SPRINGFIELD — Election season is officially underway in Springfield as current School Committee member Joesiah Gonzalez announced that he is running for the Ward 1 City Council seat, which will be up for grabs later this November.
Gonzalez, who has represented Wards 1 and 3 on the School Committee since 2022, stated in an interview he can “lend his leadership” to the other 12 council members, especially because of the “great work” he has been able to do on the committee.
“I think that working with everybody; I think there’s a lot of things that can get done,” Gonzalez said.
As a School Committee member — and at one point, the vice chair of that committee — Gonzalez, 27, said he has spearheaded significant change such as increasing the school budget by $146 million and leading the planning for the city’s new Gerena Community School.
He also touted other accomplishments during his time on the committee.
“I’ve built coalitions; I’ve worked with my colleagues to turn a lot of rhetoric and talk into policies, especially around school safety,” Gonzalez said. “I’ve done great work, especially around creating the student advisory councils.”
As an ordained prime minister, Gonzalez said faith is one of the three pillars of the platform he is running on, along with family and community. He noted how Ward 1 is a very tight-knit community that functions as an economic footprint of the city and the region.
With those pillars in mind, Gonzalez said his goal for City Council, if elected, is to bring a four-pronged approach that includes solving the housing crisis.
Gonzalez specifically noted how he thinks the council should look at renovating dilapidated buildings across the city to add more housing and specifically brought up previous attempts by the city to refurbish a building at the corner of Main and Arch streets for the purpose of more housing.
“I hope to offer a voice of leadership and advocacy so we can get that done because there’s a need for homeownership and also rental opportunities on the current market,” Gonzalez said.
Aside from housing, Gonzalez said he also hopes to offer a voice in public safety and health by looking at different health disparities in the community, and he additionally wants to tackle issues around city services, like making sure absentee landlords are keeping up with their properties.
The last part of his four-pronged approach is working to create a good school and business environment throughout the city.
“Our storefronts on Main Street, they’re empty now,” Gonzalez said. “We’ve got to figure out some creative ways to attract more businesses.”
Gonzalez said he also wants to run on transparency and accountability, two very important pillars of a successful governing body.
“One of my biggest focuses even on the School Committee is, even if somebody called me on something, let’s say a policy that I couldn’t conceive putting, I always pick up the phone, or I call someone back and I always follow up with them,” Gonzalez said. “That to me is important because it shows I’m accountable to the people who elected me.”
In announcing his bid for City Council, Gonzalez became the first person to officially submit his papers for a run at council, as of press time.
He emphasized his roots in Ward 1 by mentioning that he is a father to a 4-year-old daughter and that he and his wife are homeowners in Ward 1.
His wife is also a teacher at Gerena.
Aside from his tenure on the School Committee, Gonzalez mentioned how he is a longtime public servant who, while serving as the chief of development and programs for the New North Citizens Council, helped expand programs that provide critical support through summer camps, GED, after-school activities and vocational education.
He also has a master of business administration degree from Fitchburg State University and is currently pursuing a doctor of educational leadership from the University of Hartford. In 2023, he joined the nonprofit real estate developer Home City Development and became their chief philanthropy and communications officer.
“I would like people to measure my effectiveness by not how long I’ve been around, but the time that I’ve been on the scene and what I’ve been able to accomplish in the past several years,” Gonzalez said. “I have experience in getting things done and simply executing on things.”
Currently, the council’s Ward 1 seat is held by City Councilor Maria Perez, who has been a longtime advocate in the community for more than four decades as a previous member of the School Committee member, the founder and president of Women on the Vanguard and a current employee of the New North Citizens Council.
Gonzalez said he conducted a little over an hour conversation with Perez prior to his announcement to offer “sincerest respect, honor and a deep-rooted love for everything she has done for the community” over the years as an activist and an elected official.
He also added she has been a mentor for him along the way.
“I did need to let her know that I firmly believe that this is the time for new ideas, for new blood to come in and for my generation to add a value to that work and continue on a legacy of fiery advocacy of the leaders that have gone before me, just like her,” Gonzalez said.
Reminder Publishing was unable to contact Perez for her reaction before press time, but Gonzalez noted that she is most likely running for reelection.
Gonzalez said he told her that if she has a change of heart, he will welcome her support to continue on some of the “great work” she has done in the community.
“One thing in common we do have is we’re both fiery advocates,” Gonzalez said. “There’s no question in my mind that we have some policy differences, and we have some differences on tact and how to get the work done, and that’s fine. That’s why I’m offering to the voters of Ward 1 an option on the ballot and a way in which we can uplift our community.”
