COURTESY PHOTO
Pictured is Eliud Alcala, who is running for Ward 4 City Councilor.
By THOMAS GRILLO
LYNN — Eliud Alcala has launched a campaign to unseat the city’s longest serving city councilor.
The 41-year-old family counseling doctoral candidate is making his first bid for public office against Ward 4 Councilor Richard Colucci, who has served on the panel for 15 years.
“I want to represent all of Ward 4 and offer voters an alternative,” he said.
Alcala, the former campaign manager for School Committeewoman Maria Carrasco, said if elected his first priority will be to implement youth programs.
“We should provide career pathways and programs that engage youth in our community,” he said.
He was unsure about the cost of the new initiatives such as an English as a Second Language program he would like to see relaunched at the Ford Elementary School.
“That program helped lots of people and we need to seek grants and be creative to pay for it,” he said.
He has also proposed that the city hire an interpreter to assist Spanish-speaking residents seeking services at City Hall.
“As I knock on doors in the ward, people tell me translators are not available at City Hall,” he said.
Alcala said he did not know how much such a position would cost or how the new post would be paid for amid the city’s budget crunch.
He does favor implementation of the .0075 percent meals tax option under consideration by the City Council that would add about $700,000 to the city’s coffers annually. In addition, he voted to support construction of two middle schools in the special election last month which was defeated.
The West Lynn resident was born in the Bronx neighborhood of New York City where he was raised by his parents who immigrated from Puerto Rico. The family moved to Lynn in 2000.
Thomas Grillo can be reached at tgrillo@itemlive.com.