The mayoral candidates’ performances in Sunday’s debate at the Lynn Museum were exceptional. City Council President Darren Cyr and School Committee member Michael Satterwhite and Jared Nicholson had the arduous assignment of responding to 22 different questions and 12 yes-no inquiries in a more than 2-hour forum that was being live-streamed on Facebook and broadcast on Lynn TV.
The debate clearly showed that Lynn has three highly capable mayoral contenders who have a tremendous knowledge of city issues.
Lynn will decide in the Sept. 14 preliminary election which two of the three candidates will advance to the Nov. 2 final election.
While impartial observers felt that all three candidates – Cyr, Satterwhite, and Nicholson – could lay claim to a victory in the debate, just everybody declared that one of the biggest winners was the Concerned Citizens of Lynn organization who sponsored the debate.
Concerned Citizens of Lynn founder and president Lisa Pressman and her two-month organization put together the debate over the course of a few weeks.
“It was not easy to organize the debate, but I was so happy with how it worked out,” said Pressman. “One of our big helpers was Joanne Linder, who was able to secure the Lynn Museum for the site for the debate,” said Pressman. “Joanne Linder, Pam Edwards, and I had to sort through the 100 questions that were submitted. We had some great volunteers like [debate moderators] Gina O’Toole and Adriana Paz. We had a really, nice crew that worked together well. And the questions from residents were fantastic.”
Pressman’s fledgling organization is made up of 100 members who live in neighborhoods across the city. “We have the opinions on issues from people from all wards, not just the Diamond District where I live, and that’s what fantastic about it, because each issue is so different when it comes to the different wards,” said Pressman.
Pressman, 58, is a 1981 graduate of Lynn English High School and still lives in the family home. Politics has always been a positive presence in her life.
“I was holding signs at the polling places before I was old enough to vote,” said Pressman, who once owned a pet grooming business for 16 years and a video store, TLC Videos, in Wyoma Square “and then Blockbuster came into the picture.”
Pressman said Concerned Citizens of Lynn hopes to hold another mayoral debate before the final election.
“And we even had councillors-at-large asking – where they were so impressed on how well this debate was done and organized – if we would hold a debate for them,” related Pressman proudly.