Political newcomer Brian Batson agrees that incumbent Edward Suslovic has more experience in elected office, but the 25-year-old nurse doesn’t believe that is necessarily a good thing.

“I think we need a fresh perspective, new blood and a progressive outlook,” said Batson, an Ellsworth native who moved to Portland last year. “What I lack in political experience I make up for in ambition and just overall communication and caring for the city and the people in District 3.”

Batson is trying to unseat Suslovic, a three-term councilor and former state representative, for the opportunity to represent neighborhoods south of Brighton Avenue and west of St. John Street.

“I’m hopeful the voters will recognize that my multi-decades commitment to the people of Portland, as evidenced by my public service, is worth continuing,” Suslovic said.

The City Council oversees a municipal budget of $236 million and sets the bottom line for school spending.

BRIAN BATSON

Advertisement

After graduating from Ellsworth High School in 2009, Batson earned a full-tuition scholarship to swim at La Salle University, where he balanced academics with athletics and earned a degree in nursing and science. He returned to Maine to take a job at Maine Medical Center, where he cares for seizure patients.

The 25-year-old Stevens Avenue resident believes the council, which is comprised of several people with law degrees and real estate development backgrounds, would benefit from having a health professional as a member.

Batson said he was compelled to run for office after the City Council voted to wind down operations at the India Street Public Health Center, forcing more than 200 HIV-positive patients to find another health care provider. The city is currently planning to transition its sexually transmitted disease testing and treatment services to another provider and is looking to do the same with its needle exchange program.

Batson believes that’s a mistake.

“They tried to fix something that was working and was working well just to save a little bit of money,” he said. “It was a nationally recognized program.”

Suslovic co-authored a column in support of the plan before any public hearing on the proposal.

Advertisement

At Maine Med, Batson said it’s not unusual for someone facing an opiate-related medical issue to recover on his floor, which is primarily for people who suffer from strokes or seizures.

He also cares for homeless people at the hospital. He believes that emergency food and shelter for people in need should be distributed throughout the city, rather than centralized in Bayside.

Batson believes the council should put a $70 million bond to renovate the city’s elementary schools to voters. He said the city has been talking about the much-needed facility upgrades for roughly a decade, and now it is time to act. He noted that one elementary school principal told him the school cannot have a student assembly because it would violate fire codes.

“I think it’s a shame we have waited as long as we have,” he said. “At the end of the day, putting children in sub-par conditions shows that they’re not a priority, and they absolutely are a priority.”

With the current housing market skewing more toward luxury apartments and condominiums and leaving low-income residents in the lurch, Batson said renters need some sort of protections in the city. He believes limiting the number of apartments that a landlord can vacate and renovate is a good first step.

But the city also needs more housing in general. Batson said the council made a mistake when it rezoned the Elks Lodge on outer Congress Street to allow an office use against the wishes of many neighbors, who wanted it to remain residential.

Advertisement

“The residents – their voices weren’t heard,” he said. “I can guarantee their voices will be heard.”

Batson has been endorsed by the progressive advocacy group Maine People’s Alliance, as well as the Portland firefighters union.

EDWARD SUSLOVIC

Suslovic said he is seeking another term so he can continue working on transportation-related issues for both the city and his district. Among his priorities are the reconfiguration of traffic and bike lanes at Woodfords Corner, scheduled to get underway next year, and expanding Metro bus services to Brunswick and Auburn.

The 56-year-old Kenwood Street resident believes the city must make it easier for developers to build housing of all types – luxury, affordable, subsidized and even short-term rentals. He opposes any attempt to adopt rent control, and previously opposed the city’s inclusion zoning ordinance, which requires at least 10 percent of the units in projects with 10 or more units to be affordable to middle-income residents.

“Anything we do that inhibits the production of housing only exacerbates the housing problem,” he said.

Advertisement

Although Suslovic was a lead advocate for rezoning the Elks property from residential to office space, he said his district is poised to add a substantial amount of housing in the near future. The 45-acre Camelot Farm property is under contract to be sold and the developer may request a zoning change that would allow the construction of a subdivision of single-family homes that could appeal to young families, he said.

“I think that has a lot of potential if done right,” Suslovic said “That’s the key – to make sure we do it right.”

Suslovic defended the winding down of operations at the India Street clinic. He said the transition of patients and services to the Portland Community Health Center has been going smoothly and that the city would work with whomever wins the bid to take over the city’s STD testing and treatment services.

“Now that the dust has settled, an objective look would show the transition has been going very well,” he said.

Suslovic said he’d also like to help work on the University of Southern Maine’s master plan, which could include a significant amount of student housing. He said that plan could involve either the relocation or discontinuation of Bedford Street.

Portland taxpayers should not be responsible for funding $70 million in repairs to the city’s elementary schools, he said. Even though it took years, Hall Elementary School is finally being rebuilt using state money, he noted.

Advertisement

“Did it take another year or two (for Hall)? Yes. But I don’t find many people saying we should have just rushed ahead and taken on that ($28 million repair) on our own,” he said.

Suslovic, who has been endorsed by the teachers union, the Portland Education Association, said Longfellow and Reiche schools are “basically one and two” on the state’s priority list for funding, so the city should wait on those.

However, the state has just opened up a new round of applications for school projects, and selection of projects will take at least another two years.

Suslovic said neighboring cities need to do more to help create housing and take care of the homeless, because Portland cannot do it alone. He would like to see the city close the Oxford Street shelter and replace it with multiple shelters throughout the city that cater to a specific need, whether it’s medical issues, substance abuse or people trying to remain sober.

“In the next three years we need to embark on a completely new path for how we meet the needs of our homeless population,” he said.


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.

filed under: