Mayoral race is heating up

Two years after John Moak bested five others to win the mayor's seat in Newburyport, another crowded field is revving up for the fall.

Six candidates, including Moak, had taken out nomination papers as of early this week. With pending deadlines of tomorrow for taking out papers and Tuesday for returning them, the stage is set for a possible six-way match in the Sept. 18 preliminary election. The field will be pared to two for the Nov. 6 final election.

The dynamics of this year's race are different because, unlike 2005, there is an incumbent in the mix. But the competition is expected to be no less spirited.

"I would think it's going to get a lot of attention," said City Council president Thomas F. O'Brien, who has said he is neutral in the race. "Having six people running for mayor with the mayor running is unusual, I think."

Most of the contenders are well known in the city, O'Brien noted. "They've all got a lot of support, so it's going to be interesting," said O'Brien, who predicted Moak would top the ticket in the preliminary, with a "dog fight" for the number-two spot.

Moak has been on a bumpy political ride, backing a $1.58 million tax increase for the schools that was soundly defeated in May, and drawing heat for replacing a longtime Planning Board member.

The announced challengers are School Committee vice chairman Steven P. Cole; Police Officer Dan McCarthy; Tom Ryan, editor and publisher of the Undertoad, a Newburyport newspaper; Jim Stiles, a local activist; and Gardiner N. Bacon, who graduated in June from Newburyport High School and serves on the city's Youth Commission. As of Monday, McCarthy and Stiles had returned their papers, with the others saying they planned to do so.

"I ran on a premise that I was going to develop a firm foundation for the future, and I'm still working on that really diligently," said Moak, 59, a former city clerk and head librarian in Newburyport, and former director of the Peabody Institute Library in Danvers.

"I would bring an historical knowledge of the city and someone who has done a lot of things in the community," said Cole, 49, who is president of the Newburyport Kiwanis Club. Cole, who has delayed a job search during his mayoral run, spent 24 years working for a residential treatment center and school for troubled youth in Newbury.

He sees Newburyport as being at a crossroads similar to the one it faced in the 1960s, when a downtown renewal was initiated.

"We are at a point where we need to continue to revitalize our community," he said, utilizing the city's natural and historic assets to boost its tourism and environmental industries.

McCarthy, 46, said he is offering concrete ideas about alternative revenue sources. Among them is having the city operate its own towing service, currently contracted to private vendors. He also would increase boat dockage space and apply the increased fee revenue toward developing a city marina.

"As a municipal employee for the last 20 years, especially working for the Police Department, I've worked with just about every department in the city on a professional level," said McCarthy, who was an unsuccessful mayoral candidate in 2005 and is married to City Councilor Audrey McCarthy.

Ryan, 46, said as mayor, he would bring the ability he has shown as a newspaper editor and publisher to stay closely in tune with the pulse of the city.

"I pay attention. I find out what people are talking about," he said, promising to continue that grass-roots approach if elected. Mayors always hear from "important people, but they don't always hear from the average Joe," he said. "To be a good leader, sometimes you have to follow."

Ryan said if elected, he would explore whether to open the city charter and allow citizens to weigh such possible changes as replacing the mayor with a city manager, or extending the mayor's term to four years.

Stiles, 53, a designer and project manager for a fire-sprinkler company and formerly a manager in the high-tech industry, has organized a citywide spring cleanup for the past two years, and was formerly the city's representative to the Eight Towns and the Bay Committee, which works to protect the region's coastal waters.

He advocates an "open and green" central waterfront that would include no more than 150 paved parking spaces.

Moak said he favors 250 to 275 parking spaces on the waterfront, but believes those can be incorporated into a park. "My whole idea all along has been to increase the park there, along with keeping an adequate amount of parking on the waterfront, to allow people to enjoy the waterfront . . . to enjoy the downtown," he said.

That's not the only clash between Moak and Stiles.

Stiles said he favors "as much participation from the citizenry as possible." He added, "There has been less of that under the current administration than before."

Responded Moak, "I unequivocally disagree with his comment on that," stating his administration has worked closely with the public on a variety of issues, including the future of the waterfront.

Bacon's candidacy is notable because of his age. But the 17-year-old, whose plan to attend college was delayed when Antioch College in Ohio suspended operations, thinks his youth is a plus. "We face a lot of problems here and we need some fresh perspective, fresh solutions," said Bacon, who works at CVS on Pond Street.

One of his goals is to strengthen communication among Newburyport's leaders.

"There is so much partisanship within city government. There are a lot of groups that have feuded," he said, "that don't necessarily communicate with each other, and that's a problem."