Meet City Council Candidate Anna Callahan

Anna Callahan

How many years have you lived in Medford? 

Five, since 2020

Please describe your professional background and education. 

I have a BS in mathematics from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.  I am currently a software engineering manager, after many years as a software engineer.

In my 20s I was a professional jazz trumpet player, arranger, and composer.

What, if any, city positions (appointed or elected) have you held, and for how long? 

I have been a city councilor since January of 2024.

What volunteer roles have you participated in that you feel have made a difference in Medford? 

I regularly volunteer at PTO events at the Missituk. During COVID, I helped neighbors in need by volunteering with MAMAS (Mutual Aid Medford And Somerville).  

Why should residents vote for you? 

I am a reliable vote for our climate, affordable housing, an inclusive city, democracy, and repairing our roads. In addition, I directly engage residents in making our city better. I currently work with five different teams of volunteers on different projects. If you have an idea to make our city better, reach out – I love to help co-create a better future for us all.  

What do you believe are the top 3 issues currently facing the city of Medford? How do you specifically plan to address those issues?

Climate change: I am shepherding our three tree ordinances through City Council and supporting other green legislative work. In addition, I’m working with volunteers and the city to create community events where we re-tree our most barren blocks.

Housing/affordability: In addition to supporting other affordable housing initiatives, I’m working to help a group of residents create more of the specific type of housing they need, and I’m working to bring “home sharing” to Medford to help seniors age in place and afford more as they age.

Roads/sidewalks: Fortunately, we now have an in-house road crew. I believe we also need to spend some of our city’s savings on getting our roads in better repair – it’s both better for residents and financially responsible.

Transparency and communication are vital in representative government. What steps will you or have you taken to keep your constituents informed about local decisions and to explain your voting rationale?

I’m proud to be part of the first Medford City Council that provided our residents with a “governing agenda,” outlining all the projects we plan to work on (I believe this is unique to Medford). We also now put out a newsletter that includes everything we do each month, and we have put all City Council meetings on YouTube. I also have an email list where I talk about issues, both upcoming and past. 

What specific methods will you use to gather and represent your constituents’ perspectives on issues that come before the City Council?

Only a small percent of Medford residents ever come to City Council meetings. I believe city councilors should reach out to those who are less engaged. I knock on thousands of doors during campaign season, but more importantly, during the two-year term I have a team of volunteers who help me set up listening sessions throughout the community so I can understand what residents’ needs are.

The past two years, the City Council has been updating the zoning across the city. Many residents feel the process has been too quick and has covered too much at once. What are your thoughts on that? If elected, how would you approach zoning?

Thousands of residents’ views were incorporated into Medford’s planning documents over the last six years. I believe the majority of our residents agree with the vision expressed in those plans. The City Council has worked with an expert zoning consultant group for 18 months to implement those plans and visions into new zoning (our current zoning hasn’t been updated in over 37 years). When I knock on doors throughout the city, most people agree both with the vision expressed in the planning documents, and with the zoning changes made by City Council so far: slightly upzoning most neighborhoods. I always want more people to be engaged, and I wish the administration had allowed us the resources we needed to engage the public much earlier. We do need to update our zoning, and I believe funding for both better public engagement as well as continued expert advice are necessary. I look forward to more public engagement so we can tailor zoning changes to each micro-neighborhood.

There have been City Council meetings that have gone past midnight. Do you really think these marathon meetings are serving the public? Should there be a time cap on meetings for everyone’s sake?

I think it is very important that our residents are able to engage in City Council meetings.  No one wants to be up past midnight. We are the only city I know of that allows residents to speak throughout the agenda on multiple topics. Most cities have one public comment section and after that reserve the rest of the meeting for the City Council to conduct its business without interruption. What is important to understand is that only a small fraction of our residents ever comes to City Council meetings – less than 5% – and there is a very small group, less than half a percent, that comes to meetings over and over. We can’t choose a system that allows 0.5% of the population to effectively filibuster what a majority of voters voted for in the election. So unfortunately a time cap would not work unless we also do what other cities do and cap public participation. It is a legitimate question worth discussion – whether Medford wants to go the way of other cities, shorter meetings and less participation, or keep what we have, longer meetings and more participation.