UPDATED: Bettencourt Outlines Vision of Change If Elected Mayor

Councilor-At-Large Edward A. "Ted" Bettencourt remembers a time when there was a buzz around the city and a sense of pride among its many lifelong residents. Growing up under the watch of former Mayor Peter Torigian, he saw the city thrive as a hub of industry, ever expanding beyond the reach of its bordering highways and becoming a destination for business and culture north of Boston.

Now as Peabody and its residents, like so many others across the state, fight to make ends meet amidst budget cuts and job losses, Bettencourt says it is time to bring that buzz back to his city, and restore the progress and sense of pride that made him want to return home after college and build his life in the same place it began.

After eight years on the council, Bettencourt announced this month that he would give up his seat in favor of a mayoral run, something he planned on  doing even before Mayor Michael Bonfanti announced that he would not seek reelection this fall. For Bettencourt the decision was one of natural progression in his political career, and one that finally quieted the rumors that have surrounded his decision to run for mayor.

"Running for mayor has been in my mind for many years, but I really made up my mind after the last municipal election," he said Friday in an interview at his home. "It really kind of started to take shape after that and really over the past year. I was going to run whether or not Mayor Bonfanti decided to step aside, but when he said he wasn't going to seek another term that seemed like a good time to announce my candidacy."

A lifelong resident and graduate of Peabody Veterans Memorial High School, Bettencourt attended the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester and later Suffolk Law School, where he graduated with a law degree in 1999. A standout basketball player at Peabody High, he went on to star as a point guard and captain at Holy Cross, leading the team to a birth in the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball tournament in 1994. Once out of college, Bettencourt returned home to Peabody to start his own general practice law office on Main Street where he has been for over a decade.

At 37, Bettencourt would be one of the youngest mayors in the city's history. He  says his experience on the council and years working downtown in the city have given him a clear view of the issues facing residents and business owners going forward.

"I have served as council president (in 2005) and spent many years on the city finance committee, I know the inner workings of the city government," he said. "One of the reasons that I am running is because I see a lot of people in this city who are really struggling to raise their families and make ends meet. If I am mayor, I really see that as a good opportunity to help those families turn things around. It is a real opportunity to make changes and try and make things work.

"I work downtown. I see the problems. I am affected by the flooding. I think, not just being on the council, but also being a business owner will help me understand and address the issues as they come."

With another round of cuts expected in state aid and seemingly annual drops in the city's revenue, Bettencourt knows that tough decisions have to be made across the board - including potential job cuts - but with some trimming of fat, consolidation of city departments and a potential partnership with other area communities, he says he can see the city turning things around going forward.

"People know there are a lot of financial problems in the city right know and I think they understand that there has to be some cuts," he said. "We have to take a look at maybe consolidating departments, eliminating jobs that may overlap, that sort of thing. We're not talking a huge amount of money here, but if we can save maybe a few hundred thousand dollars by taking a look at different departments within the city then that will be a help."
 
Bettencourt identified regionalization as something that "can't be talked about anymore" and that "has to be done," citing recent partnerships between the Salem and Swampscott health departments as one example of how neighboring communities can save money by combining departments and continuing to offer the same services to residents.

He praised Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll for her efforts in turning that city around, and said that if elected he would like to explore ways to work together with Driscoll and other area mayors in combining city services.

Business Revitalization

While some of the financial issues can be solved through consolidation and local partnerships, Bettencourt identified business growth, specifically in the downtown area, as his major focus in revitalizing the city. Although Peabody enjoys successful clusters of businesses on Route 114 with the Northshore Mall and surrounding businesses, and on Route 1, vacancies in the Centennial Drive Industrial Park and other industrial areas of the city are troubling. Furthermore, Main Street and the downtown area has been struggling to find an identity for years and continues to slip further and further away from progress.

Bettencourt outlined an aggressive plan to bring more business into the city as mayor, specifically outlining ideas to turn downtown into a medical industry hub. With organizations like the Lahey Clinic and Boston Children's Hospital already in the city long term, Bettencourt can see the Peabody as a destination for medical care on the North Shore. If that industry can become successful downtown, he said other retail and restaurant outlets are sure to follow, eventually digging the city's downtown area out of its deceased industrial past.

"In the past the city has kind of taken a wait and see approach to bringing in new business, I would like to be more aggressive with that," he said. "If you look at the industries that are expected to keep growing and expanding over the next 20 years, the medical industry is at the top of that list. That is why I kind of navigated toward that. I can see a major industry change downtown with dentists offices, dialysis, research centers - anything associated with the medical community. As that happens the other ancillary businesses will follow - the restaurants, retail, maybe mixed use developments with condos on the top floors and businesses on the bottom.

"There are some good restaurants- a lot of good restaurants- downtown and some family run businesses there, too. Unfortunately I think people see Peabody as a pass through to Salem or Marblehead so we don't bring anyone in. I see it every day working down there. We need to take an aggressive approach and a real investment needs to be made in the downtown. It isn't easy to accomplish, but it also isn't going to happen on its own."

Pride in schools

With three young girls, Taylor, 6, Ally, 4, and Avery, 2, all of whom attend or plan to attend Peabody Public Schools, Bettencourt understands that if elected mayor he will be responsible in large part for the success of the schools and, in turn, the overall success of the city's future. Just as the school system worked for he and his wife, Andrea, who are both graduates of the public school system in the city, he knows that in order to restore that sense of civic pride he remembers the schools need to remain just as successful as city hall.

"Obviously schools are a very, very important area for me and for our city. Of our annual budget, 52 percent goes to the schools," he said. "Obviously there is a lot there for me to learn and for me to become familiar with. I have a great relationship with the School Committee, but I know I am going to have to rely on a lot of officials to help me as well. Having a good school system promotes excitement and civic pride as well. When your schools are successful people notice you and on the whole there is just a positive attitude among residents and among families."

Making the schools successful is one thing, but with budget cuts looming and the school department taking up such a large chunk of the budget, it may be hard to avoid hurting the school system as a necessity to balance the finances. Bettencourt says he understands this and assured residents that the schools will not have to bear an unfair brunt of the changes.

"There are going to have to be cuts, but I am not going to put that all on the schools," he said. "Everyone will have to feel some pain, but it is very important to me to keep what we have in tact and to work with the school officials and the School Committee to make sure we can do that."

Filling big shoes

If elected, Bettencourt will be following two of the longest tenured and most respected mayors in the city's history in Torigian and Bonfanti. He says he respects both men and what they have done for the city, but will handle things his own way in trying to bring it back to where it once was.

"Mayor Bonfanti has poured his heart and soul in to this city for 10 years. He really, truly cares about what happens here and he has a strong passion both for the job and the city where he has lived his entire life," he said. "That said, I plan on taking a bit of a different approach than the mayor. We need to be more proactive, more aggressive in attracting business. The mayor has described the job as being a 'steward of the ship.' Well, I think at this point the city needs someone to come in and be a captain, to lead us to where we need to go. But one way that Mayor Bonfanti operates is from his heart, and that is how I want to operate, too."

With all of the talk of a dying downtown, loss of funding and a struggling middle class, Bettencourt said he does not want to lose sight of what is good in the city, including its diversity from the Route 1 corridor to West Peabody.

"Peabody is a great city, but we need to become a great community again. I love how diverse we are and how many different cultures and ethnicities we have helping to make this city great," he said. "That is a very good thing and I think as we move forward with this aggressive planning it is something that we really have a chance to build off of.

"I don't just want to focus on the negatives, we have a lot of great positives in our city, too. We have low taxes, access to major highways and a great opportunity for business. Now we have to take the next step, recruit some new faces and make this a great community for families and for businesses. It is time for a change in approach. Peabody isn't going to dig itself out of this hole on its own."

Download the movie