robert Healy over the last ten years have made Cambridge the most fiscally sound cities in Massachusetts. At a rate of $7.78 /$1000, Cambridge has one of the lowest residential tax rates in the Commonwealth, lower than the surrounding communities of Brookline, Somerville, Watertown, Newton, Belmont, Arlington, and Lexington. Anthony has supported efforts to lessen the tax burden that residents shoulder; efforts that include the 30% residential tax exemption, and lower tax payments for senior citizens. The City has been able to maintain this low rate of residential taxation, while maintaining a high level of residential services unparalleled by most other municipalities, along with a AAA bond rating from all three Wall Street rating agencies, Fitch, Moody's and Standard & Poor's.

Last year Anthony was disappointed that 20% of residential taxpayers received an unacceptable $1000 or higher increase. To reduce the burden on taxpayers the City Council has adopted a budget with minimal increases and put in place policies that continued the 30% residential exemption, classified commercial property at the highest level, utilized precious growth monies, depleted free cash by 20% and increased tax districts to avoid unfair impacts as a result of one or two home sales. This year, this successful formula has resulted in 40% of residential taxpayers seeing a reduction and 30% seeing either no change or an increase of less than $100.

1) We must advocate for changes at the state level that allow us to thoughtfully address significant increases in residential property taxes and speculative valuation of residential property.
We currently take advantage of every possible relief that the state allows for residential taxpayers. For many lower income homeowners and seniors the current exemptions are not enough. Anthony supports the implementation of a more progressive tax structure that takes into account a resident's income versus what they pay in taxes, water bills and utilities. Realistically, this is an uphill battle so in the short term additional relief for seniors is positive modest first step in implementing a fair and equitable formula.

At a minimum, we must continue to toe the line on budget increases despite rising health care costs and negotiated raises for the city's employees.

2) We must establish a base line tax amount for every residential property.
Anthony has co-sponsored the introduction of a Home-Rule Petition to ensure that condominium owners contribute their fair share of property taxes.

Land Use, Planning, Economic Development:
Anthony has been an outspoken advocate to maintain existing bus routes and to expand bus routes in Cambridge. He has supported permit large project review process and new Anthony has been especially supportive of the Biotech industry and other low traffic commercial uses. In general Anthony has been a proponent of "smart growth" and of new housing construction citywide, especially in previously industrial brown fields near T subway stops.

Human Services Programs:
Having attended Cambridge Public Schools, and having been raised by a single mother, Anthony understands the valuable role that the city's Human Service Programs play in the development and support in the everyday lives of residents in the city, particularly in the areas of providing strong child care and after school programs. Anthony believes that the Department of Human Services plays a vital role for many of the city's residents ranging from providing summer work opportunities in the Mayor's Summer Youth Employment Program, to providing services and programs for seniors, to the Multi-Service Center's work with the Homeless, and should be supported continually. The ability to provide these services are what make Cambridge the city that it is and Anthony supports the vital role that the Department of Human Services plays in our community.

Open Space, Parks, and Recreation:
Anthony has been a leader in continued reinvestment in a revolving tot-lot and park renovation process citywide. He has led efforts to build a new track at Danehy Park, a new state of the art sports facility at Russell Field, renovations to Donnelly Field, the acquisition of 238 Broadway for open space, and the construction of the new West Cambridge Youth Center on Huron Avenue (Coming soon!). Anthony also supported the Fresh Pond Reservation Protection Master Plan that provided new landscaping, bike paths, and pedestrian crossing lights along Fresh Pond Parkway.

Energy, the Environment, and Public Health:
Anthony helped create the Cambridge Health Alliance, which has grown to be the most successful public health network in Massachusetts. As a City Councillor, Anthony has strongly supported the expansion of the Alliance, its neighborhood health centers, the renovation of Neville Manor, and the creation of a new nursing and assisted living center. Anthony has long been a leader of making recreation, parks and youth programs a top priority. His public health efforts have been consistent including support for youth asthma initiatives, fitness and mental health services of all types. Anthony voted in favor of smoking ban in Cambridge's workplaces, a measure that ensured that workers in the city's restaurants and bars would be able to work in a smoke free environment.

An example of Anthony's leadership in the area of environmental protection, is his support of the Cambridge Asbestos Protection Ordinance. Anthony believes that we all should continue to work toward vehicle trip reduction, and providing incentives for lower-emission vehicles as well as any and all policies that will lower our dependence on oil.

Over his six terms on the Cambridge City Council, Anthony has attempted to strike an important balance between allowing reasonable commercial development to move forward without having adverse impacts on our residential neighborhoods. Anthony has consistently supported zoning changes that increase open space requirements and create strong incentives to create housing which adds supply, includes precious affordable units and is lower in traffic intensity that most commercial uses.

Anthony has been willing to openly confront the difficult trade-offs that create both housing and open space, which sometimes means higher density and heights in appropriate locations, but in turn will have less of an impact on our residential neighborhoods.

Anthony considers the creation of new housing units and recreational open space to be areas of leadership and success during his six terms on the council.

Housing:
As chair of the City Council's housing subcommittee, Anthony has led efforts to appropriate the largest amount of local funding in the city's history, supported the Community Preservation Act, which brought $15 million in state matching funds to support affordable housing, and the creation and preservation of 464 affordable housing units over the last four years, including the long term preservation of Walden Square Apartments and Columbia Terrace. In 1997, Anthony sponsored the City's Inclusionary Housing Ordinance requiring private developers to contribute 15% affordable units for any development of 10,000 square feet or 10 units or more. In 2003, Anthony sponsored a request for a legislative charge through a home-rule petition to require universities to comply with this ordinance. Anthony has successfully led efforts to make homeownership part of new affording housing developments in Cambridge, a measure that will help maintain the cultural and socio-economic diversity that gives Cambridge its unique character. Anthony believes affordable housing should include ownership assistance that helps those of low, moderate and working incomes. He believes that wherever possible the goal should be to create a ladder of transition that progresses away from subsidies and public assistance, and helps people move toward the ultimate goal of homeownership.

Arts and Public Celebrations:
The arts and public celebrations are what brings Cambridge as a city together and provide the opportunity for people of different ethnic, social and racial backgrounds to come together to share their cultures with the city as a whole. Anthony is avid supporter of the arts and regularly attends the annual cultural celebrations that take place in Cambridge. Events such as the Cambridge Caribbean Festival, the city's Dance Party held in Central Square, the Constantine and Helen festival, the Cosmos and Damian Festival, St. Lucy's Festival, the Salsa at Sunset unity event in Kendall Square, and Steve Buckley's Old Time Baseball Game are examples of public celebrations of the arts that strengthen the bonds of community throughout our city and should be encouraged and expanded upon in the future.

University Relations:
Anthony believes that the success of our city and the universities that call Cambridge home are inevitably interdependent in many ways. Anthony has balanced his support for the universities with a responsibility to protect Cambridge's residential neighborhoods from overdevelopment. Both the city and the universities must continue to bring stability to this relationship by applying reasonable expectation to one another along with a foundation of respect for the challenges and responsibilities each must face. Anthony has fought for substantial in lieu of tax payments for universities that are discernable to the public and are directly tied to the value of services (ex. Police, Fire, Public Works, and Emergency Services) that the city provides to these tax-exempt properties. This would eliminate the annual debate over this issue, which is clearly unhealthy for the working relationship between Cambridge and the universities that reside here. His initiation of the Cambridge-Harvard Summer Academy is an example of how universities, if given decision-making and hiring power can establish successful programs within our schools. At the same time he believes that we should accept responsibility for the performance of our schools and not use the Universities as scapegoats. In situations where we can reach an agreement with the universities around zoning and public benefits, it should be pursued. Anthony worked very hard to help reach an accord in the Riverside neighborhood to protect from over-development, create affordable housing increase open space. He has also supported the Agassiz neighborhood's work to find a balance with Harvard. In Porter Square, he has been an advocate for neighborhood concerns in accord with its dealings with Lesley University. When MIT bought many properties in Tech Square, Anthony did not blindly criticize the University, rather he simply asked that the purchased property not be taken off the city's tax roles. Anthony has supported allowing Universities to take measures to attempt to meet the housing needs of its students, and in turn take pressure off the Cambridge housing market. In closing, Universities with billions in endowments (hardly the fledgling educational institutions the state was trying to give a helping hand hundreds of years ago) should be fairly taxed and should not be exempt for inclusionary zoning and other linkage requirements. This fair treatment would eliminate much of the hostility involved in town-gown relations.

Civic Participation:
Anthony believes that new residents must be engaged by community building (i.e. civic celebration, youth and family activities and the arts.) These events cost money, (i.e. Danehy Park family day, or the Central Square Dance Party) but must be expanded upon; an example would be having a "Frog Pond" style ice skating rink on the Cambridge Common. A lack of civic participation is a nationwide problem however Anthony supports various measures designed to increase the voice of the citizenry in local city government, measures that include same day voter registration, making 17 year olds eligible to vote in municipal elections, and direct election of the city's Mayor by the voters.

Cambridge Public Schools:
Anthony has been a vocal leader in making accountability and evaluation measures a system wide standard for our schools and for making CRLS a high performing centerpiece of our city's public schools. As Mayor, Anthony helped create the Cambridge-Harvard Summer Academy partnership for over 300 students and led the effort to rebuild Cambridge's vocational education program, where over 800 students now take courses, and helped create a new lab for CRLS at Biogen Corp.

Anthony worked extremely hard to have the School Committee act and work as a board of directors, using workshops and his role as a mediator to build consensus. Often School Committee Members act as individual elected officials and not as board members of our most precious institution, our schools. Anthony sees the Mayor as the City's mediator and since the Mayor does not run against the other School Committee Members is subject to much less political resentment or jealousy, thus allowing the Mayor to lead. As Mayor some of Anthony's accomplishments with the School Committee were:

  1. Re-building the vocational education program and hired a permanent director for the director after it was on probation. Now, the voc-ed program has five new programs, new equipment, has over 700 students taking courses, and is fully certified.
  2. Rejecting across the board 3% raises for administrators and created merit based evaluation raises for non-administrators. This was the first performance-based evaluation in School Department history.
  3. Adding Socio-Economic Status to the School Choice balancing formula. Cambridge is now one of a handful of school systems across the United States taking this historic and widely recommended step.
  4. Maintaining and supporting small learning communities with random placement at CRLS.

The schools in general are lacking management principals, specifically evaluation at all levels and strong reaction to consistent evaluation. A strong management structure that includes a common and consistent vision, with a School Committee that acts like a board setting priorities for its CEO (the Superintendent) and a strong political leader (the Mayor) will help the system turn the corner. Anthony believes that standardized testing, while certainly not perfect, should play a role more than they have in the past, and the lack of focus upon basic skills is reflected in our low scores.

Other:
For more information on Anthony please visit his website www.galluccio.org or call his campaign office 617-492-3366

Page last updated July 01, 2007 Cambridge Candidates