Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse '11, the youngest mayor in Holyoke's history, called The Herald from his City Hall office last week to talk about his first five weeks as mayor. As an undergraduate, Morse worked at Providence City Hall for three years under the tutelage of then-Mayor David Cicil- line '83. As part of a speaker series sponsored by the Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Institutions, he returned to campus for the first time since his election yesterday to share his experiences.
You have been very involved with community and school organizations in Providence, at Brown and in Holyoke, Mass. What do you think best prepared you for a job in politics?
I think it was a combination of things. I think it was obviously my coursework at Brown in urban stud- ies, taking classes with people like (Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy) Pat McGuigan with (PPAI 1700R: "Urban Revitalization: Lessons from the Providence Plan"); (Professor of Political Science) Marion Orr, my concentration adviser; (Director of Urban Studies) Hilary Silver with the homelessness course; my internship at Providence City Hall in the mayor's office my sophomore year. And then my intense involvement back here at home, even while a student at Brown. I worked at a career center as a career counselor here, did a lot of community organizing, political involvement — working on other local campaigns — and things like that. So while at Brown I still stayed incredibly connected to my hometown of Holyoke.
And how did these jobs help prepare you to become the mayor?
I think it was a broader understanding of urban issues and how
they interact with each other. Obviously, I think my time at Brown provided me with a perspective, like practical tools and a way to think about issues like education, economic development, downtown revitalization.
In your first month as mayor,have you made any progress towards reforming and improving conditions in the city?
Just on Friday night, I did a ride along with the police department, to sort of get a better understanding. We've launched a new community policing initiative. We are going to be looking toward police dogs. We have a new community policing sub- station in one of the neighborhoods of the city. So on my ride along on Friday night, I interacted with local bodegas and markets, small busi- nesses and barber shops in the area just to increase relationships between the police department and the resi- dents in the community. Going to the apartment buildings and just build- ing relationships is something im- portant to me. In terms of economic development, just last night, the City Council unanimously approved an expanded tax incentive program for new businesses and existing busi- nesses who expand or create new jobs in the city. That's something that I campaigned on throughout the campaign — more incentives for businesses to foster an environment for economic development.
What have been the most challenging aspects of your new job as mayor? As a recent college graduate and the city's first openly gay mayor, have you encountered any biases in your term so far?
The age thing has come up, mostly as sort of a humorous aspect of some- thing. I make fun of myself all the
time for my age, just to lighten the mood a little bit. Most of my employees are older than my parents, which we laugh about sometimes. Sexuality, not really. It hasn't really come up too much. ... Just getting to know the different people, and the differ- ent political players and knowing who's with who and navigating the city councilors and the school com- mittee and trying to bring together different coalitions to get a certain initiative passed or supported I think is always a challenge in any elected official's job.
What or who has helped ease your transition from college student to Holyoke mayor?
It was never sort of black and white, college on to campaign to mayor. Even throughout my four years at Brown, I was incredibly involved back in Holyoke. I traveled back and forth on a regular basis. My senior year, I didn't even live in Providence. I lived in Holyoke and went to Providence a couple days a week for my classes. I already had an established presence here even before I launched my candidacy, which was an asset.
Having had the chance to work in larger-city politics in Providence and smaller-city politics in Holyoke, how do the two compare?
This is obviously very empower- ing. I can actually get things done, bring people together, convene meet- ings that bring results for the city. In issues important to me, I can bring them before the council or before the voters and make something happen. I think that's what's completely dif- ferent about this. ... I'm the CEO of the city, pretty much, and everything has to pretty much come on my desk for approval or disapproval.
In a recent interview with the Boston Globe, you discussed the environment of "privilege and wealth" at Brown. How did seeing this wealth students affect you?
I think it just reminded me of how lucky I am to live in the city of Holyoke and live in a community where people have worked hard their entire lives to get where they are. It's a blue-collar community where it's a city but has a small town feel. And the city has a sense of community in that you can always count on your neighbor or someone else in the city to support you. And, I think, at times we needed, this community always comes together in a way that I've never seen in other cities. ... I think that was something that I re- ally realized throughout my time at Brown, is that I'm incredibly lucky to want to return home to my com- munity, to my family, to my city and give back to my hometown. I think too often young people think that they have to go far in order to make a difference. They forget about their own backyard.
Providence has asked Brown to contribute more to the city and has considered revoking the University's tax-exempt status, provoking a heated debate between the University and the city. What is your take on the controversy?
As a mayor, (I think) it's impor- tant that we expand or explore all options to bring revenue into cit- ies. So even in the city of Holyoke, I'm bringing together a (Payment in Lieu of Taxes) group ... because Holyoke does have a high percentage of non-profit organizations, and the city should have a policy, or some sort of precedent to approach these organizations and give revenue back to the city. For the most part, I sup- port the intent of those initiatives.
Besides working on those PILoT programs, what do you hope to achieve in the next couple of months?
I'm hoping to work with local banks to create a grant and low in- terest loan fund for small businesses. One of our challenges is to create a good quality of life in the downtown. We have a lack of restaurants, bars, cafes in the downtown around the city hall and around our arts and entertainment district, so it's important that I explore ways in which we could direct incentives through grants and loans to those businesses who want to move here or expand or move from a different part of the community to the heart of downtown. Because we are still dark after 5 p.m., and it's really important that we light up the downtown and bring people down here and give them a reason to work here and a reason to live here.
How would you instruct other students hoping to pursue a similar career?
It's important to return to where your roots are. I think that's the number one rule, and
just to be heartfelt and sincere. ... I think it's impor- tant to surround yourself with good people, have good mentors and be incredibly focused on your goal, be- cause I didn't become mayor over- night. It was something that I worked towards for many, many years as an organizer, cultivating relationships over the last five or six years that al- lowed me to win this election. And then just work incredibly hard. I wouldn't be here today if I didn't knock on every door in Holyoke, meet with everybody for over a year and a half, one on one, talking about my campaign.
— Margaret Nickens
