The Agudah Voting Project and the New England office of Agudath Israel of America were pleased to host a forum with Boston mayoral candidate, Mr. John Barros, for the fifth conversation in the Boston Mayoral Candidate Series.
Mr. Barros opened up the conversation by sharing his strong sense of connection to the Jewish community and reminisced about his visits to Israel as the former Boston chief of economic development. He spoke out strongly against the recent attack at Shaloh House in Brighton and antisemitism more generally. In response to a question about whether he would support additional security measures to protect the Orthodox community from further attacks, he committed to providing funding for security personnel for affected communities if elected. He further emphasized the need for strong leadership at the federal, state and local levels to combat antisemitism.
Mr. Barros spoke extensively on the need to maintain and improve health and safety in all Boston housing developments and pledged his support for the expansion of additional housing plans for low-income and middle-income residents. Mr. Barros also addressed food insecurity including ensuring the availability of Kosher options and Universal Pre-K among other issues of importance to the community.
“These conversations show the high level of commitment that the members of our community have to the future of the city of Boston” said Mrs. Ariella Hellman, director of government affairs of Agudath Israel’s New England office. “We are grateful to Mr. Barros for joining this conversation with our community and look forward to continuing our relationship with him.”