Michelle Wu Chats About Family, North End Connections

While visiting Charlestown this week, Boston City Council candidate Michelle Wu chatted with Patch about why she is running and spoke of her connections to the North End.

Wu, a South End resident, is running for one of four at-large seats on the City Council. 

"I’m in this race to talk about family. For me that’s where I start and end the day," Wu said. She and her husband are the legal guardians of her two younger sisters.

An attorney, Wu also has experience running a restaurant and was active on the parent council at Eliot K-8 School in the North End, where one of her sisters attended. She also previously lived in the neighborhood, on Salem Street.

“I think it’s about strengthening the quality of life for families,” she said of what issues are important in the community. “The schools in the North End and in Charlestown are wonderful, and we need to make sure that families are able to stay in Boston and able to keep sending their kids there and that there are great educational opportunities after those elementary schools end.”

Wu said she understands the need to find a balance between business and residential life in the North End and that she would work to help achieve that balance.

“I think the key is having a city government that’s responsive and accessible, and I really will strive to be that city councilor whose door is always open, you can always pick up the phone and call,” she said. “I will be in the neighborhood at neighborhood meetings. So every time there is an issue, I will be there and more than willing to help.”

Wu, who received an endorsement Wednesday night from the Ward 3 Democratic Committee, will face North End resident Philip Frattaroli, incumbents Ayanna Pressley and Stephen Murphy and 15 other candidates for at-large city councilor in the Sept. 24 preliminary election.