Housing, Public Transit Take Center Stage in State Rep. Race

August 23, 2024
• In the race for state representative in the 13th Norfolk District, Democrats are less than two weeks away from deciding between four candidates.

For most of her tenure, state Rep. Denise Garlick ran unchallenged in her bids for reelection to the State House, but as she plans to exit the legislature after her current term, other Needham residents are vying for her seat.

Democrats Patrick Gatto, Bhuren Patel and Josh Tarsky pitched themselves as Garlick’s replacement at a Needham League of Women Voters forum Wednesday night. Ken Ruetenik, who is also on the ballot, could not attend the forum due to a family emergency, according to the League. Bill Dermody is running unenrolled in the general election. The Democratic primary is Tuesday, Sept. 3.

While deployed with the Green Berets in Afghanistan and Honduras, Tarsky said he “learned the importance of sound laws and a quality education system,” leading him to a career in education. Tarsky taught English in Lawrence before his current stint as principal of Holbrook Middle High School. He also works as an attorney with the Massachusetts National Guard.

Patel’s career in health care began at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy, and he now runs his own pharmacy business called Pelmeds. During the pandemic, Patel witnessed “the inequity in the vaccine distribution,” inspiring him to take action at the state level. Patel — a write-in candidate — has lived in Needham for 20 years.

A real estate and insurance agent by trade, Gatto said he is “the only candidate in this race with a lifelong dedication to Democratic values.” In his commitment to those values, Gatto said he’s worked with Democrats at the local, state and federal level. Gatto runs Gatto Agency in Needham with his father and has also served as a member of the Millis Finance Committee and Needham Town Meeting.

All three candidates signaled housing as a top priority if elected. Needham’s public service workers — such as teachers, firefighters and police officers — “should have a right to live here and vote, and currently they’re priced out of the market,” Tarsky said.

Gatto said housing “needs the proverbial kitchen sink thrown at it.” He has worked on affordable housing projects in town — including the duplexes at Linden/Chambers — as well as Habitat for Humanity homes, and “you wouldn’t even know they were there,” he said. Gatto supports the Affordable Homes Act, which he said is just one piece of the puzzle.

For Patel, the housing issue is “a question of access more than affordability.” He tried to build a multi-family building next door to his home, he said, but it was rejected by the Planning Board. For that reason, Needham should change its zoning, Patel said.

“The residents have come to Needham to expect a certain lifestyle, to pay for a certain amount of house, so we have to be very mindful of what we mean by affordable versus what we mean [by] access,” Patel said. “We want to make sure that folks that have lived in this town continue to live here, and that we make room for them rather than having this illusion of affordability.”

Compliance with the MBTA Communities Act marks a good starting point, Gatto and Tarsky said.

When asked about public transit, Patel shared another anecdote: He tried to start a restaurant in town but failed, in part due to the MBTA. One bus line and one train aren’t enough to transport people to Needham for work, Patel said, and he called the MBTA “a disaster” that needs fixing at the state level.

Tarsky suggested electrifying and modernizing the rail, and while canvassing the district, he said constituents have voiced their support for the Quiet Zone initiative.

“I mean, the MBTA, it’s slow. It breaks down a lot,” Tarsky said. “This is going to be a major thing, but if we could get it going faster, commute times would reduce, we could get into the city faster, they would be quieter and it would be friendly on the climate as well.”

As a school principal, Tarsky took action against cell phone use in school, and in the forum, he drew a connection between bullying, mental health and cell phones. He urged for “a unified front” in dealing with the issue, recommending the state to weigh in on the issue. Tarsky said he would forgo his career if elected, but stressed that his run for state representative is “worth the sacrifice.”

If elected to Beacon Hill, Gatto said much of his first term would be spent networking, understanding the state budget and connecting with stakeholders to most effectively serve. Building those relationships early could ensure support for his own measures down the line, Gatto said.

The next state representative should also tap Garlick for her institutional expertise and her team, he added. When asked about the lack of transparency in the state legislature, Gatto said his master’s degree in conflict resolution would come in handy.

“You want to be able to go up there and bring home bacon and do a good job and have a good relationship with leadership. If you go up there fighting that issue, you’re going to get relegated to a basement,” Gatto said. “I’ve seen it happen before, and you’re not going to be able to talk to leadership about anything. So, there’s a more strategic way to do it.”

Garlick has not endorsed any candidate to succeed her.

All three candidates support a statewide ban on plastic bags — which resembles a similar policy passed and implemented in Needham — but differ on at least two ballot questions. For Tarsky, as an educator, he opposes the ballot question proposing eliminating MCAS as a graduation requirement, while Gatto and Patel supported the measure. As a health care professional, Patel supports the effort to legalize the use of certain psychedelics, while Gatto opposes and Tarsky is undecided.

Gatto pointed to his background and specific experiences that he feels make him most fit for office, defining himself as the Democrat who’s worked on legislation, affordable housing and constituent services, as well as “the guy who knows the district in this race.” All five candidates live in Needham.

In his closing statement, Tarsky indirectly responded to those assertions, acknowledging that some may feel he’s “not local enough.” He touched on his military service, both deployed overseas and in Massachusetts, where he assisted during the early stages of COVID nose swab testing. Tarsky also addressed Gatto’s claim that he’s “the guy who’s held elected and appointed office in this race” — Tarsky said he was actually elected to Lawrence’s teachers union.

As the co-owner of Gatto Agency, Gatto also mentioned he represents the small business owner, before adding that Patel is also a business owner.

A first-generation immigrant who supported himself through college, Patel committed to donating 100% of his salary as an elected official to charity.

“I’m not doing this because it’s a means to an end,” Patel said, “I’m doing this because I want to give back to a community that’s given me so much.”

With a background in public service, Tarsky said representing the district at the State House would be an extension of that work.

“The things I’ve learned along the ways — militarily, education and with the law — they teach you stuff, they transform you,” Tarsky said. “I would take some of that and put it to use to represent you well, and I would do my darnedest every day.”

Again touting his life and work experience — and support for climate action and reproductive freedom — Gatto said he’ll “deliver on policy, services and funding.”

“I’m committed to that work, I’ve done that work, and I’m committed to carrying on the high bar that Denise has set in that work,” Gatto said. “I bring a steady hand, a youthful vision of hope and a known ability of finding solution for our friends and neighbors here at home.”

For full coverage of the forum, visit needhamchannel.org. Highlights from the forum also ran in the Needham Channel News Thursday.